Normally I don’t think much of or comment on a celebrity death, but I’m going to make an exception, this one time.

As you all may be aware, Billy Mays died this morning. The mechanics of his death aren’t fully known at this time, but the fact that he’s gone is a hard, cold fact. His relative youth makes me wonder what lies in store for me as I start fully entering middle age. More importantly, someone who took other people’s pie-in-the-sky dreams and turned them into real income and wealth is gone, and at the moment there’s nobody to replace him.

Billy Mays’ biggest contribution to world of business was his rational exuberance. Yes, his delivery was over the top, and even obnoxious to some. But the fact is, he was effective at what he did, and even his most bitter competitors would say he was probably the best at it.

In witnessing Billy’s passing, it put me in a thoughtful frame of mind, and as usual I put that mind to work looking at Paintball. As in life, in paintball I’m finding a spark of Rational Exuberance starting to make itself known. I’m seeing this Rational Exuberance bubbling up from a local field owner, to a distributor, and even in the tournament leagues, where Irrational Exuberance has infested the thought processes for too long.

Neither Lane and Keely nor Camille and Chuck consult with me on the best paths for their businesses to take, but I’ve been very gratified to see lately that a more sober, rational line of thought has started to take hold. Rather than continuing to spend vast sums of money on venues that didn’t really give a good return on their investment, the leagues are now looking at having quality events at reasonable venues…like paintball fields!

Don’t get me wrong, Wide World of Sports has a charm that my wife can go hours and hours cataloging, but the more rational choice (albeit after a bit of scrambling on Lane’s part) of Fantasy of Flight for this year’s World Cup is a great one for these tough times. The USPL choosing to have their next two events at actual paintball fields! Who’d have thunk it! While I’ve always admired the showmanship of plopping a paintball event right in the middle of a major metro area, the reality is that paintball isn’t really ready for that. Let’s iron out the rough spots and then go plopping.

Some people think that Bob “Hawtie with a Nawtie Body” Cartwright, who from now on will be referred to as Bob “Saucy Aussie” Cartwright, has lost his mind. If you didn’t know him, you’d be correct in thinking that, given how things are these days. But The Saucy Aussie is a smart man, and he’s a shrewd businessman. Even in the depths of a recession, he’s currently building out what will become an extreme sports park. Starting with paintball, he’s going to eventually have The Grinch and The Blob (look ‘em up if you don’t know what they are) and plenty of other surprises, all with the beginning coming from a paintball facility.

Then there’s Billy Smith. Rather than following the norm, buckling down and trying to survive, he’s going back to his outrageous roots, with this year’s Free Finale being based around the storyline of Pirates and Ninjas. Couple that with the opportunity for a player to get his air and two cases of paint for under $100 and you have yourself a formula for a total gigglefest. Billy started out by being outrageous, controversial, and off the hook…that Billy’s back, and he’s having the time of his life right now.

Richmond Italia, Craig Miller, and some other old school wildmen are back, and they’ve got revolution on their minds. The half-inch revolution they’ve got on their mind has wigs splitting across the world. Time will tell if they’re visionaries or deluded, but they have a cause they believe in, and they’re pursuing it. If nothing else, rather than the same-old same-old at this year’s World Cup, something bright, shiny and new will be on display at Fantasy of Flight this October.

No matter where you’re at in the game, there’s lots going on…what are you doing to make it better?