Back Behind Closed Doors

I'm not certain how the rest of you out there feel, but for me, 2009 seems to be very different than years past for College Ultimate. This doesn't really come as a surprise considering how much has changed in the last year. The economy has been rocked, Cultimate has drastically changed their tournament organization and my investigative efforts in this game have more or less ceased. With this in mind, I believe that the information with respect to College Ultimate is now, sadly, back behind closed doors.

Closed doors? No, I don't believe College Ultimate is the subject of a conspiracy but I do believe that the information pipeline has dried up. Because our sport only flirts with professionalism, a solid information pipeline is a luxury not a right. If we want pictures, stories, scores, or information from a tournament, we either need to be there ourselves or have a friend hook us up. For the last few years, people like Rob, Matt Lane, Scobel Wiggins, Alex Peters, Chad Borer, Gwen Ambler, Hector, the Count, Parinella, myself, etc.. have attempted to capture the tournament experience in our own little way and bring it to the masses. For the participants, much of this information isn't necessary because "they were there" but for the bulk of the Ultimate community, UvTv, Ultimatetalk.com, and RSD are the only sources of data, true or otherwise. However, considering the level of difficulty associated with this kind of hobby/work, maintaining the media pipeline is not a given.

With that in mind, I feel like the game has taken a step backwards this year, as far as media exposure and fanfare are concerned. With Cultimate more or less controlling the entire regular season, it seems like the bulk of information regarding the sport is only held by a select few. Schedules and scores are only known by participating teams and organizers, and while they may be the only ones that matter, I have found it incredibly difficult to formulate any solid opinions or predictions this year.

This isn't to say that anyone is being malicious or deceitful, it's just that it seems that very little information is making it past the parking lot at major tournaments this year. Skip asked me to write about Stanford Invite a while back and I declined because I didn't really know what to say. The schedules seem to involve a lot of thought but they don't follow any sort of historical algorithm and without well orchestrated score reporter updates, those of us at home are at the whim of RSD, something I'm sure none of us enjoys. Bottom line, we are not as informed as we once were, which goes to show you that we can't take information for granted.

It was only a few years ago that Rob attempted Fantasy Ultimate at Centex and with seedings and pools posted a week or so before tournaments, discussions spread like wild fire on blogs and RSD. Vegas was always a bit weird, but pool play predictions and point differentials were discussed in great lengths, but only because the information was available.

However, without said information making the score reporter, a lot of the data associated with our sport seems to be behind closed doors, a situation that eerily resembles Ultimate of yesteryear. When I first got started, keeping up with teams was impossible. You were lucky if you caught a top 25 from the UPA every other month or so and if a tournament was on the score reporter you stared passionately at the screen until the bracket results were burned into your brain. At the time, many college players were of the opinion, "if you weren't playing, then why do you care?" but I cared and I get the feeling a lot of you out there do as well.

I'm not entirely sure how the players feel about this year, but I doubt Kansas enjoyed watching Florida bagel St. Louis. From what I've read on UCSD's tournament blog, it looks like they are ok with things thus far, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed with the level of discussion this year. It just seems like there is not a whole lot to talk about.

I mean lets take a look at a major talking point every year, the Callahan. Can anyone give me a clear candidate? Has anyone been talked about much this year? Last year Joe Kershner's hype lasted from February to May, not to mention guys like Jolian Dahl, Kurt Gibson, Mark Sherwood, and Stephen Pressley. Mac Taylor has been talked about off and on the last few months, but Colorado has been anything but consistent and with a clear drop off in discussion this year, a bunch of red on your score reporter page does not help in the voting process.

Personally, I think Brodie Smith is easily the front runner. I mean who else is playing better than Florida? And better yet, who is known to be playing better? I thought Will Neff would runaway with the award this year but I get the feeling people are a bit indifferent at the moment. Rob doesn't seem to be as active as he once was and Cultimate TD's haven't done the best job articulating their tournament structure to the masses, so it is hard to even know who the best teams are, and this is coming from a NUMP member.

A year ago, I was at Centex balls deep in the game but everything I saw and discussed made it online faster than I could sober up and jot down my drivel. I can remember Reid Koss with his iPhone updating scores and Dale, Skizip and Rob scrambling around trying to get round by round coverage online for UvTv.

However, this year has come and gone and I've only got a handful of talking points. Hector had a nice little piece about two Wisconsin Women (Courtney Kiesow and Georgia Bosscher) but active player/writers like Ryan Thompson have been anything but vocal. I mean The Pulse hasn't been updated in almost a year. Michigan has gotten on the blogsphere as have a few others but consolidated discussion seems a bit absent. I suppose this just goes to show you how difficult it is to stay active as a writer in this sport. Passion will get you far but it does run out once the cleats are off. It just gets hard to stay motivated when winning isn't on the table.

I can't help but think that the economy has something to do with the situation. Last year I bought plane ticket after plane ticket and now I look back and scratch my head thinking "How did I afford that?". I had some help from some supportive family members, but I can't help but feel like the game has suffered from tough times.

Bottom line, all of this has me a little scared. I really enjoyed following the game, not only for my own personal interest, but because it kept people paying attention. With constant dialog and discussion, whether it be rooted in 100% objective fact or just rumors, we pay attention and where there is attention there is scrutiny. This year's Nationals will have two huge changes (potentially) and I wonder how a lack of discussion will affect things. Four more teams will be at The Show but without a lot of chatter this year, I feel like no one even really knows/cares who is on the bubble.

In addition, the whole Active Observer idea is a great one, but I wonder if it will come to fruition. I know that Florida is a big fan of them but having Virginia and Middlebury decline observers in the Finals at Easterns shook my confidence that AO will be voted for this May. These two teams are not what I would call Nationals powerhouses, but having teams make these types of choices is a little disheartening. I'm not certain why they went this way, but I wonder if other programs would have done the same. Active Observes seem to be an important form of scrutiny but with a clear drop off in 3rd party analysis this year, I wonder if AO will disappear the way fanfare has this season.

For those that followed things last year and for the last few years, I think it is pretty obvious how inconsistent exposure in this game is. With this in mind, I now appreciate how unoriginal people like myself are. At Club Nationals I met this old school Ultimate guy that was brought on as a videographer for Rob. He was telling me about how he filmed Club Nationals back in the Ken Dobyns' days and he was telling me that they had announcers/commentators. This came as somewhat of a surprise to me because I thought live commentary for Ultimate was a relatively new concept, but apparently it has come and gone and come again, as has tournament discussion, online magazines, and general media exposure. I know that the UPA was looking for a permanent media director which would be nice but with the volatility of UPA positions, I wonder if this is just a pipe dream. In any event, a stable media entity would undoubtedly be helpful.

Ultimately, I get the feeling that fanfare in this sport is a little bit like the "1" from the Matrix. There is a steady progression of people interested in following the sport and hype/media exposure picks up momentum. We reach a pinnacle of interest but such an emotional high cannot be sustained indefinitely. Once this moment comes and goes, things cool off and because college players turn over so fast, the proverbial "reset" button gets hit. I'm as guilty as any for not fully appreciating our sport's past, but with transient "historians" instead of permanent media personnel, it's very difficult to remain informed. The information just isn't passed on particularly well, or at least not for long. After a while in the information doldrums, someone is inspired to get back on the media horse and bring the game to the latest population of college masses. He/she may believe they are conducting groundbreaking work, but in all seriousness, it's all been done before.

I get the feeling the reason behind this is simply the sport vs hobby nature of Ultimate. There seems to be a faceless, yet extremely powerful, force keeping Ultimate from becoming mainstream and while there is significant sacrifice in becoming a full fledged sport, we are currently nothing but gold fish. We see our present as something new and fantastic but in reality, it is nothing new at all. Few talking points are unique, very little is remembered for more than a few years and history undoubtedly repeats itself over and over and over.

just my thoughts

match diesel