"We do, what we do, to get by,
And then we need a release"
- Thrash Unreal by Against Me
Another 4+ days of ultimate crammed into a seven day week. The point form recap is included below for your viewing pleasure.
- The + day refers throwing with some BigFish and one BFC member last Sunday.
- Random observation: It seems I'm not the only one who's self-conscious about my throws (the length of my backhand in my case). It's weird to think that competitive players (and practice squadders!) worry more about distance, accuracy, and appearance of throws than most beginners and intermediate players.
- Poach Motel has officially played ourselves into dangerous territory. We won against a very talented team last Monday that included a dominant Scarlett lady, an ex-Jacked-Pass team-mate, and a couple of veteran male handlers. The good news is that I underestimated the competitiveness of our ladies, who are amazing. The bad news is that this coming Monday's game is going to be killer. I recognize at least four comp players on the other team's roster (two Fishes), including a Phoenix handler. Said handler can huck the field, blow by me with Berkley's and is top 5 in the city with his throws. My personal goal: less than 5 incomplete passes (I've had 2 and 1 the past two Mondays).
- Although I'm dreading next Monday's game since we might get destroyed, I'm looking forward to it from a competitive standpoint. Plus, the other team has one of the hottest women in OCUA as a sub...so at least I can blame any iid-iot plays on being distracted.
- Speaking of the hottest women in OCUA, I seem to have lucked out with my two teams and BigFish this summer. So much eye candy, it's a wonder I'm not dropping the disc more often.
- Tuesday's practice was lots of fun, but freaking cold. Having never played "zone offensive" before, I learned tonnes. Tom's core exercises were absolutely killer, but also targeted important areas, so I'll integrate them into my personal routine.
- Thursday's practice was equally educational in that I learned BigFish zone defense. In particular, I have to remember the mid-mid's role, which is quite different than what I'm used to.
- After Tom leading us through another fitness circuit, I'm less sore this weekend after lunging the field another 3 times. My glutes and hamstrings are only a tad tight.
- Went out for drinks (or 'drink' in my case) after practice Thursday with most of the team. As expected, they're all very friendly, interesting people outside of ultimate. Learned two important things while out for drinks:
1. A fictional fashion accessory that I suggested on OHUA was made into a reality!
2. Sometimes it's smarter to blend in than to stand out. Keeping a low profile at practice continues to be my plan.
- Urban Sprawl vs. FFF was an interesting game. They were without the one player I know from their squad last year (he's in Open this summer), but picked up a Scarlett girl. I tried to tune down the long passes and onfield coaching this week, and just concentrated on beating my man on offense and defense. The suprising result was that I ended cutting most of the second half, and caught some beautiful tosses from team-mates for scores as we won 15-13. I was very proud of my team-mates for not getting down when they were up 4-1 or 8-5 on us. Plus, we seem to have some emerging handlers on the team, including a couple ladies.
- One of the cute ladies on Sprawl (the one with the bruise inducing flick) has really got a mind for the ultimate and was talking trash about the Scarlet FFF girl after the game. I had to bite my tongue to stop from laughing, especially when the last phrase out of said hotty's mouth was "If you haven't noticed, I'm a very competitive person." My reply, which caused her sister to giggle was "I think everyone has noticed that about you."
Since this weekend is supposed to be rainy (and hasn't disappointed), I think next week's recap will only be of four days of ultimate. I'm going to concentrate on stretching and strengthening my core this weekend, and on relaxing since this has been a busy couple of weeks for me. I'm playing my first outdoor tournament of year next weekend (CHEO!) so that should be lots of fun. Until next time, happy hucking!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
The Ultimate Ultimate Picture
"Could you take my picture?
Is this shot recognizable? It's my FB profile shot, and one of the few half-decent pictures I have of myself in purple. It was taken by a team-mate with a pricey camera (and ridiculously expensive lens) in one of our first games of the year in 2007. On the positive side, I like the fact that my legs look stronger than they'll ever be. The fact I'm rocking the purple Urban Sprawl gear is also a plus. On the flip side, can you detect low-skill photoshopping? I had to add in a little extra shirt or you'd see a fat roll (I swear to god) that no 165 pound, 6'1 guy could possibly have…unless it was magnified by a powerful Cannon lens. Another negative; where the hell is the disc? Who's to say I'm just not scratching my ass at a very awkward angle? Please note, the clip-on shades are typical, old-school, country hick, pre-surgery Nurple. Next...
As luck would have it, I suckered a kid who worked at Future Shop to take a team shot of Sushi, my Sunday squad from last summer. He obviously knew how to work my camera well, yet, this team picture is wrong on so many levels. First off, two of the guys (including Marcel the supersub from Switzerland - standing at the far right) only played one game on the team. Had Marcel been playing with us all last summer, we would have been undefeated, and he would have deserved to be in this picture. Secondly, I'm left wondering when I found the time to farm last summer? Check out those shameful, corporate sellout, tan lines. Lastly, one of those ironic things about team pictures is that I usually end up next to people I dislike, and far away from people I enjoy playing with. Check, and mate in this shot. Next...
Earlier this week, one of the Fish regulars astutely pointed out on the OCUA forums (where the rules discussions as of late have me wondering if I should read the rules more than once a year...or if MHJ is just bored) that the great majority of winning pictures in ultypics.com contests last summer were taken by the same two or three photographers. My mission this summer is to at least take one shot worthy of submitting to ultypics. Who knows, given the low number of submissions, I might end up with a case of beer and/or some Daredevil swag. Until next time, happy hucking!
Cuz I won't remember."
- Filter
As stated in one of my first entries, among the reasons for this blog were Facebook and el-jay friends who complained that I was posting too many ultimate pictures and writing too frequently about this "hippy sport" *sigh*. I find the complaints from the FB folk ironic, since one of my few ulty problems is that I've found it impossible to get a decent picture of myself playing, or take a flattering photo of others. Yes, I know, there are sites like ultypics.com that have beautiful action shots of competitive players skying eachother, and performing head high layouts, BUT…have you ever tried to take a decent ulty picture or have a friend take one of you? It might just be my $100 Ebay special camera (likely), or the lack of photography talent of my friends (equally likely), but the ultimate ultimate picture completely alludes me. A few examples will help illustrate my ulty photography issues.
Ok, first up is this…doozy, taken by a professional photographer who is a friend of a friend. He wanted to take some action shots of an early season throwing session on the Supreme Court lawn last month, and this was the best shot of me. On a positive note, I find this picture amusing since it looks like I'm controlling the disc path via telepathy while gently correcting it with slight hand movements. On a negative note…hmmm…where to begin. First off, I'm displaying one of my many bad habits; I usually catch discs one handed in warm-up. It's one of those Zip tips ("catch with both hands") that I've taken to the extreme. My choice of attire is also rather suspect, in that apparently I felt cleats were unnecessary, a $5 Value Village top would suffice, and my post-eye-surgery recovery sunglasses were a stylish fashion choice. The last photographic beef I have with this shot is the disc is at a distance where the casual observer might wonder if I threw it (it would have to have been a backhand pop pass…which I don't have in my arsenal…yet) or am catching it (incorrectly…with one hand). Next...
Is this shot recognizable? It's my FB profile shot, and one of the few half-decent pictures I have of myself in purple. It was taken by a team-mate with a pricey camera (and ridiculously expensive lens) in one of our first games of the year in 2007. On the positive side, I like the fact that my legs look stronger than they'll ever be. The fact I'm rocking the purple Urban Sprawl gear is also a plus. On the flip side, can you detect low-skill photoshopping? I had to add in a little extra shirt or you'd see a fat roll (I swear to god) that no 165 pound, 6'1 guy could possibly have…unless it was magnified by a powerful Cannon lens. Another negative; where the hell is the disc? Who's to say I'm just not scratching my ass at a very awkward angle? Please note, the clip-on shades are typical, old-school, country hick, pre-surgery Nurple. Next... As luck would have it, I suckered a kid who worked at Future Shop to take a team shot of Sushi, my Sunday squad from last summer. He obviously knew how to work my camera well, yet, this team picture is wrong on so many levels. First off, two of the guys (including Marcel the supersub from Switzerland - standing at the far right) only played one game on the team. Had Marcel been playing with us all last summer, we would have been undefeated, and he would have deserved to be in this picture. Secondly, I'm left wondering when I found the time to farm last summer? Check out those shameful, corporate sellout, tan lines. Lastly, one of those ironic things about team pictures is that I usually end up next to people I dislike, and far away from people I enjoy playing with. Check, and mate in this shot. Next...Lastly, may I present a typical Nurple picture. I played with the jumping guy in red (possibly named Jeff?) for two months on a fall hat team. I swear that this is the only sky he had all season, so I did manage to capture a rare moment. However, even though it was taken at night, at Frankly Crumbling Stadium, this picture is darker than R Kelly's intentions at a sweet 16 party. One also might think that the "zoom" feature on my camera doesn't work…which it does. Lastly, this picture has zero of the four elements of the perfect sky (neither party is jumping high, it was a blowout game, and Jeff(??) was too friendly to hate anyone).
Earlier this week, one of the Fish regulars astutely pointed out on the OCUA forums (where the rules discussions as of late have me wondering if I should read the rules more than once a year...or if MHJ is just bored) that the great majority of winning pictures in ultypics.com contests last summer were taken by the same two or three photographers. My mission this summer is to at least take one shot worthy of submitting to ultypics. Who knows, given the low number of submissions, I might end up with a case of beer and/or some Daredevil swag. Until next time, happy hucking!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Life Before Ultimate
"I had a job before this,
I had a job before this,
Ultimately, it was that job that drove me into this."
- Gord Downie (New Orleans is Sinkin')
Despite the valiant efforts of various individuals and organizations, ultimate is one of those sports that people usually take up later in life. Having run across numerous former soccer players on the ultimate pitch, it seems that soccer is the most common feeder sport for ultimate. It might just be the fact that I usually get stuck marking tall guys, but I can attest to an impressive number of former basketball and hockey players who now consider ulty as their preferred sport.
Although I dabbled in basketball in my younger days, my background is in running. As mentioned in my first post, ultimate was originally meant to be a social form of cross-training since group runs bored me to death. Not only was it difficult to find someone in a group run who ran the right pace, it was nearly impossible to find an equally quick runner who didn't blabber on about some boring topic (including running). In contrast, ultimate players, even those of different abilities, tend to be very interesting individuals with fascinating lives outside of ulty.
Even though I was a runner before I started ultimate in 2006, I stopped caring about running in 1997. While on the University of Ottawa cross-country team, I had a coach who didn't understand the difference between an elite and an intermediate athlete. Without dropping names, this coach worked with numerous Olympians, groomed high school runners into scholarship athletes, and made the Ottawa Lions into a distance running force in the club track scene in Canada. The only problem being, he thought his brilliant workouts would work for everyone. The result is that the "also rans" on the U of O team would be so burnt out from practices that we'd have nothing left for meets and races. Amusingly, my practice pace of about 4 min/km ended up being my race pace for distances of 4km through 10km by the end of 1997.
In 1998, after I decided that returning to the Gee-Gees Cross-Country team wasn't a smart option, I ran a half marathon with very little training, and ended up with a stress fracture in my right foot. Although I was happy with my time (1:45ish), the Gloucester half-marathon was the last race I remember "racing". My dad got into running around that time, so when my stress fracture healed, I'd complete a couple of races a year that he entered, but couldn't tell you what my times were, or how I finished, or how big the fields were…cause they just didn't matter.
Since I started playing ultimate, I've ran…two races. For a guy who used to run 10 – 20 races a year (including track and cross-country), cutting down to an average of one a year might seem a bit drastic. Honestly, I'm much happier this way. I'm not getting up at ungodly hours (anything before 8am is crazy) just to outrun a bunch of sweaty people. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against runners, I'm just happier being an ulty player.
Last weekend, I ran the Nordion 10km for the first time since 2000 (had to check that on Sportstats). What training went into my 10km performance? Hmmm, outside of ultimate, I do try to run twice a week (4km – 8km), and do some stationary biking. Why did I enter the 10km? Much easier answer, work subsidized the entry fee for it and I wanted to meet some of my athletic colleagues. The free dryfit shirt and pasta lunch didn't hurt either. How did I do? Surprisingly well – 44:10 chip time.
I had mentioned to some co-workers on Friday that I'd try to run under 45 minutes since that seemed like a semi-impressive/respectable time. My big fear was running into any former gee-gees or high school team-mates, who would have inevitably pushed me out of my comfort zone. Instead, as luck would have it, the 45 minute pace buddy lined up directly in front of me. So I simply chased him down for the first kilometer (FYI – rather than the clusterfuck start, the worst part about the Nordion is zig-zagging your way through slowpokes who started too far up for the first 3km) and then got bored at his pace, and passed him never to see him again (the idiot missed his 45 minute goal pace). I'll admit, I considered quitting around 6km, but the crowd from 7km onward really got me energized and seemed to appreciate the fact I was passing runner after runner while most racers were dying.
The worst part of the race, nudging out the clusterfuck start and zig-zagging, was the cramp 5 minutes after I finished. I got my chip off, picked up my finisher's medal (I think my nephew will enjoy that), and had some orange slices and bananas before exiting Confederation Park onto Laurier. While stepping off the sidewalk, I got the worst calf cramp I've ever experienced. I ended up stretching it out for two minutes using the shoulder of a friendly police officer, before it subsided enough for me to walk. The police officer was horrified that he could actually see my calf muscle contracted. Glad I didn't let him talk me into going to the St.John's ambulance people though, since the calf was fine once I stretched out the cramp.
Although my competitive racing days are definitely behind me, I'll probably try to enter the odd race for a good cause, or ones with later start times. I don't really miss the running community in Ottawa, since I find the ulty community more engaging. Plus, I run plenty playing ulty four times a week. Until next time, happy hucking!
I had a job before this,
Ultimately, it was that job that drove me into this."
- Gord Downie (New Orleans is Sinkin')
Despite the valiant efforts of various individuals and organizations, ultimate is one of those sports that people usually take up later in life. Having run across numerous former soccer players on the ultimate pitch, it seems that soccer is the most common feeder sport for ultimate. It might just be the fact that I usually get stuck marking tall guys, but I can attest to an impressive number of former basketball and hockey players who now consider ulty as their preferred sport.
Although I dabbled in basketball in my younger days, my background is in running. As mentioned in my first post, ultimate was originally meant to be a social form of cross-training since group runs bored me to death. Not only was it difficult to find someone in a group run who ran the right pace, it was nearly impossible to find an equally quick runner who didn't blabber on about some boring topic (including running). In contrast, ultimate players, even those of different abilities, tend to be very interesting individuals with fascinating lives outside of ulty.
Even though I was a runner before I started ultimate in 2006, I stopped caring about running in 1997. While on the University of Ottawa cross-country team, I had a coach who didn't understand the difference between an elite and an intermediate athlete. Without dropping names, this coach worked with numerous Olympians, groomed high school runners into scholarship athletes, and made the Ottawa Lions into a distance running force in the club track scene in Canada. The only problem being, he thought his brilliant workouts would work for everyone. The result is that the "also rans" on the U of O team would be so burnt out from practices that we'd have nothing left for meets and races. Amusingly, my practice pace of about 4 min/km ended up being my race pace for distances of 4km through 10km by the end of 1997.
In 1998, after I decided that returning to the Gee-Gees Cross-Country team wasn't a smart option, I ran a half marathon with very little training, and ended up with a stress fracture in my right foot. Although I was happy with my time (1:45ish), the Gloucester half-marathon was the last race I remember "racing". My dad got into running around that time, so when my stress fracture healed, I'd complete a couple of races a year that he entered, but couldn't tell you what my times were, or how I finished, or how big the fields were…cause they just didn't matter.
Since I started playing ultimate, I've ran…two races. For a guy who used to run 10 – 20 races a year (including track and cross-country), cutting down to an average of one a year might seem a bit drastic. Honestly, I'm much happier this way. I'm not getting up at ungodly hours (anything before 8am is crazy) just to outrun a bunch of sweaty people. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against runners, I'm just happier being an ulty player.
Last weekend, I ran the Nordion 10km for the first time since 2000 (had to check that on Sportstats). What training went into my 10km performance? Hmmm, outside of ultimate, I do try to run twice a week (4km – 8km), and do some stationary biking. Why did I enter the 10km? Much easier answer, work subsidized the entry fee for it and I wanted to meet some of my athletic colleagues. The free dryfit shirt and pasta lunch didn't hurt either. How did I do? Surprisingly well – 44:10 chip time.
I had mentioned to some co-workers on Friday that I'd try to run under 45 minutes since that seemed like a semi-impressive/respectable time. My big fear was running into any former gee-gees or high school team-mates, who would have inevitably pushed me out of my comfort zone. Instead, as luck would have it, the 45 minute pace buddy lined up directly in front of me. So I simply chased him down for the first kilometer (FYI – rather than the clusterfuck start, the worst part about the Nordion is zig-zagging your way through slowpokes who started too far up for the first 3km) and then got bored at his pace, and passed him never to see him again (the idiot missed his 45 minute goal pace). I'll admit, I considered quitting around 6km, but the crowd from 7km onward really got me energized and seemed to appreciate the fact I was passing runner after runner while most racers were dying.
The worst part of the race, nudging out the clusterfuck start and zig-zagging, was the cramp 5 minutes after I finished. I got my chip off, picked up my finisher's medal (I think my nephew will enjoy that), and had some orange slices and bananas before exiting Confederation Park onto Laurier. While stepping off the sidewalk, I got the worst calf cramp I've ever experienced. I ended up stretching it out for two minutes using the shoulder of a friendly police officer, before it subsided enough for me to walk. The police officer was horrified that he could actually see my calf muscle contracted. Glad I didn't let him talk me into going to the St.John's ambulance people though, since the calf was fine once I stretched out the cramp.
Although my competitive racing days are definitely behind me, I'll probably try to enter the odd race for a good cause, or ones with later start times. I don't really miss the running community in Ottawa, since I find the ulty community more engaging. Plus, I run plenty playing ulty four times a week. Until next time, happy hucking!
Friday, May 23, 2008
The Ultimate Four Day Week
With Victoria Day last Monday, the four day work week was complimented by a four day ultimate week. Even though Wednesday was my only night "off" (15 minutes on the exercise bike, 30 minutes of lifting, and 20 minutes of physiotherapy ball exercises), I thoroughly enjoyed four nights of ultimate. Since I've already written about Poached Motel on Monday, I'll summarize my ulty exploits for the rest of the week in point form.
- Tuesday's BigFish (BF) practice was fun and educational. Lots of tips were given during practice, and in a helpful follow-up message from one of the coaches after practice.
- Among these tips, one that will take considerable work for me is using one hand to hold the disc while handling. I've been using two hands for a while, but as Gavin accurately pointed out, you can't throw a disc with two hands, so you look uncomfortable and clueless (i.e. my natural state). If memory serves (doubtful), holding the disc with two hands was something I picked up from one of my ultivillage DVDs…but Gavin knows best, and his reasoning makes sense.
- At the risk of having my sanity questioned (happens more than I'd like to admit), since Thursday's BF practice focused on conditioning, I loved it! One of the BF regulars, Tom (who has a cool last name) is apparently an athletic therapist and/or personal trainer. He led us through about 30 minutes of conditioning drills. His drills seemed more ultimate-related than the ones at the Phoenix/Firebird pre-tryout, tryouts.
- One of the past BF players who was working out with us ('Tron or Paul?) recently had sports hernia surgery. He said there wasn't a long wait, and he seems to be recovering well. As coincidence would have it, we share the same physiotherapist.
- Instead of doing 5-pull, we scrimmaged at the end of Thursday's practice. That was my best performance yet with the team. With some of the real speedsters away, and with my speed endurance kicking in after Tom's conditioning, I managed to catch a couple of beautiful passes for scores, and even threw a goal. On the down side, I caused others to do push-ups with a bad decision after a long reception. After long receptions, I have to condition myself to do the right thing and dump the disc.
- During huck drill, my mind continues to be blown by one of my female team-mates ability to throw ridiculously long backhands. Having chased down two of the gravity defying beauties, I now know not to shoulder check until I cross mid field. Said team-mate also gave everyone a sweet-ass, limited edition, BigFish version of the 11th edition rules. Gee…what a star.
- Sadly, due to an Urban Sprawl game, post-game drinks, and a 10km race the next day, I had to skip a get together thrown by Niki from BF. She's another BF lady with impressive throws and enviable decision making skills.
- During warm-up and cool-down stretching, the comedians on the team seem to step up. Thursday night's favorite topic seemed to be pot, while the favorite target was fellow practice squadder Ahman (IMHO, the most dominating IID player last winter). Glen in particular seems to have one-line zingers primed to release at a moment's notice.
- Sprawl vs. Bombers on Friday was….the typical first game of the year for a Friday night team. After finding out they lost 15-0 last week to a team with a couple of BF'ers, I knew we could probably pick them apart. Due to windy conditions, it was 3-3 until we finally scored an up wind point. That led to an 8-3 half, extended to 10-3, and then we decided that our ladies would handle for the rest of the game when the score was 11-4. I think we won by 15 to....7ish.
- When the Sprawl ladies were handling, one particularly cute one nailed me with a down wind, bullet of a flick to the sternum. I'll be rocking a rather embarassing bruise from that fatal flick for the next couple of days. On the bright side, I caught the pass on the rebound.
- My six pack of Thorlos off Ebay finally arrived! My feet will thank me the rest of the summer.
That my friends, was my ultimate four day week. I'm super pumped for a hard game next Monday with Poached, two practices with the Fishies next Tuesday and Thursday (<- hoping we do conditioning again), and another fun game with Sprawl. Until next time, happy hucking!
- Tuesday's BigFish (BF) practice was fun and educational. Lots of tips were given during practice, and in a helpful follow-up message from one of the coaches after practice.
- Among these tips, one that will take considerable work for me is using one hand to hold the disc while handling. I've been using two hands for a while, but as Gavin accurately pointed out, you can't throw a disc with two hands, so you look uncomfortable and clueless (i.e. my natural state). If memory serves (doubtful), holding the disc with two hands was something I picked up from one of my ultivillage DVDs…but Gavin knows best, and his reasoning makes sense.
- At the risk of having my sanity questioned (happens more than I'd like to admit), since Thursday's BF practice focused on conditioning, I loved it! One of the BF regulars, Tom (who has a cool last name) is apparently an athletic therapist and/or personal trainer. He led us through about 30 minutes of conditioning drills. His drills seemed more ultimate-related than the ones at the Phoenix/Firebird pre-tryout, tryouts.
- One of the past BF players who was working out with us ('Tron or Paul?) recently had sports hernia surgery. He said there wasn't a long wait, and he seems to be recovering well. As coincidence would have it, we share the same physiotherapist.
- Instead of doing 5-pull, we scrimmaged at the end of Thursday's practice. That was my best performance yet with the team. With some of the real speedsters away, and with my speed endurance kicking in after Tom's conditioning, I managed to catch a couple of beautiful passes for scores, and even threw a goal. On the down side, I caused others to do push-ups with a bad decision after a long reception. After long receptions, I have to condition myself to do the right thing and dump the disc.
- During huck drill, my mind continues to be blown by one of my female team-mates ability to throw ridiculously long backhands. Having chased down two of the gravity defying beauties, I now know not to shoulder check until I cross mid field. Said team-mate also gave everyone a sweet-ass, limited edition, BigFish version of the 11th edition rules. Gee…what a star.
- Sadly, due to an Urban Sprawl game, post-game drinks, and a 10km race the next day, I had to skip a get together thrown by Niki from BF. She's another BF lady with impressive throws and enviable decision making skills.
- During warm-up and cool-down stretching, the comedians on the team seem to step up. Thursday night's favorite topic seemed to be pot, while the favorite target was fellow practice squadder Ahman (IMHO, the most dominating IID player last winter). Glen in particular seems to have one-line zingers primed to release at a moment's notice.
- Sprawl vs. Bombers on Friday was….the typical first game of the year for a Friday night team. After finding out they lost 15-0 last week to a team with a couple of BF'ers, I knew we could probably pick them apart. Due to windy conditions, it was 3-3 until we finally scored an up wind point. That led to an 8-3 half, extended to 10-3, and then we decided that our ladies would handle for the rest of the game when the score was 11-4. I think we won by 15 to....7ish.
- When the Sprawl ladies were handling, one particularly cute one nailed me with a down wind, bullet of a flick to the sternum. I'll be rocking a rather embarassing bruise from that fatal flick for the next couple of days. On the bright side, I caught the pass on the rebound.
- My six pack of Thorlos off Ebay finally arrived! My feet will thank me the rest of the summer.
That my friends, was my ultimate four day week. I'm super pumped for a hard game next Monday with Poached, two practices with the Fishies next Tuesday and Thursday (<- hoping we do conditioning again), and another fun game with Sprawl. Until next time, happy hucking!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
The Mehmet Curse
After mentioning it a few posts back, I thought a fun topic to explore today would be my curse of playing awful ultimate in front of Mehmet. For those of you not familiar with the Ottawa ultimate scene, Mehmet (aka the Almighty Mahatma, the Great Kamasutra, Senor Sailor Suit, etc.) plays on a touring team out of Ottawa, and coordinates the indoor intermediate development (IID) league in the winter. Since there's a low probability of him ever reading this, I'll be honest and say he's one of the "smartest" ultimate players in the city. His knowledge and skills are comparable to any top player in Ottawa, he's a dedicated volunteer, and he's got great "spirit" (that dying concept that I'll address down the road).
Strangely, the first time I met Mehmet, he showed up as a random sub for Disco Fever last summer. I had no idea who the hell he was. I remember having difficulty pronouncing his name, and looking him off while handling (in my defense, he's not the type who showcases his skills in warm-up). Not knowing who he was, I proceeded to play my "normal" game, and did quite well throwing a few long hucks, working the disc up the field using the short game with Chris, and only failing to complete a handful of throws into the wind. After the game, when I put 2 and 2 together (a daunting task for a CMA), I felt awful. Mainly because I missed an opportunity to give the disc to a better handler, who was the coordinator of the league I wanted to play in that coming winter.
The Mehmet curse officially started in a PROUF fall league game, when my team, the 1 and 15 Bert & Ernies were facing Mehmet's team who were near the top of the non-existent standings. Since Mehmet had replied when I sent him my IID application saying he was looking forward to seeing me play I was nervous (and surprised he remembered the guy that basically played keep away from him that summer). In the back of mind, I knew my game had evolved, and wanted to show him that I could "handle handling" (har har) in IID. However, with windy conditions, being full of nerves, and with team-mates not always providing me with a dump, I ended up playing a stinker of a game. How bad was it? My personal high-light was a full field strike I made on a misthrown toss by one of my team-mates. The next day at work I got an email from Senor Sailor Suit saying I played ok and advising me against constantly throwing long (moi?). I didn't think much of my IID chances after his email since he seemed to be more interested in recruiting one of my team-mates to play IID (Aaron – who is a MUCH better player than me).
In PROUF, since some teams choose to play double headers, Mehmet often seemed to be lurking on the sidelines during my games. As if on cue, as soon as I saw him, the bad decisions, drops, and pulls out of the ball diamond (yes folks, over the fence…damn wind) seemed to proliferate. It got to the point where I feared the IID tryout since I knew he was going to be watching.
For whatever reason, I managed to totally shut out Mehmet during the tryout, and played to my potential. Can I explain this? Sadly, no. Although I'd like to think it was through hard work and preparation, I have no idea why I played so focused that night. Before the tryouts were a half hour old, I knew I made the league.
During the course of the IID season, the curse continued and actually got worse. I'd have a streak of 2 or 3 strong games, then Mehmet would magically appear on our sideline observing our game, and I'd fall apart on the field. Sadly, my team seemed to suffer accordingly when I was having a bad game.
The only exception to the curse last winter happened during my brief stint in Thursday west intermediate (pre-sports hernia), when Mehmet was playing fantasy ultimate (I'll cover it at a later date) with coach Stu, who's wife was subbing on my team. For whatever reason, I played kick ass that game, and earned a few fantasy ulty points for whoever was daring enough to pick me.
The latest case of the Mehmet curse occurred during the intermediate development team tryout (since renamed to Arrested Development…IMHO…a lame ass name). I was pretty strong during the drills, and even the first few points of the scrimmage, but as soon as I saw the Great Kamasutra show up on the sidelines as an evaluator, the bad decisions started. On the bright side, this led to some good natured slagging in a series of emails, in which he gave me some sound advice that helped me make the BigFish practice squad. The sound advice? That's my little secret. To be fair, I didn't play too horrible after he arrived…but apparently not well enough to make the team.
Two last thoughts on the curse. First, I remember an IID team-mate of mine, Andrea Benke (ex-BigFish, solid player) saying that she too suffered from the Mehmet curse. At least I'm in good company! Secondly, sooner or later, this has got to stop. With the exception of the first night of BigFish tryouts, I'm finding my game is becoming more consistent, and playing at a ridiculously bad level (i.e. curse level) just isn't happening. I consider myself strong mentally in any sport or academic pursuit, so I should be able to conquer this damn curse. Furthermore, as my game improves, I'm bound to run into Mehmet more often, so continuing to play bad every time I see him seems unlikely.
Will Nurple ever resolve the Mehmet curse? I'll keep you posted. Until next time, happy hucking!
Strangely, the first time I met Mehmet, he showed up as a random sub for Disco Fever last summer. I had no idea who the hell he was. I remember having difficulty pronouncing his name, and looking him off while handling (in my defense, he's not the type who showcases his skills in warm-up). Not knowing who he was, I proceeded to play my "normal" game, and did quite well throwing a few long hucks, working the disc up the field using the short game with Chris, and only failing to complete a handful of throws into the wind. After the game, when I put 2 and 2 together (a daunting task for a CMA), I felt awful. Mainly because I missed an opportunity to give the disc to a better handler, who was the coordinator of the league I wanted to play in that coming winter.
The Mehmet curse officially started in a PROUF fall league game, when my team, the 1 and 15 Bert & Ernies were facing Mehmet's team who were near the top of the non-existent standings. Since Mehmet had replied when I sent him my IID application saying he was looking forward to seeing me play I was nervous (and surprised he remembered the guy that basically played keep away from him that summer). In the back of mind, I knew my game had evolved, and wanted to show him that I could "handle handling" (har har) in IID. However, with windy conditions, being full of nerves, and with team-mates not always providing me with a dump, I ended up playing a stinker of a game. How bad was it? My personal high-light was a full field strike I made on a misthrown toss by one of my team-mates. The next day at work I got an email from Senor Sailor Suit saying I played ok and advising me against constantly throwing long (moi?). I didn't think much of my IID chances after his email since he seemed to be more interested in recruiting one of my team-mates to play IID (Aaron – who is a MUCH better player than me).
In PROUF, since some teams choose to play double headers, Mehmet often seemed to be lurking on the sidelines during my games. As if on cue, as soon as I saw him, the bad decisions, drops, and pulls out of the ball diamond (yes folks, over the fence…damn wind) seemed to proliferate. It got to the point where I feared the IID tryout since I knew he was going to be watching.
For whatever reason, I managed to totally shut out Mehmet during the tryout, and played to my potential. Can I explain this? Sadly, no. Although I'd like to think it was through hard work and preparation, I have no idea why I played so focused that night. Before the tryouts were a half hour old, I knew I made the league.
During the course of the IID season, the curse continued and actually got worse. I'd have a streak of 2 or 3 strong games, then Mehmet would magically appear on our sideline observing our game, and I'd fall apart on the field. Sadly, my team seemed to suffer accordingly when I was having a bad game.
The only exception to the curse last winter happened during my brief stint in Thursday west intermediate (pre-sports hernia), when Mehmet was playing fantasy ultimate (I'll cover it at a later date) with coach Stu, who's wife was subbing on my team. For whatever reason, I played kick ass that game, and earned a few fantasy ulty points for whoever was daring enough to pick me.
The latest case of the Mehmet curse occurred during the intermediate development team tryout (since renamed to Arrested Development…IMHO…a lame ass name). I was pretty strong during the drills, and even the first few points of the scrimmage, but as soon as I saw the Great Kamasutra show up on the sidelines as an evaluator, the bad decisions started. On the bright side, this led to some good natured slagging in a series of emails, in which he gave me some sound advice that helped me make the BigFish practice squad. The sound advice? That's my little secret. To be fair, I didn't play too horrible after he arrived…but apparently not well enough to make the team.
Two last thoughts on the curse. First, I remember an IID team-mate of mine, Andrea Benke (ex-BigFish, solid player) saying that she too suffered from the Mehmet curse. At least I'm in good company! Secondly, sooner or later, this has got to stop. With the exception of the first night of BigFish tryouts, I'm finding my game is becoming more consistent, and playing at a ridiculously bad level (i.e. curse level) just isn't happening. I consider myself strong mentally in any sport or academic pursuit, so I should be able to conquer this damn curse. Furthermore, as my game improves, I'm bound to run into Mehmet more often, so continuing to play bad every time I see him seems unlikely.
Will Nurple ever resolve the Mehmet curse? I'll keep you posted. Until next time, happy hucking!
Monday, May 19, 2008
Poached...and lovin' it!
Just got back from my first league game of the year, and thought I'd write a little recap. Despite the cool, windy weather, I was pretty pumped to get in some league play after my Friday game got cancelled at the last minute, on what was a perfect day for ultimate.
Anyway, I decided to rock the receiver gloves in warm-up since my hands were freezing after a couple of tosses. Left them on all game, which is rare. Plus, I put a long-sleeved breathable shirt under a cool orange t-shirt I picked up at Value Village ("Beauty is only a light switch away") since my two from Ebay haven't been delivered yet. I warmed up by following the advice of one of my BigFish teammates by trying for 10 perfect flicks, 10 perfect backhands, and then repeating after changing sides (to figure out the wind). The girl I warmed up with was a super-cool sub, who had more consistent throws than me. Random observation, but a lot of people who have strong throwing skills don't step up and handle in games. Don't really understand that....
Poach's cheer is "Poach Motel, Always Open" which goes along with their official t-shirt (Poach Motel...Al ays O en). After the other team got a quick score, I was a tad worried since they seemed to work the disc up the field really quick and with smart passes. Turns out, I had nothing to worry about, as we scored the next 4 points in rapid fashion. It was 8-4 at the half, and ended 15-4. Although it felt closer at times, it was probably the fact I guarded their primary handler most of the night, and he was a handful. On the flip side, he had a bit of trouble with my height and speed endurance (i.e. I burned his ass in the second half). In terms of personal stats, I think I caught 5 goals and threw 2 more. Although that might sound impressive, the speedster on our team who I played against in the intermediate indoor development league last winter probably caught 8 goals for us. Plus, the kid had some sick layouts. Talking to him after the game, he was saying that he's still worried about having the disc outside of the endzone, so I'll make sure to give him a dump after he catches long passes.
I think the biggest difference between a high tier team like Poached Motel and the B&Es from last summer (mid-to-low tier) is the women. Every one of the five women playing for us tonight could handle when needed, and made extremely smart decisions with the disc. Better yet, all of them understood that when they were cutting, the handlers were going to lead them with the disc. People (girls and guys) who stand still and expect the disc make me angry....if you're not moving, I probably can't hit you with a pass. I also found the women tonight were good at communicating and asking for help on defense.
As for the male gender, Chris was fantastic as a handler, only missing a few passes all night (even with the nasty wind). We also have this other older, tall (6'3 or 6'4) guy Andrew who's super strong with his throws. He's a bit more aggresive than Chris, and puts some zing on his passes. Matt...or is it Mike...is a relative newbie, but he's plenty athletic. And as mentioned, Steve has speed to burn. Since there were only five us guys tonight, c'est tout l'histoire.
Anyway, I hope we don't get too big of a bump in LeagueRunner after winning by that margin. Although I think we're well placed around 20ish in the league, if we end up better than 15, we're in for a brutally tough game next Monday. Oh well, after a couple more practices with BigFish, I don't think brually tough will scare me :P Until next time, happy hucking!
Anyway, I decided to rock the receiver gloves in warm-up since my hands were freezing after a couple of tosses. Left them on all game, which is rare. Plus, I put a long-sleeved breathable shirt under a cool orange t-shirt I picked up at Value Village ("Beauty is only a light switch away") since my two from Ebay haven't been delivered yet. I warmed up by following the advice of one of my BigFish teammates by trying for 10 perfect flicks, 10 perfect backhands, and then repeating after changing sides (to figure out the wind). The girl I warmed up with was a super-cool sub, who had more consistent throws than me. Random observation, but a lot of people who have strong throwing skills don't step up and handle in games. Don't really understand that....
Poach's cheer is "Poach Motel, Always Open" which goes along with their official t-shirt (Poach Motel...Al ays O en). After the other team got a quick score, I was a tad worried since they seemed to work the disc up the field really quick and with smart passes. Turns out, I had nothing to worry about, as we scored the next 4 points in rapid fashion. It was 8-4 at the half, and ended 15-4. Although it felt closer at times, it was probably the fact I guarded their primary handler most of the night, and he was a handful. On the flip side, he had a bit of trouble with my height and speed endurance (i.e. I burned his ass in the second half). In terms of personal stats, I think I caught 5 goals and threw 2 more. Although that might sound impressive, the speedster on our team who I played against in the intermediate indoor development league last winter probably caught 8 goals for us. Plus, the kid had some sick layouts. Talking to him after the game, he was saying that he's still worried about having the disc outside of the endzone, so I'll make sure to give him a dump after he catches long passes.
I think the biggest difference between a high tier team like Poached Motel and the B&Es from last summer (mid-to-low tier) is the women. Every one of the five women playing for us tonight could handle when needed, and made extremely smart decisions with the disc. Better yet, all of them understood that when they were cutting, the handlers were going to lead them with the disc. People (girls and guys) who stand still and expect the disc make me angry....if you're not moving, I probably can't hit you with a pass. I also found the women tonight were good at communicating and asking for help on defense.
As for the male gender, Chris was fantastic as a handler, only missing a few passes all night (even with the nasty wind). We also have this other older, tall (6'3 or 6'4) guy Andrew who's super strong with his throws. He's a bit more aggresive than Chris, and puts some zing on his passes. Matt...or is it Mike...is a relative newbie, but he's plenty athletic. And as mentioned, Steve has speed to burn. Since there were only five us guys tonight, c'est tout l'histoire.
Anyway, I hope we don't get too big of a bump in LeagueRunner after winning by that margin. Although I think we're well placed around 20ish in the league, if we end up better than 15, we're in for a brutally tough game next Monday. Oh well, after a couple more practices with BigFish, I don't think brually tough will scare me :P Until next time, happy hucking!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Top 10 Ulty Perks + Randomness
Top 10 Ultimate Perks
1. The year-round perma-tan.
2. An enhanced understanding of physics (i.e. centripetal force, Newton's 3rd Law, etc.).
3. Expanded knowledge of anatomy gained through researching injuries.
4. Swill throws can be used to impress friends, family, and the ladies.
5. Scars, bruises and turf burns are good conversation pieces for the watercooler at work.
6. Navigating Ottawa is simple after searching for hidden, isolated OCUA fields.
7. Meeting some of the most entertaining, crazy, strange characters…period.
8. Improved negotiation skills gained from arguing rules calls.
9. Sensitivity to changing wind conditions will endear you to kite flying nephews.
10. Expanded social circle includes passionate, athletic, and "unique" individuals.
Ulty Randomness
- BigFish practice #1 is in the books. Thank god I'm starting to loosen up a bit and actually catch tosses again. I'm still throwing tight, and need to memorize one play in particular, but I was relatively happy with my performance. Rather than screwing up on one play, at least felt like I fit in out there tonight.
- So as not to divulge any team secrets, to keep track of what I'm learning, and since a buddy of mine was nice enough to lend me similar notes from 2005, I've decided to keep a practice journal. Since I'm one of those people that learns as much by reading as by doing, this should help me improve.
- I decided to order a white and red set of BF jerseys for motivation. Two jerseys gives me one for my gym/running bag and one for my ulty bag. They'll serve the same purpose as the printout of the e-mail I got telling me I didn't make the intermediate development team. Regretably, I couldn't get #13 (there's 12 guys on our roster), or #0 (Gilbert Arenas reasoning), but I ended up with #55. If any of you want to know why #55, ask my little brother to explain. Thanks for the great advice on number selection Andrew!
- Couldn't help but catch some of the league game that was taking place on the field next to ours tonight. I think it was Gavin that said that league will feel so different after you get used to playing in a system. After seeing how disorganized the teams looked playing tonight, it makes me agree with Gavin and wonder about tomorrow night.
- Speaking of which, Urban Sprawl has drawn the Dirty Birds for our first game of the season. We should be without our best player in the first half, but I'm not too worried. Although we split our two games last year, we killed them in the second game....and I remember their weaknesses. Does it make me a bad person that I plan to exploit those weeknesses tomorrow?
- Chris offerred me a spot on his CHEO team. Think I'll take him up on that provided there's no chance that the Fish are putting in a team in that tourny.
- Speaking of Chris, looks like Poached Motel is ranked 20th heading into the season. It might sound meh-ish, but 20th on Monday is very impressive. Just hope one of my two orange shirts arrive before the game Monday.
C'est tout pour ce soir. Je vous souhaite un bon fin de semin. Until next time, happy hucking!
1. The year-round perma-tan.
2. An enhanced understanding of physics (i.e. centripetal force, Newton's 3rd Law, etc.).
3. Expanded knowledge of anatomy gained through researching injuries.
4. Swill throws can be used to impress friends, family, and the ladies.
5. Scars, bruises and turf burns are good conversation pieces for the watercooler at work.
6. Navigating Ottawa is simple after searching for hidden, isolated OCUA fields.
7. Meeting some of the most entertaining, crazy, strange characters…period.
8. Improved negotiation skills gained from arguing rules calls.
9. Sensitivity to changing wind conditions will endear you to kite flying nephews.
10. Expanded social circle includes passionate, athletic, and "unique" individuals.
Ulty Randomness
- BigFish practice #1 is in the books. Thank god I'm starting to loosen up a bit and actually catch tosses again. I'm still throwing tight, and need to memorize one play in particular, but I was relatively happy with my performance. Rather than screwing up on one play, at least felt like I fit in out there tonight.
- So as not to divulge any team secrets, to keep track of what I'm learning, and since a buddy of mine was nice enough to lend me similar notes from 2005, I've decided to keep a practice journal. Since I'm one of those people that learns as much by reading as by doing, this should help me improve.
- I decided to order a white and red set of BF jerseys for motivation. Two jerseys gives me one for my gym/running bag and one for my ulty bag. They'll serve the same purpose as the printout of the e-mail I got telling me I didn't make the intermediate development team. Regretably, I couldn't get #13 (there's 12 guys on our roster), or #0 (Gilbert Arenas reasoning), but I ended up with #55. If any of you want to know why #55, ask my little brother to explain. Thanks for the great advice on number selection Andrew!
- Couldn't help but catch some of the league game that was taking place on the field next to ours tonight. I think it was Gavin that said that league will feel so different after you get used to playing in a system. After seeing how disorganized the teams looked playing tonight, it makes me agree with Gavin and wonder about tomorrow night.
- Speaking of which, Urban Sprawl has drawn the Dirty Birds for our first game of the season. We should be without our best player in the first half, but I'm not too worried. Although we split our two games last year, we killed them in the second game....and I remember their weaknesses. Does it make me a bad person that I plan to exploit those weeknesses tomorrow?
- Chris offerred me a spot on his CHEO team. Think I'll take him up on that provided there's no chance that the Fish are putting in a team in that tourny.
- Speaking of Chris, looks like Poached Motel is ranked 20th heading into the season. It might sound meh-ish, but 20th on Monday is very impressive. Just hope one of my two orange shirts arrive before the game Monday.
C'est tout pour ce soir. Je vous souhaite un bon fin de semin. Until next time, happy hucking!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
It's all in the name...
During my first six months of ultimate, I thought that Urban Sprawl was the coolest team name ever. As soon as I played more than one night a week, my opinion quickly changed. With such a diverse cross-section of people playing ultimate, there are some very creative and amusing team names. The following are a sample of the more memorable ones that come to mind.
1. Chewbaca Defense – I totally geeked out when the Berts and Ernies were on a field next to Chewbaca Defense last summer. How high is my degree of nerdom? Between points, I tried to make a deal for a Chewbaca Defense shirt…but to no avail *sigh*. Having given the captain credit for his great choice of names, I was disappointed in my own gullibility when watching an Ultivillage DVD and seeing Chewbaca Defense is an open team out of the States.
2. Hucktalotopus – Knowing the captain of this team, she assured me it was her idea to bastardize the name of my favorite Sesamee Street character (close second - Cookie Monster). I'll assume she's honest, and give Marianne props for having the best Friday night team name.
3. Force Gnome – Perhaps not as amusing as other OCUA names, but the t-shirt more than makes up for it. Oddly, I was almost a part of this upper tier team last summer.
4. The soft, furry, deranged, buzz saw wielding, killer pink bunnies…now with 10% less anal leakage – Leave it to Mike Belanger to push Leaguerunner to its limits by seeing how long of a name it can accommodate. Mike is as funny as he is talented. Sadly, after two weeks, the name was shortened to the Killer Buzz Bunnies.
5. Bourbon Sprawl – My lawyer captain of Urban Sprawl swore to me under oath that he had never heard of this hilarious competitive mixed team out of the States. Since he's a senile old man, I tend to believe him. Any name that combines drinking with ultimate is a winner.
6. Mental Toss Flycoons – Yet another American competitive mixed team with a hilarious name. A perfect ultimate team name on so many levels.
7. Furious George – I know, I know, it's obvious to pick a perennial contender for the UPA title as a favorite team name. Still, they have the best logo ever and use their name in cheers creatively.
8. 668 – A long-standing OCUA league team that's as awesome as their name. I guess you have to be talented when you're a neighbor to the beast.
9. The John Duffy Experience – A Big Fish player with a great sense of humor. I can guarantee this was an original name.
10. The Huckamaniacs – I'm a sucker for names with 'huck' in them, add the wrestling reference, and of course I'll mark out. The fact the team has yellow shirts with red writing doesn't hurt either. Sadly, this team wasn't super fun to play, and didn't huck as much as I expected. On the flip side, they did have a player who caught all of my pulls one handed. When asked why he did it, the kid cracked me up when he answered "To show off for the ladies".
Honorable Mentions – Poach Motel, The Poodle Club, Flytans, MOFO, SMUT, GOAT and Drunk 24/7.
In contrast to the great names above, any name with "disc" (obvious exception – Disco Fever) or "ultimate" (obvious exception – Ultimate Warriors) in it is lame. As for my own foray into naming, it hasn't happened yet. But, assuming I can make IID again next year (iffy given my Mehmet curse (to be explained at a later date)), I'm going to try to talk my captain into "IID's Egos and Superegos". I'm also partial to the name DeathPROUF, if spelt like that, and accompanied by red and black shirts. If I've missed any wondrous names, feel free to call me an idiot (warning: it's a long line-up). Until next time, happy hucking!
1. Chewbaca Defense – I totally geeked out when the Berts and Ernies were on a field next to Chewbaca Defense last summer. How high is my degree of nerdom? Between points, I tried to make a deal for a Chewbaca Defense shirt…but to no avail *sigh*. Having given the captain credit for his great choice of names, I was disappointed in my own gullibility when watching an Ultivillage DVD and seeing Chewbaca Defense is an open team out of the States.
2. Hucktalotopus – Knowing the captain of this team, she assured me it was her idea to bastardize the name of my favorite Sesamee Street character (close second - Cookie Monster). I'll assume she's honest, and give Marianne props for having the best Friday night team name.
3. Force Gnome – Perhaps not as amusing as other OCUA names, but the t-shirt more than makes up for it. Oddly, I was almost a part of this upper tier team last summer.
4. The soft, furry, deranged, buzz saw wielding, killer pink bunnies…now with 10% less anal leakage – Leave it to Mike Belanger to push Leaguerunner to its limits by seeing how long of a name it can accommodate. Mike is as funny as he is talented. Sadly, after two weeks, the name was shortened to the Killer Buzz Bunnies.
5. Bourbon Sprawl – My lawyer captain of Urban Sprawl swore to me under oath that he had never heard of this hilarious competitive mixed team out of the States. Since he's a senile old man, I tend to believe him. Any name that combines drinking with ultimate is a winner.
6. Mental Toss Flycoons – Yet another American competitive mixed team with a hilarious name. A perfect ultimate team name on so many levels.
7. Furious George – I know, I know, it's obvious to pick a perennial contender for the UPA title as a favorite team name. Still, they have the best logo ever and use their name in cheers creatively.
8. 668 – A long-standing OCUA league team that's as awesome as their name. I guess you have to be talented when you're a neighbor to the beast.
9. The John Duffy Experience – A Big Fish player with a great sense of humor. I can guarantee this was an original name.
10. The Huckamaniacs – I'm a sucker for names with 'huck' in them, add the wrestling reference, and of course I'll mark out. The fact the team has yellow shirts with red writing doesn't hurt either. Sadly, this team wasn't super fun to play, and didn't huck as much as I expected. On the flip side, they did have a player who caught all of my pulls one handed. When asked why he did it, the kid cracked me up when he answered "To show off for the ladies".
Honorable Mentions – Poach Motel, The Poodle Club, Flytans, MOFO, SMUT, GOAT and Drunk 24/7.
In contrast to the great names above, any name with "disc" (obvious exception – Disco Fever) or "ultimate" (obvious exception – Ultimate Warriors) in it is lame. As for my own foray into naming, it hasn't happened yet. But, assuming I can make IID again next year (iffy given my Mehmet curse (to be explained at a later date)), I'm going to try to talk my captain into "IID's Egos and Superegos". I'm also partial to the name DeathPROUF, if spelt like that, and accompanied by red and black shirts. If I've missed any wondrous names, feel free to call me an idiot (warning: it's a long line-up). Until next time, happy hucking!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Top 10 Ultimate Annoyances + Randomness
Top 10
1. Wind – It wreaks havoc on throws and disappears on days when you actually NEED a cool breeze.
2. Rain – Makes the disc slippery, decreases throwing accuracy, and ruins expensive Thorlo socks.
3. Cold weather ( -5 to +5) – Even with gloves, as your hands get colder, you're bound to drop the disc more.
4. Non-ultimate ultimate equipment – Granted, my weird build might be the cause of this annoyance, but it'd be nice to find a pair of ultimate gloves that fit (0 for 3 so far), cleats not designed for soccer or football, or even a pair a shorts that fit my waist and still left something to the imagination.
5. Rules Nazis – Anyone who can quote the 11th edition rules, cite the section and paragraph of the relevant clause, or regularly contributes to the OCUA rules forms should be prescribed to play pick-up with a bunch of hippies.
6. Rules No-nothings – Anyone who has never read through the 11th edition of the rules, has no idea what a pick is, or plays out of control should be confined to play in meaningless league games against a team of Rules Nazis.
7. Injuries – It sucks to sit on the sidelines while others have fun.
8. Players who take the game too seriously – Having broken up a few pushing matches in the past year, I'm always shocked when things get this heated. Essentially, we're playing a game of no consequence, with an implement whose name relates to throwing pie plates off a roof, in a sport with James Bond movie references, started by a counselor whose only goal was to make hyper kids run off their energy.
9. Haters – Don't call a travel when someone throws a 50 yard huck around your ineffective mark. Don't call a pick when someone breaks your ankles on a cut. Don't criticize the ability of others unless they ask for your input. Don't give your teammates a kick in the ass when they make a mistake, at a time when they'll need encouragement for trying something challenging.
10. Trying to explain the allure of the sport to others – I'd equate this with trying to explain to people what an auditor does…impossible!
Randomness
For those of you not familiar with my el-jay, randomness consists of a few unconnected bullet points such as:
- Urban Sprawl had our first "scrimmage" last night. A little 6-on-6 action with one sub that went surprisingly well. I'll admit, I have no idea how we'll stack up compared to last year. It bodes well that our females are very talented. Hopefully the speedy, skilled ladies can make up for the men that are...not as deep as before. The captain had a good strategy of requesting that we be ranked lower to start the season (I think we're 11th) than our 4th place finish last year. This will give us some time to get our offensive and defensive strategies in place, while integrating our new players.
- My mission for Sprawl's first game next week is to learn everybody's names. Since I'll be handling and anchoring our zone defense as a deep, I need to learn names quickly. The bad news is that I'm awful with names, and have a set of sisters that I already confused with eachother in our scrimmage.
- Steve's got a great entry on leadership in ultimate. Again, I'm not sure why you continue to read this blog when his is far superior :P
- Started to read the BigFish playbook. I love the fact that there are more than a couple hucking plays (even if I'll be the chaser). Also can't wait to use "Dice" in a league game.
- Poach motel has orange as the team color, which required a few new t-shirts. Must admit, I had a lot of fun shopping for these two shirts on Ebay.
1. Wind – It wreaks havoc on throws and disappears on days when you actually NEED a cool breeze.
2. Rain – Makes the disc slippery, decreases throwing accuracy, and ruins expensive Thorlo socks.
3. Cold weather ( -5 to +5) – Even with gloves, as your hands get colder, you're bound to drop the disc more.
4. Non-ultimate ultimate equipment – Granted, my weird build might be the cause of this annoyance, but it'd be nice to find a pair of ultimate gloves that fit (0 for 3 so far), cleats not designed for soccer or football, or even a pair a shorts that fit my waist and still left something to the imagination.
5. Rules Nazis – Anyone who can quote the 11th edition rules, cite the section and paragraph of the relevant clause, or regularly contributes to the OCUA rules forms should be prescribed to play pick-up with a bunch of hippies.
6. Rules No-nothings – Anyone who has never read through the 11th edition of the rules, has no idea what a pick is, or plays out of control should be confined to play in meaningless league games against a team of Rules Nazis.
7. Injuries – It sucks to sit on the sidelines while others have fun.
8. Players who take the game too seriously – Having broken up a few pushing matches in the past year, I'm always shocked when things get this heated. Essentially, we're playing a game of no consequence, with an implement whose name relates to throwing pie plates off a roof, in a sport with James Bond movie references, started by a counselor whose only goal was to make hyper kids run off their energy.
9. Haters – Don't call a travel when someone throws a 50 yard huck around your ineffective mark. Don't call a pick when someone breaks your ankles on a cut. Don't criticize the ability of others unless they ask for your input. Don't give your teammates a kick in the ass when they make a mistake, at a time when they'll need encouragement for trying something challenging.
10. Trying to explain the allure of the sport to others – I'd equate this with trying to explain to people what an auditor does…impossible!
Randomness
For those of you not familiar with my el-jay, randomness consists of a few unconnected bullet points such as:
- Urban Sprawl had our first "scrimmage" last night. A little 6-on-6 action with one sub that went surprisingly well. I'll admit, I have no idea how we'll stack up compared to last year. It bodes well that our females are very talented. Hopefully the speedy, skilled ladies can make up for the men that are...not as deep as before. The captain had a good strategy of requesting that we be ranked lower to start the season (I think we're 11th) than our 4th place finish last year. This will give us some time to get our offensive and defensive strategies in place, while integrating our new players.
- My mission for Sprawl's first game next week is to learn everybody's names. Since I'll be handling and anchoring our zone defense as a deep, I need to learn names quickly. The bad news is that I'm awful with names, and have a set of sisters that I already confused with eachother in our scrimmage.
- Steve's got a great entry on leadership in ultimate. Again, I'm not sure why you continue to read this blog when his is far superior :P
- Started to read the BigFish playbook. I love the fact that there are more than a couple hucking plays (even if I'll be the chaser). Also can't wait to use "Dice" in a league game.
- Poach motel has orange as the team color, which required a few new t-shirts. Must admit, I had a lot of fun shopping for these two shirts on Ebay.
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Thursday, May 8, 2008
It's down at the end of lonely street...
After putting it off for a few days, I sent an email to the captain of my Tuesday team and copied my favourite teammate from last summer (Chris Rootham). Even though it was easy to logically explain how practicing with Big Fish was a better opportunity, emotionally, I felt awful about leaving Chris since he went out of his way to mentor me with my handling last summer. Plus, Amanda is such a great captain, and was so appreciative when Chris and I picked up mid-last summer with the team and led them to a 7-1 record.
Luckily, Amanda was very supportive of my decision, and the door is open if I ever catch a case of Disco Fever on a free Tuesday. Even better, Chris was totally understanding of my decision, and offerred me a spot on his Monday team. Although playing/practicing four days a week will be tough, I couldn't turn down a chance to play with Chris on a tier 3 team. I noticed there's a speedster from IID on the team as well, who will give Chris and I an impressive striker.
Sooo.....as the title of the post indicates, come Mondays this summer, if you happen to find yourself down at the end of lonely street, feel free to visit me at the Poach Motel! Until next time, happy hucking!
Luckily, Amanda was very supportive of my decision, and the door is open if I ever catch a case of Disco Fever on a free Tuesday. Even better, Chris was totally understanding of my decision, and offerred me a spot on his Monday team. Although playing/practicing four days a week will be tough, I couldn't turn down a chance to play with Chris on a tier 3 team. I noticed there's a speedster from IID on the team as well, who will give Chris and I an impressive striker.
Sooo.....as the title of the post indicates, come Mondays this summer, if you happen to find yourself down at the end of lonely street, feel free to visit me at the Poach Motel! Until next time, happy hucking!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
I've Been Owned
It takes a big man to admit defeat....or a skinny one with a non-existant ego :P
Steve's an experienced, talented, friendly, open player from Ottawa, who's ulty blog is amazing.
http://canadaultimate.blogspot.com/
One of my "mysterious" readers emailed me to say I was a tad unfair to Open players in my 'Defending Mixed' post. For the record, individually, Open players are uber talented, uber friendly, and uber helpful. Steve's a great example of that. He captained our team in an indoor Open tourny and basically guided me and another relative newbie through some finer points of the game without making us feel like morons. Without him taking the time to break things down for me, there's no way I would have registered for the same tourny this year. He also worked with me on my backhand and told me about ultimatehandbook.com (might not be the right link) at a clinic last summer.
Sidenote - After meeting the Big Fish roster tonight...I'm very impressed. It'll be hard not to improve when I'm surrounded with that much talent two days a week. My only regret is that I was ridiculously hungry by the time the meeting ended at 9pm, since I hadn't eaten since 11am. I know I should have stuck around and socialized, but...my growling stomach and light head told me a quick trip to Pita Pit was more important. Bad decision? Yes. But passing out from hunger seemed like a distinct possibility.
Anyway, why read an inferior blog when you can read Steve's? Until next time (???), happy hucking!
Steve's an experienced, talented, friendly, open player from Ottawa, who's ulty blog is amazing.
http://canadaultimate.blogspot.com/
One of my "mysterious" readers emailed me to say I was a tad unfair to Open players in my 'Defending Mixed' post. For the record, individually, Open players are uber talented, uber friendly, and uber helpful. Steve's a great example of that. He captained our team in an indoor Open tourny and basically guided me and another relative newbie through some finer points of the game without making us feel like morons. Without him taking the time to break things down for me, there's no way I would have registered for the same tourny this year. He also worked with me on my backhand and told me about ultimatehandbook.com (might not be the right link) at a clinic last summer.
Sidenote - After meeting the Big Fish roster tonight...I'm very impressed. It'll be hard not to improve when I'm surrounded with that much talent two days a week. My only regret is that I was ridiculously hungry by the time the meeting ended at 9pm, since I hadn't eaten since 11am. I know I should have stuck around and socialized, but...my growling stomach and light head told me a quick trip to Pita Pit was more important. Bad decision? Yes. But passing out from hunger seemed like a distinct possibility.
Anyway, why read an inferior blog when you can read Steve's? Until next time (???), happy hucking!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Cut....but....
So after playing a bit better again today at BigFish tryout #3, I got a call tonight from Gavin (one of the captains), who explained I didn't make the team...BUT....they'd like me to practice with them this summer! :-)
Considering how absolutely crappy this week has been (ultimate and non-ultimate), I'm ecstatic with the end result. As mentioned in a previous post, I didn't expect to make BigFish after less than two years of ultimate. Having stunk up the joint at the first tryout, I was happy to play better in the last two tryouts, and was able to identify what I'd like to work on this summer (decision making on offense, and man-to-man defense). Getting a chance to practice with the team, and play against players at that level, and learn from some of the best ultimate minds in Ottawa....damn...I feel so lucky!
My weeks this summer are shaping up to be BigFish practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Urban Sprawl on Fridays. Best case scenario! Till next time, happy hucking!
Considering how absolutely crappy this week has been (ultimate and non-ultimate), I'm ecstatic with the end result. As mentioned in a previous post, I didn't expect to make BigFish after less than two years of ultimate. Having stunk up the joint at the first tryout, I was happy to play better in the last two tryouts, and was able to identify what I'd like to work on this summer (decision making on offense, and man-to-man defense). Getting a chance to practice with the team, and play against players at that level, and learn from some of the best ultimate minds in Ottawa....damn...I feel so lucky!
My weeks this summer are shaping up to be BigFish practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Urban Sprawl on Fridays. Best case scenario! Till next time, happy hucking!
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Tryout Update
Soooo....this has been a pretty tough week. Despite having an ok tryout with the intermediate team on Wednesday, I didn't make the roster. Granted, there were only six spots open for guys, so I shouldn't be too down about it, but I thought I played well enough to claim one of those six spots. There's talk of a "B" team, if they can find enough ladies who are interested, and I'd know the captain since I played with him at a tournament once....but....I'm not really sure what I'll do. There's something tempting about only playing ultimate two nights a week this summer, and taking it easy. I've been thinking of trying to get back into running...or maybe playing beach volleyball.
Just had the BigFish tryout #2 this afternoon. It didn't go so bad. They officially split us up in the "A" group (BFC - the A team) and the "B" group (BigFish). I definitely did better at the drills today, which is a plus. My body was so cramped up, that I wasn't much of a factor in the scrimmage. Had a few nice cuts though, although I'll have to tighten up my D tomorrow. Which is the other bit of news. Since they still haven't made any cuts, I get to go to the third tryout tomorrow. Hope my body can recover a bit tonight, since I might still have a shot at making the team as a cutter....who knows....
To be honest, I'm a little down about not making the intermediate team. It helped that shortly after finding out on Friday about not making the team, I was able to go out and toss with Urban Sprawl for about an hour. I'm not sure how that team will be this summer. We lost two of my favourite guys from last year (Gilles and Luc), and John doesn't seem to be back either (the originator of the Purple Nurple name). Although there's a girl from IID who joined our team. Plus one of the new guys seems to have a really nice backhand....maybe I'll ask him for help with mine.
Well, I'm exhausted from all the drills and scrimmage. So I'm going to sign off and nap a bit. Until next time, happy hucking!
Just had the BigFish tryout #2 this afternoon. It didn't go so bad. They officially split us up in the "A" group (BFC - the A team) and the "B" group (BigFish). I definitely did better at the drills today, which is a plus. My body was so cramped up, that I wasn't much of a factor in the scrimmage. Had a few nice cuts though, although I'll have to tighten up my D tomorrow. Which is the other bit of news. Since they still haven't made any cuts, I get to go to the third tryout tomorrow. Hope my body can recover a bit tonight, since I might still have a shot at making the team as a cutter....who knows....
To be honest, I'm a little down about not making the intermediate team. It helped that shortly after finding out on Friday about not making the team, I was able to go out and toss with Urban Sprawl for about an hour. I'm not sure how that team will be this summer. We lost two of my favourite guys from last year (Gilles and Luc), and John doesn't seem to be back either (the originator of the Purple Nurple name). Although there's a girl from IID who joined our team. Plus one of the new guys seems to have a really nice backhand....maybe I'll ask him for help with mine.
Well, I'm exhausted from all the drills and scrimmage. So I'm going to sign off and nap a bit. Until next time, happy hucking!
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