Tournament Shakeups in 2008

If you've grown accustom to the general summer schedule of elite teams, 2008 is a bit irregular.  This comes as no real shock because of Worlds and teams like Sockeye and Furious have slightly different goals this year than the rest of the open division.  To complicate matters, considering that Sockeye runs the most elite tournament of the year, ECC, their change in focus has had a significant ripple effect that has modified the major tournaments throughout the country.  Lets take a look at what this summer is going to be like for the next two months.

July

First lets take a peak at this month. In years past July has been a relatively slow month for the elite. Tournaments like Solstice and Cal States are in June and ECC, Colorado Cup, and Labor Day are in August. However, Sockeye is throwing one of the most exciting tournaments of the summer, the Sockeye Invite, so that they can get some serious competition before they set off for Vancouver.  This tournament is more or less the ECC of 2008 because ECC this year won't have an open division.

Of all the teams coming to Seattle, I think PoNY is the most interesting. The Condors, Revolver and Rhino have all had their chances at Nationals and are all in the 8-12 range. Likewise Furious and Sockeye are perennial contenders and Voodoo carries a feeder team label. PoNY is the one team coming from outside the west coast and they have yet to make Sarasota. The story surrounding PoNY this year (and keep an eye on mssui for more) is their quest to take 3rd out of the NE this October ahead of Bodhi. Bodhi is the new kid on the block in New England and have looked good thus far. However, in making the trek across the county, PoNY is giving themselves an opportunity to expand on their experience, which they can/will use at Regionals.

Peripheral to my own interest in PoNY and Bodhi, the biggest story from this tournament will be Furious and Sockeye. Furious has 2 tournament wins (Solstice and Flowerbowl) but also has 2 losses to Sockeye Y. They have yet to play Sockeye at full strength since a 2/3 game at Regionals last year and this will be their/our last chance to see them before Worlds. Likewise, Sockeye has been fairly under the radar this year. They were split squad at Cal States and didn't make an appearance at Solstice as a team. They haven't played as a total unit since Dream Cup (and even that team was missing players) and this tournament will be their first time competing as a team in '08 and the last chance they have before they make their gold medal run.

August

Next month, the multitude of teams not competing at Worlds will have their fair share of competitive chances. Colorado Cup is one of the best tournaments of the year and will feature 7/8 Nationals contenders and 2 of 4 semifinal teams. The only teams that aren't back in 2008 are Boston and Machine but the tournament does have a second division with teams from both coasts, good work Degs. 

In addition to CC, Chesapeake Open in the middle of the month could be one of the most competitive tournaments of the summer. Because ECC isn't happening, teams like Bravo, Ring, Boston, and Chain are in need of another regular season tournament and will take their chances in Maryland. The elite division of this tournament will have 10 teams (BAT, Boston, Chain, GOAT, Bravo, Machine, PoNY, Ring, SubZero and Truck Stop), 9 with Nationals experience. Like the Sockeye Invite, this will be another opportunity for PoNY to improve while Bodhi competes in the Open division.

At the end of the month we will see the best Club Tournament short of Nationals at Labor Day. The line up for Santa Cruz is unreal with 12 out of 16 teams from Nationals (no Chain, VBB, Pike, or Machine) and there is no doubt that we will see some serious fireworks. In addition, 2 teams that are close as any to the show this year, PoNY and Revolver, will be in attendance. Once again, another opportunity PoNY has that Bodhi does not.

Closing Thoughts
Wow, this is a short piece, like it KG? In any event, this summer is going to be weird because of Vancouver, but the usual epically fun tournaments are still happening. Potlatch, Poultry Days, and Wildwood are the cornerstones of why summer ultimate is fun and no Worlds tournament is gonna screw that up. I missed out on Potlatch becuase of my damn foot, and god willing, I might finally may get to compete since Kaimana at the Wood. It's the best/worst idea ever, sorry TiV, but it is. Stay tuned for more content. Most of my really indepth stuff will be on mssui, but my spittle will find its way here in one from or another. Enjoy.

just my thoughts

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