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

Wildwood and Ultimate Sub-culture

So this past weekend was wildwood. This tournament is just too much fun. I wish I could articulate how great of a time I had, but there just aren't the words. Ehhh, but i'll try anyway.

First off, this tourney is in the cesspool of all cesspools, Wildwood NJ. I would be afraid to even enter the city limits if I wasn't an ultimate player, I can't believe people vacation there. Imagine a sea of neon lights, carnival rides and billboards fused with a high school football hero turned over weight gas station attendant. There are 1,000+ ultimate players on 200+ teams. AWESOME!!! My team (Trash Gets Picked Up) was in a non-competitve bracket and we won. Next year we should probably go for competitive, but for a guy who was in a rut, it was nice to whop up on some teams and get some W's that I helped earn. I also had my cousin in from Cali, who blew away my team mates both on and off the field (I mean come on, its my blood). We won the party (I think) and basically dined on every fruit on the perverbial wildwood tree. Tons of stories and just a great time.

Now this weekend reminded me, as most ultimate tournaments do, of the fantastic sub-culture that is "Ultimate". Most folks see ultimate as a "hippy sport" which is fine, thats more or less true. However after 40 years of evolution, the sport has morphed into such a fantastic caleidoscope of personality and social interaction. Not unlike hockey players being straight filth or football players being dumb jocks, ultimate players have been distilled into such a spectacular stereotype and I am so glad to be a part of it.

So what do I mean? What stereotype? I believe that, on the whole, ultimate players are first and foremost, very friendly, very open to meeting new people, very encouraging of stranger-stranger interaction. On average if you pull aside two ultimate players from anywhere in the US or canada or mexico or wherever they will get along. They will laugh and drink together. Make reatrded jokes, fuck with eachother for shits and giggles, etc... I like to call this "spittle", or general commeradery. Unpredictable and light hearted socializing and I think most ultimate players understand this. I think this stems from the fact that ultimate is played primarily in tournaments where people are bascially on vacation with work and school completely off the radar. People get together playing a sport they love, there is usually some sort of party and everyone just enjoys eachother's company and its easy to get to know folks cuz you all already have a huge thing in common, ultimate.

Let me give you an example. I was playing flip cup with, I dunno, 12 strangers, (how awesome is that?) and I meet this guy who intriduces himself as the "fake jeff". Being a little confused I asked "who's the real jeff?". The "Real Jeff" was apparently a friend standing next to him with his namesake and rather than share the name, they had a 1 on 1, best 2 out of 3, battle to the death flip cup championship (wait, think about it.....that doesn't make sense). HA!! Excellent right? Come on thats funny, "best 2 out 3 battle to the death"? Anyway, apparently the "fake jeff" lost and got stuck with either "fake jeff" or what the real jeff had renamed him, "Nick". Regardless, funny business. Anyway, while we are waiting for more beer, the two duke it out again for the right to be called "real jeff" and "Nick/Fake Jeff" wins. Uh oh, tables turned ehh? And he and I celebrate his victory and he says to me "alright, now I am the real jeff", but I reply, "Dude, fuck that guy, you should be the Un-Real Jeff" and he replies "YEAH, thats works, i'll take it". Yeah so stupid drunk kids being retared but the "spittle", the banter, the interaction is pricless and you all have been there. After 50+ tourneys I have compiled a library of stories that are homologous and I just can't say with enough enthusiasm how much I love this interaction that ultimate has.

I also feel like as ultimate evolves, however, the UPA is slowly shying away from this kind of interaction. Now this isn't the UPA being a buzz kill, Ultimate is just getting so big and popular that having a raging party with more and more people every year at nationlals, for example, the liability increases and its more trouble than its worth. Some players are just so young or reckless and "the spittle" turns from stupid shenanigans and random hookups to over the top mischief like jumping off balcony's into pools and alcohol posioning. I feel like this is a tragedy however. I feel like partying and ultimate are one in the same. At least for me. Tournaments are fun to play in and from 9a-5p you play but from 5p-9a you party. This doesn't necessarily mean black out vomit fest, but getting retarded and getting into some trouble (peeing in public, pantsing some one, getting ridiculous on the dance floor etc..) is really important. Its what makes beeing an ultimate player so much fun. Its one of the things that binds this collection of young and old in a myriad of friendly competition and human contact. I also feel like as the sport matures, people begin to value their W/L record at the end of the tournament more than the tournament itself. Teams go to bed early so they can get up early and play well, TDs don't push to have good parties, and players are starting to avoid the hangover affect. Now this isn't wrong, its just boring.

So whats my point? I believe that the party aspect of ultimate is very real and very important. It is not something to be ignored or discouraged. Done responsbily, yes, controlled, yes, but done none the less. We used buy 40s for layout Ds, therby rewarding good play and encouraging a bit of boozing. Gotta love the stellar defender thats gotta choke down 3 40s in a night (probably would share the love). But in any event, we as frisbee players need this, we need to have fun with eachother because to fight it is to go against why we play disc. I am not saying we need to take games less serious, but just have fun on and OFF the field. It'll be more fun that way, at least for people like me and I think I am in the majority. I guess my criticism (cuz I always have to bitch at someone) comes with things like the UPA having a showcase game instead of a party at college natties this year. The showcase game was cool, but I think a party would have been more enjoyable. I mean folks have been watching good disc all day and watching the likes of Jason Simpson, Nick Handler, Miranda Roth, and Richter is nice, but I think most folks just wanted to get drunk (or at least socialize). There was a small party and it was great, but it was small. The party in 2005 (corvalis) and 2006 (columbus) were awesome, very Potlatch esk, and I loved it and I think most folks did as well. And having teams be all "Big League" and not showing up to party and hang out is lame to. I mean come on Richter doesn't show to recieve his callahan award in 2004 and Beau isn't there this year. I remember Chicken at the party in 2006 when he finished, I dunno 3rd(?), he is such a good guy, class act, but come on Mama Bird, "why ya gotta be like that?".

So what do I want? Well, I suppose first, it would be nice for people to understand hitting bongs (both beer and others) are fun and should not be discouraged. Partying and socializing at tournaments is fun and should be celebrated, not marginalized. Let people loosen up and hang out. After all thats how couples can meet and date/marry, thats how contacts for teams across the country develop, and basically its how friends are made. it's, in essence, everything that is great about disc once you take your cleats off. In moderation, and done responsibly. But the sub-culture is so awesome in ultimate and trying to weed it out is a travesty and I just hope that, what I call "modern frisbee players" don't ruin it. "Modern ultimate players" being people that start playing ultimate early, say high school, and treat it like a varsity sport with intense focus and concentration to training and competition as opposed to enjoying the experience as a whole. Thats another blog entry in and of itself, but as a teaser, just don't take my game away from me. I love this sport probably more than anything and I have devoted more time than I would care to admit researching, writing and talking about ultimate. Celebrate your roots, don't treat disc from the 60s-90s as a collection of hippies that didn't know better, but rather your roots. Their spirit is yours, their draw to the game is still very real exists in every true ultimate player today. Just love the game on and off the field and don't let competition ruin the sport.

Match Diesel

Favorite Tournaments

So i just got back from Ommegang this past weekend, a tournament I had not been to and I must say that it was quite enjoyable. After playing in another co-ed, party oriented, fun based tournament I thought I would go on and on about my favorite tournaments and why.

Acapulco
First, probably my favorite ultimate experience, was Acapulco. This tournament is just more fun than should be allowed on earth. It takes place in January and the 85F sandy beach environment is a nice switch from the cold and bitter New England crap. I think it was 18F when I left JFK and it was like 80F in Mexico, that's a tough day to dress for. In any event, the tournament is put on by the oh so Mexican nationalist Fernando. This guy is a class act. Not your typical TD because the guy will swear and heckle and drink with the best of them and can run like the wind as well. A true pleasure to play with/against. Basically, the tournament fee is ~$400 (yikes) but, it covers all your food and alcohol, thats right ALL your food and ALL your alcohol. You can walk up to the bar at the resort with a nalgene and ask for a beer and they'll fill it up. The resort is small, about 40 minutes outside the city, but the scenery is beautiful and the beach is fantastic. You get your team assignments there (cuz its a hat tourney) and you play a combination of sand and grass disc (you have 2 separate teams). You play one in the mourning and one in the afternoon and it is bad fucking ass. You don't play between 1-4p because it is too hot and during the break you can hang out by the pool, go swimming, go site seeing, or in the case of me and my new buddy Jeremy, we did pot brownies and enjoyed life. The competition is also what is awesome. There aren't very many chumps (because its >$500 to play in this thing including air fare) but there are also not too many superstars. So if you love the game but aren't necessarily a juggernaunt (myself) you can have a great time and still do well. This past year my grass team actually won the tournament (a switch) and that was something I had never experienced that made it all the better. Plus there are all sorts of party shenanigans, kareokee, clubbing, etc... And the best part are the locals. The tournament has ~75% americans and ~25% locals who are so intense and into the game but also some of the nicest people I have ever met. I made so many friends with people I could barely converse with in english or spanish but they were so welcoming and cordial, a nice alternative to the bitter NE. In any event, the tournament was the most fun I have ever had at an ultimate function and I highly recomend it. Believe me, it is worth the green (looking at you Stu).

Potlatch
Another tournament that is just too freaking awesome for words, is Potaltch. Now this little hum dinger is pretty ridiculous even for the ultimate veterans out there. My first trip there was back in 2004 and I was a bit overwhlemed. Basically every major ultimate player in the country goes to Seattle for 4th of July and plays in one of the biggest tournaments in the world. There are something like 100+ teams on like 60 fields in this massive space in Kirkland, WA. The level of ultimate is about as intense as it gets (at least for co-ed) with some of the big open teams fusing with the elite women's teams to make absolute beats of competition. In 2005 team USA and Canada went and I got the chance to play against Canada (not sober what so ever) as well as watch and meet a lot of the team USA players, that was fun. But the tournament is also a huge party/festival sort of thing. You have everyone staying in tents on the same field so folks are just walking around with handles of booze getting wrecked. The tournament is also a 3 day-er (aside from last year which was 2) and you get a lot of games in. The competition is pretty intense though and a lot of teams take it seriously. Which makes it fun when you beat them drunk. Eventually most teams are gonna hit a pretty stellar squad not unlike the Portland team that upset team USA in the semis in 2005. The best part of the tournament though is the party. Now this is fucking cool. They get the whole bunch of 2000+ hippy drunk frisbee players and bus them out to the party spot which not only has 20+ kegs of GREAT micro brew but also a buffet style salmon dinner. I dunno about you guys but dry bagels and unripe bananas don't really compare to all the grilled salmon, salad and potatoes you can eat. This was awesome. And of course, not only do they feed you, but they also have this kicking party where all these fun loving sociable folks are mixing it up and bringing their regional party antics. I remember in 2004 my team (crab high reunion) set up shop right inside the entrance and we would escort people right to the beer as soon as they walked into the party. Not sure why we did that, Bilbo was in rare form. In any event, some of the most fun I have had. Wouldn't recomend playing drunk because I got really hurt on a nasty bid. But if you can get a team into the mixture, which as long as you submit the bid in early, as in March, you'll get a spot. A great time.

Wild Wood
Now, aside from grass disc, there is beach and the most fun I have ever had at a beach tourney has got to be Wild Wood. WW is pretty insane. Not only does it boast >200 teams but it is also in one of the most....how shall I say this....asthetically humorous spots in NJ. Its basically a board walk and a beach town that is the personification of a used up Meth Addict. If you have ever seen requiem for a dream, it could have taken place in Wild Wood, NJ. The hotels are pretty dumpy, the board walk is riddled with white trash and shitty carnival games, but if you are in your 20s (or at least act like it) it is absolutely heaven. Its bascially Trouble in Vegas but beach and the fields are walking distance from where folks stay. Depending on how intense your team wants to be you can either play in the elite bracket (yikes), open, or non-competitive. Because my team (Trash Gets Picked Up) wanted to basically enjoy the beach, the booze and the antics as much as possible, we opted for the non-competitive and ended up in the finals of our bracket. My one criticism is the party which wasn't too steallar. Like TiV the surrounding environment encourages shenanigans on its own so you don't really need to sequestor folks in one spot, let them roll out. the format is also pretty bad ass. You play a game for time (1hr) and then you are off for an hour and then on and off etc... During your time off most folks go down to the beach to cool off and its a good time. I really enjoyed it. I wish I could remember the name of the motel we stayed at but needless to say it was pretty dumpy, we got into some trouble and we had a lot fun.

Ommegang
This past weekend was Ommegang which is a decent size tourney in Cooperstown NY. Good spot for a tournament, the fields are pretty nice, at least at first glance. A bit hard but, thats ok. The coolest part is the place where everyone stays. There is a camp site at the ommegang brewery, hence the name and you basically pitch tents, pull out BBQs and socialize before and after games. Folks get kegs and there is a party with a crazy african music band, who are AWESOME. Aside from that its your usual ultimate craziness. Folks going tent to tent playing "strip-OK" (as opposed to "drink-ok"), packing bowls and smoking up, keg tossing, water mellon stealing, heckling potential hookup-ees (thanx Korber), and your general shennaigans. The competition is pretty stiff, which I wasn't expecting but it was nice to have to work at it. Going down in quarters sucked, but hey, I still had a great time. You also have the baseball hall of fame, the lake, the local town near by and its generally a great time, provided you don't get horribly lost on the way to the fields.

Aside from these 4 there are also some great tournaments in some great spots.

Pres Day was always a good time at UCSD because the party was awesome (us sqids can booze), the competition is great, and you can't beat San Diego weather in february.

Trouble in Vegas was also a great time. The fields are absolutely horrible and, at least at the college one, really really windy, so that sucked. But all the big name colleges are there and you are in Vegas (how bad can that be). Party is kinda weak, but like Wild Wood, you don't really wanna party in a great city like Vegas, you wana go mobile, take it to the streets and gamble.

Jazz Fest is also good for this reason. Its basically what NE teams do instead of Potlatch for the 4th. Its in Montreal which is a really fun city and folks usually take it to the strip clubs and get high on THC and absynthe. I really enjoyed myself last year except for the fact that getting around enibriated in a city that likes to speak French can be a challenge.

Another notable fun spot is OMK (Ow My Knee) in albany which is similar to Ommegang, just open instead of co-ed, the TD is actually a good guy and the party is sweet.

I also really enjoy High Tide. A lot of snobby college teams think its a joke but it isn't, the competition is pretty good (at least for the second session), its run very well (except that we had to play a sectional rival twice in a row), and it takes place in Savannah during St Patty's Day. This deserves a bit more discussion. Savannah is the Irish captial of the South and River St is basically a mini-mardis gras. Folks go absolutely crazy. Titties popping out, drunken parents with kids, crazy t shirts, awesome bars and great great stories the morning after. I made off with an ATM sign back in 2006 which now resides above my door, love that thing. And the best part is, you are there for ultimate.

I also liked Purple Valley. This is an interesting tourney because it takes place right around halloween so everyone comes dressed up for the party. This party is pretty bad ass considering its filled with under age kids on a college campus and no one cares. its also in the middle of nowhere Williamstown, MA so you can wander around with a nice little co-ed and not have to worry, although better not get lost when you are blitzed by yourself.

Some other tournaments that I would like to go to but haven't yet are kaimana, paganello, and Poultry Days. kaimana is basically the ultimate nirvanna. Fantastic disc in Hawaii. Some of the best in the game come out and play for squads like Nada Mooger (Mike Grant's team), Voltron (Nord and some CUT guys), Ono (don't know), Grey Tide (black tide alums?) and SMUT (stanford's open team). This past year saw the 7 year streak of Nada Mooger come to an end. From what I hear the party is legit and come on its freaking hawaii, can't beat the scenery.

Paganello is a beach tourney in Italy in April. It has a lot of international teams which is nice but the weather is not consistent (from what I hear). No Tsu Ho (basically Nada Mooger on sand) wins it consistently but its supposed to be a good time. The only other draw back I hear is that you have to buy all your booze (ok thats fine) and you are probably gonna wanna take more than 4 days off work if you are going all the way to Italy.

Poultry days is like Potlatch but in Versailles, Ohio. The chicken dinners there are supposed to be the best food on the planet (one of many reasons why I want to get my fat ass out there). Team USA went to it in 2005 and won. A lot (60+) teams rock out here and I am sure have a raging good time. Something to mark on your calendars for mid June.

match diesel