Fools Too

This entry is about Fools Fest also.

But first, Happy Birthday to my father! The second Rhodes clan birthday of 2007! I think he might be 54 now. He's back in college at Muhlenberg getting certified to teach history in high school, coach women's soccer, coach high school girls' soccer and attend a class or two with my sister, Katie. Oh, she plays on the Muhlenberg women's soccer team which he coaches and he got a better grade than her in the class they had together. For the record, she's the athlete in the family, not either of her older brothers.

So, Saturday morning began with my favorite first round opponent: Complimentary Breakfast. As I lined up to take stock of my opponent, I noticed that the team was deep. Sausage, egg, english muffin and coffee had all bested me in the past. And their bench wen ton for miles with guys like yogurt, pastry and breakfast cereal there for support. Needless to say, I won. This is because after taking on Complimentary Breakfast, I got to go back to bed.

When we got to the fields, this time sans donuts, we were startled to find that our first round opponent was already there warming up in bright yellow jerseys. This was an ill omen in terms of fun. People in matching jerseys at Fools Fest are likely to run hard and drink slowly, if at all. This team did both of those things. They were just outmatched as our sideline had grown from the paltry 14 or so of Friday to somewhere near 30 drunken clowns in country club attire. At this point, we could put out multiple all-Pike men's lines, all-Amp lines, all-Germ Circus lines and more. We played "Zen Zone" (Wherever you are is where you need to be) and Men's Half of the field vs. Women's half o the field. Of particular note during this game was a sequence which was emblematic of our playing style for the weekend:

Zen Zone D called. I decide that I need to play backhand side wing, even though we don't have a cup or anything else that would necessitate a side wing. I alternated between manning up on the dump and defending the hammer. I ended up getting a D doing one of those things. I immediately threw a turnover into the endzone on some sort of floater or blade. The other team brings the disc up to the line, a couple of passes go by and I get another D. I immediately throw the disc into the endzone, this time (I think) into a crowd of people. Turnover. Third time on D. I bait a throw to the wing, sky for the D, and immediately throw a third disc into the endzone. This is a blade to Furf for a goal. Perfect Country club ultimate, if you ask me. I think I had one comparable point the next day, but this one might serve as a better illustration of our team's attitude. Or at least the attitude that Bailey and I were attempting to cultivate.

BYE ROUND!
Two quick cups worth of Survivor flip cup before failing on the flip. That's unusual for me. It was time to bow out anyway. In ~6 hours I'll need to be sober so that I can do the driving in the evening. Never a need to push this envelope. Stayed to watch some other shenanigans.
END OF BYE ROUND!

This time around we were playing some people from Fredericksburg. Some of them I knew. Most of them I didn't. We, I think, were up for most of this game. I remember throwing some super-blade hucks which were fun (Frentzel made some sweet grabs) and winning the game with a thumber. Final score may have been 15-11 or so? Not sure.

After this game, we moved on to play the Cornell Alums (The Commons?) which promised to be a battle. Sideshow, Heng-Scheng, Batten, others whose names I'm forgetting. Basically, all of the Cornell men we spent time losing to in college plus a host of talented women. I was definitely still free-wheeling a bit with the throws early on. No one had told me that we needed to do well in this game to make the 8 seed. Settled down a little bit and worked the game out to a tight loss. No real surprise there as they were definitely more sober than the Tight Ass Country Club. At some point, Nic led us into determining who was too drunk to play, which helped our point total increase. No clear memories of this game other than they were definitely the best team we had faced thus far. I'm sure something notable happened. I just don't know what.

As we left the fields that afternoon, we traded Elizabeth for a player to be named later who turned out to be Ms. Amanda Davis from Rutgers. She was expecting just a ride to the hotel, but we had to go eat first. Some fellow country club members as well as a couple of interlopers had heard tales of the previous night's trek to the Mexican joint in the Yellow Building and had decided to join us.

As we sat down and examined the menus (and chowed down on the complimentary warm tortilla chips with excellent, though slightly over-cilantroed salsa) I proffered a warning that the "Super Burrito" was a ginormous, though very tasty, undertaking. It was definitely the size of my head, though not quite as dense. Much to my surprise, Amanda decided on that very option. Wow. What confidence!

As the food arrived, I noted that the Super Burrito was indeed still very large, but it looked less intimidating. This was likely because I had been near the summit before. Still, as I enjoyed my meal, I noticed that before I was done with the first enchilada that Amanda was easily over halfway done with the Super Burrito and was showing no signs of slowing. She was definitely going to finish this.

I was wrong. Not only did she finish it, but she asked to finish off someone else's meal as well. I haven't seen anyone do something like that since Joel Wooten at nationals. This performance was of particular note because when the waitress asked for desert orders, Joel ordered a meatloaf. Unreal.

In any case, the loss from the night before returned to haunt me. Some in this position might feel humiliated, but not yours truly. I was still feeling excellent about choosing not to finish the Super Burrito the night before. It saved everyone from vomit duty.

Later on that evening, there was a party. There was basketball beforehand. Got through all of that and then took a shower and went to the party. As usual, it was winding down by the time I arrived, though the discovery that my team had won a spirit award sent me into a brief panic. This, thus far, is the only one that has gotten close to my shelf. It isn't that I'm unspirited or a cheater or anything, rather that my general attitude isn't focused on spirit. It is, however, focused on treating people fairly, expressing myself (positively and negatively) and making it clear that nothing is ever personal. I try to be as respectful as I can, but occasionally I'll briefly do the Buddy Rich and fly off the handle. I do generally get back on the handle quickly though. Sometimes you just need to let it out and more often than not I'm more frustrated with myself than my opponent.

I also discovered that we had indeed garnered the 8 seed in Division I for the first round bye plus the number on ranked team! Perfect planning and playing on our part: A team (comBOHnation) that we could lose to and not feel bad about it while getting a first round bye!
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Workout total
30 minutes on the Wobble board, with a focus on the ankle
10 minutes dedicated core workout
30 minutes stretching