The year was 2005, the place was Baltimore Airport. I was hating life after a recruiting trip at Johns Hopkins. After taking down half a dozen Long Islands the previous night, I woke up on the floor of my hotel room. My groggy/drunk/confused perspective that morning was rocked when I realized my flight was taking off at that exact moment. I made it to BWI about an hour late and spent the next 10 hours missing flight after flight on stand bye. As for my hangover, I can only describe it as comparable to whatever Saints fans are gonna feel after Mardi Gras.
Regardless, I was in much better shape than my poor UCSD counterparts. See while I was hating life back east, Bamboo was making his proverbial deal with the devil sending the likes of Oregon, Texas, Colorado, UBC, (insert elite program here) all over the San Diego Area to compete in what was left of a rained out Pres Day. While having balls the size of Sean Payton's, Jake didn't make any friends with the local housing communities and got UCSD's Ultimate program suspended for 6 weeks and Pres Day banned until 2007. To this day, the ripple effect of this tourney transgression continues to be felt, but finally the wake has made a return trip and given the La Jolla crowd some positive energy.
With the Pres Day vacancy of 2006, Skip changed the face of Spring Ultimate and recruited everyone save Georgia to the first Trouble in Vegas. In the coming years, TiV's success grew like the Vegas strip with Arizona, Florida, and Wisconsin making ultimate headlines that are now stapled in Flatball History Books.
What of Pres Day? Well a few folks made the trek in 2007 but I believe it was rained out once again. The following year borrowed some Sunburn hype and a tourney win for Texas, but TiV still owned the spotlight.
But as I wrote last week, what the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Last year TiV was about as exciting as the most recent BCS title game in that the right teams were there but the experience left something to be desired. Folks were understanding, but the atrocious conditions left many players bitter. By this time, UCSD's sense of betrayal by Cultimate was in full swing and rather than make the 5hr drive to Vegas, they stayed home and made the finals of the tournament everyone used to attend.
Much like Obama, Cultimate's popularity has been in a steady downward spiral the last 12 months. From C1 to suspect tournament scheduling to another TiV debacle, the hits keep on coming. Considering the fact that Ultimate players are among the most frugal in the sports world, hitting the pocket book without tournament glory is going to draw some frowns. Like Obama, the promises made were well beyond the realm of possibility, but nobody, even myself, wanted to acknowledge it.
However, much like 2005/2006, one man's trash is another man's treasure. This past weekend was one for the ages for my beloved Squiddies and that previous feeling of inadequacy has now been replaced with sheer confidence. Confidence in knowing you're better than the cards you've been dealt, confidence in knowing Cultimate would get theirs, and confidence to run off 4 breaks in a row to beat a team that boat raced you 13-5 three weeks prior.
Congrats to my RIMAC warriors. Although my life has taken me farther away from my roots than I would like, I still keep a watchful eye on my alma matter and my ear to the Grind Stone. Even in the Honda and Bofa days where we actually beat Colorado once, were invited to Stanford and made Semis at Nationals, we still couldn't win Pres Day. Much like the Saints, 2010 is a year of redemption for UCSD. Peripheral to the Stanford Open/Invite, Centex, Regionals, Nationals, or whatever tournaments you guys do or do not make, Pres Day was a success and 2011 will assuredly bring a few more Cultimate converts. San Diego may not have the cling-cling-cling of Vegas but it has the beach, women, and burritos. Three things that any age group can enjoy and three things the Southland does better than anywhere else.
Glory favors the patient my friends and much like Sunburn's emotional win at Vegas, this year is yours for the taking. I have always been proud to be a squid and in an age where Florida, Carleton, Wisconsin, and Colorado box out most from the spotlight, moments like this are beyond words. The Hodags can have Mardi Gras, JoJah can have Queen City. We just won our own mother fucking tournament.
just my thoughts
match diesel
4 comments:
The real question is will it go back to a 3 day tournament next year.
Awesome, awesome stuff. Thats not the first time UCSD beat Cal, but a big tournament win and huge experience and confidence boost.
I think Prez day can return to elite status by next year, if not by 2 years. TiV has shown that it's not a great tournament, mostly because of weather. However, it's hard for the smaller schools to turn down the chance to play teams from all over the country and gamble. However, if Prez day focuses on getting big name schools and no B-teams at their tournament they get their rep back.
Also, does this mean my favorite cousin is back to writing on a consistent basis?
PresDay has already returned to greatness on the women's side of things.
In 2010, all 4 semifinalists from last year's College Champions were in San Diego last weekend. Wisconsin, Colorado, Carleton, Texas, Western Washington, Arizona, and Illinois also made the trip (in addition to the more local California teams).
Much better competition than TiV this year for the women.
Post a Comment