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.