Aloha!!

It’s official, the best place to have an ultimate tournament is Oahu, Hawaii. I have been to tournaments in every US time zone, Mexico, Canada, and the ultimate ultimate experience has to be the Kaimana Klassik. I just had myself a pretty sick nasty weekend in the sun and I thought I would share some details about my experience.

I thought I would start off by giving a run down of a few teams of interest.

Lone Star

First and foremost, the best team at this tourney (aside from my own) had to be my boys from Texas. These guys are spectacular. Skip, Natali, Matty, Wheels, Mars(?), and the rest of the boys from the “yee-ha” state are pocket Aces. My cousin Alex has told me about how badass they are for some time, but I didn’t know for sure. If there was a crowd that could match my flare, my stories, my social exploits, and could show me a better time than I could show them, it would have to be the Austin crew. I am glad Billings, Ross and Hartwell already knew some of them, but we were blood brothers before we even played our game against them first thing Saturday morning. Some hilarious comments included, “I want to make an enemy tonight” (Skip), “I’m distracting aren’t I” (Mars), “Ok Match, let’s get belligerent” (Matty), and “Dude, I forgot that I took a weed brownie this morning” (anonymous). I would love to tell ya’ll about our escapades, but yeah, not here. All I can say is that I will be saddling up with them in a month at Centex and if anyone wants a good time, look for a bunch of tall drunken cowboys and a red head. Oh and Mars, accept my Facebook request so we can work out that three way deal with my colt jersey and the XL blue lone star long sleeve. I might just end up buying it when I get to Austin but I’ll send you a fresh jersey once I get back to the Have.

Voltron

Yeah, so this team was the all-star squad. They were probably the most fun team to watch and it sucked that they lost in semis. Notable players were Ben Wiggins, Josh Greenough, John “Kid” Hammond, Parker Krugg, Adam “Chicken” Simon, Andrew Fleming, and that’s about all I can remember right now. I will say that I kinda liked seeing Kid pull a Chris Webber time out move against Ono because it let me know that even the best players make mistakes. I will say that I kind of went over board on bugging him, sorry. He is just so distracting, what with the whole kimono/Paule Shore look-a-like/I’m so good at ultimate I can play wearing a bunch of crap/tight T-shirt antics. If you don’t want attention, don’t go out of your way to draw it. He is a spectacular player though, great D, very dynamic offensive presence, and hugantic running strides. The guy moves like a cheetah.

I also want to take this opportunity to poke some fun at these guys since I massage their egos enough and I actually got a chance to see them interact in real life as opposed to just on the field. First off, wow, way to act like a bunch of high school football heroes. The whole white jumpsuits at the party was a little suspect. Way to go out of your way to make yourselves try and look really cool in a Saved by the Bell sort of way. Well, the teal Ono collard shirts were much worse, but still, you guys looked like you were from Terminix. Also, Chicken’s Carson Daly-esk MC-ing during the dance off had me scratching my head. Manisha "Slap" Daryani's dance moves definitely helped distract me from how pink and pretty Mr. Simon is (side note: it really sucks that Slap got a ginormic concussion putting her on vomit duty during the women’s finals. Had she, Becky, and that girl that destroyed her leg, played in the finals, it would have been a much closer game). I will say it was a pleasure playing against him and the rest of Voltron despite the fact that they spanked us in quarters. I think most folks are aware Chicken is a premier handler, but I was really impressed with his D. Also, thanks guys for printing Voltron hats in blue, it’s my favorite color. You wouldn't think the last 15 seconds of this video would be inspiring but, who’s the savy veteran now?

Hey and ulti arnie, you never told me what your nickname means. You played really well and I hope I get the chance to see you and the rest of NC State this spring.

Ono

HA! This is too easy. Let me just say, Air Squids 1, Black Tide 0.

Stanford

As far as actual ultimate goes, these boys definitely did not disappoint. I wasn’t in Goleta last month for Santa Barbara Invite, but the undergrads really did well this weekend. They started off really slow against the Japanese team winning a squeaker 11-9, but after getting their shit together, they really kicked ass and made semis. Sherwood is a stud, Ezra is a sick deep, and Schlag is as badass as his last name. I wish I could have seen Tom James play more, but he sat out most of our game. We played them in power pools and I was really stoked to get the chance to play against a team I have been following for so long. High points were me NOT getting D’d by Derek Frome despite his extremely tight/physical man D. Low points were my heckling (I sucked this game) and the fact that we lost. Their offense was really crisp and our team, despite a ton of talent, had trouble converting on O because we had never played with each other. In addition, it was really nice to meet Ryan “The Pulse” Thompson. He is a good guy and it sucks that he couldn’t play because of a broken arm.

Skeletor

This team was fun to watch because they were basically the Stanford talent of yester year, in addition to some bay area guys. Wiseman played a great game in the finals and the punk ass cost me a sourdough jack and two tacos. Thanks to his like 11 scores, I had to buy a drunk as fuck Protik 3 Big Macs instead of him buying me some Jack in the Box goodies I can’t get in New Haven. It was also cool seeing Mike Payne (Skeletor, Revolver, Jam, Stanford) line up against Steve Dugan (Ono, Condors, UCSB). I hope they swapped digits after all their marking contact. Skeletor definitely made the finals exciting after letting Ono creep up on them to tie it at 14’s after they had a 14-12 lead. I think the best thing about this game was that it was a semblance of the old rivalry between UCSB and Stanford. Back in the 90’s these teams were both at the top at the same time and I am sure players like Greg “Hollywood” Husak (Ono) and Mike Payne have no love lost over the last 10-15 years. The best heckle from our group during the finals was the Kevin Cissna movie chants. Every time he got the disc we would yell out a different Brad Pitt movie and while I didn’t initiate it, I definitely dropped Thelma and Louise first.

Almos Pau

I couldn’t talk about teams without mentioning my own. What I thought would be a San Diego squad was mostly Mischief and Shazaam players. We had some great handlers, some great cutters, some great defenders, and great overall teammates. Here are a few things that I liked about my team, or I just thought were funny/cool:

1) Leetch, you could totally be a pretty boy douche bag and you aren’t. Thanks for being a lot of fun and I really enjoyed playing with you.

2) I ran into a guy I played with at Acapulco (Jeremy Clark) before games started and we were both happy to see each other and he mentioned that Cole (another friend from Mexico last year) was at the tournament as well. I was stoked and looked forward to crossing paths with him. Needless to say, the guy was actually on my team and I didn’t know it yet. HA! We had fun.

3) After the tournament ended, I got the chance to tell Brett Kolinek from Bravo/Colorado State that I hated him when I was a squid and he played for Hibida. I told him why and we both laughed at a story that is now ancient history. People, get used to liking all ultimate players because you never know when they will be your teammate some day.

4) Beevers, you make me laugh. You got balls and very interesting taste in women.

5) Protik and Becky are two of the best people I have ever met. Pro let me play for Almos Pau and he and his wife Becky basically babysat me the whole weekend. They shuttled me to and from the airport, let me stay at their house, hooked me up with showers/food/greenery, and were just good friends. Oh and did I mention I had never met them before? Gotta love ultimate players.

The whole team was a ton of fun and not only were we fun, but we were good. We went 3-1 in pool play and managed to battle back and beat the Doughboys (Australia) on double game point to make quarters. I wish I had actually caught this fucking disc, but later I managed to call a game saving pick that got us one of the breaks we needed to win the game.

My Gripes

So this tournament was fun but there are some things that I want to bitch about and since it’s my blog, I am going to say whatever I want.

First, the fields are HARSH. My joints look like burger right now. They are like playing in a thorny bush. Yikes. My scratches were definitely excessive and not the norm, but when you are stuck indoors for 5 months, you are going to take every bid opportunity you can. It was worth it.

The food was ehh. The only stuff that was actually good was the pig you had to buy for lunch everyday. That stuff was legit and only 5 bucks. Dinners were forgettable though. Weird Mexican stuff with processed nacho cheese? Meat paste egg rolls? Whatever the hell that salad stuff was? However, there was a TON of free liquids including copious amounts of booze, juice, Gatorade, and coffee. That made things extremely helpful in battling the blistering heat and getting hjammered (no typo) come party time.

Hippy bullshit. This has been bugging me for a long time and I am going to bring it up now. I am so god damn tired of the PC/green peace/sensitive crap associated with ultimate players. COME ON!! Yes I am a male, yes I am heterosexual, and yes I want to eat meat. In the food line, the first thing asked was not “chicken or beef?”, it wasn’t “pig or fish?”, it was “are you vegetarian?”. Really? Since when did eating meat become this unpopular? We have been doing it for a million years and now it’s a crime against nature? It’s an unhealthy lifestyle? It’s unsustainable? You guys are almost as bad as the Atkins nuts. Maybe I am just part of a sport that has a lot of green minded people and I suppose that is ok. It’s like being a Pink Floyd fan as well as a stoner, but I am going to bitch anyway.

Yeah and after the finals, I sucked it up and my drunk ass stayed and picked up trash. Most folks left but I was a contributor to the mess and I wanted to do my part. I walked around for like 20 minutes rounding up garbage. However, when I went over to the stockpile I got frowns because I didn’t separate the recyclables from the non-recyclables. Are you fucking serious? Have you ever been to a sporting event or concert? Large groups of people don’t pick up after themselves. That is why people are paid to pick up trash. Get used to it. And when someone actually sacks up and does pick up after themselves, you are going to give them shit for not sorting it? I was pissed, but drunk, so I probably overreacted. But come on!

And the whole sex thing, yes I sometimes use words like “raped”, yes I am going to draw attention to hot women in ultimate (in what I believe to be a respectful manner) and yes I like to tell offensive stories/jokes. Sorry, I really enjoy having that Y chromosome and I act like I have a pair. I try and keep it clean here but have any of you ever let yourselves laugh? I am having a kick ass time in my 20’s and securing a topnotch future in the process, not to mention entertaining some people in the process. I’m not going to be like this in 20 years (I hope?) but I will have the satisfaction that I did it right when I was young and I am not going to be a 40-something in a midlife crisis because I haven’t had any fun. Folks, it’s called age appropriate behavior. Enjoy life and don’t be a BUZZ KILL!! For help, watch more Family Guy and less Lifetime.

(I am probably barking up the wrong tree and I am going to get a lot of “Get used to it Match” but god, no wonder people make fun of our game and call it things like “fag-toss”. Not my words, so don’t give me that homophobic crap.)

Closing Thoughts

In any event, I loved Kaimana. I am not much of a camper because my dad drank and sucked at taking care of his sons, so I was a bit unprepared, but I had a great time none the less. I hope to return in 2009 with more friends than enemies, but we’ll have to wait and see. Thank you to the TD crew, you guys run a hell of tournament and I can see why the best in the world come all the way to your polo fields to rock out under the sun. Thank you to my team organizers (Pro and Ross) as well as our team mom (Becky), you gave me something I have wanted for a long time. Thank you to my Texas homies, you made this weekend unreal. Thanks Billings for being Billings. Thanks Hartwell for being a friend when you should have been one 3 years ago. Thank you to my teammates, you let a fat red head enjoy ultimate he can’t get in Connecticut. Thanks to anyone that laughs at my spittle and doesn’t toss too much shit at me when I unload it all over the place. And thank you for taking the time to read this, I am nothing without my audience.

Next stop Paganello?

just my thoughts

match diesel

UCPC thoughts

So I managed to make it up to Boston for this UCPC thing and I am really glad I did. It is more or less a convention of frisbee nerds talking about how to make all aspects of the game better. At first i was hesitant to go (I have no idea why, I think I am one of the biggest ultimate geeks) but I am really glad I made the trek from the Have.

Opening/Keynote Speaker

My first real experience at this conference was when George Cooke came up and introduced himself to me. I was very surprised mainly because he is much less intimidating in real life then his blog picture would have you believe. It was nice to chat with him and I will say that he (and Tiina) ran a great conference. We as ultimate players are in their debt.

Next came the keynote speech by Dr. Alan Goldberg. First, this guy was really entertaining to watch. I think he is about as close to a John Wooden as I am ever going to see in the flesh. This guy was a true competitor's competitor. He started with a story about getting his ass handed to him by some punk in tennis when he was a kid. Then he talked about how he trained for months and months (12 hours a day) and a year later, he still got his ass kicked. However, after much more training and hardship, he managed to take it to this little shit and tore him a new one. I loved it, great story (I am not doing it justice). In any event, the main message that I got from his speech was that being a champion is about suffering and failure. It is about getting out of your comfort zone and putting yourself through hell. Being complacent is death and the only way to truly dominate is to suffer, both physically, with endless training, and mentally, with failure and defeat. However, if you truly learn from your trials and tribulations and really put in the hours, you can succeed (wow, saturday morning special alert).

Another important lesson that I got from Dr. Goldberg was that it is really important to have goals and "why's" when you are training and preparing for competition. You can't have somebody tell you why you are working hard, it has to be your own personal reason (regardless of what it is), because that is the only thing that will motivate you through the pain and soreness. In addition, he also said that once game day comes, forget your goals, forget your "why's" and just play. "Leave emotion at the door" to quote Ocean's 11, and just execute. Forget about opponents and results, and more or less attempt to be a machine in motion. In only that manner can you really avoid letting pressure get to you and choking. Great work, I loved his over head projector too, who needs Powerpoint?

Mingle Session #1

The next thing up was the vendor display which included several booths from teams and companies. Also among the crowd were some of the biggest names in ultimate including Rob (ultivillage), Gwen Ambler, Kyle Weisbrod, Miranda Roth, Al de Frondeville, Sam Rosenthal, Seigs, yada yada yada. I was a bit star struck and had trouble breaking into the mingle session (at least this one). Sorry folks, I am a bitch. What made matters worse was after this pathetic social display, I felt like I was back in 7th grade and I went wandering through the halls to find my chosen seminar hanging my head. However, as I rushed through the halls, I passed a gentleman carrying a laptop, who stopped and said "Match?". Yeah, it was Ben Wiggins and I about fell over. I must have looked like such a tool. I suppose I don't like to be surprised because I like to give things a lot of thought before I do them. When I am caught off guard I don't have a chance to let things pass through the ol filter and I look like an idiot. But, I would collect myself and rally later in the day.

Seminar #1 - Speed, Agility, and Quickness (Michael Baccarini)

I never played any sports in high school so I am not in the know when it comes to complex bio-mechanics and training methods. I was curious to know what information was out there and, wow, is this guy knowledgeable. First off, I want to say that I won't be able to do his talk justice but I am going to buy his (and Tiina's) book. The main message that I got from his talk that I will articulate here, is that you really need to train in a manner that is fitting for ultimate. Because I never played in HS sports, I don't really know how to train. I would just run a lot and Michael said that just logging miles really won't help much. It is good for overall fitness, but it won't improve your game. This makes total sense considering that endurance running and ultimate running are completely different. Needless to say, this guy knows his shit and I think his book will really help me out.

Seminar #2 - Preparing for Ultimate (Gwen Ambler)

This was a great talk by Gwen that was filmed by Rob. It basically discusses how her team, San Francisco Fury, prepared for their 2007 season (where they won nationals). At first I was a bit skeptical about getting anything out of this talk. She plays for a world class team that has world class talent and world class goals. I play for a cute little club team that no one cares about. However, the lessons are still there and she was very helpful. The main message that I gathered from it was that you can't over prepare. Team politics, goals for the season, weather, everything can/should be approached objectively before/during the season. Another big lesson is that only a small subset of the team needs to be involved. Not every player needs to know the details of "THE PLAN" but they need to know that there is "A PLAN" and their responsibility is to execute it. Another thing that made this talk interesting was that in her strategic analysis she talked about how Stanford handled Miranda Roth (UW) in the finals after getting worked by her in pool play back in 2005. What was really funny was that Miranda was in the audience, I loved it. In any event, i finally mustered the nuts to introduce myself to Gwen after her talk and she was very nice. God I am such a wuss.

Lunch/Mingle Session #2

We had lunch in the cafeteria, it had been awhile since I had been in one of those. I didn't remember what I had registered to eat so I just had pizza, sorry if I took someone else's food. This is also when I sacked up and told myself "get your fat read headed ass out there and talk to people". So I started with Rob. I feel like he sees the game very similar to the way I do. We are both avid disc fans but not exactly elite level players. However, we want the game to be followed and viewed just like baseball or football. You could say I sort of look up to him. In any event, if you ever get the chance to see Rob in person, don't hesitate to talk to him, he is such a nice guy and is very willing to talk to anyone. So I introduced myself and we talked for awhile. I had so many questions and he was very genuine. I talk a lot about ultivillage here and I was curious to know if he was OK with that. To my surprise, the main message he had for me was that he just wants to have people discuss his footage. Good, bad, ambivalent, he just wants people to know it and I think that makes sense. It is his livelihood and if people are talking about it, that means they watch it and hopefully that means Rob gets some sort of financial benefit (which he could use now that he is a daddy).

Another name that I wanted to talk to was Kyle Weisbrod. He is more or less the Juniors aficionado considering he was the Youth Director for the UPA. I really feel like I don't know enough about Juniors and have really not given the demographic enough attention. However, after playing with some Juniors kids, I can say that they are definitely the future. In any event, I managed to talk to Kyle. He was very nice and I found myself talking more about ultimate than I had initially expected. One thing I underestimated at this conference was how much people just want to talk disc. I love to talk ultimate but few people around me really have any input because being an ultimate fan takes so much work. However, at UCPC, I felt like a Greek mathematician hanging out with the Pythagoreans. We talked a bit too much and missed the first 15 minutes of my next seminar.

Seminar #3 - Business in Ultimate: A panel discussion (Ultivillage, VC Ultimate, Breakmark, NUTC)

This was probably my favorite meeting because it was one that I think I had the most to contribute. The format was basically 4 reps, 1 from each company (Rob, Victoria(?), Matt, and Tiina) that answered a series of questions and then the small audience would ask more questions and we would talk. I was late so I missed most of the initial questions but Rob did say something that I wanted to mention here. He said that the way to make it as a business in ultimate is to create something that you and only you can offer. Something that you love, some thing that you know, something that you are driven to do, and something no one else is doing. He said that he was never a video kinda guy, just a business person, and he never dreamed he would start a company like Ultivillage. This struck a chord with me because, like Rob, I never thought I would be a writer. I just love to talk about ultimate and now I have aspirations to carry this lame blog thing to another level. So for people out there, it should not be about money, but more or less doing what you love and offering a premium product. With companies like CSTV, Nike, Addias, etc.. we flat ballers cannot offer the least expensive product because we don't have the infrastructure to produce mass/cheap quantities. But what we still have a competitive advantage because we know and love the game. Bill Mill is doing this exact thing with Force Middle and I think like most of these vendors, he has a great idea in front of him that the ultimate community could use.

Another thing that was discussed here was the idea of fans, which is where I came in. A lot of these vendors have enough trouble getting teams to buy their stuff but the true future is to market these items to fans. However, most ultimate players don't know how to be fans because there is such a lack of information. This is exactly why I write this stuff. I want to offer an ESPN feel to ultimate so that people can follow their favorite players and teams, just as they would Tom Brady and the Patriots.

Lastly, I introduced myself to Tiina and she told me that she reads my dribble. That was very flattering, especially when she said that sometimes she is upset with what I write, HA...even better. But my main question for her was the role her college index plays in her kids choosing what colleges to go to. Apparently it is a very big part and she encourages all schools to really keep their information updated on this directory. I also got the chance to meet Andrew Hollingworth, a Juniors team USA standout and captain of Tufts. A great kid who volunteered for this conference who I hope to work with to discuss juniors ultimate in the future.

Seminar #4 - Defense: Getting Goals from your D line (Ben Wiggins)

I went to this talk mainly because I wanted to see what Ben had to say. I am not a big fan of O/D lines, mainly because I play offense and I do not play at a level that I feel requires set O and D teams. In any event, Ben gave a very interesting talk concerning how to generate scores once a turn is generated. One of the more interesting things about this talk was that a few Boston Ultimate players were in the crowd, I suppose they want a peak at their competition. In any event, the main message that I got from this talk was that when it comes to scoring goals, especially with a D line, a goal is a goal and that is all that matters. D-line offense is exactly that, D-line offense, not O-line offense. It doesn't have to look pretty, it doesn't have to be organized, it doesn't have to be planned or crisp, you just have to score goals. This was a powerful message because I feel like the main folly of D-lines is that they try and run their team's offense once they get a block. This is pretty impossible though, especially if these players don't practice their team offense all that much. If the best players to run the offense are not on the field, how can you expect to run a fluid offense? What you can do is take advantage of certain situations quickly (key word being quickly) and get the score unconventionally. He emphasized high release breaks, hammers, quick goal line toss/scores, NOT going through on a turn, but utilizing the momentum shift, etc... All in all, it was a nice seminar and I got to talk to Ben a little bit. Hopefully we can share some party stories next month in Hawaii beause I have my fair share and I am sure he has his.

Back to Lab/Chipotle

I had to go to work and I wanted to hit the Chipotle in Medford, so I didn't stay for the last talk. I felt bad for missing the UPA discussion but I figured I would be able to get the information on RSD or somewhere soon enough. Plus I got to dine on a steak burrito which I don't get anymore now that I am stuck in New Haven. It was beautiful. Work was work, then I crashed hard and slept through my older brother's drunk dial. He left a good message though.

Closing thoughts

I really had a great time at this conference mainly because I was surrounded by people that love ultimate as much as I do. I have always been very self conscience about my interest in ultimate mainly because it goes way beyond most people/players. This conference however was like my Shangri La. If you ever get the chance to go to one of these things, really utilize it. The experience is so invaluable and you really never know what you can get out of it unless you try. I should have gone last year, but it wasn't my time. I am so glad I went yesterday and I really think most ultimate players would enjoy it. Also, Rob's footage of the talks will be available on his website. Check me out while I stutter through my question that I asked Gwen Ambler in her talk.

Just my thoughts

match diesel

Parallels in Ultimate

I had an interesting thought today and I thought I would share it.

In the wake of the 2007 club championships I have realized some things that I find really cool. Take the recent champions, Sockeye. Forget about how dominate they were/are and take a look at their roster, who do they have? A lot of superstars, but one in particular, Tim Gehret. Now this kid is just the balls, absolutely ridiculous. Now the reason he came up in my head is that he has the chance to do something that only 1 other person has done, win a college national championship, the callahan, a club championship and a world title. Few people in the world can even enter the realm of this achievement and TG has 3 of the 4 now and with this national championship it will be possible for him to get the world title. He is in good company in that if Sockeye remains at the top for the next year, Alex Nord will also have the ability to get all 4. Aside from this though, I thought about how Tim Gehret is similar to the other player that has all 4, Fortunant Mueller, or Forch. The similarities are actually staggering and really amazing when you think about it.

First off, Forch was a national champ and callahan winner at Brown University. He was there from 1997-2000 and won nationals in 2000. He got his national championship (2000) and the callahan (1999) in different years, but has them none the less. Now TG is more of the same. Won a national championship for Florida and won the callahan in 2006. Ok, who cares?

After college they both went on to join dynasty ultimate teams. Forch played for DoG in 1999 before he graduated and was on the team that won their last national championship and has played in Boston since. Tim moved from Florida where he played with Vicious Cycle and is now on Sockeye. I doubt most folks will say that Sockeye now is as dominant as DoG then, but they are at least comparable. They also have a regional rival within 2 hours (DoG - NYNY, Sockeye - Furious) who seem to be the only team that can get the better of them when it matters.

Take a closer look. They are both very similar players, both in play and in appearance. They are both smaller players at 5'10", they are both "all around" players meaning that they are very versatile and can cut as easily as they can handle. They are both work horses in that they run their opponent into the ground and they are both very, very good defenders. And they both have single digit numbers. Well that last one really doesn't matter. I also want to say that their height is really a thing of interest for me because there are very few players out there that can dominate at this level on both sides of the disc yet not be in the 6'2"-6'5" range that you see of a lot today. Zipp is another good example as is Dan Heijman and most of Stanford.

Now back to Forch and TG. I think this comparison is really useful because it can help predict the future. I believe that Tim Gehret is going to be a club juggernaut. I was watching the ultivillage ECC footage of the Sockeye/Buzz Bullets final. In the first point or so, Sammy CK makes an UNREAL incut layout grab. Now, what most won't realize is that immediately after getting this layout in-cut catch (around a speedy buzz bullet defender) he mistakenly threw it away while attempting a dump to Sam O'Brien. However, as if someone had scripted it, TG gets a HUGE layout catch block 3 throws later around his opponent. It was as if he could will his team to victory and would succeed despite anyone else's play (in a team game no less). This is not unlike what Forch is known for on Boston. After watching the Boston/GOAT regional final, I began to realize why Forch is so revered in New England. For most folks across the country, Forch is not all that well known, I didn't know of him until I got here. However, he is a local hero in New England and being in Connecticut where he used to live, people really, really, really like this guy and I am beginning to see why. In that game, Forch made an unreal D that was very similar to the one I previously mentioned. Huge layout catch block between 2 defenders, on double game point no less, followed up by an enormous layout goal to win the game, the regional title, and trip to Sarasota.

So with this comparison, I think that Tim will be the next Forch. Now this is also interesting because with Forch's emergence into the club circuit his team performance has dwindled (albeit barely). After Forch joined the team in 1999, Boston went on to win the club title in San Diego. This allowed them to go to Germany where they won gold. However, since then Boston has yet to repeat, even a finals appearance. Now Sockeye has just won its 3rd national title in 4 years. Not as good as 6 in a row but hey, pretty freaking good. Does this mean that Sockeye's performance will falter as well? I definitely do not believe so, but it’s an interesting comparison. I think Boston is a fantastic team and their lack of championships is mostly due to the rest of the country improving, not Boston sucking. In any event, I think that Sockeye has aligned themselves nicely and I really am looking forward to seeing what Tim can do in Seattle over the next 5-10 years (if he stays).

This also got me thinking a lot about other players out there that one could make an analogous statement about. The first one that comes to mind, in the wake of TG and Forch is Ben Wiggins and Jim Parinella. They are also both extremely similar in the ultimate community. Jim is a competitor and a true student/teacher of the game. The guy wrote a book, not to mention won 6 national championships, a world title and now a masters championship. Ben is also a fierce competitor and brilliant student of the game. He has traveled across the country giving seminars about ultimate subjects such as marking and coaching and has worked as hard to improve the ultimate community around him. They also seem to be very cerebral players that rely on their strategic approach to the game, rather than just athleticism. Parinella basically invented the idea of taking what the defense gives you (a game plan that every NE player tries to utilize). I also remember hearing about Ben spending a lot of time working meticulously on intricate parts of the game such as release points. With this sort of comparison it is easy to see that they are not necessarily fantasy all stars, but none the less still vital components of their respective programs. I am sure their eyes for the game are the best in the business and I am sure that they both offer extreme expertise on the sideline. It is also worth mentioning that they are also of similar build at 5’10”. However, I think that their playing presence is slightly different. Parinella seems to be more of an offensive AND defensive player where Ben is a huge offensive impact factor. I would say that at 26(?) Ben is well on his way to writing a book or at least achieving the same sort of accolades that Parinella can boast. I am very interested in wondering what the relationship between Forch and Parinella, and Wiggins and TG is and if they are/will be similar. I also wonder if Wiggins is half as good at Goaltimate as Parinella is.

Another other example out there that I think is equally interesting is Richter and Mike Grant. They were both very good in college, Josh won the Callahan at Colorado and Mike Grant helped build UBC to be the program it is now. However, I think that their best performance in the game was at the club level. I think that Richter is very good but probably was not the best player the year he won the Callahan (2004). I think Chase was. However, as he has matured he has really shown himself to be a leader on Bravo at all fronts. Intensity, work ethic, defense, offense, the works. In watching Ultivillage footage of him over the last few years, it appears that Richter is definitely the rock that Bravo guys can depend on and draw inspiration from. Beau, Jolian, and Popiel might make the big skies but Richter will keep every guy motivated to beat their man to the spot and not quit till the game is over. Chicken comments on this on Disc 2 in an interview. When I first saw this interview I was didn't really take notice because Richter was part of a regional rival but after watching him in the 2006 open series, the college Nationals showcase game and now in 2007, I am very confident he is as good as he is intense and I think Bravo utilizes it a lot. I think Mike is very similar for Furious. Over the last 10 years or so, he has gone from a youthful phenom, to a true leader exhibiting focus, intensity and consistency. It always seems like he has his head in the game, never commits mental mistakes and really is a person that his teammates can depend on. I believe that this role is also huge because it allows the younger players on the team to play more relaxed considering they have a bail out, or someone they know will make a difference, taking some pressure off. I think Richter will continue to establish himself in this way and what is more interesting is that he is a serious veteran for Bravo despite the fact that he is only 25(?). His youth is definitely as big an asset as his skill and intensity. I think with his presence (not to mention the 10+ guys they have over 6’10”) will help keep Bravo strong and potentially a national championship team in the future.

Another example I think is cool, is Chicken and Lugsdin. These two are very "Poster Boy" esk players. They are both very well spoken, very inteligent, and very talented. Chicken, who was a molecular biologist at Colorado, is a very solid and smart player not to mention an articulate person on Bravo. Always seems to be the guy talking to Rob and in person he is really nice and approachable. In the 2 or 3 conversations I have had with him he seems like a really grounded person, something that I wasn't expecting for a national champ and club all star. Lugsdin is more of the same. Physics major at McGill, very nice guy, very smart and approachable. Lugsdin is a bit taller but they both play good disc on all fronts. Have great throws, great composure, defense, fundamentals, leadership skills and best of all they aren’t overly arrogant (at least not in my experience). They seem to respect their opponents and the game itself, something that I wish more players did. Also Lugsdin is #9, Chicken is #10. Although I gotta say the blond goatee and hair-do Chicken is sporting is suspect, as is the pink hat he used to play in.

There are a lot more examples that I find interesting but I won’t go into too much more detail. I think that Nick Handler will become a player similar to Will Deaver. They are both springy as hell, ridiculously tight defenders, and seem to always have a mental advantage on their oppenent. Jacob Goldstein has the potential to be the next Jeff Cruikshank. They are both gifted offfensive players, have exceptional throws, and play surprisingly good defense given their over shadowing handling abilities. Kurt Gibson could be the next Damien Scott because he is tall, fast, and has basically every tool in the game to pull from. Both players seem to control the game at will and seem to play better with more pressue on them. I will say that I don’t know what Kurt is like on the party front and I hear Damien is one of the best.

I also find that if you look at ultimate like this you can potentially see where the game is going and what one can potentially expect. Not to say that these players have to succeed in the ways that some have in the past, but I think it is similar to comparing A-Rod to Hank Aaron, or LeBron to Jordan. Another reason why I bring these things up is that in my opinion a lot of people out there think disc is different across the country (or maybe its just me). The west coast is known as a more flashy/tall game and the east is more conservative with smaller players. However, the game is changing. Players are moving across the country and playing disc in a variety of cities. The country is shrinking and the play is getting better everywhere. Teams like Madison in the North or Florida in the South, Stanford in the NW, Brown in the NE, and so on. However, if you look at these sorts of players you can see that the kinds of players out there and the impact they have on their respective teams is uniform across the country. Perhaps the influence of ultimate is moving westward from the east (New Jersey, where it was born) across the country. I suppose the game in 20 years will become more homogeneous or maybe I am just spouting out the things that make good programs and its the same and will be forever. I hope that it’s the former. I wasn't alive in the early 1900s to see football, baseball, hockey or basketball become the sports they are now, but I am at ground zero for ultimate and the next 30 years are gonna be really cool.

just my thoughts

match diesel

Ultimate: Cast and Crew

A few weeks ago I had a discussion with my cousin Alex about who the face of ultimate was now. He had his opinions and I had mine and in response to this discussion i thought a lot about what it means to represent this sport and who out there are perfect examples. I wanted to put together a list of people, I think, are absolutely invalubale to this sport, not just because of their physical ability/presence, but what they bring to the game in their own personal way. On my list you are not going to see Nord, Chase, or Beau but, people that bring intangibles to the game which cannot be articulated in a picture or a game synopsis. They can however be seen with years of observation and appreciation for what they have done both on and off the field for the sport. I also wanted to put together a list of people that should be well known throughout the ultimate community and offer a forum for people to pick up some names they didn't already know and potentially offer other names I am leaving out because I am by no means the ultimate authority and I am sure there are many people I am leaving out.

Andrew Lugsdin - Now this is a person who I think really represents the best of ultimate. First off, the guy has won 9 canadian national titles, 3 UPA club championships and 2 world titles. Ok great. He is also a great sportsman on the field not to mention one of the nicest guys I have ever met (totally didn't kill me when I pantsed him). But what makes him such a valuable part of the game is the fact that he is so successful off the field. I don't know how many folks know this, but the guy is a venture capitalist and has been the president of several tech consuting firms and is/was on the board of 6 tech companies in Canada. He graduated from McGill with a double degree in Physics and Computer Science. Now, for me, this is an example of an ultimate player that has not only been dominant on the field for 10 years but also is an extremely successful man outside the sport. I can think of several players that are spectacular on the field but peripheral to that, ehh, not too many highlights. However, Lugsdin is an example of someone that can acheive great things while still being apart of the sport and that is a goal that I think most ultimate players should go for (I know I am).

Gwen Ambler - This is a person that every woman ultimate player should know. I have never come across someone that has done more for women's disc than Gamler. Not only was she a national champion at Stanford (I think), but she has also been very dominant at the club level playing for Fury who won club nationals last year. This is all well and good but the service that Gwen has done to the game is unparalleled. With her website, icultimate.com, she is the only person (as far as I know) that has covered college women's ultimate in all regions. The analysis is so in depth, detailed, and positive that it rivals any college open website I have come across. She also coaches the Stanford Women's team, who just won their 3rd national championship in 4 years. She managed to make team USA in 2005, albeit as an alternate, but as anyone who has seen her play, represents the absolute pinnacle of women's ultimate.

Ben Wiggins - Ok, he is a popular face and everybody knows his name, ok whats the big deal? I won't say anything about his playing, while it is elite, is not what makes him such a positive force in disc. Never have I seen a person with such enthusiam and dedication to the sport. I think he TDs like 3 tournaments a year with Solstice, Emerald City Classic, and Northwest Regionals, and in case you were curious, they are some of the 3 best club tournaments in the world. He also travels all over doing seminars about the game and coaches dozens of youth players in Seattle. i actually have the privelege of playing with one of them here at Yale and the kid is straight up nasty. He also brings a decore of fun on the field that the game cannot afford to lose and is always quick to give props to his team mates as well as all of his oppponents, just check out his post-ECC Finals Interview with Rob.

Tiina Booth - Probably the most important name in Juniors ultimate in the World. She is the head coach/founder of the Amherst Regional High School Hurricanes. This woman showed the world that college disc is not where kids should start to play ultimate. While coaching the best high school program in juniors history, she has amassed national titles (both boys and girls) and coached soon to be college studs such as Josh Zipperstein. She also had 11 kids on the youth junior world team (Boys and Girls) of 2006. These kids manage to dominate not only the juniors scene but take down very good college teams regularly. In addition she also directs the most prominant youth ultimate camp in the world with the NUTC (national ultimate training camp) and also manages a college directory so that high school kids can research college ultimate programs as they would academics.

Tom Kennedy "TK" - By far the founder of west coast ultimate. He started the Santa Barbara Condors in 1977 and it still reamins the longest standing ultimate team ever with the same name. He led the condors towards the first ever club ultimate championship in 1977 and won again in 1978 and 1981. He managed to develop a team that spawned argably the best college ultimate dynasty in the sports history with Black Tide who won 3 college national championships in a row, twice ('88-90, and '96-'98). Only 1 other team, east carolina, has even won 2 in a row ever. The west coast disc that has been near or at the top of ultimate for several years, in both college and club, owes a great deal of its success to this man.

Jim Parinella - 6 time club national champion, ok everybody knows that. But I mean come on, the guy wrote the bible on ultimate (ultimate techniques and tactics) and has probably the most popular blog in ultimate today. Peripheral to that though, the guy is also a successful engineer and case western/MIT alum. Like Lugsdin, is a true representation of a successful man on and off the field. I dunno about you but thats a decent wrap sheet. Not gonna go into anymore detail, I don't need to.

Mike Gerics - Not everyone's favorite person, but he still is a part of ultimate history and has taught ultimate to hundreds of players. With his WUFF training camp in North Carolina, he has taught the intricacies of the game to several college programs from all over the country. He also led East Carolina to 2 national titles, the only other team to win two in a row outside of black tide. Quite the bitter vocalist on RSD, but definitely one of the most important names in the game today.

Josh Greenough - A very dominant player in college for Oregon and a great player for open and Co-ed teams in San Franciso JAM and Brass Monkey. He and I don't always see eye to eye, but he is very important to this game. The best hat tournament I have ever been to was put on by Josh in San Mateo, CA (his home town) called Beware-O and if you think its just another hat tournament, think again. When I played in it in 2003, I knew nothing about the people in the sport and didn't realize that Sammy CK was on my team and we played against folks such as Ben and Seth Wiggins, not bad for a little winter hat tournament an hour south of San Franciso. He was also the National College Ultimate director for 3 years. The sport is definitely in debt to this man.

Ted Munter – Probably the most respected coach at the elite level in ultimate. Teams he has been a part of include Death or Glory (DoG), Brown Women’s Ultimate, and the Gold Medal Winning Team USA of 2005. Never has there been a name so synonymous with high level coaching. He is basically the Phil Jackson of ultimate.

Stu Downs – Now this is a person I have been watching for 3 years and I wish I knew more about him. I first came across him at the 2005 College Nationals in Corvalis, OR. He is the coach of Georgia’s JoJah Men’s Ultimate Team and one of the most prominent coaches in college disc. In researching other players and tournaments, I continually come across him and he has been touted as one of the best zone D players ever and is one of the most recognized names in Ultimate in the South. Although never a true champion, he exemplifies not only skill but sportsmanship and has dedicated himself to coaching one of the biggest and best college programs in the country. He also looks liek George Lucas if he could play ultimate

Scobel Wiggins – Probably the nicest lady you will meet at an ultimate tournament. She documents some of best ultimate with the highest quality photography I have come across in my 5 years of ultimate. She photographs open as well as women’s disc and really set the stage for dedicated media in ultimate (scobelwigginsphotography.com)

Jeff Graham – A former UMass player that started a phenomenal ultimate team in the toughest city to start an elite team in, Boston. The founder of Twisted Metal and one of the main organizers for the new Boston Ultimate squad. In the wake of DoG, he managed to recruit and build an ultimate program that made strides to rival one of the most storied teams in club ultimate history. Never, at least in my experience, has there been a city that has sent 2 teams to club nationals and Jeff managed to do this. A truly dominant player in college, I think he managed to break into the top 5 for Callahan voting despite not even being at college nationals.

Josh Zipperstein - Need I say anything? In any event, the guy is a great frisbee player both at the club and college level. One of the most dominant cutters I have ever seen. However, whats really interesting about Zipp is that the guy is smart. I mean come on Biomedical Engineer from Brown and now a Med Student at Emory? Not a bad CV. What I think is the classiest thing about Zipp though are his Zipp's Tips. The guy wrote down a little tid bit of information every day from November 5th, 2002 to May 20th, 2003. Thats like 180 tips?!?! anyway, did everything he could to help out his team, not only by dominanting physcially but attempting to pass on his knowledge to his supporting cast.

Fortunat Mueller "Forch" - probably one of the most dominating players ever. Despite his smaller stature, he has won at every level. He is the only player I know of that has the 4-fector. College National championship (Brown - 2000), the callahan (1999), club championship (DoG - 1999), and world title (DoG - 2000). he is also one of the main organizers for the Boston ultimate squad. For people in Connecticut, he is a big celebrity because he was a large part of winter/summer league because he moved here after college. In any event, a great leader and player, and oh yeah on of the most feared cutters ever.

Ultivillage Rob - First off, what is this guy's last name? Anyway, he has brought the sport to more people and in such a manner that deserves some serious acclaim. Beginning in May of 2005, he started giving us COTDs not to mention Discs 1-4 and on. I am not aware of any playing status of Rob but his service to the sport is incredible and I know I have given him props multiple times, but I think he is under appreciated. Hopefully his company will get him in the blue chips and he will be able to sit on an empire of Ultimate Media that changed the way people look at ultimate, literally.

There are many, many more, but I just don't know enough to do them justice. I think some other names that are synonomous with improving the overall caliber of ultimate are Steve Mooney (Basically the heart of DoG in their hay day), Damien Scott (arguably one of the most model after players in the game and he plays for JAM), and Mike Namkung (part of the second Black Tide 3-peat, one of the founders of JAM, and was part of the gold medal worlds team in 2005).

Because of people like these, ultimate has earned the respect that it has now. If players and supporters like this are emulated the sport is in good hands. It is nice that there are people out there that have careers and motivations while still being steallar ultimate players. It is also nice that there are people that can contribute to teams as much on the field as off. I suppose my worry about ultimate is that as the sport evolves the competition will get better and better. This is nice, but there are a lot of things that need to be maintained (ie sportsmanship, community service, respect amongst opponent/team mates, on and off the field role models, etc...) and with people like these and countless more, i think the sport will continue to improve competitively yet command the respect for players, teams, and programs of all levels.

Match Diesel