CCChristmas

Alright, alright. CCC. Classic City Classic. Civilian Conservation Corps. Rhymes with pickles. Six weeks late.

Of note, pre-tournament:

-Conger's car, my car, Dan's car caravan

-Danville Goodwill

-boony ass restaurant in Danville (chuckwagon, Jesse?)

-disintegrated caravan

-Hawks v. Raptors (Randolph Morris- Kentucky; we need to go to Georgia more because their game against the Celtics last week was the ONLY FUCKING NATIONAL TV GAME THE HAWKS GET ALL SEASON)

-I am very iffy on the Rocky series. Sorry Matt.


Here we go.

Day 1:

Our first game was against Mississippi. Aside from their straight filthy jerseys, what I remember most about this game is actually the warm-up. All of the continental breakfast was gone by the time Matt, Jesse, and I got up, and since there was nothing to eat on the way there, we had to spend extra time eventually finding a Chick-fil-a (whose breakfast, I found out, is surprisingly good). Needless to say, things got going rather slowly; it was cold as shit, and I don’t think I really hit full speed or started taking things seriously until… sometime after this game. And it showed. I forced some dumb hucks that resulted in breaks when we really could have walked the disc in with ease every time, and I really just didn’t feel on top of things. In the grand scheme of things, though, this wasn’t a huge deal, as we won something like 11-5. Still, it reminded me that personally, I gotta hit the warm up sooner than most or I just won’t get into the groove I need.

I had plenty of time to do this for our next game against Illinois since we had a bye in round two. On the way over to our new field, we caught the last point between Florida and Wilmington. Man, this point was sick. It lasted like 20 minutes and each team was so cool to the other, making sure to share the disc a lot. Brodie did sick stuff like throw turnovers with his left hand and Cole did sick stuff like dump the disc to Brodie. Seriously, I’d pay like, a trillion dollars just to watch Florida post on rsd.

Fareal though, Rusty on UNC-W is a really good thrower.

We caught the tail end of Illinois-Texas once we got over, with Illinois closing out a pretty big win. I remember Robert turning to me and saying “we can beat both of these teams.” I agreed. I actually don’t remember all that much of the Illinois game. Yeah, partly because it was a month and a half ago, but also because I didn’t play that much, along with the rest of the O line. We just rolled, 11-4. People were making plays everywhere, just outrunning their guy on both sides of the disc. Their offense relied pretty heavily on handler movement (they had a couple of really quick, solid handlers who also happened to be real friendly and seemed cool), and we did a good job of slowing it down. This win was pretty big for us (as was Texas later in the day). Yeah, there’s the whole C1 thing, but also a lot of us had never played against nationals-level competition outside of our region. Winning so handily, regardless of how those teams look this year or that it was the fall, was a big deal.

Duke was next. We had seen them two weeks earlier at Wolfpack, letting them back into our semifinal game, if only for a few points. This time, we made sure not to let that happen, winning 10-4. I was somewhat concerned about their huge Ring guy because he’s huge and plays for Ring (and didn’t play at Wolfpack), but he wasn’t too much of a problem. At one point in the game, there was a pick call that Brooks didn’t hear but his receiver did. The throw went errant and it looked like an unfortunate turn, but Roy came out of nowhere and laid out in the endzone to save the possession. Unfortunately, his defender called the pick, so it wasn’t a score, but still… sick.

The low point of the day came in our next game against UNC. We lost 7-11, and our offense never really got going. They do a good job of poaching throwing lanes, and I think that we lacked the patience to work the available dump/swings as for as long as we should have. The wind didn’t help either, and since they play some key guys on both O and D, they do a better job of breaking upwind than most defenses. Our D line struggled once we got the disc, getting trapped in the downwind endzone pretty often and not being able to generate many (any?) breaks. The other big thing with this game was our general demeanor. The prior games on the day had gone real well, and spirits were very high as a result. Soon after going down to UNC, we lost some spark and went flat, something that I definitely think affected the game’s outcome. Gotta keep this in mind for the spring.

We closed out Saturday against Texas, a team who had me unsure of what to expect. They had lost to Duke pretty badly along with their Illinois loss, but with all of their Doublewide guys I expected them to be pretty good. They really didn’t pose a problem, though, and we won 11-7. Justin and Conger got on me to open up the hucking game more, and it worked out well as a number of our scores came off of long throws. I even got put in for a D point after Robert cramped… and proceeded to get run pretty hard by Franchise. He’s good… real quick and with a nice outside in backhand that he gets off for a lot of break throws, which were helpful since they ran mostly vert stack. Both Peter and Conger’s parents showed up for this game, and it was cool to see them both make some big grabs and throws (respectively, pretty much) to do a little showcasing. Also, Charlie had a really, really dirty sky in this game in a pile of five or six guys. He’s been doing that that on the regular.

So Saturday ended on a positive note—4-1 and second in the pool. We checked out the other scores at frisbee central. No surprise from pool A, with Wisconsin and Pitt taking the top spots. Pool B had gotten a little more interesting, with Minnesota winning and Florida needing a UNC-W loss to Davidson in the last round to take the second spot. Pool C was definitely the biggest shock, with Notre Dame going 5-0 and Georgia missing out on the championship bracket completely after a final round loss to Michigan. This set us up for a quarterfinals game with Notre Dame in the morning. Greg, Robert, and I came back about an hour later to hear the UPA/C1 talk, and nothing of note was really said. This is partly because Cyle didn’t show up after saying he would… there was rumor that he called a separate meeting for C1 teams only. I don’t know if this is true or not, but it’s funny nonetheless. Anyway, back to the hotel (after buying five six packs of Sweetwater Blue to bring back to Virginia) for a laid back night that included me hating on the Rocky series, a brief meeting, and chilling with some of the girls team.

Day 2:

Notre Dame, 10am. I’d say our outlook going into this game was pretty similar to that of the rest of the teams that played them over the weekend. No one knew anything about these guys, and that, coupled with their really stupid (yes, I’m bitter, fucking deal with it) camo cut offs and roaring at each other from across the field led us to not take them so seriously. Still, gotta give credit where it’s due. They were athletic, pretty disciplined, and definitely intense. We pulled to start the game, and after a nice sky from Peter to get the D, it looked like we might open with a break. They had other plans though, as his throw to Brooks was blocked by a monster layout from one of their big handlers. We traded points for a bit, but once they got a break, they kept coming, and we didn’t really get it back together. Sort of like the UNC game. Conger wasn’t playing, so our O was lacking a bit of its firepower, and try as it could, the D line just couldn’t get many breaks back. Also, they were down to throw some more unorthodox stuff (lots and lots of scoobers), which definitely made them harder to deal with on the goal line. They won something like 15-9. We should have been more with it and could have played better, but I give them credit—Notre Dame’s a really solid team. I also like that they avoided a straight up cry fest on RSD after that whole Pitt video bit… it wouldn’t exactly have been unjustified.

So, on to the chumpionship. We beat Minnesota 14-9, opening up the rotation and having a good time. Jesse balled on D as he had all weekend, catching a callahan as a result of pure hustle down on the pull—the thrower just threw an errant backhand and he was there to snatch it up. I remember Max (on O) and Brooks (on D) throwing a couple real nice hucks, Conger throwing a whole lot of high release flicks, and me throwing a few blades for scores. It was a fun game.

The next, and final game, was against Michigan, who we agreed to play to 9 because they were trying to get out of there. Will Neff didn’t play, giving me opportunity to show off my tireless trolling and tell him that I thought his SAT story was funny. I don’t remember all that much in this game, other than our team being kind of lazy and one point taking like an hour. Good plays were made (Healy had a real beast layout D), but on the whole I think we were pretty satisfied with things up to that point and didn’t mind coming away with a close win, 9-7.

WELL. There you have it, tardiness and all. CCC was a great tournament for us. With a 5th place finish overall, we beat some teams that I think most would agree are on a level we had previously not really seen, and we did it handily. Still, though, it let us know that going into the winter and early spring, there was/is plenty to be worked on, included but not limited to staying up on the sidelines and on the field after going down a few points, working against straight up marks with poaches in the lane, and running a better vert stack with the D line are all among these. Lots has been done since, but there is plenty of work on the agenda for the coming months. Keep running, duders.

pending

CCC write-up is coming, I swear. The past week has been hellish, and when it hasn't been hellish, it's been awesomely time-consuming. A bunch of food and some more good times for Seattle sports on national tv should do the trick.

For now, check out:

• Jim Jones (my vote for the dirtiest worst rapper ever) in an off-Broadway play
  
• Slim with the tilted brim on Martha Stewart
• Kobe's thoughts on off-season workouts
  

Stop distracting me.

Efficiency

Quick study break...
The tables in this article, found in True Hoop, have me thinking about efficiency in sports. In professional sports, it's very common that big name players receive more accolades than they deserve while the guys who get the little things done don't get much shine. These errors and omissions, however, are often exposed when people look at the details surrounding how efficient a player is.

I generally think of efficiency as synonymous with reliability; how many times do you screw up per chance that you have? That's a pessimistic way to view it, but really, an efficient player isn't the one who makes big plays, but rather is the one who is dependable.

Here's a quick list of what I think would be really interesting individual stats to see in ultimate. Bear in mind, they're offensively-focused.

• turnovers per team possession (this could also be stated as completed pas per posession)
• turnovers per individual possession
  
• scores thrown per team possession
• scores thrown per individual posession
• Ds achieved per other players' turnovers
• Ds achieved per individual's turnovers

Obviously, I'm now wondering what my numbers would be and whether or not they would deem me efficient. I definitely think that the more you are relied upon, the more you are likely to have drops and throw-aways, but that principle goes for all sports. I suppose that remaining efficient in light of its reality is what makes great players great.

Back to work.

Disclaimer: I am not a Red Sox fan.

Wolfpack

i should have seen this coming. i'm getting behind on blog posts before even really getting started. ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, this is terrrrrrrrible.
this blog is a very serious thing.
with very serious deadlines.
i will do better. i must.

so the fall rolled in a while ago, and with none of us making nationals (kind of), practices during the past couple of months have been devoted to the typical fall hustle of teaching rookies the game and getting our legs back. the most exciting part, however, has been anticipation brought on by everyone's summer improvements. it's been clear since the first days of september that everyone put time and effort into getting better since regionals, a reality that has had me itching to get onto the field against some non-uva opposition.

that competition came in the form of nc state's wolfpack last weekend. long story short: it went pretty well; we went 5-1; we won the tournament.

saturday

unc-wilmington [L 10-12]
after having some changes to the pools, fields, and schedule, we finally took the field saturday morning against unc-wilmington. we started on d, and even though we hadn't really warmed up as though we were playing our pool's top seed, we came out running hard and fast. their offense held, but we forced two turnovers along the way, the start of a trend that would last throughout the weekend. and it's a good thing, too, because things were a bit of a different story on offense. we got broken twice pretty early in the half, forcing throws that were crowded on the on side and trying to throw breaks against marks that were stronger than what we've been putting on each other in practice. as i said, though, our defense looked on from the start, and they broke back twice to even things out at 4-4-. there may have been another break or two for each team in the following points, but they were a wash and wilmington went into half on serve, 8-7. in the second half, the wind and rain started to pick up, and even though they didn't show all that much ability with a deep game, we weren't really able to open ours up because of the conditions. this was exacerbated when they started to throw zone, and the summer rust started to show as we turned the disc over multiple times trying to throw through the cup rather than around it. this was definitely a problem for us on offense, and our turnover woes kept coming. (side note: when i say "our" turnover woes, i mostly mean myself. i came out this game looking to do a lot more than i needed to, and it showed. i did settle down somewhere in this game, but i wouldn't exactly say it lasted. read on...) once again, though, our d flexed its overall improvements, getting breaks back and then some. highlights that i remember include charlie and jesse coming up with their typical layout blocks on in cuts, brooks playing real well against one of their stronger cutters (the carl crawford wannabe), and dagley jumping very, very high to catch some swill and then throw a push pass score (this would not be the only time that dags showed signs of realizing his leaping abilities). i'm also going to mention justin's shoulder-high layout that got a turn back for us on offense and stopped another break for wilmington. anyway, after a few more points, things were looking food for us. we went up 10-9 just after the cap horn blew, meaning the game would be played to 12. they held, making it 10s. then we got broken on a real unlucky callahan. at 11-10 wilmington, robert came on and we were set to get down the field and play a double game point. good plan, except i through a high release to justin that slipped in the rain and sailed over his head. two throws, game wilmington. fuck. put simply, this wasn't a good game for me, but for the team as a whole, it was. the loss sucked, but all things considered, it just let us know that we can play at whatever level we want to play at.

georgetown [15-5ish?], virginia tech [the same??]
aside from the whole learning experience thing, the wilmington loss was noteworthy because it was our only one of the weekend. our next two saturday games went pretty smoothly, which i think was a product of both us working out the jitters and the opposition not really being on the same level as what we saw in the first game. against georgetown, it was cool to play against alex laws, who played on floodwall with us and is a good player and a perpetually friendly guy. our d kept itself on the field a lot, but they were able to put up a few because on top of alex as a thrower, they had two or three pretty athletic receivers. the game ended on a stupid hammer from me to matt king, who made a very nice grab.
virginia tech had played wilmington closer than we expected them to, and coming into the game against them, we knew to look for one thing: the huck. they have some really tall guys, some decent throwers, and not much else. we actually traded for the first few points, but once our d found its groove (aka how to recognize being last back and how to put robert at deep in a zone when all they want to do is huck anyway), their offense was on the field until something like 9-4. at some point, charlie had a wild sky, and we wound up finishing the game on offense, but not before i turfed and then floated flicks, both of which resulted in breaks. i blame being on the sideline for so long.
there were some real common themes in both of these games. first, robert on the d line is looking like it's going to be a good thing. the man knows how to generate a turn, and i think his defense has gone underrated for a while. more importantly, though, he's really hard to cover and can throw pretty much whatever he wants when he wants it unless he's facing a real lockdown defender, both of which are traits you don't mind having in someone that you're asking to run the show once you have the disc. with him as a solid and calming force, our other d handlers were able to relax a bit and know that as long as they kept looking dump/swing early, someone would be open. as cutting awareness and chemistry gets better, our defensive offense is only going to get more efficient. sweet.

with saturday in the books, we went to the girls' fields and watched them beat ecu on double game point. on the way over, we saw what would become our entertainment for the night: neeley st. after dinner, we checked it out, and after it got dark, we went back and put it in the hands of its rightful owner, me. brooks proved himself to be both horrible and good at stealing things all in the same half hour.


sunday

our first game sunday was against wake forest. yeah, it was quarters and we played well (took half 8-2, cruised to something like 15-5), but the real reason this game was cool was because it featured a dagley v. dagley matchup. as a personal fan of brotherly matchups (mostly because they only go in my favor), i was happy to see this. the elder seemed to be in control when they were actually guarding each other, but mitchell looks like a smart player who's going to be really good once he gets his rhythm down. i did my best to forestall this process, though, nearly killing him on a layout d in the endzone. on that note, personal highlights in this game included a pull that went out of bounds on the unc-uncw field, along with getting live at the bbq not once, but twice.

semifinals against duke was our closest win of the weekend. we took half 8-4 and i think went to 9-4, but we got lazy here and there and let them back into the game to the tune of something like 10-8. we were forcing abnormal stuff like breaks that were something like 70% rather than on side throws that were 100%, and when they broke us twice, we started putting up some stupid hucks. we cooled it though, and eventually got the win 15-11. they definitely looked better than i remember from years past, with a couple of guys pulling real athletic plays in the air. i will say is one thing they don't like to do is dump, so when we took away their lanes and made them do it, they didn't handle it well. still, after missing out on regionals last year, i'll be curious to see what happens with duke in 2009.

on the opposite side of the bracket, unc beat wilmington and played ecu, who had taken down elon, and then ecu beat unc on universe to go to finals. going in, i expected a couple of guys to have good throws and the rest of them to be relatively disciplined, waiting on those guys to get the throws they wanted and then making the cut for them. this was more or less the case, and they scored their first point off of a centering throw and a huck. our o held, they held, and then they broke us. after that, though, we decided we didn't want any nonsense and put out a couple of breaks. they called a timeout after one of them, but came out sitting and kneeling on the line. really, they just looked real tired, and we stepped it up briefly before coasting to the 15-7 win.

we got a big beer class as a championship trophy, took a few pictures, watched the girls (tough loss to duke, but amtrak had a boss layout on a deep throw), and headed to cookout. overall, the weekend was really good. we played with real open rotations, and while there were some kinks on the parts of both rookies and vets, i'd say that our showing with what was a preliminary team was as good as we would have hoped. really, it's nice to win tournaments whenever you play in them.


next week is ccc (we played as X and Y in matt baccary memorial tournament this weekend, with Y losing to w&m in the finals), which is something we're all looking forward to. the competition's going to be real tough, higher than a lot of our players have really ever seen. but we're up to it. night train's coming.

the upa takes on wall street

as a grade a procrastinator, there's nothing like frisbee on the internet to keep me off task. a new blog (or old) blog entry, an ultivillage highlight, or an innane rambling to the club email list will usually do the trick. but as i started to do the reading for a midterm paper at 9 last night, conger called and alerted me to a real gem.



turns out i probably would have stumbled accross what he was calling about at some point sooner or later. as most everyone probably knows right now, cultimate abruptly enveiled Conference 1 to the public. you can read more about it on the website, but the basic plan is to take their conception of the top 25 teams in the country, sort them into five divisions based on geography, and have them play a five-tournament, 34-game regular season. the top 14, plus two teams not initially given the nod to compete in the Conference, would then play at Cultimate nationals. the sticking point in all of this is that these teams would not compete in the UPA series.

i had to really make an effort to only check up on things once in a while through the night, but since the initial news hit rec, there have been over ten seperate threads with hundreds of posts. the huddle dropped three different articles (including an interview with the homeboy brodie), and everyone from players here at uva to toad seems to have an opinion.

well, here's mine:

• first, i think a lot of people saw this or something like it coming sooner or later. Cultimate really has been doing big things, and with the growing success of their tournaments, they at least have the audience to entertain the notion. i think the fact they're in a position to have people lamenting the death of the UPA at the drop of a new website speaks volumes about both where the college scene is now and just how big a deal this could potentially be.

• that said, the key word here is potentially. according to The Huddle, only Florida and Texas have officially signed on, and even then, if no one else participates i'm sure they'll bail. while i can see a lot of teams wanting to do this (the whole free jersey and no tournament fee deal is, well, a sweet deal, and if all of the teams invited were to participate, the level of competetion would certainly be pretty hard to beat), there are some things that have me skeptical. rostering issues, the short notice, and the potential controversy of two different college champions are some of the things that make me wonder if those who see this as a simple ultimatum to the upa are right. still, Cultimate seems to be on board the whole "gowing professionalism in frisbee" thing, so i suspect they have some kind of reason to confidently break this kind of news.

• as for whether Conference 1 would be a good or bad thing if it actually happened is really dependent on who you ask. for people who really want to see the sport get more exposure and gain "legitimacy" (whatever that means), it's probably a step in a favorable direction. for those who never even have a shot at getting into double digits during sectionals, i doubt it matters much at all. maybe i'm being selfish, but i feel like those who would really affected by the current proposal are those playing for teams who seem themselves as on the cusp-- the type of team that made sunday in arguably the nation's toughest regionfor the first time in a while, lost somewhat respectably to one of these Conference 1 teams, and is returning pretty much everyone. i think everyone's first reaction is to think that things are a little unfair. obviously, the possibility of not really being given a shot to show we belong belong is stomach churning. still, though, i'm witholding my judgement. there are so many maybes surrounding this whole thing that it's senseless to draw any conclusions. besides, Cultimate ain't got shit to do with shit when it comes to Wolfpack and CCC.

• this whole broughaha does drive home a reality that i've been thinking about a lot lately: more and more, we're seeing the emergence of a college ultimate elite. a decent, but still small enough to make it exclusive, number of teams are getting more and more selective with the tournaments they go to and the teams they play. while i certainly don't think that right now this means they have the best athletes and players accross the board, i do think this trend could lead to a drop-off in the mobility among teams that aren't quite top tier. when you play a better team, you learn from it: how they act, what sets they run, how good of shape they're in, etc. really, it's the whole reasoning behind an up and coming team wanting to go to centex or stanford in hopes of being better prepared at regionals. if high levels aren't accessible, this phenomena could really decline. moreover, one thing that i really love about ultimate is the lack of stratification. the idea that making nationals and being guarded by a callahan winner isn't that far out of reach is pretty cool, and i'd hate to see that possibility go. i think, though, that i'm getting ahead of myself. besides, who's to say that if the current "elite" teams block themselves off they won't end up recycling stale match-ups and suffer a fall off themselves?

• from the few times i've talked to Skip, he seems like a genuinely nice guy who has ultimate's best interest at heart. i'll reserve comment about Cyle.

like i said, i'm not ready to jump to any conclusions about this thing. if anything, it's nice to see so much concern and engagement with regard to our sport's governing body (keep in mind that you have another two weeks or so to vote in upa elections).

really, though, i'm just waiting for dar's commentary.

happy birfday

it's my brother's birthday.
i've come across this post a few times and it always makes me think of him.

A word or two on cutting

When I started playing, I was not a very good cutter. Aside from not being anything special in the speed, quickness, or leaping ability categories, certain concepts that were thrown around when I was taught usually left me more confused than open. Older players would tell me where to line up, when and where to cut, and where to clear, but once the disc was tapped in I usually wound up feeling like a chicken with my head cut off. In other words, no matter how many times cutting was explained or drawn out on paper, I still wound up clogging lanes, cutting off others, and clearing to the wrong place.

Over time, I've developed a better understanding of the skill. Some of this has come practicing and refining my own cutting while some has come from seeing the field as a handler. For anyone trying to get better as a cutter, the following basic guidelines have proven themselves handy for me.

1. Use the space
When I coached at camp this summer, this was one of the most basic and common concepts that was stressed to the kids. Very often do all four of a team's cutters wind up on one half (usually the force side) of the field, dragging all four of their defenders with them, and more times than not this can be remedied with the simple reminder that the other half exists. There's a whole lot of space out there, and as a cutter, you should be looking to use it. Regardless of what any formula, strategy, or play says, if you are looking to cut somewhere and there is someone already there, you should find someplace else. Aside from avoiding the formation of a blob of offensive players all wondering why they aren't being thrown to, cutting to open space is nice because it's a gift that keeps on giving: by going to space, you're clearing the space that you were previously in, meaning that someone else will fill that space, which will lead to someone else filling that space, and so on. SPACE. Which leads me to my next point...

2. Recognize that you're cutting not as an individual but as a memeber of a unit
What this truly means is this: not every cut you make should result in you getting the disc. Since you have to focus on where you need to be and what you need to be doing, it can be really easy to fall into the trap of thinking that your objective is to be receiving the disc at all times. Not true. Yes, you want to sell your cut, and yes, you absolutely want to be running your ass off, but it's important to note that a cut that makes space available for a teammate to get open contributes just as much to the offense as the cut made by said teammate. For a really basic illustration, picture the ho stack set up off of a stopped disc. The middle two cutters are likely to be the first to move. It's also likely that one will go in and one will go out, giving the thrower two options. In this situation though, throwers are generally looking to throw to the in cut, meaning that the cutter going out is really serving two purposes: obviously, he's a deep option, but, more importantly, he's clearing space for the in cutter. If he didn't move, his defender could poach in the lane and the defense could clamp down on the single cutter in motion. This idea also goes for clearing: when you've been looked off, it does a whole lot more good to move quickly out of the lane so that the space you were just in can be used by the next cutter than it does to clog it up, expecting to get the disc because you think you're open.

3. Look around
In the spirit of cutting as a unit rather than an individual, make sure to take a glance at where the other cutters on your team are and to note what they're doing. This will help you see both the space that is immediately available and what's about to become available, as well as what's about to be occupied. I've often heard the mantra "if you don't know what's going on, run harder," and while I generally agree, looking around will give some purpose and direction to that running. A bit more on making adjustments while cutting can be found here.

4. Dont. stop. running.
If my last point was self-evident, this one should be coming in loud and clear. Whatever you do, do it at full speed and with every intention of getting to wherever you're going before your defender does. As a cutter, your own sense of timing regarding when to move, when to look around, and where to go will come, but one thing you can do at all times is run as hard as you possibly can. At the very least, you'll tire your defender out and eventually get open because of it. Once you've decided on where to go, go there, and go fast.

The first half of the latest Clip of the Day does a pretty good job of illustrating these concepts. Watch Sockeye (in blue Team USA jerseys) cutters (in order as they appear in the play) Mike Caldwell (#20), Sam C-K (14), Ron Kubalanza (25), and Moses Rifken (10). After the pull is brought down and Wiggins is looking upfield, Caldwell immediately streaks in under, and after seeing that he's not open for a backhand, plants hard and clears, getting the disc on his clear cut. As Caldwell catches and turns upfield, C-K is streaking in, his man a few steps behind him. Even though he appears to be open, he immediately plants and gets out upon seeing that he's being looked off, cutting to the deep space that is open behind him. This clears room for Kubalanza, who moves in and gets the disc. As he looks up, who is coming in? C-K, whose deep cut for Caldwell set up his in cut for Kubalanza. As for the rest of the point, things kind of deteriorate and wind up in an overthrown huck at a tough angle, but the ideas of cutting to space, clearing room for teammates, and being aware of where things are developing are all there. Also, the speed at which they're doing all this is pretty high.

As with any kind of strategic thought, there's always both the really basic and the extremely detailed. Some stuff on the finer points of cutting can be found here (along with everything else Parinella has to say, I really like the phrase "coordinated mayhem") and here.

For our rookies, I hope this helps. If it doesn't, take solace in knowing Robert's self-given animology as well as his favorite sauce.

GM

Ain't that some shit

Capital Open Sectionals was postponed this weekend due to heavy rain Friday night that apparently put the polo fields in Poolesville in jeopardy. Sucks. Floodwall wound up organizing a fairly productive four team get together in Fredricksburg (O and D line, UVA rookie Sectional team, and Woodside HS [actually mostly alumn]).

In lieu of a write-up, I'll just comment on the Sectionals results around the country that have caught my eye.

Back in Washington, Sockeye beat Furious 15-10 to take the Section. One funny side note is that my brother texted me immediately after their game against Sockeye to tell me that he had scored one of their three points. His man was poached off of him and he caught a hammer, but I thought it was pretty cool nonetheless. Anyway, given that this Section and its respective region (Northwest) seem to always be a toss up between the top teams, I wouldn't read too much into things. I'm willing to guess that Sockeye had an easier time playing Furious than they did with Furious+, but with the loss of Chase, both Seths, and Sam O'Brien, maybe each team's subtractions since Worlds will turn out to be a wash. With the addition of Oregon and Northern Cal, the Northwest Region should provide a pretty exciting tournament.

That brings me to the Northern California Section, where Jam took care of Revolver 15-10 as well. With both the MSSUI article covering them and having gotten a chance to watch Revolver first hand at Solstice, I was curious to see who would win that one. They're a pretty high energy team that seemed to rely a lot of having fresher legs and working harder than their opponents. All I really know about Jam is that they are really experienced playing with each other and are purported to move the disc pretty quickly (Plinko?). Jam wins this round, but like before there will more to come in two weeks. YR seems to have done alright, losing only to the higher seeds, but it's too bad there's no score on their game against Revolver.

Another team I had my eye on was Guillermo Y Compania at East Coast Mixed Sectionals. Since, Tyler and Robert played with them all summer and Brooklyn's continuing to do so, I was rooting for Guiller. They did alright, taking 4th in a pretty tough Mixed section, but I know that the expectations before the roster purge were, justifiably, much higher. It's worth noting that they did beat the champions, Bucket, which has me thinking that a trip to Nationals isn't out of the question for the remaining members of this team.

That about does it. Sectionals is now in two weeks, with Regionals the week after. Yesterday has me feeling even more optimistic about Floodwall's chances, as the D line really put together some quality possessions after turnovers and the O line seemed to value the disc more as the day went on. Along with writing about how things go, I'm hoping to get into some stuff of actual substance in the near future, so stay tuned.

GM

2008: A Summer

This club season has been an interesting one for me. Back in the spring, I talked to Xtehn Titcomb at Roll Call about possibly practicing with Voodoo while home for the summer. My plan at the time was to spend June-August in Seattle and then return to play for either Floodwall, the Richmond open team I played for last faIl, or Axis of C'ville, the Charlottesville mixed team that made Nationals last year. Either way, I wanted to be up to club speed by the time I returned. Plans changed, though, and by the time classes ended I had both decided to stay for only a month or so and heard from Voodoo that they wouldn't be taking practice players.

It seemed for a moment that I'd be left without an option while back home, but luckily both my brother and RSD came through with word of Third Team (they've since changed their name to Downpour), which is exactly what it sounds like: a third Seattle team made up of players who either didn't tryout for Sockeye/Voodoo or didn't make it. Not wanting to go seven weeks without doing much more than working out and playing pickup, I was more than happy when Rusty Brown, the captain (and also assistant coach at Northwest) said that I could play.

I had actually pulled my hamstring chasing down a huck from Conger at Axis practice right before leaving Charlottesville, so I spent the last two weeks of May running distance and trying to strengthen my leg. Once I got back to health, things were great. I was playing at least four times a week, along with working out with Matthew (my brother) and friends from both Downpour and high school. The team itself was a lot of fun; practices were actually open to virtually anyone, making for a pretty cool mix of local Seattle guys, up and coming high school kids, and college players like me who were back for a period of time and in need of some avenue by which to play. A lot of the 2007 Northwest guys came out and practiced, (namely Casey, who was willing to put aside the fact that I spent the latter years of high school schooling him on his macking degree and put me on some serious Ultimate knowledge all summer long) which was cool for me since I had played soccer and interacted with them a lot but never got to play disc with them up until now. Quick thought: they're really good. Also, Fisher from Richmond randomly turned up one day and wound up representing the Blue Ridge with me.

In June, we went to both Flowerbowl in Vancouver and Solstice in Eugene, the latter of which was a particularly great experience for me because I got to play a whole tournament with my brother Matthew. Albeit against a below average team of Eugene pickups, he threw himself a coming out party during our second game on Saturday, pulling down a number of hucks over experienced players and showing a lot of composure against more pressure than he hadn't seen before. He only played YCC mixed this year, but I'm predicting a blow up between now and his college days. As for the team, our results at both tournaments were on the whole unimpressive (we got bageled by Voodoo and lost to Furious 15-1), but I got lots of minutes and touches on the disc, and since these were some of my first real interactions with elite ultimate (outside of Truckstop at last year's Sectionals), I felt like I was improving constantly. Besides, all of the dudes on the team were real cool and every game we played was a lot of fun. I really had a blast playing with Downpour, and I'll be rooting for them in the Series.

Quick side note: After seeing them and their players a couple of times, I do have a point or two of commentary regarding the new world champs. On the whole, I was pretty impressed with Furious. Their studs (Lugsdin, Grant, and Oscar) didn't really play in Vancouver, but even then their discipline as far as spacing downfield and throws was really something that I noticed. Other teams, even Voodoo at times, were able to match up athletically, but Furious just didn't seem to fuck up. When they did, their help D deep prevented D lines from quick huck scores, making breaks more difficult for players who perhaps weren't as confident playing offense. Also, Morgan Hibbert is really fun to watch play. All of this being said, I thought Sockeye was going to win Worlds because of their depth and athleticism. Congrats to Match, the greatest man in Ultimate, for all of the hard work he put in to prove me and all of his haters wrong.

While we're at it, let's just stay on the tangent tip. I spent a few chunks of time playing and being around stuff that wasn't strictly club play. I coached middle schoolers at Mike Mullen's Seattle Youth Ultimate Camp during the last week of June, and believe it or not have no complaints about playing frisbee with a bunch of cool (and really talented) kids while being paid for it. Teaching basic Ultimate is an interesting thing, as it both makes you think about your own fundamentals as well as forces you to articulate things that may come as second nature, something that I'll benefit from with regards to this year's rookies. I also played in both Potlatch (there's actually been a really long write up in a holding pattern that I may or may not get around to finishing and throw up here at some point) and Wildwood. As for Potlatch, it's a party: great play (Conger flew out and joined me on a NWS+ team) delicious beer, and still the best tournament in the world. That being said, Wildwood is a close second. Four v. four on the beach meant lots of hammers, laying out high and long, and the bright, flashing cavity that is the Jersey shore. Up next: Kaimana and Paganello.

So after my time back in the 206, I headed back to Charlottesville in early July to live in Peter's apartment, find some kind of job, and keep playing. At the time, I was pretty set on playing for Axis. They had been to Nationals, and have some vets who really know what they're doing. The only thing holding me back was that my teammates from school didn't really want to play for them. I went to Philly Invite with them and actually had a good time, playing well against AMP, Slow White, and some other good mixed teams. Without getting into too many details, though, it soon dawned on me that Axis really wasn't a good fit. I play this game because of the fun I have playing it with my good friends, and with the majority of them playing Floodwall and the others playing for teams that aren't Axis, I decided to stick with open.

My first Floodwall tournament this year was early August's Furniture City Shootout in High Point, North Carolina. Our results were disappointing at something like 2-4 with our only wins over old North Carolina has beens, but given that we only had 14 guys (with maybe 10 in decent shape at the time), I saw some real positives. Disc movement is way better than last year, and I think Tom running the D line is a good thing. Other highlights included Tom's boisterous account of an early teenaged hookup while sitting right in front of a couple and their teenaged daughter at IHOP, as well as Mike G trying to eat a frisbee. It was a good time, and I've since been comfortable with my choice.

With school's approach meaning a new crop of players, the reuniting of everyone, and all around good times, my excitement heading into September was buzzing more and more each day. I headed off to be a counselor at a summer camp for a week (where I taught a few willing kids to throw impressive flicks), but was ready to kick things into an even higher gear upon my return. I came back in time to settle back in for another week before school started, giving me time to welcome and chill with returning friends while enjoying the last bits of summer. All was well. Then I sliced my thumb open on a meat slicer at work and had to get ten stitches. You know, my right thumb, the one I use to grip the disc while throwing, which is kind of important if you're a frisbee player. Pretty shitty.

Fast forward to now: I cut my thumb two weeks ago yesterday, and got the stitches out last Friday. I can more or less throw right handed, although I'm not gripping the disc the way I'd like and am prone to the occasional slip. One benefit that has come of the situation, however, is that my lefty throws have vastly improved. Waste of time practicing them all summer my ass. I'm going to take it easy on it this week (read: keep going lefty) but should be fine by Sectionals on Saturday. As for Floodwall on the whole, practices have gotten better and better in the last month, with more coherent strategy emerging and attendance actually resembling what we hope to field during the Series. I was moved to the D line, an idea that was totally foreign to me six months ago but with which I am infinitely pleased. On the whole, I'm pretty optimistic about our shot at making Sunday of Regionals. Oh yeah, it also doesn't hurt to have recently picked up Tim MacGougan and Connor (of Richmond and Mary Wash-doublegamepointcallahanagainstwilliamandmaryinthegametogotheyearafterw&mmadesemisatnationals fame, respectively), who are probably two of the best players to come out of Virginia in recent years.

Three teams, two divisions, two coasts, and a shitload of frisbee. Like I said, it's been an interesting club season. Shit, it's been an interesting summer. Which brings me to this blog and its function. This entry has been sort of a word vomit that probably won't serve much purpose to anyone other than myself or those who have particular memories regarding the number of events I briefly mentioned, but I wanted to get it out so that whoever's reading has some kind of idea of where I'm coming from. What I hope to do in the coming months is keep a running record of my interactions with and thoughts on the whacky world of frisbee. I'm primarily looking to document UVA's season from now through the spring, but I'll probably come at you every now and again with thoughts and commentary about general strategy, teams and players I may or may not know, and whatever else that's got the internet goin' nuts. You can expect some long, rambling narratives like this one and some short, to-the-point commentary; really it'll be whatever strikes my fancy. Sit back and relax, cause the scene's about to get real thick.

I'll leave you with two thoughts:
1. Free Bobert Congstar. The legend lives on this blog.
2. Fun fact: When Ron Artest was a rookie on the Bulls, he applied to work at Circuit City so that he could get the employee discount. I couldn't really find much more, but I'm assuming the organization didn't really like the idea of Ronron pushing the latest Sony gear.

GM