So I told myself I would wait another day to let the Furious game go, but I can't. I got to work, started something, and then found myself here, back at the computer. Anyway, it appears as though I am like the only person who thought the Furious-Zero quarterfinal was a good game (ok, I am done with my bitterness).

Saturday am, get to the fields and start warming up. Everyone is loose and ready to go. We start on d with the monkey receiving downwind. They score on 3 or 4 passes easily 0-1. The O comes out and answers the challenge 1-1. Another short d point, furious 1-2. The O hits a snag and the first break of the game sees us down 1-3. Then a blading pull, hits off Naz, goes out the back. I take the disc at the backline. 95 yards later and about 30 or so passes upwind, 2-3. HUGE point. I thought we could have been crushed there, but instead we go from the back of their endzone to the front of ours. They answer upwind on o 2-4. We come right back 3-4. We tie it up at either 4s or 5s. I am not sure what. Goldstein caught it though. We are tied and our O has began to hit stride.

I do not remember many of the goals. Rupp was throwing beautifully deep and I believe TO hit a longshot deep. Both Berkseth and Boardman were great deep threats. And even AB got into the act with some nice deep cuts.

At 6s, Shane gets a titanic layout d on lugsdin. We work it a little and I launch a moonball hammer to a wide open Heijman. Except it takes ~15 seconds to get there, lugsdin is able to chase it down and get a piece of it. He also hits Heijman and discussion about whether it was a foul or not. No foul, they score it. CRAP. On our endzone, upwind, with a chance to go up 7-6 and pulling downwind for half, I throw a piece of tin hammer. Especially after an amazing d by Shane. Anyway, they end up with the score.

The O ties it at 7s. I was going to call timeout at 7 all b/c we had both timeouts and it would give a chance to really think what we wanted. BUT they had used a d line with all their guys, grant, lugsdin, savage, best of the west, etc. I felt making them all play O with little rest helped our cause.

Maybe I was correct, because they huck it away and put on a 4-man trap cup on Paco. Timeout (we had both left), briefly discuss it. We leave Paco hanging with the disc, ends up trying to pinpoint a hammer. No go. They get the d and the halftime lead. 7-8. But on serve, one break a piece. And we have forced the last 2 or 3 turns. We were feeling it.

On O to start the 2nd half, we score it 8 all. We may have turned it during this point, no matter, we got it back and scored it.

This begins a string of trading points all the way to 12s. During that span, Truesdale has a nice backhand goal to Boardman. We also had 3 break marks in a row where I caught the final shot for the goal. A couple of other solid plays. We turn it maybe once in this span.

During this d run of ours, we get the disc twice. Once, they put the zone on us. We get it to Paco for an open shot, but he hucks it too low and Heijman basically ds his throw. Right near their endzone, they convert it. Another chance, Charlie and I have a miscommunication, I zig, he throws the zag. Drops right in front of me. I hope this is not on video, it will look ugly. We had another chance for a d. On the pull, they iso the backhand side (we are forcing forehand). Lugsdin has Shane beat under and I thought the guy was going to throw the break. Well, good fake gets me to poach. My man busts and the disc is up, but Pbo reads it immediately. He takes off. Chases it down and hits it... But it just pops up and my man still gets the goal. Ugh.

12-all. They huck it away past my man. Foul on Shane on the mark. Another huck away, another foul on the mark. Finally, a third huck again to my man, incomplete. We get the disc on the endzone. 70 yards to break them. They come out in their little 4-man cup. I break it with a backhand invert. And the gates are open. About 10 throws later, we are ~15 yards from the endzone with the disc and a timeout. We call a scoring play and Paco gets it 2 yards out and gets it to RG for the goal. 13-12 Sub Zero. Heck yeah.

We pull downwind, they are working it and then a huck. I feel that either Dan or Pbo d'd it. We get the disc a couple of dump and swings, not much going. I get the disc, being forced forehand. Stall is starting to get high, but Pbo is behind Lugsdin by ~5 or 10 yards. I like Pbo as a receiver. We make eye contact and I get it too him as fast as I can. I am pretty sure no one was expecting it. Goal. 14-12. Game to 15. wow. We got them.

We pull with them going downwind. A couple throws later. 14-13 furious has answered. Of course, they were not going away easily. these guys are good. Cap is on, 16 is the cap.

This point will stay in my head for awhile. We do have a deep shot called. Through me. I forget to remind everyone that if we are in trouble bomb it. Do not turn it on our own endzone. As a captain of this team, that was, I think, my biggest mistake all weekend. Forgetting to remind everyone of that.

Anyway, shortish pull. I take it, do not try to force it to Berkseth. Hit Rupp underneath. Squirrelling around, we screw Rupp and I stand and watch. Man oh man, why did I not bust in to get the disc? I thought he was going to throw an earlier backhand to me, he did not, and I guess, I just froze. Anyway, high stall d on the dump. They have a fast break and they score it 14s.... Crap.

But we still are getting the disc. Deep pull, work a couple of throws out of the endzone. And try to hit Dave, low throw (I think I threw, but I actually forget). Hits Dave and is down. Right on their endzone, 14-15 Furious. Crap.

We are now receiving downwind. A couple of throws I get the disc and Berkseth is gone. And open. My man fouls me, fouls me again, and then I throw the flick. Complete to Berkseth, just short of the endzone, high backhand to TO for the goal. 15 all. Double game point. Universe point. If I played for Jawbone, I would call this Universal point.

Nice pull. We run down. Somehow Nichols gets open deep. Big throw. Big completion. Big goal. They win 15-16.... AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH. We had them and I just brain-farted.

I am very angry with myself for my line call at 14-13. I could have been a lot smarter. Maybe I should have just jacked it to Berkseth and see what happened. But you know, this is the first time that we (this current version of Zero) has been in a position like this against a team that has as much talent (and very arguably more). And we did pretty well. And still had 2 or 3 chances to win the game.

I mentioned in another post, that my poor play motivated me for this year's nationals. Well, my team's great play and the opportunities we had are a huge motivation for me now. November will be off. But December will see me trying to get in shape earlier in the season.

I am very proud that our team had a good weekend. And I can't wait to have more opportunities to succeed with these guys. I really feel this is the start of something rather than the end. Very encouraging.

More on nationals tomorrow or Wed. This was a very good stress relief for me. Hopefully, I will stop thinking about this game and get back to work.

Happy Halloween.

Hello, we got back late last nite from a pretty good trip to sota. Probably over 2 or 3 posts. Also, I will try not to play the "we do not get any respect" card but if you have read anything about the tourney, it seems we are not very good.

Anyway, LT, Tweb, and I flew into Sarasota late in the afternoon on Wed. Get in to the hotel at a decent hour and we had some Grandma's meatballs for dinner. After catching up with some teammates, Bait women, and some Riot friends, I went to bed early 10 pm as I was feeling pretty bad. I had a cold all week and was still battling it that nite.

Wake up early, eat some grub, and out to the fields by 8:30. Ah, the fresh dew on the polo fields. Very nice. Unfortunately, the Jam game was not very nice. There is really nothing to go into b/c it was 15-7. We were never really in the game. Down 0-4. 3-8 at half. We did have 5 chances to go 5-8 and maybe get a little mo', but our d did not score all game. We had 6 or 7 wide open drops in the game (2 for goals), one big layout by Safdie after our guy was open by 20-30 yards and just stood there, and a huck to 3 Jam guys and 0 Sub Zero guys. Good times. Does not get much worse. Oh yeah, we lose Winey one of our starting o cutters with possible knee damage. At least it was against the #1 seed in our pool.

Up next Pike. We have rebounded well all year after horrible defeats. And we would do that again. We receive and take half 8-7. Both d's get one break. I forget how we get the d, but near the endzone and me-dikeman for the goal. They answer back. They have another huge opportunity to go up 2 breaks in the first half, but Naz gets a big d on our goalline and we march it right back down the field.

They come out and score the first 2, 8-9. We tie it and then after I d a huck, Pbo makes a huge grab on a huck from me (called play from a to). Huge layout stick. We are up 10-9. Then 11-11 and I think they go up 11-12. I believe this was the point that one of their guys made the absolute worst bid I have ever seen in to TO's back. TO not only gets hit by that guy but also another defender goes down, luckily, with only an arm injury. Ugh. 2 starting O cutters done. And it is Thursday. We do tie it up at 12s. Get the disc on d, high stall to the back, that rolls of Dan's fingertips. But a foul on the throw. A couple throws later, we are up 13-12. They score 13s. We score 14-13. Pull to them, forcing a bad huck deep. We start working up, another layout into one of our guys (advice to defenders, if you have to layout into the back of someone, that is NOT a good bid). I sub in. Shane roaches his man to gain most of our yardage. Eventually, I score the game winner 15-13. We take down the #2 team in our pool and look good for the power pool. It was a hard fought game, that both teams never had a huge advantage. A fun game to be apart, minus the 2 very sketchy bids.

Last game, was the college kids on VC. They play an interesting zone (stops the hammers, but leaves the middle open) and they throw anything. It was close early maybe 8-6 or 7. Everyone is frustrated at halftime, but the important thing is we are on serve and up. We play much better in the 2nd half and convert. The last point of the game is me getting humped on the mark. So I just bomb it (no one open) and my gets mad, I was fouling you the whole time then stopped. I told him he was fouling before, during, and after the throw. Foul-contest obviously. We score and take the game 15-10 or 11. Oh, I forgot to mention PBo's great footblock. I love a good footblock.

At the end of the day, we are 2-1 and #2 in our pool. We move up. We are still somewhat under the radar b/c both Condors and Ring go 0-3. Everyone can't believe that. We have Bravo + Potomac in our power pool. I am bummed about the Jam game, but it was great to run through the next 2 games and not lose a half. Huge for our confidence.

Personally, I did not do much in the Jam game. No one did. In the Pike game, I got a couple d's and felt I did a pretty good on Bailey. Had a goal or 2 and a couple of assists. In the VC game, the same as the Pike game. I was not involved in a turnover all day. That felt very good.

Going into Friday would be tough, when I went to bed Thursday, I thought No Winey and No Todd Owens. So we had 8 mainly o guys, plus 3 of us d guys that played a little O. Now, it was 6 mainly o guys. The adjustment was to play me on O and more Goldstein on O. We takes 2 of our better o guys from the d team, but the O needed it.

Friday, we see Bravo first. TO looks good warming up Friday morning, so we decide to ease him into the game. Make sure he is ok. That is great news, not only for this game, but also for our chances to do well. We play pretty well on O in the first half. Only 1 break. I have my first turn in the first half on a very stupid decision on a throw to Goldstein. Ugh. Both teams get a break, so we are up 8-7. BUT, it is obvious our d's o is hurting. We had at least 10 chances (yes, I said at least 10 chances) to go up more. The 2nd half goes down the tubes. Basically, they win 8-1 in the 2nd half. Our only goal is a huck from me to TO. We have a lot of strange turns, just like the first half of the Jam game. They turned up their pressure for sure and we did not respond. The worst example was they gave us the disc to start the half and we just dropped it on the 2nd throw.

So, now we have Potomac. The winner of this game is #3 and loser plays in the pre-quarters. Yes it is fun to play frisbee, no it is not fun to play in the pre-quarters.

Potomac's strategy is to huck it. And if that is shut down, huck it. And if they have that contained, throw a deep hammer. Seriously, at best they are throwing 50-50 balls. They have a solid team, but not a team that just makes grab after grab.

Close game early, they have a chance to go up a break, but Boardman saves the weakest hammer of my life just before it hits the ground after a tip. I believe the o gets broken once and the d gets at least 1 break, maybe 2. We are up 8-7 or 8-6. One more half and we are in the quarters. Luckily, the o keeps it going. And the d starts adding points. We start to pull away and they just keep hucking it away. I know our d's o was not playing well, but give us enough chances, we will score. Dan makes an unbelieveable catch on a crez blade. Shane, Pbo, and John played some really good d. My favorite goal was to go up 12-9 when Paco threw a break mark high release backhand to the open side (he was being forced forehand). It was an interesting choice, but a beautiful throw. Berkseth catches my mack in the endzone for a goal. And eventually we are up 14-9. They score on o, after we turn it on our endzone, they score 14-10. They score to make it 14-11 as TO tries to stop from throwing a forehand, but it slips. I am not sure who scores the final one, but we win 15-11.

SO after 2 days, we are 3-2 and #3 in our pool. We play Furious in the morning. We were looking forward to that. TO looked completely healthy by the end of the day, so we could switch me back to d. We felt if we had any chance to beat Furious, we needed our original o line to do well even though they were 1 man down and send me back to the d team, so the O would be a little better (if you have never seen me play before, I tend to hog the disc).

On friday, I played ok. I was disappointed in my Bravo performance. I was involved in 2 turns. One to Goldstein and one to Boardman. Both throws where I did not read their cuts correctly. In Potomac, I was pretty good. Luckily, Boardman saved my hammer, but besides that I thought my d was ok and my o was pretty solid. They would send a guy as fast as he could to cover me on the pull every point. This messed up our pull play once or twice, but by the end of the game, he was not doing it. I think he got tired.

We won 3 halfs on Friday and got destroyed in one. I was pretty optimistic that if we played well, we could hang with Furious.

I got to get home early, hang out at the pool and beach, get some pizza, and then hit the sack. I was pumped to be in the quarters with our team. I was getting more excited by the minute.

More later, I need to go and do something productive. I though our quarters game was a good game, but apparently no one cared.

Nationals prep time. Last practice on Saturday. We had great weather for this late in October. A little cool in the morning and warmed up to a good fall temp with some wind. Great weather to play frisbee in. We have lucked out the past couple of months on our weekend practices. Now, Wed's are a different story.

I am not sure about other teams last practice, but we drill less and play more. I do not think everyone plays 100%, but it felt good and worked up a sweat.

My biggest dilemma is what to do Sun-Wed. Wed is usually a travel day so nothing doing there. Sunday, I rested, watched football, and worked. So it ended up as a day off. Ran yesterday, but not too long. And today, I do not know. Probably another off day, although I might try to sneak out for a short run and some sprints.

I want my legs to be rested. We are guaranteed 3 days of ultimate and at least 2 games every day. And with no ez games. But I do not want my legs to start dead.

I had some pretty good workouts all last week, so I am pretty psyched how I feel. A little different than last year where I was beat going into nationals. It wasn't just my workouts, but the idea of being in charge of a little one had my thoughts often occupied.

The one thing that keeps me going from last year was I got beat back to the disc 4 times. Ugh. That has been on my mind all year. It wasn't just great plays and the thrower had to throw it. I remember 3 of the times stopping and watching someone fly by. There is nothing like that is there? Seeing a horizontal body come by as your hands clap together. It is a good picture, I am sure. Definitely one that motivates you on runs/sprints/stairs when you are tired. I hope those pictures never go away (As long as I play).

With those d's on my mind, I have made sure that mentally and physically I am a little more prepared. All of the phases in my life are clicking: family, work, and frisbee. And it has made for a more enjoyable season. A season that I am really working on finishing stronger this year.

Can you improve your field sense? My initial thought was no. Not that I have the most experience in the world, but I have played basketball and/or ultimate for 20 years, 2 sports where court/field sense is very important. For some reason, I just thought some people have it and other do not.

In mulling over this question some more, I thought about ways that I improved my field sense and how others helped me. Improving this awareness is easier in organized bball, you usually have a coach telling you what you did wrong or telling you what to do. In ultimate, it has to come from yourself or from a very helpful veteran, still fairly rare in ultimate these days.

I think there are 3 subsets to all-around field sense:

1. Throwing. This is the one that I always think of. Throwers who not only have great throws, but use them very effectively all over the field. The best that I ever saw of this was Farmer for Z in 97 + 98. He was carrying that team. Not only did he have great throws, but he always used them correctly.

First, your teammates need to be able trust that you can throw anywhere for this to really work. Second, you have to really understand your team's offense. If you do not know where people are supposed to be cutting/clearing, then you are screwed. If you can anticipate where people are going to be, well then the throw is the easier part.

2. Cutting. The Reggie Miller aspect. Getting open, in multiple ways for multiple throwers. The most obvious time this comes out is after a called play. There is usually just a general principle to your offense. How it is executed is important. At Michigan, we ran the standard Stanford O. Cuts from the back, most rookies would almost always cut underneath, even though we had some good deep throwers. It was the rare occasion that someone came out right away and knew when to go deep and when to come under (Craig + DP come to mind). We usually had to really tell the others that hey, cut deep, especially when your man is in front of you.

There is also the proper set-up portion of this. If your man is fronting you, well then you can't go too early. Or if you want to come in, how many yards do you get 5 or 15? One of the best at this was Cooter. I do not think anyone who played Zero would say he was one of the top 5 guys, but at the big tourneys who was almost always our best player.

3. Defense. This one is the hardest, I think, but again I always had an easier time offensively. This is just not about poaching either. Although a good poach can really kill a couple cuts, positioning is a constant battle with your man, especially at the top. The best know when to take a look, when to get a breather, and when to sac up and challenge the hell out of you. There are plenty of defenders who I respect b/c in a 1-on-1 setting can take the disc away from you with some great d. But I think the top are those who do not let it get to that situation (1-on-1 usually won by the o) and who only allow passes that are worse for the o than the d. Al Nichols is someone that I always think of here. I like his d.

Now, how do you improve here? That is a big question.

For #1, learning not only your offense but where to look. On the sideline, don't look straight down the sideline, look towards the middle. You won't miss any sideline cuts, plus you will see anything developing down the middle. Are you pivoting with the disc? Or are you locked in? Locked in = bad. If you are looking for the same space for > 2 seconds, you have f'd your team.

As far as what you can do, first is improve your throws. If you are confident in your throws, you spend less time thinking "Holy crap" and more time thinking "Ok that is not open, where to next". Second, basically what Jimmyp said, games with shorter stall counts, goaltimate, hotbox, clogbox, etc. Games that rely on getting rid of the disc quickly and rewarding to people who do.

For #2, watch from the sidelines helps Pick out good cutters and when they start to move. Think about when you move. If you are waiting until the disc is caught, well the d always has time to adjust here. Are you paying attention to your man? The Force? The open space? Often times a great cutter does not get the disc, rather opens up space for other (the hardest concept of this).

At the very least, are you occupying your man? I think the first thing to learn is what your man is doing (so many have no idea and do not care). Once you get used to reading your defender, then you can do things like look for the open field earlier, look for contiuation 2 throws away, etc.

Try to incorporate drills, with no d, that have continuation suts. Handler swing to a downfield cutter to another cutter. It helps you start reading others.

For #3, similar to #2, learn when you can take a peak at what is going on. Obviously, it helps a ton to have someone talking to you on the sideline, but sometimes you have too much emotion and you block that out. One thing I do is when I want to take a look at the thrower, I take a step closer to my man. I do not touch him, but get closer so I can feel him if he tries to move when I look.

Learn when your man is not a threat, like an iso stack. Is he buried 40 yards away? Learn to talk to your teammates. If I am guarding the last guy and my teammate is guarding the 2nd to last guy, let him know you are there, helps a ton.

Talking and seeing the field are very important if you want to d the best.

All 3 of these are mentally taxing (I think), especially the d for myself. If you get the basics down like throwing, timing, etc., confidence will grow. Form there, advanced concepts get easier.

Find someone you respect and watch some frisbee with them. Have them recommend people to watch. Try to catch on what other teams are doing on O or D.

Ok, so that was attempt to "add" something to frisbee. My advice: don't listen to me.

On a lesser note, there is a new Worst Band of the World. That band is 311. The Dave Matthews Band had a long and impressive run as the Worst Band of the World, but 311 just made an excellent push with their latest release. More of the same old crappola!

And that is your public service announcement.

This is Fill Hoying's (a close friend, but we shall change his name to protect his innocence) personal What Games to Watch on Thursday packet.

First off, stay sober enough to get to the fields at 9:30 am on Thursday.

Second, Round 1. I will call this round the Haves v. the Have-Nots. Although including JB as a "have" takes a little getting used to. Anyway, basically it is the best regions (3 northwest teams + 1 southwest) v. the 2 worst regions (2 central + 2 south). Can there be an upset? Last year, there was Pike over Sockeye. But I do not believe the 3 over 1 is a common upset at nationals. At the very least, they should all be good games. I am hoping for at least 1 upset... Basically, no real have to see game. Just seek out the close ones.

Third, Round 2. Fill, you only have one choice this round. Never before in nationals history have 3 OT's (original Tuka's) been on the field at one time. NEVER. That is right, in the Sub Zero - Pike game, you have me, Mike Jaeger and Geoff (pronounced G-off) Buhl. This is history in the making, you will have to be there for that. Who cares about all the other 2-3 matchups? Dog-Chain? I am sure that will be blogged later. Condors-Dwide? Yawn. Truck-Ring? Boring. There is an interesting 1-4 match-up, Bravo-Potomac. Potomac has shown to be explosive at times this season. In summary, you will have to watch Zero-Pike.

(TUKA was the name of University of Michigan's Ultimate Frisbee team in fall 96/Spring 97. Named because of Tim Biakabatuka. And I believe it also stood for The UnKatchable Axe, a favorite throw of Brian Lane).

Fourth, Round 3. Fill, take your pick here. All the 1-2 games should be fun. Sockeye-Condors, if they win their regions they could have argued to be the #1 and #2 seeds. Ring-Bravo, remember the questionable game of 02. I do. Jam-Pike. Hopefully, they are playing to stay alive in the power pool. Furious-Dog. Seems like this game has been played a lot and it is usually a good one. 3-4's are always fun too. Find a comfy chair, and decide which is the most spectator friendly game.

There you go "Fill", I know all the players are mentally preparing themselves. I just want to make sure the ultimate fans are mentally prepared as well.

(I just learned that Hoying rhymes with Broering. I think that is kind of funny.)

---
Workout summary, since I have forgotten
Today - 10 x 50-70. felt good. One more track workout left. Legs are feeling quite good, I think.
Yesterday - off, but I challenged myself mentally by trying to read Jimmyp's q&a
Sun - practice, beautiful conditions
Sat - practice, again, nationals should have been in Minneapolis last weekend.
Fri - 2 miles, late at nite.
Thu - 2 sets of stairs and ran home (2 miles).

My first nationals. Let's see, I did a fall sectionals review. Maybe sometime I will look back on all the fall regionals. But for now, I will look at my very first nationals, 1997 w/ the Big Ass Truck.

I was 20 and a junior in college and had been playing ultimate for ~14 months. I tried out for Truck that summer, thought about not playing, decided to play, and eventually went to natties. Funny enough, I have only played club natties in Sarasota. Oh, and this was the first time I had ever been on a plane.

Anyway, Wed nite we leave late, get into Tampa late, and down to Sarasota very late. My ears still had not popped so I could not hear anything when I went to bed. Woke up, felt great, and went to play some frisbee. Walking onto the fields for the first time was great. I had never played on fields that good before. Sweet.

Also, my experience against good teams was almost non-existent. The best tourney I had attended was Tune Up that same year when Tune Up was THE tourney. And saw good ultimate for the first time. So I was a bit nervous.

Our first game, I believe, was against Ring. We got crushed. Ugly. No comments nor memories from that game.

Second game vs. New York. I really did not know much about ultimate history at the time. I knew of Kenny Dobbyns, but the was the first time I got a look at him. He was a muscle bound short guy. At one point in this game, someone throws him a disc that is going well out of bounds. He lays out, catches it, and throws a beautiful backhand 50 or so yards. Almost completed, but someone was there to d it. That was amazing to me b/c I could not throw a backhand that well if I had all day to try. Anyway, this game was much better for us. At some point the cap was on and we were up 1, we get a d and I take off for the endzone, wide open to win the game. Lippy throws a really bad forehand to me that just hangs there. They sky me take off down the field and score. Tie game. We turn it over on the 2nd throw next point (I will leave names out of that one). They win. Ugh.

Third game vs. Pumphouse! Arch rivals from the Central Region. I think I threw 2 hammers for a goal in this game. I say this b/c some on the team were getting mad throughout the year as I started throwing more. If you saw our team, you would know why I wanted to throw more. Well, they come out big and stay up the whole game. The key point was a Jimmy Liao sky over 2 of their guys, calls himself in, and spikes it. Well, observer did not make an active call, but apparently did not call him in. BIG argument. They get the disc. They win the game by 2 or 3. Basically, 0-3 for the day. That sucks, also Truck went 0-6 the year before, so now half the team has a complex about going 0-pher again. The next thing I do is drive Greff + Lippy to the liquor store. They buy some beers to gun. We go home, drink some more, head to the party where no one is. Go home.

Friday, we play Condors. I do not believe this was a game. They killed us. Pretty early in the game I laid out for a disc and collided with a defender. I call foul, he yells as I am in pain. That was fun. 0-4

Next game was against Chain. We go up big, something like 9-3 or 4 at half (games to 17 back in those days). It gets a little windy and they put on a 4 man cup. Let's just say that the big lead quickly left. I managed to get point blocked on our endzone after I skiied someone. Anyway, we lose. By a couple too, I do not think it was that close by the end. 0-5

So, what do we do? I drive as Greff + Lippy stop to do some guns again. I am not supposed to be driving the rental and how do I get left out of the guns... Those 2 are rookies on the team as well. Anyway, the 3 of us go to dinner and then the party on the beach. I am part of the distraction as Lippy + D. happiness guys attempt to steal the keg. Let's just say they left a trail. We go to the bar. I can't get in, I am not 21 and left my crappy fake at the hotel. Hammered, Lippy tries to get me in with Cribber. No dice. I set on the bench right outside the patio of the bar and well, let's just say I got some drinks. Eventually, Lippy sneaks plenty of booze out, is seen drinking by the bouncer, who comes over and notices my stash of beers and other stuff. Grabs me and yells "Who is feeding the 12 year old alcohol? Call the police." So I am hammered, I am in Florida under 21 drinking, my parents do not like that I play ultimate at this point (later their attitude changes) and I am very drunk (another thing my parents did not like). I say all this b/c I had to beg for money just to get down to Florida.

Well, my personal attorney Lando comes over and tries to talk reason into the bouncer. The bouncer then accuses him of giving me drinks (That was false, it was Lippy and Geile). Anyway, Lando starts attacking the bouncer and says the bouncer's cred is gone b/c Lando never gave me drinks. Starts saying all the witnesses he will get, blah, blah, bouncer lets go for a second, I run for my life. Good times.

Anyway, Saturday, last game v. Sockeye. As I tie my cleats, the horn for the game to begin goes off. I am not sure what my b.a. level was at this point. I do complete a greatest in this game. And really sky someone on their team that was good. Again, I knew no one at that point. Surprisingly, we lost. 0-6. Truck at that point was 0-12 at nationals.

Do you need to know what we did? Stop and got guns, lots of other drinking, go to the party, which I got in b.c of my "i.d." Word gets out that I am under 21, and at least 1 if not 2 other guys get in on my "i.d." I tell them I will remember them and they owe me beer. I do not remember them.

Sunday watched the finals. Something like 7-0 dog, then 7-7 tied w/ sockeye. What? That game kept me away from O and D squads for at least 4 years. Why have an O squad that can't score? I was winning fantasy ultimate w/ negative cork.

Well, hopefully my chemistry is done. I am hoping to be better than 0-6 in 2 weeks....

What will seedings be? To me, you have to decide beforehand whether last year's results or head-to-head matchups at this year's tourneys are more important. And you can't seed just because you think another team is better.

I hate considering who on what team was there. Well, we were missing 4 starters in Boston, and 5 key guys in ECC.... Blah, if you are that concerned about it, do not go. If you are only playing to get seeding later, they make sure everyone goes. No whining if your non-starters lose. My first year as captain of Sub Zero, I felt like the list of results said stuff like 25% of our starters weren't, blah, blah, blah.

And the score reporter is awesome. The head-to-head section rules.

I think the top 3 are fairly obvious. You put the NW teams there. This is based on last year's results and this year's. The Condors could argue that they belong up there, but since they have to be behind Bravo, well, I do not think you can bring Bravo into the top 3 (2-5 against the top 3). So that gives us #1 Furious, #2 Jam, #3 Sockeye.

4-9 gets very sticky. If you go on last year's results, you go Ring, Pike, Bravo, Dog, Condors, Chain. Ring gets vaulted up since they beat a semis team from last year. Although they both lost to the same team, so you really can't say that Pike was better than Ring last year. Or is Dog over Bravo? I forget who won the 5th place game. Does it matter? Should consolation games even count? Condors were not in the 5th place game, or what happened there? I forget. I do not think Pike will be 5. Most likely Ring/Bravo.

If you go with this year's reults, well then we go Bravo, Ring, Condors, Dog/Pike, Chain. Bravo gets vaulted up b/c of the Condors success and the fact they beat Ring. Ring beat the Condors, although Condors finished better in the tournament (but that reason did not work at last week central regionals!). This seeding looks better to me. I like going on the results during the year.

I am not sure who to give the nod to Dog or Pike? Dog did beat them last time they played at Easterns, way back in June. They both lost to Ring at Ches., so that basically means they can be considered equal there. Also, if you put Pike over Dog, then you could argue Chain over Dog. And I just do not want to go there right now. Could Dog be the 9th seed? Would the UPA allow this? Lastly, we will probably be the 10th seed, so I will be as indecisive as possible about the 7th seed. All those teams look good, could be the best 7th seeds ever.

That looks very tough to seed. More so then the past couple of years. What is this, the NFL?

I think we are 10. Based on everything. I guess if you take last year's results first, Double is 10 and we are 11. But we beat Double and have finished higher then them at all tourneys this year. I do not think we have argument against Chain, since they have had our # the last 2 seasons.

11-13 is also weird. Truck-11, Double-12, Potomac-13, if you go by last year. If you go by this year, I guess you go Double-11, Potomac-12, Truck-13. Although Double + Potomac have not played this year. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

14-16 are ez, I think. Metal, Vicious, PBR. PBR has no wins against anyone at natties. Vicious' only win was against PBR. Metal has had an overall better season, it appears.

Basically, what is more important?

I think it goes, Monkey, Jam, Fish, JB, Ring, Birds, Pike/Dog, Chain, Us, Dwide, Potomac, Truck, Metal, VC, Beer.

4-0.

That was our goal going into Regionals and we did it. It was a cool and fun weekend. T + I did nt leave Minneapolis until ~7. After 320 miles, we pulled in sometime around 12:30. Back up by 6:30. I ran the captain's meeting as acting RC (I did a poor job acting as RC all weekend). And games started at 9. There were 15 teams, as the #2 seed we were in the pool of 3. Our games to 17, all other pools had games to 15. Plus we had a bye. Advantage us. I thought there would be more arguments about the other pools to 15. But no one said a word.

Anyway, we start w/ the 9 seed. Dingwop, the 3rd team from our section from the Twin Cities and Duluth. 17-2. Not much exciting here. Just clobbered them.

Then we have a bye. Watch some Bait ultimate. Watch some co-ed. No real interesting games in the open division at this time. I do not know about other regions, but there aren't enough good teams to ever make the 2-3 round that exciting.

After the bye, we play intelligent design, mainly u-kansas guys. They like to huck forehands. And if that does not work, they will huck their forehands. Well, we shut that down, most of the time. 17-6. Eddie gets the first ever birthday callahan (a callahan on his birthday). That was fun. Another humorous point was Kyle being guarded by someone slower and more tired than him. Our team yelling from the sideline "Kyle, he is exhausted, you are open!" Repeatedly. Eventually a throw a little behind him and the very tired defender gets a layout d. I think he had to feel good about that.

Well, we win the pool 2-0 and now have Chicago in the semis. We had split with them during the year, 1-1, so we knew it was going to be a good game. Our offense came out and laid an egg. Just played horrible, a couple bad drops along with some really bad throws. I believe they were broken 4 times (maybe 3). Luckily, the defense played well after a poor first point. The D breaks them 1 more time (either 5 or 4). We are up 8-7 at half. Including the d point to take half where we used both of our timeouts setting up a RC to RG scoring play. The first half was very sloppy by both teams. The game was slightly upwind-downwind with a crosswind. Very Sarasota-ish, although not as bad.

The second half is completely different, both O's find a rhythm. We score to make it 9-7. And then trade points, we win 14-12. Our O turned it 2 times (maybe 3?) and got them all back. While our d forced I think 6 turns and never on converted 0. Including 2 on the goalline (one was floater to me that Mercer got and fouled the shit out of his teammate, a very smart play by him). I added to the turns on the d side by throwing into an obvious poach as well as getting beat back to the disc once. Ugh.

The defense played well all game, just when we got the turn in the second half. Bad. We just looked out of sync and moving too fast on O. We had several chances to go up 3 and missed them. Frustrating, but the O played awesome in the 2nd half. That was huge.

On O, I was on the field for the 2 turns. The first one my man gets the disc, fakes forehand, picks up pivot foot, resets pivot foot, throws a deep backhand, then hits me in the face. He calls foul and I call travel at the same time (after I got hit in the fact, so technically a late call). I have no idea about the throw, until I see the guy catching in the endzone. Needless to say, they were not pleased with my call. He did NOT travel on the throw. He DID travel on the pivot, but I could not call it for another second due to the slap I received. Eventually, we get the disc back and score.

At 12-11, we turned it over. They were marching up the field, but I foot blocked a Tyson forehand and then I scored the goal a couple throws later. That felt good.

At 13-12, I get a comeback cut and AB has his man beat by 5 yards. Successful deep forehand for the game, 14-12, rematch with Truck in the final (Truck was up 10-1 as half their team starts watching out semi). Sweet.

Saturday nite was nothing exciting, people staying in various hotels and towns so nothing team oriented. I just sat around, had room service, watch LT roll around and the Cardinals crush the Padres. Pujols for MVP!

Sunday, we do not play until 1:20. It felt like I was a pro athlete or something. Where is my personal trainer? Bait was playing in the finals at 11, so we get to the fields at 10:30, just in time to blow the cap horn. On the open side, Madison-Chicago and Madcow-Jawbone are still alive. So possibly some interesting games. Bait starts out fast, but a much bigger run by Mojo gets them the lead. It is very frustrating for me to watch a team that I root for losing before I play. So I go and start to warm up and watch a little of the open. Jawbone is up a break or 2 in their game (again the wind is the same factor as Saturday, upwind-downwind with a definite crosswind). In the Madison-Machine game, Madison eventually opens up a 10-5? lead. Very surprsing. Madison somehow holds onto win 14-12 and Jawbone beats Madcow by a couple. So Madison-Jawbone in the game-to-go-to-the-game-to-go.

Finally, it is time for our game. We start out on d, force a turn on their goalline, but a dropped disc gives it right back. 0-1 Truck. We tie it up. And then break twice. We get the d and Goldstein to RG for the score. We get 2 ds in the next point (the second one was a nice drop by Haley), followed by Chaz hitting Shane for the 3-1 lead. Our O played awesome in this game. Both teams trade points until 7-5 (our O only turns it over once all half and Winey gets that back with a point block). We get the d, eventually I get the disc on the break force side and hit Shane going deep to take half 8-5. Our O was perfect 5-5 and the d forced at least 5 turns. Dan, Jello, and Puhl played really well for them.

The second half sees more of the same for our O, we receive to go 9-5. The d's O becomes a little frustrated again as we can't convert and Truck sticks around, 11-7. Then the floodgates open. After 2 turns by both teams, we force another turn. TO. Our play is shut down, but they poach a lot on the open side. I throw a high stall blade from one sideline to another that somehow is caught by Kyle, 12-7. Again, we force 2 turns. On the second one, Shane busts and is alone in the endzone as I send an ez backhand 13-7. Cap on, game to 15 no matter what. They score 13-8, we answer right back 14-8 and end the game with a beautiful throw from Paco to Q, 2 passes later, a goal. 15-8. Regional champs. Finally, we beat those guys in the finals.

The O, I think, only turned it over once in the finals. Maybe twice. I have a lot of respect for the Truck D, so I was psyched about that. I think the O was really nervous against Machine for some reason, but the last 3 halves, they were 14-14. That was huge. The D was solid all weekend making other teams work. Obviously our conversion %age can improve, but there were not many ez wide open goals.

I am looking forward to Sarasota, should be fun. I need to look for flights!

ps Truck wins like 15-3 in the game to go. I only saw the first point, >13 turnovers (that is serious).

pss Bait beats Nemesis in the game to go.

The blogworld is silent. We all must be nervous for the upcoming regional tournaments, except for AJ, what happened? No regional results? Who on Chain was throwing beer on the field?

15 teams in the Central, our pool gets the 3 teams. 2 games to 17, then *hopefully* semis. This will be my 10th regionals. I only have 1 regional championship, so disappointing. 5 final appearances (97 w/ Truck, 01, 02, 03, 04 w/ Zero). Only in 02 did we win. 97 we were blown out by Z, half our team was scared s***less to even be in that game. 01 lose to Madison double gamepoint, we were down the whole game. Finally come back, up 16-15, big drop. 16-16. Huck away, they march it down. 16-17. We go onto to lose to Truck and beat Burn to qualify. 02 we win, crappy weekend for regionals b/c the wind was so bad. 03 the year the Truck reign began. They get out big on us, we make a comeback, but the cap horn is blown, I think we pulled within 2 (down 8-3 at half). 04 down to Truck again early 6-3 + 8-4. Comeback to tie it up. They score the last 2 to win......

My goal is to be 2-6 in finals after this weekend. We have to get revenge for our 2 CHUC defeats for that to happen. Most likely Chicago in the semis and then Truck in the finals, assuming everything goes according to plan. It won't be easy, but it will be fun. The weather is supposed to be perfect fall weather, upper 50s. We will see, hopefully I can write about being 4-0 on Monday.

I really have nothing of interest right now.

9 teams have qualified. The top 3 seeds are set. Thank you Sockeye for finishing 3rd. Or do the Condors have an argument to sneak in there? Is one win enough? 4-8 will be some sort of Condors/Ring/Pike/Dog/Bravo assortment. I feel like it will be Condors (assuming 1 in their region)/Ring/Pike/Bravo/Dog. If bravo wins, then something like Bravo/Condors/Ring/Pike/Dog. It seems to me that dog will be 8(assuming a regional W) as the only team they are 500 against is pike, pike gets the nod b/c of last year's nationals. 4th is Condors' if they win, although they did lose to Ring at ECC, so I guess Ring could try to argue for 4th. What do I know? I would vote for David Ortiz.

Anyway, I think Chain is pretty much 9 (although I guess Chain beat Dog this year, so maybe Chain + dog switch, I would give the nod to dog b/c of last year) and #1 from Central should be 10 w/ D-wide 11. Vicious is 16. 12/13/14/15 will be Central #2, NE #2, SW #2, + Potomac. Most likely Potomac #12.

Right now, we are trying to get a 16th team for our regionals. The 15 team format is 4 pools with winner of pools going to semis. It actually would mean 4 games for us to win the tourney, so no change, although our 2 pool play games would be to 17 and we would play the #9 seed instead of #15. All other pools are pools of 4 and games to 11, I think. I was trying to convince myself that 2 games to 17 were better thAn 3 games to 11. I am not sure I can.

In very exciting news, I will be acting RC at regionals, since our rc plays co-ed in the Northeast. I held out for a good contract. I hope someone complains that they are not guaranteed enough games.

Last night, as it rained 4" (literally 4", you should have seen some of the intersections, luckily the Mississippi did not overflow into our house), we formulated our plan to make Hales' dump the disc one time during our game, when is the appropriate time for me to break Tim Halt's hand (the first time was fun), and how can we stop the Apes of Wrath?

Workouts: sat + sun practice, sunday also watched the TC Marathon, a friend from Running Fit, Paul ran it and was the 3rd Master's finisher. 28th overall, although I only saw him at mile 11 (where are practice is). I did my job of informing what Master's place he was (tied for 4th), which I guess was important since the top 5 got money. Mon was a lite run on the way home from work, 22 minutes. Felt ok. Yesterday went to run 10 x (50/70), let's just say the 4" started at the 3rd set, so hopefully I will be able to get to it tonite. The weather is looking cool for regionals in Milwaukee, although if it is sunny, it will be a great fall day to play.