meanwhile, back at charger city...

the smerfs were attempting to play ultimate

with their hands wrapped right round
(spin me right round)
their very own necks as something tender slipped away.

It was a great stop on the first leg of this trip, but one that needed to have a different ending. We won our pool on Saturday. We got up 5-2 with the disc to take half 6-2. We took half 6-3. At 7-4 I threw my only turn of the day on a deep look to Evel off of a stoppage from The Howitzer. They converted.

This weekend, it looked like our team would need D players. So, I took to playing defense on Saturday whenever we were slow to get 4 guys to the line. This seemed to work pretty well. I stayed on for a couple of O points here and there, but by and large, I just worked to play honest, tight defense and take shots I liked on turns, but not to force anything outside of my game. As has happened recently, my game was not a perfect fit for my short-term teammates. Stylistic incongruities. Threw some goals, caught some goals. One D called back on a contested strip. One D a split second too late and resulted in an uncontested foul as I visegripped my opponent's wrist instead of the disc. Not bad, on the whole. Certainly positive fantasy numbers (See: Timeouts, Reason #4080 that timeoutcalling people are shady). Certainly a positive +/-. Certainly stretches of good play. No drops, no turfs. No utterly uncatchable throws. The timing (wa/i)s alwaysall wrong though.

Too slow too know just howhere to go.

This is why I Like FunUltimate but Love ClubUltimate.
Which was a good reminder for me this weekend. And
Interestingly tells a lot about me as a p(lay)er(son).

I took my left cleat off to investigate my toe, which hurt.
AHA! The Culprit? MYSTERY BRUISE!

At 9-6, I put my cleat back on.
At 9-8, I retied my laces.
At 9-9, I tightened them for D to Win.
At 0-0, I watched two D's get caught.
At 0-1, I took them off and drank until Monday.

We watched Team USA get down to Chicken Pax, and win.
We watched Team USA get down to Tender-whomever-we-lost-to, and win.
We watched Team USA get down to TC, and win.

Their men are very good.
Their women are crazygood.
But, SMERFS are still, by the transitive property of ultimate, a far superior first-half team than Team USA.

I got pointblocked at another coed tournament.
That's a pointblock per coed tournament since like... 2007.
That's a far higher number than per open tourney in any 2-week sample of practices, tournaments, whatever.

Odd.

I never thought I'd go to Poultry Days again.
It took a suprise confluence of events (including a plan to drive to Iowa anyway).
But now I remember how fun the P-Days be.

Go at least once.

Also, the Game 4 Orlando Magic to Pre-Quarter SMERF comparisons are getting old.

Read More......

What you know

is unknown
now/later.


There is far less luck than I knew there was.
Plays are far more useless, for one reason,
Offenses are far less, for another reason.

Players are players
Ringers are ringers
Ballers are ballers

Shooters gotta shoot.
Some shooters shoot
Better than others.

Leftys are still cheaters:
Just because they use the
Right side of their brains.

Heaven is still just like
A wise man once said it was
When unplaying the fool.

("It's all in the flip
Not at all in the cup!"
P-H-I, L-L-Y: Now what's up?

"This is what happens...
Do you see what happens,
When you [go cups v Pike?]")

Ultimate's a game for innovations:
New solutions to the same equations
Of discflight's patterned iterations.

Different ways of stressing
Of attacking and defensing
But all the same song sing:

"Give nothing +
Take everything =
Win anything."

The same song sung
Echo in every tongue
At eachnevery rung

Of competition
Of sport
Of game.

For money
For nothing
For allthesame.

Just another
Way tokeep
No score

And see
What there
Is to see.
----
Pike's ceiling is higher than it has been since 2005.
Pike's floor is just as low in 2009 as it was in 2006.
Pikes is ready to put the I back in Team First in 2009.

Read More......