We lucked out with the weather in SD this past weekend - not a drop of rain. It was such a relief to just relax and play without worrying about the weather. I think this was a very good tournament for both Smaug and me personally. I'm really feeling the pressure of school right now so I'm going to make this recap a bit shorter than usual.
I had Kiosk, Peaches, and Concord in my car for the trip down. Just as Peaches predicted, we talked some serious ultimate on the way. At least Kiosk did, and we listened. Haha. We stayed with Arthi and Ruth, Yugo's old Ptown teammates. They were super nice to us, and gave us sleeping pads and blankets and bagels. And they have an awesome, crazy cat.
Saturday -
We played some not-very-good teams on Saturday. Three of our opponents combined to score a total of 4 points on us. Consequently, the day was kind of a blur of short games and hanging out. No complaints here though. It was a nice change to just relax and feel pretty good about ourselves.
Sonoma St - 13-2
They had surprised us last time we played them by going up 4-0 to start our game at Sean Ryan. Not so much this time.
Squids B - 13-0
I think this was the first time I've ever been on the good side of a bageling. It was very short.
Chico 13-10
Chico was the toughest team we played this day. They were a pretty big step up from the other three teams, and it was tough to tighten up our playing after the level of the first two teams. We went up a few breaks on them and let them hang around until the end of the game. It was closer than it should have been. Chico is mostly cool, tho, and it was pretty fun.
Redlands - 13-2
Penguin's old cronies. We finished up early and I got to see the 'Birds beat Cal B on double game point. Woot!
We cheered on the ladies with some Chipotle and caught a little bit of the showcase game, but the Squids were beating up on SLO so we left. Props to Kiosk for insisting on showering in the UCSD gym. We were the first people to Rock Bottom and so clean! It was refreshing to have a few beers and chill instead doing the responsible thing and going to bed early. Bourbon barrel-aged imperial porter made my night, and I slept like a rock on my little couch.
Sunday
UCSD 11-13
It was chilly and perfectly still for our first big match up of the weekend. We came out strong, with Peaches getting a huge handblock on their goal line on the first point of the game. Break throw to Ratchet and we were up a break. Bam. We put in the next one too, to go up 2-0. We traded a few and they started throwing a box on us, which threw a wrench into our gears. They took half 7-6. They had a dude, Biel?, who was smoking us. We didn't have much of an answer to their deep game. We started cracking their box when we realized that there wasn't even a hint of wind so we could have what we wanted over the top. We traded with them until 11's. They put it in on O, and we turned it and they put it in. Game over.
The Squids are good, but they're far from untouchable. I would love to have another shot at them, maybe at Stanford or sectionals. After this game, we learned that Monday was canceled, making the next game basically Quarters. The top two teams from each power pools were advancing to semis, and we and SLO were both 1-1.
SLO - 14-12
The last time we played SLO, they had put a pretty good beating on us. That was last semester, though, and we're a different team now. We took half on them and went up 8-5, but somehow let them back into the game, at 12s. We have a tendency to tighten up when we have a lead, but we need to just keep playing the way that put us in the lead. I had a very good game, and I'm pretty proud of it after struggling to find my rhythm this season. 2 D's and 0 Turns. I also earned my only "Man card" of the weekend in this game. Sweet.
Cal 13-6
Cal is really freakin good. They have depth and serious athleticism. If they don't do well at nationals, I'll be very disappointed. I was pretty tired after playing a lot in the first two games, and their dudes were running hard the length of the field. They broke us all over the field (again), and made it look generally too easy. They loosened up their lines and we did a little better after half, but not much. We could have definitely used DaVinci, Concord, and Flood in this game. Oh well.
North Texas - 13-10ish
The score on score reporter is not right. This game was pretty close. We we're totally gassed after three tough games, and so were they. The scouting report on them was "the taller the guy, the better he is." So true. They had one dude who was just unreal. There was nothing we could do to stop #19. Anyway, the tall dudes were cool, but just about everyone else on the team were total douchebags. One of them pushed over Banshee in the endzone for fouling him. I really wanted to beat these guys, but it wasn't to be. One of their tall guys was smoking a shitty cigar after the game and I asked him if it was a blunt. "No man, I'm on the probation." Awesome.
On the way back I finally got to check out Stone Brewery, which was everything I could have hoped for. They had tons of taps, and I was ready to indulge when Concord told me that he was leaving early and I would have to drive myself home. Blueballed! It was still pretty fun, tho. I ate some tasty sausages and got to hear about the FBI from Secret Agent Jones.
All in all, it was a very satisfying weekend. It was a very good thing that Monday was canceled because it poured and I got to go home and hang out with my family for the day.
We have three weeks of no tournaments before Stanford, which is probably a good thing. I'm pretty beat from back to back tournaments, and I need some extra time to catch up with school, which is insanely busy. Just thinking about it now makes me want to get working. I'll post some more general thoughts later this week, hopefully.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
TiV - Recap
My car left LA around 10 PM on Thursday with Blackout, Peaches, Falco and Eraser. We had a pretty good time on the way, soldiering through some pretty scary fog and rain in the mountains. Luckily we got in safely staked out some good floor space in our sweet vegas house. It was complete with leopard print master bedroom and matching pool table, jacuzzi tub for two (where Scarecrow and Vonage shared a special bromance), and big screen TV - pretty much everything Smaug could want in a house.
We were in the Clubs bracket starting against some chumpy teams to start out with. I'm actually kind of glad that Merced didn't show up for our game because I think it would have been a waste of both our times. I heard they were learning how to mark, etc. when they finally got to the tourney. I sympathize with new teams, but I don't think either program would have gotten much out of it.
Friday
Georgetown -
Catholic Justice was actually surprisingly good. I'm pretty sure I've played against them with the Birds in Vegas and lost before. By the time we started our game, there was strong cross wind. This entire weekend was all about zone, and it started in this game. I think the final score was 7-4. I don't remember much about them other than their best played had a cast on his left hand and he was still very tough. We had some great arguments over plays with them, with lots of animated gesturing and acting out of plays. There were some up/down calls, but I'm thinking specifically of Ratchet snatching a disc from a dude in our endzone as he was juggling it, him ripping it away and both of them calling strip on each other.
Gonzaga -
They were definitely not as good as Georgetown. It was windier in this game, and the importance of field position became very clear. The team that turned in near their own goal line more was likely going to lose the game. They did a pretty good job of punting up wind, but we played some good deep zone D and knocked them down. I think we won around 8-4 or 5.
We ended Friday going 3-0 on paper. I somehow rallied our team to go to the Palace Station Casino buffet, which was 10 bucks and pretty dirty. I heard some people complaining, but overall I was pretty happy with what was basically a dorm dinner. I tried to go to bed early this night, but people were awake and coming home until about 2. Oh well.
U Conn -
What is up with all the good basketball schools that we played? Anyway, they were very athletic, but very undisciplined. This game was probably the best conditions we had all weekend, with relatively still air and dry fields for most of the time. On of their players had the most ridiculous grabs I've ever seen. Sultan boxed him out hard and he went completely horizontal at about shoulder height over Sultan for a one handed snatch. Both teams went crazy because it was just amazing. We were down by 2 early in the game. They had some big guys and they were in love with the deep shot. Once we figured this out, we started forcing them hard under. They weren't hanging with us in our cutting, maybe because they had a pretty small squad, but we capitalized on their failed risks and managed a comeback to win by 2ish, 11-9 maybe. This was probably our best game of the weekend and probably my personal best game as well.
Saturday
Cornell -
We had officially won the Clubs bracket, something that I'm pretty proud of. Cornell was our semi-finals game in the tournament to go to quarters. Anyway, they were BIG, with lots of dudes taller than me. They also had great wind throws and used the vert stack very effectively to break the mark all over us. It started raining pretty hard in this game and the field got very muddy, which negated any speed advantage we might have had on their big guys. I think Cornell deserved a power pool spot, and they went on to quarters. Good for them.
After this game Arby, Knuckles, Falco and I went to my car and sat in the heat for about 40 minutes trying to get our body temperatures back up. I'm not sure if it worked, but it really sucked getting back out.
Azusa Pacific - That Was Terrific.
We really wanted to beat down on a team after our first loss of the weekend, and APU came at just the right time. They had won their bracket because they play almost exclusively zone, and the weather played right into their hands. We went up big with some solid zone work. I hit Concord with an upwind hammer to the back corner, which was probably my favorite play of this game. It was also starting to get really wet by this point and the wind was kicking up. It had been pretty fun to lay out in the mud during warm ups, but now that we were wet and the wind was blowing it got pretty miserable. At one point, the wind started howling and the rain drops felt like needles in my face. We probably played for half an hour on our goal line. It was actually funny how futile it was. We had a string of ridiculous punts and great grabs to get it up to their goal line, but Scarecrow threw an OI into the wind and that was it. After this point, APU politely asked if we could just cap the game and we were only too happy to agree. I think the final score was around 9-4.
We had another bye after this game, and potentially two more games to play if we wanted to have a back door shot at quarters. We went and huddled together in the 5 tent. It was really pouring at this point and we were just miserable. There were jokes of mutiny that had just a little bit too serious. Some people were physically not able to play another because their bodies were just not willing.
Humboldt -
I'll admit, I did not want to play this game. If we won, it would have meant staying at the fields til like 6 or 7 PM to play Cornell again. Every square foot of the field was chocolate pudding texture. We were running open lines and I think I only played about 3 points all game. Carlton and Florida were playing behind us and they were absolutely at each other's throats. My general impression is that Florida was really douchey, but I loved the intensity that Carleton plays with. Anyway, this game would have been a waste had some people not brought the intensity after the half. Thor got an absolutely disgusting layout callahan grab on some fool. Thor and the Flood were head to toe caked in mud by the end, and it was freakin awesome. But I was happy to leave.
The highlight of my entire weekend was, without a doubt, the buffet at the Bellagio. People had been hyping it all year, but I was still impressed with the quality and variety of very GOOD food. I started light, with seafood and sushi and worked my way to the red meats, which were plentiful. Everything was several steps above what you would expect from a buffet. If I were served any of the dishes in restaurant, I would probably be pretty happy, but all you can eat after the day we had just put me in rapture. The highlights for me were the spicy tuna hand rolls, crab legs, seabass, venison, pesto mashed potatos, creme brulee and apple cobbler. I had at least 5 heaping plates of food. I ate like it was my job.
Afterwards we checked out the party (see below) and then went to play/watch some craps at the Flamingo. It didn't turn out to be the crazy night that I had hoped for, but it was satisfying.
Sunday -
Colorado State -
We showed up about 15 minutes before game time, which I really loved. I hate the really long warm up process. This would be an interesting topic for another post actually, but I think that anything more than 15 minutes of warm up is just wasteful. Anyway, I ate a donut, did some plyos and we went to work. We were trying to play loose relaxed, and we were winning for most of the game. They were definitely very tired, and their zone was super loose. I took a few impatient shots that I shouldn't have, but on the whole I played pretty well until the end.
Anyway, somehow we ended up at universe point, receiving on O and working upwind. We marched it up on zone O and Sultan sent me a bladey outside throw towards the back of the endzone. Passed over the defender and sat in the wind. I could have stood there and waited for it to come down into my lap, but no, I went up for the sky and BOUNCED OFF MY HAND. It was just a momentary lapse in confidence, but I'm still too upset with myself over this one moment. People heatedly discussed this play for about 20 minutes after the game, with me and Sultan defending it as a good look, and other people saying that it's not the chilly endzone O we want.
I'm sticking to my guns that it was a good look. It took two execution errors to make it a turnover. It was a high reward look to an open receiver to win the game, and I think we should take it next time it presents itself. We could have let the defense catch up and set up their goal line D which would have taken us a lot longer and maybe ten more throws. I think the probabilities go with the one throw in this situation, especially when it's two of our more experienced players. I don't remember how, but we got another turn and worked it up to their goaline again. I looked off Linux wide open deep on the next drive because I was trying to be extra chilly. Banshee took a risky cross field bladey look to Linux which bounced off his hand as he layed out for it. They marched down the field. Game over.
I like the idea that you should play universe point exactly how you should play any other point. Once you change your system and tighten up, and you will get in your own head. You should just relax and do what you know how to do. The other idea here is that you should be playing every O point as if it were universe point. If you are changing your mindset that much, maybe you are taking too many risks in your normal offense.
Northwestern -
Nut is a very solid team, and being from the windy city really must help them out in conditions like this. Paul Sohn is a baller and played very well for them - RoSham alumni represent! They beat us by a few by using a killer trap zone and better punting strategy.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with how we played this weekend. Winning our bracket is something to be proud of. I wish that we had stayed a little mentally stronger for the Humboldt game, and I wish that we had pulled out at least one of the Sunday games. We definitely improved and and I feel like I got to know my teammates a lot better, so I guess it wasn't such a waste of a weekend after all. I can only pray that it doesn't rain next weekend. I will cry if it does.
I wanted to stick around and watch BLU in semis and the men's games, but my car was pretty desperate to get home, which in retrospect was probably a good idea. I had a ton of work to do Sunday night/ Monday morning and I barely finished it. Ultimate is definitely effecting the quality of my school work, but I knew that it would coming in. What I need to remember is that, if I'm going to be making this sacrifice, it will be a waste to play anything less than as hard as I can, all of the time.
We were in the Clubs bracket starting against some chumpy teams to start out with. I'm actually kind of glad that Merced didn't show up for our game because I think it would have been a waste of both our times. I heard they were learning how to mark, etc. when they finally got to the tourney. I sympathize with new teams, but I don't think either program would have gotten much out of it.
Friday
Georgetown -
Catholic Justice was actually surprisingly good. I'm pretty sure I've played against them with the Birds in Vegas and lost before. By the time we started our game, there was strong cross wind. This entire weekend was all about zone, and it started in this game. I think the final score was 7-4. I don't remember much about them other than their best played had a cast on his left hand and he was still very tough. We had some great arguments over plays with them, with lots of animated gesturing and acting out of plays. There were some up/down calls, but I'm thinking specifically of Ratchet snatching a disc from a dude in our endzone as he was juggling it, him ripping it away and both of them calling strip on each other.
Gonzaga -
They were definitely not as good as Georgetown. It was windier in this game, and the importance of field position became very clear. The team that turned in near their own goal line more was likely going to lose the game. They did a pretty good job of punting up wind, but we played some good deep zone D and knocked them down. I think we won around 8-4 or 5.
We ended Friday going 3-0 on paper. I somehow rallied our team to go to the Palace Station Casino buffet, which was 10 bucks and pretty dirty. I heard some people complaining, but overall I was pretty happy with what was basically a dorm dinner. I tried to go to bed early this night, but people were awake and coming home until about 2. Oh well.
U Conn -
What is up with all the good basketball schools that we played? Anyway, they were very athletic, but very undisciplined. This game was probably the best conditions we had all weekend, with relatively still air and dry fields for most of the time. On of their players had the most ridiculous grabs I've ever seen. Sultan boxed him out hard and he went completely horizontal at about shoulder height over Sultan for a one handed snatch. Both teams went crazy because it was just amazing. We were down by 2 early in the game. They had some big guys and they were in love with the deep shot. Once we figured this out, we started forcing them hard under. They weren't hanging with us in our cutting, maybe because they had a pretty small squad, but we capitalized on their failed risks and managed a comeback to win by 2ish, 11-9 maybe. This was probably our best game of the weekend and probably my personal best game as well.
Saturday
Cornell -
We had officially won the Clubs bracket, something that I'm pretty proud of. Cornell was our semi-finals game in the tournament to go to quarters. Anyway, they were BIG, with lots of dudes taller than me. They also had great wind throws and used the vert stack very effectively to break the mark all over us. It started raining pretty hard in this game and the field got very muddy, which negated any speed advantage we might have had on their big guys. I think Cornell deserved a power pool spot, and they went on to quarters. Good for them.
After this game Arby, Knuckles, Falco and I went to my car and sat in the heat for about 40 minutes trying to get our body temperatures back up. I'm not sure if it worked, but it really sucked getting back out.
Azusa Pacific - That Was Terrific.
We really wanted to beat down on a team after our first loss of the weekend, and APU came at just the right time. They had won their bracket because they play almost exclusively zone, and the weather played right into their hands. We went up big with some solid zone work. I hit Concord with an upwind hammer to the back corner, which was probably my favorite play of this game. It was also starting to get really wet by this point and the wind was kicking up. It had been pretty fun to lay out in the mud during warm ups, but now that we were wet and the wind was blowing it got pretty miserable. At one point, the wind started howling and the rain drops felt like needles in my face. We probably played for half an hour on our goal line. It was actually funny how futile it was. We had a string of ridiculous punts and great grabs to get it up to their goal line, but Scarecrow threw an OI into the wind and that was it. After this point, APU politely asked if we could just cap the game and we were only too happy to agree. I think the final score was around 9-4.
We had another bye after this game, and potentially two more games to play if we wanted to have a back door shot at quarters. We went and huddled together in the 5 tent. It was really pouring at this point and we were just miserable. There were jokes of mutiny that had just a little bit too serious. Some people were physically not able to play another because their bodies were just not willing.
Humboldt -
I'll admit, I did not want to play this game. If we won, it would have meant staying at the fields til like 6 or 7 PM to play Cornell again. Every square foot of the field was chocolate pudding texture. We were running open lines and I think I only played about 3 points all game. Carlton and Florida were playing behind us and they were absolutely at each other's throats. My general impression is that Florida was really douchey, but I loved the intensity that Carleton plays with. Anyway, this game would have been a waste had some people not brought the intensity after the half. Thor got an absolutely disgusting layout callahan grab on some fool. Thor and the Flood were head to toe caked in mud by the end, and it was freakin awesome. But I was happy to leave.
The highlight of my entire weekend was, without a doubt, the buffet at the Bellagio. People had been hyping it all year, but I was still impressed with the quality and variety of very GOOD food. I started light, with seafood and sushi and worked my way to the red meats, which were plentiful. Everything was several steps above what you would expect from a buffet. If I were served any of the dishes in restaurant, I would probably be pretty happy, but all you can eat after the day we had just put me in rapture. The highlights for me were the spicy tuna hand rolls, crab legs, seabass, venison, pesto mashed potatos, creme brulee and apple cobbler. I had at least 5 heaping plates of food. I ate like it was my job.
Afterwards we checked out the party (see below) and then went to play/watch some craps at the Flamingo. It didn't turn out to be the crazy night that I had hoped for, but it was satisfying.
Sunday -
Colorado State -
We showed up about 15 minutes before game time, which I really loved. I hate the really long warm up process. This would be an interesting topic for another post actually, but I think that anything more than 15 minutes of warm up is just wasteful. Anyway, I ate a donut, did some plyos and we went to work. We were trying to play loose relaxed, and we were winning for most of the game. They were definitely very tired, and their zone was super loose. I took a few impatient shots that I shouldn't have, but on the whole I played pretty well until the end.
Anyway, somehow we ended up at universe point, receiving on O and working upwind. We marched it up on zone O and Sultan sent me a bladey outside throw towards the back of the endzone. Passed over the defender and sat in the wind. I could have stood there and waited for it to come down into my lap, but no, I went up for the sky and BOUNCED OFF MY HAND. It was just a momentary lapse in confidence, but I'm still too upset with myself over this one moment. People heatedly discussed this play for about 20 minutes after the game, with me and Sultan defending it as a good look, and other people saying that it's not the chilly endzone O we want.
I'm sticking to my guns that it was a good look. It took two execution errors to make it a turnover. It was a high reward look to an open receiver to win the game, and I think we should take it next time it presents itself. We could have let the defense catch up and set up their goal line D which would have taken us a lot longer and maybe ten more throws. I think the probabilities go with the one throw in this situation, especially when it's two of our more experienced players. I don't remember how, but we got another turn and worked it up to their goaline again. I looked off Linux wide open deep on the next drive because I was trying to be extra chilly. Banshee took a risky cross field bladey look to Linux which bounced off his hand as he layed out for it. They marched down the field. Game over.
I like the idea that you should play universe point exactly how you should play any other point. Once you change your system and tighten up, and you will get in your own head. You should just relax and do what you know how to do. The other idea here is that you should be playing every O point as if it were universe point. If you are changing your mindset that much, maybe you are taking too many risks in your normal offense.
Northwestern -
Nut is a very solid team, and being from the windy city really must help them out in conditions like this. Paul Sohn is a baller and played very well for them - RoSham alumni represent! They beat us by a few by using a killer trap zone and better punting strategy.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with how we played this weekend. Winning our bracket is something to be proud of. I wish that we had stayed a little mentally stronger for the Humboldt game, and I wish that we had pulled out at least one of the Sunday games. We definitely improved and and I feel like I got to know my teammates a lot better, so I guess it wasn't such a waste of a weekend after all. I can only pray that it doesn't rain next weekend. I will cry if it does.
I wanted to stick around and watch BLU in semis and the men's games, but my car was pretty desperate to get home, which in retrospect was probably a good idea. I had a ton of work to do Sunday night/ Monday morning and I barely finished it. Ultimate is definitely effecting the quality of my school work, but I knew that it would coming in. What I need to remember is that, if I'm going to be making this sacrifice, it will be a waste to play anything less than as hard as I can, all of the time.
TiV - The Worst Idea Ever
Vegas wrecked me. It was a very tough tournament to play mentally and physically. I have a number of complaints that I need to get off my chest before I can talk about anything else:
The Format:
The top twenty or so teams played pool play the entire time. The other 64 teams played in a bracket style tournament for 1 spot in the quarterfinals, which Cornell eventually won. It's basically a repackaging of the C1 arbitrary and exclusionary system. Middlebury got screwed because they got screwed out of a top spot, while some other teams got in off their names and reputation and maybe didn't deserve to be there.
Cultimate in General:
They stopped serving bagels at 11. Why? Could have something to do with the fact that they were also selling food. Yet another way to stick it to us after we had payed 600 bucks for a bid. The flat screen TVs that they bought to post the brackets were a ridiculous waste of money. They were alternately not working and not up to date. Buying some fucking poster board and charge us less.
But at least the party is fun right? Well, the rain was out of their control, but I would still blame them for hosting a disaster of a party. BSOD, Pagoda and spent half an hour wandering around with one of the party organizers to help carry champagne for the party. The trouble is, she didn't know when or where to meet the van. And she didn't have a phone. And while we were gone, the champagne showed up down on the street and we didn't get any. Then the party headed over to Caesar's, where security promptly came out and very aggressively kicked us off the premises. I thought I was going to witness some old school vegas security brutalizing some drunken idiot, but I was disappointed. We left when about 6 cop cars drove by us on the street. I didn't feel like getting arrested or harassed any more that night.
The Weather:
Friday was very windy and the games were low scoring. This was the best we would have it all weekend, though. Saturday, the storm finally rolled in and started pouring. Then, crazy wind came to accompany the rain. The fields almost instantly all turned into slop and we were all soaked head to toe in the freezing wind. It just wasn't fun to do anything in those conditions. We even capped our game against APU because it was laughable that we were trying to play.
Lack of Sleep:
This one is the one that I was most responsible for, but I can still complain about it anyway. We rolled in really late on Thursday night, at around 2:30. We had been told beforehand that Merced wasn't coming and was going to forfeit our first game. I was counting on our first game being at 12:30, but when 7 AM rolled around, we got up and prepared as if we were going to play Merced. But then we sat at the field for 4 1/2 hours. I've slept about 4 hours every night for a week straight and it's really catching up with me. It was just another challenge in maintaining my focus for the 3 days.
Alright, I've gotten it out of my system. No more negativity about the weekend.
The Format:
The top twenty or so teams played pool play the entire time. The other 64 teams played in a bracket style tournament for 1 spot in the quarterfinals, which Cornell eventually won. It's basically a repackaging of the C1 arbitrary and exclusionary system. Middlebury got screwed because they got screwed out of a top spot, while some other teams got in off their names and reputation and maybe didn't deserve to be there.
Cultimate in General:
They stopped serving bagels at 11. Why? Could have something to do with the fact that they were also selling food. Yet another way to stick it to us after we had payed 600 bucks for a bid. The flat screen TVs that they bought to post the brackets were a ridiculous waste of money. They were alternately not working and not up to date. Buying some fucking poster board and charge us less.
But at least the party is fun right? Well, the rain was out of their control, but I would still blame them for hosting a disaster of a party. BSOD, Pagoda and spent half an hour wandering around with one of the party organizers to help carry champagne for the party. The trouble is, she didn't know when or where to meet the van. And she didn't have a phone. And while we were gone, the champagne showed up down on the street and we didn't get any. Then the party headed over to Caesar's, where security promptly came out and very aggressively kicked us off the premises. I thought I was going to witness some old school vegas security brutalizing some drunken idiot, but I was disappointed. We left when about 6 cop cars drove by us on the street. I didn't feel like getting arrested or harassed any more that night.
The Weather:
Friday was very windy and the games were low scoring. This was the best we would have it all weekend, though. Saturday, the storm finally rolled in and started pouring. Then, crazy wind came to accompany the rain. The fields almost instantly all turned into slop and we were all soaked head to toe in the freezing wind. It just wasn't fun to do anything in those conditions. We even capped our game against APU because it was laughable that we were trying to play.
Lack of Sleep:
This one is the one that I was most responsible for, but I can still complain about it anyway. We rolled in really late on Thursday night, at around 2:30. We had been told beforehand that Merced wasn't coming and was going to forfeit our first game. I was counting on our first game being at 12:30, but when 7 AM rolled around, we got up and prepared as if we were going to play Merced. But then we sat at the field for 4 1/2 hours. I've slept about 4 hours every night for a week straight and it's really catching up with me. It was just another challenge in maintaining my focus for the 3 days.
Alright, I've gotten it out of my system. No more negativity about the weekend.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
The Honey Moon is Over
The euphoria of the beginning of the season has past. Our practices aren't quite as intense and things are starting to become routine. Now it's time to get down to the grind. Here are a few ideas that I wrote up of ways to get us through this first challenge:
1. Competition
I think we can compete more in practice and on the track. It's so much more motivating to try to win something in a drill than to run in circles by yourself. We already do this to some extent, but maybe we should try to add an aspect of competition to as much as possible. I liked the idea of mini-games to put in action what we've been talking about, either full field or 3's or whatever.
Emphasize winning the details.
2. Shake Up the Routine
Familiarity can be good, but it can be a real problem, too. As the season goes on, it's going to be harder to break us of our habits, both good and bad. We should try to think of some interesting ways to make us a little less comfortable with ourselves. New surroundings, new games, new rules for scrimmages, new opponents.
I'd like to see us do some more modified rules scrimmages, like stall-out on 4. Maybe something with added incentive to stretch the field.
I think we we're practicing better earlier in the season because we felt like we were competing for something, like spots on the roster, playing time, etc. Everything was new and exciting. I think we can try to think of some things to bring both of those ideas back to practice. Incentives. People love a carrot dangled in front of them.
3. A few random thoughts:
I still feel like our game would benefit by being opened up. Opposing defenses seem to get a little bit too comfortable once they catch on to our small-ball game. Even if we don't take very many shots, the fear of the deep throw is more important than actually gaining lots of yards and scores by throwing deep. It just the other team more honest and we'd gain more on the in cuts.
To help promote this, I think we can all do a much better job when we throw in the quad. I'm out there pretty often and I feel like people don't stretch out their throws enough. We can all become better throwers if we get better at controlling our OI and IO big throws in addition to the bread and butter flat throw. Even if we only throw flat in games, hucks and throws in the wind will really benefit.
Lately our stack has been drifting too deep. I think it might be a result of people stretching their deep cuts way too far. It's a systemic problem. Handlers don't have good looks down field, and viable longer in-cuts get cut off. Continue looks get clogged. This killed us in the second half of the Davis game. Maybe there are ways to use rules within a mini-game to promote this goal.
4. One last note about our mentality:
I think we need to loosen up a little bit. We've acting like we're the shit, but really we're a team with everything to gain and nothing to lose. The best way to start believing that we're winners is to actually do some winning. Once we believe that we're winners, we're that much more likely to make reality match our perceptions. I think Vegas will be a great chance to refresh ourselves and remember why we play this game in the first place.
1. Competition
I think we can compete more in practice and on the track. It's so much more motivating to try to win something in a drill than to run in circles by yourself. We already do this to some extent, but maybe we should try to add an aspect of competition to as much as possible. I liked the idea of mini-games to put in action what we've been talking about, either full field or 3's or whatever.
Emphasize winning the details.
2. Shake Up the Routine
Familiarity can be good, but it can be a real problem, too. As the season goes on, it's going to be harder to break us of our habits, both good and bad. We should try to think of some interesting ways to make us a little less comfortable with ourselves. New surroundings, new games, new rules for scrimmages, new opponents.
I'd like to see us do some more modified rules scrimmages, like stall-out on 4. Maybe something with added incentive to stretch the field.
I think we we're practicing better earlier in the season because we felt like we were competing for something, like spots on the roster, playing time, etc. Everything was new and exciting. I think we can try to think of some things to bring both of those ideas back to practice. Incentives. People love a carrot dangled in front of them.
3. A few random thoughts:
I still feel like our game would benefit by being opened up. Opposing defenses seem to get a little bit too comfortable once they catch on to our small-ball game. Even if we don't take very many shots, the fear of the deep throw is more important than actually gaining lots of yards and scores by throwing deep. It just the other team more honest and we'd gain more on the in cuts.
To help promote this, I think we can all do a much better job when we throw in the quad. I'm out there pretty often and I feel like people don't stretch out their throws enough. We can all become better throwers if we get better at controlling our OI and IO big throws in addition to the bread and butter flat throw. Even if we only throw flat in games, hucks and throws in the wind will really benefit.
Lately our stack has been drifting too deep. I think it might be a result of people stretching their deep cuts way too far. It's a systemic problem. Handlers don't have good looks down field, and viable longer in-cuts get cut off. Continue looks get clogged. This killed us in the second half of the Davis game. Maybe there are ways to use rules within a mini-game to promote this goal.
4. One last note about our mentality:
I think we need to loosen up a little bit. We've acting like we're the shit, but really we're a team with everything to gain and nothing to lose. The best way to start believing that we're winners is to actually do some winning. Once we believe that we're winners, we're that much more likely to make reality match our perceptions. I think Vegas will be a great chance to refresh ourselves and remember why we play this game in the first place.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
A Great Weekend for Sports
I have a memo due on Monday, so of course I've taken every opportunity this weekend to watch sports on TV that I possibly could. The obvious one is the Super Bowl, which was a great game. Larry Fitzgerald is unstoppable, and I don't understand why the Cardinals took so long to start throwing to him. It hasn't really mattered who or how many people are covering him. It's always amazing to see an athlete that is a level above every one else around him. Lebron right now comes to mind, too. The Steelers were clutch, though, and they deserved to win this game.
What I might remember more from this weekend was watching Nadal v. Federer in the Aussie Open late last night. I've never really watched tennis before, and I thought I would check it out. The level of focus and intensity that they play at is unreal. I never realized that matches could go for four or five hours. It actually reminded me of Ultimate in the combination of physical exertion, finesse and length of of play. It's also all about getting breaks when you're not on serve. It was impresive seeing the mental strength that both of these guys bring to the court. Both maintained their composure when they were down in the set and just played one point at a time.
Time to bite the bullet and get back to work...
What I might remember more from this weekend was watching Nadal v. Federer in the Aussie Open late last night. I've never really watched tennis before, and I thought I would check it out. The level of focus and intensity that they play at is unreal. I never realized that matches could go for four or five hours. It actually reminded me of Ultimate in the combination of physical exertion, finesse and length of of play. It's also all about getting breaks when you're not on serve. It was impresive seeing the mental strength that both of these guys bring to the court. Both maintained their composure when they were down in the set and just played one point at a time.
Time to bite the bullet and get back to work...
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