Waterloo or Bust(s?)

"Respect everyone and fear no one. "
- G. Ford

What I thought would be a relatively quiet week of practices before Regionals turned out to be hectic. Below are some of the highs and lows from this shortened week of ulty.

- Since Gav suggested ditching our league teams this week, I arranged a sub for Poached Motel (who lost…again). Around noon, I got a message from the B&Es captain asking me if I'd like to sub. Being an ulty addict, I justified subbing by telling myself I wouldn't play hard. Not playing hard lasted until Black Velvet Elvis scored the first point.
- The low-light of the B&E vs. BVE game was my inability to turn it down a few notches. Intensity is a good thing, but yelling at a team-mate for not swinging the disc and holding it behind their back is a sad reflection of how seriously I take this game. I apologized to said team-mate, but still feel awful about being a jerk.
- As mentioned in my last post, the B&E game was a rather productive one for me. After "turning it on", I threw the next couple of points, and ended up figuring into the majority of B&E offense. Another positive is that the team won 15-11.
- This week's sign that the apocalypse is upon us: One of my "experienced" (i.e. elderly) B&E team-mates told me that I should look up field instead of just dumping the disc when I sit on zone offense. Having never been accused of using my dump too frequently (impossible btw), I "blame" the BF captains and coach Stu ;-)
- Tuesday's Canada Day practice with BFC (+ a few Stella ladies) was a blast…except for the resulting sunburn on my arms, shoulders, and neck.
- High-light of practice was throwing with Damian from BFC for about 20. Damian was responsible for getting me to step out and extend on my flick (Learn to Play clinic 2007). Having watched him play on DVD with BFC against TFP in the CUC 2007 finals a few days prior to the practice, it was an honor to throw with the guy.
- Low-light #1 of practice was marking Damian, Jamieson, and Pete Hook on BFC. I feel proud that those guys are marking up against me when I'm on offense, but, my chances of stopping any of those speedsters on defense are practically non-existent.
- Low-light #2 of the practice was dropping a beautiful Tron put on a designed play during a BF black / BF white scrimmage. Gavin joked about it, but I felt like a nob.
- Good place in the recap to hide this: my sports hernia has been giving me some grief lately. It's nowhere near the pain of last fall/early winter, but sore enough to make me increase the amount of physio stretching and exercises for it. On the bright side, the more effort I put into stretching and strengthening the relevant muscle groups, the less it bothers me on the field. On a related note, thank god for Core shorts.
- My "off day" on Wednesday consisted of hitting the gym, the trails for a fartlek, the exercise mat for physio stretching, and the physio ball. Before you feel sorry for me, I'll admit to treating myself to a donair for supper.
- A downside of going to Waterloo is not FINALLY getting to play the Gullwings. The Gullwings have won the Friday night crown the last couple years, and I've wanted to play them ever since being coached by Gord (a former Gullwing) a winter ago. Sadly, the Gullwings are not the team they used to be. Regardless, I've offered to buy Sprawl a round of drinks if they can pull off the victory this Friday.
- Another reason I wanted to play the Gullwings is they used to have one of the hottest women ulty players in Ottawa on their team. How gorgeous is she? I'm incapable of playing decent ultimate if she's within 30 feet of me. For instance, after noticing her at the Canada Day practice, I proceeded to shank a backhand so badly during the slant-to-huck drill that it almost hit Alstair's dog out of bounds on the opposite sideline I was aiming for *sigh*.
- Not only will I be volunteering at No Borders this year, I managed to pick up on Mule. Finally getting to meet Jack Webb (esq.) should be awesome, as will getting to play with MHJ for two days in a row.
- We were supposed to scrimmage against Arrested Development for Thursday's practice, but it got cancelled due to saturated fields. I'm glad the AD scrimmage got called off, as it would have been a distraction.
- Instead of having the practice, a couple of veteran BF'ers sent out awesome emails that have added fuel to my fire for Regionals. Hearing the words of wisdom from players who I idolize really motivates me. As stated in a previous post, no matter how little I play this weekend, I promise to leave it all on the field.

On that note, it's Waterloo or bust for me. Since I'm driving down with the two people I know least about on BF (and Matt), it should be interesting. Whatever happens at Regionals, I'm sure it'll be a fantastic experience. Until next time, happy hucking!