Discos Calientes Preview

It finally happened - a cool picture of myself playing ultimate. Only took 4 years.

Everyone else is writing their Chico previews, so why not? I can't wait for this tourney, because we get to play all the teams that I've been wanting to play this season. I've also been eager for some redemption after Colorado. I think this tournament is huge for us because it's our last test before the series. Next stop after this: sectionals.

Pools were finally posted. They're gonna look something like this:

A

Condors

End Phase

Army of Darkness

Buddies

The Pirate Bay

B

Strike Slip

Monster

SCUC

Seduction

Club Sac

According to the schedule, we should have a first round bye, which is OK in my book. 7:50 is awfully early to play ultimate. However, the heat is going to be a factor, and playing in the cool early morning might actually be better. We're going to have 3 straight games between 930 ish and 1230, but at least were done before the hottest part of the day rolls around. It's supposed to be in the high 90's. I guess we should be more used to the heat after our 100 degree Pasadena practices.

For me, the biggest challenge with playing in extreme heat is staying hydrated. I need to drink as much water as I feel like I should drink, and then double that. Last year at Chico, my calves cramped up in the third round (and got me in a rhino highlight video getting pwned). Friday night will definitely include buying some pickle juice, gatorade, and clif bars. I'm going to experiment with playing with a hat again, too. I stopped because I felt like it was impeding my field vision, but sunscreen is just not doing it for me right now.

Before I jump into the teams, I need to make a point: Can teams please pick a name and stick with it! What's up with YR and Santa Cruz changing their name every tournament. It's annoying, it makes it hard to seed you, and you lose all the name recognition that you earn over time. Your team name is your brand, and you have to sell your team to people all the time - in recruiting, seeding, and tourney bids. A team should be an institution, and not named after the inside joke of the week. (Unless you're BCBC, in which case you're named after a joke that you keep telling over and over again...JK Calle)

Buddies

Cute name. Looks like they're a bunch of Davis guys, so they should be a decent. They'll be a good warm up before our SC game. But can someone please explain to me what is the point of this crossover game? Why do we play A4? It's so random.

Santa Cruz

We lost to these guys at Cal States in one of our worst games of the year. Dan Chaizin and Joaq are very, very good when they're clicking. The open division is totally mis-seeded. They're going to blow the doors off of Monster.

We're a different team than we were at cal states, and though it will be a tough one, I think we can take this game. This is our first big test of the the tournament.

Monster

This game is going to be super fun. Monster is lots of young guys from Irvine, Long Beach, and UCLA. Lots of my good friends are playing for them. They're not going to be a pushover, but I think we win this game. They're missing Danny and Steve, apparently, but they're bringing Biclops, Box, Stig, Bishop, Falco, Big Jake... ooh, it's gonna be good. I know you guys are reading this! We're coming for you!

Seduction

International team of mystery.

The way I see it, we'll be playing in the semis against either Condors or End Phase. If we lose to SC, we'll most likely end up as B2. Then, we play the winner of the Condors/End Phase match up. The only way this doesn't happen is if we drop a second pool play game, which i think is pretty unlikely. I think it's probably a toss up between the two teams, though I give a slight advantage to End Phase because of their chemistry. The wild card is Army of Darkness out of Oregon. I haven't got a clue who they are. Oregonians grow sweet beards and play good ultimate, right?

End Phase

These guys are a tough team. They're gritty, and they've played together forever. They never seem to quite break into the ranks of the elite teams, but they always seem to be nipping at their heels. They're very dangerous to a new team like ours, and this game scares me the most of the games I'm looking forward to. They love to break the mark and work the disc with squirelly handler movement, but they don't really have the tall athletes to match up to other teams. Then again, neither do we.

Condors

Ohhh yeahh... I think this is the match up that everyone wants to see. This is the bigger, badder version of the Monster game. I was giddy with excitement when I thought this might be the showcase game, but instead we'll get to see Metro vs. BCBC (fingers crossed, anyway). They only have three returners, but somehow, Santa Barbara always maximizes what it has. Silverman, Ian and Dirty Dan are formidable players, and I'm sure they've whipped their newbies into shape, especially The Arbiter. They've been silent since Cal States, quietly plotting their return in their beachfront apartments. My point is, I don't care who they have, they're going to be good.

We have a very legitimate shot at winning this tournament. I still have yet to win a club tournament of any kind, and I'm hungry for it. I remember the stacked Monster team from 07 losing a heartbreaker to YR in the finals of Discos two years ago. Let's look inside ourselves and find out if we're winners.

DPLP

I've still never been in the river there, and I hear it's awesome. Cheap Sierra Nevada is probably the best reason there is to go to Chico (and still not that compelling), so maybe we'll make it to the party this year. In prior years, the heat has really taken it out of me and I've passed out a sunburned mess.

Last night was Chotchkie's birthday dinner, and we had a blast in Santa Monica. Biking to bars is probably my favorite night out, and I like the Library Alehouse almost as much as Chotch. Here are a few pics:

You can follow Strike-Slip this weekend on my twitter account:

www.twitter.com/danoettinger

Also, keep your eye on the scores from ECC. Should be an interesting weekend.

Game on!

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.

Colorado Cup Preview

Friday afternoon we’re headed for Boulder for Colorado Cup. We’re the two seed at the tourney, and the one seed in our pool, which looks something like this:

1. Strike-Slip
2. 99 Problems
3. Double Black
4. Sprawl
5. Riverside 1
6. Blackfish

I don’t put too much stock in the seedings since it’s still pretty early in the series and most teams don’t have much of a resume yet. 99 Problems and Double Black are both Denver area teams, so they’ll have a home field advantage. 99 Problems is listed as a combination of players from Bad Larry and Slow Dance. Sprawl is from AZ, Riverside 1 from Austin, Texas, and Blackfish is from Vancouver. I’m pretty interested in playing a team that flew in from BC for this tournament. Anyway, none of the teams have much of a history on score reporter so each game will be a mystery box.

A1 is Prairie Fire, a bunch of good Kansas guys who beat Johnny Bravo twice at a tourney in the early season. I really hope we have a chance to play them at some point because they look to the be the team to beat in the open division.

Our practice this weekend looked much improved over previous weeks, and I think we’re finally starting to gel a little better. We had about 17-18 on Saturday, but we split into an O-line and a much bigger D-line. As far as I can tell, the O line will be some combination of Buhl, GVP, AJ, Linux, Keith, Bobby, Alan, Me, Concord and maybe Korb. There will probably be some other guys who weren’t at practice, too. It’s an interesting combination of young and old guys, and pretty Smaug heavy. It makes sense to have young legs and smart veteran handlers together on the line together. It’s interesting that they’ve gone with younger guys over some of the more experienced players, but it’s good that they have confidence in us.

I like the idea of having a small O-line and a big D-line. Offense is less fatiguing, and chemistry will be key for our efficiency. I like that we have some ballers and big throwers on the D line, too, and hopefully they will be playing most of our points at the next few tournaments. We did an interesting drill where the O team played savage and had to score 9 points before the D team (who had lots of subs) could get 5 break points. It definitely sucked for the D line, but it was pretty effective. I feel like were finally starting to get the motion vert offense, and it’s definitely helped by our increasing familiarity with each other as players. Ultimate is such a repetitive game that it’s key to know your teammates habits, abilities and tendencies. It seems sort of obvious, but I think it’s still undervalued.

Strike-Slip reminds me of Smaug in that there’s a lot of talent, but not many dominant athletes that are going to come up with huge plays. This is probably why the captains went with the vertical offense, which is very methodical and workman like. That said, there is still a ton of talent on the team, and every practice I feel lucky to be playing with these guys because it’s by far the best team I’ve ever been on.

So HOT!

Weekend 4 of Strike Slip practice. We scrimmaged for about 6 hours between Friday and Saturday. I thought this was a nice break from the tons of drills that we've been running most practices. It was in the upper 90s today in Pasadena, and we only had 15 players, so we played a series of games to 3 with lots of shade and water breaks in between. It was really nice to build some chemistry and just play ultimate with my teammates. We're definitely getting better at running the system, but we have a long ways to go before we'll be doing really well.

For whatever reason, it's been tough to get numbers at practice. People have been sick, traveling, injured or whatever, but the turnout has been very disappointing. We have a roster of 22 and I don't think we've had a practice with more than 16.

In other bad news, we lost two big players to co-ed. Welsh decided to play with Metro, and Lafitte left for BCBC. I don't really blame Lafitte because the last two times he's played Open, he's hurt himself seriously. He's a great player, but if he can't stay healthy, BCBC is probably the way to go. Losing Welsh really hurts us because he's probably one of the most underrated receivers on the West Coast, and even though he has his shortcomings, that guy is a phenomenal player. Metro now has three big receivers in him, Keegan and Barrs (not to mention some very dominant ladies) and it should be really interesting to see how the SW Mixed division plays out this year. BCBC, Metro, Barrio and at least one very strong CO team will be fighting for 2(?) bids to natties.

Anyway, I feel that what LA Open needs right now is commitment and hard work form it's members. I had a lot of fun playing in the scorching heat this weekend and I really think there's a lot of talent on our team, we just need to get some experience.

Personally, I played alright this weekend. I'm feeling really strong after a few months of lifting, and I really want to start stepping up the intensity of my track workouts. I had a some pretty good deep receptions, but I really need to work on not throwing to receivers that are too deep. They look so tempting, and it works most of the time in college, but defenders are too fast and discs move too slowly. Also, we have about 8 plays that are all very similar, and I really need to make some flashcards of them or something.

Overall, it was a very positive weekend because this was probaby the most fun I've had playing with SS. Uniforms are coming soon!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Your 2009 Strike-Slip

Aaron Jacobs
Alek Korb
Allen Lai
Andy Sammons
Dan Oettinger
David Hunt
Dean Bolton
Ben Parrell
Eric Maniez
Geoffrey Buhl
George Van Pelt
Jack Moxon
Jerry Yang
Keith Reshke
Laffite Lamberto-Egan
Matt Welsh
Mike Kiyoi
Micheal Liu
Orin Moore
Sam Regnier
Tim Gilligan
Dan Davisson
Steven Chang
Yama Afshar

The Hangover

Potlatch is amazing. If I could only go to one tournament in a year, this would be the one. The fields, the level of play, the party, the camping, the river, the gifts... it's very special. Mah Na Mah Na had a good showing, finishing tied for 37th, which was totally acceptable given that we had no expectation of winning much at all. The number one goal in putting the team together was to maximize our fun. Mission accomplished.

I fully plan writing more about the weekend, but for now I'll just leave of few of my favorite moments that I don't want to forget:

• Peaches switching clothes with a girl on the other team and a drunk dude thinking he was on his team and throwing Peaches a Callahan
• Lupin smacking Warehouse's blood blister with a sandal, squirting the contents onto Concord's leg
• Finding the Team USA flag in our camp and Concord and Lupin challenging Seth Wiggins and Dylan Tunnell to a flutterguts game to get it back. Seth was not amused.
• 2/2 on the Zyzzx.
• Floating down the river at the end of the day
• Playing Mischief to 9-8 before we dropped 2 pulls. oops.
• Grant and Linux' layout catches against Mischief. Baller.
• Peaches' Billy Mays impression.
• Watermelon detonator
  
• Coming back from down 0-4 to beat Cookin' by the Book (Sorry about not being there to accept the apron. It's pretty sweet.)
  
• Dragging the Wiz out of his tent on Saturday night and him having no memory of it
• Smashmasters beating Team Stinks on Universe, and Banshees layout D on Lugsdin to get them there.
• Floating the disc to Grant in double coverage and watching him nut on them (about 10 times)
  

What else have I forgotten about?

Some of my Favorite Advice

I was trying to think back to some of my favorite things that people have told me over the years.

• When you get the disc, move your eyes to the deep space first.
• Only worry about what you can control. Everything else is irrelevant.
• Mark in three dimensions, not two.
• Playing zone D, always ask yourself what target you are taking away. If you don't know, you aren't doing your job.

I'll think of some more later.

POTLATCH!