Back In The Day

Every team had to have its patch.  Some were cheap, some were works of art, some were cool, some were stoopid, some were fun and provocative.  Regardless, we had to have them and we traded them, collected them and, like Mike "Blue" Hanse, we put them on display.

I had a pretty decent patch jacket at one time - the entire jacked (BDU) was covered front and back and I was considering adding pants.  Others from back in those days still have theirs, like Charles "Happy" Holton (who'll be in attendance at the WCPL Panhandle Paintball tournament coming this April 1st and 2nd (I'll be asking him to bring it right after I finish writing this piece) and, of course, there's Mike's Patch Banners, that he began putting together back in those same days  when he realized that there was no way he could fit them all on a full uniform, even if he wore a cape and long-johns covered in them.

Actually they were put together  for display at his EMR paintball museum;  they frequently made appearances at event trade shows and now there's pictures of them up on the Facebook page Paintball Classifieds.

I've been looking for the patches I gave to Blue for this project - Muthas of Destruction (both dress and field versions), the Werewolves of NJ/PA and the special, limited edition "Werewolves LAPaintgun Factory Team" we wore for a televised event,  Special Delivery for a NPPL first season scratch team...and a few others that have faded into the mists of history - but haven't seen any of them yet in the pics.  But I have seen a bunch that I also have copies of, including some rare ones like the multi-colored Line SI Bushmaster patch. 

These days, teams seem to go more for the team jerseys - and there's some  great ones out there, some companies are  doing fantastic work with dye-sublimations and the designs are incredible.  The only thing is, trading  jerseys is a lot more  expensive (not to mention taking up far more display space) than trading patches.

I've added a couple of banner shots from the Facebook display below.  Head on over to Paintball Classifieds to see the rest and

Don't forget to sign up for the WCPL's Panhandle Paintball Classic (April 1st & 2nd) at PBLeagues.com