Awww Hell Yeah....!

Thanks to Adam Newon for the pictures!

The pictures say it all.

Strike-Slip came together this weekend in a way that none of us were really expecting. The D line converted their scores, the O-line was efficiently, and, most importantly, everyone was very positive at all times.

Our only real test on Saturday was against the Condors, which turned out to be a shorter game than we'd expected. We won 11-5, and after that game we took a few moments to appreciate the fact that it was the Condors first loss at Sectionals in 12 years.

On Sunday we seemed to have lost a bit of our swagger. We had to finish playing 6 pool play games to 11, mostly against college and pick up type teams, and it was hard to stay motivated. We had an especially long break between the end of pool play and going straight to finals. The loser of finals would have to go on to play a 2/3 game - just a little extra incentive for the winner.

Earlier in the day, George had layed out into my knee and ankle. I thought I heard a pop and I was sure for a few moments that my year was over. After a few seconds on though ground calling injury, I got up and realized that I was nowhere near the level of pain that would mean serious damage. I really lucked out - my massive calves come in handy for something I guess. I spent our long bye icing my joints down and popping ibuprofin.

We did almost a full warm up again, with 3 man mark and a lengthy, intense end-zone game to prep for the game. In the first few points of the game were a shock because we hadn't played anyone of Streetgang's caliber for a long while. They got a few breaks on us and we went down 2-5.

There was a small upwind/downwind aspect to the game, and going in the downwind direction the SD didn't hesitate to bomb it to Rookie or a few of their other athletes. We didn't really have an answer for their deep game, but we didn't have to.

We clamped down on their dumps and forced them out of the middle of the field. Our D-line caught fire and got a series of poach blocks and pressure throw-aways and we took half 8-6.

I know the UCLA guys at least gave a few passing thoughts to the Squids game at sectionals where we took half on them, but then gave up a late lead to lose on universe. I definitely felt the pressure of the game when I was on the sidelines. But when I got on the line, I took a few deep breaths and did 4 years of repetition took over and I played unconsciously.

Our O line played a strong possession game for the rest of the game. Our handlers were unstoppable with our dumping swings and give-and-go's. The D line got 1 more break, but we got broken near the end of the game and gave it back. Streetgang was playing a poachy transition zone, so point after point I would run to the back of the endzone and wave my arms around and try to get the deep deep to respect me. I cut as hard as I could every point, but I hardly had any touches. Bobble was on D and he was doing a good job and our throwers were respecting him. Alan broke deep for a couple huck scores, one of which was a full field bomb from Bofa.

Near the end of the game, one of the SD handlers put of a bladey OI huck that didn't have quite enough on it. Bofa got one of the sickest D's I've ever seen in my life. He bid upwards and tipped it away by his fingertips while Keenan was bidding parallel to him on O. Keenan came right down on Bofa's head and shoulders and he was down for the count. The trainer was over him for probably 5-10 minutes, and we were are really worried for him. Amazingly, he got back and seemed to be OK, coherent even. He iced down his shoulder for the rest of the game.

Eventually, we got the game to 14-13, with us receiving going downwind. I put my head down and was running big deep and under cuts. I got faked under and was coming in wide-open at Bob. He put up an low OI flick that wasn't quite leading Linux. Linux came flying in sideways with the bid pictured above and made an amazing catch with his hand literally on the ground. His entire body lifted up onto his neck from his momentum, but he was holding the disc in his hand! Our sidelines went wild and we rushed him with a huge celebration. It was the biggest win of my ultimate career, and the first competitive tournament that I've ever won.

I've felt all season that people have been too quick to write us off as a team. We have too many players to not be good. Something happened this weekend, though, where everyone started to believe. We let go of our mistakes and worked towards making the next great play happen instead. We picked up our teammates and supported each other. Individually, everyone played the best ultimate I've ever seen them play. It was special.

In a sense, no matter what happens now, I will consider our season to have been a success. We've seen what our team can do, and what we have to do to as individuals to get there. Our goal isn't to win every game, but instead to play every game as well as we can. Winning comes naturally if we can achieve this, and we should expect to win every game we play.

I hope we can roll into regionals and continue with our "nothing to lose" attitude. San Diego is great team, but now we know with no uncertainty that we can beat them, and that we have a legitimate chance at making it. The idea of going to club nationals seems so strange to me after just a few years ago, I was shedding a few tears with my teammates on the Ghettobirds after losing a heartbreaking game to advance to college regionals.

My first priority right now is healing my knee and ankle, and then it's back to work in the gym and on the track. I'm looking forward to regionals, and I really want to get to the game to go. From there, we'll give it our all and see where that takes us.

Colorado Cup Recap

Colorado Cup was overall a good weekend for Strike-Slip, but a little disappointing as well. We played very well most of the time, but we had a few lapses in concentration. Personally, I had a very up and down weekend.

Round 1: Sprawl W 13-8ish

Three times this weekend we took half 7-1, and this was one of those times. We had a combination of forced D's and unforced turnovers we rolled up a big lead. I think they came out pretty flat in the first game of the day, while we were super fired up about our new mandarin-mango colored jerseys. Sprawl was probably one of the better teams that we played this weekend, but at the time it didn't seem like it. They started coming on in the second half and they actually won the half, but our O-line was converting very efficiently and we cruised through for a short game.

Round 2: Blackfish W 13-3

I had heard that Blackfish was a secretly good team, and given the fact that they had flown our from Vancouver, I was ready to believe it. They seemed to be pretty young, and they got their only points from a tall dude that had some sweet skies in the endzone before pulling his hamstring. I think we only turned the disc 3 times during this game. We finished with over an hour before the next round and we took some time to wander around and watch some of the elite games. Dean went and got sandwiches, and I ate most of a Pastrami sandwich during our improvised bye. That was a mistake.

Round 3: Double Black W 14-12

Double Black was a very cagey masters team. We were super sluggish coming out of our break and they were punishing our lazy D with precise throws. We trailed for most of the game, but BOFA called a time out to yell and throw water in our faces to wake us up. There was a lot of egregious call making on their part, and we started to lower ourselves to their level. The arguing and slowing down of the game really played into their hands. They had a couple guys that were surprisingly athletic for older dudes, and they cheated very effectively. At the end of the game, we came up with a huge goal line stand to go up 13-12, and then got a quick break to end the game. It wasn't a feel-good win after all the calls, but a W is a W.

Round 4: 99 Problems L 13-8

By the time this game rolled around, BOFA was in the bathroom super sick with food poisoning and our team was without leadership. 99 problems are a bunch of local guys that aren't playing in the series, so they picked up a few ringers for our game. They had Popes and one or two other ex bravo guys. It was really hot out, and the heat and the elevation really got to me in this game. I had a number of bad huck turnovers, and I definitely hurt our chances to win this one. We should have won this one, but we dropped it and pretty much killed our chance of winning our pool.

One of the best parts about the tournament was that during the showcase game between Fury and Rare Air, they had lots of pizza, ice cream, and beer. The showcase game was a blowout, but it was great to have some incentive for everyone to stick around and hang out.

When we got back to the hotel, we started up a frenzied game of 4 on 4 indoor Pooltimate that was probably more tiring than the entire days worth of games. We shared some beer and after a late night trip to Waffle House (great post tournament food, btw) we passed out pretty early.

Sunday Morning
Round 5: Riverside 1 W 13-8

We came out pretty fired up about our loss the afternoon before, and went up 7-1 to start the game. They were really not very good, except for Spike and an ex Squid dude. Score reporter has the game listed as 13-8, but that sounds much closer than the game actually was, and I don't think that's right. We finished with over an hour before the next round and I got to go watch SD beat Truck Stop in a very close game.

Semis: Prairie Fire L 13-9

Prairie Fire made a splash earlier this season by beating Johnny Bravo twice and is so far undefeated this year. I would like to see them match up against San Diego because I feel like they are similar teams - young, talented guys that have been around for a while but are finally getting their act to together. Half of PF seemed to be about 6'4 or above lanky Kansas boys, so we had a lot of trouble matching up on their height.

They skied us a few times, but I feel like the loss really came from our unforced turns on offense rather than turns they forced. We have entirely too many turns from our dump sets. We really could have used Buhl to keep our offense straightened out, as well as for his solid handling. PF played like an elite team, with fast, devastating handler movement in space and timely hucks to their giants. I think we were down 7-3 at half, and we collectively turned it on to go on a run towards the end of the game, but they pulled away with some big offensive plays.

99 Problems lost their Semis game, and didn't want to play the 3/4 game against us, which we found very disappointing because we only got two games on Sunday. (They also lost to Sprawl in the last round of pool play because their ringers didn't come out.)

Prairie Fire went on to beat Suess in the finals 13-2. I take small consolation in knowing that we were their closest game of the weekend.

Overall, we didn't have a bad weekend as a team, especially considering that it was the first real tournament we've played. We're going to have a hard time beating an "elite" team because of our lack of height and our youth. We're a bit like Smaug was this season, with lots of talent and speed but lacking big play makers that can bail you out in a tight spot.

I'm very disappointed in my own performance this weekend. I had a very good weekend as a receiver, and I came down with everything that was put up to me. I've been working hard in the gym and on the track, and I don't think I've ever ran faster or jumped higher.

On the other hand, I really struggled with bad hucks. I normally think of myself as a hucker, and I don't hesitate to jack it deep, but after a bunch of turns and a lot older guys having talks with me on the sidelines I started thinking really hard about what I was doing wrong and what to I had to do to not screw up. Once I got into my own head like that, it was over. Self 1 took over and I could only fixate on the negative instead of visualizing the positive.

I really wonder what my role on the team should be. Maybe my job will be to catch scores and throw dumps, but I'm not ready to resign to that after one bad weekend. I'll reevaluate myself after Chico, but 70% of ultimate is confidence and I think I need to be stubborn headed for a little bit longer.

I'm very relieved and excited that we got accepted into Chico. YR, SCUM, and Condors will be there and those should be some fun games. I want a chance at redemption for myself and another chance for Strike Slip to get some quality wins before the series.

One last story: On the plane ride home, Bob challenged me to a shotgun race. He hit on the flight attendant with the "polar bear" line (How much does a polar bear weigh? Enough to break the ice!), who then stuck around to watch our race. She was so amused that she brought us a free round of beers! And I won both times. Great end to the weekend.

Huck It Long Beach!

I played in the Long Beach beach tournament this passed weekend, and I had one of the best times I've had a tourney in a long while. I haven't played in a social tourney since Lei-Out and it was great to enjoy a more relaxed brand of ultimate.

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.

SoCal Sectionals

This weekend had one of the most soul crushing losses I've ever had playing ultimate. But I'll get to that later.

Saturday-
SLO-B 11-0
Chumps. Bageled.

USC 11-1
I was really looking forward to this game, because I haven't gotten to play against the 'birds since WTOYL last semester. That wasn't with actual Smaug, though. I felt fairly sure we could bagel them and we came really close. Kenny D scored on an upline throw at 10-0. They were just coming off a tough loss on universe point against Long Beach, and to be fair, they weren't playing the game to win it. I think ATM and Parrell wanted to make it as quick and painless as possible so they could rest for more important games. Unfortunately, Ghetto finished 14th (losing to Redlands in the process), 3 spots away from qualifying for regionals. Next year will hopefully be a big step for them, though. It was fun playing against my old teammates, even though it seems like half the team is new. I'm pretty sure at one point they tried to iso me deep with Grant so he could sky the balls off me and they could have some revenge, but the throw was bladey and short and it didn't work out. Maybe next year.

Long Beach 11-7
I think we kind of assumed after USC took them to universe and Smeltzer was hurt that the Stalkers would roll over. I did, anyway. Instead they jumped us and went out to a 4-1 lead. They really, really wanted that game, because winner took the pool and would go to semis Sunday morning. They played super tight lines with Marcos and the handler dude with glasses playing almost every point. We finally got our heads on straight and started playing tight D. I think we took half, but I really don't remember this game that well. (I know some people have suggested that my blog is a little too self centric, but a.) I remember the things I did the most and b.) this is MY blog, not Smaug's blog.) It started getting windy and we both were running zones with a strong cross wind, I think. Anyway, we showed some grit and pulled out a nice come from behind win.

Pepperdine 11-0
I feel like Pepperdine goes to one tournament a year: Sectionals. I don't remember seeing them anywhere else, ever. They were surprisingly bad, actually. After a few points of playing zone on them in the wind, we stopped because it just seemed bad-spirited. The young guys got lots of playing time and the vets got to relax and cheer from the sidelines. Lots of guys had a chance to shine. Falco got like 4 D's by being faster than everyone, and Scarecrow completed the first huck of his competitive college career.

UCSB-B 11-1
They played a lot of Box zone on us. They weren't that bad at running it, but they didn't really have the athletes to do it succesfully. It was interesting because they didn't go to man on the endzone line like most teams but instead clamped down the zone harder. We stayed super patient to calmly put it in again and again. I feel personally responsible for allowing the 1 point that they scored, but I'll just decline to talk about that point.

Overall, a very succesful Saturday. 5-0, won our pool and we were going to semis at a luxious 11AM the next day. We had some Roscoes for dinner and I passed out immediately for a good 10 hours as soon as I got home.

Sunday

UCSD - 14-15
This game was the defining game of the weekend, and up to this point, the most memorable game of the season. We came out of the gate smoking hot. I hit Sultan and Concord early for quick scores and we were playing some psycho D. The sidelines were going crazy with Bro!!! cheers and we were on a motherfucking boat. It was real. The Box that had killed us last time we played them didn't seem imposing anymore, and they stopped running it after a couple points. We were playing super tight lines, and everyone was fired up because we felt like we the Squids in the bag finally. Avatar made a couple of huge layout blocks on in cuts. DaVinci made a huge layout catch on a huck for us to take it to half. People were playing out of their minds. After giving up a break or two, we got some breaks of our own back to go up 13-8. Then things went to hell.
We got a false confidence in our lead and Concord, Chotchkie and I all up terrible hucks which the Squids promptly marched up the field for scores. The wind had picked up by this point, mostly cross wind with a slight downwind. We put another score in to make it 14-11. I remember that guy Biel catching some crazy bladey hucks. That guy is pretty baller. They put up a desperation floater to the tall guy I was on and I went up early and tipped it back to him in the wind. We were receiving going upwind and they pulled a huge bladey flick pull...which we dropped in our own endzone. Quick score for them. Soft cap had already blown, and things were happening really fast. Our starters were pretty tired by this point because we had been playing pretty much every point. We received and worked it down the sideline and DaVinci put up upline throw to Linux but the wind pushed it down and Linux was about a foot short from catching the winning score. They worked it back up the field and scored on some not-very-pretty throws, but they put it in right after the hard cap blew, 15-14.

The next half hour or so I wandered around the field like a stunned survivor after a nuclear bomb, looking at the fallout. There was no outlet that I could find to express how I felt. I wanted to quit ultimate then and there and go home and just be a law student. It wasn't that I was angry or frustrated. I was just in shock and felt like I was suffocating and wanted to throw up all at once. It was one of the most emotional experiences I've had playing ultimate (the remaining list of which would be an interesting blog post).

I think there were 3 things that we could have done to change the outcome of this game:
1. Use the upwind side of the field. During the Squids' run, we forced it down the downwind sideline throw after throw. If we had swung the disc more effectively, we would have had better looks and opened up the field for our cutters and throwers more.

2. Opened up the lines a little. At 13-8 we had a little bit of leeway to get some younger, fresh legs in. Instead, we kept the same guys in and tired us out for the end of the game when we needed to close.

3. Not changing our offense. When we get up in a game, we tighten up too much. We changed the mindset of our offense from "attack" to "don't give up the lead," and this just doesn't work. The problem was exacerbated by problems 1 and 2. This more conservative mindset leads to more bad hucks because we're not getting the same open looks and flow that we're used to, so people are more apt to force a huck under these conditions, too. I think the saying is "ride the horse that brung ya." They way we were playing had put us up by 5 at that point in the game, and then was not the time to change it. People still need to play responsibly, but the looseness and fun needs to stay a part of it.

SLO 13-9
There was no way we were going to win this game. I think everyone, to one degree or another, was feeling the same way I was. They came out fired up after a close game with Tide and they were fired up. We wanted to crawl under a rock. Our sidelines were quiet. I have to give them credit. Bacon is a phenomenal thrower and that guy Paul (#1) in the short shorts deserves to be all-region. They got multiple lay-out D's on in cuts, something that usually doesn't happen to us. They wanted it more and they got it. Props to them for going and beating Tide immediately after the Squids rolled all over Tide in the finals.

APU 15-7
I was really surprised to see APU in the 4/5 game, ahead of Claremont, Long Beach, SDSU, etc. They really don't have much talent, and but they run a pretty effective zone. They asked us if we would agree to tie for 4th because they were tired. They only had something like 12-14 guys on the team. There was no way we were going to agree to that, though. It became clear pretty quickly that they were just going to huck and zone every time they were on O. They're zone was super porous, and by this time we were over the trauma of the Squids game and ready to nut on someone a little bit. I went a little bit crazy in this game, probably as a release some of the emotion from the earlier. In a trap zone on the sideline, I nutmegged my mark to Chotchkie on the dump and the whole B team on the sideline went crazy. I'd like to think that this was when they basically gave up and we rolled through the rest of the game. I threw whatever I freakin felt like and it was a pretty good way to end a terrible day. And we threw in an "Azusa Pacific, that was terrific!" cheer to boot.

So in the end, we finished 4th. As heartbreaking as Sunday was for us, I think there are still some positives that we can take from it. The number one thing is that we are that much saltier. I don't think that it we will ever let that happen again. The that we are lacking is big game experience, and that was about as much experience as I can handle at once.

I'm thankful that our meltdown, if it had to happen, happened at sectionals and not at regionals. Instead of going into regionals as a top seed with lots of expectations, were still the underdog and I think we like it that way. We have the memory of the squids game to remind us how good we can be, and how much focus we need to maintain. What can kill us is if we let that game affect our confidence, but I don't think that it will. We know that we can play with the big boys at regionals.

I want to thank everyone that came out to watch us this weekend, especially the Blu girls, Fei, and the Death Fist guys that were super energetic on the sidelines. It was exciting and helpful to have lots of people talking and cheering on the sidelines. I have a terrible taste in my mouth after this weekend, and I sure could use some of that sweet, sweet beer from Shifter's to wash it out.

The SB Invite Recap

We started the season up in Santa Barbara this past weekend. I had heard some people saying that we were in the "pool of death" with Tide, Davis, and UGMO. This turned out to be true, but I'm glad that we got to see the competition that we did on day one. It's always fun to get to play inter-regional match-ups, especially at a SoCal tourney. We had a pretty cushy start time of 1 PM, and to our amazement, it didn't rain on us once all weekend despite a storm on Thursday and Friday.

We spent the night in The Sultan's church rec room, which was way more awesome than it sounds. There was pool, ping pong, air-hockey and Ultivillage playing on a laptop. It was probably one of the best places I've stayed at a tournament. We slept in, went to cheer on the women, and check out the competition. We had a long day ahead of us.

Game 1: UCSB

Both teams were playing surprisingly efficient offense for the first tourney of the year. There were not very many turns and only one or two breaks in the first half. Tide may have lost some of their ballers from a year or two ago, but they have a great system in place and they are always competitive. Jeff Silverman is a pretty unreal athlete. He seemed to really carry SB over Cal in the showcase game. We did our best just to contain him.

As usual with SB, the game was chippy with lots of spikes and foul calls. I had a questionable huck to Linux where he skyed two guys and looked pretty awesome. In the second half our offense faltered a bit and the Tide D stepped up. Tide went up 12-10 (games to 13) with a 2 minutes left before hard cap. We went into panic mode, and Tide did their best to try to slow us down. Somehow I slipped through their poachy D and caught a full field lazer down the line from Da Vinci almost unguarded in the endzone. Then the hard cap blew. We pulled out a clutch D and some chilly endzone O for the score to bring it to 12-12 universe. I took a gamble on a big OI forehand pull with the downwind trying to get the roll with the wind. In retrospect, I should have stuck with the floaty pull that had been money all game. They knocked it down and someone, I think Silverman, got open downfield for a big huck reception and a quick score. Very anti-climactic for us, but it was still one of the more exciting games I've played in.

Game 2: Cal

We moved fields from the sweet rubberized turf to a terrible muddy pit of a field for this game. there were two giant puddles that were in play that were at least 10x10. I only had to wade through them once, to pull out a wet, disgusting pull. Anyway, both teams came out sloppy. Cal had a lot of turns early, but we looked sluggish coming off our intense game just a few minutes before. UGMO's returning some serious ballers, a few guys from Jam and Revolver and a mixed team I think, and of course Andrew "Cougar"Hagen. That kid has springs for legs and plays some great D. The point: Cal looked really good. They won the tourney beating Stanford big in the finals.

Anyway, the field was sloppy and so was our play. I hit Linux with a sweet backhand shot deep, but I had at least 3 turns in this game. They eventually tightened up and started tearing us apart with IO breaks and hucks to their studs. I think the final score was 13-6 or so. We were never really in the game, and I would like another shot at them. We might not beat them, but we can certainly do better than that.

Game 3: Davis

Davis did really well at Sean Ryan, and they were seeded pretty highly in the tourney, 5th I think. They're a well coached team. I don't really know the guys, but I had fun with the guys that I was matched up on and they were pretty spirited. We came out ready to play after a lengthy break from our last game and took half, 7-6. They came out really fired up, like we knew they would, and tightened up their O. We traded for a few points, during which I got terrible calf cramps and was out for the rest of the game. I watched from the sidelines as the game slipped away from us. Final score was something like 13-10 them.

After some delicious Freebirds nachos, I forced my car to go watch the showcase game, which was surprisingly entertaining. Cal was bombing it to their deeps and Santa Barbara was playing smart O. Cal went on a run down 12-8 or something like that to bring it to 12-11, but SB punched it in for the win. We spent the night watching the Miss America pageant at Sultan's. I ate about 6 snickerdoodle cookies and passed out on the floor.

Day 2

Game 1: Irvine

Our first game was at 11:30, and it was Windy. There was a pretty stiff cross wind that was changing directions so neither end zone had a big advantage. I really like playing Irvine because they are fun guys and I like matching up with my teammates from this summer, Box, Roeder and KG. Their receivers Stig and Fish are athletic and becoming good very fast, and they have Miller and Eeyore, but beyond that, they didn't really have the depth to keep up with us. The game was even until about 6-6 when we started throwing a flat cup zone and went on a 7-1 run or something like that. It will be interesting to match up against them when the wind will expose their weaker throwers less, but today, we had the upper hand. Anyway, it was fun game and I got into Box' head talking shit to him on the field. Maybe.

Game 2: Colorado St.

We played the Colorado St. alum club team in October and they had some studly receivers. Thankfully, they were not around on this years team, but they are still a very athletic team with good wind throws because they are from CO and not CA. They were running an interesting O with 1 guy iso'd and 3 guys chilling and waiting for continues. We were hesitant to run zone against them at first because we thought they would laugh in our faces and throw hammers all over the place to pwn us, but that didn't happen. We found ourselves down 10-6 when we finally started sticking with our zone in the heavy wind. Chotchkie's bladey flick huck was on fire and pinned them in the back of the end zone every time for easy turns for us when we were playing upwind D. On O, we managed to work it up with a combination of handler movement and choice hucks. * Luckiest play of the weekend: one of our cutters was stuck on the front corner of the endzone with a high stall count and throws a swilly hammer into a crowd. The disc gets macked, flutterguts style, towards Arbiter who jabs out his arm sideways and snatches it for the score. Wow. At some point, Thor decided that he had enough of this bullshit and he was going to single handedly win us the game. I remember during the soft cap he had a full extension lay out at the front corner of the endzone for a score, a sick upward layout deep D, and he broke open for a full field downwind bomb to take the game to universe. Universe point had a pair of turns for both sides, but we put it in upwind to take the game. It felt good, but it also felt like we stole this one. Most of our comeback came during soft cap. Oh well, it's a long season.

Game 3: Davis. Again.

Our last game was a rematch on the same field with the Dogs. It was the Beer bracket championship, so we were playing next to the Stanford/ Cal final, which was pretty fun. It looked like people were giving out some absolute bitchings in that game and it's a shame I didn't get to watch. We were determined not to let the same thing happen with this game (that was to 15, with shorter rounds than Saturday for some reason) as had happened the day before. But that's exactly what happened. Deja vu. We took half 8-5, and they came out fired up again. I didn't play very much during this one. My left contact lens had gotten something cloudy in it (sunscreen?) and I was struggling to overcome the distraction. I threw a few bad hucks (and 1 good one! hah!) and got taken out of the handler rotation by the coaches. I played a little bit on D, but by the second half our D line wasn't playing much because we kept getting scored on. I watched the game slip away from us on the sidelines again, 13-9ish, capped.

Overall, I'm really happy with the weekend. I was bummed that we didn't win more games, but we definitely improved as a team.

Personally, I played alright, but I could have played a lot better. Consistency is the name of the game for me now, I think. I had entirely too many turns for an offensive handler, at least a couple per game. The coaches talked with me this week and I think I'll be cutting more in the future, which is something I'm more comfortable with, but we'll see how it works out. Whatever helps us win. I can only remember 1 solid D that I had all weekend (in the CO St. game), which is disappointing to me, although I played mostly O-line.

These things were bothering me a lot until I remembered that this was my first real tournament with this team, and my first tournament in the role of offensive handler. There are big improvements to come in the future, and now I know more clearly what I need to work on. I need to get out of the Ghettobirds mindset of forcing something to happen and relax and put more trust in my teammates, because they are ballers. It will come. I can't wait for Vegas.