Oh boy, I knew somebody from the club would stumble across this! [sm=spinnyeyes.gif]

That's odd. Your post changed completely while I was replying. I agree, the poster does have a point there's no denying that. But let's not be too fatalistic about the state of the sport. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that more people need to inform them selves/get informed about the sport before they cast judgement. As my previous post stated, you wouldn't go to a "physical" sporting event not understanding the game. Why do we expect people to enjoy it even though they have no idea what to watch for?

There's hope. There are young people like myself who are picking this up, granted fewer.

Patience also seems to be an endangered resource today, which is compounding the problem. You get out what you put into the hobby. I try to put in as much as I can, and there's nothing like the feeling you get when you receive so much back. I still swear my heart tries to squeeze through my ribcage when I really nail a maneuver .

I'm using a smaller (cheaper) Brio to practice. I still have the old Joker, but on any downline the thing just turns into a big missle, even at idle. It even sounds like one as it whistles by. Cross controlled inputs won't even create enough drag to slow it down. It just isn't built for today's pattern style (really fun to haul you know what around with though).The wider fuselage of the Brio gives MUCH more control over the downline speed. I've just been going over the Sportsman schedule piece by piece. It's much more fun and rewarding than going up and wiggling the sticks trying to get something that looks cool.