Walkthrow

I know, the name is not as clever

as The Wiggins Zen Throwing Routine

but then again, I never was clever.

Point is, nearly everything is in there is great. Specifically have used over seasons myself: Warmup littles, Strobe Catches, Rainbows, Single Leg Throws, Throw Hard, Quiet Catches, Target Throwing, Late Eye Pickups, Full-Power Windups, Catch&Release Long, Off-Leg Pivots, Dishies. Under different names and with sometimes different focus. The rest I have less experience with, but I find appealing.

The two things I would add in are:

1. Loud Catches.
Duration: 1 minute
Description: Catch each throw with as much noise as possible, even when throwing soft. It may help to extend arms and catch while bringing them down towards your neutral throwing position.
Upper-level: Do this while moving toward the thrower.
Other-level: Taco the disc on your catches.

Goal: Develop catching prowess through power catches. If you can make the noise catches consistently, you can make all catches consistently.

2. Walkthrow
Duration: 1-5 minutes
Description: Start at ~2yds and throw with your partner. One rule: You must walk at all times, unless you are accelerating to catch a disc. No travels, no change of direction. Throw in time with your walk (Catch, step, throw). Lead your receiver.
Second iteration: On each catch, start your throw in the drection you're traveling (a righty walking to his left would start to throw a backhand, naturally), then pivot and throw the opposite.
Upper level: Throw the throw opposite your momentum without stopping. (a righty walking to his left would throw a flick while traveling left)

Goal: Slow your momentum down to conscious levels. Control your momentum w/r/t your throwing motion. Throwing the throw your momentum dictates to a location determined by someone else.

This last one seems complex to explain, and really simple to execute. The point is that it slows down and focuses on the fundamental transition from receiver to thrower. You catch teh disc going in a direction, leading to your likely first throw/fake. Your receivers do something as this is occuring, determining where you can throw to. If you can, you want to throw your first option (the one w/ the momentum). I you can't, you want to throw your second option as quickly as possible, before the defense can adjust. You need to do the following things: Catch, get the disc ready to leave your hands, get balanced (aka footwork), read the field, throw.

This is a fun warmup to do with your team before a game too. Break up into groups of 2-3 and use the whole half a field your team gets. Don't hit your teammates, throw only with your group. Do for 2 minutes. Increase awareness of field awareness.

I can't necessarily beat you at stalls 3-7, but those first 0-2? I'm aces. Walkthrow has a lot to do with it. Along with Catch&Release, dishies, Throw Hard and Full Power Windups. (The other is the 2-stall 4-6 man marking drill...)

I rarely drop a disc. This has a lot to do with quiet catch, loud catch, strobe lights and late-eye pickup (aka the jude and j drill).

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Quarters is When

Anything Can Happen

And at least one usually does.

Revolver vs Southpaw.
Southpaw late in the day is the worst team to play against. Southpaw early in the day? On an elimination round that could well come down to diversity of O and D times "Top Level Talent"... I'll take Revolver. But I think It'll be 15-(11-10) rather than 8 or so.

Doublewide v GOAT.
I definitley have DW in this one. Love ya GOATies, but... Some teams this weekend have shown they're on a mission. You're not one of them. 15-9, barring a late-game run from GOAT to make it seem closer.

Ironside v Madison.
Ironside is better than the teams Madison beat yesterday. By a good stretch. Is there a bit of chock for them in this one? I say yes. Ironside roars out to an early lead taking half to the tune of 8-3/4 and then MAdison makes a second half run to get within 2 (thinking 11-9) and then Ironside rides out to 15-10 or so.

Even though I say that, I think Ironside v Madison is the game with the biggest upset potental. Followed by: Revolver v Southpaw, Ring v Chain and DW v GOAT. In that order.

Ring v Chain.
This is the barnburner. That kind of flavor. I bet there are tuns and breaks and one-throw possessions in this one. These two teams, for whatever else they have, play high speed and go for the win rather than going for the "not-loss", so to speak. 17-16 Ring.

Finally, thus far, Oakland has lost to Madison, Chain, Doublewide. Tough fuckin' draw, that pool was. Since then, 2-0. Now they get to settle a score with Truck from Regionals in the semi-ninals. It'll do, but the schedule gods are cruel.

Good luck to all.

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so it took me until after lunch

to think about frisbee today

Open Pool A
Revolver might get challenged in one of these games. To the tune of 15-11 or so. The other two are 15-8 or less. Bravo or Goat? Tossup as always when the 8-9 seeds meet. As for the 'Dors? I have no faith.

Well, two tighter (15-11/12) games for Revolver. One 15-8. 15-9 against Machine in 1st round today.
GOAT takes it, only to lose 15-13 to Ring in power pool.
Bravo and the Condors go on to win the first games in kiddie pools.

these were against

Open Pool C
This is a mess. A Happy mess. Avg margin of victory in this pool will be <3 points. I'm going to pencil Southpaw in for 3 DGP games. I have no idea if they'll win or lose. My instinct tells me that Machine is the loser of this group and that Ring will not go undefeated. Furious? Well... I don't think they'll go undefeated either, but they definitely have the inside track to finishing 1 in the pool. FG and... I'll pick "Whichever team wins btw Ring and Paw" to advance. Machine and the loser of the MA battle go down.

Well, it was a mess, for sure. Ring wins the pool with 15-10 over Machine and doubling up Southpaw 15-7.
Furious starts off with a pair of 12-15 losses to Machine and Southpaw.
The pool finishes with two 17-16 games, the meaningless Ring>Furious and the vital Machine>Southpaw.

Ring is now secure in the quarters after their win over GOAT.
Revolver is secure in the quarters after their win over Machine.

GOAT v Machine for the right to go to the beach instead of playing pre-q.

Furious is out of Pre-Q with their loss to Bravo.
If Bravo wins the next one v Southpaw, they're in a pre-q.

Open Pool B
I think Ironside is actually be in for a bit of a tough time with this pool. In the end, yeah, I think they take it, but this pool is quite a bit more challenging for Boston than Pool A is for Revolver. Not convinced that Truck won't drop a winnable game to Sub-Zero, but I'd definitely put money on Truck if forced. Finally, which of S-Z or Tanasi will blow their Day 1 load against Truck&Ironside and lose a tight one only to get sent to the kiddie pool with a loss? Schedule says it is more likely to be S-Z. Especially if they get televised. Harder to throw a game when the fans who voted to see you are watching at home...

I'm always wrong about Ironside. They go 15-10,3,7. Then 15-9 in Power Pool v Chain. I'm guessing effeciency on the D-line is high. Get those O Players ready to start earning their keep without such big margins...
Truck joins them going 15-8,11 over Tanasi and S-Z. Promptly losing to Doublewide 15-8 on Day 2.
Spot on about Sub-Zero and Tanasi. Tanasi lost 15-3 while S-Z fought Truck for 15-11. Tanasi wins the next round v Sub-Zero. Both lose the first round in the kiddie pool.

These guys crossed over vs:

Open Pool D
Based on this tweet from @oaklandultimate I bet they win the annual award for "New team that shows up to their field late because they underestimated the traffic/parking/size of the fields/whatever". The other thing that'll happen to Oakland is that they think they'll know what's about to hit them when they play Chain and DW... but playing them at Nationals is a whole other thing. I am not saying that Oakland can't hang, but that they won't in those games. I will pick Oakland for the upset against Madison solely because of the number of times I've had Kanye&Jay-Z's Hate jump into my head because of you clowns. Late in the day, the Hate builds. As for Chain and DW... I pick Chain b/c of depth. Even after last year's Brodie-centric beating of PoNY (seriously... it felt like all of their offensive points were "Catch pull. Hit Brodie at the front of the stack. Give him 9 seconds to bomb it to someone beating double coverage."), I think Chain's style of point distribution mixed with a more coherent set of players/strategies will send them up to the power pool with the W from Double*ide.

Well, I was wrong on Doublewide, winners 15-9,8,6. Then a pair of 15-9 victories by DW&Ironside put them both into the quarters.

Chain v Truck for the next quarters spot. Loser plays pre-q's.

Oakland wwent down 9,8-15 in the first two games. Pretty spot on about that. Seems like the other teams let off the gas a little later in the games. Thought they'd beat out Madison though. Not to be w/ a 10-15 loss.

Madison pays back Sub-Zero for, well, everything in the first round today and eliminates them from pre-q's.
With a Club win over Tanasi, they'll be in pre-q.

So, we've got:

Quarters or better: Revolver v Ring, Ironside v Doublewide.
Playing for Quarters: Machine v GOAT, Chain v Truck.

Inside track to Pre-Q: Bravo, Madison.
Other: Southpaw, Oakland, Condors, Tanasi.

Playing for 13th: Sub-Zero, Furious.

Nice. Hope it's fun down there!

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Ha, I'm Retired

So I'm not in Sarasota

But this time, unlike 06&08, I'm actually not at all grumpy about it.

Being retired is fun. It means things like going to farmers' markets, meandering, checking out the new neighborhood, drinking a flight of Zwanzes at ChurckKey and the like are actually things I get to do before it gets bitter cold outside. Not that bitter cold stops a crazy-ass Northern European mutt like myself... but sometimes it gives one paws. I mean... pause.

The trade made is that I'm not down at the nexus of the universe of ultimate. Not getting irrational goosebumps on Tuesday. Not falling asleep dreaming of things I'll to do on the field while my teammates toss and turn. Not seeing the sun rise as the steam floats from my coffee.

More specifically, I'm not wander over to ask Jim and Jaeger 1000 little questions. I'm not getting lessons in what to cook for breakfast from J and Jude. I'm not seeing a Ho-train at a Waffle House at 3am with LambJuice, Lunchbox, Spike and Squigglio. I'm not talking the speed of coffee consumption with a farmer. And I'm definitely not watching Troll 2.

So it goes.

That all said, I'm missing Sara' just enough this morning to write a little on some pre-game thoughts. Not sure how this 'll come out since it is 7:40am on a Thursday and my goal is to finish this by 8:15, but away we go. Oh, and my computer battery seems to be burning itself in effigy. Only without the flames or the effigy. I mean it is running out of charge.

Open Pool A
Revolver might get challenged in one of these games. To the tune of 15-11 or so. The other two are 15-8 or less. Bravo or Goat? Tossup as always when the 8-9 seeds meet. As for the 'Dors? I have no faith.

Open Pool B
I think Ironside is actually be in for a bit of a tough time with this pool. In the end, yeah, I think they take it, but this pool is quite a bit more challenging for Boston than Pool A is for Revolver. Not convinced that Truck won't drop a winnable game to Sub-Zero, but I'd definitely put money on Truck if forced. Finally, which of S-Z or Tanasi will blow their Day 1 load against Truck&Ironside and lose a tight one only to get sent to the kiddie pool with a loss? Schedule says it is more likely to be S-Z. Especially if they get televised. Harder to thhrow a game when the fans who voted to see you are watching at home...

Open Pool C
This is a mess. A Happy mess. Avg margin of victory in this pool will be <3 points. I'm going to pencil Southpaw in for 3 DGP games. I have no idea if they'll win or lose. My instinct tells me that Machine is the loser of this group and that Ring will not go undefeated. Furious? Well... I don't think they'll go undefeated either, but they definitely have the inside track to finishing 1 in the pool. FG and... I'll pick "Whichever team wins btw Ring and Paw" to advance. Machine and the loser of the MA battle go down.

Open Pool D
Based on this tweet from @oaklandultimate I bet they win the annual award for "New team that shows up to their field late because they underestimated the traffic/parking/size of the fields/whatever". The other thing that'll happen to Oakland is that they think they'll know what's about to hit them when they play Chain and DW... but playing them at Nationals is a whole other thing. I am not saying that Oakland can't hang, but that they won't in those games. I will pick Oakland for the upset against Madison solely because of the number of times I've had Kanye&Jay-Z's Hate jump into my head because of you clowns. Late in the day, the Hate builds. As for Chain and DW... I pick Chain b/c of depth. Even after last year's Brodie-centric beating of PoNY (seriously... it felt like all of their offensive points were "Catch pull. Hit Brodie at the front of the stack. Give him 9 seconds to bomb it to someone beating double coverage."), I think Chain's style of point distribution mixed with a more coherent set of players/strategies will send them up to the power pool with the W from Double*ide.

As for Coed? Well, we're already 1 minute overtime. I'll just say I'm rooting for D5, The Ghosts, Slow White, Termite's and AMP to rock some shit. Women's? Green Means Go isn't there, so... I'll cheer for Bent.

Edition #2 tomorrow? Only Time Will Tell.

Damn. 6min overtime.

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Burning Ring

Back on top again


And all is right in the Midatlantic.

Congrats to qualifiers Ring, Truck Stop, Oakland, Southpaw.

This weekend I played with Ellis Kim's Seatless Bicycle. Or, 9 no 14 no 13 no 7 no 8 /27ths of our roster. That is to say, At sectionals we had about 13 guys. Which was good. At Regionals which was on October First and Se, no Oct. Eighth andbutsoitmightbe October First still in Kennett Squa... no, definitely October Eighth and Ninth in Poolesville as was originally planned as a backup. No, we're going to Kennett Square probably this weekend.

Point is, we went from about 27 guys on the roster (at least 4 of whom we never saw all year) to expecting 24 for Regionals. Then we were expecting 14 maybe 18 for Regionals when it was rescheduled. Then we gained or lost depending on where it was that weekend and how late we found out as the weekend approached.

We had 14. I think. A guy from Fishtown in my car forgot his cleats. But he remembered his Roots and to lock the front door. Beam to North Philly for the never-materializing-for-club-ultimate-"Dundee", fly to west Philly for Cuatro and Smellis and then back to the beginning of this sentence. Back to Fishtown.

95 to 322 to 1 to the game just started over there versus Cash Crop.

We have possessions on O and D that end in drops. Some in the endzone. Some just bizarre. Finkbot is overheating. Some multiple-drop points on our side. Too many points are being played. We lose 15-8.

Next round versus Medicine Men. We have more drops. We are down at half. Then we go on a mini-run to start the second half. How many drops? Too many, money. It was unreal. Surreal. Hyperreal.

No, just really actually normal real. For a team with no pracices and too much rain everywhere to play anything against other teams... it was expected. Irene knocked over the goddamn Bike.

Med Men win 15-8.

Cash Crop plays like they know they're good.
Med Men play like they have to prove to you and each other they're good.

They're both not bad.

Through two games, we found one consistent way to fail.

We play competent defense and messy though competent offense.

Then we get a sectionals rematch vs Hypnotoad who is clearly more excited to play us this time around than they were at sectionals. And we are clearly less excited to be playing them at this point in the day. We get out to a couple of leads, and then have more drops and they put it up with enough success that that convert some of their break opportunities on the key notion that most of us have already played far more points per hour than this contract called for. Some guy had to farm. Another guy is working in Illinois. Some gotta do grants and shit. Some have wife-passes that turn into pumpkins and some's wife-passes contain no-raincheck clauses. And then there are guys who can't spell their own first names.

Oh, and it definitely didn't help us that our biggest cutter and most reliable deep threat, Nick Scheiner, seemed to have definitively hurt his knee going up faaaar too early for a disc and getting undercut by a defender. Yikes.

Then a Sectionals Rematch vs the three seed from another pool: Bearproof. This is like the adult version of Hypnotoad. This does not end well for EKSB since we have lost our will to actually run deep on defense and attempt to substitute "stand rather deep and hope they don't throw it" which doesn't work against a team that it used to winning or losing by throwing it anyway and our deep defenders are like 5'10". Loss for us, with fewer drops, 9-15.

And now we're eliminated from the series. Series results:

7-15 L Southpaw
11-15 L Bearproof
15-8 W Gavel
13-2 W Princeton
13-5 W Hypnotoad
13-5 W Lehigh Alums

8-15 L Cash Crop
8-15 L Medicine Men
15-13 W Hypnotoad
9-15 L Bearproof

5-5, played against 2 teams outside our section. Tomorrow we play in the kiddie pool!

---

Most of our team declard themselves out for the next day. We talked some of them back into it... but... One of them had to get to a hospital the next day... Anyway, a crazy trip to the beer-excellent Pinocchio's Pizza was undertaken.

The next morning had us pitted against Queen City Thunder who were unsure if we would show. I too was unsure. We got 7 on by about 9:15. On o the guys who didn't get on was from Rutgers and was there before the rest of us. Not Smellis.

They were up pretty big. I think still up big at half. Maybe 2-8 or 3-8? Then we were up 9-8.

Then we traded and went on mini runs or something until it was 11-12 and they were pulling to us. I got it and overthrew a 55yd blade to Venose. Which is hard to do. They scored to make it 11-13, game to 14. Some cap something was involved in there, not sure when, but this was the correct result.

We scored, they scored, game over.

Yay, we finish 13th?

---

Wait, we finished sectionals and regionals without playing a single team from western PA? No ugly-since-1995 game against Pittsburgh? Weird.

Southpaw and Oakland are real.

The difference btw Southpaw and Oakland is vast but little.

---

Update of Southpaw's record, into tiers:

to make:
0-1 v Chain, Furious, Revolver (-22 pf diff, -7.33 per game)
1-3 v Ironside (-18 pt diff, -4.5 per game)

2-4 v PoNY (-11 pt diff, -1.83 per game)
0-1 v Voodoo, GB, Ring (-5 pt diff, -1.67

2-1 v Cash Crop (-1, -.25)
3-0 v Oakland, NexGen (+6 pt diff, +2 per game)

2-1 v MedMen (+9 pt diff, +3 per game)
1-0 v Truck Stop (+4)
1-0 v Dire Wolf, Hypnotoad, VA Squires (+16, +5.33)
1-0 v Bear Proof, EKSB (+15, +7.5)
2-0 v Philly Gavel, QCT, Swell(+34, +11.33)

Looking at that, knowing that they're going to Nationals, what might you wonder? How did they do against Truck stop at Regionals? Never Happened.

How about now that Cash Crop isn't there? Cash Crop v Truck Stop never happened. At all. All season. How about Cash Crop v Ring? Never happened at Regionals.

In the Sunday 1pm round, 4 teams all played nationals-level games. They all proved theselves worthy. Ring and Truck played a great final. 15-14. Oakland and Cash Crop played a great 14-13 game next door. All of those teams are Nationals-level.

Southpaw is Nationals-level too. But Medicine Men were not up to the level of play that equals that round in the bracket. If you're playing, you're playing either "Finals" or "Game to go" or "Game to Go Home". There are 4 teams alive for 2 spots. After this round, There will be 2 alive for 1 spot. Losing 15-10... puts you in the place you were before regionals. Just like you were the round before, losing 15-10 to the Haiders. Even EKSB playing savage only lost by 2 that round! I mean, if you're gonna upset the pool, do something with it.

Cash vs Southpaw in the game-to-go was predictable. Cash needed to take Oakland's path to advance. They didn't have the depth to stay with Southpaw in the 8th round of the weekend. Speaking of which, how cool would it have been to be the 8 or 9 seed in this format?? Basically play a 17pt exhibition game against the 1 seed, get a bye, and play one game that has no consequence w/r/t elimination? Sweet, right? Well, the Squires got rewarded with Pool D + W v Bear Proof (L to Oakland, Southpaw) to get Eliminated. Dire Wolf beat Swell and Capitol Punishment to lose to Med Men.

Or how about the notion that 6/7 Founders Teams, if seeds held, would have rematches on the first day. One for an elimination game. c3vb3. one for the last game of the only two eliminated teams on day 1: c4vb4. Someone in there could have been switched somewhere, right? Some matchup up or down one?

Anyway.

Southpaw might still be your 2011 "litmus test" AKA "TMITIU".

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Is Southpaw

The most important team

in ultimate?

So, this past weekend I played at club Sectionals for the first time where I wasn't the one seed. Different vantage point.

For example, the schedule is much more complicated. I get why teams obsess over this now. It was a series event and I had no idea what my team had to do in order to advance because I couldn't correctly parse the Format Manual for a 9-team 7-advance format. Also, we didn't know it was a 7-advance format until Wed or Thurs. Maybe Tues?

In fact, we still don't know. The number of teams advancing to Regionals still depends on the number of teams who actually play at sectionals. To some degree. Or something. Point is, if we finished top 2 in our 4 team pool, we'd play a bracket for top-4 on day 2. If we finished bottom 2, we'd carryover 1 game from day 1 and play in the kiddie pool for seeding from 5-9. In our pool were Southpaw (Quarters of Nationals), Bear Proof (Harrisburg-area team that is athletic and trying hard to improve) and Philly Gavel (Philly Northclaw?).

We'd never played any of them. I mean, we played Philly Open once in Delaware, but that definitely didn't count. Completely different teams. For everyone.

Our game against Southpaw started at noon:40. We played alright for a team that had no practices. Timid. Not trusting. But not terrible. A 15-8 loss was assured by the 4 or 5 short fields we gave them and the 1 ricochallahan that bounced off of a Gaulton before being caught by some bystander in yellow. The atlas warmup was good.

The game against Bearproof was a different show. We had many drops and many random throws. We had two culprits (who shall for now remain nameless) and a lot of accomplices. The beer garden, which had been pregamed in the first game, was now in full swing, however. We lost to a team that made more plays than us. They won the unforced error battle and won the 50/50 discs. This is not a recipe for success for EKSB. Bearproof victory 15-11.

Through two games, we found many ways to fail.

In the last game, we dialed in on some basics (subbing strategy, wizard-equivalence, jp and art's roles) and played exceedingly competent offense. Which was a good choice. We win this one 15-8.

Tomorrow we play in the kiddie pool!

---

So I read this bit by ChucKlosterman on the moving pieces of college football. A good read. Some relevant points include the talent-gap in college football compared to the pros, the different resultant strategies and raises the question of which is more important, the strategy or the execution or the athlete or the what?

---

The next day, we played 3 teams that basically had no interest in playing us. As far as I could tell. We were missing some people in the first game due to an ill-advised casino run in Philly. There was also a giant birthday party somewhere near Girard and Frankford. But we went with the delicious Sketch Burger. Someone was going shot for shot with Sandra Oh for a while there. Same guy who convinced someone not to throw the birthday cake out the 3rd story.

Yay, we finish 5th?

The bracket turned out as predicted. Southpaw over Oakland over Dire Wolf over Bear Proof.

Wait, we finished sectionals without playing a single team from western PA? No ugly-since-1995 game against Pittsburgh? Weird.

Southpaw and Oakland are real. Bear Proof is not. Dire Wolf... I don't know about. Not to say Bear Proof is bad... but...

The difference btw Southpaw and Oakland is vast but little.

---

Klosterman's bit also lead to this piece which closes on a bit re: Navy in college football:

“I think the hardest thing for people is that you don’t see it week in and week out,” coach Ken Niumatalolo said. “Defensive coordinators know how to stop it. They know how to play against it. But you’re not seeing it every week. It takes away your instincts as a defender.

“It’s like the old Princeton [basketball] offense — four corners, backdooring everybody," Jasper said. "That’s how they slowed the game down and made other teams one-dimensional.”

Southpaw makes you one-dimensional. They run the same play(s). They adjust the same ways. But they do it very effectively, with a consistently low number of unforced errors. The adjustments they do have are made quickly. The options that take are taken in order.

If you have more talent, you can beat them. But they don't let you beat them on athleticism, work ethic, number of clipboards, awkwardyellowness of jerseys... You can beat them using strategy, but you can't use one strategy. You can't beat them by adjusting to them. They're trying to make you one-dimensional. If you adjust to them, your prime dimension is "not-them".

Essentially, if you meet the criteria of Nationals-caliber team, (Talent, Multiple Strategies, Not Out of Ultimate Shape, Have a Team Identity) you will likely beat them. Not that you always will, but that you will. If you're lacking a little in one of those areas, they'll have the advantage over you, but if you compensate in other areas with big advantages, you could still win more than you lose. If you're missing a component or two of those criteria? Well... you're gonna get lucky or lose or get lucky and lose.

Look at their record:

18-16

2-4 v PoNY (-11 pt diff, -2 per game)
1-1 v MedMen (+4 pt diff, +2 per game)
1-3 v Ironside (-18 pt diff, -4.25 per game)
0-1 v Chain, Voodoo, Great Britain, Cash Crop, Furious, Revolver (-24 pt diff, -4 per game)

Now, the GB and Voodoo games seem out of place there. They could be lumped in with either the MedMen or PoNY games without much of a difference. Then the last line becomes:

0-1 v Chain, Cash Crop, Furious, Revolver (-26 pf diff, -5.25 per game)

Which is more in line with Ironside's line.

Looks like tiers to me.

add in:
1-0 v Oakland, NexGen (+2 pt diff, +1 per game)
1-0 v Truck Stop (+4)
1-0 v Dire Wolf, Hypnotoad (+10, +5)
1-0 v Bear Proof, EKSB (+15, +7.5)
1-0 v Philly Gavel (+11)

to make:
0-1 v Chain, Cash Crop, Furious, Revolver (-26 pf diff, -6.25 per game)
1-3 v Ironside (-18 pt diff, -4.5 per game)
2-4 v PoNY (-11 pt diff, -1.83 per game)
0-1 v Voodoo, GB (-3 pt diff, -1.5
1-0 v Oakland, NexGen (+2 pt diff, +1 per game)
1-1 v MedMen (+4 pt diff, +2 per game)
1-0 v Truck Stop (+4)
1-0 v Dire Wolf, Hypnotoad (+10, +5)
1-0 v Bear Proof, EKSB (+15, +7.5)
1-0 v Philly Gavel (+11)

I suspect that Cash Crop won't stay in that spot, but they could. I susepct Truck was waylaid with some injuries at Boston... MA Regionals will be a MFShow.

I think Hypnotoad is overranked there and Gavel got overwhelmed.

Southpaw might be your 2011 "litmus test" AKA "TMITIU".

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The Object of the Game

Is not to advance X yards

To score a goal.

The object of the game
Is a disc.

Should we call the game
Object?

Duh,
Art!

#lostthegame

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Um Yes [All Coaches&Captains READ THIS]

Practice&Drill Progression

Broken Down.

Get it?
Good.

Stop doing drills you can't explain w/r/t the way the game is actually played w/in the context of your team's strategy while keeping in mind the in-pre-game-scouting when speaking of familar opponents/situations.

Twitter may ruin florid language. Are we turning in carnations of Hemingway? Fuckall.
Or just a different direction? Positively #Hedbergian #OneLineNonSequitur

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Team Splits

Back in the Pike-day

We would do all sorts of weirdly-split scrimmages (and sometimes small-sided games later in practice) to 3/5/7/dependsonpracticegoals/whatever just after warmups.

As I read this:

Event no. 5: Another full-court game to 60, although I can't decide on the right matchup. Some possible candidates: UConn alumni vs. Florida alumni; Big East alumni vs. Pac 10 alumni; tattooed guys vs. nontattooed guys; high school diplomas vs. left-college-more-than-a-few-credits-short guys; under 6 feet vs. over 7 feet; registered Republicans vs. registered Democrats; a pickup game in which Grant Hill and Jalen Rose pick teams; Euros vs. South Americans; and Players Whose Penises Have Appeared on a Sports Blog vs. Players Whose Penises Have Not Appeared on a Sports Blog.

(from Bill Simmons on Grantland.com)

I'm reminded of my favorite. No, not "Most recent sexual experience" as explained by some goofy giant Boston Hall of Famer on Above & Beyond. Or the ever-popular "Smart vs Dumb". We had a (now-)PhD in fucking Robotics on the dumb team for crissakes. Not even "Men v Boys" or "Over vs Undernourished" or "Style"

but "Good vs Evil."

Splitting your team this way by having the team decide is usually fun to be a part of and tells you more about your teammates than you could else wise learn. Who is good? Who pretends to be good because they're so evil? Who pretends to be evil to make being good easy? Who is the principle voice in the discussion? How could this not be a great time?

And then you get to play Good vs Evil. This is good.

The way everyone acts in this game. The roles that people assume as players. The way they react to boxes and being put in them. What kinds of cues are these folks all sending out w/r/t the context?

Brief!

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"I'm Not Fast"

Is what I would constantly tell players

when they said that they couldn't keep up with me in practices/games. I certainly gave it my all in drills/conditioning/etc, but pure speed? I don't think I've ever won a sprint on any team in any sport. I doubt I've ever been in the top 25% in terms of speed on any team. Even at NYU playing ultimate, I was far from "fast" when compared to the team.

This, however, is very different from being *usefully* fast.

There are two ways to look at this, and the first is epitomized by this clip. How fast is Michael Vick? He's one step faster that you. Here, he's one step faster than two Vikings who end up *tackling each other* just after running through a group of THREE defenders just a few steps previously. Same with this DeSean Jackson clip. The key is at 42 seconds. As Jackson and the DB come into view, the Redskins DB is actually closer to where the ball lands than DeSean. Then, as the astute announcer intones, Jackson accelerates. Yes, these guys are fast, and yes, their 40 times prove as much. But the key is that they get into truly high gear when presented with an obstacle or opponent. No sprint can test this.

For an ultimate example, Jeff Ho, a fellow NYU alum, has caught discs up in the air that he had no right getting. As someone who's played multiple sports and always marveled at guys who can jump out of the gym, I know Jeff was getting up to 10' on some of these catches (in his younger days). However, in the gym before/after/during indoor practices, he couldn't get anywhere near touching the basketball rim. In fact, it often looked like he had never jumped before and was figuring out the mechanics of each step in the approach. Then we'd play indoor mini and Jeff would just ROOF people at what was very obviously a height equal to the rim.

Game-skills are different than testable skills.

The second, and far more interesting, sense of game speed is explained beautifully by Alan Jacobs below:

Extreme anticipatory awareness reduces the need for speed. In his best years you hardly ever saw Cannavaro at a full sprint: when his teams were on the pitch everyone’s focus would be other players who were moving around and obviously doing things, and then Cannavaro would just be there—as though he had gotten to his position by materializing rather than running.

For an ultimate example, there was this Philly player called Ringo. He wasn't fast or tall. He still claims to be unable to throw. But goddamnitall, there would be 2+ occassions every weekend in which he would be playing defense and then, suddenly, the other team would be throwing the disc to him. It was and still is one of the most inexplicable things I've seen on the field. And it happened with regularity against all levels of teams. He was fond of saying "I've gotten more out of my body than any other player." Not to agree, because that might make his head get too swole-up... but damn.

I'm not sure this was ever true of me as a player, even for a moment. I don't have the sense of timing on defense that Cannavaro had. I don't have the nose for the D that Ringo had. All that said, if I could have one compliment given me as a player, it would be that I "materialized rather than ran."

Even if it is a total lie.

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That's Right

I DO wear longsleeves in the heat

and I don't drink tons of water.

Maybe I'm not as crazy as you think.

Seemed pertinent after the annual total exhaustion event that is Wildwood.

Speaking of WW, I finally didn't play two divisions and just walked into the water btw rounds. That was awesome. I also, for the first time at WW, played on a team which totally lacked any form of belligerence. Which was a boon to my mental well-being.

Finally, huge ups to Shelley for a wonderful Saturday dinner.

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The Work of a Real Journalist

On the topic of

The end of the journey.

Had a blast reading that one, JT.
Just like I had a blast seeing those pics of you making Dono look like he can't jump.
Just like I remember being part of something once upon a time...

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Did You Ever Wonder

(image from The Sartolialist, Friday, March 16, 2007)

...what your arm/chest look like when you throw really hard?


This guy looks like he's throwing a disc.

The first pic that came to mind was me at CHC08 getting humped by the mark. Post-release, rather than pre-, but the similarities incl. off-hand positioning (I do get called for pushoff fouls from time to time. I believe these are more accurately described as "upper-body rotation fouls".), and... not sure what else.

That gallery, however, included the following pics: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Things to look at: Off-arm/hand positioning, positioning of throwing arm relative to shoulder, elbow angle(& valgus stress!), facial expression, hips, and more.

Back to the original photo. Consider the engagement of muscles from all of the pectoralis major (clavicular [aka "upper", aka "attaches to clavicle"], sternal [aka "middle", aka "attaches to sternum"], and costal [aka "lower", aka "attaches to the ribs"] sections, to everything in the general frontal/side-al ab region, to the ever-sneaky coracobrachialis. Consider the engagement of the muscles on the opposite side of the body. Consider that the motion is essentially a full-body twist/rotation with the spine/sternum as the pivot.

Consider the elevation of the handballer's arm. Consider the extension of the muscles at various arm positions (compare to the frisbee photos). Consider the paths that they draw to the sternum.

Try an activity! Put your non-throwing arm (L for Righties) on your throwing chest. Now, pin your elbow to your side and externally rotate. If this confuses you, put a disc in your throwing arm, and slowly replicate a throwing motion with your elbow pinned to your side. Feel how the muscles in your chest move. Note how far back you can move the disc. Now, straighten your throwing arm at shoulder height. Rotate similarly with elbow locked. That is, take your arm back as far as possible, and then swing it forward to point straight ahead. Note the difference in distance behind your back. Notice the difference in what your non-throwing hand feels in your chest muscles. Now, reach UP and BACK with your straight throwing arm. Swing it forward so that it ends at chest height in front of you. Notice any differences. Finally, reach UP and BACK with your throwing arm, but when you reach the end of the line, bend your elbow to ~115 degrees. Swing your arm forward to the same end point. Note the differences.

Which of these feels strongest? Which, if you provide resistance, is the strongest? Which engages more muscles? Which engages more muscles in a straight-line force-production rather than bending through your shoulder joint?

Back to the handballer. That dude is about to rip the shit out of the ball. He's calm, he's got his eyes on the prize, he's got good form, he's taking the ball high rather than low (see: tennis.), he's engages the muscles from his wrist through his arm through his shoulder through his abs through his hips. I bet if he had no pants, we'd see good activation in the hips/legs as well.

But what about that awkward off-hand? What IS it doing? Why is it so similar to what frisbee players do? What about that funny way that soccer players run around with their hands awkwardly reinforcing the strength of their legs? Counterweight. Balance. Power. Not sure exactly why in all cases, the palm is facing inward, but I know for a fact that I do goofy looking hand positions like that too when I throw. The opposite side of the body has to counter what the activate side of the body is doing. If I grab a disc and huck a flick in slow motion, one of the first things I do is reach forward with my left hand. As I start the throwing motion, my left hand moves back toward my body. If I pretend someone is hugging me on the mark, I throw my shoulder forward without extending my arm. Counter. Counter.

Further, if you imagine that this handballer has a disc in his hand would there be any changes to make to his form? Aside from the largely irrelevant notion of "wrong pivot foot"? I come up with exactly zero.

So, why, again, do we teach people to throw low?

To add on, if you consider the arm extended at the following degrees (60, 90, 110) from the torso, which of them provides the greatest distance from hand to body? 90, pretty obviously, for those of us who have seen triangles before.

So, why, again, do we teach people to throw low?

This is why, while I have monkey-arms, my arms seem even longer. Even when I throw from a lowered body position or a sub-90 angle, I am extending my arm as far as possible at the point of release.

So, why, again, do we teach people to throw with their elbows pinned to their sides?

If you've played against/with me and wondered "how does he throw like that?" the answer is in this handball picture. The answer is in how infielders throw in baseball. The answer is in "because my body works that way".

Next question... why do people insist on releasing low in the wind? Is there less wind there? Is it because they believe that by throwing the disc UP to their target that the disc is less likely to fly up up and away? Is it because they can't actually throw well so they need to get low and throw hard hoping that it will balance out?

Next question... why do people say "think about the wind before you throw"? Isn't that like "looking at the defender instead of the offender" when you throw? Doesn't that just mean, in a very literal sense, that the defender/wind is in your head? Isn't "so I don't have to think about the wind when I throw" why warmups that involve game-time throws in the conditions of a given game are important?

Next... Nope. I'm done. That was a lot of rambly-type typing just now.

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The Best Thing That Could Have Happened

"...To the United States Men's National Soccer Team

was losing 4-2 to Mexico."

Is the inverted start to the article in question.

The article then goes on to say that the goal of the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team should be to win a World Cup.

Sure, of course.
(And no argument that Coach Bradley doesn't keep the long-term in mind at all times)

But how?
By what paradigm?

That is, what IS American Soccer?

1. High Work Rate.
Seriously. The ability/desire to keep on plugging away. To fight on in the moments during which the French would fold. Full-tilt soccer. Not total football, but high-impact, full-tilt soccer. All of the players from the US already display this because they're from "that other sport" in the US. They're not football, baseball or basketball players. They're not even trackstars. Or homestar runners. They're soccer players. They've had to prove themselves over and over again to everyone around them because they play the forgotten game in the US. Often, w/r/t the players in other countries, "high work rate" is a euphemism for "not that talented". In the US? That is the entry fee to soccer. That is to say, you better at least work hard at that stupid no-hands sport you've chosen.

2. Linear Thinking.
There is one creative payer on the US team. He is Clint Dempsey. He is an outlier. In this context, he is *the* outlier. No one else sees what he sees. No one else in the US does what he does. We're massive fucking country and we can't produce another Dempsey? This, to me, says that we're either not trying hard enough or that the other Dempseys play other sports for more money. Or that the more athletic versions of him do. Or that we don't know how to produce/develop that kind of instinct/talent. Point remains that, for whatever reason, we don't produce savants at the game. At least not yet.

3. (F)Risky
That is, "not risk-averse". That is, we need to be comfortable losing 4-0 because we took chances that could have made us win 3-2. The balance of the game is in individual moments. Then there is all of this other stuff that develops/provides opportunities for brilliance. If we are fundamentally bad at brilliance (see lack of creativity above), we need more opportunities to possibly create those transcendent football/soccer moments. This will cost resources at other points on the fields which can then be exploited. Great teams will do this. 90 out of 100 times Spain, as currently constituted, will KILL us. But 90/100 is better than 97/100. And then we need to bang our collective head against the wall. Again.

--
our counterattacking style of play doesn't give us that many chances to win games, but fitness, preparation, and a firm belief in our identity has helped the U.S

Yes on fitness. Yes on prep. Yes on belief (though we don't know what that belief is *in* just yet).

Why the fuck are we playing a style that doesn't give us many chances to win games? That is something for the HUAC. The thing about los Norteamericanos is that we want to believe we can/will win everything. Ever. Why else would Rocky be big in America? No matter the odds, so long as we've got our girl and our curmudgeon, we'll fight until we die or win. We'll run stairs and punch meat to prove it.

I know, it is soccer/football. We can play for (tie/draw)s. They are part of the game. And, as an individual, I love that. But as an American? FUCK THAT SHIT. We're tied late in the game? PULL THE KEEPER!!! Even if you don't sub for him put the motherfucker UP. Win or lose, we go ALL IN. After all, Texas Hold'em was won from Mexico years ago by Davy Crockett losing big-time. Should we not embrace the style that is "All-in"?

The Spanish pass the ball. The Brazilians play the beautiful game. The English pack it in and counterattack.

Do we really want to be English? Forget it. Gamble a little. Gamble a lot. Play freely and with an aggressively high work rate. Play dumb but dumb like a fox. Play for the jugular rather than for a slow bleed from self-inflicted wounds.

Killshot = US Soccer.

By whom the killshot is received is irrelevant.

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Still,

"The saddest moment in the career of a great athlete

is the one when he's tagged with the word "still." One day you're fast. One day you're slow. There's an in-between day when you're "still fast," and that's the day when everything hollows out."

Wow. That's a hell of a paragraph.

And it fits right in with the self-acknowledged pretentiousness of the piece (Though if we're not aiming for the stars, where exactly are we aiming?).

The thing that comes to mind to me is the timeline of ultimate. What was it? What is it now? What will it be in the future?

Well, to think of it a little more critically, what sports is ultimate like? Hmm... You need crazy motor control in order to throw and catch the thing. You need to be able to sprint. Repeatedly. You need to be able to play defense with aggression. You need to be able to focus. You need to be able to do this over time, both in terms of over a weekend and over a season and over years. It's like running a marathon. But with defense. And instead of "at a steady pace", it is all in fits and starts. And for two (or more) consecutive days. Oh, and you need to be able to jump, not just run. You need to be able to stop, not just start.

Yikes. So, what's the corollary?

Well, it is something like tennis in terms of "Forehands, backhands, overheads" and the incredible sheer hours of repetition it takes to truly master the variations of sending the plastic through the sky. It is also similar in the grueling nature of the thing. Sure, you get to take more time off, you have coaches and teammates to help you mentally and physically, but you also have actual physical contact with your opponents. Your movements are not without impediment.

To get to the understanding of when the ultimate player begins to decline, we can look at the ages of champions over the years. I won't do the research, I will just make it up based on memory, but the average age of "the champs" has to have declined from when Boston was running shit. I would imagine this is because players now have had more time as kids throwing. Also, more and more people are training for real. So, an old guy and a young guy train the same amount, the young guy is better quipped to win the athletics of the competition. If he old guy outworks the young guy... You get DoG, as I recall.

But what about the compounding of physical wear-n-tear as a result of doing all of this necessary training? All this necessary competing? If you star playing tournaments in middle school and play high school, club, summer league, winter league, college, club... how much punishment are you giving yourself? How much can one body take?

That is to say "Where does space under the curve of mastery most overlap with the space under the curve of physical prowess" w/r/t ultimate?

Baseball players can play near-forever. Almost as long as golfers can hang on. Not so much running, lots of ways to contribute to overall effectiveness in the sport, etc.
Basketball players can last, depending on attributes like physical gifts, work ethic, role on the floor and the like. Much like soccer in this respect.
Football players can play their roles for extended periods based on physical gifts (being large enough and coordinated enough to play O-line, for example) or understanding of the game (QBs, some DBs) but with the exception of some outliers (as in all rambling examples) RBs, WRs, LBs and other high-collision positions have very limited lifespans.
Tennis players drop like a rock. They've barely had time to develop/understand their games before they can no longer play anymore.

I think ultimate is most like tennis in this respect. I could keep rambling on, but the thing is that the future of ultimate is a combination of grueling play and high technical acuity. The closest comparison to me still seems to be tennis.

Here ends this hastily-typed previously-aired-in-conversation bloggery about the timeline of ultimate.

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xkcd

sums up

the problems i've been having

ascribing meaning to sports.

What a world what a world.

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Windsock-o-meter

Would it be too much to ask

to have a graphic (or even just a windsock in the field of view) for future ultimate telecasts/videos?

Not that I would have thought of it before checking in on the CUT v Hodags (KINSEY! I SEE YOU THROWING TRASHY GOALS! You're the reason I have such a goofy picture in th header for this waste of blogospace. Those los dudes almost killed me.) on cstv.com, but the fact remains that something like a directional arrow w/ windspeed in a corner of the screen or something as simple as a windsock would make this a better viewing experience.

Speaking of easy ways to improve nationals:

- Open to men.
Whatever.
- Teams wear school colors?
Sure, I guess. More on this in a moment.
- Team names on uniforms.
Yes. No argument at all.
- Teams use school name.
No. Not unless every backw(oo/ar)ds club sport office will agree to letting a "fringe sport" (altsport?) like ultimate fully represent their school. For example, at NYU, we were told that we were not allowed to be the Violets. We were not allowed to go to tournaments unless we went in a club sports van or bus. We were not allowed to travel without a coach. Seriously? We just wanted to play. If you place a barrier like "Must be an NCAA-approved sport" in front of ultimate players who just want to play... well... The issue here is legitimacy vs participation w/r/t the growth curve of the sport. Right now, this is a requirement that would, over the matter of "Words, words, words" eliminate participation for a large percentage of schools/players whose schools will not allow them to use the official mascot. Yes, NYU is an oddity unto itself, but it is not the only school with restrictions on what a frisbee team is allowed to call itself. Hell, we would repeatedly show video and explain to the club sports department what we were doing exactly, and every year, the club sports dept would ask us what ultimate was. Oh, if you're named something that implies a color, and your school won't let you use their name, it wouldn't make sense to be their colors, no would it? Like, say Green Eggs and Ham should probably be allowed to wear green if they want.
- Hats.
1. Yes on color.
2. Maybe on "team/university/relevant" hats.
3. Shut up about which direction hat to buy. Next I won't be allowed to wear baggy shorts. Or short shorts. Or maybe, since I would have been shelling out my own money for all of these items, and most of the travel, you should just shut the hell up. Seriously. Let me wear whichever type of shorts I want to buy and be seen in public, let me tilt, turn and crease my hat anyway I want. Let me not wash my hat for a whole season so that you can see the sweat stains and places where my grubby little fingers grabbed onto it over and over again like they do in MLB (anyone have a ready link for a dude who did this? There are many examples and I can't remember any of their names or find them via google.). Wait, is there a rule that says players can't wear backwards hats? After some years of a backwards hat, I saw the light (is it a pun if I pretend I didn't call attention to it?) and realized that a forwards had would help me not get blinded when I looked up. This does not make me think that people who want to be blinded should not be allowed to wear backwards hats. Direction of hat does not affect anything. I'm feeling dumber by the letter I type here.
- Birdman.
If Southpaw actually lets Venose try out for them (He was the fastest player on the field when he was there at NJ HS States. BARFIGHT!), they might well be the most tatted-up team in the nation, based solely on Venose and Purifico.

11-whatever? Really? For a final? Maybe I was wrong and ultimate does deserve to be an indoor sport. I love the wind, but that doesn't make it good for the sport.

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I Should Have Gone

To 2011 USAU Metro East DI College Open Regionals!

Bo Li y Alex Kadesch vs NYU??

Pike y almost Pike vs "Dudes who the alumni team beat like 15-5"?

Perhaps I would have been worth a point or two in heckling the heck out of Bo and Kadesch. Both of whom were fellow Illuminati, I might add.

Sometimes some other shit is more important than ultimate you're not involved in.

That said, FUCKING HELL!
CONGRATS TO NYU!!!

That said, your alumni outreach needs some work.

Yes.

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Play with the Toy

Drew Brees was on my TV

and so was another QB, whose teamI don't remember.

They were both working out with their teams despite the NFLockout.

In each case, they both held a ball in their throwing hands like it was surgically attached. During warmups, during running, during any drills not involving throwing/manhandling other things.

If we are all QBs (and we all are) when we play ultimate, should we not then all be working with the disc as often as possible? Should we not strive to have familiarity with the disc like QBs have familiarity with the ball? Like al(most al)l NBA players with the ball? Like soccer players?

Why do you do so many track workouts that abstain from throwing? Why are you running stairs without throwing? Why are you working so much on your 6pack (that was the term for getting hit in the face with a spike in my volleyball days) abs without a disc?

Sure general physical prep is worthwhile, but throw when you rest. Sure, long interval runs (Hunting runs, if you're from PoNY) are great, but why not with a disc? Sure, work on your jumping muscles, but why not just hold a disc while you stand around and recover?

Play with the toy.
Share the toy.

Be the boy who befriends the disc.
Share the disc with your friends.

It is just a moving game of
monkey(s) in the middle afterall.

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Apex Predator Tank

That is,

the thing that made Jordan (with a bullet), Kobe, Bird &c what they be.

All I have to say is that my best years of ultimate were the times during which I (c/w)ould most often during life, training, ultimate &c (think of/believe) myself (as/to be):

A motherfuckin predator ["Get to dhah choppuh.", 3].

How would a raptor attack?
A cormorant?
A rattler?
A lion?
A tiger?
A bear?

Not as tangential as you think,
Never as relevant as I know,
you know.

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I still have no idea

how he caught

this.

I watched that in person, and I was so sure that it was a terrible decision by the thrower that I mumbledloudly something rude to the group I was drunksitting with.

That is all.

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I never thought we were that different

you and i,
the observer and the observered.

The doer and the doee
The inimitable system
Of best worst
Versus
Worst best.

Now it means something becaue of all the times
I've been to the festival of the weekend
Of the disc.

We play our roles an fill our squads
Sometimes we're the overdog
Sometimes we can't finish the door.

All there is is who we represent ourselves as.
Who we see our opponents as
Who we dream we're
Dreaming ourselves as.

Are you the hero?
The villain,
The butler
(He Butles!)
The janitor?

Do you clean up the the mess?
Make it appear ordered,
Cause it to appear,
Fail to prevent it?

Precisely the way
You said you wouldn't
We always fail
To be different.

The tales of conquest
The myth of winning
The death of losing.
We are who we are.

We commit atrocities
for our dreams.
We give it up
for our teams.
---
What is the reflexive nature
Of what we do?
What of the referential,
The infinitely intricate?

Heavens,
The SELF-Referential?
The deferential?
The slot you fit into?

Who are you with this team,
With that team?
How different than with
The world?
---

The representations we project and see
After all of the TV training we've had?
All of the video games?
All of the fantasies?

The dreams?

The fixation of living
While painless
While dreaming
Permeating even ourselves.

Does ultimate hurt?
Could it be bad for you?
Does it matter?
I still like to win.

Oh well, at Fools
We didn't.
At Kaimana
We didn't.

But I played,
And didn't totally
Suck.
Not just yet.

Maybe I'll finish the posts for meh?
I lost in the Ro-sham
(Spell it how you like it,
I've got him next time).

I think.

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KK24 pt 1.

With a self-imposed media blackout on KK23 lifted,

we'll probably ramble from year to year in this post.

Although, not necessarily. The problem is more that I can't tell the years apart any longer. Though, I can tell the shirts apart: Last year? Inexplicably heavyweight green 5ultimate jerseys that were too large for everyone. This year? Inexplicably "stuck in customs" blue VCUltimate jerseys. I still haven't seen them. I thought the mock-ups were sweet.

We (Amy and I) went to Maui on Feb 7. We did things like take the Road to Hana, attend an open bar luau (and activate our tourist/cultural second guessing), break fast at Kihei Caffe, drink literally over a gallon of maitai during happy hour at Life's a Beach, camp at Hosmer's Grove, see sunrise(s)/sunset at Haleakala, hike along coastal lava trails, drink Maui Rum, camp at Waianapanapa State Park, go to Kaihalulu (red sand), Hamoa (grae sand), Waianapanapa (black sand), Koki (chocolate sand) and other beaches (forgive my not using semicolon/comma correctness), find somewhat hidden beaches, watch college basketball at 9am, drive from Hana to Kipahulu IN THE DARK, listen to Johnny Depp y otro bloke read Keif Richards, visit surfing goats, drink too much Maui coffee, blame Laird, hike in the not-a-crater, drink white wine w/ poke, make citrus-multi-rum punch, eat macadamia nuts like nuts, meet Glenn the CocoNut, drink lots of Maui Brewco Beer (CoConut Porter is the tops, Big Swell is decent, Bikini Blonde is solid but is a Helles Lager... so there isn't much to say), drink Grandma's Coffee, and more.

At some point (Wednesday?) we realized we had to get to Oahu. Then we had to pick up some co-conspirators (Namely Mr. Contarsy and Crider) in Honolulu. We drank kava, and then hit the town to drink "real drinks" until Philthy and Phine joined us. Something about Maddog's was all wrong, but so much was alright. Then the long walk home. The next day (Friday) we exactly didn't get to the Arizona Memorial (mostly my fault), but exactly did get to the Kona Brewpub just as the 88 high school(!) kids showed up on a band trip. Seriously, who goes to a brew pub as a part of a High School band trip? I hope you enjoyed the rootbeer, fuckers. And our seats. We saw lotsa sluglums (incl Philthy deserters TP&Busty), parts of Philthy and Phine, and learned that our crew of 4 Escapees would grow to 6 as Crider recovered her roommate "Gunshow" and pal Taryn (of Smoke Fire Higher Lower) from HNL while Brandon drank every beer on the menu (over 16 beers, for sure) and I had much stout and barleywine. The cardrive was left to the sobershow as the backseat had bourbon.

This is where the night turned. We got to the place, set up the tent, broke my sandals via walking, had more beer, failed to register, and...? Sounds like a standard Friday night at Kaimana to me!

(pt 2 in the future. including the consequences for m/your actions.)

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Mr. B Silverman

Told me at Nationals

That I learned stuff from Ultimate that I can apply to my life.

He's said smart things before, so I figured that I should work this out for myself. What is it that I've learned from Ultimate, exactly?

How to:
- ignore the world.
- run through pain.
- read a defense.
- design an offense.
- break down an offense.
- take apart physical actions into their constituent parts.
- win arguments without getting into them.
- start arguments and walk away.
- trash-talk so tangentially that I can't not win.
- smile when I kick your ass.
- read the rulebook.
- catch things despite the pain they cause.
- read a disc.
- push people around without my hands.
- establish physical positions that are difficult to dislodge.
- throw the disc. Hard.
- reasonably good forehand and backhand form in racquet sports.
- use my freakishly long arms.
- not grasp what "on serve" means.
- not keep a team together.
- do a muscle-up.
- properly buddy-tape my fingers.
- run with a hangover.
- run while intoxicated.
- use the total hangover cure.
- smile as people stab you in the back. Metaphorically.
- feel athletically inferior.
- feel athletically superior.
- yell about nothing important.
- give my body away.
- be horribly disappointed by the inability of people to play by the rules they agree to play by.
- get into fights.
- get out of fights.
- run away from problems.
- laugh it away when my teammate tells someone to suck his nuts in a not-at-all joking fashion.
- share the toy.
- lose the game. Damn. Furf will have to call his mother after I tell him.
- spend my savings.
- relate everything to ultimate.
- drive all night, play all day, drink all night, play all day, drive all night.
- lie to myself.
- become more cynical.
- pivot.
- throw with my left hand.
- do yoga.
- give up on my teammates.
- not believe in everyone.
- overmatch overmatched novices in league play.
- know what tabatas are.
- accept that when I speak with people, that they aren't usually listening to what I say.
- disappear from parties/gatherings such that no one notices until I'm gone.
- rent a car for cheap.
- fall asleep on your couch at just the right time so that even if you kick me out, I'll have gotten enough sleep.
- sleep on the floor.
- sleep without sheets/blankets/pillows.
- sleep the cold away.
- sleep the heat away.
- sleep the pain away.
- conspicuously&studiously not know the score.
- get up at insane hours to save $$ by skipping a night in a hotel.
- pretend I like shitty food that people cook.
- not bother to interact with teammates.
- not call attention to bad company.
- accept that sometimes I'm too tired to drive.
- not determine which animals should or should not be eaten based on intelligence.
- let someone tell their story even if you know it is uninteresting.
- type daily on something pointless.
- write a blog.
- recognize that all frisbee players don't all play frisbee.
- give up on r.s.d.
- play at an all-night hat tournament.
- be late unabashedly.
- not throw to girls.

I've learned that I've lost my momentum here.

Read More......

I can't be the only person

who translates

spew like these (1,2) into ultimate terms.

How do you design your offense?
How do you design your defense?

How about the emphasis, the quirks?
How about the weight, the heavy lifting?

How about the rate at which the disc should change hands?
How about the tweaks to minimize the advantage of the other team having an all-world player?

How about a little VORP?
How about a little DVOA?

Just seeds to grow food for thought.

Read More......