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Say the line?


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6 hours ago, Jackalope said:

For almost four years, the stages I've written for our club have had a story or some reason to start a gunfight.  I like to keep them short and try to include a little humor.  Like this:

 

Yesterday, my wife asked me, “Is it just me or is the cat getting fatter?”  Apparently, “No, it’s just you” wasn’t the right answer.  That’s what started the gunfight.  Indicate ready by saying, "It's just you."

 

I was gonna brag about 'our' stage writers, Jackalope and Anita.    I'm glad Jackalope chimed in.

 

He writes great little stories, which normally tell us "thats what started the gunfight"   and then includes a great starting line.

 

I always think it enhances the whole match.

 

..........Widder

 

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44 minutes ago, Creeker, SASS #43022 said:

 

20 years of 18 stages a month plus two annual matches each year.

Managing websites for both clubs.

Setting steel, building, fixing, painting.

And working full time, raising a daughter and still having a social life.

I feel fully justified in stating there's time "IF" folks feel its important.

Again, each person is different.

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16 hours ago, Major BS Walker Regulator said:

As what Mr. Randy said. I always have a story which sets the tone for the story line. To help I print the story line, put it in a frame and hang it up at the starting position. If you still want to say shooter ready than no big deal. It is amazing though that even if you use the same line for all six stages, most still look at the framed line then say it even at stage six.

Just a follow up. WE have two matches a month at my range, the Sunday match always has the story and lines. The smaller Wednesday match has no story and shooter ready or ready to start.

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As one of the  2 Marshals at Rivanna Rangers, I always write a short story which is tied to the starting lines for the stages. The story does not always get read if we're running late after set up. And, all the starting lines are posted, at the firing line, thanks to our TG, Major BS Walker.

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While I enjoy most start lines, especially lines from my favorite movies, I have found that saying "shooter ready," becomes more of a statement. A statement that I AM ready, all stage study done, and a mental conviction that I am ready to start.  No guesswork, no hesitation, just a committment to the next 30 seconds (sometimes less ;)). I have discovered that the start line, while entertaining and sometimes sort of relaxing does not give me the same conviction that me announcing "shooter ready" does.

 

If the back story on the stage gets too long and drawn out I start to lose focus.

 

Your mileage probably varies.

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I write all of my clubs stages and I like lines so we get lines usually from a western movie. I learned from the best, that being Prairie Dawg who is Professor Emeritus of western trivia and starting lines. We always have a copy of the stage on the loading table and a small sign on the stage with starting position and line on it. If I am TO'ing at a club that doesn't and someone asks me what the line is, my response is always, " Seamus is my hero". The shooters usually have a laugh and say it. Lines are just part of the silly game we play. And no they don't have to say a line if they don't want to.

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I like starting lines. I feel it’s one of the things that separates us as a fantasy sport from just another shooting game. I realize things have evolved in our game but to me, costume and storyline is still a major part of cowboy action. I encourage shooters to make up their own starting lines. As a TO I use it as a way of recognizing the shooter is ready for me to give a standby and a beep without having to ask them. 

 

 

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I remember back to when I just started.  The line was a line from your favorite western.   I said, "Nothing you can say or do will change my mind!".  The TO just stood there waiting for me to say my line although I said it plenty clear and loud.  I didn't know what to do next.  Finally,  he said, "Shooter ready" and set off the buzzer.   I thought everyone had seen Red River. :unsure:

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If it's not written where I can read it, most of the time I'll say "I'm ready" or something similar.

 

The shooter is getting ready to send lead downrange.  Concentration should be on the sequences and gun handling, not remembering a line.

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Most the time the clubs around here have starting lines.

Many times all the lines will be from the same movie.

 

When I started there was long stories before each stage. Got to say. That got a little

long winded at times. I don't mind a very short story and then a short line to go with it.

I have a hard enough time trying to remember the shooting order. Let alone some long line.

Short lines I can deal with and don't mind. But kind of glad those long stories are a thing of the past.

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Changing the words to the "start line" is part of my character at the shoot.

Sometimes it is funny.

 

Sometimes I will write stages with blanks in the start time. You insert whatever word/name you see fit.

Sometimes cowboy don't consider the ramifications of inserting particular names or words and it is a long ride home.

 

 

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I take start lines from western movies, no back story, some guys like to make up their own and that’s fine, some like to just nod ready and that’s fine. At the end of the match the important thing is everyone had a good and safe time.  SCJ

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The Sun River Rangers still do stories!  Some historically accurate and some just funnier than crap.  Lines have got to be said WITH FEELING!:lol::lol::lol:

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We DO NOT have a story to read.

But we still have a wisecrack line or say something "cowboy".

And many of our stages still have something to do like draw a card, throw dice, pour a shot, grab a spittoon, etc., etc.

 

LINCOLN AREA REGULATORS

Mustang Gregg

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12 hours ago, Phantom, SASS #54973 said:

Please remove the Soapbox from beneath my feet...

 

Phantom

You might also ask to have 'em remove the hemp necktie from around your neck first!  :P

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I do not like stories or someone interrupting my preparation process because I didn't remember a line.  I have never come away from a match remembering any stories.  I like the way the large matches publish stories in the handbook.  Never heard a shooter complain that there was not a story behind a stage, but I have heard shooters complain they had to listen to non-sense jokes or stories before shooting.  Just an opinion.

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I write a large number of matches for our local club and rarely ever write a story.  Even at larger events, it's common for the Posse Marshall to ask if we want the story read prior to the stage instructions.

 

I do however try to come up with a witty line or something short for each stage and then post it visibly at the starting position where the shooter can see it.

 

There are also those shooters that always use their own line to indicate ready on every stage at every match.

 

Texas folks can probably guess the shooter just by hearing the start line:  :) 


"Let'er Buck"

"Going Hot"

 

Totes

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Starting hands position..  Seems like we're in a rut with just a few positions to place hands to start a stage. 

 

I made up a couple of new ones on the stages I wrote for our July match.  All the lines were quotes from Gabby Hayes.  One line was, "Of all the blasted luck – Letting a woman beat me to the draw!".  I had hands position on face.  I really should have said hide face or something like that.  It was hot and humid and shooters didn't want to touch there wet face.  We made a script change on the fly. 

 

This next match scenarios,  I have the line, "Let me at'm!". (Trying to keep them short and sweet.)  The hands position is arms reaching out at sholder level.  Another, "Just don't mess with me."  Hands making fists in front of face.

 

I see a mix of shooters.  While some welcome change,  others would shoot the simplest stage over and over and tend to have an anxiety attack if it's something they have to think out. 

 

I remember one stage that had a non-conventional target arrangement and what sounded like a complicated shooting order.  Oh the moaning!   Everyone knew they were going to get a P.   Everyone watched everyone else shoot to see how they did.  Everyone got through it fine.  No Ps.  Everyone was laughing and joking when the stage was over.

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Well it’s time to tell my starting line story again. We were at a state shoot and for some reason I forget why, we started on the “these pretzels are making me thirsty” from a Seinfeld episode. We were doing all the different ways it could be said. Anyhow a shooter complained that it was an unfair advantage not to have to remember a start line and the match director told us if we used the wrong line one more time we would get a Spirit of the Game penalty. I thought he was joking but he assured me he was not. Out of respect for him we laid off the pretzel line. But we still pull it out as an old stand by when we forget the line sometimes. 

 

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25 minutes ago, John Barleycorn, SASS #76982 said:

Well it’s time to tell my starting line story again. We were at a state shoot and for some reason I forget why, we started on the “these pretzels are making me thirsty” from a Seinfeld episode. We were doing all the different ways it could be said. Anyhow a shooter complained that it was an unfair advantage not to have to remember a start line and the match director told us if we used the wrong line one more time we would get a Spirit of the Game penalty. I thought he was joking but he assured me he was not. Out of respect for him we laid off the pretzel line. But we still pull it out as an old stand by when we forget the line sometimes. 

 

 

 

Now that's a place I would not go back to.

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33 minutes ago, John Barleycorn, SASS #76982 said:

Well it’s time to tell my starting line story again. We were at a state shoot and for some reason I forget why, we started on the “these pretzels are making me thirsty” from a Seinfeld episode. We were doing all the different ways it could be said. Anyhow a shooter complained that it was an unfair advantage not to have to remember a start line and the match director told us if we used the wrong line one more time we would get a Spirit of the Game penalty. I thought he was joking but he assured me he was not. Out of respect for him we laid off the pretzel line. But we still pull it out as an old stand by when we forget the line sometimes. 

 

I would LOVE to get into a debate with this knucklehead MD...really would...oh, and the whinny little complainer.

 

Phantom

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34 minutes ago, John Barleycorn, SASS #76982 said:

Well it’s time to tell my starting line story again. We were at a state shoot and for some reason I forget why, we started on the “these pretzels are making me thirsty” from a Seinfeld episode. We were doing all the different ways it could be said. Anyhow a shooter complained that it was an unfair advantage not to have to remember a start line and the match director told us if we used the wrong line one more time we would get a Spirit of the Game penalty. I thought he was joking but he assured me he was not. Out of respect for him we laid off the pretzel line. But we still pull it out as an old stand by when we forget the line sometimes. 

 

Petty tyrant. 

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A very good friend of mine quotes the opening line from this scene as a "signature" starting line...almost disappointing when she doesn't. ;)

 

Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven (1992)

 

 

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41 minutes ago, John Barleycorn, SASS #76982 said:

Well it’s time to tell my starting line story again. We were at a state shoot and for some reason I forget why, we started on the “these pretzels are making me thirsty” from a Seinfeld episode. We were doing all the different ways it could be said. Anyhow a shooter complained that it was an unfair advantage not to have to remember a start line and the match director told us if we used the wrong line one more time we would get a Spirit of the Game penalty. I thought he was joking but he assured me he was not. Out of respect for him we laid off the pretzel line. But we still pull it out as an old stand by when we forget the line sometimes. 

 

 

When I can't remember the line (which is often) I default to, "Robert E Lee for President".

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Monday I sent out the match for this coming Sunday and this subject came up here on Tuesday. Here is the story that went out for the match.

                                                                                                                                       THE STORY

Writing a story for a match is appreciated by some and considered a waste of time by others. Is a story needed to shoot a match, no it's a shooting competition. Why do you need a story for a shooting competition, just pull the trigger. What adding that story does is to cement together what our sport is really all about, a bunch of friends getting together to have fun. Having that story is showing the world that we aren't there to stomp our competition and then strut away like the cock of the walk. It's there to set an example that cowboy shooters as a whole are in fact a bunch of caring loving people that are there to have fun first and foremost. I guess by now you have figured out that I couldn't think of a story for this match.

 

Starting lines are first 3 stages- What's your story, next two stages-  I'm ending your story and the final stage line is - End of story.

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9 minutes ago, Major BS Walker Regulator said:

Monday I sent out the match for this coming Sunday and this subject came up here on Tuesday. Here is the story that went out for the match.

                                                                                                                                       THE STORY

Writing a story for a match is appreciated by some and considered a waste of time by others. Is a story needed to shoot a match, no it's a shooting competition. Why do you need a story for a shooting competition, just pull the trigger. What adding that story does is to cement together what our sport is really all about, a bunch of friends getting together to have fun. Having that story is showing the world that we aren't there to stomp our competition and then strut away like the cock of the walk. It's there to set an example that cowboy shooters as a whole are in fact a bunch of caring loving people that are there to have fun first and foremost. I guess by now you have figured out that I couldn't think of a story for this match.

 

Starting lines are first 3 stages- What's your story, next two stages-  I'm ending your story and the final stage line is - End of story.

Diversion from where we were going...but something about this statement and others like it just gets me on my merry little soapbox (think this is the second time in so many days that I've used the word "Soapbox"...I'm starting to worry...). 

 

I don't see Cowboy shooters as any different than the participants of other sports I've participated in. From Motocross, Jetski (IJSBA), Golf primarily. I've come across Jerks (Yeah, like me), Liars and Cheats, backstabbers...Folks that cheat on their spouses...Bank Robbers...we have it ALL!

 

So sorry...we are just normal people doing abby-normal dress up shooting. No prerequisites regarding character required to play.

 

Phantom

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1 hour ago, PaleWolf Brunelle, #2495L said:

A very good friend of mine quotes the opening line from this scene as a "signature" starting line...almost disappointing when she doesn't. ;)

 

Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven (1992)

 

 


Pretty sure I know your friend and she can certainly hold her own shooting Duelist vs. those Cowboys!
 

Best line ever!

 

T-Bone Shorty

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When we were doing our annuals, "Defend the Roost" and another one that eventually evolved into the California state black powder shootout, the matches had a theme.  I wrote the stages, and I wrote a story for every stage.  It was in the booklet on the page opposite the scenario, and there was a starting line.  In the walk through we told the posse leaders to not worry about reading the story, because the shooters had the booklet in their RV and could read it the night before. People collected our booklets.  They were good.

 

At present we have lines at monthlies, but no stories.

 

PS:  I never really believed it when people said they just couldn't remember a three or four word line.  I thought they were just too cool for school.  :) 

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8 hours ago, Nasty Newt # 7365 said:

When we were doing our annuals, "Defend the Roost" and another one that eventually evolved into the California state black powder shootout, the matches had a theme.  I wrote the stages, and I wrote a story for every stage.  It was in the booklet on the page opposite the scenario, and there was a starting line.  In the walk through we told the posse leaders to not worry about reading the story, because the shooters had the booklet in their RV and could read it the night before. People collected our booklets.  They were good.

 

At present we have lines at monthlies, but no stories.

 

PS:  I never really believed it when people said they just couldn't remember a three or four word line.  I thought they were just too cool for school.  :) 

 

 

 

Been to matches that did that. Best way to do it in my opinion.

 

As for remembering the line. I spend so much time trying to remember the shooting order.

That many times the line just don't sink in. I do like when they post the line right in front of

the starting position.

 

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1 hour ago, Anvil Al #59168 said:

 

 

 

Been to matches that did that. Best way to do it in my opinion.

 

As for remembering the line. I spend so much time trying to remember the shooting order.

That many times the line just don't sink in. I do like when they post the line right in front of

the starting position.

 

At one club I attended as a guest, everyone repeats the line as soon as the instruction is read. Like an instant chorus.

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13 hours ago, Phantom, SASS #54973 said:

Diversion from where we were going...but something about this statement and others like it just gets me on my merry little soapbox (think this is the second time in so many days that I've used the word "Soapbox"...I'm starting to worry...). 

 

I don't see Cowboy shooters as any different than the participants of other sports I've participated in. From Motocross, Jetski (IJSBA), Golf primarily. I've come across Jerks (Yeah, like me), Liars and Cheats, backstabbers...Folks that cheat on their spouses...Bank Robbers...we have it ALL!

 

So sorry...we are just normal people doing abby-normal dress up shooting. No prerequisites regarding character required to play.

 

Phantom

I'm sure the other shooting sports and most sports in general have mostly great folks.  Even, folks who don't do sports at all are mostly great.  However, the folks in cowboy action shooting are a couple of cuts above your everyday normal people.  Overall, they are extremely honest, loyal, caring and patriotic.  I know you don't truly believe that an everyday, ordinary Joe will loan you his $1600 rifle and let you just walk away with it.  Cowboy shooters do.  My buddy, Nate Kiowa Jones once told me that he had only ever one time had a cowboy shooter not pay him.  You won't see that out of normal, run-of-the-mill folks.

 

And bank robbers?  Come on...

 

My dad always told me that folks generally see what they expect to see.

 

Possum (who knows he has been made a better person for his association with cowboy shooters)

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6 hours ago, Possum Skinner, SASS#60697 said:

I'm sure the other shooting sports and most sports in general have mostly great folks.  Even, folks who don't do sports at all are mostly great.  However, the folks in cowboy action shooting are a couple of cuts above your everyday normal people.  Overall, they are extremely honest, loyal, caring and patriotic.  I know you don't truly believe that an everyday, ordinary Joe will loan you his $1600 rifle and let you just walk away with it.  Cowboy shooters do.  My buddy, Nate Kiowa Jones once told me that he had only ever one time had a cowboy shooter not pay him.  You won't see that out of normal, run-of-the-mill folks.

 

And bank robbers?  Come on...

 

My dad always told me that folks generally see what they expect to see.

 

Possum (who knows he has been made a better person for his association with cowboy shooters)

 Yes  Phantom shot with a Bank robber! when Phantom shot with the Cowboys we had a Bank robber that was shooting there! I believe he is still in Jail ?

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