Notable Tourney Performances

I thought that since the series is still in full swing, i would write about some tournament performances that I think are very interesting over the last 5 years or so.

North Carolina Darkside, Stanford Invite 2004 - This was a stellar performance by UNC. They get a the bid to stanford and are slated as the 15 seed. That is bascially dead last because they give the 16th seed to the stanford qualifier winner. In any event, UNC comes out huge on saturday and beats Stanford in pool play, wow. Ends up making it all the way to the finals and falls just short of winning the tournament. They had to face off against Stanford again in the finals where they lost on double game point 16-17. They broke 13 seeds and I am sure enjoyed themselves on the west coast.

UCSB Black Tide, SW Regionals 2004 - Arguably the best UCSB team in the 21st centruy. Take down UCSD at sectionals and in semis at Regionals and have to face Colorado in the finals. Colorado had won the past 2 previous regional finals game and was going for the trifecta. This colorado team had Beau, Richter, Chicken, JV and Parker. Needless to say, Tim Henshaw, Mike Brown and the ineligble Nate Bouxsein took them down 15-11 in a stellar game that had UCSB own Colorado's hammer happy zone offense. Too bad UCSB got DQ'd and Colorado went on to win it all.

Florida, Trouble in Vegas 2006 - This tournament was the first showing that Florida was the real deal. They had previously won the Florida Winter Classic, but beating CUT in the finals and taking down Wisconsin, not to mention other college national qualifiers was their acid test. This tourney result showed that the likes of TG and Kurt Gibson were the best in the country and could potentially do the unthinkable, go to nationals for the 1st time as the #1 seed and win it all.

Stanford Bloodthirsty, Kaimana 2002 - This has been, historically, the best college ultimate team ever (maybe not anymore), but their dominance has never been more prominent than in Hawaii in February 2002. They travel to Kaimana, as usual, only this year, they bring it. They go a spectacular 7-2 making it all the way to the finals, beating eilite pick up squads like Grey Tide. One would think a flashy college squad would go down fast and quiet to some cagey experienced veterans, but these guys came to ball. However, they hit a brick wall known as Nada Mooger and fall 17-12. However, they were down 9-2 at half and fought them 10-8 in the 2nd half, not bad for a bunch of under age, barely shaving, undergrads.

Stanford Superfly, College Nationals 2007 - This womens team showed 2 things at this tourney, 1) heart and 2) experience. Stanford has won like 4 college national titles in the last 6 years and this past year was probably their toughest. They come in as the #5 seed (nothing special) and in retrospect, how can a national champ come in ranked 5th? I'll tell you, the weather sucked and they were the only ones that could play in the wind. In any event, they start out OK, and go 2-1 in pool play, losing in the last round to the burning skirts. However, they claw tooth and nail to win prequarters/quarters/semis/finals. I don't know of another champion that has had to play in pre-quarters, not to mention get through quarters and semis by a combined 5 points. I am sure that the finals rematch between Stanford and UCSB was spectacular for Stanford taking them down 15-7 (after a 15-11 loss in pool play).

Wisconsin Hodags, Centex/Nationals 2007 - This team is freaking good and there is no more proof than them completely dominating at centex and nationals, a feat that has never been done. For the first 3 years of Centex, the winner was always the loser in the finals at nationals. Colorado loses 14-15 to Cal at Centex and Wins 15-7 at nationals (2004), Colorado rolls Florida 15-7 but loses to Brown at nationals (2005), Florida loses 14-15 to Wisconsin only to beat them 15-12 at nationals (2006). Wisconsin was better than the curse, better than the rest, they stand alone. I am glad I never had to play them.

UCSD Air Squids, College Nationals 2005 - After years of taking a back seat to UCSB and Colorado, UCSD finally earns its bid to nationals. Comes in ranked 9th, the best seed for a non #1 seed at natties. Takes on Georgia in the first round and shocks Dylan 15-6 (that was a fun game to watch). As per usual, we lose to UBC (Oscar and Morgan owned UCSD) 16-17. However, by some miracle of existence, UBC loses to a revamped Georgia and by differential UCSD makes it into quarters. How serendipitous? Instead of having to play Wisconsin, Colorado, or Standford in quarters, we draw the winner of Texas and Queens Kingston, Texas, which is a much better game than we could have dreamed for. manage to cruise into Semis (without a close win) and play against Colorado. We still choke though losing 15-13 to our regional rivals. If only Phelps were there. Not every team in semis is missing their all region deep/defender/etc... cuz he is abroad for a year.

Chain Lighting, Club Nationals 2006 - Not unlike UCSD of 2005, these guys went from a 10 seed all the way to semis. Great wins over Sub-Zero, Revolver and Ring, not to mention a close 14-15 loss to the eventual champs, Sockeye, in power pools. I don't think anyone had John Hammond, Dylan and Jason Simpson pegged for the semis, but they definitely earned it. Too bad they didn't have it against a more dominant Furious. Maybe Zipp will sling this late peaking team to another semis berth or maybe the finals.

Southeast Storm, Potlatch 2006 - This was 1 of 4 MLU teams at Potlatch and I think was the most surprising. After winning college nationals Kurt and TG were brought up to the big boy table to play with the club all stars. Seeing that they are truly as good as billed, and maybe in better shape, they teamed up to be the best fantasy 1, 2 punch. SE Storm shocked most, me at least, and made it to the finals where they almost won. I think most figured the NW would roll seeing that they were all FG or Socekye guys, but SE held tough and showed that the region with the best combination of warm and active weather can ball.

Mischef, Club Nationals 2006 - Coming in as the 2nd seed, expectations are always high. But after 2 close pool play games (15-12 to poodle club, 4 seed, and 16-15 to 2nd seed AMP) I didn't think Mischef could win the 8 games to win natties. Power pool was more or less the same, win 15-12 (gendors), win 15-13 (slow shite), on to quarters. A barn burner against quarter final against Tandem (15-13), a 15-13 semifinal close one (Gendors) and then another game against Slow, this time they won it all, 15-11. Thats a lot of points to play. I could not believe that Mischef kept winning these close ones. They won their first game easy (15-9) but after that they finished with a combined score of 106-89, thats an average score of 15-13. By comparison, Fury went 120-45 or an average of 15-5/6. Lots of heart/legs on that Mischef squad, they ain't gonna blink at the wire.

Ring of Fire, Club Nationals 2002 - This team came in ranked 8th and had a decent run through pool play (2-1) and power pools (1-1). They draw Bravo in quarters (who came out 2nd in power pools after a great win over Furious) and manage to win a universe point thriller 15-14. Then they have to play Sockeye who looked pretty legit after owning in power pools. For whatever reason they roll the fish 15-8 and successfully claw their way into the finals. They have to play Furious again and go down 17-12, but they brought it and I am sure they were as intense as I am long winded.

Carleton, College Nationals 2001 - They come out the 4 seed and potential national champion. However, they get shocked in the first round of pool play, 16-17 by UNC-Wilmington. However, rather than hang their heads, they kept it together and rode Nord all the way to the finals, winning most games by 5 or more. I think they are one of only a few teams to ever win college nationals without a perfect memorial day record. Never the less, they still won it all. Hopefully natties will be in Devens again while I am stuck in New Haven.

Next week will be my preview for natties. Good luck to all remaining teams in their regional tournaments.

Match Diesel

MLU, refs, observers, and SOTG

So after reading a thread on RSD about MLU I thought I would drop my 2 cents of what I think about officiated ultimate.

First off, one of the few things that I really despise about ultimate (and there are really only a few), is that depending on how important the game is, different ways of officiating and making calls occur. I think that this sucks. You have a game at lets say some sectional tournament and you may or may not have obervers. I don't even think we had observers at NE regionals, at least not on saturday. Now some will say, "well those games don't matter as much so we don't want to put resources into them (ie observers) and we'll devote them more to games to go, finals, etc..." Now I understand about allocating resources and money and time but this sucks. it bascially means that unless your team is stellar or you are competing to go to nationals, or at nationals, you are playing in a less important game. I know that there are great programs out there that deserve the scrunity and rigidity of observers and well officiated games, but I think as ultimate players, as long as we all play for established teams at established tournaments, we all deserve observers and what not. Thats what makes ultimate weak. One game is not necessarily equivalent to others. In other main stream sports, it does not matter if its a league game, bracket play, the playoffs or the championships, you have a ref calling fouls, travel, pass interference, etc... Every game is the same, the implications might be different but the observation of the rules is completely the same. I like this about basketball, soccer, football, etc... You have skilled people watching the game and making calls where needed. Ultimate should be no different, I don't care if my consolation game at Southerns doesn't matter, I have a UPA ID and a jersey and I paid my dues just like Dan Heijman or Jacob Goldstein and I deserve the same amount of respect and attention as they do. Having observers at every game is more important than having observers/refs at important games. I think that the difference is pivotal. The finals at nationals should be well observed and watched carefully, but so should every other game, at least in the series, because every player deserves the same amount of devotion from the UPA.

Secondly, I don't like that players have to make their own calls. This sucks because not every game is the same. Depending on how bull headed or cheap or passive or quiet a player is, it implies a lot of things about what sort of calls they will make. You also have players (like myself) that are out there looking for specific calls like travels. maybe they don't matter, but a lot of players don't watch feet as much as others and lord knows they shouldn't have to. However, if you have a guy on your team or better yet the team you are playing against that loves to watch for travels, s/he'll call them all day long and potentially swing the game in his favor, all while completely staying within the confines of the rules. I want to follow this with 2 statements: 1) I do think that travel calls and picks and questionable foul calls should be made (not necessarily by the palyers) becasuse a rule is a rule no matter how minor it maybe and 2) I do think that they can have a profound impact on the game. I remember the 2005 finals between brown and colorado. In that game brown called a lot of legit travel calls and it obviously disrupted the colorado flow. I think beau got 3 called on him on 3 consecutive attempts at throws. However, no one can deny that there are some impure motives at play here. Brown wants to win and they are gonna take very oppurtunity they can get (not to say that they are playing cheap, just very intelligent, very DoG esk). However, perhaps Colorado plays more in your face, I am gonna beat you to the spot and doesn't worry not worry about calls (and I think this is true because if they were worried about calls, their players would not commit so many infractions). This gives the advantage to brown because they can upset the rhythm of the game and potentially swing it in their favor. not to say that this got them the championship, but it helped. So I guess my overall point is that people are different. Some are anal about the rules, some are really intense, some are very vigilent, some don't care about the rules. All these inconsistencies make the game weaker. Players are responsible for making their own calls instead of just playing the game. If they break the rules, blow the whistle, and let an impartial party decide the course of action.

I guess I observers and better yet refs in games because I don't like inconsistency. i am a very black or white person and the human factor in ultimate makes it weaker. This is not an arguement based on fan appeal or increased acceptance in the community at large. I think that refs are good to make ultimate a better sport, and this may or may not increase popular appeal. I mean come on, its not like the world needs electrifying play to get into a sport. i mean take cricket or baseball or even soccer, these sports have no where near the velocity and intensity that ultimate has (at least for a sustained amount of time) and they all trounce ultimate in appeal. They are all, however, extremely well observed and players are respected for their ability to play the game within the confines of the rules. No one knows about rule nazi athletes (except maybe doug flutie and that drop kick FG) and players that break the rules or bend them beyond where they should get kicked out of the sport or punished (Mike Tyson, Vinnie Jones, Mark McGuire, etc...).

I for one do not want to see ultimate hit the big time because then it will be taken away from people like me. I am no Michael Vick but I still get to play the game at a high level. Very few people out there get to play basketball, football, soccer or hockey outside of rec leagues and I don't want ultimate to head that way. i think it is fine where it is. However, I do think that refs would be helpful. Observers are good and I will conceed that but the weakness is that a player has to make a call and if they are too shy to make them or too much of a dick and make too many, observers can be misused (or not at all). I like the idea of an impartial party running things, not only because it will make the game move faster and smoother, but every game will theoretically be the same. From fall tournaments through the club season, every organized ultimate game, not unlike high school football, college lacrosse, pro basektball, or anyother main stream sport, will be judged the same.

I think parts of MLU are good and I appreciate all the work that people like Ian McClellan and Wiggins have put in, but I don't think that making the game look cooler should be the motive, it should be to make the game more pure and distilled. As much as I don't want major athletes to take the game way from me, I do want the game to be pure and unbiased, very clean cut and efficient, very cut and dry. A foul should always be called and their should not be any ambiguity in it. Maybe some refs are better than others (as can be seen with ref criticisms in the NBA, MLB, NFL etc...) but at least the calls are coming from an impartial party. Game importance, human emotion, fear, desire, all those things cloud the game. Every game should be the same and that is what it means to be a professional. A professional does not get rattled at the foul line (not a good one anyway), a professional doesn't let the importance of a game affect how he plays it (at least not negatively) and a professional plays his game (or at least should) the same way whether it is week 1 of the season or the super bowl and that is what ultimate as a sport should strive for.

Now there is a lot of debate with things like money and what not and for all intensive purposes, the UPA is doing a great job, i understand that you can only have so many observers. But people should be focusing on how to make the game played at a crisper level, not a more exciting one. This isn't the XFL. If the outside community likes our sport (which most do after getting into it) things like a 2 point line, a stall count at 7, throwing out a new disc if another one goes out of bounds should not be saving us. It should be the respect of the fans and the knowledge that every player out there is equal in the eyes of the game and the only thing that separates them is their passion and talent. If some one wants it more then fine, they win. But if someone likes to make calls or knows the rules better giving them an adavantage, that just makes our sport look imperfect.

In the future I would like to see observers at evey game, not unlike refs at little kids soccer, baseball, football games etc... This will take time and I think the biggest thing holding us back is that there are just not enough people who care enough about ultimate to watch it as closely to make the necessary impact that an observer can make. This will however change as the sport grows (like it has been the last 30 years) and more and more people get into it. Once observers are skilled in making calls and watching the game and there are enough of them, the reigns should be passed off to them to control the rules so that players can just be concerned with the game, not the way it is played. Basically a referee, not an observer. Its not unlike a captain passing off line calling to a coach. A coach should/is impartial about playing time, he just wants the best for his team and taking that responsibility away from the captain allows the captain to focus on his game and the game of his team mates, not admin stuff like points played and stats.

These are my thoughts. I have a lot of other opinions concerning MLU outside this debate that I think are important but I will get to those in another post.

match diesel