Impending STEEL CHALLENGE Announcement...

[Flexmoney]

So...is something different this year (for sure)?

Looks like 8 shooters made it below 72 last year?

[driver8M3]

I don't understand how dropping "Speed Option" would change the order of finish in any substantial way.  Only the daft and the astoundingly untalented don't shoot the option plate.

is that directed at me? the first time i shot a steel challenge match that option plate looked so small, and so far away...that it took me at least 3 seconds to hit it on the 1st run...and a couple of seconds to MISS it my 2nd run. i skipped it after that!

in addition to the speed option debacle, it was the first time i had ever shot a match from a holster. it should come as no surprise that i came in DFL.

even so, that was a lot of fun...

[shred]

Removing the option-plate subtractor like MBane said has never seen a 72. An Excel curve-fit of winning times says 2006 or 2007. I'd love to see it wrong.

[diehli]

But is it actually going to be removed 1) for the actual match and 2) for the purpose of this prize?

[Kory]

I think I have shot with a few guys that have a chance at 72 W.O. the S.O.. I am not one of them, I need to trim a good half minute off my times....

The gorilla's question is vaild, 72 on the old method , or on the speculated new method???

[bigbrowndog]

from MB excitement it sounded like the announcement would be something that would benefit the average to above average shooter this only benefits the SC winner, and the match already provides them with incentives. or did i miss interpet,

his enthusiaism. i still intend on returning to the SC, i have to, i can't let last years time stand. trapr

[MBaneACP]

Speed option plates gone. Mike & Mike made that decision *before* the prize money discussion started. My understanding is that it was purely an issue of "match streamlining," preparing for increasing numbers of shooters in future years.

Bigbrowndog, after decades of working with the shooting sports I've come to the conclusion that, as the sainted Cyndi Lauper once sang, "money changes everything." So many of the things we've wanted for the shooting sports have been contingent on more money coming into the sports, and we simply haven't been able to raise the bucks.

So we're making a bet here, that if we "chum the water" with some dollars, more dollars will follow. We (The Outdoor Channel) put up $10K, then SIG followed suit the next day. Several companies are looking at similar awards for stock/limited gun and revolver...if not this year, then next year. At SHOT, I had a meeting with a MAJOR non-gun potential sponsor of numerous shooting sports, and the first words out of their mouths were, "How much cash do you have on the table?" After that, the meeting went great, and we are presenting ON BEHALF OF THE SHOOTING SPORTS at their corporate headquarters in April.

There is a HUGE trickle-down effect for us regular shooters! Last time I talked to Mike-and-Mike, the SC had something like 150 guns to give away as prizes. It will be the biggest prize table in the history of the shooting sports. I think that's something to be enthusiastic about!

And by the way, The Outdoor Channel is the ONLY television network who PUTS THEIR MONEY WHERE ITS MOUTH IS! The ONLY one! We support the SC, several major cowboy matches and more on the docket for next year; we donated $100,000 worth of airtime to NSSF to promote the shooting sports; we're adding more shooting sports shows and revamping some of our baseline shooting shows to be more competition friendly. WE DO NOT EVER CHARGE A FEE, "EXPENSES," WHATEVER TO COVER A MATCH!!! That is selling edit; it poisons the well for everyone and I will not do it! The Outdoor Channel is ALONE among the networks in REFUSING to donate airtime for "gun safety messages" from thinly veiled antigun groups like Americans for Gun Safety...

I could (and occasionally do) go on and on! These guys are the REAL DEAL. The SC is only the first step.

Michael B

[bigbrowndog]

Michael, My statement about your announcement, was based only on the informtion, given in your original and shortly following statement. Based on that I could not understand how 25 G, to the winner was going to benefit all the other shooters of the SC.

If in fact Mike & Mike, utilize this to deepen the awards for the rest of us, which in my opinion, is the foundation on which shooting sports are based, and where the future of shooting sports lies. Then I agree, and can completely understand your excitment, to the announcement.

Personally, I would like to see the SC, have a separate prize table, for limited/production guns and equipment. I think it would increase the number, of entries and participation. However I also think that the SC is pretty well max'd out on the number of shooters it can currently accept.

Good Luck on this Years Shows, Thanks for your work, and see you around

Trapr.

[Patrick Sweeney]

Understanding this step requires that we, as shooters, set aside our perceptions of what constitutes "a good match." To us, it is a match with interesting shooting challenges, camaraderie, competition, and perhaps a good prize table.

To those interested in marketing, sales, and promotion, it is (and I say this without any derision at all) what they can hype. How many viewers will there be? What titles and trophies will be up for grabs? And most important of all, how much money is going to be won?

If you understand that, you understand why the PGA keeps lists both of who beat who (the standings by performance) and who won what (who earned the most cash in a year.)

When a NASCAR driver who averages tenth place driving in half the dates in a schedule makes more money than the best IPSC shooter that year did, shooting is a "nothing" sport to those with a marketing mind.

$25K perks their ears up.

I've said ti before, and I'll say it again, we won't have professional shooters until we have the equivalent of the "Valvoline Steel Challenge" and others vying for time on the TV schedule.

[MBaneACP]

Aw guys! I wish I could tell you that I, or Paul Erhardt, or Chris Chaffin, or Gary Mehalik or any of the rest of us "driving" this thing actually knew what we were doing!

Shooting's not like any other sport, and the existing "roadmaps" will only take you so far. Paul and I are probably the most successful shooting sports marketing team ever; that and a buck will get you coffee. We both feel we're at, or even past, a tipping point for the Steel Challenge. The challenge is to figure out what's necessary to "tip" the shooting sports as a whole. We're closer now than we've ever been...the lines on the graph are converging. If we could just see clearly where we need to *push."

I'm not complaining; more an explanation that some of the things we do will be heading down the wrong path, and hopefully we'll self-correct before we get too far. Sweeney is dead right...what makes a good match for you and I aren't necessarily the same things that make a good match for SHOOTING GALLERY. For example, the appeal of the SC over, say USPSA, is that there is one person I can point to sand say, "he won." The fastest man alive. As opposed to five "National Champions." Teevee has a fiercely short attention span!

mb

[Jake Di Vita]

Well I for one will do anything I can to help further this goal.

Ever need anything, let me know.