SW Open Club Outlook

The club season is underway, even though I have yet to join in.

I'm not sure how interesting the Open category will be this year, as Johnny Bravo and Streetgang are the clear frontrunners for the (two?) bids out of the SW.

Johnny Bravo - Boulder, CO

Bravo lost some big players last year, but they have a constant pipeline of top quality players from the colleges in the area and I think they'll have another very successful year this year. Until Streetgang shows they can beat them, they're considered the top team in the SW. However, they're also not the juggernaut Bravo of a few years ago. Look to see how CO and SD stack up nationally at Colorado Cup this weekend.

Streetgang - San Diego

Look out for a very talented club team in its second year together. The first year always has some hiccups, and San Diego's second year together should see them reaching national prominence. They picked up some good Squids guys that didn't play last year, as well as Allen Lai, Evan Valdez and Matt Welsh from LA and SB. This should help them run deeper into their roster than last year. Talent-wise, their roster stacks up well with nearly any club team in the country, and the sky's the limit in terms of potential for them.

Condors - Santa Barbara

Last year, the Condors chose to go young and rebuild with local talent. Predictably, they had a tough year, although they made the most out of what they had. This year should be a much stronger year for them. They picked up a pair of dominant receivers in Jake Juszak and Jake Baumer. They also strengthened their roster with some quality Long Beach guys as well as Fawkes from UCLA. They had an impressive win over Wolf at Cal States, but it looks like they're not going to get much of an opportunity to see what they can do during the regular season because they're having trouble getting accepted at the top level tournaments. Breaking into top level tournaments can be a bit of a catch-22: You have to have an impressive resume to get accepted to the tournament, but you have to be at the top tournaments to face the top teams.

I wouldn't expect the Condors to upset either of the top two teams to earn a spot to nationals this year, but I wouldn't be shocked if they did, either. SB brings a lot of mental toughness and fundamental soundness that could be too much for one of the top teams given the right scenario/conditions. They're a solid number three out in the SW.

Beyond the top three teams, it's kind of a crap-shoot for how things will play out.

Entourage - LA

I'm pulling for Entourage because I think we need a young, committed ultimate team based in LA. They should be the best club team in LA, but they haven't played a tourney yet so it's too soon to say where they fit in.

Sweet Roll - Albuquerque, NM

They played Strike-Slip tough in the desert heat last year at regionals. They would probably be my choice for 4th this year, but who knows what kind of roster they will return from last year.

Sprawl - Arizona

Another decent desert team. Where do all the best U of A players end up? Barrio?

Recess - LA

A bunch of UCLA have been putting together a more chill club team to enter the series.

This year, most of the depth of talent in the LA area has gone to the co-ed division, leaving the SW one of the weaker regions in the country in terms of depth. I know I'll be watching the Santa Barbara/San Diego final at sectionals if I am able.

Home Again

I've been all over the place these last few weeks. The trip up to Seattle was awesome. I drove up with Jaws and Balls the entire way up, and Jolie and Scout for portions of the trip. Oh, and Whiskey, Balls' puppy made the entire trip with us, too. I always think of San Francisco as being far north in CA, but the drive from there to the Oregon border is endless. It took us over 12 hours to make it to Scout's ranch, although some of that was thanks to our leisurely food stops and subsequent getting lost in the middle of nowhere in the dark near Bend.

Our day at the ranch was relaxing and awesome. It's about an hour from the nearest town, 45 minutes of which are on a dirt road. The cabin is right next to a cold river with good trout fishing. It's been in his family for a long, long time. We spent the day playing horseshoes, swimming, skeet shooting, fishing, and drinking beer on the porch. Needless to say, it was a good time.

Friday we drove up to Seattle, which should have been a short 3 hour drive, but instead turned into a day long ordeal. First, Scout's volvo completely lost its tire outside of Portland. Then, pulling into Seattle, we found out that Whiskey had Giardia and had to go to the Vet to get special medicine before she could be checked into her kennel for the weekend. So, after a long day, we finally pulled into the fields right before dark and Potlatch ensued. It was a great roadtrip, but I'm glad that I flew home and didn't have to make the ride down.

Following that, I had the Oettinger reunion in Thousand Oaks. 44 Oettingers from across the country flew in for an intense long weekend of huge amounts of eating and socializing. Then, the next weekend, I flew to Boston for a family reunion for my mom's side of the family.

I really enjoyed the change of scenery in New England, and the week was generally more relaxing than the Oettinger reunion because we weren't hosting people, there were fewer people and more time to enjoy things. On Saturday, my uncle got us tickets to go to Fenway and see the Rangers play. It was fun to see the scene around the ballpark, and even though our tickets kind of sucked, it was awesome to stand 2 feet behind Cliff Lee and watch him warm up before the game in the bullpen.

The next day, we drove up to Maine for a week in a lake house. Every day I went swimming, ran, played badminton, and played pool. We did lots of cooking every night and went on day trips to interesting local places. It was a really nice time, and all the activity was really good for my ankle. I ate lots of lobster and clams while we were there, and I was a little bit bummed to be back in the "real world" of LA when we got back Sunday night.

Now I'm just waiting on an appointment with my PT to see where my ankle is at. The time until I can play again is shrinking pretty quickly.

Off to the East Coast

Tomorrow morning at 5 AM I'm leaving for Boston and Maine for over a week. My grandparents are renting a lake house and my mom's family is having a reunion for the next week. It should be very relaxing.

See you in a few weeks.