Nationals Preview

So, I play in the mixed game these days. But I can’t really preview the mixed tourney. I have played against the top 4 seeds. I play for the 6th seed. Besides that, I know not much about the other teams besides where they are from. I have seen all the men on Ice and Poodle Club play before (probably). I know that I won’t be able to cheat against Black Molly b/c they have a rules committee member. And that against Bad Larry, I might be playing against the guy who took me to my first ever ultimate Frisbee practice (does Beebee still play?). And Slow White beat us pretty good in ECC so hopefully we get a chance to prove that was a fluke. Other than that, not much.

So I can’t tell you anything about the mixed teams besides the top 4 teams are good.

So yeah, I think I know a lot about open though. Since I used to play in that division. And I no longer do, so I can say things and not worry about them being used against my team in the game. I think. Maybe I will piss off their fans and that might be bad. Oh well, maybe this might be fun.

Pool A:

Jam- Best Case Scenario- Ring is in an off year and Goat does not complete hucks. Worst Case Scenario- one of the above teams gets hot and takes it to them. They won the northwest, so its hard to imagine them losing one of these games. Watch out for – this is a wow, look at the roster team. Kind of like the Rockets when they picked Clyde and Barkley. Well they do better?

Goat- Best Case – they huck well against Jam and Ring. Winning at least one, if not both of those games. Worst Case – a contentious game with Ring that spells defeat and the bottom pools. Watch out for – hucks.

Ring- Best Case – it is their on year, they get a groggy Jam (yeah 6:30 gametime) take them out and then beat Goat. Worst Case – close game with Jam that they lose or win close followed by a big defeat against Goat. Welcome to the bottom pools. Watch out for – a huge battle in round 2 for that power pool spot

VBB – best case scenario – they score 15 goals on Thursday. Worst case – they are shut out. Watch out for – rsd stud #25. I bet he won’t be so bad at nationals, but if he is, this is not a pool to be an asshole in.

In the end, Jam 3-0, Ring 2-1, Goat 1-2, VBB 0-3.


Pool B:

Sockeye – best case – everyone they play talks about how they don’t have a chance and they play 60 points or so on Thurs. Worst Case – They are still asleep and Rhino and dog jump on that. Watch out for – ummmm, everything? Including them being upset. Why are they everyone favorites, yet everyone thinks they are ripe for upset?

Dog (I refuse to call them boston ultimate, get a name) – best case – they coast through their first 2 games and are able to repeat their upset of sockeye. Worst case – their o struggles and Rhino is able to drag them down into sloppy play. Advantage Rhino. Watch out for – Goldstein and Gibson are gamers, can they carry a club team?

Rhino – best case – sockeye literally does not show up and then they get dog to play sloppy. Worst case – they play 2 crappy games and then hiccup v. Pike Watch out for – a lot of turns.

Pike – best case – they catch Rhino after 2 long games. Worst case – their o only score 12 times all day. Watch out for – Dusty’s quad.

In the end, Fish 3-0, Dog 2-1, Rhino 1-2, Pike 0-3. Side prediction – Rhino is in quarters, but Dog is not.

Pool C:
JB – best case – it is their year and it starts in pool play, rolling everyone there. Worst case – injuries take a toll and they forget that everyone is absolutely scared of Beau. But I don’t see them losing the pool. Watch out for – if their O is efficient on Thursday, that could pay dividends on Sat.

Condors – best case – they improve on their play against JB at regionals, this time with the upset. Worst case – their inexperience together bites them in the butt. Watch out for – the return of Dugan. How big will he be?

D-wide – best case – the condors are not ready for them. Worst case- spend too much time in the early games and not winning, following a loss to Machine. Watch out for – sloppy play.

Machine – best case – the catch doublewide on an off day. Worst case – doublewide does not have an off day and Tim Halt can’t throw deep. Watch out for – speed kills, will they able to use it?

Prediction – JB 3-0, Condors 2-1, Machine 1-2, Dwide 0-3.

Pool D:

FG – best case – the gang is back together again and they play like 02. Worst Case – the gang gets together again and they play like they have not played in a tourney together all year. Watch out for – the o tells the story with this team, who is used on it? And how are they scoring early?

Zero – best case – they run everyone into the ground with depth and athleticism, wearing everyone out. Worst case – they play like a bunch of 20 year olds and play too many points. Watch out for – defense, defense, defense

Truck Stop – best case – they don’t yell at each other and play well. Worst case – they play like the 2nd team from the mid-atlantic. Watch out for – a young, hungry team that could sneak in with some clutch play.

Chain – best case – they are on, just like last year, and take the pool by storm. Worst case – their hucks don’t work this year and they dig themselves holes early. Watch out for –lots of hucks.

In the end, #1 - FG 2-1, #2 - Sub 2-1, #3 - Chain 2-1, Truckstop 0-3. Chain and Sub both make quarters.

The long, windy, sometimes rainy road

We were the only team in Burlington to play in all 8 rounds. And I feel that today. But we went 6-2 and we survived and advanced. Maybe not the prettiest route, but still effective.

I will start on Wed. We bought our tix for Tampa, rented a town home and car for a week. Now, that sounds pretty cocky and confident we were going to make nationals. But we decided that no matter what we would go and see friends. And it is an easier/cheaper flight for our parents to come and hang out with us in FLA then say middle of nowhere Montana. We start to pack for our trip to Seattle and then proceed to stay up basically the whole nite b/c our youngest decides not to sleep. Ugh.

Thursday, I worked, got home a bit early, finished packing, loaded up the car, and we got going by 7:00 or so. We had decided to stop in Spokane roughly half way to the Western part of Washington from here. ON the way, we realized we forgot our cell phone (making this a round trip from like 2000, crazy. I can't remember the last time I made a road trip without a cell phone and I used to do it all the time) and T's best/warmest coat. Which also had her favorite frisbee playing gloves in it. So that meant a REI stop sometime before Sat. morning.

Friday, we got a little more sleep that nite woke up, hit the road and made pretty good time to Seattle. Getting onto I5 ~2:30, when we decide to look for a REI just North of the city. After getting lost in probably 1 square mile a couple of times, we finally find it, get the gloves, our kids finally take a nap, but then we get back onto the highway, traffic jam. Ugh. Not fun. Finally did get to the hotel room and they did put us into a handicap room. So much more room in there. If you can ever swing that (especially if you are piling 15 people into room, I recommend it). We swim a bit, order take out from Olive Garden and we are all asleep by 8:30, probably before most of our team was in the hotel.

Oh, I should mention that Friday was an absolute gorgeous day to play frisbee in Burlington. Probably in the high 50s/low 60s, a little win, partly cloudy. No rain.

On Saturday we woke early, got some breakfast in the hotel where Brass Monkey was staying as well. This would be the only time I saw Brass Monkey the whole weekend unfortunately. First game was at 9 and we role in ~8:15ish. Get everything set up, slowly warmup as our sitter was not going to be there until 9.

The weather was not too bad. In the 50s, windy, but not ohmygod it is super windy. Windy enough to make you really focus on your throws, but I felt you would should be able to score in either direction. Not much rain, some occasional light rain, but nothing heavy. Which was good, because with our kids there, it would have been awful with the rain and I am not sure what we would have done.

The only other pre-games comment is our fields were of a different orientation. Meaning they were perpendicular to the other fields, I was a bit worried about this at the start of the day. But the wind was not a huge of a factor, so it was less bothersome then I thought it would be.

We had a pretty sweet set-up on the fields thanks to our teammates. One tent that was almost completely covered and with a propane heater in it. That was great, plus they made some chicken noodle soup after round 2 in there. And they had also put a tarp over a soccer goal. Not as warm, but keep the wind and rain away. Not too bad for a bunch of frisbee players.

Anyway onto the games, first round against Boise a Big Sky opponent, but I have never even seen these guys play, so that means nothing to me. We got up early and I felt we were in control the whole game. I think 8-4 at half, but they broke us twice to start the 2nd half, to 8-6, I think. Anyway, it finishes like 15-8 or so-ish. I played ~6 or 7 points maybe more in this game. I know the first 5 points I was in, we scored. I was trying to make that my goal, score every point I am in, but on the 6th they scored. I had one turn, a deep backhand. Another throw that could have been a turn, but Ken made a great diving grab in the endzone. Threw one or 2 other goals, We played a lot of zone and would continue to do that most of the weekend. It worked pretty fell, although this team had a bit of success working up against our z.

Round 2, we play a team from Portland I think. Um, we won this game. 15-?. I am not sure about anything else. I threw an invert away, that is about all I remember. We played more zone and it worked well. They probably scored around 6 or 7.

Round 3 was against CTR, they had beaten us in Portland, so we were pretty psyched to play them. And they were not ready to play against our zone. I was playing deep-deep for the first couple of points and they looked out of sorts against the zone. We went up at least 3-0, maybe 4-0. And they did not even attempt to throw a pass more than 10 yards upfield until after point 3, when Shasta from Humboldt threw a pretty sweet hammer that surprised the hell out of me. And then I realized who it was. We scored a bunch, they did not. We played a lot of zone and it worked. And we scored a lot too. I think this was my only non-turnover game of the weekend. But that will be discussed later. Anyway, good game to get ready for Shazam, it gave a little bit of momentum. And allowed us to watch a bit of Golden Spike taking down Mischief. I really never knew what the score was, but I saw 4 straights Spike goals, so I took that as they were in charge.

2 Notes about this game, I started feeling low energy. I took a lot of Gu and downed some of the soup, and some cliff bar. Rebounded nicely during the middle of it. 2nd, they were not happy with our cup and complained to me personally about it. I was not in the cup much, so did not notice anything, but we discussed this as a team and it seemed we were conscious of it the rest of the tourney. Although it became an issue a couple times later. Many of the accused though, thought they were not within 10 ft. or were just in there b/c of a crash. So yeah, not sure if we are quite to "Florida Club" type zone yet.

Round 4, the semis v. Shazam. We went over to their fields and got ready to play. And we come out pretty strong. We recieve to open the game and march down for the goal. The game goes to 4-3 with very few turns by either team, maybe 1 or 2 by each team. Michael Faris was big early for us scoring and throwing a goal. At 4-3, we have 2 great opportunities to score. After a d, I missed Fast deep in the end zone. I waited a bit too long to throw (kind of like a bad three point shooter holding the ball and lining up the shot). We work up to their endzone a 2nd time, but turn it over. They score 4-4. We score again to make it 5-4. Now, we get a turn, work up to midfield and Will hits me deep in the endzone 6-4. They score 6-5, we answer, 7-5, and then break again 8-5. I don't remember how we got that break, but it was really nice... Anyway, we take half and we are feeling pretty good. Get a quick drink and get ready to pull for the 2nd half.

We obviously played well in the first half, but there was a drop in the endzone. And another turn right on the goalline. So we left some points on the field. So I think we were still pretty confident going into the 2nd half.

They score fairly quick to start the 2nd half. 8-6. And then the wheels fall off. They apply more pressure on d and instead of responding with more movement near the disc and looking to our cutters. We respond with less movement from the handling position. ANd th stack approaching the sideline that we are being forced. So no real room to cut to the open side. No real chance to move it to the break force side. Which lead to 2 options. A risky dump that was tightly covered. Or a deep look. There were several turns on our first o point. One reciever almost toed the line on a deep throw at the back, but he lost possession. Another deep shot to me went out the back. Probably 2 more turns by us on that possession. They eventually score. 8-7. 8-8. Timeout us, try to readjust. 8-9. And then 9-9. Ok, maybe we have stopped the floodgates. We do get a d at this point, but we turn it back over in like 2 throws, quick goal for them 9-10. The rest of the game was just as ugly for us, maybe score to make it 10-13. I was able to get a d long on Finn, but 2 throws later we give it right back to them on the endzone. We had nothing left, they flew right past us 10-15. Ugly.

Again, I felt like we left some points out there in the 2nd half, but I must credit the pressure of Shazam in the 2nd half. We froze like one of the deer on Highway 93 between Missoula and Hamilton. It is never good to respond to pressure d by creeping closer to the thrower and not starting your cuts earlier. But I think it was a lesson learned.

Besides the obvious, we can no longer finish 1st thing. We now had to play at 8 am against Mischief. now that is a great deal. Thank you Tarr.

We get the kids back to the hotel (incidentally, our kids are pretty amazing and I do not understand how they still like us). Get some Thai food. Bathtime. And then bedtime. Pretty early again.

Going to sleep, I realized I have never been apart of the back door this early on Sunday since my Michigan club days. I tried to forget them, but alas I still recall it.

Anyway, we get out of the hotel as early as we can on Sunday and get to the fields by like 7:20. The temp is maybe a little nicer today, but the wind is horrible. An extreme downwind/upwind game. And that is how we start it out. Oh yeah, keeping track of turns is no longer an option. I had 3 on Saturday, but was fully ready for 40 + turns today, no reason to play around with the disc going downwind, take your shot and run. GOing upwind, more focus and caution, but hard as hell to throw it.

We had lost the flip, so we receive going upwind to start the game. Get it to Markie deep to James, got it, and then a goal. 1-0 we get the first upwind break. We may have converted the first down winder, but they answer back on us upwind soon after. Luckily, it was all my fault. They worked it up a bit, turn it. I proceed to bomb it. OUT OF BOUNDS. Now, not a "never came in bomb". But a "it went out way up here bomb". CRAP! This was the first and only time I would do this all weekend, but it was crucial (winner of this game gets a bye and then most likely Salt Lake. Loser has to play again, and again, and then again to get to nationals. Again, thank you Tarr).

Anyway, an up the line forehand to Tyler that I can't get to. I thought he was on the line, but his team was adamant about his first foot (which I did not see) being down. No one on my team to really help my cause, goal. Tyler was nice about, some of his teammates were not as nice. But oh well, I gave the disc about 15 yards from the endzone and then could not get to the throw before the receiver in their endzone. We lost the break.

I think we both broke one more time that half. Them first against our zone a forehand goes up to Tyler, I was totally baiting it. And then I slipped. (Now, I am not positive I would have gotten it, but I am >90% sure I would have gotten it). A couple of people looked at me and said what happened. That was great. Plus, I wrenched my back on that play. It was a great feeling. Both of their upwind goals were within my reach.

Halftime, 8-7 them. We pull downwind to them, even up the game. At 8-9, soft cap goes on (just to let you know I am leaving out a lot of turns). And we trade until they win 10-11. We had the disc once or twice on the final possession, but failed to convert.

This game we had completely given up on our offense going upwind. We were looking to put it whenever we could and we never tried to really work it. We approached this game more like an o/d line game rather than an upwind/downwind game. This is what happens when you don't play together much and you don't really understand how your personnel plays together. Mischief was definitely the more comfortable team in the extreme weather and had a much better plan. We had our chances, but they had more and obviously took advantage of that. We did not have the best strategery in the game, but we were still in it, so as long as we learned we would be ok.

The one issue I did have with them in this game was they seemed to be triple teaming on purpose right after a turn. Now, I will give them the benefit of the doubt that there was some miscommunication about who was on the mark, but I can count at least 5 times when we got the disc and as the thrower got to the endzone line there was a wall of 2 or 3 people within 4 feet of him. At first it seemed accidental, but later it was still there. I mentioned it to one of the players doing it, but it did not seem to matter. To continue the story, they were unhappy with our seemingly double teams (as was CTR from earlier), but our double teams were at least close to legal (and we moved out when asked and I think adjusted well after CTR complained). I will give the benefit of the doubt if the person breaking the rule is at like 7/8 feet. 10 feet is farther than people think. But when there are 2 extra people within 4 feet of the disc, that is a bit sketchy.

Twice this past weekend, people counted out steps to get to the double teamer in the cup. Both times, their steps were at the tippy toes (in the first case) or just before (in the case where I was accused) of the double teamer. I have never seen the walk off before and then I saw it twice in the same weekend. Funny. And I really don't think I was double teaming, in fact, when called for it, I responded with "No I'm not". So yeah, that lead to a discussion.

With all that said, that is not why we lost. If anything, they were telling us to work it more and not take so many dumb chances. They were actually helping us and we did not take it. Whoops.

Round 5 (quarterfinals of the shitbox, single elim). We play Family Style from the Bay area. Now, we have no more losses, we have to win in order to keep playing for a spot in FLA. As it has been stated many times, the team who survives the shitbox, is the team that embraces it and loves it the most. And it look like we rebounded nicely. We get the first upwind break early. But we never convert after that, including me turning it over on our own goalline on a break mark backhand that only had to go 4 yards. It went 2.

They then broke back. And took advantage of the flip (they won the flip, so took the wind) and so if we traded the rest of the game we were done. We still had not changed our strategy, we were too aggressive going upwind with the disc. Including times when we were working well against them. And we had not really figured out the subbing situation yet (it appears as though I am throwing the sub callers unders the bus. But it was new for them, and I think they had to figure out the correct strategy. and eventually they did and eventually it worked. Unfortunately, at this point in the game, it did not look so pretty).

So after they take half 8-7, we talk about upwinde a bit more. Work it more, move the disc and take only good chances. Along with that, put a line of better, more experienced throwers in going upwind b/c there was a good chance that no matter what d they played, they were going to turn it over.

Anyway, we tie it up at 9s, and then things go well. The upwind strategy of not-bombing-it-early-and-often worked. I forget how, but we scored it. 10-9 us. I was basically all on the downwind points from 8-7 on, so we went in. Family Style does work it and then have a 15 yarder up the line to a wide open woman for the score (We were in zone). The throw floats though, Ryan d's it, but it it still there, Kerr comes running in to d. I jack it back to the other endzone and eventually we secure the downwinder. Up 11-9 (soft cap on). We score again upwind. 12-9. Callahan for the game by Ryan. 13-9. We survived.

Round 7 v. Portland. With our better strategery in place, we come out and are in control. Our momentum is back and a little bit of our confidence too. By this game, I was in almost all downwind points. And an occasional upwinder. It was still windy as hell and not rainy. We were up 8-4 at half. And take the game 14-8, I think, Not giving up an upwinder at any point in ths game. I don't remember much here, because it felt like it went pretty smoothly. Our zone was working well. The O was working upwind and downwind. The downwind O was still on their half of the field, throw it and hope for the best (aka keep it in bounds). Once we got the turn over half field, relax and play normal O. I had my best catch of the weekend, keeping my toe down for a goal near the back from James. And also my worst, whiffing on a quick dishy from Ken. (that is called a drop).

Sidebar - I have heard 2 sarcastic comments secondhand about this blog. First, on the previously mentioned grab "Just because he blogs about how much he runs, does not mean he was in" and another "I bet well read about how great a decision that turnover was later" Please keep the constructive criticism coming.

Anyway, Round 8, finals of the shitbox. Us v. our friends from Salt Lake, Golden Spike. Just at the end of the portland game, the rain started to come. And then it really came. It was a horrible downpour (note, not as bad as 98 regionals in AA, but approaching there). Luckily, the kids had just been put in the stroller and were napping under the shelter. And luckily, Stu's in law brought scallops wrapped in bacon just before this game. And luckily, Golden Spike did not seem ready (and they were a bit injured) to play this game. We win the flip and we trade 2-2. Same strategy of bombing it downwind and trying to work it upwind. We score to make 3-2 after I had dropped one in the endzone from James, the beginning of the end for me in this game. I stay in for the upwind, they play z after their turn, and we work it very well for a while. Get close to the endzone, I get a swing, hit fast in the back corner of the endzone, upwind break #1. 4-2. Then 5-2, 6-2, 7-2, 8-2.

We take half, I am getting cold and very wet. More of the same, it turns out to be 15-3. I play a couple more downwinders, but stop at 12-2 or 13-3 b/c Shrum asks me if I am shivering. So I try to huddle underneath coats as long as possible. Luckily, it went quickly.

Anyway, we got to Florida and that is the main point of regionals. Did not pull off an upset of a higher seeded team, but did not lose to anyone else, more importantly. We will have a chance to do the upset thing in FLA and that is all I can ask for. I think we learned a lot about our team, especially strategic decisions in the face of horrendous weather. Hello, sarasota wind. Good times.

More importantly, we eventually made it back to Hamilton. Our kids, a bit tired, are fine and will be forced to do this again, hopefully in warmer conditions, and with grandparents to help. Thank God!

Quick summary of my play - ok on Saturday, wish for something more dynamic in the Shazam game, maybe handle or switch up the lines a bit more then (And they cheated, ok that is not true, they played a great 2nd half).

Day 2, I would put my turnovers ~50. Many downwind bombs that failed, although I connected with about 4 or 5 in each game. And about 10-12 that failed. Dropped 2 discs that was bad. GOt beat twice in the upwind endzone against mischief, that was bad. But the rest of the time, played ok deep d or I was in the cup doing a lot of marking, that was fun too.

Soreness level today, a bit high. My back is pretty stiff, yeah long car ride/no run yesterday. Hopefully, a run today will loosen it up.

Silent blogs must be regional time

We are officially the #4 seed this upcoming weekend. And pool play with 16 teams. This is a little weird for me, as in the central we almost always used the double elim bracket (except in 2005, which we won, I will take that as a good sign). So Saturday is 4 games, with the semis or first round of the back doors as the last round of the day. Oh yeah, and rain too. I don't mind playing frisbee in the rain. I am not psyched about having 2 little kids out in the rain.

If winning is not enough of a motive on Saturday, then sleeping in should be. You make finals, you have until noon. If you don't make the finals, you have until 8 am. Various scenarios to play out from there with hopefully no one starting their rounds early.

In our pool is CTR, the #3 team from the Bay Area. I am no idea about this team besides we lost to them at Portland. Schadenfreude from Boise (4th team from our section) and Shotgun (2nd team from Seattle's section). It is weird to go into a regional and not know anything about my opponents. I went to central regionals for 9 straight years and had a scheme to adjust if our normal o/d did not work. In this case, I will be learning on the fly about those opponents.

If everything goes according to our plan (meaning we hold seed and get by the previous mentioned 3 teams), we have (probably) Shazam in the semis. They were the team that handled us the easiest at Spawnfest. So it would be good to have the chance to play them again. I did not feel we played our best and I am hoping that was just a hiccup and not something they did. Again, hopefully we get a chance to show them we had an off game in August.

Sunday there are too many factors to predict. And saying anything will be bad. Maybe I have already said too much.

Nothing else really to discuss, it is good to have the butterflies in my stomach. It should be a wet, fun weekend.

Workouts - pretty ez the past week. Resting and trying to make sure my gut is ok. The pain is pretty much gone, still a little sore, but I was able to do one sprint workout and also survived a practice on Sunday. Most importantly, after each day, I felt good.

Sprint workout - 8 x (50/100/50), 30 s between reps, 2 m between sets. The 100s were in the 12s (not low 12s, maybe like mid 12s Pbo).

This week's workout will either be 5 x (50/60/70/60/50) or the same minus the 70 yard sprint. Not sure if I will do the full or abbreviated workout. The other thing about moving out of the central region is that I am more worried about not making nationals. Back in Minneapolis, this was not a week to taper. In fact, a couple of times I remember trying to go extra tough on the stair workout that I would do the Thursday before regionals. Now, the legs need to be a bit fresher. Although we are driving over Thurs/Fri to Seattle, so probably 2 days off there. I think I am going to try to do the full workout, my legs should get plenty of rest.

OK, I don't think I gave any bulletin board material.