"Cause you're hot then you're cold
You're yes then you're no
You're in and you're out
You're up and you're down."
Katy Perry - Hot N Cold
One of the things I found most frusterating when I first started playing ultimate, was my inconsistency. I'd have a game where everything clicked, then disappear the next game. This pretty much lasted until mid-last summer on BigFish, when I realized it wasn't luck, energy, opponents, or team-mates that dictated if I'd be on or off in a given game, it was my mindset. Ever since, even when I'm not catching every disc thrown my way, or if my flick takes a vacation, I can focus on playing solid (aka - boring) frisbee, making good decisions, and working my ass off on D. Doing this, I've managed to string together my longest streak of consistent games. That streak was snapped today, stay tuned and I'll let you know why.
- Employee of the Month had a pretty easy win against La Resistance Monday at FCS. The final score might have been 14-9, but, it wasn't that close.
- High-light of the game was skying for the first point on a huck from Tron.
- Low-light of the game was hearing Big Mike's knee snap and give out from 20 yards away :( He's out for the season, and some of our team members thought it might be his "retirement injury". That'd be awful. He's a hell of a frisbee player, and a great guy to boot.
- Wednesday (I think)...no wait...Tuesday (?)...sometime earlier this week, G, Sandra S. and I went over to KJ's to have him set us up with a workout plan. We plan to get together once a week at my gym and push eachother. I think we're all taking his class, given by one of the BFC ladies that I don't know (sorry...they all look alike) that starts next week. It was nice to finally meet KJ, after doing his stretches all last summer. For $30, I'm super happy with the workout plan he gave us.
- Had an interesting conversation with KJ regarding an article he wrote about how long distance running and ultimate don't mesh. After reading the article, I'm semi-convinced he's right. Since Glenn told me to work on quick bursts this winter, and because KJ is the man, I beleive I've ran my last long run of the year :( These will be replaced by quick intervals on the treadmill and some kick boxing classes at work.
- Ok, so today's game against Bathtub Heroes was depressing. Despite picking up Lamo, EotM lost 15-10.
- High-light was EotM's first point when Lamo sent me long and I made a kind of tricky over the shoulder catch for a point.
- Low-lights of the game were plentiful. I got scored on three times, landed on my ass on a simple in cut, dumped despite Gavin and Julie telling me to launch it out of 8 on Zoolander, and just sucked it up in general. In short, I disappeared and didn't help my team when they really could have used it.
Despite recognizing I was having an off game today, I couldn't stop it by focusing on making the right decisions, and putting more effort in on D. This leads me to my lesson learned for this week (yup, I'm bringing the lessons learned out of retirement) - some days, when your mind is elsewhere, you shouldn't play frisbee. You owe it to your team-mates and even to your opponents to be concentrating on the game. You're not helping your team-mates, and you could potentially hurt your opponents when you're not focusing on the field of play.
The challenge now is to bounce back with a strong game against the top team in the league on Monday night. Sweet Daddy Whup (spelt wrong) Ass be warned: I'm bringing my A-game Monday night! Until next time, happy hucking!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
"Random" Rambles
“Wal-mart... do they like make walls there?”
- The Idiotic Paris Hilton
“King me, baby ... it's oh-so fashionable.”
- The Temporary Genious Paris Hilton
If you need another reason to hate Paris Hilton (and you shouldn't, since she sets an awful example for young women world wide by being a materialistic, superficial, mindless, waste of cells), she was partially responsible for altering the meaning of the world "random" by repeatedly using it inappropriately. Being a professionally designated auditor and accountant, I try my best to only use "random" in a statistical sampling sense. But since I'm feeling bloggy, and couldn't think of a better title, please excuse my misuse of "random" in the title of today's post.
- Serious ultimate-related injuries scare the bejeziz out of me. Last year, I saw a team-mate tear his ACL on a seemingly harmless change of direction. Yesterday, I heard a pop from over 20 yards away when a team-mate's knee gave way while making a simple in-cut. No matter how much effort you put into preparing and improving your body to play this great sport, one little miscue can change everything. All the more reason to play every point like it's your last.
- Those that know me, know how fond I am of great quotes. Although I don't condone the use of mind altering substances, a team-mate came out with a particularly hilarious quote last night that I wanted to pass on for your consideration: "It'd be great if you knew when the last time you were going to do mushrooms was. That way, you could write it down, and truly enjoy the experience."
- Why is fall ultimate (aka falltimate) so fantastic? You play a couple games every year on these crisp (between 10 and 15 degrees), windless nights when the moon shines down in such a way to illuminate your muscles' every contraction. It doesn't hurt when your team wins easily, you're playing at a great location (i.e. Frankly Crumbling Stadium), and with a group of awesome team-mates : )
- EotM and BigFish captain Jer (aka "Oops IminJERed") came up with a new nickname for me that caught on a tad too quickly last night: Jimmy James. If you've never seen News Radio, this might not make any sense. If you have seen News Radio, this still probably won't make any sense.
- Being a track junky and football fan, Jer intrigued me when he started to ask about good 40 yard times (the common distance used to measure NFL prospects' speed). I told him that a running back or kick returner could run the 40 in a tad over 4 seconds, the average player probably runs a 4.5, and slower players are closer to 5 seconds. Since we were on a measured football field, and cause I had a stop watch, Jer immediately insisted that I time him over 40 meters. The other men on our team quickly followed suit, with only one of four breaking the 5 second barrier, while the slowest time was 5.9 seconds. Here's your quiz, place the following four players from speediest to slowest (*hint - the results will surprise you*): Jer, Baby C, Al C, and Tron.
- There's a rumor on the OCUA forums that the UPA has considered not letting Canadian teams participate in their fall series championships and college championships. Let's hope this is only a rumor, since such tournaments should bring together the best teams and players in North America. Plus, it's exciting to see local players compete against all-stars of the game on Ultivillage DVDs.
With all the "randomness" out of me, I'm feeling as light as disc soaring between the goalposts at Landsdowne from 50 yards away (thanks for the idea Mr. Two Pointer!). Until next time, happy hucking!
- The Idiotic Paris Hilton
“King me, baby ... it's oh-so fashionable.”
- The Temporary Genious Paris Hilton
If you need another reason to hate Paris Hilton (and you shouldn't, since she sets an awful example for young women world wide by being a materialistic, superficial, mindless, waste of cells), she was partially responsible for altering the meaning of the world "random" by repeatedly using it inappropriately. Being a professionally designated auditor and accountant, I try my best to only use "random" in a statistical sampling sense. But since I'm feeling bloggy, and couldn't think of a better title, please excuse my misuse of "random" in the title of today's post.
- Serious ultimate-related injuries scare the bejeziz out of me. Last year, I saw a team-mate tear his ACL on a seemingly harmless change of direction. Yesterday, I heard a pop from over 20 yards away when a team-mate's knee gave way while making a simple in-cut. No matter how much effort you put into preparing and improving your body to play this great sport, one little miscue can change everything. All the more reason to play every point like it's your last.
- Those that know me, know how fond I am of great quotes. Although I don't condone the use of mind altering substances, a team-mate came out with a particularly hilarious quote last night that I wanted to pass on for your consideration: "It'd be great if you knew when the last time you were going to do mushrooms was. That way, you could write it down, and truly enjoy the experience."
- Why is fall ultimate (aka falltimate) so fantastic? You play a couple games every year on these crisp (between 10 and 15 degrees), windless nights when the moon shines down in such a way to illuminate your muscles' every contraction. It doesn't hurt when your team wins easily, you're playing at a great location (i.e. Frankly Crumbling Stadium), and with a group of awesome team-mates : )
- EotM and BigFish captain Jer (aka "Oops IminJERed") came up with a new nickname for me that caught on a tad too quickly last night: Jimmy James. If you've never seen News Radio, this might not make any sense. If you have seen News Radio, this still probably won't make any sense.
- Being a track junky and football fan, Jer intrigued me when he started to ask about good 40 yard times (the common distance used to measure NFL prospects' speed). I told him that a running back or kick returner could run the 40 in a tad over 4 seconds, the average player probably runs a 4.5, and slower players are closer to 5 seconds. Since we were on a measured football field, and cause I had a stop watch, Jer immediately insisted that I time him over 40 meters. The other men on our team quickly followed suit, with only one of four breaking the 5 second barrier, while the slowest time was 5.9 seconds. Here's your quiz, place the following four players from speediest to slowest (*hint - the results will surprise you*): Jer, Baby C, Al C, and Tron.
- There's a rumor on the OCUA forums that the UPA has considered not letting Canadian teams participate in their fall series championships and college championships. Let's hope this is only a rumor, since such tournaments should bring together the best teams and players in North America. Plus, it's exciting to see local players compete against all-stars of the game on Ultivillage DVDs.
With all the "randomness" out of me, I'm feeling as light as disc soaring between the goalposts at Landsdowne from 50 yards away (thanks for the idea Mr. Two Pointer!). Until next time, happy hucking!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
JK's Ultimate Ramblings!
"I hurt myself today,
to see if I still feel.
I focus on the pain,
the only thing that's real."
Johnny Cash - Hurt
First thing is first - thank you to Employee of the Month sub Jon for giving me the link so that I could fix my blog url! No longer is my blog url totally misleading :) Now I expect the profile views and hits to level off or possibly decrease *fingers crossed*. On that note, the following is my recap of the last week in "falltimate".
- Employee of the Month lost a battle against Glenn's Ragin Gaijin team on Monday night by a score of 18 - 10. This was our first fall game at Frankly Crumbling Stadium (FCS), and definitely won't be our last as we have another there this coming Monday.
- Personal high-light of the game was getting a few cuts against the likes of Damian, Glenn, and Lorenz. I respect and admire all three of these individuals, and it was a privlege marking and being marked by them.
- Personal low-light of the game was throwing away three passes. It was a windless night, and even though I didn't drop anything, I have to minimize turnovers if I want to make IAD this winter.
- Further to that point, the winter leagues in Ottawa have changed quite a bit this year. They'll be no Elite ulimate at FCS (4 teams last year), and IID and IAD at FCS will run with 2 less teams each (8 vs. 10). Since I changed the URL, I'll go on record and say this is a dumb financial decision. Cutting 8 "higher caliber teams in favor of new rec leagues at the FCS will cost OCUA approximately $9,600 ($100 difference per team x 12 people per team x 8 teams). There were never a shortage of people wanting to play in the higher caliber leagues.
- My plan is to tryout for IAD, but with the numbers the way they are, I'll expect to play IID again on Wednesdays this winter. It's not that I don't think my game has progressed since last winter, it's basically that with some Elite players dropping down to Advanced, and a lot of the Advanced spots already taken by returning players and "grizzled vets" who provide leadership, my chances aren't good. Plus, and again I'll put this in here since my URL has changed, I don't know Reza, he doesn't know me, which means he's much more likely to take one of his buddies for the league.
- Between games, I attended the OCUA AGM this past Tuesday. Although I didn't count, apparently 22 of nearly 5,000 OCUA members showed up. Luckily, BF captain Sandra worked her but off to gather proxies, guaranteeing that the 2% quorum was acheived.
- For those of you who've never attended the AGM, I'd strongly recommend it. Although there were no controversial motions, there was some interesting discussion concerning a variety of relevant topics.
- EotM was lucky enough to be chosen to play in the feature game at the new Aviation Museum fields for the grand opening on Saturday. We won against Cruisin' by a final score of 15-13. After Cruisin' took a 5-1 lead, we clawed our way back thanks to a number of our veterans stepping up.
- Personal high-light of the game was a layout catch for a point on a second effort after I tipped it in the air.
- Low-light for me was throwing the disc away 3 times while handling. If my team trusts me enough to let me handle, I can't turn the disc over. It's that simple.
- A second low-light, and the reason for the song choice, is that both of my feet really hurt after the game. I've been too lazy to put my Superfeet insoles in my new cleats, and the rock hard fields (sorry OCUA...but it's true), really aggrivated my sensitive feet.
All in all, that was a pretty busy week of ultimate. With IAD tryouts fast approaching, I'm working out quite hard away from the fields, and plan to do a consultation with KJ this Tuesday to see if I can get set up with a workout plan. Until next time, happy hucking!
to see if I still feel.
I focus on the pain,
the only thing that's real."
Johnny Cash - Hurt
First thing is first - thank you to Employee of the Month sub Jon for giving me the link so that I could fix my blog url! No longer is my blog url totally misleading :) Now I expect the profile views and hits to level off or possibly decrease *fingers crossed*. On that note, the following is my recap of the last week in "falltimate".
- Employee of the Month lost a battle against Glenn's Ragin Gaijin team on Monday night by a score of 18 - 10. This was our first fall game at Frankly Crumbling Stadium (FCS), and definitely won't be our last as we have another there this coming Monday.
- Personal high-light of the game was getting a few cuts against the likes of Damian, Glenn, and Lorenz. I respect and admire all three of these individuals, and it was a privlege marking and being marked by them.
- Personal low-light of the game was throwing away three passes. It was a windless night, and even though I didn't drop anything, I have to minimize turnovers if I want to make IAD this winter.
- Further to that point, the winter leagues in Ottawa have changed quite a bit this year. They'll be no Elite ulimate at FCS (4 teams last year), and IID and IAD at FCS will run with 2 less teams each (8 vs. 10). Since I changed the URL, I'll go on record and say this is a dumb financial decision. Cutting 8 "higher caliber teams in favor of new rec leagues at the FCS will cost OCUA approximately $9,600 ($100 difference per team x 12 people per team x 8 teams). There were never a shortage of people wanting to play in the higher caliber leagues.
- My plan is to tryout for IAD, but with the numbers the way they are, I'll expect to play IID again on Wednesdays this winter. It's not that I don't think my game has progressed since last winter, it's basically that with some Elite players dropping down to Advanced, and a lot of the Advanced spots already taken by returning players and "grizzled vets" who provide leadership, my chances aren't good. Plus, and again I'll put this in here since my URL has changed, I don't know Reza, he doesn't know me, which means he's much more likely to take one of his buddies for the league.
- Between games, I attended the OCUA AGM this past Tuesday. Although I didn't count, apparently 22 of nearly 5,000 OCUA members showed up. Luckily, BF captain Sandra worked her but off to gather proxies, guaranteeing that the 2% quorum was acheived.
- For those of you who've never attended the AGM, I'd strongly recommend it. Although there were no controversial motions, there was some interesting discussion concerning a variety of relevant topics.
- EotM was lucky enough to be chosen to play in the feature game at the new Aviation Museum fields for the grand opening on Saturday. We won against Cruisin' by a final score of 15-13. After Cruisin' took a 5-1 lead, we clawed our way back thanks to a number of our veterans stepping up.
- Personal high-light of the game was a layout catch for a point on a second effort after I tipped it in the air.
- Low-light for me was throwing the disc away 3 times while handling. If my team trusts me enough to let me handle, I can't turn the disc over. It's that simple.
- A second low-light, and the reason for the song choice, is that both of my feet really hurt after the game. I've been too lazy to put my Superfeet insoles in my new cleats, and the rock hard fields (sorry OCUA...but it's true), really aggrivated my sensitive feet.
All in all, that was a pretty busy week of ultimate. With IAD tryouts fast approaching, I'm working out quite hard away from the fields, and plan to do a consultation with KJ this Tuesday to see if I can get set up with a workout plan. Until next time, happy hucking!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Who's got Spirit?
"We've got spirit, yes we do
We've got spirit, how bout you?"
Popular cheer at highschool and college football games
The last BigFish tournament of 2008 was Spirit. The fields at the Hornet's Nest were soft (it's been raining a lot this fall in Ottawa), the temperature was perfect (low 20s with no wind), and the competition was tough. Below is my recap of the day from a BF perspective. The scores are estimates, since my record keeping took a back seat to my laziness.
Raijin Gaijin 15, BigFish 10
Shame on The Ageless Wonder, Glenn, who jumped ship on Fish for the day to play with Raijin. This was a pretty competitive game, and had Glenn played on the right team, the score would probably have been reversed. After getting the green light from the captains early, I threw three hucks, two for scores, one to our secret speedster weapon - Gavin. Why did the captains give me the green light to throw up field? Honestly, I have no idea...but I'm thankful for it.
Uber Skuber 15, BigFish 11
Another game that easily could have went the other way. Sadly, what I remember from this game was an odd exchange with 4 disc space violations being called on the same person, on the same play. On the upside, given my usual aggressive marking, I wasn't the "violator". Not much else about this game stands out. To be honest, it wasn't very fun due to a tonne of calls.
Family Feud 15, BigFish 6
There's this mid-tier Monday league team named Family Feud, who I thought might have mistakenly entered the competitive division. When three Alexender brothers (of Phoenix fame) showed up with a couple of their open buddies, and picked up the talented V from BFC and a couple of other speedy ladies, I knew we were in BIG trouble. Props to the BF captains who managed to keep this game fun. One of CPO's little brothers played a point for us, making three huge catches, and then throwing a point. A personal high-light was marking / being marked by Derek Alexander ("The Franchise") and some other open guys. Also memorable was BF's speedster striking for a couple of points against Billy Alexander.
Hot Seat 13, BigFish 10
Hot Seat was Manny's team, and this was a fun game to end the day. We played on this ridiculously short field, and implemented the North Bay 2-point behind-the-back catch rule. Of course Mr. Two-Pointer made two spectacular behind-the-back catches for BF. I probably had my best game of the day, catching a couple of points, and handling semi-competently. One of those bizzaro moments happenned when I accidently shouldered Manny in the jaw on a dump cut. He "pretended" to be mad, kicked the disc before I tried to pick it up a couple times, then ended up striking on me as "payback". He's definitely a fun guy, who I look forward to playing with and against in the future.
It's worth noting that Family Feud went onto beat Hot Seat in the soon-to-be-televised "final" 15-7. If the endzones look short or long, blame me, since Gav/Jer/Allistair mistakenly trusted me to set them up *sigh* After catching a bit of the final, some of us headed over to Alex's place for a BBQ. Alex makes a mean burger, and Laura has mad skills at selecting quality cookies. Also of note is that BF team-mate G kicked some serious ass in fundraising for Spirit, bringing in over $1400! Further proof that she's totally awesome both on and off the field.
On that note, this might be the last post at this url. A very helpful ultimate player gave me some links to check out with respect to changing the url. As the profile views and hits continue to climb to increasingly scary levels, it's probably worth investing an hour to see if I can make the change. Thanks to all the readers who've left comments, talked to me about posts, or wrote messages....your input is valued. Until next time, happy hucking!
We've got spirit, how bout you?"
Popular cheer at highschool and college football games
The last BigFish tournament of 2008 was Spirit. The fields at the Hornet's Nest were soft (it's been raining a lot this fall in Ottawa), the temperature was perfect (low 20s with no wind), and the competition was tough. Below is my recap of the day from a BF perspective. The scores are estimates, since my record keeping took a back seat to my laziness.
Raijin Gaijin 15, BigFish 10
Shame on The Ageless Wonder, Glenn, who jumped ship on Fish for the day to play with Raijin. This was a pretty competitive game, and had Glenn played on the right team, the score would probably have been reversed. After getting the green light from the captains early, I threw three hucks, two for scores, one to our secret speedster weapon - Gavin. Why did the captains give me the green light to throw up field? Honestly, I have no idea...but I'm thankful for it.
Uber Skuber 15, BigFish 11
Another game that easily could have went the other way. Sadly, what I remember from this game was an odd exchange with 4 disc space violations being called on the same person, on the same play. On the upside, given my usual aggressive marking, I wasn't the "violator". Not much else about this game stands out. To be honest, it wasn't very fun due to a tonne of calls.
Family Feud 15, BigFish 6
There's this mid-tier Monday league team named Family Feud, who I thought might have mistakenly entered the competitive division. When three Alexender brothers (of Phoenix fame) showed up with a couple of their open buddies, and picked up the talented V from BFC and a couple of other speedy ladies, I knew we were in BIG trouble. Props to the BF captains who managed to keep this game fun. One of CPO's little brothers played a point for us, making three huge catches, and then throwing a point. A personal high-light was marking / being marked by Derek Alexander ("The Franchise") and some other open guys. Also memorable was BF's speedster striking for a couple of points against Billy Alexander.
Hot Seat 13, BigFish 10
Hot Seat was Manny's team, and this was a fun game to end the day. We played on this ridiculously short field, and implemented the North Bay 2-point behind-the-back catch rule. Of course Mr. Two-Pointer made two spectacular behind-the-back catches for BF. I probably had my best game of the day, catching a couple of points, and handling semi-competently. One of those bizzaro moments happenned when I accidently shouldered Manny in the jaw on a dump cut. He "pretended" to be mad, kicked the disc before I tried to pick it up a couple times, then ended up striking on me as "payback". He's definitely a fun guy, who I look forward to playing with and against in the future.
It's worth noting that Family Feud went onto beat Hot Seat in the soon-to-be-televised "final" 15-7. If the endzones look short or long, blame me, since Gav/Jer/Allistair mistakenly trusted me to set them up *sigh* After catching a bit of the final, some of us headed over to Alex's place for a BBQ. Alex makes a mean burger, and Laura has mad skills at selecting quality cookies. Also of note is that BF team-mate G kicked some serious ass in fundraising for Spirit, bringing in over $1400! Further proof that she's totally awesome both on and off the field.
On that note, this might be the last post at this url. A very helpful ultimate player gave me some links to check out with respect to changing the url. As the profile views and hits continue to climb to increasingly scary levels, it's probably worth investing an hour to see if I can make the change. Thanks to all the readers who've left comments, talked to me about posts, or wrote messages....your input is valued. Until next time, happy hucking!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Falltimate!
"You don't know what you've got, til it's gone."
Cinderella (bad 80s hair band)
One of the 'Zip Tips' is that if you ever feel like ultimate is becoming a burden, take a few days away from it and it's inevitable you'll come back with a renewed passion for the game. After suffering through two ultimate-less weeks, strapping on a new pair of cleats and playing with Employee of the Month (EotM) last Saturday felt amazing! Below is an abbreviated ultimate recap from the last week.
- Friday night was the BigFish season end party. Mr. Two Pointer offered his house for the occasion, which included a pool, pool table, ping pong table, and a fully stocked beer fridge. Even though everyone couldn't make it, it's safe to say that a good time was had by all in attendance.
- As part of the party, G & I worked on the "top secret" surprise project of creating a Go Fish deck of playing cards (Berry's awesome idea) with everyone represented. G's artwork, design, and layout were exceptional. Her creativity and attention to detail is inspiring. All I had to do was draft some text, which G, Pete and Julie supplemented with their fantastic ideas. Everyone seemed very impressed with the decks that will serve as a great keepsake to commemorate a fun summer.
- What's on my card? I'll try to scan it at some point, but I was thrilled to find out that Julie considered me the Most Improved Player with Fish this year. A summer of hard work paid off.
- Saturday morning's game against Shut Up and Run (love the name) was a blast. Granted, we only had four guys and four ladies for most of the game (Gav played the first few points before heading out), but we came from behind (10 – 13 ) to win 15 – 13.
- High-light of the game for me was getting a chance to handle on a STACKED team that included Tron, Ariel, Terry, Sandra, and D. Low-light is equally easy, as I was the main reason our team fell behind, after dropping 3 points in the early going. Not to make excuses, but it rained throughout the game, and the disc was quite slippery. Still, I can't drop points (especially ones thrown by Gav) if I plan to make Fish next year.
- The captains plan to get some EotM shirts made this fall. I'm totally down for this, as the front of the brown shirt has a picture of a "Fart Factory" and the team name is on the rear. Gavin takes the EotM name and concept quiet seriously, and insisted that I parked in the "management lot" at Potvin on Saturday, and should have moved my car down the road with the other entry level employees.
- Saturday afternoon and evening was Urban Sprawl's year end party at Paul's place. Big props to Paul for hosting the shindig. It was nice to see a few team-mates loosen up and enjoy themselves. Hopefully a good time was had by all.
- EotM's game Monday ended up getting cancelled when the gate to the diamond we were supposed to play on was locked. It's crazy how we managed to get OCUA's Executive Director on the line in about a minute. It pays to have a couple of Board members on the team!
- One last ultimate thing: I love my new Under Armor football cleats. They are "mid" cut, which provides excellent ankle support. They have that middle toe peg that I can't do without after playing with Gaias. Lastly, for a pair of heavier cleats, I can still run pretty quickly in them.
Since BigFish plays our last tournament of the year this coming weekend, expect a recap of Spirit next week. Personally, I'm looking forward to playing BFC and Lunchbox (or whatever Manny calls his squad this year). If Reza happens to reformulate Practice, I wouldn't mind a chance at redemption against them either. Until next time, happy hucking!
Cinderella (bad 80s hair band)
One of the 'Zip Tips' is that if you ever feel like ultimate is becoming a burden, take a few days away from it and it's inevitable you'll come back with a renewed passion for the game. After suffering through two ultimate-less weeks, strapping on a new pair of cleats and playing with Employee of the Month (EotM) last Saturday felt amazing! Below is an abbreviated ultimate recap from the last week.
- Friday night was the BigFish season end party. Mr. Two Pointer offered his house for the occasion, which included a pool, pool table, ping pong table, and a fully stocked beer fridge. Even though everyone couldn't make it, it's safe to say that a good time was had by all in attendance.
- As part of the party, G & I worked on the "top secret" surprise project of creating a Go Fish deck of playing cards (Berry's awesome idea) with everyone represented. G's artwork, design, and layout were exceptional. Her creativity and attention to detail is inspiring. All I had to do was draft some text, which G, Pete and Julie supplemented with their fantastic ideas. Everyone seemed very impressed with the decks that will serve as a great keepsake to commemorate a fun summer.
- What's on my card? I'll try to scan it at some point, but I was thrilled to find out that Julie considered me the Most Improved Player with Fish this year. A summer of hard work paid off.
- Saturday morning's game against Shut Up and Run (love the name) was a blast. Granted, we only had four guys and four ladies for most of the game (Gav played the first few points before heading out), but we came from behind (10 – 13 ) to win 15 – 13.
- High-light of the game for me was getting a chance to handle on a STACKED team that included Tron, Ariel, Terry, Sandra, and D. Low-light is equally easy, as I was the main reason our team fell behind, after dropping 3 points in the early going. Not to make excuses, but it rained throughout the game, and the disc was quite slippery. Still, I can't drop points (especially ones thrown by Gav) if I plan to make Fish next year.
- The captains plan to get some EotM shirts made this fall. I'm totally down for this, as the front of the brown shirt has a picture of a "Fart Factory" and the team name is on the rear. Gavin takes the EotM name and concept quiet seriously, and insisted that I parked in the "management lot" at Potvin on Saturday, and should have moved my car down the road with the other entry level employees.
- Saturday afternoon and evening was Urban Sprawl's year end party at Paul's place. Big props to Paul for hosting the shindig. It was nice to see a few team-mates loosen up and enjoy themselves. Hopefully a good time was had by all.
- EotM's game Monday ended up getting cancelled when the gate to the diamond we were supposed to play on was locked. It's crazy how we managed to get OCUA's Executive Director on the line in about a minute. It pays to have a couple of Board members on the team!
- One last ultimate thing: I love my new Under Armor football cleats. They are "mid" cut, which provides excellent ankle support. They have that middle toe peg that I can't do without after playing with Gaias. Lastly, for a pair of heavier cleats, I can still run pretty quickly in them.
Since BigFish plays our last tournament of the year this coming weekend, expect a recap of Spirit next week. Personally, I'm looking forward to playing BFC and Lunchbox (or whatever Manny calls his squad this year). If Reza happens to reformulate Practice, I wouldn't mind a chance at redemption against them either. Until next time, happy hucking!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
