Tragedy of Errors

"What's love got to do with what you got?
Don't let a win get to your head, or a loss to your heart."
Public Enemy – He Got Game

In my el-jay, I've described my support for the Seinfeld philosophy that life tends to even out. A great week, like last week, is inevitably followed by a tough week, like this one.

- Poached Motel lost 15-10 to a veteran filled PUMP team on Monday. The fact I was running on empty was obvious during two defensive sequences when I physically couldn't keep up with my player. On the plus side, we achieved double digits in points for the first time since May.
- Personally, the low-light of the Poached game was not effectively challenging for three high disks thrown my way. I got out jumped and out positioned by a 6'3 veteran with fresh legs.
- My personal high-light of the Poached game was throwing a bunch of points (4-6) for our team. They weren't all "smart throws", but found their targets for scores.
- Tuesday's practice was cancelled and since I was feeling sorry for myself (more on that later), I decided to take a day off. I briefly considered subbing for Disco Fever, but a night of eating ice cream, chips, and chocolate sounded more appealing.
- Turns out I don't have to buy a round of drink for Urban Sprawl, as they got hammered 15-3 last week by the Gullwings. Losing by so many points bumped us way down the latter (from 5th to 8th), behind a bunch of teams we've already beaten. My fingers are crossed for a rematch this summer, since I'd like to dismantle the Gullwings who will undoubtedly underestimate us.
- For whatever reason, I arrived uber early to Thursday's practice. Glenn was there, and we had a nice chat. General observation: Glenn knows everything about BF/ultimate/life.
- Tom's ladder workout was the high-light of practice. In running terminology, it was an inverse ladder, which means more reps of challenging exercises at the start and end of the progression. - Personally, the low-light of practice was my inability to read long/high discs during the modified huck drill and in the scrimmage. I MUST improve at this.
- Gav talked about how we need to show more confidence after we do something well on the field. Outwardly, this is unlikely for me. However, inwardly, I gave myself a pat on the back for attempting a forehand huck after an in cut during the scrimmage. Even though my receiver didn't catch it, I have the throw, it was a decent put, the captains saw I can make the throw, and I'm glad I tried it.
- Nick from BFC was nice enough to bring us Creamsicles to thank us for cheering on his team during Regionals.
- Random practice observation: Nikki has game throws that I wouldn't even think of practicing. There's probably a valid reason why she's not on BFC, but it's a mystery to me.
- Although I try to keep my mouth shut and ears open during practice, sadly, I found myself repeating "I'm not going to Montreal this weekend" when team-mates asked or incorrectly assumed. It hurt to keep saying it, but, it'll drive me to push myself harder to make the tournament roster next year.
- Friday's Sprawl game was interesting in that our opponent Sky Sky Sky Branch Tree was a complete unknown to me. I'd never heard of the team, nor did I recognize any of their players. When they were warming up, I noticed a Chess Club player who was at the open pre-tryouts. The game turned out to be way too much of a one-on-one battle between the two of us, and sadly, and fittingly given the events of the week, we lost 15-12. Even though I threw a pile of points on offense, I blame myself for the loss in that I couldn't stop the Carleton player's beautiful hucks on defense. It was fitting that he burned me for the winning point.

Coming off the high of competing with BF at Regionals, this week was a big reality check. Since it was my last week at work before 3 weeks of vacation, my reality there was rushing to complete a number of projects. Away from ulty, partially because of ulty, I have been putting friendships on the backburner, and had a non-ulty friend call me on that. My ultimate reality check came when I realized I wouldn't be joining BF at the Comedy of Errors tournament in Montreal this weekend. Despite playing with the team at NF and Regionals, I'm still only a member of the practice roster. Since Glenn can compete with BF at the rest of their tournaments this summer, and because he adds so much experience to the team, I'm back to playing hard at practices trying to impress the captains enough to make the actual roster next year. Oh well, the two tournaments were phenomenal experiences, and I fully intend on busting my ass in practice (not in a Duffy-sense). Plus, with No Borders only a week away, reality is I have a lot of work to do to prepare.

This brings me to this week's lesson learned: Don't get ahead of yourself. On the field, if you think about making a throw before you catch the disc, you're bound to drop it. Off the field, if you're a practice roster player, don't think that a decent performance at one tournament changes anything. Hopefully that doesn't come across too negative, but instead realistic. Until next time, happy hucking!