CUT's got me in stitches

First off these guys are entertaining. I wanted to continue my collection of objective ultimate material with who I believe to be the #2 team in the country right now and these guys crack me up. I got a hold of Patrick Baylis, Carleton's captain, and he answered some questions of mine and I thought I would share them with you.

Player Departures

Jacob Goldstein seems to be the biggest name that is not coming back to Carleton this year. I am a big fan of this kid because he gives hope to the stockier players out there. In watching him at college nationals and club regionals this past year, I was very surprised at how well he plays D despite the fact that he isn't the standard 6'2" 160 lbs twig that many elite disc players are now a days. Two other names that aren't returning are Keith Christianson, a spectacular down field defender and Craig Hogle, one of CUTs veteran handlers.

Talent for 2008

Despite player departures, Carleton still has a very young crop of players. I went back and watched what I believed to be the best game at college nationals last year (Stanford vs CUT) and most of the guys making plays will be suiting up for CUT this year. One of the bigger stars will probably be Sam Kanner (sophmore #33). This kid lined up against Robbie Cahill and Mark Sherwood a lot in that game and his fellow head band wearing team mate, Jerome Potter (junior #11), was also in that mix. These two heavy hitters, as well as Baylis, all played for Sub Zero this past year and are definitely ready to break some hearts. It is also worth mentioning that Kanner was on the juniors team USA that won gold in 2006 and runs track at Carleton, yikes. Another club player that has definitely picked up some experience over the last two years is Adam Fagin (sophmore #6) who suited up for Mischief the last two years. All in all, the best of Carleton is still very much a part of the team and will definitely have the ability to break into games late on saturday at nationals.

Tournament Schedule

Carleton has signed on for the CCS and will be attending Vegas, Stanford, and Centex in addition to the series. I suppose these 3 tournies are the best out there but I wonder if CUT would benefit from another tournament in that mix. Stanford goes to Santa Barbara, Wisconsin goes to Mardi Gras, Florida has their Winter Classic, etc... I am sure that this team will be focused and ready, however, and I think that the annual regional match up with the Hodags will continually be as exciting as ever. I asked Baylis to give me some thoughts on Wisconsin and this is what he told me:

"Nobody knows this, but the way Wisconsin plays defense is particularly vulnerable to the now-forgotten “Trident Stack” popular in the ’80s. We have revived that offense and added a top-secret wrinkle, called The Reversal, which eliminates the primary weakness of the flip-side poach draw without requiring the handler to scuttle his D1 and D4 options so early in the count. This really opens up the inside flick dump to the broadside hucker coming across for E2. And of course, our failsafe is still flying in on the diagonal to bring down the easy crabwise floater. As far as we can tell, it can’t be beaten. And we haven’t even mentioned our defense (nor will we)."

Hilarious, I love the spittle.

Goals and Expectations

Not surprisingly, Baylis and CUT are true competitors. When I asked him what his goals were for the season he told me "Three wins on Friday, two on Saturday, one on Sunday". You gotta love the black and white intensity. What I think is interesting is that they seem to focus their attention on nationals where as Wisconsin seems to focus on winning the region. I suppose there are different ways at looking at the same sets of goals. In any event, I think CUT will definitely have what it takes to make a run at the golden disc. They have the talent (which is now more experienced) and definitely have some painful memories, Phill Vozza's (Florida #26) layout D in quarters, the double game point loss to Stanford, and the JoJah upset, to motivate them to condition, improve, and stay focused. I am excited to see what they'll do especially at Centex when they will face their toughest competition until Regionals.

College Nationals

I was also curious to know how CUT felt about the new change in when nationals will be played. This is what Baylis had to say:

"We’ll see how it goes this year. We wish it wasn’t two weeks earlier because it limits our outside practice time even more than usual, but as far as the event itself goes we don’t really know what to expect."

Closing thoughts

I definitely think that CUT can give Wisconsin a run this year. They have a Fall tournament win over the Hodags, which Baylis says was no big deal, but I think it still gives CUT the notion that Wisconsin is not invincible. CUT has nothing to lose and everything to gain and the Hodags are not in that boat anymore. I think the best disc is played when players are truly motivated. Nothing can replace that sense of focus on offense and that intensity on D. One final question that I had for Baylis that I think most people are curious about is, how CUT continually manages to stay at the top of the ultimate community despite being a really small school? Baylis said that it's all about "Heart. (And Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water)". Ha, I love it. Thanks for being entertaining and good luck.

just my thoughts

match diesel

Hungry Hungry Hodags

I thought I would get the college discussion ball rolling with a little bit about Wisconsin. One of the captains of the Hodags (James Foster) was kind enough to answer some questions and I thought I would share some initial thoughts about their 2008 season.

Player Departures

The first thing on my mind for the upcoming year is who are they losing. Now I know that there are some obvious players like Callahan winner Dan Heijman who just finished his 5th year at Wisconsin and Jack Marsh is out of eligibility. Another really huge name that isn’t coming back is Dan Miller. I have been blinded by this kids nuclear hair color for a few years and his defense and all around intensity will be missed. Bobby Lau and Matt Scallet are also done but aside from these, Wisconsin is still returning a ton of experience.

2008 Play Makers

Two major players from last year that will definitely be striking fear into the hearts of opponents are Brandon “Muffin” Malecek and Shane Hohenstein. I feel like Muffin is like the Barry Bonds of ultimate (just physically, not all that lying stuff). I have seen some pictures of him from a few years ago and he looks like a completely different person. Then he had non-descript hair, he was slimmer, and generally not all that scary looking. In 2006 he sported the cornrows, and he still has the Oakley shades, and the Hodag headband. That and he is freaking jacked. Guy definitely did his ultimate homework and is committed to absolutely dominating on all sides of the disc, more power to him. Shane is also a scary mofo. I mistakenly thought Heijman got 3 layout Ds against Stanford in the semis at college nationals, but it was actually Hohenstein. I was far away and they both wear head bands, but after really watching Wisconsin and Sub Zero footage, I can definitely say, this guy is one of the scariest defenders I have ever seen. He literally killed Stanford in the semis all by himself. His man defense is through the roof. I will say that there are usually 2 kinds of good college defenders out there. There are the really fast guys and then there are the crafty ones. The best defenders are both and Shane definitely is and he brings the hurt, just watch the Fall tounrey footage from the Classic City Classic. I asked Foster who he thought were going to be the big play makers for Wisconsin this year and this is what he told me:

“Matt Rebholz and Kevin Riley will be holding down the O Line, breaking the mark at will and sending it deep to our athletic cutters like Will Lokke and Tim Pearce. Muffin (Brandon Malecek) and Tom Annen will be anchoring the D Line throwing to some of the best defenders in the country in Chris Doede, Andrew Mahowald, and Shane Hohenstein.”

What I think makes Wisconsin so good is that they are the poster team for athleticism as well as commitment to the game. Because Wisconsin is a state school they have such a large population to draw from and the chance of finding an all-state soccer player (Dan Heijman-Connecticut) or some Winona State transfer students with disc experience (Hohenstein and Miller) are much better than a small school like Carleton. With these kinds of athletes coming into town, your odds of finding one that likes ultimate and will work at it are much higher. It also probably helps that a top 8 team at Club Nationals is based out of Minneapolis. I wonder how many Sub Zero teammates are bitter Wisconsin/CUT rivals?

Young Guns

Another thing that I was interested to know about Wisco this year was who their next crop of all-stars is going to be. I remember the days of Tyler Spindler, Grant Zukowski, the Valdivias, and Tripoli. Now it's Heijman, Miller, Muffin and Shane, but I wonder who will be the next big leaguers? When I asked James this question he told me “Cullen Geppert and Ben Feldman will certainly be noticed this year by playing great defense and then cutting people up after a turn.” Ben was a member of the Junior Worlds team in 2006 and Cullen was a very solid defender for Wisconsin during the series last year. Hopefully they will carry the torch well.

Goals and Challenges

Another thing that I find interesting are Wisconsin’s goals for the year. When I think of the Hodags outside of college nationals, the first big goal I think of would be to win Trouble in Vegas. This team has been absolutely dominant the last two years and has lost only in bracket play or the finals of the first tournament of the year. In 2006 they lost to Carleton 6-5 (what kind of a score is that?) and last year 12-11 to Florida in the finals. They then went on to sweep the rest of the season in 2007 and lost only once more on Sunday at nationals in 2006. One thing that I think really helps Wisconsin this year is the fact that for whatever reason, Mardi Gras will be before TiV. Wisconsin usually kills people at this 60+ team tournament and gets cash in the process. I dunno how they travel so much but they have won Mardi Gras a few years running and only have a few teams like Texas and Kansas in their way. If they can get the dust off early and warm up in Louisiana, they might be able to work out the kinks and get fluidity in their offense to handle the high winds in Vegas. However, despite my focus on TiV as a goal, James said that “Our main goal for this season is the same as it always is: Win the Central Region.“ This I think is really interesting because it shows how much tension and history is in this region. This is not the AC or the NE where the teams on top routinely shuffle around. This is the Central Region, which is a lot like the SW. Wisconsin and CUT have been beating each other up in this region for like 20 years. For the majority of that, CUT has absolutely dominated with routine classes like Roger Crafts and Mike Caldwell in the late 90's followed by the Nord era, then Chase, Jimmy Chu and Sam O’Brien. However, it is without question that the last few years, Wisconsin has really showed themselves to be the big bad wolf in the upper mid west. However, despite a recent college national championship (their 2nd in 5 years) and 4 trips to the finals this millennium, they still focus on winning the central region. I love it.

I was also curious to know what sorts of challenges Wisconsin has. What does a team that is something like 110-3 over the last 2 years fear? Is there anything that can rattle a team like this? Apparently the main concern is “to stay focused as a team and not let any of the hype effect how we perform or how we go about accomplishing the goals we have set as a team.” How very Belichick of James. Their focus, again, is not to win TiV or repeat at Centex, not even to win another national championship, but rather earn “the right to play CUT in the Finals of Regionals.” What an epic saga CUT and Wisconsin have. It must be nice to have to struggle so hard with a team in your own region and know that in prepping to just make it to nationals you are beating a team that could beat half the teams in Boulder next May. I suppose this is an advantage to teams like Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Stanford, Oregon, etc.. because they have to work so hard to get out of their region that they end up getting better competition in the regional finals than in pool play at nationals. I don’t know how Zipp and Brown did it in 2005. I guess that just shows you how good the Amherst→Brown→DoG ultimate program is.

Callahan Watch

One thing that I wanted to know but was very doubtful to get a straight answer about, was who the Callahan nominee for Wisconsin is going to be this year. I understand not wanting to name a specific person because they probably don’t know yet and I totally respect that. But I also want to say that whoever Wisconsin nominates will be in the top 3 Callahan finishers if not THE winner. If you look back over the last 5 years, whoever wins nationals or is close, usually wins the Callahan. Wiggins in 2003 was the last Callahan winner to not win a national championship but he still played in the finals. Since then it was Richter (champion ‘04), Zipp (champion ‘05), Tim Gehret (champion ‘06) and Dan Heijman (champion ’07). Callahan voters are not smart, they vote for the guy that is nominated by the best team. Players like Dylan Tunnell, Tank Natenberg, Oscar Pottinger, and Seth Wiggins are great, great players, but if you aren’t going to make the Finals, you aren’t going to win the MVP. Nothing against people that vote, but the information gap is so huge (which is why I write this stuff) that no one knows anybody outside their region so they just vote for the players from the best teams. In any event, I just want to say that whoever Wisconsin does nominate, has a good chance of winning. One thing that I really liked about Heijman when he won was the he told Rob that he thought he was only the 4th or 5th best player on Wisconsin. If you watched them play, Heijman was definitely a source of assists, scores, Ds and ZERO turnovers, but the Hodags had a lot of other guys reeling in the fantasy points and a lot of them are still on the team. They still have a ton of talent left and if something like the Robbie Cahill/Mark Sherwood thing happens again, you might see 2 Callahan nominees getting votes. Regardless, James told me to start prepping my ballot for “Matt Rebholz, Muffin Malecek, Shane Hohenstein, Andrew Mahowald and Will Lokke”. What a PC and respectful answer. I am sure he is a great captain.

Tournament Schedule

This year Wisconsin is playing in Mardi Gras, Vegas, Stanford, and Centex. This is definitely a different schedule from last year where Wisconsin went to Terminus in Georgia and Easterns in North Carolina. I like that they are going back to Stanford. Once again I don’t know how they fly to all these tournaments. Colorado usually doesn’t go to a lot of tournaments like Stanford (until this year) and Santa Barbara because it is too much to fly but I am glad Wisconsin is going back to Palo Alto. It is one of the most elite tournaments in the country and Wisconsin has a tradition of doing very well at it.

College Nationals Thoughts

One thing that has been an extremely controversial issue is the college nationals debate. Since they are changing the weekend it is this year, as well as piggy backing with CSTV, there have been a lot of contrasting opinions concerning it. I heard that the UPA surveyed teams that were at nationals in Columbus but I will say that this is what the captain of the current national champions had to say:

“I am extremely upset about the schedule change this year. I do not like to look ahead that far but we have players that are scheduled to take finals during bracket play at nationals. If we are successful at Regionals it is going to be very difficult for our entire team to make it to Colorado in time to play on Friday and getting there a day early to practice is almost entirely out of the question.”

Closing thoughts

I think Wisconsin is the real deal again. I think they were as good in 2006 as they were in 2007 (Florida was just better). I think this year will be no different. I think CUT is definitely better this year (that will be another blog article-tune in tomorrow) and there will be some great teams out there, but if Wisconsin can stay focused, you will see baby blue play on May 18th. When I asked James if there was anything he wanted the rest of the country to know about Wisconsin in the new year he said “The Hodags are still hungry.“

Just my thoughts

Match Diesel

NCUSS thoughts

So I started doing some research on this NCUS thing and I thought I would share my opinion concerning the newest addition to the cultimate contribution to our sport.

CCS is the Collegiate Chapionship Series. It combines results from the 4 Cultimate tournaments, Warm Up, Trouble in Vegas (TiV), Stanford Invite and Centex by granting point totals to teams that do well. After completing all 4 tournament events, the team with the most points earns a purse of $5000. A great idea, right? I had some thoughts about it and that i thought I would share

First off I want to say that I think this is a good idea. If you go back to the complaints concerning college ultimate, the main issue has been parity. The best teams didn't get to see each other until nationals and some match ups that everyone wanted to see, just never happened. Cultimate has worked very hard to change this. In starting with Centex, this company has begun to establish a gold standard for ultimate tournaments. When I first started playing ultimate, teams would sometimes go to Southerns, or Spring Collegiates, or Ultimax, etc... Every year the BIG tournament would change and it was tough to get all the best teams on one field. Centex changed that. Now every elite team shows up in Texas and we get to see the best teams beat the crap out of each other. Next, cultimate saw oppurunity in UCSD's misfortune and started Trouble in Vegas. Another great tournament that pits the best teams against one another. Recently Stanford has been added to the cultimate list and this year the Florida Warm Up made the cut. So the bottom line is that in establishing a company that puts on, promotes, and runs these tournaments, you establish better uniformity and competition across the college ultimate scene. It also seems that in undertaking this challenge, Cultimate is also in the process of turning our sport from a tournament based game to a season based game. I like the idea of having results matter across tournaments as opposed to single events with no continuity.

One major controversial issues associated with this CCS idea is the prize money. There is some amateur issues and NCAA arguments associated with this idea and I think these are all pretty weak arguments. First off, Cultimate is not the first organization to offer prize money for its winners. Mardi Gras has been offering $2000-2500 to winning teams for many years now as has the Live Logic Texas Shootout, albeit a club tournament but college teams do attend. What I also think is interesting is the dollar amount. Alex Peters on RSD said, "While having prize money is obviously better than not having prize money, I think it's kind of amusing that if you win the whole damn thing, your prize (5k, minus ~1000 in entry fees, divided by ~20 players) is approximately enough to pay for only one of the four flights you had to buy in order to play the series in the first place. Not that playing such a series isn't a reward in itself." I think that the $5000 is a nice dollar amount and I will agree it isn't much, but it also isn't static. It is $5000 in the inaugural year. Who's to say that Cultimate won't be able to up the ante in the future and potentially offer $10,000 or perhaps more to finishers 4th through whatever. This is also relevant with the women's division discussion. The women's division is only offered $2000, but that is just in the first year. With more teams and more time, offering more money to more teams might be possible.

Another thing that I think is important is that this system will put pressure on the best teams to really show it. One of the things that really impressed me about Wisconsin last year was that they attended Easterns in Wilmington, NC. This was not a tournament that they had to attend. There were only 2 other teams at Easterns that were also at Nationals (Pitt and UNC). The fact that they sacked up and traveled again and put their one loss record on the line really showed that they were the best and they were not afraid to show it. Another team that really put themselves out there was Florida. They didn't have to go to Stanford in 2006, but they wanted to prove that they were the best by going to the best tournaments. I can remember getting an email from one of the Florida captains last year asking about Yale Cup. Now, I don't want to knock my own tourney, but I didn't think it would show up on the Florida radar. However, the captains told me that they wanted to play in the best tournaments in the country. I really respect this and I think having a company like Cultimate set the bar concerning the best tournaments is a good idea and I think it will give teams the guidance and the incentive to travel.

Two teams that might come around right away are Stanford and Colorado. Now, I am not criticizing either team. Stanford goes to Kaimana instead of TiV and this February I will probably see why. Colorado doesn't go to Stanford, probably because its another tournament they have to fly to. However, with infrastructure like this, I think the captains of these teams will begin to question why they are passing up these tournaments. If they want to really test their rookies, or improve their program, or realize their weaknesses, they might want to consider rolling the dice and signing up for TiV or Stanford Invite. Both programs are already two of the best, however, and would be above criticism if they decided to maintain their existing tournament schedule.

Another criticism to CCS that I saw was that teams are going to have to pay tournament fees for a monetary prize that is beyond their reach. This could not be farther from the truth. I can remember a day when Brown won nationals and Florida wasn't even in Corvalis. Who would think that now? Teams turnover all the time. Granted Stanford, Wisconsin, and Colorado are probably buying their Nationals plane tickets now, but new teams climb the ladder all the time. Georgia, Oregon, Carleton, Florida, UCSB, all these teams have had their time in the lime light as well as having to sit and watch nationals come and go without them. Who knows who will be the next big team to emerge and with a set schedule like this clear goals and plans for improvement can potentially result helping all teams out there.

I also like to think that this is just the beginning for CCS. There are a lot of big tournaments out there that have legit competition that might find themselves wanting to fall under the CCS umbrella. These could potentially be Santa Barbara Invite, Easterns, Fools Fest, Southerns, Ultimax, Yale Cup, etc... This doesn't necessarily mean that Cultimate will run these tournaments, just that they will participate in the point system and potentially put part of their tournament fees into the bigger pool. This could potentially alleviate concerns about teams having to travel too far to play in all of these tournaments and allow many teams to earn points. Another important aspect of this is that it could really take pressure of TDs to run tournaments. After running a few tournies I can say without hesitation that playing in a tournament that you are running is a losing battle. A company like Cultimate has the experience and the power to really put a great tournament together and team TDs can really begin to relax and potentially pass off responsibility to objective parties who's sole purpose is to run the tournament, not try and play in it.

Lastly, I think all of this will put pressure on the UPA to improve the competitive nature of college nationals. I am so tired of seeing teams that aren't at nationals make it into the top 16 after nationals. Teams like UCSB should have been at nationals in 2007. If you lose to Colorado 14-16 and they then go on to make the finals at nationals, what does that say about Black Tide? There is no disagreement that Centex is the best tournament of the year. Apparently that was not enough to get the UPA to change their approach to team selection for nationals. Maybe having this next step will get the powers that be to finally think about changing how many teams are at nationals. I have already written about this and I cannot believe that the UPA is trying so hard to expand the number of teams at the bottom without expanding the number of teams that get to prove who belongs at the top. I suppose it draws a parallel to college football and their lack of a play off system.

Now a few concerns. 1) I am a bit worried that Cultimate is going to take over. The BCS has taken over college football and I wonder if this is the beginnings of that. This is an inital concern, but I have talked with Skip Sewell personally and I have never come across someone with such a combination of ability and ambition to improve college ultimate. He is also someone with the experience and credibility as a player both at the club and college level and I think if any company could do this right, it would be Cultimate. 2) Money. I am really apprehensive about having money involved in sports. When money becomes an issue, priorities tend to change and I don't like that. I would like to think that the point total alone would really motivate teams outside of monetary gain, not unlike the NASCAR championship. I don't know if a CCS title would mean as much as a dollar amount or a UPA title, but it might, who knows? 3) Eligibility issues. I can remember a time when Texas A&M and Delhousie beat the crap out of folks because they were playing with ineligible players and having teams bring players with suspect roster status can potentially be a problem. However, I think the natural course of action will be to have teams report rosters for CCS tournies. This is good for everybody because they will have rosters solidified well before the series and issues concerning eligibility and suspensions will be a thing of the past. I only hope a club system like this will be implemented for the same reason.

I wanted to continue the Buzz associated with Cultimate and the CCS by posting this article followed by 3 more. Over the next 3 days, I will be posting college previews on Wisconsin, Carleton, and then Florida, all in prep for the Florida Warm Up this weekend. In addition, I also hope to round out my college preview with interviews with reps from Colorado, Stanford, Oregon, Georgia, UCSB, Cal, etc... and post these articles before Trouble in Vegas. Stay tuned.

just my thoughts

match diesel

24 and I never felt older

So winter break came and went, that was exciting. Word to the the wise, do not get the NORO virus on a cruise, that little bugger (HA, a pun) will fuck you and your family's shit up something awful.

Another thing that I did over break was return to my roots in San Diego. Thought I would see the old gang, catch up with old friends, see some new kids, get hjammered (not a typo) and man was that endeavor depressing. I'll sum it up with one activity, Disc Golf.

Back in the day, one of the many things our team did to encourage throwing and team bonding was to play disc golf on UCSD campus. Seeing that our campus is about as jumping as a 3-toed sloth, it sets up a decent time with some organized shotgunning and recreational frisbee activity. Its nothing exciting, aim for the Revelle Fountain, hit a specific light post, hit the Muir kiosk, bonus hole, etc... I am sure every school out there has a similar course on their campus and if they don't MAKE ONE UP STAT!!! I figured it would bring back some old times so I hit the old course with some buddies from undergrad.

Man was it depressing. It started off ok, but on the second hole, we are working the dog leg and when we got to the specific light post it straight up wasn't there. Talk about letting the air out of my tires. My adult identity was shaped on this course and then WHAM a stump where hole #2 used to be. This was when I started to feel the Coors and began my usual drunken emotional bitching. When we set out for hole #4 there was a new building in the way, A BUILDING?!?! Wow, have I really been out of college for that long?!? 2 1/2 years never felt like it could be such a long time. In any event, I still rapped the course because I have kept up with my disc skills but my god was I down in the dumps. It was such a bizarre experience to be somewhere that should be so familiar yet felt so alien. Needless to say the Talking Tree was still there and I gave it a big drunken hug. That old post-modern piece of shit has been spouting out endless audio crap for god knows how long and it makes me feel good that long after I have gone, it is still there, the same as it was when I was a freshman.

Bottom line, things were weird back at the old alma mater. Some of the freshman when I was a senior wanted to party and I obliged and we hit some bars. This could not have been weirder. It was like I was some over the hill rock star that all these kids thought was still a juggernaut party samurai. We played some beer pong, which I USED to think I was good at it. These kids rolled me like a freaking sushi chef. They were all so surprised too. I can remember saying, "in my day, we just played a few games every now and again. Maybe twice a month if I was lucky." These kids nowadays have tournaments with 60 teams!! How am I supposed to beat a 2 time champion?!?! One of the funniest things my friend JAM said during the night was "play like it's 2004". We all had a good laugh.

It was also weird hearing my stories being told back to me from my senior year as if they were dusty pages of history. I don't remember this, but apparently Bilbo was 8 foot tall and would eat a homeless man if you dared him. It was good to know that me and my undergrad posse wasn't forgotten but it still felt a bit eerie. And what's worse was since then, these kids have tried to continually one up themselves and now I am terrified to even set foot into one of their parties. I can remember when I was a squid, the renegades that we were on Spring Break, played century club on the docks in Big Bear, or drank 8 bottles of champagne in a day or, had underwear dance parties. But since then, folks have resorted to flipping furniture and tossing blendors into lakes. Not that I think I am above stupid party behavior (believe me, I still bring it), but man it has gotten out of hand. It is no wonder things like year long suspensions happen.

Another thing that was funny was when one freshman, now-senior, talked about the bars we used to frequent. Places like The Dog in Pacific Beach or Plum Crazy or the Night Owl. When these seniors finally became of age and checked these places out, they were very surprised. One kid told me, "Man I walked into The Dog and thought, 'man, this place sucks!' But after a few drinks, I was like, 'YEAH this place sucks but I love it!! This is where Match, and Bofa, and Jaws and the old guys used to go!!'" The lesson being that it's not about the bar when you are 21 (because you aren't the jaded horny wolf that I am now), it's about the people you share it with. The stupid jokes, the games and the stories really make the night.

Things got drastically better once I started to hang out with some of my contemporaries and we hit some bars in Ocean Beach, somewhere that is awesome and I totally missed out on when I lived in San Diego. Thanks Rookie, Billings and Tambler, if you are reading this, you made my weekend. Gwen, you got a great little sis, and I have always thought that.

I suppose the take home message is that you are only as old as you feel. I think Parinella is like 96 but now that he is going to World's, he writes like he is 54 again, I love it. I wasn't alive when Jim started playing but I felt like I was wayyy over the hill at some points, but then at others I was 21 again. To all those college kids out there, enjoy the experience because it doesn't last forever. I also want to say that the history of your team really matters. I know that W/L records and tournament results will always be remembered, but you have to work to keep the spittle memories alive. The stupid inside jokes, the legacies, they have to be saved. My friend and Colt .45 team mate, Socks, told me that Dartmouth is putting together a book of stories that are written down now for the enjoyment of future classes. Such a good idea. To all the teams out there, you might think your stories are funny now, but they won't survive unless they are remembered. But then again, maybe they need to be forgotten in order for new stories to come about. That way you get new material, folks feel the need to write their own history and thats good. I can remember hearing that every UCSD captain bought their first beer at the same 7-11 in PB. But then when I became of age, the thing to do was boot behind the dumpster at the Night Owl. I hope now it hasn't deteriorated into hospital trips, but who knows.

In addition, I think one more lesson that might shut me up, is keep track of your alumni, keep track of your alma mater, don't forget your roots. Traditions are important. They are the glue that keeps a team together. They are what keeps people coming back. I really think that kids want to play for an institution, not just a team, something that is bigger than themselves. I know I did. And I think one easy way to help do this, and UCSD does this very well (Yale is kinda ehh), is have an Alumni Day. Bring the old gang back and let the new kids know what their team history is and where it is headed. I think most college kids that read this already have an alumni day, which is great, but for those that don't, its a great way to build/maintain tradition.

In any event, I know I am just rambling. I have some real college ultimate and other articles coming up in the future. Stay tuned.

Just my thoughts

match diesel

Throwing your Fire

After moving to the east coast I realized that there is a major ultimate tradition that didn't make it to San Diego and that is "throwing your fire". Because ultimate manages to rally around Ro-Sham-Bo, someone, somewhere decided to start the tradition of "throwing fire". Now the thing about fire is that it beats rock, paper AND scissor making the person that throws fire usually the winner of the Ro-Sham. Now because fire is so powerful, it can only be used once in a ultimate players life time, so most players like to save it for a really special occasion. However, fire can be beaten by water which loses to everything else, so if you think you are gonna get a fire your way, throw water. I am relatively new to the idea so I don't know too many good stories but I do know one. This one revolves around my co-captain of Colt 45, John Korber. He was an all-region cutter from Tufts back in 2005 and threw his fire to an unsuspecting freshman. Here is the story:

Towards the end of John's stint at Tufts, a lot of folks realized that he had yet to throw his fire and were curious to know if and when he would throw it. At an end of the year Tufts function, someone brought a shock party game. For those that are not familiar, people each grab a paddle with a solitary button. A tune plays from the center console and when it ends, each person must press down on the button as fast as they can and the last person to push the button gets a mild but very noticeable shock of electricity (really dumb I know). After several rounds of this activity John found himself going head to head with a Tufts freshman. After completing the game several times, the team mates decided to up the stakes, basically see how much more dumb they could be.

The new challenge was to place the paddles on one's genitalia and allow the game to shock you. This is not uncommon ritualistic macho behavior, but hey it's a party, lets have some fun. In any event, the selection of the poor soul to get his jewels jolted was to be determined by a Ro-Sham. The decision to resort to a Ro-Sham was Korber's idea and once this was announced, the surrounding upper class men realized that this may be the moment where John was going to let his fire loose. With a smile and wink to his peers, Korber signaled that this was not going to be this poor freshman's lucky day.

At first, the freshman resorted to bargaining tactics, "best 2 out of 3" he said. John would have none of that and said "we go once, the loser has to shock his junk". The poorly informed freshman thought to himself, "these are 50-50 chances, I could get this senior to zap his piece in front of all of my team mates. If I win, i'll go down as the guy who got KORBER to drop his sperm count. If I lose, yeah....that would suck. Fuck it". So the two agree to go for a best of one Ro-Sham, loser fries his unmentionables.

Wanting to be a part of history, the crowd surrounds, knowing that John is about to rock this poor kids world. Keeping this poor kid in the dark borders on the criminal, but hey, it's all in good fun. 1, 2, 3...and a way we go. The freshman throws paper and John comes out with the back of his hand facing his opponent, fingers flickering like the embers of a devastating inferno. The crowd jeers and John smiles, "sorry kid". In unanticipated confusion, the freshman is not exactly sure what is going on. What is this guy showing me? This isn't scissor, or rock or anything I have ever seen before. He sheepishly asks the crowd around him, "what gives?". To which the jovial crowd replies, "Korber just threw his one and only fire against you!!!". In a continued daze of shock, the freshman realizes two very powerful, yet very contrasting emotions. 1) Fuck, I have to zap my bidness, this sucks and 2) Wow, someone really good at ultimate used their fire on ME!!

As you might expect, this somewhat reluctant yet mildly honored freshman strapped himself with this shocking device and prepped himself for the ride of a lifetime, well at least the night. The apparatus winds down, the freshman is ready, and sure enough once the music stops, BZZZZZZZZZZZZ, his manhood is rocked with what seems to be 10,000 volts of electricity. The crowd loves it, they all cheer. Everyone is all smiles. The battered and beaten freshman is relieved that it is over and happy to be a part of such an event.

So this is how it goes. A great Ro-Sham opportunity presents itself and a true ultimate player will know when it is the time to sacrifice his/her one and only fire. I have yet to throw mine and I hope one day I will be as confident with my decision as John is with his. I have never heard of someone successfully throwing water when someone throws their fire. That is a circumstance I would not want to be on the wrong end of. In any event, ultimate players out there, cherish your fire, use it wisely. Like losing your virginity, it will be a moment you will never forget so make it a good memory. There have been a few moments where I have considered dropping my fire, but I have resisted. Unlike my body, my fire will not wither with age. One day when I see the opportunity to see or receive or be a part of something great, I will unleash "el fuego".

I find this to be a really great tradition and I also like how it emphasizes the "Spirt of the Game" because it depends on the honor system. You only get one and you alone keep track. Hopefully there are some great, great stories out there concerning this issue. I hope to have my time to shine and when that day comes, hopefully I will have an audience like Korber to share it with. Either that or I will just talk about here, who knows.

Feel free to add fire throwing stories, I love hearing these.

Just my thoughts

Match Diesel

How and what cleats to buy

So it's almost christmas and I am sure there are a bunch of college disc players out there looking for the best cleats for the coming season. I have had a fair amount of experience in this area and I thought I would toss out my two cents.

Now there are a lot of questions that people should be asking before they even think about buying cleats. In my experience, the more questions you ask, the better idea you will have of what you are looking for and the happier you will be once you find whatever it is you want. So what are these questions?

1) What kind of cleats do I want to buy? Soccer, Football, Lacrosse, ultimate?
2) What brand of cleats do I want to buy? Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Gaia?
3) Where do I want to get these cleats? My local sporting goods store? Online?
4) How much do I want to spend? $50? $100? Doesn't matter?

I can't say what is the best because I am definitely not the best, but I can tell you that I have been very happy with my cleat selections for many reasons so I am going to run down my approach to picking cleats.

Answer to question #1:
Buy football cleats. Soccer cleats are common for many reasons: they are lighter, they are cheaper (sometimes), they are easy to find, and most disc players played soccer at one point in their life so they go with soccer cleats. I will say that none of these criteria matter, as far as I am concerned. When you are looking for cleats you should look for the best pair that will give you the best performance for what you want to do. For the most part, ultimate is very similar to football. It has the same kinds of cuts, you are running as fast as you can in short-medium bursts, you need to be able to jump as well as plant and you need performance in all kinds of weather/grass lengths. Also, soccer cleats are designed for running AND kicking. The top part of the cleat is just as important as the bottom so if you are buying a $100 pair of cleats, you are paying for the development and production of both a running and a kicking tool. I dunno about you, but I don't do a lot of kicking in ultimate so I don't care what the surface of my shoe is going to look like nor do I care about its development. Maybe this isn't a consideration for folks out there, but if I want something that is going to make me a confident and effective disc player, I would rather be wearing what a solid wide reciever wears, as opposed to a striker. People sometimes buy lacrosse or ultimate cleats and that is fine. I will say that I don't trust cleats from sports I don't know how to play (ie lacrosse) and while it is good to invest in Gaia because it is an emerging ultimate company, I would rather put my money into a pair of cleats with millions of dollars and years of development behind it. Gaia's stuff is expensive and I don't trust it.

Answer to question #2:
I like Nike. I never played soccer so I can't really speak for Adidas. Eveyone knows my Beef with Gaia. I feel like Nike has spent a lot of time and money developing varying sports and most importantly, they have their hands in most major football contracts. If you look at the cleats of Terrell Owens and Randy Moss or on the defensive side of the ball, Brain Dawkins and Champ Bailey they all wear Nike. Now I am not an advertising retard, I am not gonna buy Sony because Peyton advertises for it, but if i want to cut well, wearing what Andre Johnson wears might be a good idea. This isn't fool proof but if you are unsure of what to buy, this might be a good way to start. In addition, if you look at elite ultimate players like Jimmy Chu and Ron Kubalanza they are all wearing Nike. Actually almost everyone in the finals of 2006 was wearing Nike.

Answer to Question #3:
Buy your cleats on line. Do not buy your cleats at a sporting good store. Sporting good stores are good for rookie cleat runs or for people who don't know what they are looking for. Buying your cleats on line ensures that you will not only get EXACTLY what you want, but you can also compare prices, are not subject to availability and if you buy Nike, you can customize your cleats with colors and characters. There are a ton websites that are potentially useful for this. The vendors (Nike, Adidas, etc...) and ebay are automatic but people also use East Bay for great cleats at good prices. The only draw back to this is sizing. I will say from experience that Nike runs their cleats small and they are usually very narrow, especially their soccer cleats. If you have wide feet it would be a good idea to figure out what size you need for your cleats at a sporting goods store, but DO NOT buy them there.

Answer to Question #4:
A lot of players, rookies especially, will buy whatever is cheap. They will go for the hideous lime green soccer cleats for $35 at Dick's or whatever. This is only a good idea for 1 reason, if you are not sure you want to play the sport. if you are just considering ultimate (and no one reading this is) you can go for the cheap stuff, but if you are really thinking about playing ultimate seriously, buying cheap cleats is a bad idea. I can think of so many players who love to say they "just bought what was cheap cuz it doesn't matter" and they are DEAD WRONG. Do you see any elite players wearing crap cleats? No, I am sure they are extremely particular about what they wear and rightfully so. If you are going to be in your cleats 2-4 times a week you better like them. They better be comfortable, they better hold up and you better enjoy playing in them. Now, if your price range is limited look for cleats via second hand resources such as ebay or east bay. I have a friend who buys cleats all the time because he gets them cheap and there are always posts on RSD about cheap cleats on ebay, especially Super Speed TDs from 3 years ago. I dunno how Mike Grant does it, but he still plays in a fresh pair of these. If you ever get the chance to buy a pair, DO NOT HESITATE, THEY ARE THE BEST CLEATS EVER!!!!

Ok, now that some questions have been asked/answered, what sorts of models should players be looking at? I was a big fan of the super speed TDs but they don't make them anymore. If you can find variations over the last few years such as the 2005 model or the latest you should be fine. The latest version are the ones that the entire Florida team had this past year. Here are some models that I have experience with:

Air Zoom Blade Pro

These are the cleats I currently have and I am very happy with them. For me, they are as close to the old speed TDs as it gets and they are extremely comfortable. I can play in these things all day and my feet don't hurt. They are a bit heavy at 14 ounces, but I love them. Unlike a lot of other Nike cleats, they will work as well with wide feet as they do with narrow ones. They have significant ankle support which will come in handy if you are a bigger guy like me. Most performance low cleats will result in many rolled ankles but if you wear them long enough, you will develop the ankle strength and the calices to handle it.

Nike Mercurial


Now these are extremely popular at the elite level in ultimate. Most high level players have these cleats or some that are closely related including Sammy CK, Jolian Dahl, Chase, and Beau. I tried these out and I hated them. They are extremely narrow, they put a lot of weight on a small region of your foot and I developed plantar faciitis from them. I chose these because I thought lighter cleats would work well for me and I thought I would try soccer cleats. One of the reasons why I think football are better.

New Balance


These are a cleat type that I am only somewhat familar with. i throw them in here to mix it up and also because a friend of mine has them and he loves them. Like my Air Zooms these are a little big but they are very comfortable. A lot of people talk about how long a pair of cleats will last or their weight, but I think the #1 reason for buying a pair of cleats is if they are comfortable. Playing 4 games in a day on a pair of spikes that point up, not down, is no fun and I am sure we have all been there. Comfort should be up there for determining factors and I have played a little bit in these and they are like little pillows for your feet.

Reebok

Reebok makes decent cleats and they have professional athletes like Steve Smith and Chad Johnson that wear them. I don't know of any elite level players that wear Reebok but my cousin Alex loves them. They are cheaper than Nike's and I am sure they are comparable. If you want performance at a better price, Reebok might be the way to go.

Gaia G4

I complain about GAIA a lot but their cleats are getting better. My main problem was that they fell apart which is not the case anymore. They are engineered for ultimate which is nice, the design is getting better and I hear they are very comfortable. Gaia also has a great warranty system for these cleats so if they do fall apart, rest assured you will get a new pair. They also can't be that bad if our Championship Director wears them. I will say that these are the one pair of cleats I would not but online. Gaia usually drops the price if you buy them at a tourney and they are usually really cool about letting you demo cleats before you buy them. Plus, you are supporting an emerging ultimate organization.

I just want to emphasize that cleats are the only expensive thing an ultimate player needs to buy and players should take extreme care in their cleat purchases. This is not a piece of equipment that is insignificant or interchangeable. Anyone who has ever worn Speed TDs will tell you about that first practice where they strapped them on, it is a feeling you can't describe. A good pair of cleats will give you confidence on the field as well as the performance and comfort you need. When in doubt, just buy whatever a mentor or someone you look up to in the sport wears. Odds are they are wearing a particular cleat for a reason and they could work for you too. Just don't buy crap, they won't last, they will give you blisters, and you will look ridiculous.

Just my thoughts

match diesel

Hot Women in Ultimate

One thing I have thought about over the last 5 years or so (and I am sure I am not in the minority) is attractive women in disc. I thought I would give a little run down as to who I thought were some very beautiful albeit talented women in our sport. I would also like to say that my criteria limited me to people that I don't know directly as well as well moderately well known women in the sport (or at least those I could find information on). I should also say that i am fully aware of the back lash that I might get after writing something like this but I don't really care. I feel that the ultimate community is great but can sometimes be overly sensitive. Sorry to those folks out there, stop reading now. For everyone else, enjoy.

Enessa Janes

First off, this girl is absolutely phenomenal. She was on the cover of the 2006 UPA college championship magazine. Wait, wasn't that the year Florida went 43-1 or whatever? Yep, but this hottie got the cover. Why? Well she just so happened to win her 3rd national championship in 5 years, not to mention made the finals 4 out of those 5 years. She only made semis in 2004. In addition she just won her 2nd straight Women's club national championship with Fury and is probably on her way to winning a world title in Vancouver next year. Oh and did I mention that she was not only an undergrad at Stanford for Land Management but she also got her Masters in Environmental Communication and Journalism. In case you are curious to know what she is up to now, she is a PhD student for Architecture and Planning at University of Colorado, Denver and Health Sciences Center. Here is a link that talks about her accomplishments without her cleats and an article that she wrote . Wow.

Anna Nazarov
Once upon a time there was this Women's ultimate team that made the finals at nationals in THEIR 3rd YEAR OF EXISTENCE. That team was UCLA BLU (Bruin Ladies Ultimate). 2003 was their first year in existence, and 2006 was their first trip to nationals. This year they were the #1 seed at nationals but lost in semis to UCSB Buring Skirts. In addition to being very beautiful, Anna just so happened to be the #1 woman in the country and earned herself the Callahan MVP award. Wow, where do you go from here? Good thing she was a Civil and Environmental Engineering major as well as being involved with the Hogue Research Group. What is it with ultimate players? My god!!

Yvonne Leung

Yes I have an asian thing, I am sorry, thats just how god made me. This isn't the best picture of her, i actually think she looks better in this one in the lower left but she is not the center of attention. I will say that, once again, BLU is a phenomenal team. I have a friend on SAMUG and he continually reminds me of how dominant this team is and I really think they are going to remain a serious powerhouse. I would like to offer more details outside of her being a stellar cutter and defender but I just can't find anything. I will say that I think that she is a huge Jon Stewart fan from her BLU profile and I think she will be one of the great remaining players on BLU after having lost so many seniors last year.

Val Dion

Ok, along with being hot, this woman just so happens to dominant at the elite women's level. She was on team Canada in 2005. Here is her profile with some Ultimate accolades at that point in time. She currently suits up for Riot who is sort of an elite women's team out of Seattle. Check out her player profile. She is also an actuary outside of ultimate. Now I am not all that familiar with what an actuary does, hence the wikipedia reference. But I do have a few friends that are trying to become one and it is no easy task. You have to pass like 7 tests over the span of a few years. But they make bank. Good for her and yeah, enjoy greatness, you are in good company.

Angela Lin

Getting back to my asians, Angela Lin has always grabbed my attention since she was an alternate on Team USA in 2005. I think what I find most appealing is the fact that she is also, not unlike most people on this list, very educated off the field. Aside from playing/captaining at club nationals for OZONE she is also a research engineer at Georgia Tech meaning she puts together stuff like this. Wish I could find my name on pubmed. I get the feeling the dyed hair is probably a look she isn't sporting anymore, but I thought it was a cool picture.

Lindsey Hack

First off I want to say that Gwen Ambler does a much better job at conveying women in disc so I refer you to her description of lindsey. Aside from being a standout at Michigan State, UNC Chapel Hill and on Backhoe, she also has her shit together and is a physical therapist at Duke University. I wonder who she roots for in that college basketball rivalry?

Then there the unknowns. I have come across some pictures of some very attractive female flat ballers. I wish I had more information on them because I am sure that they are exceedingly successful off the field as most folks are in this game.

Whoever this is, you are hot. I think she plays for Rough Riders. This picture was taken at NW regionals in 2006 and when I looked up the team, there are about 8 asian women on it and there is no website or images to speak of. Oh well, I am sure she is very talented and educated, not unlike every other woman on this list.

Another lady flat baller that is nameless as far as I know is her. No idea who she is or where she plays. Once again, I am assuming the best combination of talent, athleticism, and education.

I should say that the top of my list belongs to be the hottie with the body, the Brass mus-TASH, the one and only green-OUGH!!!

just my thoughts

match diesel