Texas, Texas...YEE-HA!!!

A cheer for the Lone Star State, but uttered by the scaley boys from Florida after winning their first Centex, a goal that I am sure Gibson and the rest have had for quite some time.

Quarters

I tried to catch as much action as possible during quarters but I found myself spending most of my time watching Florida/Wisconsin and Michigan/Arizona. The weather was awesome on Saturday with slight winds and temperatures in the low 70s. However, Sunday was WINDY. More or less up wind/down wind and it was a little chilly. Lastly, because of Colorado's and Michigan's success, Stanford's struggles and Wisconsin's loss, the championship bracket was ridiculous. One half was Florida, Colorado, Wisconsin and Pitt (3 teams in semis last year) and the other was UNC, Michigan, Minnesota and Arizona (only 1 nationals team, UNC, that lost in pre-quarters to Carleton). Also, no Northwest representation. HOLY CRAP!!

Florida (14) vs Wisconsin (13)

Reid, who is a FANTASTIC TD by the way, had a great line during this game about Florida. He said playing ultimate at Florida is like High School cross country. If you are not in the top 7 you don't compete and the same is true for the Gators. I don't know how they do it, but for more or less the entire game, their 7 on the line is always the same. Kurt Gibson, Brodie Smith, Cyle Van Auken, Chris Gibson, and Cole Sullivan probably played 97% of the points on Sunday which translates into roughly 75 points after a Saturday of 5 games. My god!

This game was as expected. TONS of calls, really poor spirit and for the most part, frustrating to watch. Muffin and Kurt are such similar entities on their respective teams. They both yell A LOT, they are both rarely happy, they both have spectacular flicks in the wind, and their spirit is so depressing. I think Wisconsin was extremely surprised at their record and were definitely rattled. They were very spiteful towards one another which isn't surprising given the fact that they are an intense team and intensity can turn on you at times. Florida started out on top going up 3-1 and given their recent success against the 'dags, many thought Florida had the game locked up. Wisconsin would rally however and take the lead in the second half. James Foster, who I don't talk about enough, is a great player for Wisconsin. He is tall and experienced and is really good at getting the disc deep after Kurt and Brodie were preoccupied with Shane and Will Lokke. Rebholz is also extremely patient and composed and his handling is a polar opposite from Muffin. The two work well together however and compliment one another well. Will Lokke also had a great game. I really hope he gets the callahan nomination for Wisconsin because he is having a great season. He gets epic layout scores like they were nothing and his defense is impervious top to bottom. His composure is almost scary at times. Wisconsin yells a lot, they are really amped but Will is silent. He comes out of nowhere to make great plays and his playing style is as cold as a Wisconsin winter. Shane also had a great defensive game which I expected, despite some goofy bobbled huck scores caught by a lucky as hell Brodie Smith. I asked him how he pulled in two D'd hucks and he just shrugged, "No idea. I looked down and it was in my hands".

As for Florida, wow, this team will be soo different in 2 years. Gibson's throws in the wind are unreal. His flick is so good, it is scary. He launches hammers full field, he has a 3/4 field up wind flick huck, and his back hand breaks are perfect at ~18 inches off the ground. As for defense, Florida basically stuck with their zone which is probably the best in the country. Like I said before, they really hang out at the double-team threshold and because their team is SO tall, their cup is basically a fortress. Cyle has a great mark and with Cole, Chris, and Brodie in the cup, it is a steel trap. Brodie is 6'4" and looks like an Andean Condor on the field. This forces handlers to go over the top and who better to pick off hammers than the best deep in the country, #20. Kurt's deep D is unreal. I don't know how he doesn't get tired or doesn't get hurt. He throws his body in the air with complete disregard and lands so hard on his hips and his sides that I wonder how he doesn't have internal bleeding.

With so much wind there were a fair amount of turns instead of D's and Wisconsin in this game was not as successful against a great Florida offense, as they were against Colorado in a windy final last May. They had the lead 13-11 (pulling), game to 14. Florida managed to get the down winder and would come back with an upwind break because of a poorly placed Wisconsin throw. On Sunday, an upwind break usually meant another down wind break was coming your way and that basically happened. They tied it at 13's with the upwind break and that was all they needed. They forced Wisconsin to work it up conservatively which is something they don't do well and Florida capitalized. Their game in the wind is really amazing because their offense is so comfortable. Cyle gets open for dump cuts, Kurt is a great handler with superb breaks, Brodie can get wayy up and everyone else just tries not to screw up.

Michigan (15) vs Arizona (10)

I didn't see as much of this game as I wanted, mainly because Michigan was well in control. It was really exciting to see Purcell and Kershner line up on one another. They are both work horses and are both smaller players. At one point Purcell had an awesome layout D only to be outdone by a follow up D by Kershner. Kellen Geselbracht is also a fantastic defender for Sunburn. On the offensive side, Erik Gafni had a great game. He might be the teams' best player. He is so valuable at every stage in the Arizona offense. He had a great hammer to Kershner who may have some of the best hands in the country. Erik also exhibited great leadership calling lines along with Benjamin Gray and did his best to keep Arizona focused. I also think that Arizona may have one of the best handler cores in the country. Chris Shepard is phenomenal. He is tall, he is confident, he has every throw in the book. He and Henry Scharf really do a great job of making Kershner and Gafni look good. I think they sometimes take a few too many chances but I think they have what it takes to make nationals this year.

As for Michigan, Will Neff is a class act. Tiina Booth told me that he made ARHS Varsity as a freshman and was a sophmore captain, unheard of. He also was a major part of the 2003 and 2004 world championship juniors team. I really like watching him play for Michigan. As an elite level player, he could have walked into Michigan and been a big leaguer, but he isn't. Apparently Mo-Hawks are in and he sported one along with every other Michigan player. He is also at the core of their cheering and really exemplifies a truly great leader both on and off the field. Ryan also played a great game. Because he is a lefty, his breaks are really powerful and it keeps teams on their toes. His defense is also top notch and he really is good at getting the disc back when the offense turns it. Another thing that was really awesome about this game is that as far as spirit goes, it was 180 degrees from Wisconsin/Florida. I know that SOTG kind of gets a bad wrap from some people because it appears to be a pansy element to the game. However, the reason spirit is so important is that it takes the place of refs (at least for now). Call after call after call is BORING to watch and it really affects the game in an adverse way. Good spirit allows great D's to NOT be called back, it prevents bogus travel calls from derailing great offensive flow, and it keeps competitors focused on their game instead of how much they hate their opponent. With refs, spirit is out the window for a variety of reasons, both good and bad. But for right now, seeing Will, Ryan and the rest of Michigan as well as Gafni, Kershner, and Arizona play good and clean ultimate is really a beautiful thing.

Semis

Florida (15) vs Colorado (13)

This game had fewer calls than Florida/Wisconsin which was nice. Florida jumped out to an early lead and took half 8-4 which would be all they needed. This game was more or less an up wind/down wind contest and an early up wind break by Florida would lead to a downwind break and Colorado struggled to get those back all game. Colorado's O-line looks good however. Jolian has been much quieter than I thought he would be but he does a good job of setting up Mac Taylor deep and vice versa. Once again, Wicus and Pebbles did a great job of handling the grunt work, especially in such high wind. Catt Wilson also impressed me at one point calling a play off a Florida turn in the endzone. Jolian picked up and instead of walking it up to the line, he just jacked it from inside his own endzone down wind to a streaking Mac Taylor who reeled in a 85 yard back hand bomb. Florida was not happy.

Florida played razor sharp though. Their ability to keep their same 7 on the field is something you don't see much, but if your players can do it, you're in good shape. I wonder what Florida will have once Gibson graduates though, yikes. I also talked to Brodie after the game and he had some interesting things to say. First off, I really like this guy. He is chill, funny, and friendly. He might make some calls or intentional fouls, but I like him off the field a lot. Apparently he had mono after Vegas and has not played since mid-February, which is one of the reasons Florida didn't go to Stanford. He was really stoked for high wind because he said he had no legs what so ever and would be able to rely on his height, jumping ability and throws, rather than speed. Martin Cochran, who is also a really great guy to talk to, covered him for most of this game, but like-wise, his broken foot has kept him from being in top shape. Towards the end of the game, Martin was getting tired and switched to covering Gibson because Kurt had handled mostly in this game. Brodie told me this was a golden opportunity for the gators and twice they switched the Kurt to Brodie flick bomb to Brodie to Kurt flick bomb and without stellar speed, you aren't going to catch Kurt going deep. This sealed the deal for Florida and put them in the Finals.

UNC (13) vs Michigan (12)

This game was a heart breaker to watch. Magnum was up the whole game but UNC was right there with them. An early break allowed Michigan to lead 9-7, but UNC kept going score for score for Michigan in the second half. In watching Michigan both in this game and the Arizona game, it appears their one weakness is weather. They have a huge indoor facility that they practice in so their offense is really good. I think this is why they had success against Wisconsin on Saturday consider the wind wasn't so bad. However, Sunday was not good for the boys in blue and yellow. They seemed to have poor throws in the wind and even Ryan and Will were floating passes. Many passes were caught at full arms length in the air and some would sail over heads and out of bounds. Early in the game, UNC couldn't capitalize on these turns, but later, they played better windy offense and punched in the 2 breaks they needed. Having the ability to practice outdoors seems to be good for Darkside and I think once Michigan is able to get outside, they will be able to improve this part of their game. In addition, I really think that Michigan's depth will be an issue. Like Florida they rely on a small core group of players and in poor weather a lot of their star offensive players have to play D because of turnovers. I think they can beat almost anyone in good weather but if the wind is bad come the series, they might get stuck being #2 behind Illinois out of the Great Lakes. I also wonder how the weather will be in Boulder if/when they make nationals.

As far as UNC goes, they really are not what I was expecting. They play chilly offensive and have athlete after athlete recording D's. I think they were a bit out matched by Stephen Presley (Texas) on Saturday which is why they lost in pool play, but their composed offense was better in the wind than Michigan down to the wire in semis. UNC definitely had a clutch offensive possession late in the game after they had taken the lead. At 12-11, Michigan gained a crucial upwind break and was now pulling on universe point with the wind at their back. They came zone and with Will Neff deep it was almost guaranteed that a turn would come. However, UNC sent a deep cutter to challenge Will and then came back in. Will took a few steps to follow him back in and as he was distracted a second cutter took off for the endzone and a perfectly placed backhand bomb was farther than Will could recover from and UNC reeled in the game winner. Great play on their part.

Finals - Florida (15) vs UNC (7)

The finals was probably the weakest game of the day that I saw and considering the difference in competition from each side of the bracket, a blow out final was eminent even before quarters were played. Florida's upwind offense and zone defense were much more than UNC could handle and despite miscues by Florida in the wind, their defense was suffocating. UNC challenged Kurt many times and every time he would reel in the hammer. I thought a lot about how Beau used to play deep in zone and I think Kurt is far superior. When Beau would play zone he would rely on his legs to get to the right spot. This worked a lot because he is incredibly fast, but sometimes, it just isn't possible with a well placed hammer. The disc is just moving too fast and you can't catch up. Kurt on the other hand plays excellent head as well as body deep D. He loves putting up the hammer when a cup comes his way and therefore is very good at knowing when and where a handler wants to place a hammer when he is playing D. His positioning down field is excellent and he always knows exactly where to be to make a play. He is also very good at knowing his limits and would routinely just barely sky a guy for a disc after a full out sprint to the spot.

This game also had a fair amount of calls and I spent most of it hanging out with my UCSD buddies. I am really jealous of their crowd, the team is so much fun and they have so much potential. I know they beat a burned out Oregon and didn't exactly dominate in their pool, but they look good for the future. Their young talent has yet to gain the experience they need to handle the best in the country but they have several coaches and good youngsters. They also took out Tide pulling upwind on universe and have yet to play Arizona this year. They have as good a chance as any in the shit show that is the Southwest, and I will look forward to seeing how regionals goes.

Closing Thoughts

Skippy runs a great tournament. A line that I heard that really rang true was that at Centex, the B-Bracket is better than most A-brackets out there and I really think Cultimate is the future of college ultimate. Not to say that Nationals isn't up to par, but for teams that want to work out kinks and get the most out of a tournament, there is nothing like Centex. Reid was all over the place with his iPhone and he really knew what he was doing both in tournament organization and getting information from the field to the score reporter. I also got the chance to hang out with Rob some and his contribution to the sport really translates to him in real life. He is really a great guy as is his co-camera man and good friend, Dale. Skizip and the rest of the Texas crowd really made this trip for me again, just like Kaimana. I got my Lone Star jersey which I am wearing as I write this, and I can not thank them enough for taking care of me and showing me a good time.

I also want to thank Ryan Purcell, Martin Cochran, and Brodie Smith for taking the time to talk to me. I really love to talk shop and I have no agenda what so ever. All three were very friendly and made my life easier, thank you so much. Hopefully I can get some more interviews at Nationals. Also, thanks to all the people that came up to me just to tell me they read this stuff. It really means a lot to me and if you ever recognize me at a tournament, don't hesitate to introduce yourself. I love making new friends and I really want to hear input on how to make this sort of ultimate information delivery better.

Lastly, I am really tempted to get some callahan talk out there but I will save that for a future post. I have a ton of thoughts on the subject and hopefully I can get the voters some credible and objective material this year before they vote. Good luck to all teams out there in the series. Stay tuned.

match diesel

And that they say....

is where the plot thickens.

For anyone out there that goes to major ultimate tournaments just to watch, like Nationals for example, go to Centex instead. This tournament has been so much fun to be at. Austin is a great city, the weather is unreal. These teams that are invincible in a 16 team Nationals tournament, are actually human believe it or not. I have always thought that 5 pool play games was a marathon but seeing it in real life makes the point so easy to make.

So friday night I get into Austin at around 5pm. I was really nervous because I have never been to to Centex, I have never been to Texas and I was going to be putting my life into the hands of people I don't know very well. In any event, the Lone Star boys did NOT disappoint and they took great care of me. I wish I had more to say but the 27 yager bombs I got stuck buying because I lost at credit card roulette kind of erased most of the night. I will say I got to sleep in Matty C's bed and he slept on someone else's couch, I rule.

First Round: Colorado (13) vs Arizona (9) and Carleton (12) vs Georgia (13)

I should first say that I got to the Arizona/Colorado game a little late. The score was 4-0 when I showed up and Colorado took it to 5-0.

Martin Cochran is definitely back. I asked him how he felt after playing a game where he covered Kershner a little bit and he told me that he "felt like this was the first tournament he had every played in". I figured having been out for a few months would hurt your conditioning but his experience is something that Colorado needs and now has.

I would love to say that the story of this game was Jolian and Mac Taylor dominating but the two Mamabird players that blew my mind were Chris Wicus and Kevin "Pebbles" Schipper. Neither one of them recorded major fantasy points, but my god did they do a good job of resetting the offense. Wicus played at Club Nationals with Bashing Pinatas and after seeing him at NE Regionals and now at Centex, he looks like he has gotten is serious shape. I suppose having to command such a historic offense is a major motivational force. His breaks, his composure, the ability to get the dump and continue the offense played a big role in the how/why's of Colorado's win. Pebbles was also a stud. He is so quick and his disc skills are awesome. Him teaming up with Wicus was great to watch because they are such different players, Wicus is 6'4" and Pebbles is 5'8" but their team work was really cool to see. Pebbles can get open on anyone and Wicus really uses his body size to generate breaks and they did a great job handling the grunt work why Jolian and Mac Taylor were hucking scores to one another.

As far as Arizona goes, I really think they live and die with high risk throws. They are addicted to their upside down throws and I really think that it becomes a liability. I mean, ok say you have a great hammer, even the best handlers don't put up 20-30 hammers because the throw is going to get dropped/D'd 20% of the time. If you are throwing one hammer after another you are going to turn it over. I don't want to say this but, I am beginning to think Arizona got lucky in Vegas. I mean that scoober?!? I don't care who you are, find me a Club Nationals player that puts up something like that. Hammers, scoobers, and break hucks in college are like 3-point shooting in college, streaky. Sometimes everything looks good, especially if the weather is good, but sometimes you get drops or adverse weather conditions. I don't mean to say that they are careless but I think when things are tough, a consistent and veteran team like Colorado will take advantage of those turnovers. The one thing that frustrated me was that Colorado's 0-line would give up the disc and Arizona would put up some backhand break huck with Jolian as a deep defender or an upfield scoober, or something that basically showed that valuing the disc was not a priority. In any event, I think high risk moves really hurt Arizona's chances of collecting the breaks they needed to beat Colorado. They definitely have superb talent though. Kershner was in but he was out shined in this game by his supporting cast. Erik Gafni is such a dominant offensive threat. His ability to get open, his throws and his vertical presence is unreal. Chris Shepard is a phenomenal handler and his defensive ability is really an asset. Henry Scharf is also a great handler and Arizona's second half was definitely better than their first.

Georgia vs Carleton was the first great game of the day. Georgia took half 7-6, which is when I started watching and the second half was really well played. Carleton hucks a lot more than I thought they would considering they are such a squirrely collection of Junior players. Lindsley is a stud, his deep cutting ability really opens up CUT's offense. Adam Fagin handles very well and has really matured as a disc player in the last year. Playing for Mischief has definitely improved his game. Christian Foster has really fit in nicely into CUT's offense and his disc skills and athleticism are phenomenal as well as common on Carleton. Despite giving him shit, I think his transfer to Carleton was a great move and I think he is really happy there.

Georgia actually played a much different game then I imagined. I think Dylan's departure is good for their team. With a such a phenomenal player, I would imagine that JoJah players would take pressure of themselves and put it on Dylan. The motivation to make THE play is not as strong as the security that Dylan would always be there to provide what the team needs. Today, it seemed that every Georgia player really wanted to get D's or scores or whatever, and it really helped the team succeed. Greg Swanson played great on both sides of the disc and his health is definitely something Georgia needs to protect. Will McDonough is a great cutter and defender and his experience really makes him a great on the field. His ability to let Swanson play his game by playing his own really helps get red and white in the endzone. Georgia was up late in the game but let Carleton come back. I think that these World's kids are great disc players but they are still young and composure is still a concern. I also think their abilities definitely compensate for their small size but I wonder if Carleton will be able to get back on top of the Central Region. It seems that Ultimate used to be the sport where the nerdy kid who played was good and the real jocks were preoccupied with better sports. However, now that more and more people are playing our sport, better athletes are saddling up and teams like Wisconsin really benefit from a 30,000 student population. With that in mind I wonder if Juniors talent is going to be enough.

Round 2: NC State (9) vs Michigan (13), Texas (13) vs UNC (12), and Wisconsin (12) vs Oregon (10)

Michigan is good and this is Centex. You can't fluke and win 5 pool play games. This tournament is the most brutal physical challenge I have ever seen in an ultimate sense and winning game after game is really amazing especially with the level of competition they are up against. When the game started Michigan only had 10 players but Will Neff and Ryan Purcell got it done. I really think that Ryan's commitment to ultimate paired up with Will Neff's talent/experience is really similar to Randy Moss and Tom Brady pairing up. Will is so experienced that his contribution goes so far beyond his 6'5" size. His throws, confidence, man/poach D, basically his whole game is such a deep asset which has really elevated Michigan's game to a level they have never been. In this game, Magnum's offense ran very smoothly, very club team-esk and in addition to Will and Ryan, Alex Fegert and Patrick Collins really had knew what they were doing. Fegert is great in the air and Collins is a razor sharp cutter.

As far as NC State goes, sorry Ultie Arnie, I caught you and your guys in a poor game. His handling ability is really spectacular though and I am glad I have had the chance to talk to him a little bit. I asked him what the ultimate scene in Australia (where he is from) is like relative to the US. The first thing he told me was that "the game is much more spirited because the community is much smaller and people all know and make everyone accountable for poor calls and what not". John Norris seems to run their offense and has confidence in the handler position. NC State really took wayy too many chances though, and put up a lot of hucks that sailed out of bounds. Thomas Ward is also a great cutter for NC State and I think he really facilitates things NC State's offense.

Considering that I had been partying with the Texas guys I thought I would watch some TUFF ultimate and I wanted to catch Stephen Presley in action. I wish I had seen the Pitt game (and man did Pitt play, I didn't need dinner because i ate some serious words tonight) but Texas looked good against UNC. They had some issues with UNC's zone but their handling ability was much better than I was expecting. The one critique I had of them was that Presley wasn't in the main handler position in their zone O. His break throws are unreal, he is soo fast, and his field presence is so polished and Sarasota-esk. This guy is definitely callahan worthy, but talent is only part of what it takes to win the award.

North Carolina definitely had a great day despite this loss, hell they made quarters and Texas did not. It is still unclear whether they are above or behind NC State but I think they need more consistency before they will earn that bid to natties. Their offense ran very well though. they didn't rely on bombs or hammers, just good cutting and throwing. Ryan Coffield is a great player and his offensive presence is as consistent as UNC will need to be to make Boulder. They had a lot to think about going into the showcase game with the possibility (which happened) of 3 teams going 4-1 only 2 of which make quarters. The TD's were really scratching their heads on this one, but they all settled on Pitt and North Carolina for reasons I don't fully understand but trust.

I caught very little of the Wisconsin vs Oregon game but I would have to say that Oregon has got to be hurting tonight. They, like Stanford, were probably thinking Quarters and ended up 0-5?!?! Yikes, that hurts. Despite going 0-5, their game against Wisconsin was so painful to watch. They were up 10-7 when I walked over and I guess myself and the rest of the crowd was bad luck. Eli Janin went down with a bad ankle sprain and Wisconsin made 2 suspect calls and both really turned the tables on Oregon. It's too bad that calls can result in such a large degree of frustration which can really affect one's play but it's part of the game. The first call was a deep shot Oregon took and a Wisconsin defender made (what I thought to be) a poor foul call down field. He backed into the receiver who caught the disc and called a foul. Regardless, after A LOT of discussion the disc went back and Oregon turned it. Later on the same point Muffin called a foul on a floaty dump throw from Shane. I am not sure if it was good or bad, but I hear it was close. In the end Oregon sunk themselves. Irrespective of calls, giving up 5 unanswered points is inexcusable. I would like to think this could have been an isolated incident but they let Cal come back from being down 10-4 so I think their consistency is priority #1 on Oregon's agenda. Stout did play very well in this game though. He is a big strong deep cutter, and I think Dusty's handling ability is really facilitated by Kevin's presence. My only critique of Dusty was that he really gave it back a lot. Wisconsin coughed it up twice on one point that I saw and Dusty sent it back the other way on a back hand huck out the back. They also didn't have anything left come their UCSD game and despite wanting to play a game to 7, the Squids were ready for round 5 and we FINALLY beat Oregon. Non-ideal I know, but it's a stepping stone.

As for Wisconsin, they definitely are in world of their own. They have their team mentality, their game plan and they all buy into it. Regardless of what people think about them, they really live and breath Hodag ultimate and it is THE reason they do so well. Apparently Mahowald was out but Will Lokke was spectacular as usual. Muffin and Rebholz keep the offense going, Shane is incredible in the air and basically everywhere on D, but Will is just all over the field. Epic D's, great cutting, great in the air and he seems so impervious to pressure. Very similar to Heijman, he seems to be the guy everyone on the team likes, responds to, and loves being on the line with. I think he has a chance at the Callahan if he gets the Hodag nomination.

Round 3: Freebirds, Santa Cruz (8) vs Illinois (13) and Michigan (13) vs Wisconsin (9)

I did the burrito thing....awesome.

Both Illinois and Santa Cruz had beaten Stanford so I camped out at their field for the game. Illinois looks really good. I spoke with one of their players and he told me that their depth was their strong suit but they have a tendency to play down to teams that they think they are better than. Joel Koehneman is a great handler that is very confident with the disc in his hands. However, he had a poor game against Minnesota in the following round and he put up three lazy flicks while I was watching and I think he will need much more focused to beat Michigan to get out of Great Lakes Region. Regardless, they played great small ball in the wind, which picked up into a more or less of an up-wind/down-wind game. They had the ability to break Santa Cruz with quick tosses and boring disc while hucks didn't got UCSC's way.

I also got to meet DLK who seems like a great guy. His commitment to Santa Cruz seems like it is one thing that really helps the Slugs believe that they are a nationals caliber team. His hucks were great down wind. Russell Wynne is also an unreal down field cutter and I saw him make two consecutive sky scores and was really impressed with his game. However, I am curious to know what Santa Cruz can do in wind. Their deep game seems to be an option they would prefer but they need to have more options if they want to win. Good for them the Northwest (like the Southwest) is such a shit show and no one is definitely in or out. I will say that they were definitely the best NW team at the tournament though. They beat Stanford and Georgia Tech well and while Cal was also 2-3, they barely beat UCSD and got lucky Oregon choked.

When I was watching this game I heard Michigan was up 11-8 on Wisconsin and I trucked it to their game. I wonder if the Wisconsin/Oregon game had anything to do with this loss, but like the NC State game, Michigan just looks confident. Their win against Wisconsin was not like Arizona's or UBC's close games AT ALL. In a 5 game day, beating the deepest team in the country soundly is not a fluke. I really think Will's presence is unreal for Magnum. He takes so much pressure off the rest of the team and really lets everyone just play their game. I talked with Ryan Purcell after the game and he was telling me that "the game had only 6 turnovers" which really says that despite a GREAT offensive showing by Wisconsin, they just got out played. You can't say you played poorly when you commit so few turn overs, and I think Michigan's offense is just ice cold. Very similar to Arizona, UBC, and Oregon, the teams that can get close to Wisconsin are those that really beat teams with crisp offense. Wisconsin can't break you if you don't give them the disc and Magnum's flow seems so finely tuned. I also asked Ryan how he felt about his team this year. Apparently they are having some administrative issues with field space and they have had a tough time getting good weather and competition at tournaments. They didn't go to Vegas so they missed out on getting on some folks' radar which goes to show you that you really can't break into elite discussion unless you show up to one of Skippy's fine tournaments. Bottom line, I thought that Michigan was the real deal last month, and I really hope they can keep it up and play to their potential at regionals/nationals. Again, with a player like Neff this is really going to be fun to watch because this is all pressure Will can laugh at considering his days looking up at DoG while he was on Twisted Metal and his composure will keep Magnum in the spot light.

Round 4: Minnesota (13) vs Illinois (12) and Wisconsin (13) vs UCSD (8)

I am glad I got to see the Illinois/Minnesota game but I think the game got better after I left. At half I went to go support my undergrad buddies but from what I saw, Jeff Anderson and Jerod Johnson really kick ass for this team. Their man D is really good and they managed to grind out a win against Illinois. The game was close the entire time and they were fighting for their right to make quarters. Having never played at a level like this, one would they think they mihght crumble but they stuck it out. They also got a great win over Stanford (ahh, what the fuck happened to Bloodthirsty?) and despite losing to Georgia Tech, they are in the championship bracket tomorrow.

In this Illinois game I think they were a little over confident. Justin Manuel played phenomenal defense and had great in cut as well as deep cut offensive presence. Their offense was clean at times, but like I said, sometimes they don't play their best game.

Wisconsin vs UCSD was as expected. The Hodgas were well in control for the entire game but Eric "Biel" Abhold on UCSD has an Adam "Wormser" Bunn feel to his cuts. He is extremely fast, he can change direction on a dime and is just one of those little guys that cuts deep well. Sophmore Josh Nickerson also had a great sky and I think great plays against a team like Wisconsin is experience in the making that will help this team succeed in the future. Maclyn "Boont" Eick and Mark "Dibs" Johnston run a great team and it makes me wish I was a squid now rather than '03-'05. The team dynamic seems is so close and everyone is so happy. I think they are going to have to suck it up and go to things like the Stanford Qualified next year but the momentum from that 2005 Georgia 15-6 upset in Corvalis that got us into Semis is really running out and it is time for these guys to write their own history.

Round 5: Florida (13) vs Stanford (8)

Florida really is a great team. They are so confident and tall. They are the new Colorado. Despite the fact that they don't have many friends outside their team, they really are fantastic to watch. Their zone completely shut Stanford down. With guys like Brodie in the cup, it literally is a wall and floaty hammers were eaten up by Gibson like ham on Easter Sunday. Florida is also really good at hanging out at that threshold where a double team is or is not. That definitely put unwanted pressure on Stanford and it showed.

I also wanted to say that Kurt is a phenomenal player, there is no denying it. I think in a vacuum, he is the best player in the country and deserves the callahan. His ability to get D's at will, his throws, his jumping ability, unreal. He has comparable athletic ability to Beau but his fundamentals are so sharp and his club experience is spectacular. However, he does yell a lot and seems like a hot head. I think Tim Gehret's presence really kept Kurt in check, maybe even subconsciously, back in 2006 and that is why I think they were untouchable. I hope that he can keep a level head for his team mates sake but who knows? I also wanted to say that I really like Brodie, he had a great heckle in the Wisconsin/Oregon game. A Wisconsin guy made a call and Brodie yelled from the sideline "Thats a Brodie call!!". He, like Gibson, is an absolute hawk in the air.

I only watched 1 Stanford game so I only know so much. I heard from an Illinois guy that they went 6-1 on Stanford in the second half to win 13-7 and by the time the 1 vs 2 round came along, Stanford was already 0-4. They are really young. I wasn't at Stanford Invite but they just don't have depth anymore. Ezra, Schalg, and Sherwood played great games. Sherwood got a sky score on Gibson as did Ezra over Brodie. Scardato even got a great sky D on Brodie and he is 9 inches shorter. However, outside those few, Stanford really doesn't have a consistent play maker outside Sherwood. Ezra is a great deep threat, but he is beatable and his defense on Kurt and/or Brodie is ehh. He just can't elevate to that level on defense. Scardato will be a great player, I hope he sticks with disc, but he is so little. With his skill set, he is right on the cusp of being a great deep threat. Not just a deep threat but a great deep threat. However, with that title, comes unwanted attention. He is a good threat but if their offense relies on him and Ezra, they are each beatable with unfavorable matchups. Maybe they get some sweet skies but defensively, they are going to struggle. Stanford's performance also showed me how valuable Nan Gao and Will Chen were last year. As the two best defensive handlers in the country Stanford, could not only generate D's but once they did, Cahill and Sherwood had not pressure on them to reset the disc. Gao and Chen moved the offense and all they had to do was run. Now Sherwood is handling a lot and while his patented "no fake quick backhand break" gets resets fairly well, it looks like he is stuck playing a role he would rather not and isn't the best at. Stanford's handlers have a ton of pressure on them to get this offense on track and their streakiness just goes to show you how inexperienced this team is. I think Schlag can get it done but I wonder if all the pieces will be in place by May.

I missed a lot of the show case game because I was getting ripped with some undergrad buddies, sorry. I got to tell all my stories over again though, which I never get tired of.

Closing Thoughts

I really hate to say this but I Carleton is in trouble. If you look at their scores they beat teams that they easily have better fundamentals and experience than, (Harvard and Kansas) but their losses are to teams that have their experience and are just bigger. I mean no one on Carleton can challenge players like Erik Gafni (Arizona) or Jolian Dahl (Colorado). I think Georgia has some work to do to get their game a little cleaner but I think a 13-12 loss will just be a 15-12 one at Nationals. It seems like they should succeed but the teams that are at the top always seems to sqweak past them. Georgia in Columbus last year, Georgia today, Stanford in Columbus last year, Colorado today.

The bird is back. Martin told me that they were "just making fundamental mistakes" this year so far and I think they are beginning to realize that that 2004 national championship is just a paper weight to most of the players on the team. They need to do it year in and year out. Riding momentum is nice but it does run out.

Pitt...wow. You guys are good, but I didn't see you play at all. I think the Colorado draw is a nice quarters match up because it will give a team looking for exposure a chance to play a team that is trying to hold onto it. I'll do what I can to catch you play tomorrow but I really want to see what Michigan can do and the Florida/Wisconsin game will be amazing.

I have said this a bunch but Centex is such a gruelling tourney. At nationals everyone is rested and fresh for their 3 games but Centex just sucks the life out of everyone, even the best teams. I saw a lot of hucks go over thrown in the later rounds which made it obvious to me that the legs were a lot more tired than the arms. I am not sure what is a better showing of the best in ultimate, but for outside the series, there is nothing like Centex. Its a tournament where flukes are just non-existent. Vegas has a lot of different teams so some games aren't as hard as others and its also early in the year so cold weather teams are at a disadvantage. But Centex, no way. This is to-the-limit ultimate.

match diesel

PS I didn't get this up until 3am so don't bother with correcting stupid mistakes if I made them. I didn't really get a chance to revise much.

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

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