First off, you call paintball a sport... I do not play the sport of paintball (though I will in the near future). I play the GAME of paintball. Recball is like a pickup game of basketball and that doesn't seem too sport-like does it? Second, the refs must be clear about what is considered "dead". As long as the refs are clear about this then there should really be no problems (I forgot to include this in my last entourage, and I would like to remind you that I am a working ref). One last thing, to perform a legal Dead Man's Walk, a player cannot raise his hands or yell "dead", "dead man", etc or place a barrel plug in their 'gun. So, it should be clear to players whether a player is dead or not. We tell players to keep their hands up and barrel plugs in immediately when hit. Otherwise if any of these rules on a DMW are broken then that is cheating and the player will be pulled. This is just a bit of the deception that can occur in a paintball game. Players have to pay attention if they wish to do well in any situation. Anyway, read my bit on this subject for more information. Have a good one...
-Kenny