Champions! Or Possibly Chumpions?

"We are the champions my friends,
And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end."
Queen - We are the Champions

Although this week only contained three days of ultimate, they were three very important days relating to OCUA league playoffs.

- On Monday, Poached Motel played Get-A-Grip in an effort to keep our tier 3 seat for the quarterfinals the following week. Not only did we hold our own against the slightly higher ranked team, we held the lead for the majority of the game. With a hard time cap of 8:10, Get-A-Grip tied it up at 11, and Poached couldn't strike quickly enough before the cell phone alarm went off indicating the hard cap had be reached. A tie against a strong team like Get-A-Grip is a great accomplishment and meant Poached stayed in tier 3.
- The personal high-light of this game was a chance to play against former coach Gord, who's one of my ultimate idols. I wish I could say that I held my own, but reality is that the "teacher" had some moves that he simply did not teach the "student". Although I played solid, Gord burned me for at least 3 points on D (the personal low-light of the game).
- Playing without my G4's is a pain in the ass. I wish Gaia online would stock my size, or the local rep would put down his ridiculous price.
- Friday's quarter final game was rained out, which was probably for the best. I think it's safe to say that the gap between Urban Sprawl and a coached 16th rank team would have made for a very lobsided score.
- On Saturday, I hooked up with Disc-o-Fever to play in the tier 5 finals. Despite my being heavily heckled, jeered, and slagged by a bunch of Fish and other ulty friends in the near-by disc central tent, Disco-Fever won 2 games (both about 15-10) to claim the tier 5 "chumpionship". Talking about highlights and lowlights in tier 5 games would be somewhat useless, but I had lots of fun. I'll continue to show up whenever Chris R calls me, since he deserves so much credit for any handling ability I can lay claim to possessing.
- I volunteered with other BigFish members before Friday playoffs on Sunday, parking cars and providing a helping hand around disc central. The TD for the day was the infamous Rigid, and I'd like to think we've officially buried the hatchet :)
- Friday playoffs were bittersweet. We won the tier 2 championships by beating the Dirty Birds and Without Warning. I made a miscall in the Dirty Birds game, got a clarification from Gavin about "disc space", and apologized to the other team for not knowing the rule. I think we won by about 15-7? There was also a bit of controversy over a receiver foul in the game against Without Warning, which we won 15-8 (after leading 8-7 at the half). Again, I take full responsibility for the controversy as I called for the disc to be returned to thrower instead of letting the two players involved in the foul sort things out.
- I was very proud of my Sprawl team-mates for stepping it up in the second half after being challenged by Without Warning. In particular, Wes deserves much of the credit after going absolutely insane on defense in the cup, D-ing at least 7 discs that I counted. Our ladies all played spectacullary, and proved they are the best group of women on Friday night. Although picking one or two is tough, I'd have to give credit to Tania, Steph, and Holly, for making great decisions, hard cuts, and playing their butts off on D. Our other three ladies: Mel, Amy, and Cheryl all played very solid, which is a tribute to their hardwork this year.
- One of my off-field high-lights of the weekend was a short conversation with IID coach Stu before the Sprawl games. Without Stu, I wouldn't have made the Fish practice roster, and I have him to thank everytime I dump the disc instead of forcing a pass. He was surprised to hear that I played Fridays, and was understanding when I let him know I was having a hard time enjoying it as much as I used to. I can't remember if it was him or his wife Sue who said that "You move on as a player". Sadly, those are very true words.

My lesson learned this week is that ultimate means different things to different people. When volunteering today, I saw ultimate players of all ages, walks of life, and athletic backgrounds. Not all of these individuals "love the game", but they all show up to play. For some it's a release, for some it's time with friends, and for some it's serious. No matter what night of the week, tier, or tournament I play in the future, I need to remember that not everyone is out there to improve and be competitive (my two aims). I'll have to do a better job trying to find teams and team-mates who share common ground, and respect those that don't. Until next time, happy hucking!