What if there was a quiz on the rules to be able to play at nationals? Seriously. How well do people really know the rules?

You had to score greater than 90% to play at nationals.

One guy on our team called a lot of fast counts. No big deal. But he would almost always get the count back to 0 b/c when the marker went down, he did not say the word "stalling". In the rulebook, it says you have to say "stalling". Brilliance.

Or the guy who called travel on me (not at nationals) for chaning speed as I was walking then running to the goalline. He said that was a violation. After he makes that crappy call, the whole play is dead.

Maybe not for nationals. Maybe for regionals would be more appropriate. How would the 10th place team at regionals score on a rules test?

At UPA sponsored tourneys, each team would have a bye round and during that bye they would have to take a test. Sounds like fun.

How many people have actually read the rules? How many just have learned the rules from their captains? How many of those captains knew the rules?

Or would this increase the # of arguments, because now everyone would have read the rules. Instead of a couple loudmouth geeks spouting out rules, all the dumb guys would get into arguments as well. So maybe this isn't the best idea. Then defenders would really know how to cheat.

I am not claiming to be perfect. I f'd a situation up last year observing sectionals, for whatever reason I let people set up in different positions after a foul call in the endzone.

Although it was believed that I started before July 2006, it was not until the summer after my freshman year that I first played at an organized practice in South Bend.

Once back in Ann Arbor for the fall, I began to attend ultimate practice. Ann Arbor ultimate was the furthest thing from college frisbee at the time. Almost all the college eligible players were grad students. I believe in spring 1996, there were about 8 people who went to regionals, but I do not know. And anyone else who came to practice was a local who wanted to use the university fields, but not develop any team.

So the scene was not the best for a college team. Luckily, we had a couple of people/things in our favor.

1. Big Ten school means grad students (in your face small liberal arts colleges). I mean 2 in particular. --Jon Bakija. This guy did everything, organizing the fields, starting intramurals, organizing tourneys.... And he was a grad student with college eligibility He is not someone I would say was a great athlete, but he could run forever, he could throw, he loved to stretch, and he did all the behind the scenes work. --Brian Lane. I have no idea who was in charge before this ex-Yale B teamer arrived, but when I got there, Brian was in charge. This was a mistake for all the club guys who wanted the university's time. He got us interested in catching goals and laying out.

2. Non-eligible players who were interested in helping out youngsters. This is absolutely huge if you are starting a team. Dave Moran, Terry Cussen, Dave Miller, Mike Van Lent, Gene Hsu, and some others. I think all these guys played in college and knew how fun it could be. They help us separate from the other duders who only wanted field space. Even though that meant they would eventually have less field space. I learned a ton from these guys. Plus, when they played with us, they could throw. Maybe I discounted throwers in an earlier post, but for the beginning of a college team, throwers are important.

3. Many newbies who wanted to play. Myself, Geoff Buhl (Geoff had the funniest thing happen to him. He took a Noah forehand through the cup right in the mouth. Lost 2 teeth, I believe... I still think he plays with a mouthguard), and Karl Koto all started at the same time. Throw in Wu, Kevin, Dave Hunter, and others. There were all of a sudden 10 or so college eligible players always around. Unheard of in AA before 96. Add in Phil, Jaegs, Jay, and a couple more in the winter. We had plenty for a team. And we always to practice. Or we met a ton on the diag or law quad to throw. Barely a day went by without throwing. If you are beginning or trying to make a college team, throw at least 100 backhands and forehands everyday. Even if you already made the team, do that. I was always throwing.

4. Lighted fields. I did not have to miss dinner. No conflict with afternoon classes. What else was I doing from 8-10 on Mon and Wed? Looking back, Michigan was very nice to us. We got a decent amount of field space that increased each year. We got to host plenty of tournaments. At Minnesota, it seems like they get barely any field space and barely any indoor time.

We only played 1 tourney as a college team all fall. Some of us played on the club team that went to sectionals and regionals that year.

But as a college team, we only had 1 thing, the AA fall tourney. I think it was only 1 day that year. Of course, Chicago and Northwestern were there. We played them at every single tournament for like 3 years. And I do not think we ever lost to them. There were not many tourneys in the Midwest at the time. I felt like we were springing up at the same time as a lot of the current Great Lakes teams were. Only really IU and ND were established. Maybe OU + Oberlin as well.

Anyway, I do not remember anything about that tourney. I remember we lost to the Ann Arbor Club team and that is it. I do remember playing in snow, diving in mud, and starting to really dig ultimate. We had no offense. Although we had 2 plays.

#1 Hitt. The first ever played I came up with. Huck It To Tim.

#2 Fried Rice. I have no idea who taught us this. I think this dude named Jon that played in high school. Basically, we would call someone fried rice on the line. And anytime you yelled fried rice, he would cut. Pretty complex. I do remember calling fried rice on a dead disc. Wu was in the game. The other team pointed to him and said he is cutting. I forget who fried rice really was, but it was not Wu. That was really funny. Basically, we never called Wu fried rice after that.

Having no concrete offense was definitely an interesting way to learn. Sometimes I wonder if some of the newer Zero guys do not get the opportunity to be as creative as we where when we would just assign 3 handlers, 2 mids, and 2 deeps. Even though we never defined what these positions did, we all had it in our own head what they should do. And that is what we did. For example, Karl thought middle meant never to cut and only get the disc if you are wide open. I thought deep meant you should always cut. It definitely allowed me to free lance and make stuff up. If you ever watched us, it was pretty clear we were all doing different things. It allowed us to learn how to move without the disc though.

Now, if someone gets over anxious, I snap at them.... I guess we on Zero are not meant to give people the chance to do what they want. We want to win and you need to fit in. Although tryouts do not have a lot of structure in terms of offense, you can see some thought and creativity there. But one month is probably not enough.

The worst throw in the world is the high release backhand. Ok, there are dumber throws. And dumb throwers, but look at the best. None of them are defined by the high release backhand. They all can throw it. But it seems as though they prefer not to.

The high release backhand is the first "trick" throw that college kids pick up. Probably the first one I picked up. And usually the first one all of the rookies I see pick up. It is not a bad throw for a quick little dump. Or if the marker has over-committed to stop your low backhand. But to use this throw to beat a cup through the middle. Or throw a 25 yard break mark pass. Or do anything more than just to continue the point. That is pretty stupid. Yes, there are counter examples. I play with a dude who loves to break the mark this way. He started on our O. I must admit to holding my breath anytime he flung this in the air over the marker. Where is it going to end up?

I think there is also a difference between a high release backhand and a backhand thrown from a higher release point. The first means (to me) you are throwing over someone. Or kind of flicking a backhand up in the air, to come down somewhere else. The most common example is a college team working against a zone. Thrower gets it. Receiver 5 yards to the side or behind the cup. Instead of a low break mark, thrower goes over the top of the cup. This gets d'd by the cup or by another zone defender b/c it is that easy to d. The second means to throw a backhand, but at a higher release point. Maybe semantics, but a big difference.

Here are some alternatives/advice/thoughts:

- Don't be so lazy, pivot around the mark. Geez.

- Just because it works indoors does not mean it will work outdoors. (This means nothing to anyone on the west coast or south, but it means a lot to us midwesterners).

- It is much better to throw low and stretch past the marker. You will throw with more spin. And you can more easily throw past a marker rather than throw over.

- Get a scoober. High release backhand is very often used when trapped on the forehand line. With a scoober, you never have to change grips. You can get it off quicker. You can get more spin on it. It also makes you look like a better thrower.

- Never, ever try to throw over a cup with any throw unless it comes out in blade form. Therefore, work on your blades or hammers.

- Any wind situation will take your high release and shove it. The high release has less spin than a throw at normal level or lower. Not a lot of high releases thrown in Sarasota on Saturday.

- If you tryout for a team that I am on, I will immediately label you "not a thrower".

Happy turkey day.

One caller says: "I would go so far as to say that I'd take a less athletic "player" over someone who is faster but looks lost out there."

I completely agree. If you have field sense, you will be light years ahead of anyone that you tryout against. While at Michigan, I think there were only a handful of freshmen that got "it" within the first 2 weeks so they could start distancing themselves from other freshmen. These guys were always contributors starting in the fall of their first year.

The "it" here is very hard to describe. Some people know how to cut in the middle of the point. Others need to be told for a year or 2 when to cut. Some know d positioning without being taught. Others need help each year. The more "it" you have, the more likely you will be able to make up for your slower first step or your 15" vertical leap. Being smarter can get you open much more than being fast. Now, smart and fast. That is a combination.

You can definitely be taught "it". Just some people struggle with it for awhile.

All other freshmen we kept showed athletic potential like running fast, jumping high, or being 6' 7". I would be more willing to give some with athletic ability who looks lost out there more of a look then someone who can throw but slow as dirt.

On zero this year, we had 2 guys from the last junior worlds team tryout. One hella-athletic dude (arguably the athletic tryout) with solid throws, but lost on O + D. Another very solid thrower, not the nearly the athlete (but still a good one), and very, very smart with and without the disc.

The 2nd guy made our team ez. The first lasted awhile, but was always out of position on d and misreading situations on o. The only time the first guy would make a play was if the disc was thrown to HIM. Not to his man. Only to him.

The second guy could make the same plays, but also create opportunities on O and D. He could create with the disc or get open without the disc. His will power seemingly got d's in tryouts. He was great to play w/ b/c you only had to teach him the o.

Among other things, it required to big of an investment for us to keep the first juniors guy. A very nice guy with a lot of potential. We will see how much he has improved next year. I hope he gets "it".

Basically, "it" is a very good thing to have and can make up for any shortcomings. Try to remember what you have been taught. And learn by watching others.

Here we go, I know everyone has been waiting for this, the history of magnUM according to me. What you will get today is a brief overview of my 5 years there and over the next couple of months, I will attempt to give more details and give my thoughts on how to build a semi-successful college team.

We have gone through 2 phases. Phase 1 starts basically in 95/96ish, we were not yet magnUM and practices were filled with a lot of non-college Ann Arbor club players. Out of the mix of AA locals and grad students, a small team of grad students got more and more undergrads to participate. Basically, magnUM comes out of this mix in fall 97 (epic game, definitely to be discussed).

Phase 1 ends/Phase 2 begins after Boulder '99. The core of the team over the past 3 years either graduated (undergrad or grad) or ran out of elgibility. We would transform from a grad student heavy team to a team of less than 20% grad schools (I know, I know all you little liberal arts college guys are thinking, grad students are unspirited. I laugh at you.)

Phase 2 continues today with mainly undergrads, sprinkle in some grad students, but the core seems to be youngsters.

So what have I learned about forming a team, since we did it basically twice when I was there.

There are many important things, but if you want to be a team that can succeed, you need a lot of one thing: athletes. Throwers are way overrated (or kids who can only throw). There were plenty of guys who could throw, but were not very fast, not very determined, and not very athletic. But they could throw. I am pretty sure not a one of those guys ever made our team (here is a good time to make fun of Brix, but I feel he was semi-athletic).

By the end, guys would show up that had played in high school. Now there are some schools that have sweet ultimate programs. I got to see some of that this summer. ANd I have played with some of the best out of these programs. Unfortunately, none of these guys ever came to Michigan. My take was if they played ultimate in high school, there were not good enough to play other sports (I know, there are plenty counter examples, but again they did not go to Michigan). Even looking at the Minneapolis high school league, it still appears there are not many good athletes playing.

So, I wanted guys who had played other high school sports. My preference was soccer or basketball or football. Some track or cross country background was good too. But if you played a sport, I wanted you out there.

We took are lumps early. My first 2 years, we were not a good throwing team. If we stayed close with you, it was with our athleticism. If your team is made up of good athletes, they will learn how to throw. That is partly what makes them a good athlete. Look throwing is not the easiest thing to learn, but if you put in time and effort over a year, you can become a solid thrower who is reliable. Eventually, we were able to be competitive at the highest level.

The hardest part is getting the athletes. To get them, you have to make sure they know you are around. Some guys go to school and want to be competitive still. Ultimate is getting more popular, but not many know how fun and competitive it can be. You have to find them.

1. You need to have free clinics teaching people how to play (oh, co-ed clinics help out for both teams. College guys want to be somewhere with college girls. ANd vice versa. Huge bonus. Trust me on this one.) Have like 3 or 4 of these clinics in your usual practice time. Another funny trick we would do was if you gave us your name and e-mail, you would be entered into a raffle for free discs. We would take the names and then "draw" the names. And by draw, we would make sure the people we wanted to come back won the discs.

2. You need to play pick up ultimate on main drags of campus. We used to play right on Palmer field early in the semester. A crappy field, but within 50 yards of 5 dorms. Everyone is welcome. Also, you need to be throwing the disc on your "mall" or "diag" area as much as possible. There was always magnUM guys on campus throwing if the temp was above 40 or 50. The more frisbees people see, the more they get interested.

3. Flyer the dorms. Put as many flyers in as many dorms as possible. Tell them when you are playing.

4. Ad in the newspaper or ad in any welcome magazine or any freshman publication.

5. Have a party, show the kids you can have a fun time. Make sure there are girls.

I hope you learned something today. Very soon, you will get more details about individual years and players. GOod stuff.

Some team stats (just points played, does not include multiple turn points)

Jam (3-8; 7-15): O 1st half: 3-7, 2nd half 4-7, 7-14; D 1st half 0-4 no ds, 2nd half 0-4 at least 6 ds, 0-8

Pike (8-7; 15-13): O 1st half: 7-8, 2nd half 4-6, 11-14; D 1st half 1-7, 2nd half 3-7, 4-14
[Note, I do not believe there was ever more than 2 turns on a point the whole game. In the 2nd half, I believe we converted every turn we got. At best, we forced 4 turns. Definitely under 15 turns the whole game.

VC (8-7; 15-11): O 1st half: 7-8, 2nd half 4-4, 11-12; D 1st half 1-7, 2nd half 3-7, 4-14

Bravo (8-7; 9-15): O 1st half: 7-8, 2nd half 1-7, 8-15; D 1st half 1-7, 2nd half 0-2, 1-9
[Note, first half very ugly by both teams, greater than 20 turns in the first half. 2nd half very clean by Bravo, not so much by us]

Potomac (8-7, 15-11): O 1st half: 6-7, 2nd half 4-5, 10-12; D 1st half 2-8, 2nd half 3-6, 5-14

George (7-8, 15-16): O 1st half: 6-7, 2nd half 6-8, 12-15; D 1st half 1-8, 2nd half 2-8, 3-16
[Note, definitely no more than 2 turns total in a given point. Also, the d was, I believe 3-7 in total conversions, meaning 7 total d, their d was roughly 3-6, maybe 7]

Total O 1st half 36-45 (80%), 2nd half 23-37 (62%) , 59-82 (72%); D 1st half 6-41 (15%), 2nd half 11-34 (32%), 17-75 (23%)

Sorry, I am a #s guy. Just wanted to see what they looked like.

Some more personal evaluation of natties

Jam - If I would have played by best game ever, I think we lose that game 15-8 instead of 15-7. The only thing I wonder about this game was could we as captains done anything different to be more competitive in this game? Or did we need this ass-kicking. Also, gave Bart a charlie horse. And got a d on him.

Pike - Start off on D v. these guys. I took Danny the first point or 2, but switched onto Bailey when I realized, hey, he pretty much plays like me. I thought I did a pretty good on him. Made him work hard, got a deep d on him, and had a almost point block that resulted in a beautiful d by Shane. That eventually gave us the lead. I threw a couple goals. Eventually, finished the game playing on the o team a little more due to injuries, but came in on an injury sub on the final d point to score the game-winner. Also, Bailey gave me a compliment "You are the only ultimate player who makes me feel fat." Skinniest guy in competitive ultimate!

VC - Play a fair mix of both O and D. Nothing too spectacular early in the game, mainly throwing hammers against some weird zone that left the middle open. A d later in the 2nd half. One cheap play on game point where the guy is riding my leg and I just throw it and call a foul. That was fun. No turns, but nothing spectacular.

I was very happy with my Thursday play. NO turns, a couple ds. Threw and caught some goals.

JB - moved to O b/c we are unsure of TO's status. I think I should involved him more early instead of easing him back into it. I put a lot of the responsibility that TO does on myself and AB. But I was not sure how he would go. By the end, it was obvious he was ok. Involved in 2 turns. 1. a bad throw by me to Jacob. 2. a throw to boardman where he started to cut deep and I threw the under. I threw a couple goals. And got a d or 2. 2nd half we fell apart, I feel as a captain, that is where I failed most in this game.

Potomac - again mainly O. Did get some d points late in 1st half and beyond. Threw a very weak hammer that should have been a turn, but Boardman saved. So no turns this game. I was happy b/c my man started always sprinting down and right in my grill, eventually was not playing at the end of the game. I like outlasting people. Again, some assists and some goals. I do not remember any d's, but I felt I was good as a deep deep when we played zone against them.

Friday- involved in 2 turns. Not nearly as many ds, but we make it to the quarters.

FG - back mainly on the d, although a decent # of o points throughout the game. I covered, mainly, one of their 2 guys on O that does not do much. I was hoping to be able to sneak away and get a couple ds. But major attempts of me poaching resulted in goals. One where I am not sure how I did not get. Another one that Pbo makes a beautiful run, tips it, but my man still catches it. So not very successful poaching. I did not get a d during the game, but I do not think that I played horrible d. We broke 3 times. I threw the last goal. Called the play on the 2nd goal after a to. And the first goal, I do not think was after a timeout, but I am not sure. Goldstein caught it, I forget from who. As I can remember, I was involved in 3 or 4 turns. 1. bad, moonball hammer by me. 2. OUt of timeout, miscommunication between chaz and I on the dump. I started going the other way he threw the same way. 3. The to on gamepoint us where I needed to get open. 4. I think I threw the disc that was dropped on 14s. So involved in only 2 turns all weekend until then. Craptastic. I threw a couple of deep goals late which felt good. I did not throw an incomplete huck all weekend until the elimination games.

I won't evaluate my play of the elim games. I just do not like doing it. Although I threw ~3 or 4 turns in them.

All in all, pretty good weekend. As a player, I would have liked to get at least 1 d against furious. Also, not been involved in so many turns. And also help stop the bleeding more in the Bravo game. I must admit though of thinking a lot of the 2nd half of the Furious game more than anything.

As a captain, late in the furious game, making sure we knew what to do with a high stall count was a brain fart. Also, at 14-12 it seemed we may have relaxed a little. I could have stressed the importance of ending the game on d. The 2nd half of the Bravo game still remains a mystery. They played well that is for sure.

A lot of talk these days about fouling, cheating, etc. And it made me think about my game and how big of a cheater I am. As a player, not very big.

I feel like I have only fouled once on purpose*. 2001 natties with zero against dog in our pool play. I felt forch had intentionally fouled twice on the mark on my teammates. So next point, I intentionally fouled him on a huck attempt. He was not too happy, I felt dirty. I guess retribution. Seriously though, I do not think I have ever fouled intentionally besides that. I definitely have fouled on the mark before or a receiver, etc., but never on purpose. Usually it is me getting faked out or reaching to try to get a point block or something. I used to travel on my backhand when I started, but today I make an effort to keep my pivot foot still at all times.

(*At practice, I foul routinely, especially against people I feel may get fouled in a game. Also, in less than major tourneys, I will often times foul my friends so we can laugh about it or I can complain to them they are a wimp. I do not consider this cheating, rather having fun or trying to make my teammates better.)

As a sideline guy or just watching the play on the field, I do not call stuff just b/c it was close or go against what other teams say. If it is close and a teammate of mine calls it one way, I will usually support. But if no one knows, I just don't call in our favor.

Great, I have just spent a couple of paragraphs talking about how awesome I am.

Now, where I wonder how much of a cheater I am is as a captain. Let's go back to the fouling on the mark example. I have never told, taught, or proclaimed to anyone that they should foul on the mark. But I have never discouraged anyone else if it has been said "Do not let Parinella get that throw off. Foul him if you have to." I will say to a comment like that "Better yet, just get the block." How bad is it that I have never told the person who said the first comment, "Hey, don't tell people to foul"?

Or there are guys on my team past and present that I know will foul more often than others. Especially, if they are on the opponent's main thrower. I have never addressed this issue with them. Usually when they mark up, I agree with it and start focusing on my match-up. Never do I say, "Hey you, don't foul Fill." I also know what it means when someone comes up to me and says "we need so-and-so on Fill". And I have even thought we need that guy on Fill so we can have a tough mark on him. Tough mark that sometimes (not always) equals a foul.

As a captain, do I have a bigger responsibility to make sure my team plays exactly by the rules? Or am I not spirited for knowing ahead of time that there is a good possibility for a foul? (I will say this, anyone on my team who is sketchy like this, does not always cheat. I am not trying to rat my team out, but there are guys on every team that will push what they can and can't do to opponents). I guess what allows me to sleep at nite is knowing every team has a couple of these guys. Maybe that is not good enough. Just because Truck has guys like this, does not mean we can have guys like this, etc., etc.

I do try to set an example with my play, but maybe not so much with my words. I could be sterner, but I feel I would be nit-picking. Again, I do not feel like we always have sketchy markers on the field. Nor do I feel like those guys are always in that mode of playing.

In the end, it would not matter what I say. Individuals will do what they feel is ok. And I trust my teammates to do that. I have never played with anyone who I felt really bends the rules every game. I think I would have a problem with that. I feel that currently Sub Zero plays an aggressive hard style of ultimate, but not super physical or a style of play that depends on the rules. We win b/c we played better ultimate than you, you win b/c you played better than us. I have not felt since ~02 that a team has out-called us and that was how they won their game. Our big games 2 weeks ago were clean, but also very aggressive and fun. Exactly how I think ultimate should be played. Sometimes we responded well to the challenge and won and other times we did not pull it out.

I guess the other issue with me as a captain is how often I get involved in calls that are made. Against Furious, after we called a couple close calls and their whole team erupted, I was sort of angry. Later, they made 2 close calls in a row, both times I erupted saying something like "Where is the Furious outrage after that call?" I have even yelled at individual players, the Pike game sticks out in my head. This may not be cheating, but it is definitely not very spirited.

My fear with my team is we do not push back sometimes. Lyn one time told me, "ever since you joined Sub Zero, they cheat more". My response was "ever since I joined Sub Zero, you get to cheat less". I do wonder at times how vocal I should be during calls. I tried as best I could to stay out of the way most of natties. I was really upset a couple of times at regionals, so I tried to calm down at natties.

That did not stop me from yelling "great huck aj, that had to be a foul" during a discussion. [speaking of aj, how about the other aj recapping nationals or talking about how chain lightning hates each other now or something. come on!]

Again, a lot of people do this, but as captain I probably should be setting a better example with my potty mouth.

Yeah right, that won't happen anytime soon...

The state of Sub Zero is good. We have done better at natties the last 2 years. We won the central region for the first time since 02. Won the northwest plains section for the first time since 02. Won Chicago* for the first time ever. Won Cooler for the first time since 02. Won Throwdown. Won Aquatennial. Third in Colorado and Boston. We finished with a record of 39-11. With 7 of those losses coming against the top 5, 3 more against teams from the top 12, and only 1 against a non-nationals team.

Where do we go, well we did not win at natties, so obviously we can go up. We were 0-7 against the top 5 teams this year. An improvement needs to be made there if we are to get to semis and beyond. 9-10 against all teams at nationals. A > 500 record would be nice. That would help with confidence going into big tourneys. That would help with coming through in tight spots.

How do we do this? One helpful thing would be all of us to move ~1000 miles either east or west would be nice.

Since we can't do that, we will have to travel. My big thing is just playing more together. Maybe going to Terminus or even something like Fools Fest. Taking 12-14 guys and just keep learning how to play together and hopefully how to pull through some tight spots together. Tourneys in March/April/May that do not mean a ton, but do mean a ton in terms of building a team and getting to know your abilities. Making everyone have to throw and catch and not just rely on the same core of throwers to break the mark and the same speedsters to bust deep. Make everyone do it.

Finishing 6th allows us to pretty much get into an tourney we want (at least I think it does). We probably have to go out west now. Last year, maybe not the best, but this year, we are a little more prepared for it. Labor Day or ECC, here we come?!?!?! Hopefully, finishing 6th will help bring some teams back to Chicago or Cooler or even Aquatennial. We are a young team and we do not have a ton of money to go everywhere. When we get driveable tourneys in Milwaukee, Chicago, we have to go. Even though the comp might not be what is used to, it is still a lot of frisbee and still good for us.

Open tryouts have been great for us the last 3 years. Each year, there has been at least 1 or 2 guys who play big in May and have a stellar season. It sucks to have to rely on that, but I am really hoping we can get some more guys. We had 23 at natties with 4 guys on our roster not there. 2 guys were significant. We will probably lose at least 2 or 3 guys from our 23. So there are definitely spots open.

Plus, no torn acl for Winey. Maybe some minor damage in there, but not having him go through 8 months of rehab again, that is big. That means we could be coming back with the same O as last year. Good stuff. We struggled through 2 or 3 halfs at nationals on O, but for 9 or 10 it was great. Much better than any O I have ever played with nationals. It is good to start with a solid foundation, not a shaky o foundation like 04.

On D, we had times where we looked good on both sides. And times where our d was good, but we literally could not catch a disc. I can't wait to see next year. Everyone had a dumb throw or drop is some of our big games. So everyone should have some motivation.

This is as excited for frisbee in November as I have ever been. I will enjoy this time off, but can't wait for tryouts to start.

So, how do you figure out what pool was the toughest from nationals? Best finish? Top 2 teams? Best average finsih? Well, there is only one thing I can think of, cross country scoring! It is pretty complex, you add up the places and lowest score wins. So let's see, if you consider all 4 teams as scoring then Pool C looks the toughest.

Pool A 34.5: 1, 3.5, 14, 16
Pool B 31.5: 3.5, 6, 7, 15
Pool C 30: 2, 8, 9, 11
Pool D: 40: 5, 10, 12, 13

But say you do like cross country and only count the top 3 with the 4th guy being a tiebreak (in cc, you have 7 runners with only 5 who count). And yes part of the reason I am doing this is it makes my pool the strongest.

Pool A 18.5
Pool B 16.5
Pool C 19
Pool D 27

Maybe strongest/weakest isn't the best, maybe who played the best over last weekend is a better way to describe it. A quick analysis: Pool A was top heavy with the top teams taking 2 of the first three spots and the bottom teams pulling up the rear. Pool B had the strongest top 3, but no one really went all the way and only 1 team really stunk it up. Pool C had a solid top team and 3 decent perfomances from the other team. 3 teams in the prequarters and all 4 in the top 11, made for a tough day 1. Pool D had the worst showing with half of the bottom 6.

There is no clear cut hardest pool although there is a pretty clear poor performing pool. What is tougher a pool? A pool with 2 semis teams? A pool with 3 quarterfinal teams? Or a pool with a semis team, 2 prequarters teams and a 9th place team?

I guess pick your poison.