Grip EQ is offering a reward for the return of Paul McBeth's stolen bag.

[JC17393]

I feel a lot of sympathy for Paul and suspect that the theft may have cost him this tourney (although he'll probably disagree and he still took it to a playoff). I'm more than a little surprised that he did not carry a backup bag, or at least backup discs.
I haven't played tourneys for a while, but back then I always carried a backup for every disc. Plus I would carry windy day discs. Surprised he didn't do this. Perhaps the travelling vehicle was full. Obviously, he didn't think he'd need it.

I keep reading things like the bolded and I don't understand why anyone is under the impression that McBeth didn't have back-ups with him. Of course he did. Every single disc he threw on Friday and Saturday were discs he had with him and most likely were all disc he had thrown a few times each so they weren't brand new. He didn't need to borrow discs from other players or buy them in a store. Like any other prepared player, he had them. The only thing he reportedly borrowed was his girlfriend's Grip bag to carry them all in because apparently but not necessarily surprisingly, he only has one Grip bag with him on the road.

How many of us carry two identical bags with us to every tournament? Back up discs? Of course. A second bag? If we have one, it's probably not the same bag we use regularly...it's probably an old bag or a smaller bag for those quick putter-only type rounds. But if we've got boxes of discs in the trunk/truck/5th wheel, maybe there's no real need for an extra bag too. We all anticipate the chances of losing a disc or two to water or an errant throw into the scrub, but who anticipates an entire bag up and disappearing?

Given how close he came to winning, maybe we can debate whether having his tried and trusted discs for the last two rounds might have saved him a stroke and the win. But by and large, he's a player good enough to play with his back-ups and beat pretty much anybody. The bag getting stolen was a distraction, but probably not enough to blame for not winning the tournament. The feeling of violation of having something taken from him, whether it's a golf bag or his wallet or his ipod or whatever, is probably bothering him more in an off-the-course way than it did on the course.

 

[teemkey]

The idea that Paul McBeth would be unprepared is ludicrous.

 

[pjhayes7]

I used to work at a nice ball golf course and one of the perks was all the management got a full set of clubs from a company that provided all of the range balls and equipment for the course. So until recently, I had not bought any equipment in years. It wasn't a matter of being cheap; just that it was good stuff and I grew attached to it. I could and still can easily replace everything with newer equipment and although more money than disc golf equipment, the real headache would be getting used to the new things. I probably spent over 500 hours a year just practicing with that stuff . That is at least 10 hours a week, and I didn't get paid to play golf. Pro golfers, both ball and disc, probably spend anywhere from 2000 to 3000 hours a year just practicing, not to mention the actual competing. The point here is that I had invested no money, but an extreme amount of time learning exactly how the equipment would perform, and that time cannot be replaced. Sure McBeth has backups and still played like the best player in the world should be expected to do even with backups. But what Grip is offering as a reward does not come close to the value of the time he put into and the knowledge about the tools he chose to perform his job.

 

[DiscJunkie]

My mistake.
I was under the false impression that when he borrowed the GF's bag, he was borrowing the discs as well.
Makes sense he had backups. Not having backups is incomprehnsible.

So, in the immortal words of Rosanna Rosanna-Danna (played by Gilda Radner on SNF) ...
"Oh, Nevermind."

 

[cjdiscgolf]

In light of this incident, this sort of makes me wonder (if they aren't doing it already), if top pros are going to start preparing the equivalent of two bags of discs and carry the backup bag with them when they travel in the event that the primary one gets jacked. In case people have forgotten, this isn't the first time this has happened.

Do you really think that pros who get endless supplies of discs free show up to events with thousands of dollars on the line without backups in the car?

And do you really think these guys have never thrown any of them?

Look, it sucks what happened and it likely affected him. But not nearly to the degree people think.

 

[Ender175]

Do you really think that pros who get endless supplies of discs free show up to events with thousands of dollars on the line without backups in the car?

And do you really think these guys have never thrown any of them?

Look, it sucks what happened and it likely affected him. But not nearly to the degree people think.

He obviously has backups, and several of them were probably broken in at least a little, but in his last in the bag, he showed off a mid, fairway driver and distance driver that all had "more than a year of wear" on them. I think its highly unlikely that he had proper replacements for those three discs. And fwiw he did miss left on that final drive

 

[mcthumber]

My mistake.

So, in the immortal words of Rosanna Rosanna-Danna (played by Gilda Radner on SNF) ...
"Oh, Nevermind."

That was Emily Littela.

 

[DiscJunkie]

That was Emily Littela.

Corrected again.
You are correct sir.
Another swing and a miss.

 

[gcr_russell]

I've been checking the Phoenix Craigslist for "frisbees" "backpacks" "discs", etc. I hope there are some locals calling or checking local pawn shops as well. It sure would be great to get these back for Paul.

 

[depster]

Dude those things are gone. Never to see the light of day again.

 

[araytx]

I've lived in some rough areas over the years, and my car and apartment have both been broken into. I've lost some pricey stuff. None of it mattered nearly as much as the feeling of violation from unwelcome people rifling through my things. Paul's in the bag videos always seem to have different discs in them so I'd say he's not as worried about them as you're claiming.

^^^ This
absolutely.

 

[whitefedora]

Plot twist- platebee was the thief.

 

[tbird888]

That next email is going to be legendary!

"Look, Platebee found some friends in Phoenix."

 

[Anon]

I know he had backups but...

Dat pink Destroyer and purple Roc3.

Those 2 won him several tournaments alone.

Some clown in Arizona has a SERIOUS bag of bad karma on his back.

 

[Aim For The Chains]

reward stunt = free advertising.

 

[Tpro]

I would say the Roc3's he had in his bag Orange and Purple had been in his bag the longest and were probably some of the very first ones run... Also that green Gator looked nasty. Yeah discs can be replaced but still that SUCKS. Just really unfortunate I feel for him. I had a bag and discs taken a long time ago. Not fun

 

[clard]

Honestly, Paul can throw whatever and still be fine. He can learn a new disc easily, and I'm sure his mental game is solid enough to not even flinch at this relatively minor setback. Ain't even worried about it.

 

[nolangherity]

reward stunt = free advertising.

 

[Um...]

Corrected again.
You are correct sir.
Another swing and a miss.

OH, SOOOO CLOSE!!
Sorry, the correct apology haiku format is 5-7-5, not 5-5-7.
Better luck next time!

 

[DanJon]

reward stunt = free advertising.

Yep, supporting one of your athletes is definitely just a stunt for some free publicity

You are such a hypocrite.