Calle invited me to play with BCBC for the weekend early in the summer and I'd been looking forward to it after the pressure of Strike-Slip tryouts. The team lived up to expectations. Here's the roster:
Fellas:
Jeremy
Dan O
Peaches
Calle
Dean
Nowak
Whitey
Jacuzzi
Adam Slo
Jason E.
Matt Whited
Trevor Smith
Chuck Kindred
Ladies:
Beth
Alice
Astrid
Hawkins (Saturday Only)
Emily and Friends (Sunday Only)
Roswell
It was a luxury having so many guys on the sand because we had five games on Saturday. We had had Strike-Slip practice that morning in LB to learn stopped disc plays, so I was a little tired. You would think that there wouldn't be enough playing time to go around, but I thought that it allowed me to play as hard as I could with no worry about saving anything. The depth of the talent on the team was also very refreshing because you could count on everyone to come up with huge plays, allowing you to not worry about anyone's responsibilities but your own. I also got to enjoy quite a few beverages without worrying about my performance hurting the team. Even though the entire team was impressive, I especially enjoyed playing with Chuck, who I'd previously played against on Revolver and CGNU. He looks unassuming, but the guy is a serious stud and a great teammate. Plus he plays his violin on the sidelines and has a great sense of humor.
In our five games on Saturday, our closest game was 13-5. We absolutely stomped on teams and our games were really short. That game was against a very decent team with Knuckles, Barrs, Milhouse and Concord on it. The team was not only extremely athletic, but very experienced too. There was no teaching necessary. It made me realize the big difference between good college players and good club players. It was fun to be on the winning side of games like that for once. Personally, I played very well and I was really feeling the benefits of the lifting that I've been doing. I pulled down a lot of floaty stuff and it felt pretty awesome.
Saturday night I saw Explosions in the Sky with Fei, Finn, and Lupin. The show was amazing even though my knees were aching from running on the sand all day. They played four about an hour and half and they played all the songs that I wanted to hear. Afterwards we got some bomb cheap thai food in Thai town.
Sunday at 11:30 we played the Cal Poly Pomona team + Jeff Silverman and Norm from USC. We won easily 13-5.
We played Semis against Chik's team who were mostly Last Call guys plus Lindsey Cross and Pebbles. After going up 2-1, we trailed for most of the game, falling behind as much as 10-6 at one point, I think. Up until this point, we hadn't been challenged at all, and they were all super athletic. However, we started playing with fire and brought the game from down 10-12, game to 13, to 12's. On pulling downwind, we got a turn on our goal line and immediately hucked it away out the corner. On their next possession, they threw a dump pass that popped up over the receiver to a laying out Whitey. Callahan to win on universe!
We met a very good Beeeaches team in the finals with a lot of ex-Condors ballers, including Husak, tall Tommy, Welsh, Corey Sanford, Rhett, Sam R and Bofa. It was my first club finals of any kind and I was super excited to play in front of a crowd. The other team had won the last 2 or 3 consecutive Huck It's.
The game started with ridiculous chippiness. We went up 1-0 starting on offense. Next point, Adam caught a tipped hammer that the other down called down even though it was clearly up. We got it back on D and then scored on a foot drag layout that the other team called out. Finally, for the third time, we scored and it was uncontestable. For the rest of the half, we could do no wrong. We carried our momentum from Semi's to take half 7-3, game to 13. The Beeaches had been turning the disc over on sloppy hucks in the wind and bad throws from their women. We knew that they were too good not make a game of it, though.
In the second half, we traded points to 10-5. Then Greg Husak went into Incredible-Hulk rampaging destroy mode. We challenged him a few times with hucks and he made sick plays to bring them down. They tightened up their offense and their defense became stifling. A few more bad decisions by us, and a few lucky breaks for them and the game was at 11's. Somewhere around this time I mis-read a floating huck from Chuck in the wind that I really wish I could have back. The tide of the game had turned immovably against us and it was like deja vu of the UCSD game at sectionals. They put in the next 2 points and the game was over. They played typical Santa Barbara ultimate with lots of fouling, beneficial call making, and bitching. But I have to give them credit for stellar play while they were down big, especially from Hollywood.
It was a bummer to lose the game like that, but overall it was a terrific weekend. We went 7-1, I got to see Explosions, and we had a delicious Indian dinner to end the day. It would be a blast to play with BCBC more, except for the following two reasons:
1. I enjoy the discipline and regularity of team practice, and
2. I still have a lot more improving to do in open and I have an obligation to Smaug to become the best player I can be.
However, if they'll have me, I'd love to pick up with them again.
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