IID 2008 / 2009 Recap – One Man’s Perspective

“I recommend biting off more then you can chew to anyone,

I certainly do.

I recommend sticking your foot in your mouth at any time,

Feel free.

Throw it down (the caution blocks you from the wind),

Hold it up (to the rays),

You wait and see when the smoke clears.

You live, you learn

You love, you learn

You cry, you learn

You lose, you learn

You bleed, you learn

You scream, you learn”

Alanis Morissette – You Learn

How can I call myself “emo” without once referencing the top selling emo record of all time? ;-) Clearly, I learned a lot both on and off the field this season in Wednesday night intermediate. Since only iid-iots repeat their mistakes, feel free to avoid my bounty of blunders by incorporating some of the lessons learned below.

1. Tryouts – Play to your strengths

The feedback “ou should have cut more” bothered me since it was obvious. Even though it was apparent to an evaluator who barely knew my game, it didn’t make it any easier to swallow. One of the big differences between good comp players, and good league players, are that the former are specialists, while the latter are generalists. I’d argue that the same distinction applies to advanced and intermediate players. Advanced is a ‘do’ league, while intermediate is a ‘try’ league. If there’s a next time, I’ll remember not to focus on making my “competition” look good.

2. Don’t worry, be happy

I played the first five or so games with this huge chip on my shoulder that I was too good for IID. After a disastrous game against the Corny Kiddies, I snapped to the realization that there were players on every team who were “too good" for IID. Every game after that, I made sure to match up against those standout players, to try my best to stop them. Oddly, when I gave up on IAD, I started having a lot more fun…

3. Have fun!

This is as controversial as I’ll get in this post: IID is more fun than IAD. Given my decision making with the disc, there was no chance I would have got to handle all year on the flip side of the iron curtain. Similarly, I can’t imagine my “Nurplettes” would have supported me in the big league, nor would my team had purple night. The fact that Marko’s sole shot at me was the quality of my parody songs…is nothing compared to some of the shots he took at friends and aquaintenances in advanced. Even when I was sick or having a bad game, the smiles of my team-mates and opponents always brought me up. The fact that my favorite picture from the season (below), doesn’t contain a single frisbee, speaks to the importance of keeping things light.

4. I’m still a huck-star ;-)

Much of the ‘offline’ feedback I get about my blog is that I’m too hard on myself. To those individuals – here’s the paragraph you’ve been waiting for. When my team was clicking this winter, and we were pretty fucking dominant for a large stretch of the season, I was a big part of it. Don’t get me wrong, Giddy-up and DGo were the main reasons we went undefeated in the second half of the regular season, but my contributions were substantial. Those of you who know me are aware I mentally keep track of stats. There were nights I’d play a direct role in over 50% of my team’s goals. However, we seemed to do better when that figure was around 33%…so I point-shaved accordingly (just kidding) :P Speaking of stats, there was one night in particular where I got around 10 Ds…

5. Pick your area to improve…then do it!

I considered defense my biggest weakness heading into this winter. As indicated above, I tried to pick challenging match-ups for myself each point. Getting burnt a few times early in the season gave me all the motivation I needed to try harder to improve. Between KJ’s workouts, Michelle’s classes, and the tips I picked up at the Stella/Phoenix clinic in the winter, I’ve found my defense is much stronger and more consistent.

6. Never take it for granted.

I played all 20 games of IID this year. That’s double the number I did last year. I’m thankful my body held up (with the exception of game 20…which was rough given a flu). There’s this great guy on my Friday team who tried out for IID this year, but didn’t make it. He would have benefited more in terms of development than I did. Even though I bitched and moaned about not getting picked for the “old boys club”, I was lucky to have a spot in a great league. Especially since it most likely won’t be around in FCS again next year *sigh*

There you have my re-cap of my second winter of IID. There’s a summer team-mate of mine who said after four winters of the league, there’s nothing more they could learn. Given their game (which is awesome), I wouldn't argue with them. However, I’m under no delusions that another winter wouldn’t benefit me. I’m going into comp tryouts much more confident in my handling ability (thank-you IID), in much better shape (thank you IID, KJ and workout partners), and with no glaring weaknesses (thank you IID)…rather than my host of mental issues ;-) Bring on winter #3 of IID! Until next time, happy hucking!

Week 20 Picks

"I wonder how's it gonna be, when it goes down?
How's it gonna be, when your not around?"
Third Eye Blind - How's it Gonna Be?

It's bittersweet to write the last set of IID predictions for the year. Bitter since Wednesday night ultimate won't be the same after the FCS Dome management vowed to jack up costs 50% next year (if OCUA decides to committ long-term). Sweet since I'm tired of writing predictions and taking flack for my blog. Since the wrestling theme proved popular last week, and because I had three annual reports waiting for me in the mail tonight, this week's theme will be equally easy 'numbers'.

Ocho by 8 over Threezerburn

In what I erroneously predicted would be the championship game, expect the offensive juggernaughts of Ocho to cruise to an easy win over the Chow-less Threezies. Why you may ask? Even an iid-iot for life knows that 8 > 3. Further justification can be found when accounting for Ocho's 13th man, who's coaching prowess is unsurpassed in IID ranks. Plus, Ocho's Laysoutfrequently looked mighty impressive last week wowing his oppoents with his 24-inch calfs. In the Threezie's defense, their highest LeagueWonder ranked player is out of action in what can only be described as a sock-related accident.

Cup to out rank Army

When all the IID marbles are on the line, expect Cup's 4 girls (Mush will be there in spirit) to shine like the former and future comp players they are. I'd even go as far as to venture that Cup wins with 25 points (a number that will be "flipped" this summer on a BF jersey). Keys to victory for the Cup will be controlling their '8' (does that make him twice the player as Chow?), and captain '7' leading the way like he has for the past 2 weeks. Well into his Carlsberg years, Downtown Dave Brown had a great quote last week about the Army having 12 weapons. Although this is true, I'm expecting a misfire tomorrow night, something that never happens to Army's Matt-snap Thomas when he's taking pictures.

Grey on universe over 2x12s

Assuming age is more important than beauty when it comes to frisbee, count on Grey to inch out 2x12s in what will be the closest game of the night. Grey has four of the most-underanked '5' women in the league, while 2x12s has 3 fairly ranked 5s, and 1 awesome MC ;-) As you can probably guess, I'm also a huge fan of the 2 best captains in IID (with all due respect) when it comes to developping their players. It's been an up-and-down season for 2x12s, and I think their best chance of an upset will be using their towering 6'4 Tree and my soon-to-be summer team-mate Poulitdown (and his 20+ inch vertical) to their gravity defying limits.

Hammers to throw 24x more swill than Kiddies

Despite bribing the Almighty Mahatma (make sure to thank him when you see him tomorrow night) with 2 chocolate chip cookies last week, he threw the 7th place 'chumpionship' game in the 12am timeslot. Ah well, considering my favorite kiddie has a milestone bday to celebrate, and MamaFish devised a 100% fool proof (...but is it Nurple proof?) plan of wearing purple garb this week ("purple > black > red > blue > white "), both teams are bound to have fun. My 'lucky 25-cent peice' is on at last 1 side bet, 5 or more potential quotes of the week, and too much slagging for the game's two equally sexy CMAs to count.

Predicted Quote of the Night:
"Yo 55! 25 is making you look like RPA v1.0 out there!"
- 24

There's 39 minutes of my life I will never get back :P I'm off to hit my tub of ice cream and box of Oreo cakes in an attempt to gain back the 8lbs I lost over Easter...damn 24 hour flu! Until next time, happy hucking!

Week 19 Predictions

"Know your role and shut your mouth!"
- Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (and what my team-mates, captains, coaches, and possibly coordinators think when I open my mouth)

While making my foolish picks last week, I missed out on using last weekend's Wrestlemania XXV as a theme. In retrospect, I feel like a total jabroni. Below are my wrestling inspired picks for this week. If you don't like the picks, I got but two words for you...(they rhyme with "huck it")...

Kiddies over 2x12s by submission

Rumor has it that IID's heavyweight champion of handling was held up by his adoring fans on the way to FCS last week, thus thwarting Corn's chance of topping Ocho. If he can make it to the game on time, and because team manager Bo saves energy when he signs his efficient autographs, expect Corn to pummel 2x12s into submission. True wrasslin fans know that 2x12s deserve to lose, for not choosing the superior name "24 Inch Pythons".

Ocho to piledrive Army

Ocho, managed by the intermediate version of Bobby "The Brayn" Heenan, will pull out the win over Army, even if their captain Morthongs has to throw salt in Downtown Monty Brown's eyes. Wednesday night's version of Steph and Triple HHH, Mr & Mrs Bush will do all they can in a losing effort, stopping short of pulling out a sledge hammer and taking care of business. For the ladies in attendance, count on Grey Laysout to perform his infamous 5-minute flexing routine to celeberate the win.

Hammers to pin Grey

"Let me tell you something mean Ginn(e) - That junoir Pyper you have on your roster is bad news! Although he grew a little since last year, the fact he's so skinny proves that he hasn't been saying his prayers, taking his vitamins, and working on his huck. And another thing, with her firey red hair, Deefense can Waite reminds me the Fabulous Moolah...a real she-devil! So let me ask you something Grey - Whatcha gonna do when the wrath and fury of the 24-handed Hammers run wild on you?!?!"

Threezerburn to bodyslam Cup in the main event

Can the Mikey Wimpreck-like fairy tail of Cup continue against the mighty Threezies? Since the good guy always wins in the last match of the evening, and because Chow is the IID "Prototype" (selling all the Navy t-shirts and ulty e-zines), the odds are stacked against the Cuppies. Furthermore, I wouldn't put it past Prouxl to sunset flip Hello Jessie for retribution before exclaiming "I flipped that bitch." One can only hope everyone's favorite referree Mahatma sticks around to avert full out battle royale...

Predicted Quote of the Week:
Because your Sable impression always cracks me up...
"All the men want to see me, and the women want to be me."

Since it's a wrestling themed night, blood shed is inevitable. If it hasn't happenned by the third game, not to worry, instead of blading, I'll just lay out elbow first and get the red fountain flowing...for the 3rd week in a row. In words of the alter-ego (Cactus Jack) of my favorite wrestler (Dude Love), have a nice day!

Week 18 Recap

"If I played left-handed, on one leg, with my eyes closed, and only handled..."
- My favorite "old boys club" member explaining what it might take for Mahatma to allow them to sub on the fun side of the curtain.

"Rumor travels faster, but it don't stay put as long as truth."
- Will Rogers

Two great quotes; one from the week I missed, and one for the week that mercifully ended. Before I forget, vendetta, vendetta, vendetta! (If I have time in the next two weeks, I was thinking about inserting popular search words and names in random archived entries...purely for my own amusement). Onto the ramblings...

- I learned an important lesson from Monday's workout: No matter how much stronger I've got this winter, I won't try to keep pace with someone who's naturally stronger than me.
- Instead of taking it easy on Tuesday, I proved my stupidity by pushing myself through an arm workout that left me spent for Wednesday's game. Clearly, I'm an iid-iot for life.
- The high-light of Wednesday wasn't the playoff game (that rather sucked), but was bumping into GLUM Ford on the bus and shooting the shit with him from Bank to Billings. He had this hilarious quote that I shared with a few of you, and kept me thoroughly entertained with his thoughts and anecdotes.
- As for the game, as (foolishly) predicted, we lost to Girls/Cup. They played a smart, physical game, and really ramped up their intensity. My sincere congratulations to the victors...
- Low-light: After hearing about one of my team-mates blaming himself for the loss, I almost laughed, knowing full well that my throw-aways, decision-making, and allowing my man to burn me for two scores more than equalled the margin of defeat. Ultimate is a team game, but reality is that I didn't step up when my team needed me to lead. Sorry guys.
- High-light: *scratching head* Developing a close and personal relationship with the turf at FCS before it most-likely gets pulled up next fall when Melynk gets his f-ing downtown soccer stadium?
- It's that time of year when countless rumors fly around about who's playing what, who's trying out, what the captains are looking for, and the like. As the the second quote this week indicates, I'm not a fan of rumors (although I don't mind the ones linking me to ulty hotties who are clearly out my league), but did hear an interesting one about a superior blogger (and player) starting an Open team. Giving 20 extra guys from Ottawa a chance to show their stuff could only be a good thing.
- Limped through Michelle's class on Thursday. If only my "competition" was there so that I could have showed them up on the t-sprints/agility ladder/everything ;-)
- We lost on Friday to the first place team that we had defeated the week before. As a captain, I was very proud of the fact that we never gave up, and faught til the last point had been thrown (<- highlight). Low-light was taking the game a little too seriously...afterall, this is Friday night ulty.
- After having a BFC-er break me with a beauty scoober for a score, I asked the best trick thrower/catcher I knew to teach me to scoober today. In less than 5 minutes, he had me throwing some respectable swill, that I plan to try out this Wednesday.
- Feel better after today's workout. Didn't push quite as hard, and am closing in on squatting my body weight (next week???).

One of the few important frisbee-related things I did this past week was fill out my tryout application. The three boxes in the 'Preferred Position' question were tricky...and I'm currently regretting not asking one of the captains a question before hitting 'Send'. Ah well, c'est la vie. Until next time, happy hucking!

V for....

Vendetta, vendetta, vendetta!!!!! Lol


My "new readers" and their searching habits crack me up. The same individuals make me wonder if their employers pay any attention to how much time they're spending on the Intraweb. Seriously though, thank you. After a hectic week, I needed a good laugh.

- J