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

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