The Best Experience of My Life

Yep....I know it sounds like the lamest thing in the world, but yesterday was easily the most emotionally exhilarating day of my entire life. This post is gonna be long, sorry.

So its been a while since I posted, like 2 days, so there is some action I have missed out on so I will catch folks up to speed first.

Semis: USA vs Japan

This was the game that Sockeye prepared for and they didn't disappoint. Japan was priority #1 on Team USA's radar and their second contest was even better than their first. The win wasn't as definitive (14-10, instead of 17-11), but Sockeye balled. In looking at USA's tournament holistically, I think their focus was wayy to much on Japan and not enough on Canada. Furious has had a tendency to set up the over confidence bear trap which worked in 2005. Skip Sewell was telling me after the Finals that the game felt a lot like '05 when they lost in the Finals and it just goes to show you that no team is invincible. It is pretty ironic that Furious' best strategy in winning gold was to go 0-3 in pool play last fall.

However, as for the semifinals, the game started off with Team USA receiving, converting on their first possession and then going up a break. At 2-0, Japan answered back with their speed, but this game was a bit windier than a few days back and considering Sockeye's level of preparation, Japan's offense would have to utilize auxiliary offensive weapons. They looked good early, earning a break of their own in the first half, but it would not last.

The BB tied the game at 3s and the two juggernauts went point for point threw the first half. Mike Caldwell played a phenomenal game and looked like a machine on the field with the most precise execution I've seen in a player. He has so many release points that he can throw from and his fakes and cuts are so incredibly sharp. On the other side of the disc, Seth Wiggins had a great first half with a fantastic layout D, the first of two in this game. Tim Gehret also played a phenomenal game with two break saving layout Ds. He and Seth were the two best players in this game and it was incredible to see him turn it up a notch if Team USA's O-line coughed it up. It reminded me of the ECC '07 game where he got a fantastic layout catch block after a silly Sockeye turnover.

USA took half 7-6 (on serve) and this game looked like it could be close. However, as most games had gone with USA, teams came out firing but once Sockeye's D figured out their opponent's strategy, they adjusted and began to collect breaks in the 2nd half. After trading points, USA was receiving at 8s. USA was aiming for that pivotal threshold where the game goes from close to out of reach and this is when it happened. They put Ben Wiggins on the D-line in an attempt to bolster their D-line offense and it worked. They got the score and then the break to go up 10-8 and then they broke Japan again to make it 11-8. Japan would answer to make it 11-9 but Sockeye would break them again and play out the game on serve to 14-10.

At certain points in the second half Sockeye's offense didn't look great but Japan simply could not capitalize. They seemed to be filled with so much emotion that their nerves collapsed under the pressure. One turnover that comes to mind was a wild hammer that Chase tossed up that was D'd. Japan didn't connect on this opportunity and over threw a streaking cutter deep, being covered by Chase. The two made huge bids for the disc and what impressed me the most was that Chase was definitely behind his guy when the throw went up but managed to close the gap with his speed. He hit the ground hard however and it looked like the wind was knocked out of him. He laid on the ground for a a minute or two and when he finally spoke all he said was "What the f@#$ am I doing throwing hammers?". I thought it was hilarious.

Anyway, Japan tried a variety of things to slow down Sockeye's offense but it simply did not work. They made a ton of brilliant switches on defense, but they could not slow down Sammy CK, Moses, and Nord. Ben, Bestock, and TG ran a great offense together and in the second half, Tim got another break saving layout D. I was so impressed with his O-line defense. The one thing I did not like though was the amount of calls Sockeye made. I AM NOT SAYING THEY WERE BAD CALLS, but they made a lot and Japan did not. WFDF has no officiating whatsoever so if one team wants to make calls and the other team doesn't things will get hairy and they did. Sockeye called back several scoring attempts and Japan couldn't duplicate their success.

Semis: Canada vs Great Britain

Of all the teams outside my boys, I was the most impressed with Great Britain at this tournament. I've mentioned this before, but they played an amazingly polished game. They were spectacular in the air and made great decisions on offense. However, they were matched up against the best and they got rocked. Canada quickly took away Great Britain's deep game and despite the 17-11 score, they were well in control. They lead 13-6 late in the second half before giving up 3 breaks, but they cruised when they wanted to. I could tell Mike Grant was getting a little pissed and on an O-line turnover, he got a fantastic foot block to save another break. I had to watch Furious for a few games to realize how they work, and Mike's leadership on the O-line is why he is proclaimed the best player in the world. He and Hassell lead a great charge along with Savage and a few others and Canada earned their shot at the Americans, something Lugsdin told me they wanted above anything else.

Masters Finals: USA vs Canada

After I finished watching the semis I went over to the showcase field and Parinella, the Count and the Condors were facing off against Canada. I did some commentary for this game, so I'm not going to go into too much detail. I will say that USA looked far better than they did in their first contest with Canada. Instead of being down the whole game and rallying, they had a decent lead for most of the contest.

However, down the home stretch things got a little hectic. Team USA was up 14-12 (pulling) and after Canada scored, they were broken to push the game to 14-13. I was in the booth commentating and right before Canada pulled I said, "These guys are the most experienced players in the game. Their blood is ice cold and I don't think they'll get broken". I knocked on wood and good thing I did because Dugan had two throwaways on game point and Mooney was foot blocked on his own goal line. Team USA came devastatingly close to having to play it out on Universe (upwind) but in the end, DoG capitalized and Mooney tossed the wining goal to seal it. Husak played a great game and despite being former rivals, both Jim and Al had great things to say about their D-line stud. Namkung hurt his shoulder so he didn't play much and despite a separated rib, Dugan still gave it his all and USA won gold in sterling fashion.

Party

After the game Alex and I got some sushi and went over to the tournament party which was a total bust. When you have a function like this at a major public venue like UBC, you have take many precautions, none of which are good for party goers. The event had music, ultimate players, and beer, but the main contingent was hanging out just outside the doors. Beer was expensive, the party inside was dark and loud as hell, and security was wayy over the top. These guys were your stereotypical suburban cops on a power trip and it was a real buzz kill. There were no shenanigans or flip cup or boat races. It just wasn't an ultimate party. I am sure the WFDF folks did their best, but it sucked and the folks I chilled with had the most fun being outside. It just goes to show you why the best "fun" tournaments are in the middle of nowhere like Redmond, Washington or Versailles, Ohio.

The one positive thing that came out of this however was that I finally got to shotgun with The Count. Everyone was predicting a blowout and despite the fact that he was victorious, I was right there with him. Husak can vouch for me, it was definitely a close victory, but a victory for de Frondeville none the less. I don't mind though, Al seems to be good at winning and considering he had to use all his fingers and some other body parts to count all his championships, I was ok with admitting defeat. I would love a rematch however, and I think I can take him if given the chance.

Finals Prep

Despite staying up fairly late, I was up early Saturday. I wanted to do some prep for the gold medal game and I figured 8 hours would be enough time. I got some coffee and fruit at a nearby market and headed to the stadium. The Ultiviallge crew was setting up for the broadcast and these guys were a lot of fun to work with. Rob, Dale, Skizip, and Dick are great people and are a ton of fun to work with. They let me loose this week and also let Alex hook up with the crew and help out where he could.

I was working hard in the press box during the Women's and Mixed finals so I have zero input on those games other than USA/Japan women was a great game and Fisher Price looked red hot winning gold via a game point Callahan.

The Block Stack guys were very accommodating for me as well and I really wanted to give them a good show for the finals. Despite Furious being my favorite team, I felt that I didn't know know enough about them and I really wanted to be prepared. I looked up every player I could but I really struggled because a lot of the information is just not available online. However, to my delight the Team Canada guys had camped out right outside the press box and despite being somewhat star struck, I did my job and approached them. Considering I had never actually met Oscar or Nick Menzies, I was a bit nervous. Other approaches hadn't gone very well this week but to my relief, they were so down to talk. They tossed so much information my way and the only thing cooler than hearing it from the horse's mouth was knowing that these guys knew who I was, they knew what I was trying to do and they were so happy to chat with me. Oscar and Nick, in addition to being great players and defenders, are really good people, not unlike the rest of Furious, and they really made my job so incredibly easy. Thank you again.

Anyway, I had my notes ready and we were set to go on the air at 4pm. I had called some family and friends to tell them to check out the broadcast if they could and at 3:55p I took my seat at the table and was ready for the most thrilling experience of my life.

The Finals

I'm not going to lie, I completely thought Sockeye was going to win this game. I had a chat with Lindlsey (I want a story by the way, Grant) earlier in the day and I told him I thought Sockeye would win. I really had every reason to feel that way and considering the fact that I love to be pessimistic in the hopes of being pleasantly surprised, it was a good mind set for me to have.

The weather was great all week but by the time the big boys stepped out, it was really raining. I scratched my head a little bit at the schedule of the tournament because the field the finals were played on had been played on probably 15 times already. Unlike College Nationals where the final field is untouched before the finals, this field was burger by the time USA and Canada came out. Players were slipping all game and in some instances, a fortuitous slip by a defender meant a goal for the offense. However, despite this, there were no significant injuries, thank god.

From the opening pull Team Canada really looked fired up. They started the game off with a break and before I knew it they were up 5-2. Team USA was easily the loudest team in the tournament but the crowd for the Finals was predominately Canada. Furious is notorious for slipping in intensity but the crowd really brought the noise and I can imagine that the intensity Sockeye depended on and Furious struggled to hold on to, went in favor of the red and white.

The first half went Canada's way 9-6 and despite a heated rivalry between these two, the game was very spirited thus far. Jimmy Chu and Roger Crafts both accidentally roughed up some Canada cutters but both were very quick to apologies with a "no contest". The second half however, would not go down this way.

Furious started on O and extended their lead to 10-6. I was already pretty fired up but after this score I really began to believe that Furious was going to win. The first half is just the first half, but being up by 4 in the second half in elite open is pretty iron clad. Mauro Ortiz, John Hassell, and Mike Grant all played spectacular offense. Mike's flick is unreal and he has such composure even when the stakes are this high. He had a sick stall 8 IO 30 yd break throw and I'm not surprised he lead his team with 40 fantasy points. He and Hassell looked great together and every time they got within 10-15 yards of the endzone, I knew they would connect and they did.

USA's offense on the other hand was really lackluster. Very few Sockeye players seemed to be in their element and it was very surprising to see. Moses played a great game with several deep cuts, but it seemed like Sockeye was just out of sync. Their line calling was a bit peculiar with several players jumping from O to D and vice versa. It appeared that USA was really trying to earn breaks back by putting great offensive personnel like Ben Wiggins and Tim Gehret on the D-line. Conversely, they seemed to second guess their O-line by putting strong defenders on the O-line like Biggins and Roger Crafts to insure a strong defensive front if/when the turn came.

And come they did. Both teams suffered from drops and poor decisions. There were a few spectacular layout D's from Oscar, Chase and Nate Castine, who had a jaw dropping layout catch block on Mike Grant. Nate was furious after getting beat a few points earlier and it was very obvious that he was fired up to get that D back.

However, Furious' 3 break lead to start the game would be enough to keep them comfortable. Sockeye really pushed but couldn't get anything to work. I heard that Mike Caldwell became a dad the night before (congratulations) and had to drive back and forth from Seattle in the middle of the night. I can't imagine this to be a good thing for his game and considering his brilliant offensive capability, I think this hurt Team USA. In addition, Furious' underneath game gutted Sockeye and when they tried to adjust, Canada owned the Fish deep.

Then the calls came. Down the stretch this game really got ugly. This is my blog so I get to be biased or subjective or whatever, but USA really showed their true colors in the end. They really began using their mouths to win and the crowd was incessantly negative towards them. Tim Gehret, who is one of the most composed players I have ever seen, made two atrocious foul calls that took back two spectacular D's by Lugsdin and Kirk Savage. The travels were also very prominent and despite the fact that Canada may have traveled in every instance, it really appeared that USA was exceedingly frustrated with themselves and panicked. I don't mind strict travel calling but call it beginning to end. The first half was so spirited and it was really difficult to watch USA get more and more sensitive to travels as the game got closer and closer to ending in favor of Canada.

However, despite the obvious frustration, Canada stayed composed. For the crowd, this was incredibly irritating to watch and considering that WFDF rules have no officiating whatsoever, all a player had to do was make a call and that was it. There was no overturning it and I can think of more than one occasion where Canada had to send back a goal because of a travel call. Unlike Japan though, Furious hung tough and grinded it out. Canada definitely had their cages rattled giving up a two breaks late, but they didn't let the tension get to them and finished the game with world class precision.

Towards the end of this game I was going crazy in the booth. Mike Grant made a fantastic layout catch on a second effort (but was called back on a travel) and I jumped up in celebration only to hit my hands on the ceiling, cutting them both. For the remainder of the broadcast I had to dab my knuckles with a napkin because I didn't want to bleed on my new white Ultivillage jersey. I wanted to keep the emotion in, but I just couldn't towards the end. We got soo many emails about me being biased and what not, but I could care less about my critics. None of these people were there and none of them could appreciate or understand the electricity in that stadium. This was the best game I've ever witnessed and considering the fact that my favorite team was taking it to their biggest rival on the biggest stage and I was at the mic, yikes, it was crazy.

One person sent an email that was titled "Professional Commentating" and basically told me to shut the hell up and I just laughed. Never before in the history of our sport had a game of this magnitude been broadcast live or even commentated. I'm not getting paid, I'm not a professional, but there was no one in the world better for the job than me. Everyone out there listening, every ultimate nerd watching the game at home would have traded places with me in a heart beat and once Marc Roberts reeled in the game winner, I about died. I felt like Al Michaels calling the USA vs Russia game in 1980 and I don't care if anyone out there understands this, I felt the way he did that day.

For 6 years I have been following Furious George and I literally bled for them yesterday. All of my fanhood and research in this sport can be traced back to my commitment to this team and the opportunity Rob and the Block Stack guys gave me was one no one in this world has ever had. I have never played at Nationals and probably never will but I found a different way to make my mark. The bulk of my ultimate effort wasn't at the track or on the field, but at a small desk in a lab in New Haven, CT. It's difficult to comprehend, but in just a little over a year, I went from being a simple free lance blogger to the most respected journalist in our sport. The Hodags can have their National Championships, Kershner can have his Callahan, I worked my ass off for 5 years to be the most well rounded, competent, and respected writer in the ultimate world and I achieved greatness. No one can take this experience away from me and to top it all off, none of my critics, none of the people that have disrespected me (and they know who they are) are world champions. To my complete shock and amazement, Furious actually likes what I do.

I introduced myself to Morgan Hibbert at the party and he spent about 15 minutes inflating MY ego. Alex and Skizip wanted to puke, but when a player wearing a gold medal tells you that he respects what you do and talks about what I write with his team mates at practice, there is no better compliment. He even quoted my college ultimate draft post on RSD and commended me on my bold Hot Women in Ultimate post. Talking with Morgan was one of the best experiences of the tournament because he knew my literature back to front and reassured me everywhere I had been criticized. I had slammed Furious all year (and praised the hell out of Sockeye) but the Canadians loved the dialog. Morgan just loved the fact that "someone was paying attention and it doesn't matter if its good or bad, it's just cool to hear about Ultimate in a PTI/Tony Kornheiser sort of way". In Canada they really understand the fanhood aspect of the game and I think its because the culture is a bit more enlighted in this reguard. In becoming a fan, a person basically conceeds they are not the best. If they were the best all they'd have to do is root for themselves. However, the Jock mentality that finds its way into American athletes really has trouble letting go of the dream and I think that is why we struggle to truly appreciate the fan base in our country.

In any event, after the Finals I did a few interviews (on camera) with some of the Furious guys including Lugsdin, Hassell, Menzies, and Mike Grant. After the Mike Grant interview Skizip kept filming me and he caught me saying "I just did an interview with Mike Grant" in my worst man crush accent. Once again, these guys were so receptive, so accomdating, so respectful and it just reminded me why I love this team. For me, it's not enough to root for a team that identifies with my geography. You have to really suck me in and despite endless "Benedict Arnold" criticism, I really could not care less. No one who criticizes me in this regard has any understanding of who and what I am or what Furious has meant to me. I bumped into Ollie Hondred at the party and after sharing pleasentries he gave me shit for wearing a Furious jersey and I simply told him, "one day you will have worked for something for 4 or 5 or 10 or however many years and when you finally earn it, it will mean the world to you and odds are, no one else out there will understand but you". I don't feel like a gold medalist (and don't actually want to) but I earned exactly what I have always wanted. I did it all by myself, in the face of considerable opposition from the biggest names in ultimate but here I am now, as happy as a pig in shit. I know its a cliche but if you really want something, your passion is really the only limiting factor.

Closing Thoughts

I got up at 545am to take Alex to the airport and when I got back, I simply couldn't sleep. I was still so excited and I just had to get my laptop out. Because ultimate is so player based, its hard for people to respect or even understand fans in the US, but Canada does. I was talking with Oscar before the finals and he said he liked my jersey (I was wearing a Furious one) and I said, "Yeah I know it's kinda pathetic that I love you guys so much". But then he cut me off and said, "No actually it isn't. We're all really glad that their are people like you out there."

I'm probably embelishing a bunch here but I don't really care. I feel the way Arizona and Wisconsin felt at Nationals in May or the way Sockeye felt last October. Hell I might even feel the way some of these Furious guys feel now. This sport is great folks and it's ok to be fan.

just my thoughts

match diesel

And then there were 4

Yesterday I headed over to the stadium to watch the first round of bracket play. The quarter final match ups were Canada/Finland, USA/Colombia, Australia/GB, and Japan/Sweden.

Canada vs Finland

This game went as expected. Each team came out firing with lots of hucks and also a lot of turnovers. Finland has a few big deep guys, not unlike most teams, and sent them deep often. They converted early but it wouldn't last. Canada has several tall defenders, like Eric St-Amant and Morgan and despite connecting a few times deep, the Maple Leafs simply figured them out and shut down their deep game.

They had some success working the disc underneath but without the level of throwing ability that teams like USA and Canada, they struggled with consistency and Canada turned a 9-6 lead at half into a 17-7 slaughter.

As for the Canucks, I've come to realize that they really play a very different game than I expected. They are a team that has talent across the board. Each player is fast and has ups and plays shut down D. No one is really an "O-line" or "D-line" player and folks like MG, Hassell, Oscar, and Lugsdin can all be part of suffocating D or amazingly fluid offense. One player I've been watching a lot is Scotty Nicholls, #19. He is so damn fast and can get the disc at will. Canada seems to have a lot of tall power cutters like Savage or CJ Hammer, but they also have squirrley little buggers like Scotty and he really did a great job of setting up strikes.

Mike Grant is having a phenomenal tournament leading his team with 30 fantasy points. His flick is so textbook and his accuracy across the field is deadly. He also is fantastic in the air and can snatch most floaters. Lugsdin, despite not playing against Japan, was back for Finland. He, like Savage, are some of the older Canadian players but they both cut deep all the time. Lugsdin cuts so well and despite his 6'5" size he really moves like he's 5'8".

USA vs Colombia

This game was really exciting. Both teams have a lot of flare and fire and it came out on the field. Like most international contests have been so far, games were close early but the better team had more weapons. Colombia's athletes are unreal and they can all get up. At one point one of their players got up and over Blaine Robbins who was easily 6 inches taller.

Colombia reminds me a lot of Japan in the sense that their all quick as hell and rely on pin point precesion to score. This proves to be exciting but in the end, all their low percentage layout grabs caught up with them. Team USA rarely had to reel in a hospital pass and caught most of their scores at chest level, wide open. Their O-line is so amazing but one thing that really impresses me is their D-line's offense. When you can put Jeremy Cram and Seth Crockford on your D-line with Biggins tossing log range strikes, you will be successful. Nate Castine is also having a great tournament and I'm sure this youngster is all smiles when he gets off the field after getting a double happiness. Chase is also playing great with an expectedly good defensive game (he had your typical insane layout Ds) as well as nitty gritty every other throw offense.

At one point things did seem to get ugly. USA plays a somewhat physical game, not unlike every other American team, and Colombia is a collection of firey soccer players that get intense and emotions ran high. It seemed like Sockeye has a firm grasp on where the line is drawn between physical and too physical. However, Colombia doesn't have any idea where this line is and they matched tight marks and little bumps with their own brand of physical play. At one point Nord stopped the game mid point to try and settle things down and it looked like it was effective. The game wasn't as good down the stretch because Sockeye really pulled away. It seems like there is a tight window between 8-6ish and 13-8ish that teams aim for. For the first few points things are close, then one team pulls away and then before you know it you're either up or down enough breaks for the winning team to cruise and that's how things went. Team USA is also devastatingly loud. Skip gets his team fired up and when I see them all in unison cheering red, white and blue, I can only imagine how intimidating they can seem.

My hats off to Colombia though. In hanging out with and watching teams from around the world, I've really begun to understand how amazing a program like Sockeye is. They are a system with so many resources and infrastructure that it is no wonder they are so good. Other teams however, struggle to even send their best players. Mexico, South Africa, a lot of these teams have to play with their wealthiest players, not nearly their best. Regardless, Colombia brings it. They play with such intensity and flare and they are skilled as hell. Their poise with the disc is excellent and they seem as prepared as anyone to compete here. Judging from their Juniors, they are only going to get better and I'm excited to see what they do in the coming years.

Japan vs Sweden

I didn't really watch much of this game because I wanted to stay out of the sun but Japan looked razor sharp as usual. They're flicks are fantastic and their hands are amazing the way they can snatch seemingly impossible throws. They also have phenomenal body control and can turn on a dime and layout awkwardly to snatch potential turnovers.

As for Sweeden, the player I've been most impressed with is David Wesley. This guy is probably the shortest guy on a tall Sweeden team but he is so amazingly fast. He is leading his team with 23 goals and I'm amazed at how effective he is at cutting deep. Unlike bigger USA or Canada cutters, his foot speed really is an asset and the separation he can get when the disc goes up is astonishing. Japan had to control the thrower at this point because his cutting ability was more than most of their defenders could handle.

In the end Japan played consistently better which seems to be the determining factor in most of these games. Every team has flare but the teams with the ability to score on single possessions over and over with a barage of weapons usually wins.

Great Britain vs Australia

This was the best game of the day, sorry Dingos. Of any team here at Worlds, I am the most impressed with GB. I would never have pegged them to make semis and they are playing spectacular all around. Their main strengths seem to be their ability in the air and their decision making. They move the disc so patiently and so effectively which is as good an offensive weapon as defensive. When they were on O they were fluid and when the disc went up they had no problem splitting Australia defenders and snatching skies. On defense they also played great vertical D and once they got a turn, that patient offense was back in a flash.

Australia played well but it seems like their depth on the offensive front hurt them. They have talent all around with guys like Pottsy and Brett moving the disc effectively on offense but they use Mike Neild a lot. He is an amazing highlight reel in the air and I would imagine the bulk of his 9 assists come from short passes when he gets a huge sky on the goal line. However, with such a visible offensive target, seeting up a defensive counter strategy at half time was really easy for GB and they took the Dingos to school. However, I will say that top to bottom Australia was an exciting team to watch and their unity despite their pick up nature was really awesome to witness.

However, as I mentioned before, Great Britain's consistency was spectacular. They just didn't give it back and Australia did. They earned break after break and once it was 14-10, the game was fairly out of reach. After choking against Japan, I'm sure these flat ballers want to see every point/game through to completion and they did just that.

Jersey Exchange

After getting some food, Alex and I headed over to the jersey exchange and this was an experience. I have never been to one of these and I was fairly nervous. You walk around with all your stuff and you try and pass it off for someone elses. Without money as an intermediate, it gets hard to know when you're going to be successful in a trade and when you're not. What sucks for me is that I'm a big guy and I like to trade with specific people and that gets hard when they are smaller than you. For me, the meaning behind the jersey is much more important than what it looks like and who you trade with is equally important because I will think of them everytime I put the jersey over my head and I would want them to do the same.

There was a kid on the Mexican team, Chamo, who is a man beast and considering my love for the little guys, I wanted to trade with him. I coughed up my dark Colt 45 jersey which seems to be a decent jersey. One kid was wearing one during the Japan/USA game a few days ago and I was so stunned I had to go up and talk to the kid that was wearing one of my team's threads. Anyway, Chamo hooked me up with a sweet blue mexican jersey and I'm digging it.

Another jersey that I brought with me that I wanted to get rid of was my "15 in the Bucket" jersey. This was the team that pulled the hooray play on disc 3 and despite the exposure I really didn't like it because it was black and it was too small on me. Everytime I wear it I hope someone recognizes it but up until this week it had never happened. Anyway, one of the mexican guys recognized my face from my disc 3 interview with Rob and I was blown away. Finally, I got what I was hoping for and I gave the jersey to the kid to take back to Mexico and show his friends the jersey that they'd all seen on an ultivillage DVD. I didn't want anything back because I was twice his size, but the jersey would fit him great and I hope he enjoys it. (I know this sounds crazy egotistical on my part, but I love this kind of shit)

Towards the end, I was happy with my trades but I still wanted to get rid of my Red UCSD '04 jersey. It was nice and made by underarmour but I don't like red because my hair is red. Anyway, I wandered over to the South Africa guys to shoot the shit and they were trying to get me to buy an SA jersey for 20 bucks. I didn't think it would fit but it did, and so I took it. However, I really like this whole trade thing and I wanted to give my new "brews" something to take back of mine. I plopped down my stash and asked my new buddy "Pinky" to pick his favorite. He asked which one I liked the best and as he was looking through he stopped at the red one with a very pleasing (for me), "ooh, I like this one". I wanted him to take it so I told him that it was the jersey from my captain year at UCSD (which it was) and he quickly took it off my hands. Sweeeet

Hitting the Town

Considering there is a party tonight and tomorrow at UBC campus and we still hadn't hit the bars in downtown, Alex and I went out into the city. We took the bus which was surprisingly effective (socal folks hate public transportation) and proceeded to walk up and down Granville St poking our heads in and seeing what was up. One thing worth mentioning was that as we got off the bus and started our journey, we came across two women, one of which started booting vigorously at like 9pm. 9pm?!?

We set the over/under at 3 bars and we totally over shot it. We started with a yaeger bomb and beer and then we went over to antoher bar for a car bomb and a pitcher of Hef (legit micro-brew). We met a few locals who seemed nice enough. A pair of ladies at the second bar were bar tenders and had a million drink ideas and were big whiskey drinkers which is always weird to hear out of a chick's mouth.

As the booze began to hit us we had up and down success with the bars. Some were off the hook an others were ehh. We had to pay a cover twice which sucked because one of the places was dead but you wouldn't know it until you got inside. We ended up at this poppin place however and Al and I hit the dance floor. We had hit enough sauce to keep the good times rolling and after about 2am I was getting tired. We hopped in a cab and went back to the dorms.

Closing Thoughts

We're gonna catch some semis action as well as some Masters and Juniors finals. It's been hard to catch games and write so sorry to folks that want more womens or mixed exposure. I'm doing my best and considering I'm not getting paid, I'm just going to go over to what interests me. I'm looking forward to another Japan/USA game. A lot of folks have been hoping that Japan was holding back in the first game, but I have my doubts. Had they been holding back, I don't think their rotation would be as tight. Who knows though?

I'm also stoked to see the Brits play my boys. I was really anticipating a Canada/Australia semi but it's always nice to see upsets. The one thing I find funny is that Canada will have to trade their white and reds for GB's white and reds as opposed to the yellow and green. Oh well.

stay tuned folks, we're coming down the stretch now.

just my thoughts

match diesel

Phew...getting a little crazy here

Such an understatement. Things were exciting earlier this week but the last 2 days have been absolutely crazy. First and foremost, I need to try and fix some things.

Wiggins, yeah we have a complicated history. In all seriousness, I should not ever come up on his radar, but I have and we have had some interesting exchanges over the last year. To be totally honest, he has been a phenomenal resource and has helped me with so much of my literature. He connected me with Saturo Ishii so that I could write my Buzz Bullet article and has given me any and all information I have asked for.

However, sometimes I don't manage this resource particularly well. This blog is a tricky thing. I can get opinionated but if I hit a nerve, I get myself into trouble. Ben may have brushed me off the other day but he also got Rehder to talk to me and I neglected to mention that. Without this last bit of information Ben appears to be an ass which he isn't and for that I apologize.

In addition, I might have hinted that Sockeye made poor calls, but when I said that Sockeye was not exhibiting poor spirit, I meant it. Teams that play well might take liberties that other teams won't allow and USA didn't allow Japan to play sloppy with their foot work. I never said any call was a poor one or even an undeserved one, I just commented that Japan got called for travels and they don't call them much themselves. I don't know how else to articulate this and I hope that no one thinks Team USA is playing a bogus game because they aren't.

If Ben is reading this and to anyone else that is out there that I have pissed off, my intentions are never to misrepresent or mame. I choose my words very carefully and I wouldn't come all the way out to Vancouver just to cause trouble. I never use blanket statements like "stupid", or "idiot" and I always try and put myself in their place as well as my own. My one weakness is that I try and please everyone all the time, which as anyone will tell you, will never work. A blog is a personal insight into my experiences but as someone commented a while back, with a larger auidence you have to be much more careful and that is something I have learned the hard way over and over.

Ok, back to the fun stuff.

Japan vs GB

This game was incredible. From the very beginning I was thinking to myself, "Japan cannot lose this game, they just can't". However, GB defintely challenged mine and anyone elses preconcieved notions. First and foremost, like their Juniors team, GB is stellar in the air. They have great reads, hands and field awareness and they use their entire skill set to succeed.

I came over to this game at half because I was watching Australia vs Sweeden until Australia took half 9-6 or something. Over at the GB/Japan game, the game was close at I believe something like 7s and it stayed that way. GB took half 8-7 and each team traded points in a devastatingly emotional game.

Hucks would go up that Japan would reel in and hucks would go up that GB would reel in. Likewise, each had phenomenal down field defense and Japan's speed and GB's vertical ability got each team respective turnovers.

As Japan had done throughout the tournament, they worked the sidelines well and ultimately ripped cross field flicks at will. Like the USA game, 10, 12, and 4 never leave the field and I wonder if their exhaustion after the Canada game had anything to do with this one. I should also say that GB is legit. They took Boston to universe point at BI and they definitely did not surprise me in giving Japan a game.

Down the stretch GB lead the whole way. Japan kept it close but GB seemed to consistenly keep the one point advantage up until around 13s. At this point, their poise really began to slip and I wonder if this has to do with a lack of team chemistry that comes with not being a "team" but more a collection of National all stars. At this point any turnover could potentially be the game and Japan's focus on D and O got them the break they needed to eek past the Brits.

In watching this game, I was really curious to know what Japan would do down the stretch. Asians are notorious for keeping emotion out of situations but this must have been a serious challenge for Japan at this point. They were facing a tough situation where they would either be in the Canada/Australian half of the bracket if they lost or the USA bracket if they won. I'm not sure which they would prefer but I think playing Australia in Quarters and probably Canada in Semis would be tougher than just having to play the US in semis. Plus I am sure they want another crack at the USA which is going be awesome to watch.

However, despite my speculation, they really were the better team. I feel bad for GB, they really are a phenomenal team and they definitely deserve a lot of credit for what they put together here in Vancouver. But in the end, Japan's speed was their saving grace and they sealed it.

USA vs Australia

So Rob and the Block Stack guys had talked about working with me on some commentary and I wasn't sure if it was going to happen, but it did and it was fucking sick. I rarely drop the F-bomb here but it was by far the most exiciting experiene of my media career. They were great for play by play because they can talk for an extended period of time with composure where as I would screw up and I was there as the fact/strategy guy to fill in the gaps when the game lulled. I think I'm in for the Finals which should be sick and I'll try and hold back my ridiculous excitement and keep it together.

I figured the first half of this game would go down like 9-7 and it did. Australia has a lot of talent and guys like Mike Nield played through the roof. He had big skies as well as D's on some of our favorites like Nord and what not.

USA's offense was spot on though and they rarely ever turned it over. Tim Gehret and Ben Wiggins work well together and MC and Sammy CK are lethal downfield. Moses is also devistaging because he always seems to sneak in for scores and Nord and Chase are Nord and Chase.

Going into half time I was curious to know what else Australia could bring. Their D-line was good but they struggled to put together a break. They might have earned a turn here or there but their D-line offense left something to be desired and they just could not convert. I figured the second half would be all Sockeye because at this point Australia had been utilizing one spectacular play after another to score and at some point, they just aren't going to be there. There is a reason why they call them low percentage throws.

Nate Castine played a great defensive game as did the 16 year old. Roger Crafts and Jeremy Cram lead a great D-line offense and once Team USA could consistently generate turns, it was all down hill for the Dingos. Before I knew it the game was 14-10 and ultimately 17-11. Australia did play a great game however and I think they'll prove to be a young and difficult challenge for an experienced Canada team in Semis.

Mexico

After the game was over I came across my mexican homies and they wanted to party down on the beach. I obliged but when I found out that "the beach" was actually 2 miles away I began to scratch my head. I didn't want the party to die so I offered up giving a few folks a lift but as George Lopez says, if you let 1-2 mexicans in, they are gonna bring 8-10 and they did. This was a hilarious experience. I pull my truck up to the dorm and a dozen of Mexico's players jump into the back and pack into the cab. I'm not trying to insinuate racism at all, this was just funny as hell to witness.

They all piled in but it wasn't enough so I drove one truck load (literally) down to the beach, came back and picked up another. I ended up making 3 trips and despite opening myself up to being arrested for breaking god knows how many laws, I got them all down to the beach and things were great. Such a good group of guys and I'm glad I know Fernando, great ultimate personality.

After the beach thing dwindled down, 12 mexicans piled into the truck and I drove them back up to the dorms. I taught them a few american drinking games and we had a great time. One guy I was with had an early flight so we tried to leave but they kept reeling us back in. We walked half way to our dorm and they brought us back to play "Mexican GUTS" which was 4 folks at either end of a hallway with the lights off and a glow disc. They hurled it at eachother in a drunken stuper and more often than not it hit the wall halfway down the hallway, the light turned off, and it would sail into the group invisible. Needless to say a few folks got some uncomfortable shots in the face.

Finally we parted ways but as we walked into the dorm, the South Africa folks were rocking out and since I had partied with them the night before, they requested mine and Alex's presence. We had a few beers and went to bed after we got yelled at for being too loud. We finally hit the hay and we slept like babies.

Closing Thoughts

Once again, I want to apologize to Ben but the more I get into this media thing I realize that the players aren't always going to like what I do. A guy from one of the media crews told me to remember Almost Famous and realize that the people you write about aren't always going to be your friend and sadly, that is the case. I'm doing my best, i'm trying to have a good time and seeing that no one else has ever done this, I'm not surprised that I screw up here and there. Thank you to all the players that are patient with me, I can't do this without you. I hope you guys are enjoying this at home. Check out the live web casts, I'll be there doing commentary again later this week.

just my thoughts

match diesel

This should be 2 posts....

...but its gonna be one. I wanted to get something up for USA/Japan yesterday but I met up with some guys from South Africa and I got side tracked. I also just watched Canada/Japan and thats a whole post in and of itself. However, I gotta get it out of the old noodle before I forget.

USA/Japan

The most frustrating thing about this game was the fact that it wasn't in a deserving venue. The fields are fairly sparsed here and as luck would have it, this game was on the satellite fields in a nearby park. As the teams were warming up a woman came up and asked me what was going on and I had to tell her it was basically the two best teams in the World and this game was kind of big deal.

As for the game, Sockeye started out on O and quickly asserted themselves. They run very strict O/D line sets and I think that this is the future of the game. It seems like in club it is better to be really good at one or two things then try and do everything. Wiggins, Sammy CK, Mike Caldwell, Ray Illian, Moses, Bestock, and Nord and a few others carry the O-line with experience and consistency while Jaeger, Jimmy Chu, Crockford, Biggins, Roger Crafts, Winkleman and Idaho run a suffocating D-line.

Conversely, Japan runs a very Florida-esk tight rotation. As I figured, Mashiro Matsuno (#10), Satoshi Senda (#4), and Yohei Kichikawa (#12) were the main playmakers and they never leave the field. I am sure they are in the shape to run all day but I can't help but think that when a team is running intense defense and then needs to switch to chilly offense, some changes in personnel and assignments might be advantageous.

Things started off a bit sloppy, which is cool, everyone's been doing it. Both teams went to the huck right away and players like Jeremy Cram had a few hucks drift out of bounds from the side line. Biggins also had some questionable hammers/blades but he seems to like to test his recivers and with his strength, his full field flick huck is usually successful. They managed to take advantage of equally aggressive Japan turnovers and converted a break early to go up 2-0.

Japan would answer back but would then conceed a second break going down 4-1. It seems like their offense relies a lot on the cross field flicks. They seem to hang out on the sidelines a fair amount and then when given the opportunity they get a continuation cut, put up a hard back hand fake to draw the mark and then WHAM, a cross field OI flick completely back the other way and their reads were awesome. In the Canada/Japan game, Canada's cutters would usually sweep away from an outside in flick and attack it but they conceeded position often. However, Japan is always on a line to the spot. They rarely ever misplayed the disc and were never out of position.

After going down early they seemed to calm down and went point for point for a while. USA was really bringing the D but Japan had the agility to constantly be one step ahead of their defender. Sockeye threw zone a fair amount to take away the deep option but the weave ability of 10, 12, and 4 was stellar and when given the chance, they would strike quickly with a cross field flick.

At 7-5 Japan took advantage of some offensive miscues on Team USA's part and earned back a crucial break to make it 7-6. Sockeye came out focused however, and took a capped half at 8-6. Ray Illian had a great game not only because he can basically posterize at will but because he can be as effective underneath and across as he is going deep.

For the second half Japan continued to be chilly and scored out of the gate. They traded back and forth for several points and it was becoming apparent that Sockeye's O would not let Japan earn a break back. At one point, Japan was knocking on the door to even the game and on a huge huck, Winkleman came up with an insane 4 foot high layout D to save the break. His ability to keep up with these Japanese cutters was phenomenal and it is one thing that few defenders at this level can do. Canada played good containment D on Japan but if one cutter got loose, he was rarely caught.

Team USA would break Japan and again that is when things began to go against Japan. They had slight miscues that really hurt them and with the level of throwers Sockeye has top to bottom, their D-line was stellar at converting on mistakes. Biggins and Crockford are great strike D-line handlers and despite the fact that a ton of Biggins assist attempts are pure muscle lobs, Sockeye managed to real them in.

One thing that frustrated me down the stretch was that Japan really got pulverized with calls. Not that Sockeye was exhibiting poor spirit but at least 3-4 goals were called back on travels and those were the moments that hurt the most because on half of them, a turnover was 3-4 throws away. Conversely, Japan didn't make too many calls. I saw Nord bump one of them when they were marking up on him, but he didn't call anything. I thought well maybe he was flopping but why would he flop if he isn't going to call anything? Anyway, I wonder if Japan's agility game translates into their vocal game. They seem to love the weave and the fluid disc movement and stop and go ultimate can potentially be inhibiting. However, in the end it just shows Team USA's level of focus and consistency to play well frustrated and to keep things cool.

In the end Japan seemed to get broken every 3rd of 4th point and before I knew it the game was fairly out of reach. Sockeye had a Wisconsin esk intensity and they just were not going to let up. These are some of the best competitors in the world (in our sport) and they just want to win as definitively as possible. What also is amazing is their emotional switches. Crafts and Crockford play insane D but they are so chilly when they force a turn. Phenomenal poise and that was very instrumental in collecting breaks.

I went over to the Team USA sidline after they sealed the deal and I did an interview with Matt Rehder. First off, the kid looks 16. He played great D when he got out there and got one of 5-6 Ds that were turned into breaks. My first question was how the thought the Bullets were. Harder, easier? and he basically said that the scouting report was really accurate. "Really good throws and so quick".

I was also curious to know what Team USA thought about playing Japan again. In 2004 Canada had to beat the Condors twice and at the time, a rematch is very possible. Matt had the feeling that despite a back and forth record for the last year or so, Team USA was ready. This was the first real time Sockeye and BB played in a game that mattered. Yes ECC and Dream Cup are important games, but at no point was the future of either teams tournament success at stake.

However, the loser faced Canada and the winner moved on to Australia. This game mattered, the gloves were off, everyone was there for Team USA (save Sam O'Brien) and they came to play. Considering Japan's tight rotation I don't see them bringing anything new if/when they play again so look for any potential rematch to go USA's way.

Canada vs Japan

This game was a big deal for Canada. Everyone has been doubting Furious (including me) for the last 8 months and this was THE acid test. Sockeye scortched them at Sockeye Invite but Sockeye has wins like that all the time against the Monkeys. However, Japan is a very good 3rd party and they are either right in between USA and Canada or behind them both.

The game itself was not as clean as I expected. Both teams were very aggressive deep and despite some amazing layout scores by Kirk Savage (he's still got it), every point seemed to drag. Mike Grant is playing a fantastic tournament and he followed up his stellar Sweeden performance with an equally good Japan game. He and Hassell are two peas in a pod and are connecting left and right. I wanted to pay more attention last night but I met up with some folks from Mexico and caught up with them instead of watching the Canada/Sweeden game.

This game did have the feeling I thought Team USA/Japan would. Very tit for tat. Breaks here, runs there, tie game, one team goes up, lead changes, a very "in doubt" kind of feel. Canada took half 8-6 but the lead wouldn't last. Japan tied it at 10s and no team could afford any miscues. The second half, at points, was DoG clean with single D's or drops making all the difference. Oscar had an epic layout D to earn a break for Canada and Hassell had an equally amazing D a few points later to save a break.

In the end, this game, like the Team USA game, came down to composure. I don't think the BB have played Furious or Sockeye when they are peaked and it showed. These guys have their peaks and their valleys just like every team out there but both were ready for Worlds. Japan is stuck having to scrimmage themselves instead of face elite competition constantly and I just don't think their game is finely tuned enough. Seeing a 16-14 game through to completion with all the emotion that a game like these bring, is truly a challenge and I don't think Japan is there yet. It was funny, I was talking to some South Africa folks yesterday while watching Japan/USA and I was telling them about Furious at Nationals last October. They had played them and figured they were the best but I had to tell them about how 3 other US teams went right through them at Nationals.

In the end Canada rattled of the scores to win. With the international cap it gets tough to know what the score is going to so after every score I waited for the game to be over. The last score was fairly exciting with some misfortunate macks going Canada's way. Two D's were popped back into the air and Kirk Savage scooped up one and Mike Grant the other. MG hit Hassell on a short flick to end it and Canada maintained their 1 seed undefeated status.

Closing Thoughts

I'm a little unsure of the tournament format so I'm not positive about what stage in the tournament we are in. Power pools continue today with Team USA playing Australia tonight. That should be an epic game after Team USA steam rolled Sweeden this morning. As for Quarters/Semis/Finals I'm not sure. I think if Canada beats GB they'll draw a fairly easy quarters game and have to play the loser of Team USA/Australia in semis. If Sockeye wins tonight and Japan beats GB, we'll see a Team USA/BB rematch on the other side of the bracket. This would set Canada and the US to play in the Finals if each continues their success. Lugsdin was telling me on Sunday that they really wanted the chance to play the US in the finals and we might see it.

I've already got my outfit figured out for the finals if it goes down this way. I'll have my Furious shorts and my new team USA jersey. I've been getting all kinds of shit for liking Canada and the more confused looks I get the more I want to be confusing. I root for Furious in the Series and I'm having a hard time separating a Furious/Sockeye final from a USA/Canada one. If the Yankees were to represent the US in a baseball tournament I don't think a hard core Boston fan would root for them, even then. I do have some national pride and if USA wins, good for us. I'm a big fan of "let the best team win" and I think the US is that. Furious is my team but I respect everything Sockeye has accomplished. They have raised the bar in so many ways and their depth, their commitment to Juniors and their polished appearance is something teams are going to have to emulate if they want to over take them. Like Wisconsin, Sockeye will remain on top until another team brings the same energy and effort. They are the best and seeing it play out that way is exactly what I want.

Be that as it may, I'm excited for Australia/US tonight. I finally caught Australia yesterday afternoon against Colombia. They played a very good game and one of their photographers said it was their best. Brett got a sick layout catch block and it was nice to see him role. I want to say that they'll bring it against Sockeye but I wonder if Sockeye's chemistry will be wayy to much for Autralia's mixed nature, as opposed to team nature. The live game feed will be sick and the Block Stack guys are doing a great job.

Stay Tuned folks Bracket play is gonna be sick.

just my thoughts

match diesel

BC Day sucks

Ok so the biggest issue I had yesterday (Monday) was that it was BC Day. For those of you that are not familiar, BC day is the day they changed the name of the Province from Labatt Blue to British Colombia. Apparently the custom is to abstain from alcohol in rememberance of the states goal of getting away from drinking in excess. It is a great time in a sober sort of way, but when the nation doesn't sell booze on Sunday either, it gets old fast.

Anyway, we managed to find a retail venue that came up with the bright idea of selling alcohol in such an opportune moment. Captialism, however, is not lost on these canucks and they jacked the prices up big time. We're talking $60 for a 30 rack, $60?!?! Needless to say, I wasn't prepared to take out a loan to get blitzed. However, be that as it may, we managed to secure a decent bottle of Bacardi for a better price and were ready to party.

Ok back to Ultimate.

My cousin got in Sunday night and because I was wiped out and he was coming off a two month bender in Europe, we took it easy. We got up early to catch the morning games and becuase I have a soft spot for Canada, we took a peak at the Furious vs RSA game. Can anyone guess what RSA stands for? Apparently its South Africa which I'm assuming stands for republic of South Africa, which makes sense but when you are looking at CAN vs RSA, I got scabs from scratching my head becuase I didn't think Russia had sent a team

Anyway, if you take a peak at the score from this game, it was bascially your average slaughter. Canada came at the poor fellows from the Coogeran state with more speed and experience than they could handle. I liked belting out the "Lethal Weapon 2" cheer when I deemed it appropriate but RSA scores were few and far between.

After this game was the USA Juniors vs Germany and this game was equally one sided. Tiina Booth finally made an appearance and it was nice to talk to her. She pegged Team USA to win 17-6 and she was dead wrong (when she reads this she is gonna get mad because I gave her shit for only giving Germany 6 points when in reality they only scored 3).

The biggest issue for the Deutch folks was their throwing ability. Hucks were very outside in on the flick side and after watching a ton of Open, you begin to realize how difficult/rare a full field flick bomb on a line is. The Stars and Bars came at Germany with an exceptionally fast ho stack weave and despite the Germans height, they could not connect on hucks. I figured they would be like Great Britain with significant abilities in the air, but that wasn't the case.

I spent most of this game chatting it up with Tiina because she is so much fun. One thing I liked that she was talking about was that she is the Queen of knocking players down a few pegs. I may be the King of building egos, but she shatters them with every breath (if she choses). Some of my favorite quotes were "You dropped that disc in such and such game", "you never beat us", "I remember when you couldn't even throw that IO flick and it still needs work". Great ultimate personality.

After this game we hit the road and went on the booze hunt. As mentioned above, we had some issues, but we came back with our Bacardi and coke and began hitting the sauce fairly hard. I suspected this would become an issue later in the day but considering I hadn't done any vicing in the country yet, I figured I was due. Anyway, we got our Rum/Coke bottles and headed back to the fields.

We camped out at Colombia vs Great Britain (open juniors). It seems like Colombia's best program is their junior boys, which is actually pretty awesome. It would be pretty bad if only their masters team was turning heads. Anyway, this game was fairly bad ass. Colombia plays with raw athelticism and intensity and Great Britain plays a gentlemen's game and loves the huck. This would pose to be a decent strategy for most of the game because on average Great Britain had a height advantage down field. Colombia had this big dude, "Ocho", but he handled mostly.

Anyway, Great Britain took half 8-7 and the game continued to be close for the remainder. Because international rules are to 17 or 100 minutes, this game was capped. Finally, a game that was close. Down the stretch Great Britain seemed to pull away going up 13-11, game to 14. Alex and I started taking bets and he took Colombia, so I took Great Britain. Despite the score, Alex took 2 to 1 odds and I got 4 to 1 (for what I don't know yet).

As luck would have it, Great Britain could not match Colombia's intensity and the victory slipped through their fingers. When they recieved at 13-12 one of the GB kids told the kids on the line "Its game point chaps, seal it now". Word to the wise, don't do this. There is no need for players to know what the score is until the game is over, it just adds more emotional pressure which is never a good thing in cases like this. Needless to say, Colombia continued to bring a defensive pressure that GB could not handle and they coughed the disc up two more times and let the boys in yellow long sleeves snatch the victory. This was easily the best game...so far.

I should also mention that Ray Illian's dad made a cameo at this point and he definitely brings a "Jolian's Dad" kind of feel if you know what I mean. He seemed more proud than anything of his son and it was interesting to hear about how Ray is a second generation player. He talked about how he brought them to games when they were kids and how he used to make them complete 10 throws before Ray and his brother could go inside at night. He was cool though and its nice to see so much support for his son.

By this time, I was feeling the rum and was excited to go over the showcase game (USA vs Canada, masters). I wanted to go over to Australia (open), but once again, they were a hike. I got into the "Spirit Enclosure", yeah thats what they call it, and took a spot on one of the sidelines.

In a game that I thought Team USA would do fairly well in, they were down early. Canada took a 9-5 lead into half time but at no point did I feel that the game was out of reach. Alex and I took a bathroom break behind the bleechers and when we came back, I was ready to bring the ruccuss. Considering my enebriation at the moment, I turned into an ass, which in retrospect I am bit embarassed to admit. The area we were camped out in was ALL Canada and considering my mental state, things got ugly quickly. Thank god Alex is level headed and he got me to play nice as quickly as I got obnoxious. I definitely felt some America Free Speech pride but I quickly realized how annoying I was and kept it clean.

As for the second half of the game, it was awesome. One thing I have been dying to write about is the fact that Dugan, Namkung and Husak are all playing with the DoG guys. So crazy that the Condor/DoG rivalry has found its way here. Considering that all 3 still play Open they were definitely helpful. Namkung went down early with some sort of should injury but Dugan and Husak worked well on the D-line. I ran into Parinella today (Tuesday) and he was telling me he liked that they were here, but still had not been on the field yet. Apparently the deal is that they the Condor guys have to win Nationals in '11 so the DoG guys can poach spots. As for the game, as expected Jim and the Count played very well on Team USA's O-line and they were definitely instrumenal in keeping the Red, White and Blue in it late. Mooney isn't here yet but he will be for bracket play.

As I mentioned before, this game never seemed out of reach, and the D-line worked well. They brought a lot of pressure that Canada didn't handle well. They made careless mistakes and dropped discs which resulted in break after break going our way. Before I knew it the game was tied at 12s and then at 14s.

On game point, Parinella caught the final goal and I went nuts. If I had been all by myself or in an American section, it wouldn't have been that big a deal, but the hostil crowd got me feeling patriotic and so I was happy. I caught up with Al after the game and despite the fact that I bought two $3 beers, he wasn't prepared to shotgun yet. Oh well, I'll have my chance later in the week and I probably would have sucked because I was pretty bombed.

We walked back to the dorm, ate some microwave dinners and before we knew it we were talking about "naps" at 8pm. We hit the hay and were done for the night. We did pop up at 2am and were feeling a little disoriented but it wasn't too long before we passed out again.

After 11 hours asleep we were up again to catch the first round of Team USA (mixed) vs Colombia. This game, like the Canada/RSA game yesterday, was pretty one sided. Shazaam had great thrower execution and despite Colombia's athleticism, made some suspect choices. They took half 9-0 and I kind of "spaced out" at this point.

Today is the epic game Sockeye vs Buzz Bullets game. I'll take some good notes and hopefully get something up either tonight or tomorrow. Hope things are moderately interesting to read, I'm doing my best and abusing my media pass in the process. Have a good one folks, stay tuned.

just my thoughts

match diesel

Pool Play Begins

Canada vs Italy
Today games started and I had my alarm set early so I could catch as much action as possible. First on the agenda was Team Canada (open) vs Italy and I made it over to the field they were playing on as they were warming up.

Italy pulled to start the game and from the outset Canada came to ball. The starting O-line had the likes of Mike Grant, Kirk Savage and John Hassell and they worked the disc effortlessly down the field. At about 1o yards out MG hit Hassell on a nice outside-in flick to take first blood 1-0. This would be a trend.

Canada pulled and Lugsdin and Oscar got their feet wet on the D-line. They forced an easy turn from Italy and converted quickly going up 2-0. They would get another break at 3-0 but at this point Italy was getting a bit agitated and tempers began to run high. On more than one occasion some "incidental contact" found its way into the mix and players began yelling back and forth. It was obvious that Canada was playing a much more physical game than Italy was used to but as quickly as folks got pissed, they calmed down.

After going down 3-0 Italy finally answered back on a nice away cut but it seemed like Italy was a bit nervous. They would toss up poor decisions on the goal line and had issues reeling in routine hucks and hammers. After getting their first goal they gave up 3 scores in a row again and after earning their second goal, they would concede 3 more goals to go into half time 9-2.

At this point I was curious to know if this game would get any better. Canada's hucks hit their man in stride every time and Italy had yet to develop a deep game. They were only going for in-cuts and with the level of defense Canada brings, a turnover was just a matter of time.

Despite the one sidedness of the first half, the second was a completely different game. Canada pulled and Italy scored on a nice deep look, their first of the game. Canada answered back but Italy would score again making it 10-4 and then then broke Canada to make it 10-5. Italy continued to test Furious deep and more often than not they came up with the score and before I knew it, the score was 13-9. It seemed like Furious had lost some of their intensity which seems to be their biggest weakness. Ruthless teams like USA and Japan never let up until their opponent is vanquished and I wonder if this could be a problem for Canada late in the tournament.

However, I should say that their team is massive at 32 and mixing in everyone was something the captains were aiming for. Everybody saw significant playing time for most of the game but down the stretch the rotation tightened with guys like Oscar and MG taking few points off and Furious score the last 2 points to seal it 17-10. The first half may have been all Furious at 9-2, but the second half was a dead heat at 8s.

I caught up with Andrew Lugsdin after the game and he was nice enough to answer some questions of mine. One that I had was how the international competition varies from typical UPA events. Not surprisingly, "it is always nice to play teams you never see before and considering that each brings their own style to the game, it forces us to change our strategy". In addition, it also seems like Lugsdin has been caught up in the Colombia Fever and looks forward to an opportunity against them. Lastly, it seems like the out of province players are coming along for Canada. MG and Hassell connected several times for goals and with opportunities like Sockeye Invite, it seems like they are as close to being a unified team as any here in Vancouver.

Team USA (Juniors) vs Great Britain

After this game, I headed over to the USA Juniors (boys) versus Great Britain. I had already written about these kids a fair amount and now I figured would be a good time to see them in action. Each team came out as most teams have for the first game, a bit shakey. It seems like at the Juniors level the athleticism and throws are definitely up there with college and open level teams but the decision making and execution leave something to be desired. The patience and vision of veteran players is a bit lost on these kids and games tend to have more turnovers despite the presence of major talent.

As for the game, the first half was definitely the more exciting of the two. Team USA came out with an athleticism that was unreal but their deep game could have been better. Grant Lindsley and George Stubbs each had spectacular puts, as well as deep cuts, but outside these two, team USA's deep game was fairly quiet.

In contrast, Great Britain really benefited from a consistent height advantage and given the slight wind, hanging discs were well read by the Brits which helped them keep up with a faster team USA. In addition, GB's defense was top notch. They definitely played like they didn't care who the front runners were and their play making on the defensive side of the disc was far superior than the US in the first half. 

Their weakness however seemed to be their intermediate game. They had deep looks and decent decision making/patience, but their in-cuts were managed well by faster US defenders. This put a great deal of pressure on GB handlers to make good decisions and despite good throws, a comfortable fluidity escaped them and it was just a matter of time before they gave up the disc.

Team USA took half 9-5 and despite being up a few breaks, the game seemed fairly even. GB's deep game was a nice challenge against Team USA's viciously fast small ball. However, the second half would be all Stars and Bars. Team USA's ho-stack was fantastic and considering the arsenal of throws each player has, GB struggled to dictate on the defensive front. One player that particularly stuck out was Casey Ikeda, who in addition to his brilliant mohawk (when does he get up to do his hair?) was quicker than anyone on the field. His throws were almost as fast as his legs and considering that these kids are very spirited, there were no travel calls to slow down his unreal field progression. He would get the disc everyother throw leaving his defender as frustrated as he was exhausted.

In addition to their amazingly fluid offense, Team USA's man D continued to amaze me. Nick Stuart had a fantastic open side layout D which is so difficult but amazing if you can stay on the right side of your man and reach around for the block. Grant also earned his fair share of D's and with a nice pair of layouts picked up a double happiness.

In the end, team USA went 8-1 in the second half and finished the game 17-6. Their tenacity is unreal and I really enjoyed seeing not only their success on the field but their team commitment to eachother. Julian Childs-Walker ran down pulls like no one I have ever seen and Patrick Roberts composed himself like a player years ahead of his time. Their team cheers, their support structure, everything was great to watch and until teams can match their surplus of talent and teamsmanship, they will continue to dominate.

After this game, I wanted to check out Australia/Ireland but the fields they were on were a major hike and Team USA (open) and Japan were playing side by side right where the Juniors finished. Considering that I hadn't seen either play, I couldn't turn the opportunity down.

Team USA (open) vs Finland

The first thing that struck me about team USA was who they were missing. I'm not sure if it will be like this all week but Chase, Sam O'Brien, and Roger Crafts were all missing. I know that Sam and Chase are done after Worlds but I figured they would at least be at Worlds. Perhaps they'll arrive later in the week.

As for the game, like most of the games today, both teams started off shakey and despite several chances by both teams, Finland scored first. Team USA would rally with their stellar O-line Ho Stack weave. Their D-line would get a second chance to earn their first break and they did so twice, taking advantage of some lapses in judgement on Finland's part.

However, Finland's cross field throws and hammers were very good at times. At certain moments they seemed to be two different teams, one that was capable of hanging with the Fish and one that was going to be eaten alive. They scored to make it 3-2 Team USA but that would be their last of the half. Team USA would come at Finland with an unreal aggression and considering their depth and personnel, I was not surprised that they took half 9-2.

One point worth mentioning was at 6-2. Sockeye was pulling upwind and after coming down on the pull, Ryan Winkleman came out with a huge layout catch block. This gave the US an upwind break followed by a furocious cheer, skip: "BLOOD IN THE WATER", team: "CHOMP, CHOMP, CHOMP!!". At this point Finland was completely taken out of their game and the rest of the contest was simply a formality.

The second half would be all Sockeye with players like Ray Illian owning the downfield space and veterans like Nord punishing poor decisions when Finland was on O. Idaho seemed to be at the helm of the intensity campaign and unlike Furious had this morning, Team USA kept a foot on the throat of Finland, taking the second half 8-2 and the game 17-6.

Japan (open) vs The Netherlands

Adjacent to the USA/Finland game, the Buzz Bullets were taking their shot at the Netherlands. I could tell from Japan's warm ups that they were ready to dominate. In their hucking drill, every player was driven to snatch down every disc and hit the ground on anything close. They pulled to start the game and used their quickness to control the tempo of the game.

Considering the fact that there was a slight wind inside the stadium, the Netherlands benefited from an average height advantage, gobbling up floaty discs not unlike Great Britain. However, their poise was largely absent and disc sailed out of bounds on cross field hammers and they had trouble with drops.

As for Japan, as I figured, Mashiro Matsuno had a spectacular game. His break away speed is only eclipsed by his stellar throws and he had the ability to snatch as many goals as he threw. Yohei Kichikawa also had a great game with his great backhand breaks and equally impressive agility. What amazed me the most about Japan (and this came as no surprise) was their speed. 

Like Juggernaut, once they picked up momentum, there was no stopping them. Their disc movement, execution and decision making was unreal and their speed is unparalleled at this tournament. If they generated a turn they were off to the races and without comparable speed, the Netherlands could not stop Japan's velocity. Their hucks always seemed to be tossed with precision as well as snap, but at no point did they ever seem out of reach by Japan's cutters, even when going downwind.

Before I knew it, the boys in blue took the second half 8-1 and earned their second impressive win of the day. It seems like the only chance teams will have against them is to put a monkey wrench into their offensive progression. If they are given the freedom to cut at will, no team will have the quickness to keep up with this team top to bottom. Perhaps defenders like Jimmy Chu or Skip Sewell can match up man for man but at some point there will be an agility miss match and I can't imagine Team USA or anyone else stopping them without some sort of intelligent junk D or poaching. They are red hot and come day after tomorrow, all the hype about a Team USA vs Japan at Worlds will go down and this time, the score does matter.

Calling it a Day

After this game, I was fairly exhausted. I wanted to catch the USA women but considering I hadn't picked up any caffeine on the day, I was wiped out, plus I had to take a trip to the airport. Given the fact that pool play is drawn out a bit, I might hold off for a day or two before I post again. Tomorrow's showcase game should be pretty hot with Team USA (masters) facing off against Canada and with Husak, Dugan and some other vets in the house to help out DoG, things could be pretty exciting. Stay tuned.

just my thoughts

match diesel

Day 1 in the Books

After a day in NYC with the GF and an all night flight to Vancouver, I finally got here. I had to chill in the airport for a few hours before the rental car places opened up which gave me enough time to realize that every phone call I make is costing me 70 cents a minute and I cannot text. Yikes. Oh well, gotta role with the punches.

I get the dorms OK and manage to sleep for a few hours. I wake up around 1030am and begin to wander around. First off, I should say that the tournament itself is being held at UBC campus. This place is MASSIVE. It reminds me a lot of UCSD. One non-descript building after another nestled in a veritable maze of streets and cul-de-sacs. However, like UCSD the campus is very beautiful and I'm sure it is a great place to go to school.

I find frisbee central and there isn't a whole lot of organized frisbee going on. A few teams from varying countries practicing, merchandise and information booths getting setup. I try checking in but the Media badges aren't available so I go back to my dorm, get my truck (yeah they gave me a truck) and go venture off into Vancouver.

It's funny, every time I travel to one of these sorts of tournaments I try and take in the city as best I can. Because Yale isn't going to last forever, I need to start thinking about where else I could go. When I went to Centex, I really liked Austin. Great city filled with young liberal minds in a laid back atmosphere. It had the feel of the west coast without the price tags. Then I went to Boulder for Nationals and it wasn't for me. It had too much of a small town feel and I felt trapped between the rocky mountains and endless plains.

As for Vancouver, it is a brilliantly beautiful place. It carries the same sort of charm as Seattle, but on a smaller scale. Nestled in the mountains and inlets of the Northwest, it has a very crisp morning feel (even at noon) and it is so green and lush.

I cruised down Broadway looking for something to jump out at me and I saw a sign for a place called "Sushi Boy". I had been told that the asian food in Vancouver was very good, and judging by the number of Japanese restaurants, I am inclined to believe it. This place was as good as any and it had a hole in the wall sort of appeal. I had the lunch special and when I tried to pay with a debit card, I got frowns. Lucky for me, I had some left over Canadian money from Jazz Fest last year that I brought with me so I paid in cash.

After I left I looked for an ATM to get more green (or blue, depending on the bill) and in my wandering I stumbled into a 7-11 and got $100 and some coffee. I then headed back to the car and to my surprise (and I swear this is the truth) I had two GAIA vans parked on either side of my truck. I thought this a bit of a bizarre coincidence but when I looked up at the store I was parked in front of, sure enough "GAIA". WOW Match, you parked in front of THE GAIA store and you didn't even know it. Needless to say I had to take peak. To my delight, the place had a ton of Furious stuff, most of which I had never seen before. I took a look at everything they had and decided on two shirts.

It was starting to get into the afternoon so I decided to head back to the fields to catch the opening ceremonies and the showcase game between Canada and Great Britain (mixed). I parked the truck and started the 25 minute walk across campus and en route I ran into some Australian guys, one of which was Brett Matzuka, my Aussie buddy. Apparently he wasn't too pleased that I predicted Australia to finish 4th, but I think that despite their talents, a collection of all stars against 3 established teams (USA, Japan, and Canada), they'll have their hands full.

I make it to Thunderbird Stadium and I realize that you have to buy tickets for this thing. I was a bit hesitant and then I noticed a VIP table next to the entrance. Considering that I got shot down at check in, I thought I would try my luck and see if I qualified as a VIP. I walked up, gave them my name and sure enough, I had a name tag waiting for me...weird. I walked in, bought myself a Russell Beer (apparently they are a big sponsor) and took a seat in the VIP lounge. Now this was bizarre and for anyone that knows me, they can totally picture the look on my face after this next sentence. A 25 year old kid wearing a Lone Star Alum jersey and some raggedy UCSD ultimate shorts in a room with folks in shirt and ties.

Needless to say, despite the fact that I technically belonged there, I couldn't take it and after grabbing a free sandwich and another beer, I decided to head down to the field level. I got past security with my nifty name tag and took a seat at the back of one end zone underneath an unoccupied Ultivillage tent. From here I had a decent few of the game, as well as the entire crowd, and I was in the shade. Before I discuss the game, let me just say the Venezuela really stole the show. They brought the ruckus from the starting pull, till the last score. Every 20-30 seconds they started up their chant, each time in a different direction, aimed at a different set of bystanders. Folks were generally open minded and would get up and dance with them and despite one chorus after another, they never tired and won the crowd and the announcers over.

As for the game, it was actually a very good contest and I apologize in advance for not knowing much about Great Britain. Canada started out on O and from the very beginning it looked like each team had some jitters. Both teams traded turnovers but ultimately, Val Dion ripped a nice huck to Brendan Wong for the goal, which would be the trend for the first half.

Both GB and Canada had issues with their respective offenses, but they managed to stay on serve for the first few points, I think GB even went up a break early, receiving at 4s. However, Canada would switch to zone at this point and their D-line was very effective at getting the Brits to cough it up. GB generally had conservative disc movement in contrast to Canada's flare, but the constant pressure afforded by the white and red would often be too much and they would throw wide or toss up a poor hammer that was dropped, turfed or D'd.

However, despite their success at generating turnovers, Canada's D-line really struggled to score. They should have earned several more breaks in the first half than they did, but I suppose a 9-6 half time score isn't bad. My thoughts after the first half were 1) the Great Britain women did a fantastic job at scooping up loose discs. I think they saved 3-4 possessions for GB, not to mention catching a few macked scores. The second half would be more of the same. 2) Canada's O-line was superb. Blare Hole was great at the male handler slot and to his left and right were Kira Frew and Val Dion. Kira's vicious throws and decision making abilities kept the offense moving while Val had phenomenal puts that she rarely hesitated to let fly. She connected with Brendan Wong on more than one occasion and I suspected that despite GB's efforts, getting the breaks back to win this game would not be easy.

The first part of the second half seemed to be an extension of the first, with Canada's O-line succeeding at will, while GB's offense and Canada's D-line went back and forth with the disc. However, after 5-6 points, GB's D-line got a break back and a game that seemed out of reach was now close at 12-10. At one point I think the game was even 15-14 Canada.

However, Canada's O-line cleaned things up and was razor sharp down the stretch. Brendan seemed to be the major deep threat in the first half, but he hung out in the middle for most of the second and facilitated several intermediate strikes to cutters of both genders. Canada's D-line managed to even out whatever breaks Great Britain earned and in the end I think the score was 17-15.

After the game, I caught up with Rob and the Ultivillage crowd. They were on a fairly decent high given their success with the live video feed of this game. Despite some technical issues, things seemed to go fairly smoothly so look for more live video for the Finals in a week. I like seeing Rob delegate responsibility now, rather than just film, because it shows how far he has come. Despite the fact that we don't here his signature voice overs like "15-13", it is great to see that he is expanding with more videographers like Logan Braun and Skip Hobbie, not to mention hooking up with the Brits from Block Stack.

Once the game was over, I headed back to my dorm and on the way I caught Jody and BVH working with the USA Juniors team. Considering that I had written about these kids already (both for Juniors and for College) I was interested in their progress. They seemed to be working on set plays and despite their young age, they seemed to click very well and I can't imagine anything less than a gold medal finish for them. On a somewhat sad side note, I learned last week that Jeremy Norden of Whitman and Team USA was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease and was going through some pretty heavy duty chemotherapy leading up to Worlds. I only bring this up because in spite of his illness, he is still able to play, on a somewhat limited basis. His doctor has him on a time on/off schedule and even though his health could be better, he will still be in cleats and ready to do his part in earning his second gold medal.

After this detour, I finally got back to my dorm and went out to get some food. I wanted to get some non-perishables to keep in the room so I went to a local grocery store to stock up on things like bread and fruit. While in the grocery store, I figured I would get dinner and the one thing I couldn't turn down was a full chicken. You know, those full chickens in the plastic container near the deli? I've always walked past those thinking to myself, "man those look good, I could eat that right now." However, I had never actually eaten one.

Now was my time to shine and considering it was just me, I figured, what the hell? I got my full size chicken and man was it good. I don't think I'll be picking another one up anytime soon, but I am happy I popped my "ready to eat foul cherry". Yeah, thats a weird sentence.

As for tomorrow I think I am going to start the day off with Canada vs Italy (Open). I've never seen Furious play in real life so I figure the sooner I get that out of the way, the better. A friend of mine is also playing for Italy so it'll be a good way of killing 2 birds with 1 stone. After that I think I'll check out the USA Juniors (Boys) who are playing Great Britain followed by some lunch. Then I'll see how Australia does against Ireland and then USA (Women) against Switzerland. I figure this will be nice because Canada will play Switzerland in the open division on the same field afterwards which I can watch a little bit before I go over to the showcase game which will be Canada vs Japan (women). Hopefully after this I'll have enough energy to go get my cousin Alex from the Airport. He's coming off a two month bender in Europe so he'll probably be as tired as I am but who knows.

Stay tuned folks, things are just getting started.

just my thoughts

match diesel