Happy Holidays

Happy holidays everyone. The Brazil posts might be on hold for a day or two because of holiday festivities. I just wanted to post about the best holiday gift I've gotten. Well, I got myself two new pairs of cleats, a pair of Nike Mercurial Vapor III FG (I loved these cleats last time I had them, this time I got $70 off with the sale and $20 off with the over $100 purchase coupon, also, they weigh 8 o.z.) and a pair of Puma v1.06 SG ($110 off sale, they weigh 7.4 o.z., I guess now all I'm missing is a pair of turf shoes), but those weren't my favorite gifts.

The best gift I got this holiday season was my flick. For about a year I haven't been comfortable throwing flicks, and somehow that all changed in Brazil. In fact, I remember the exact moment it felt better, it was while I was tossing before warming up for the finals. Ever since I injured my right hand in November '06 my flick hasn't felt right. After the injury I took a month of from throwing forehands (that's when I learned to throw a lefty backhand), but when I started throwing again my grip was awkward, and I couldn't really settle on a comfortable way to throw. Anyway, it's all finally coming back to me and I no longer have to think really hard just to throw a flick while tossing. Man, this is awesome.

Brazil I - The Trip Down

I love Ultimate. I love the anonymity of it all. I love that the journey to a world championship event has humble beginnings for all the players who come from around the globe to play. That's not to say that the journeys themselves are small or easy, just that they aren't glamorous. What people will go through to get to an Ultimate tournament is immense, and it only magnifies their emotional investment in the outcome of the tournament. One story I heard was that a player from the Philippines flew to Tokyo, then to San Francisco, then Miami, then Sao Paulo, and finally to Maceió. Now, my trip wasn't as long or epic as his, but it'll have to do for now.

So, my journey started on an average Saturday morning in Santa Cruz, some fog, low 40s, you know, that horrible December weather. Sunya and my flight was at 11:30 so we met our friend Anna, who was giving us a ride, at 8:00 and got on the road. We got to the airport comfortably around 9:30 then went through the long an arduous process of checking in for an international flight. After waiting in line for like an hour we finally got to the check in counter. When the lady asked for our tickets Sunya handed over hers and I just gave my ID. She told me I'd need a ticket, at which point Sunya and I looked at each other with that "oh shit, is this really happening?!?" sort of look. Well, I just said "I was told by my travel agent that I'd only need an ID" and let it ride.

Five minuets went by with awkward silence and a lot of typing by the lady behind the counter, then out of the blue she hands us both our boarding passes and says "have a nice flight." What the fuck, right? She didn't say anything the whole time, and there was a lot she could have said. There wasn't a "You're right, the ID will do fine." No "I'll try and get you two seats next to one another." No, "Sorry, I can't get you guys adjacent seats." Nothing, just awkward silence and typing. I seriously thought I wasn't going to Brazil for those 5 minuets, and man, that sucked balls. Anyway, I guess it worked out. After getting our boarding basses we hit up an airport book store where I bought a Rolling Stone mag, and Empire by Orson Scott Card (I wouldn't recommend it, btw). After making our plane reading selections (Sunya bought a People mag) we made our way through security and got some food before boarding our flight.

The first leg of the trip was relatively uneventful, and the plane was empty enough that we could sit next to each other. Over all, it was nice, and I managed to resist listening to the iPod shuffle I had brought. I was really happy with the collection of music I put on the shuffle. It was really eclectic, and I found it all pretty jetset-y. I think I liked my selections because it was all good background music, but also great if you wanted to pay attention. Also, the music I chose isn't the greatest driving music, but it all does well for traveling (I'll post the list at some point). *

After landing in Chicago, Sunya and I garbed another quick bite to eat before boarding our long flight to São Paulo. I was expecting this ten and a half hour flight to be the real kicker, but it went by relatively quickly. I traded my isle seat for the easier-to-sleep-in window seat and the book I bought proved very readable, even if I didn't enjoy the politics it was plugging. Also, the music really carried me through on this one. Anyway, the flight became bearable, but I didn't get nearly enough sleep. I thought I might be able to get like 5 or 6 hours on the plane, but instead I got about three. Normally I could function enough to make it through the day on 3 hours, but after all that traveling, I was starting to fear the 12 hour layover in São Paulo.

After getting into Brazil (south of the equator for the first time ever!) we spent about 90 min in the airport figuring out details about our next flight, changing and brushing teeth, finding lockers and getting maps. After taking care of all our airport business we took a cab to down town to check out the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP). MASP was really cool. I dig museums, and this one was great. It had two floors of modern art below ground, an outdoor market at ground level, to go with floor of photography and a floor of fine art above ground. I think we spent about three hours looking around, but I could have used at least another hour (especially if I wasn't so tiered). Down town SP was pretty sweet, it was really hot and humid and there were Santas and Christmas decorations everywhere, like bizarre-o Christmas. Also, we went to the coolest public park I've ever been to, it was really jungle-y and there were kids play structures everywhere. I was exhausted the whole time and I tried to drink inordinate amounts of water to make up for it. It almost worked, then, in the museum, I fell asleep while walking and almost tripped into a priceless piece of modern art. Right then I knew the layover couldn't end soon enough.

Luckily that was toward the end of our stay and the museum, and it was dinner time. We found a restaurant at a hotel for some food, then after dinner we took a bus back to the airport. It was a nice charter type buss and we both got a good hour of sleep in, followed by the usual airport business and a nice two and a half hour flight to Maceió. Well, after sleeping on the bus and the plane I felt really energetic, and I was mentally prepared to stay up all night in the airport. See, our plane got in at 1:30 so we had our bags around two meaning we either had to get a cab to our hotel and wake people up around 2:30, or we could just stay up in the airport and save money by taking a bus in the morning. Well, it seemed to inconvenience the fewest people if we stayed up, also, saving money is always good on trips. So, after getting our bags we made our way up towards the airport eateries.

About a half hour into our airport all nighter we encountered a couple of fellow ultimate players who had the same plane. We had seen a few on our flight, but they all went off to grab cabs and meet up with teammates. Well, the two we met in the airport were predictable american college students who had been studying abroad in South America. When we met them, Trevor, captain of the University of Utah Zion Curtain, and Tyler, baller from Tufts, were wavering from there initial airport all night plan and were contemplating hitting up a hostel for the night, luckily the met us and found inspiration to stick it out in the airport.

I couldn't have been happier with how the airport thing worked out. First, the Bob's Burgers (I know, what a sweet name for a Brazilian fast food chain) stayed open all night, giving us a constant source of burgers, shakes, and fries, and second, Trevor and Tyler had tons of awesome stories from their semesters in south america. Basically, I remained energized all night, and the sun made an appearance at like 5:30 because of how far east in the time-zone Maceió is. At around 5:40 we asked some employees about busses/cabs into the city and they told us about a 6:00 am bus that'd get us where we needed to go. Jumping at the opportunity to save money we jumped on the public transportation and got a tour of both the outlying slums and some of the rougher neighborhoods that Maceió has to offer (the crazy thing is, the people who live in these neighborhoods all dress nicely to go to work in the touristy areas, also, all the women in Brazil wear high heels). We told the buss driver where we were going and they let us off where they said was really close. It just turned out to be about six blocks to far. Anyway, we had a nice little adventure figuring out where our hotel was, and eventually got there around 8:00 am. Just in time to hit up the breakfast buffet and chill with teammates. Meanwhile Trevor and Tyler walked the 4 additional blocks to their hotel, which turned out to be right across from the arena fields.

Okay, so that's the journey down. I'll try to get a post up about the pre tournament activities and the opening ceremony soon.

* I guess if you've also read my Road Trip posts you must think that I get really excited about any travel playlist I put together. This is partially true, I'm always excited about it right after I make it, but they don't always stand the test of time. In retrospect I really like the 1st, 2nd, and 5th I-5 playlists I made, and so far I'm still into my Brazil playlist. I could get into this whole thing more, but I really need to just organize my thoughts and devote a whole post to long playlists.

Quick Update (and thoughts on tonights Warriors game)

I've been plaining posting about Music, what I'm listening to and the art of making playlists (one of my favorite thing), but it's taking longer than I would like to motivate myself to write it. So, to at least get myself writing, here's a quick update about my ultimate life.

My club season hangover has finally worn off and I'm really feeling college disc again. We had a great practice last weekend and I finally felt comfortable as a teammate. Now it looks like I might be moving to O instead of staying with the D line. O has the potential to be a ton of fun, but I think it takes more chemistry than D does, or, more accurately, the chemistry O requires is harder to build. Also, it's easier to heckle as a D player than as an O player (calling your teammates brutes just isn't as fun as calling them prima-donnas). Either way I'll be happy, I just want to figure out my role soon.

In other news, I've also started a regimented workout, finally. Starting last week I've been working out before climbing on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Basically, I'm doing a winter workout day two, except climbing for an hour or two between the jumps and the core. It's pretty fun, and it's getting my ass in (better) shape before Brazil.

EDIT (this doesn't warrant a full post, but I want to put is somewhere, so here it goes): The Warriors win tonight was so awesome. If you don't know, the Warriors beet the Kings tonight 103-96, despite shooting 8-31 from three and having each of the teams three captains pick up a technical foul. In any of the seasons since I've been a Warriors fan, including last season, this would have turned into a big loss somewhere in the 2nd half, probably when either Baron or Jax picked up their tech. Basically, I was expecting them to loose because the Warriors have never really known how to win before, they've just been mentally week. That was also true of this team early in the season, but it's all changed since Stephen Jackson came back from suspention. The Warriors now have a swagger and mental toughness to them that's just a joy to watch. Seeing Jackson make back to back triples when the team had only made 6 of 29 to that point really drove it home that this year's Warriors team expects to and knows how to win. Also, the Warriors' D in the 4th was inspired and this is the first time I've seem them both be a high scoring team, and a good defensive team. Anyway, I'm trying not to get to excited about this recent spurt, because every team has it's ups and downs, but, needles to say, I'm really hyped on this year's team. GO WARRIORS!

State of the Blog

Moving from the club season to the college season, I find that it's harder to write about my team. With Family Style, I knew most, if not all, of my readers were not my opponents, and I feel like writing about club ultimate is not as personal. If I was with the Braineaters, I think I'd feel better about writing about the college season; but as a player on a new team, I don't feel like it fits my role to keep a blog about our play. I might still write about how I played, and I'll probably give a mid season report and such, but if I write about ultimate, it'll usually be about how Claremont gets no respect (well, I'm learning they get a little bit of respect, but I still say not enough!).

I can say I really like the Slugs. I'm finding a role I enjoy (even if I go back to being around the disc) and I'm having lots of fun. There might not be a week long trip to Mexico for fish tacos, Pacifico and a lac of working out right before the series, but it's still fun. I'll also say it's different not being in a leadership role on a college team, but I like being one of the players. I like getting to hear what everyone has to say about the captains, and I like not running practices. I also like having enough committed people and field space for separate A team and B team practices.

So I guess my Blog won't be as much about college ultimate as I initially anticipated it might be, but I will write about things like Lei-Out, Beach Worlds and club tryouts. Also, I've found I just enjoy writing, so it might be hard to resist the everyday life non-ultimate sort of things.

Life Update (Roadtrip: Visual Key)

Luckily for Robin, Miles, David, and I disposable cameras still exist. None of us are the I take my camera everywhere type, so being able to buy disposable cameras was essential to us chronicling our adventure. I didn't know that Robin was going to be so on top of things in this regard, but I am very happy it turned out that way. The following is a brief trip through our road trip:

The gas station where Miles paid $40 for $20 in gas:



The alleged thieves:
Miles and Robin at the first night's party:


Fatso and Robin:


The morning after at Fatso's (really, check the size of those calzones):


Our trip to the mountains (David, Robin, me, Miles, and Matt):

Matt's birthday party:

The trip home:

If you want more pictures, you should friend Robin on facebook and check it out.

Life Update (Road Trip Recap Pt. III)

Wow, so I got distracted by Scrubs and by real life. Well, back to the trip. We got to Matt's in Santa Fe around 7:30 P.M. MDT time after leaving Claremont around 6:15 A.M. PDT. Instead of feeling drained from a long day of driving we were all energized by the prospect of crazy parties and new people. When we got to Matt's we were greeted with some delicious bbq steak (first meal since Del Taco in Flagstaff) and some new faces. We met Matt's housemates, Rainer and Emily, along with some of his New Mexico homies, Amber and Katie. After eating it came to our attention that the party we were going to had some cover, $5 if you had a costume and $10 otherwise. As such, we went scouring through Matt's house for what to wear. Robin wound up with a gold shinny sweater and a pink boa, Miles got a female African ensemble going on, and I found a pick, a tie dye shirt, and two headbands. Everyone threw their costumes on and we all headed off to the party (after buying another disposable camera, thankfully).

The party was pretty sweet, the garage was set up for root (like almost every other college-house garage), the living room was clear for a dance floor, and there were three kegs in the back yard. What I didn't expect was how much the altitude would affect my tolerance (Robin also didn't see this coming, usually he's a tank, but he actually puked, although it was after two consecutive beer bongs). At the party I learned that one of Matt's friends had 5 visitors from Colorado, so Matt had a reel full house that night.

The next morning (around noon) we all went to a place called Fatso's for some ridiculously large portions of food and general hangover recovery. It wasn't until we drove around Santa Fe a little bit on Saturday that I really got a feel for the place. I realized on Friday that most of the people seemed strait out of the 90s, but Saturday I found that the place reminds me a lot of Beck, The Pixies, and Techno, so I guess, by association, lots of drugs. Santa Fe has this crazy combination of altitude, desert, and standardized architecture that all adds up to a drugged out feeling, like it couldn't make sense unless you were from there or were on drugs (or a crazy road trip, it was kind of the ideal place to find as a destination). I can't say my conclusions about the kind of place Santa Fe is were hurt by Matt's particular group of friends, but I still think it's a crazy environment.

Anyway, my conception of the craziness of New Mexico would only increase from this point. Later that afternoon we went up into the mountains to have a wilderness experience. We went up into the Aspens. It was sweet because I'd never been in a deciduous forest before. The idea that all of those Aspens share a root system was kind of too much for me to handle. We were only able to spend about an hour up there before we had to go back into town to set up for a house party at Matt's.

Man, Matt's house party was huge, we went through 2 handles of vodka, three 30 racks, and a 24 pack. Not to mention it was byob. There was a root room, an outdoor area, a smoking/lounging room, and a dance floor. A good time was had by all, and I think Matt had a great birthday party.

So, all the out-of-towners crashed at Matt's that night, but the Colorado kids left around 6:45 am so the morning had an exceptionally empty feeling. That next day flew by, we got some breakfast at a sweet local spot, we then cleaned some, watched the brains doc (shy gave it to me in Claremont and I was too stoked on it to wait), then went onto campus to see a crazy 25 piece alt-rocky band (think Weezer + Phil Spector, I guess). Matt then gave us a quick tour of his crazy campus (old military combined with art school combined with Santa Fe architecture), then we were out.

The ride back was went by surprisingly quickly, well, considering we drove pretty much strait through to Berkeley. We left Santa Fe around 5 pm MDT with me taking the first and Robin manning the tunes. I don't think I fully understood the magnitude of the drive we were leaving on. We were to have about 19 hours of drive time with only Robin and I able to take shifts driving (Miles was clearly not an option and I wanted to give David the chance to get some sleep before he had to drive from Claremont to San Diego at 4 am). This sort of deal may be common place to some of you cross country travelers, but I don't think anyone in their right mind does it leaving at 5 at night. So, I drove the first 6 hours from Santa Fe to Flagstaff, we had one stop for gas that somehow took over a half hour because Miles was looking for a cigarette to ac adapter so David could write a paper. Well, we eventually got out of there and made it to Flagstaff and back to the Del Taco.

The Del Taco wasn't exactly what we were looking forward to in Arizona. The real prize of making it back to the same gas station was the nick-nacks. Robin and David both got gifts for the girl friends, and miles bought like 4 shot glasses, but all that paled in comparison to the big purchase, a bull skull. That's right, a Georgia O'keefe status (but without a vagina like rose), bull skull. Well, David, Miles, and Robin went in three ways on the skull than guessed who was closer to a number from 1 to 100 that the gas station attendant chose to see who would get the prize. David won, and I hope it's chillin' on his wall in SD. With the skull ordeal out of the way Robin took over driving and I rode shotgun. Robin got us all the way to Barstow, before we had to stop for gas again (we didn't stop in NEEDLES!, and instead chose to drive on in hopes for more reasonable [$3.60 a gallon?] prices). Well, it was Miles's turn to rock the gas, so he put down the $18 he had left to his name (true story, maybe he shouldn't have spent like $40 in Flagstaff on a bull skull he didn't win and 4 shot glasses, but I guess that's Miles for ya). Anyway, I took over driving again due to familiarity with the LA area and such. We continued into Claremont and got there at 4 am.

We had a couple of missions to accomplish while in Claremont. First of, we had to get the original party cam (disposable camera 1) from 'Shwa's room in north quad CMC, and we wanted to score some adderall so Miles and Robin could stay awake for the drive. So, I parked by ducey so Miles and Robin would have a strait shot back from Josh's. Well, somehow, they didn't make the connection of where the room was in relation to the car and they took like a half hour to get the camera. I had no luck finding any adderall for them, and decided I wanted some Carl's, unfortunately I also decided that I would wait for them to get back first. As such, we had no time to get food and instead had to just refuel and leave (luckily Miles still had a couple of energy drinks to compliment the 2 1L Mountain Dues I had from Barstow, and the Fritos I was getting). Well, Miles put down both the energy drinks before we got on the highway, and we were off.

This last stretch of driving I did was the most taxing I've ever done. I went from about 4:45 to 7:00 (2 to 7 if you count from Barstow) and I hadn't slept since 11:30 the previous morning. Luckily for all of us, I stayed awake the whole time, although the last 20 min were getting dicy seeing as Robin was asleep in the back and Miles managed to dose off while ridding shotgun. Anyway, I pulled over on some random road north of Harris Ranch and let Robin take over the driving on his massive 2 hrs of sleep. He got us back to Berkeley at 10:30 am in one piece and got that great relief of being home. Miles and I took quick 1 hr naps and got back on the road to drive down to SC. Feeling rejuvenated, but knowing I couldn't eat on pain of falling fast asleep, we made it back to Miles's in about 90 min, he gathered his things and I made the final 20 min trek back home.

Somehow, we all made it back without harm, and I made it home safely. I was also able to stay up until like 7 pm allowing me to not completely fuck up my sleep cycle (I slept until 9 the next day, which is like really early for me). Well, I guess that's the tale of my grand road trip. I should probably have some final thoughts and such, but I'll save those for the next road trip post, a kind of wrap up // picture guide post (thank god for disposable cameras).

So, that's it for now kids. Maybe the next post will be more road tripin' maybe it'll be recapping Sean Ryan, maybe I will get caught up in TV and life and not post for far to long. However it turns out, writing this has been fun; I hope you liked it.

Life Update (Road Trip Recap Pt. II)

The second long drive was much weirder and harder than the first. For one, nobody in a car slept more than like 4 hours, with Miles sleeping 4, Robin and David sleeping 2 and myself sleeping 30 min. Still, we were all surprisingly sober, apparently the concept of a 12 hour drive will sober you up when you've stayed out late drinking and partying (getting late night Carl's also helped). So, we were supposed to leave Claremont at 6 in the morning, and as such I left Never Land at about 5:40 and got to the car at about 5:50. Being the impatient type, and wanting to save some time I went to fill up on gas and buy some personal driving fuel. Seeing as this wasn't an all night drive we were about to embark on I decided on a 1L bottle of Coke instead of ramping all the way up to the Dew. I got back to the parking lot at about 6:05 to find Robin, Miles, and to my surprise David, waiting for me. Initially Thomas a.k.a. 'Jenga' was considering joining us, but that would have been 6 strain driving weekends for him (fall break, road trip, UCLA tournament, Sean Ryan, SoCal Warmup, something else) so he decided against it. Well, David is a free spirit and an awesome guy who realized that the San Diego wild fires afforded him a great opportunity for a sweet life experience (reading On the Road and writing a paper about the mystique of the road couldn't have hurt either). Robin, Miles, and David all got in the car, we then made a quick stop by David's car so he could get some things, then we hit the road at about 6:15.

I took the first driving shift because it was my car and I couldn't have slept with someone with less than 4 hours of sleep that was not me driving it (unless that person was Shaggy with a 2L of Mountain Due or an appropriate amount of physics homework and coffee). Robin took shotgun with the responsibility of staying awake and choosing the music seeing as none of us undertook the task of making a 12 hr playlist. Luckily for me, Robin had his laptop and thus a sweet assortment of music that I don't have. His musical choices combined with the post apocalyptic feel of the early morning I-15 were enough to easily keep me awake.

There were already a ton of cars on the road when we started our drive. False dawn came around 6:45, bringing with it a red haze through all the smoke that had drifted north with the wind along I-15. The early morning traffic (well, the flow was between 60 and 80 mph at all times) combined with the red haze and the still visible moon gave the drive a Mad Max sort of feel that really tripped David, Robin and I out in our sleep-deprived states. Unfortunately for Miles, he slept like a rock and never got to see the smoke, even though that was a big goal of his for the trip (he had even suggested that we take a detour to see the flames if it wouldn't take to long, in fact, on the way down he was almost insisting that we do so seeing as the flames were visible from the 5 and we were on it, but we got off at the 210 instead of driving through LA just to see the fucking fires).

We got off the 15 on the north side of Barstow and got on I-40, which apparently connects Wilmington, NC to, um, Barstow. When we got on the 40 we were greeted with a sign saying Needles 144 miles, Washington D.C. 2,556 miles. Somehow we decided that this meant needles was a very important destination, and that yelling NEEDLES! anytime we saw a sign for the place was a very funny and entertaining action. Well, it seemed logical that we should fill up in Needles because we'd be be at about a half tank then and we didn't want to spend a ton of money each time it was your turn to fill up (I couldn't convince everyone that we should go till just about empty then play credit card roulette for who pays). Little did we know that Needles is such an important destination that gas costs $3.70 a gallon there (luckily for me I payed for gas in Claremont and wasn't hit with the bill in NEEDLES!)

I traded off driving to Robin in Needles and decided to play captain iPod for a while. After about an hour of this we went to instrumentals and started freestyling, basically, we all sucked compared to Robin, but we all improved greatly during our first forte into freestyling on the roadtrip (except maybe Miles, he's kind of special when freestyling). I think my favorite part of freestyling was trying to get Miles to rhyme. Inevitably, when he did, he'd try and rap about Man Ferns, but he couldn't mess up without being to self conscious. I really liked "Man Fern, yeah, Man Fern, man fern, uh, man fern, fuck." as a rap. Anyway, the hours flew by and Robin drove until we got to Flagstaff, at which point I (unwisely) took over again.

After about a half hour of driving I realized I was far to tiered to drive, and that I should pass the torch again. Well, I started driving again for two reasons, first, Robin is a really good driver, he's just not that fast of a driver, and I wanted to get to Santa Fe pretty quickly, second, Miles is a crazy sob when it comes to driving, I am often legitimately scared when I'm in a car and he's behind the wheel. Somehow, in my drowsy state I forgot that I was so hesitant to let Miles drive. When I pulled over to hand over the driving responsibilities I foolishly let Miles drive thinking I'd just nap in the back and not get scared/stressed. Well, I should of known that this was a bad plan when Miles got up to 120 mph just getting back onto the highway. I was about to fall asleep when I heard my car fucking roaring so I looked up at the speedometer from the back seat and saw a new speed record for my car. I was like "what the fuck Miles, you're going 120!" He was like "oh my god, sorry, I was looking at the other meter and was wondering why I was going only 40." "Well, just slow the fuck down" I said. Miles responded "Okay, don't worry." Needless to say, I didn't sleep to well.

Eventually Miles's horrible driving lead me to become very aware and awake. I had him pull over at the first gas station and we switched back for driving duties. At this gas stop we lost all of the time that Miles's craziness might have gained us because he paid to put $20 in the tank then never actually did because he assumed one of us would pump the gas even though he didn't tell us he'd paid the $20. Anyway, we got back on the road and I noticed that we were still at half a tank so we turned around and had to go back to the gas station. This time we filled up with no hitch and were on our way. Thankfully that was our last stop before we finally got to Santa Fe. Wow, that took a while, still, I'll try and write about the weekend and the trip back for later tonight.

Life Update (Road Trip Recap Pt. I)

So, before Wednesday the 24th of October I'd never really been on a road trip. This past summer I took a NW trip, that took me to Seattle for Potlatch and the 4th, then backpacking with Alison and her friends, then finally to Vancouver, WA to visit my brother and his family. It was a sweet 2 week trip, but there was far to much hanging out time compared to driving time, and there was no crazy all night drives. Well, two weeks ago I took a real road trip.

The seeds of my trip were planted last summer when Miles promised Matt he'd find a way to visit him in Santa Fe this semester. This promise developed into the idea of Miles and I road-tripping down to visit Matt for his birthday. We then combined this idea with visiting friends in Claremont and vwala, a road trip was born.

Still, the magnitude of the trip was not yet clear to me. The unpredictability of a trip with Miles was exciting, but when Robin decided to join us I was elated. Robin really knows how to party, and having a second competent driver was a relieving prospect (I'll get back to this point).

Our initial plan was to leave Santa Cruz the morning of Tuesday the 23rd and stay at USC with Miles's high school friend Hans. In order to add Robin to our trip roster, we had to scrap this plan and instead postpone leaving until Wednesday. It was disappointing we couldn't visit Hans, but it was nice that we would have another travel partner, and we'd cut down on the total trip time and money spent. So, we scraped this plan and came up with a new schedule.

Our schedule became leave Santa Cruz in time to pick up Robin at 12:00 on Wednesday. Drive to Claremeont, and stay there Wednesday night and all day Thursday. Party Thursday night and leave Claremont for Santa Fe at 6 a.m. Friday morning. Arrive in Santa Fe in time for dinner and a Friday night party. Chill Saturday, then hit up Matt's birthday party Saturday night. And finally, recover on Sunday and leave at 5 p.m. so we could get back to Berkeley by noon Monday when Robin had an office hours appointment with a professor. It was a tight schedule and looked like one of a real road trip.

So, Wednesday came and we were on our way. I picked up Miles in town at 10:15, we then proceeded to Mountain View so Miles could sell some comics and get money for the trip. From there we went on the B-town to pick up Robin. After picking up Robin we got some gas, a disposable camera, and Miles donated $5 to breast cancer so he could get a plastic pot for a Man Fern. (Okay, quick sidebar, Miles really wanted to get a Man Fern for Matt as a house warming gift. He was planing on digging one up while in SC, but never got to it. As such, he was on constant lookout while we were on the road in case he spotted one and we could dig it up and take it to Matt. Anyway, the quest for a Man Fern was a constant subplot for our trip).

Our drive down to C-mont was painless and quick. I feel like a pro making this drive by now, it flies by. Also, I made a new I-5 playlist for this one, 6 sweet hours of hip-hop, old school, and dance music. We got into Claremont around 7 and split up. Miles and Robin went down to CMC to figure out where they would stay that night while I went to find Shy and chill out for the evening. My Wednesday night was chill, Shy and I went and got some brew at Vons then proceeded to watch footage from club regionals and last year's Brains doc. Jay came to join us for the footage watching, then we all went to the Mudd Hole. Over all a chill night, and what I was looking for.

My experience was far from what Robin found at CMC. From what I gathered, Robin was trying to avoid ending up in an ex's sweet/bed and wound up falling asleep on the CMC baseball field. He then encountered camp sec and went to the apartments, winding up on the couch of said ex. Well, he claims it was a positive experience because he wound up with home cooked muffins in the morning.

My Thursday was pretty mellow and real sweet. I got some China Star with Case and the Markstein brothers (unbeknownst to me, Miles' younger brother David joined us in Claremont, he's a UCSD student and didn't have classes because of the wild fires). Then I had my fantasy draft with Jay, and finally I went to Braineaters practice. Honestly, I was nervous that Weston would just shut me down, and I wouldn't be able to get open, but luckily I had success cutting. Still, Wes is clearly improved as a defender, and got a pretty nice lay out D on a dump cut I made (I wasn't expecting the throw because I was setting up another cut, but yeah, excuses are the nails that built the house of failure). Anyway, after practice I hit up dinner with the team, then went to chill with the NL kids. I wound up taking a bunch of stuff from the Mudd network before heading down to CMC to drink and live it up. I managed to have a pretty mellow Thursday night, playing some root, hitting up a little dance sesh, then a TNC after party before going back to Mudd and getting some Carl's. I wound up sleeping about a half hour before having to leave at 6 a.m. and start the second and more epic leg of our journey.

Part two coming soon (hopefully late tonight).

Food Poisoning

I would have finished my road trip post for tonight, but I've been feeling horrible since I got home from climbing (honestly, I wasn't feeling that great at the gym, but I still got a 10.d and an 11 in there). Well, I guess tonight was a right of passage for me, my first bout with fo0d poisoning. Anyway, I have a busy weekend of ultimate ahead of me, so I might be a while with the road trip post.

NBA Western Conference Preview

Okay, so I said I wanted to white about basketball at the beginning of this whole blog ordeal, and with the season starting tonight, I figured it's about time. Since I've always lived out west, and I've always intended on doing so (I only applied to schools in Washington, Oregon, and California), I figured writing about the western conference would be appropriate. (Last year I could have made some jokes about the JV-ness of the eastern conference, but they're starting to be legit, even if the 3 or 4 best teams are in the west, which will be true this year)

Anyway, on to the preview.

This year there are five clear tears of teams in the west. Now, I'm not as clever as The Sports Guy, so I won't have really clever names for the devisions, but I still think tears is the best way to think of the west.

The Favorites:
1. Phoenix
2. San Antonio

San Antonio and Phoenix are more consistent, playoff tested, and confident than all the other teams in the NBA. Now, I think Phoenix would have won it all last year if not for the suspensions, and Tim Donaghy (the NBA has done well to keep that he reffed game three quiet). With all that said, the Spurs are the defending chaps, and have won 4 of 9. For all intents and purposes, who wins in a series of these two teams is a coin flip, so, because the Spurs never win back to back titles, I'm going with the Suns. Also, I love the addition of Grant Hill in Phoenix. He'll take some ball handling pressure off of Nash (something that hasn't been done since Joe Johnson left), and fill the role that the Suns were hoping Penny would a few years back. This will lead to a more rested Nash for the playoffs, and a title for the Suns.

The Playoff Shoo-ins
3. Houston

Houston may never win a playoff series, but I think as long as Yao and Tmac are healthy the Rockets are the third best team in the NBA. By switching coaches from Jeff Van Gundy to Rick Adelman the Rockets will get a lot better offensivly, and it's not like they're going to forget how to play D (defense is an easier thing to have players motivate than offense).

4. Dallas

Last year's regular season champs haven't changed much, I just think they're not that great through a series. I think they're nice, I just don't see them making the conference finals (unless they get the one seed, then they have a chance, but I still think they'd loose to the 4 seed).

5. Utah

I don't think Jerry Sloan will let these guys get too hyped about last years success. In fact, I'll be surprised if the Jazz don't work even harder this year. As much of a distraction as AK47 might prove to be (the only way he'll be less of one if his wife ups the per year allowance to like 20), Deron williams will make up for it with an all star season. Also, Calos Boozer is a monster, and will average 25 and 11.

6. Denver

Where's the D? Sure AI and Mellow are nice, but neither can play real D (AI plays fantasy basketball D getting you steals even though he can't stop anyone). They'll score a lot, but they can't beat anyone in the playoffs.

The Race for 8th (well, 7th also)
7. Golden State

I'm a homer, but I also think the Wariors are improved over last year's addition. Loosing J-Rich will hurt, but having the Indiana guys all season will help more. Also, I like the additions from the draft, and I think the young guys improved well. Basically, I don't think there's any way that Baron will let these guys miss the playoffs. Last note, the Pistons have officially handed over the title of hardest team in the NBA to Golden State.

8. New Orleans

Chris Paul is a baller. Now, if these guys stay healthy they should make a real strong push for the playoffs. Also, look for Peja to step up.

9. LA Lakers

There out. Out of the playoffs, and out of sorts. Kobe will get you to #9 alone, but not much further. Kobe has no help, and there's to much disfunction in Laker land. I think this is the last year the Lakers will be in the playoff hunt, and that they'll go into rebuilding mode after this year.

Now, being a long standing Warriors fan, I have developed the ability to easily talk myself into a team's prospects. So, I might have an overly optimistic about cellar dwellers. Still, I think the NBA is in a good place talent wise and that makes a lot of teams dangerous to break through.

One piece away:
10. Memphis
11. LA Clippers

Both of these teams were recently in the playoffs, and have great big men. The Clippers are out for this year because of injury, but they'll be back in a big way if they get a high draft pick. I think Memphis will be alright this year, but any team counting on Mike Miller can't be that great. I think the Grizz are one good perimeter player away from being in the playoff hunt. Also, Pau is real underrated.

Headed in the Right Direction
12. Portland
13. Seattle

Both of these franchises are headed in the right direction personnel wise, unfortunately the Sonics are also headed to the Mid West. Still, getting a nice draft pick this year, along with being well under the cap makes both of these franchises futures bright. Still, I worry about the durability of the Blazers players.

No end in sight:
14. Minnesota
15. Sacramento

Minnesota is counting on the worst GM in the league to rebuild, and the Kings are right where the Warriors were seven years ago (honestly, it looks really similar). I feel sorry for the fans of both of these teams.


Okay, that was my first attempt at writing about basketball, it was fun, expect some more. Also, coming soon, Road Trip Recap.

Peace.

Open Nationals Preview

So, I'm going to go ahead and give away my Claremont Club Nationals Office Pool (CCNOP) picks, but I don't think that'll hurt my chances as I've never won the thing (Prude, do I still have to email you these picks? If I do, I might just email you this post). Anyway, on to a pool by pool breakdown (kind of like what was done on other blogs).

Pool A:
Jam: You all know what I think of this team by now. Anyway, they should win this pool handily. The other teams here like to huck, and that plays into Jam's strengths on D seeing as their shortest player is 5'10''. Also, I don't see this veteran team faltering early. Watch out for a lot of D's from Bogle and a lot of hucks from a loose team on Thursday.

GOAT: The big question here is will they be able to peek twice in one season. So far the evidence suggests yes. I don't know too much about these guys, but it seems like they play hard D and huck a lot. Well, that's a fine game plan for getting to the show, but without discipline you won't make it far in such a deep nationals. Whether or not they make the power pools, I see this team loosing in pre-quarters. If the wind is calm in Sarasota their game against ring on Thursday should be immensely entertaining.

Ring: They've had some strong results this year, and are always a threat to get hot and go as far as semis. Personally, I don't see that for them this year, but I do think their nationals experience will serve them well. This team seems similar to GOAT, just with more history and slightly crazier D. More hucks will be thrown in pool A than in any other pool.

The Van Buren Boys: Great name. Well, the first time since '04 a non SoCal team will be last at nationals, there's a 50% chance it'll be these guys

Thursday records: Jam 3-0, GOAT 1-2, Ring 2-1, VBB 0-3

Pool B:
Sockeye: I can't really see these guys slipping early, and I don't think they're ripe for an upset either of the first two days. Already having a loss to Boston this season should motivate them enough to really get up for the last game of the day, and I think it's apparent that Rhino doesn't match up well with the Fish. After an ugly semi with Furious and NW regionals expect the offense to be polished and less urgent. As far as their starts go, I think the secret is out about how good C-K is, but I think people are still over looking MC, the dude is uncoverable and has great puts, he's also deceptively 6'2'' with ups, no wonder he's always open under. Last bit, Nord and Chase haven't been spectacular thus far this year, but I think they'll bring it for the nationals highlight real.

Boston Ultimate: They got a lot younger, meaning they're more athletic, but slightly less disciplined. Interestingly, I think that taking more risks will help these guys. Still, what will hurt them is looking a little past Rhino and gunning for another upset of Sockeye. I think Boston has more depth than Rhino, but the portland guys are real good at the top, and they can get off to great starts. In the end, Boston vs. Rhino should be a great game to watch. When playing against Boston, watch out for Steve putting huge lefty flicks to Gibson (hopefully), and in reality, watch for lots of Ds from Seigs.

Rhino: Lots of confidence and skill, not much discipline, lots of crazy. I think all that adds up to Rhino taking teams by surprise early, along with the ability to implode. Personally, I don't see them imploding on Thursday. In fact, I think they'll go big early against Boston, then the east coasters will get back in it late, but it won't be enough. The biggest thing when playing Rhino is that they always want to move the disc, so you can never let up. Also a big help, they're captained by a man with two last names, just check #44 on the score reporter.

Pike: Lots of good nationals experience, but not that much experience being to go to guy at nationals. It'll be a tough first two days for Pike. Chance of being last at nationals, 40%.

Thursday records: Sockeye 3-0, Boston 1-2, Rhino 2-1, Pike 0-3

Pool C:
Johnny Bravo: Sure there are some injuries, but there is still some Parker, Richter, and Beau. Also, they won't be happy with how they played at regionals, and this will lead to them crushing early at nationals. Remember when UCSB beet Mamabird at regionals? Yeah, the guys from Boulder went on to win it all that year. Look for more of that crushing sort of play this year. Also, they were in the finals of Labor Day without Richter, who will be in full effect this year, kind of like in last years semis.

Condors: Lots of talent and desire in these guys, but there is also the potential for an emotional let down leading up to and after a big game. They have some great wins this year, but not too many great tournament finishes. Look for them to get up for the JBVO game, but also look too much past the boys form Texas. The youth movement in SB is a good thing for the program, but I think it's fruits won't show up for another couple of years. Look for them to build on this year in years to come, and also look out for them stealing college players from LA, not just club guys.

Doublewide: Tuff++. Lots os speed and discipline. Also, they do a good job throwing away passes instead of bombs. I don't know too much else about these guys except that they're great off the field, and two current Claremont guys would love to play with this team some day. Still, making Semis at labor day and beating a staked Chain team at regionals shows there not to be looked past.

Machine: They've always had the team speed, and gaining Cash from Revolver will help with the experience. Still, putting taller guys on their short handlers hurts them. Still, they did make last year's pre-q's, and they don't give up the disc easy. In the wind, these guys are real ruff (funny they're from the windy city, ehh?).

Thursday records: Bravo 3-0, Condors 1-2, Double Wide 1-2, Machine 1-2. Bravo and Condors move up, Machine and Doublewide move down.

Pool D:
Furious: They bring it in the fall every year. Last year they were able to take the NW region without Shank and regionals, but they had more star power then. Still, this year they made the finals of NW regionals without Mike Grant, even though they don't have Al Bob andymore. Look for Oscar to step up big time this year and expect a typical thursday performance from FG.

Sub Zero: They're tall, young and fast. They'll play harder D than any other team, and they'll take their shots on the D line. The big problem is the O. If their O can get off the field quickly Sub Zero has a great chance (I almost wrote "If they can keep the D on the field" but that's the most obvious shit ever). Anyway, the D will do well, but the O is the question mark.

Truck Stop: It's sweet they managed to get a three seed in a pool. It sucks balls that Chain is the 4 seed in their pool. They're young and a sweet group of dudes. Still, I don't think they have great chances in this pool. Unfortunately, it'll be bottom brackets again for TSGH.

Chain: They're loaded with talent, and they play great D, the problem is the HnH. It went well last year, but they loosed to a more disciplined team at regionals. Maybe adding Zip will help, but I think adding Asa next year will help more. Like SZ, if their O can get off the field quickly, they're in good shape. Wind will help them because it will cause them to have more patience.

Thursday records: Furious 3-0, SZ 1-2, Truck Stop 0-3, Chain 2-1

Now for the power pools, this is where I differentiate myself from those other slacker blog. I promise, this will be shorter.

Land of awesome pools:
Pool E: Jam 3-0, Bravo 2-1, Condors 1-2, Ring 0-3

Pool F: Sockeye 3-0, Furious 2-1, Chain 1-2, Rhino 0-3
The only note here, this is really hard to pick.

Douche-land pools:
Pool G: GOAT 2-1, Doublewide 3-0, Machine 1-2, The VBB 0-3

Pool H: Boston 2-1, SZ 3-0, Truck Stop 1-2, Pike 0-3
Note: Pool H is stronger than pool G, even if you switch Boston for Rhino, or SZ for Chain.

Pre Quarters: Rhino over Doublewide and SZ over Ring

Which gives us Jam vs Rhino, Furious vs Condors, Sockeye vs SZ, and Bravo vs. Chain in the quarters.

Okay, Semis: Jam vs Furious, Sockeye vs Bravo (Note, I think Chain is the other top 5 team)

Finals: Jam vs. Sockeye

Winner, and you all saw this coming, Jam.

Still, here's the most important part: Condors beat Rhino for the strength bid, fuck.

Notes on my picks: I'm a homer, I like the NW teams most of the time and I think Rhino is better than GOAT and Ring. Having three of the top 8 teams in pool D makes the power pools kind of wacky. Also, I really wanted to not have Furious in the Semis, but their road seems perfect.

That's all I got for now. Peace.

Corporate Sponsorship

Lately I've found myself really interested in the business side of disc, like how companies like 5ultaimte are run, or what Skip is doing with cultimate, or what the budget for Potlatch looks like. Well, what's interested me the most has been team sponsorships. On some team websites you can find their sponsors, but I've always wondered why you can't find these sponsors on the team jerseys (like in Soccer). Interestingly, teams started having non-apparel company sponsorships more this year.

For years Furious has been sponsored by Gaia, while Sockeye and The Condors have been sponsored by Patagonia. Well, this year Sockeye also picked up a sponsorship (and logo) from Cliff Bar, while Riot has some local Seattle businesses (I think they might have for a few years now though). Anyway, other lesser known teams are also getting sponsorships. Shadrach, the second Seattle mixed team, has a Crocks sponsorship with the logo on the sleeve of their jersey, and Contra, a bay area open team, has a sponsorship from greenoptions.com with adds on both their shorts and their jerseys (in these last two cases, a company employee was a member of the team).

There is also a trend of getting tournaments sponsored by companies. Sandblast and Lei-out come to mind first. I think this can easily evolve into having banners around the showcase field, much like there are banners around soccer fields. I think this is more effective than advertising on jerseys, and that the larger "fun" tournaments will all be doing this within three years (I hear plans are being made to test the exposure companies would gain from these sorts of banners through tournament dvds and such).

Does this all add up to ultimate now being considered a legit sport? No. Does it help? Yes. But what it really means is that ultimate is big enough to have its players be a legitimate marketing target. These jersey adds won't be seen by most of the general public, and they aren't reaching out to spectators, instead their main target is the opposing teams' players. Because other ultimate players are the only possible targets (at this point), I think it'll be a while before you see a Pirelli add across the front of a Chain jersey. Instead, we'll probably see more teams with adds from companies that think ultimate players would be interested in their products. If I were leading a team, I'd look into getting sponsorships from camping/backpacking companies (cross over market?), energy bar companies, and sports drinks.

I guess the final question this raises is, is advertising and sponsorship good for the sport? I think the answer is yes. First, and financial burden that can be taken off of the players is a plus. And second, having corporate sponsors for the larger established teams and tournaments could lead to the UPA being able to spend less of its own money on naties, and more on events attended by your average player (sectionals, league). Anyway, I think sponsorship is a good thing, but I don't think it will cause ultimate to become any less of a niche (it'll just be a growing niche with some corporate sponsors).

Regionals Recap

Regionals Recap

So, we didn't make nationals. I really thought we had a chance, and when we took half on the Flycoons 8-7 in incredibly windy conditions, I really thought we were going to make it. All the way through 10-10 I thought we were going to be in the game-to-go, but when they took that up winder to make it 11-10 the wind came out of our sails. Anyway, the end of our season (in terms of contention) was loosing to the Flycoons, who I think will make at least the pre-quarters, not that bad.

Now, game by game recap:


Game 1: Dr. Si (Chico guys, UO girls)

Well, this team was the 16 seed, and their best guy was drinking a beer by the second half What i remember: they had only 2 girls to start the game so they had to play one down, Maggie benched herself because she didn't see the point in taking up playing time, we won 15-4.


Game 2: The Horde

We finished our game early and had a lot of rest time, but we also didn't really play our top game against Dr. Si. The Horde on the other hand, had just played their hardest against Shazam and were warmed up and ready to go. First point we started on D going up wind. Their O was moving it pretty well until Courtny tried to throw a break side goal to my man off a dish. I got a big layout D and things looked good that we'd get the early break. Things looked good until I threw my first of 3 turns (two throwing, one catching) this game. On their next possession, Scotty got a sick layout block on a dump cut, bet again we weren't able to convert and they eventually scored. I don't remember the exact sequence of scores for the rest of the first half, I just remember going in on and O point, and having the iso get called for me. So, I'm out in the lane and my guy is backing me by about 5 yards. I shoulder fake deep, then start under, go back deep for about two steps, than under again for three, at this point he finally thinks he's forced me underneath and he bites. I then go deep and he falls over trying to keep up. Anyway, the huck goes up and I catch it about three yards short of the end zone and call a time out. After the TO, the iso doesn't get open because she slips in the rain, so I turn to the dump who is being face guarded really well, At about stall 9.5 I finally throw something and the guy gets a blind block (turn #2). Well shit. They convert, and wind up taking half like 8-6. We managed to battle back in the second half (no thanks to me, I dropped a potential up wind goal (turn #3), we wound up getting the disc back, and I caught the next one) and wind up taking the game and securing second in the pool.

My favorite part of this game was hanging out with Venus. I remember standing next to her at the end of the game watching, it was like standing with a teammate, whether or not we were rooting for the same outcome. That was cool.


Game 3: Shazam Returns

Going in to this one I think we all knew they were going to win. Anyway, I got to bate a fun layout D where a cut off a away pass, but it wasn't game changing and it was on an O point. They had a tough 4 person cup zone with a big man marking and three women as a wall. We tried the same, just with me marking instead of a big guy, not as effective, but really fun.

Highlights: Cassidy had a huge layout grab on a huck, he layed out around a guy and when he landed it looked like he had his arm bent the wrong way. Also in this game, Ayron had a 4 foot hi layout catch D (to show me up?), then, on the ensuing possession, he was behind Cassidy and reached around him (not in the air, just real quick) to snag a huck (to show up Cassidy?) then threw the goal.


Game 4: CTR

We came out slow, again, and they killed us with the long game. This team is one that doesn't give away the disc. The three players that hurt us most were Rob, Shasta, and Alan (Brains alum, who knew (Drew knew)). Well, they took half 8-4, then we brought the intensity with the zone and battled back to lead 11-10. Still, our O just wasn't clicking, and we game some points away. They wound up wining 15-13.

That was the end of day one. Loosing CTR put is in the 4th place bracket, meaning we'd have to win 4 strait on Sunday to make it to Florida. After loosing, I went to find Drew and plan our trip back to Seattle. Well, I found Drew playing against Nigh Train for the right to play us in the morning. To my pleasant surprise, Drew and Shadrach (sick team name btw) were wining, and I'd probably get to play against my old college captain the next morning. Well, it all worked out and Shadrach won. On the way back to Seattle, I went to dinner with Drew and his team to a brewery for some good eats, beer, and scouting.

Day 2 (Wind ball, not ultimate, basically, keep scores in terms if up-winders)
Game 1: Shadrach

in this one, we got the first up-winder, then came out with zone, and we just didn't have it, so they got it back. The most fun part here was guarding Drew any time he was on an up wind point, because I played almost all the down winders. Anyway, we score another up-wind point and wind 2-1.

Game 2: Flycoons

This game was the big test. The Flycoons were heavily favored to take the 4th spot from the NW, so if we won this one, the road was only going to get easier. Anyway, they came out strong and got the first up wind point (it was actually the first point, and they had no turns). From here, we trade down wind the rest of the first half, until we score up wind to take half 8-7. At this point, if we trade out, we win. Well, somehow, we got away from hard flick D and out marks became flatter when they were going up wind. Well, they manage to run an effective dominator against out flat marks, and score two more up-winders in the second half. Flycoons win 3-1 and end out season. I was pretty happy with the play of the team over all, and I think we gave the Flycoons a real tough game. They're a strong team, and i hope they do well at nationals.

After this one, we decide to play a consolation game against CTR so all the people who didn't get the play time they wanted could get out there and crush.

Game 3: CTR

Crush crush crush. We won 15-7, and all the people who hadn't been playing showed that they should have been. I sat this one out, preferring to reflect on the season then play consolation. Somehow, I don't have as much fun just playing when I don't think there's something on the line.

So, in the end we tied with The Horde for 6th, and I think that's about appropriate for our place in the region. Sure I would have loved to take that 4th spot, but in the end, I think our team played as well as could be expected giving or pension for not practicing.

There you have it, a 4-3 regionals, and two games short of nationals. Over all, a fun season, but I'm still looking forward to playing open.

Observer Thoughts and Regionals Preview

Being an observer is hard work. First, it's hard to just watch the cutters when the action is coming your way, it's just against your instincts of watching Ultiamte. Still, watching the cutters means you do get to learn some things about cutting (I got to spend a whole game watching Aaron Richards cut, that was educational). Second, when watching the thrower marker interactions, it's hard to watch for both fouls and travels, but it is doable as long as you maintain your concentration (remember, whenever you start to lose concentration is when they'll need you). Still, observing is worth it, and it's kind of fun. The last hard part is keeping your focus through observing four strait games on a hot and dry day.

After getting some experience, I think that only 'elite' level players should observe 'elite' level games. In my mind (and in the UPA observer manual), the real purpose of the observer is to keep the game moving while keeping it in the players hands. Basically, the observer should never be the focus of the game. Because of this, it is important that the observer is there for the benefit of the players, and not for themselves. It is my contention that non 'elite' level players are more likely to be at the games for their own exposure than 'elite' level players. Also, they are more likely to make it all about them by interjecting themselves into discussions when they're not needed or by wanting to give their ruling to soon. These desires come from a want to be seen as equal to the players on the field. This is just my theory, and I've seen it happen a few times. Still, when I saw things not being played out by the rules I did want to step in, but I think I did a good job of laying off. The biggest thing I learned is to go to the rule book quickly if you need to ( for those interested, the continuation rule is on page 28).

Okay, enough of that, it's Regionals time.

Going into regionals I feel better than I have all season. Honestly, I feel real fast. I've done three of the four sprint workouts I've ever done in the last two weeks, and it's made me feel fast (I don't care if it's a placebo effect or not, feeling fast will make me dig harder). I also think the team we have at regionals we be better than the team we had at sectionals. Having Daryl and Lean will be huge for us, not just on the field, but also in calling lines and making sure the team stays focused. Lastly, I'm excited to apply what I learned by watching top cutters at Open regionals.

As far as the bracketology goes, we have the hardest pool I could imagine. Sure, every pool has a team that qualified for nationals last year, but not every pool has that team as the three seed. Also, not every pool has the best (and most athletic) team in the country in their pool. Despite all this, no matter what seed we take in our pool, we have a good shot of making at least one game-to-go. I've thought we have a shot at making nationals for a while now, but now I'm starting to think we're going. I'm not buying plane tickets yet, but I am setting myself up to be devastated if we don't make it (luckily for me I'm staying in Seattle an extra day for recovery). I don't know the last time an 8 seed made nationals, but lets hope this is the next time. Also, I'm stoked that my friends will be out there heckling because I think I play better when people are watching.

That's all I got for tonight, but I'll write more Thursday after the first UCSC practice.

Peace.

A Collision and Some Random Thoughts

At sectionals last weekend I had a classic ultimate collision, the type people point at when they argue against co-ed (don't worry, there were no serious injuries). It was during a hell point in our seventh game of the weekend, right after we lost a close one to Night Train. Anyway, our team was playing poorly, and there were multiple hell points that game. During one such hell point I made an up line cut. Well, I was feeling good about the cut as soon as I started it; I had a lot of separation from my defender, and the throw was right next to me, moving about as fast as I was. Everything seemed great and I decided to milk the throw. About a second later I heard some steps so I caught it and turned my back to the oncoming defender.

I instantly had flashbacks of the Claremont vs. UW game from 06 when I got crushed in the same situation. Well, this collision was much different. When we hit I heard a high pitched scream, and instead of thinking about my UW experience, I started thinking about Stout's horror story about running into a poaching women in Spain. Well, the women I hit started freaking out and yelling for her inhaler. I also got really worried, until my defender put his hand on my shoulder and said "Don't worry, you did nothing wrong." It was really assuring, and somehow it turned the whole thing into a positive experience for me, and my understanding of co-ed.

At the same time, I heard one of the Cows say "That's co-ed ultimate." When I first heard this, I interpreted it as a "shit happens, but it's okay" sort of statement, but with some reflection, my interpretation is changing. I'm starting to see it as a critique of co-ed, and the potential it has for injury. Anyway, this whole event is making me think I don't want to play co-ed for too much longer. Still, hanging out with women, and having a relaxed schedule is really nice. Anyway, if I start grad school next summer I'll probably wind up playing co-ed again.

In other Ultimate news, I had my first real zone practice outside of college ultimate today. It was really fun, and I got to play the point in a successful zone. I think the best part was playing with knowledgeable players. Everyone was learning a new zone, but we didn't have to design drills to teach people new things, also, because we had a coach, not everyone was talking. It was a really sweet experience, I hope this is a trend for the rest of my ultimate carrier.

In non-ultimate news, I saw a real inspiring film about climbing a few weeks ago. It's called "King Lines" and will be available on DVD in October. The film is about Santa Cruz local Chris Sharma's global search for the perfect climb. If you have the chance, you should check it out*. I was lucky and got to see it on a big screen during the "Real Rock Film Tour."

Last thing, I'm looking for new music (of any genera) to listen to. Suggestions?

WARNING: This movie will make you want to go climb rocks.

Sectionals Recap

This tournament had the most schedule changes of any tournament I've ever participated in. I'm just glad I'm only a player on our team so I didn't have to look at any of them. In hindsight not checking the schedules might have been a mistake since we thought games didn't start until 10 on Saturday when they actually started at 9. Well, we had 12 people cleated by 9, and we were playing "Kill My Land Lord" so it all worked out okay (We won 13-2 ish). Our second game was against the "Feral Cows" and was similarly non-memorable, we won 13-8 or so.

The next game was our big game for day one. We played Night Train for first in the pool. Our games have been close with this team all year, and everyone anticipated this game to be real close. We started on D and got three chances with the disc, but didn't convert. Still, it was encouraging to generate turns. After this, our O comes out and gets the job done. Their job does the same. Then they get a break to go up 3-1, then 4-1, then 5-1. Our O finally scores to make it 5-2. When our D got back on the field, we were finally able to convert the turns we were getting, and we converted a lot of them. We broke six straight times to take half 8-5. We then cruzed in the second half and won 13-6 ish.

We then played the "Thunderbirds" in the quarters. This team was exhausted and had just won a big upset to make the quarters. Anyway, we take half 8-1 and win 15-4. This was followed by a nice drive back to SC from Stanford and me watching like 4 episodes of Heroes when I got home.

First game Day two was against Brass Money at 9. This time we knew the start time, and got there good and early (7:50). This game was not as close as I had hoped. They got two breaks in the first half to our none. We got one back in the second half, but they promptly got another and wound up wining 15-11. Our loss in this game set up a rematch with Night Train.

We started on D and got a turn, them almost immediately hucked it away to a reciever who was coming back under. Our O then scored easily with no turns. D gets another turn, and hucks it away. O scores with no turns. D hucks it away. O turns it, and they get a break. They get another. We right the ship and get it to half 8-5. In the second half we manage to mount a comback and bring it to 13-12 game to 14. We're on D and we get the disc. I end up dropping a pass and they march it down and score. It was kind of crushing. I had played really well in the game until then with 4 Ds and 2 goals, but that one drop is what really made the difference. I was kind of in a stupor for the next one, another game against the Cows, and we wound up wining 15-10 or so.

This put us in the game-to-go to regionals against Wagon (kind of ridiculous when you look at our RRI). Surprisingly (and pleasingly) there was a crowd for this one, as Brass was still around drinking after their finals victory, and "That's What SHE Said" stuck around after having loosing to Wagon on the same field in the previous round. We played really well the whole game. Our O had one turn that I can remember, and that lead to the one break they got. I got to go deep a few times in this one, and caught two easy goals from nice flick hucks by Kevin Beck. I'd like to think that I had a positive effect for those playing fantasy because I added the "if a cutter's defender falls over while the cutter sets up a deep cut +1/2" rule, then proceeded to make two defenders fall over when I was setting up deep cuts.

So, we got out of our section, and we're on to regionals. I think regionals will go well, and getting Daryl and Lean back wont hurt ether. After this weekend I realized how crowded it is at the top of the NorCal mixed section.

The State of West Coast Elite Disc (open)

I'm writing this because Match Diesel seems to be the only non-player writing about elite disc, and I think he's way off base when it comes to the west coast. I figured I'd write scouting reports about some of the top teams (I think he did this a few weeks ago). I'm going to break up my little scouting reports into two categories, a "how they play" category which should be self explanatory, and a "talent/culture" category about who plays on the team, how the team operates, and the over all talent level.

Revolver:
How they play: They move the disc well, and the majority of their risks come with break mark throws. They are built on consistency and seem to run into the most problems when they put up too many 50/50 shots to Wiseman.

Talent/culture: A lot has been made about how this is the Stanford team and Jam is the Cal team, that's bullshit. It's true that Revolver has a good amount of Stanford guys (at least 9), but they also have 2 from UCSC, 2 from Cal, 2 from UCSB and 1 from Davis. Basically, they're the younger team and Jam is the older team. Talent wise they're very strong, but mostly their strength is that nobody on the team thinks they're better then they are.

Jam:
How they play: I've already said a good amount about this team. They like the long ball and they like "keeping it fun" as Idris explains in his blog. Each individual seems to hold the disc a long time. I think this happens because everyone on Jam can make things happen with their throws. I think Jam would benefit from a culture of fast disc movement (but I think that about every team). Basically, there aren't any role players on this team (no, I don't think I'd fill this void, I just think some of the better players might have to take a little bit of a back seat).

Talent/culture: This team has a lot of great players, none of whom payed college last year. I think Boo is the youngest guy on the team, and I'm pretty sure everyone else played in club nationals '04 (just as a point of reference). A lot of these guys are at least 5 years out of college, and there doesn't seem to be much of a talent pipeline into Jam.

Sockeye:
How they play: The same as last year, just with more talent. They do a good job of not showing their hand while still dominating during the summer, but I think everyone knows that their O line from the finals last year will be back in effect this fall (just with Tim G instead of Dave Bestock as an O handler)

Culture: Sure there is strong imported talent, but this team does the best job of any team in developing the local talent pool by taking on young local players. As far as team dynamics go, I don't think chemistry will ever really be an issue for the Fish unless Seth becomes captain (I kid). Anyway, it seems like everyone wants to play for these guys, even if they don't need to be a hanger on to some great players coattails (I'm looking at you Michael Stout). As per what has been said about their chemistry issues in '05 and their recent stockpiling of Callahan winners, the '05 finals were just real windy, and just because you've won a Callahan this decade doesn't mean you would have won in '98 (when looking at that list, remember that UCSB, who won that year, doesn't nominate candidates and Namkung, Steets, Husak, and Yarbrough were on Tide in '98). Whatever, they're still stacked.

That's all I'm writing for now, I don't know enough about Rhino or Furious to write anything intelligent about them.

Life Update

I got a MacBook Pro. It's awesome. I love it. The only thing is I'm having problems with the iSight camera thing, apple store, here I come. Along with this new toy I got one on the new iPod classics (the thin 80 gig one). My only complaint is that I wish they still made them in white. It'll be nice to have a music library for my car again, although I'll need to make new playlists.

In retrospect, I'd say using the iPod shuffle did good things for my musical horizons. It really made me realize how much I don't listen to good music by some of my favorite groups like The Roots, De La Soul, J-Live, and Zion I, and it helped me realize a couple of sweet things about hip-hop. Fist, if you shout out Slick Rick in your song, it'll probably be great (see "Mellow My Man", "1nce Again", "Grindin'" "It's Like That" from The Grind Date), and second, that J-Live is like three great tracks away from me being able to make a sweet greatest hits style playlist (right now I'd go with "Wax Paper", "Braggin' Writes" (the original, not the one with the retarded kermit voice thing), "Them That's Not", "The Best Part", "Satisfied", "Like This Anna", "Do That Shit", and "All Of The Above" (mosty because he shouts out Optimus Prime)).

Now I have to go and upload all my music to my new iPod and make those new playlists.

Completing the Throw

So, I was reeding TrueHoop over on espn.com the other day and I realized something about teaching throwing in ultimate. The article of interest was about how LeBron has improved his jump shot over the summer. David Thorpe (an NBA trainer guy) was saying how in his new improved jump shot, LeBron lands where he took off from, and he is still when he lands (with his hand up, '98 Jordan style). In Basketball they call this "completing the shot." The reason this is important is that in order for the shooter to get to this point, they must have had proper mechanics all the way through their shooting motion. Now that's where it all applies to ultimate.

I've heard you should be able to be still after throwing a backhand or a forehand, but I never fully understood why. Now it's pretty obvious. In order to be still, your mechanics must have been correct all the way through your throw (another great side effect is that you won't travel when you throw, so they'll have to call you on pivoting). Basically, I think that one should emphasize the follow through, and that it should finish in the thrower being still, along with explaining this reasoning behind this when (re)teaching throwing.

I know this gives me something to work on.

Labor Day Weekend Ultimate

I was in SF this past weekend playing in the co-ed decision of Labor Day. First off, the Golden Gate Park Polo Fields are horrible, and there is no way they let horses run on them (those are some expensive ankles). Anyway, here are my thoughts on the teams we played:

Bad Larry: They look deep a lot and isolate their cutters well. They also use their women effectively. If they make nationals, the wind could be a problem in they stick with this game plan (I say if because the three SW teams look pretty even). I can't see this team making it past the quarters.

Pleasuretown: They play a regimented split stack offense, with a guy and a girl on each side, thus making it hard for teams to switch. They also rely on their resets a lot. They're a good young team that will get better in years to come, but they rely on their athleticism too much right now, they come up with a lot of second effort grabs that won't always happen, especially in windier conditions. Personally, I think Bamboo needs to play more, the team is noticeably better when he's on the field and he can really run things for their offense.

AMP: They seemed to have a tough game with injuries and jet lag when we played them. Anyway, this is what I noticed. They relied on their resets more than any other team we played, and when they don't get them, they seem to tunnel to their men. Because of this we had success letting our women poach while we shut down their dump. Also, they have height and seem , but seem to use it to get open under more then deep.

The Horde: This was our forth game on Saturday, so I didn't get too much out of it in terms of what they'll usually do. Um, Courtney Dale touches the disc a lot for them.

Mischief: They have good team speed and rely on it. They seem to have trouble with Shazam because Shazam is just a little bit faster, and it forces Mischief into a plan b. Chucky is a big pick up for them, and seems to be in on every d point. Forcing them backhand might be a good idea because of the strength of both Dollar's and Chucky's flicks, and it makes Punky's flick not a break (god damn lefties).

Brass Monkey: They like to break the mark then look long, and they have the height and throwers to do it. Also, their zone is very strong, and they trap sideline well. They also use their women better then any team aside from Shazam. It seems like most teams really get up to play them because of both their reputation as a top team, and because their record this year indicates that they're more beatable then the other two big dogs from the NW.

Okay, enough about mixed. I was also able to make it back to SC for the Open final and here are some observations from that game.

The Jam jerseys aren't as ugly as people claim they are, but they aren't exactly pretty either. Still, I like the blues.

Jam is incredibly fast as a team, and uses that team speed well to put pressure on opposing offenses. Also, I think this team is much more regimented then last year's JL team (running a vert stack instead of a ho helps this).

Bravo is very tall, and it seems like their reputation of looking deep helps them get open underneath. Also, they count faster then any team I've ever seen, maybe it was just the finals, but I swear I heard some 5 second paced 10 counts.

Parker is an amazing thrower, and Jam always let their defenders know when he had the disc. They did this so the week side defenders would tighten up on their man (really similar to '04 Jam calling "Shank!" when playing against Furious as was noted on Disc 1).

Wow, that's my first ultimate related post. There will be more to come after NorCal open sectionals this weekend.

Desert Island, All-time, Top-five Hip-Hop Albums (chronologically):

Quick post to get me started on the music front, because I know I'll do too much talking about disc. These are my Desert Island, All-time, Top-five Hip-Hop Albums (and why) (chronologically):

The Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (1989)

This record has the most pop culture references of any record ever made, period. The lyrics aren't too complex, but the beasties trade lines well and are exceedingly clever (I love their ode to New York references). Also, the production on this record changed how records were produced in hip hop and music in general by revolutionizing the technique of sampling. The production is rich and layered, sampling multiple records to create each track. It's been said that Paul's Boutique could not be made today because of the overhead it would require to clear all of the samples. I'd say this is my favorite record of all time.
Favorite tracks: High Planes Drifter, Car Thief

The Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)

If you like kung fu flicks, grimy minimalist beats with eerie piano and sped up soul samples, and sum gully lyrics, check out The Wu. Also, if you want something energized and/or angry this is awesome.
Favorite tracks: Clan in da Front, Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing Ta F' Wit, Wu-Tang: 7th Chamber - Part II

NaS - Illmatic (1994)

NaS is one of the best lyricists ever, and if you want nuanced lyrics with imagery and vivid story telling, check out this record. The production on Illmatic was largely influenced by the Jazz rap coming out of New York in the early nineties and this style meshes well with NaS's Gambino rap storytelling. On a lyrical level, I don't think enough has been made of NaS saying "Sentence begins indented .. with formality/My duration's infinite, moneywise or physiology/ Poetry, that's a part of me .." I really think that NaS's lyrics on this album are worthwhile as poetry, and that they'll be respected as such some day.
Favorite tracks: NY State of Mind, Memory Lane (Sittin' In Da Park), One Time For Your Mind

A Tribe Called Quest - Beats Rhymes and Life (1996)

ATCQ is my favorite hip hop group, and although most don't consider this their best album, I really appreciate the slick production and the subject matter. The MCs of Tribe show a lot of maturity with the lyrics on this album without sacrificing their artistry. Also, I think J-Dilla was a great addition to the production crew. This album hurts from only having one obvious single in "Stressed Out," but it's start to finish consistency is amazing, from Get a Hold, to Mind Power, to What Really Goes On.
Favorite tracks: Get a Hold, Jam, and Stressed Out

Black Star - Black Star (1998)

This is an all around great record with two of Brooklyn's finest MC's teaming up to bring back the feeling of the native tongues movement from the late 80s and early 90s. Both Mos Def and Talib Kweli deliver some all time great verses on this album, and keep everything positive. Check out both "Definition" and "RE:Definition" along with "Thieves in the Night" and "Respiration." If you ask me, "Respiration" is one of the top five hip hop songs of all time, and arguably the best (check out Mos Def's Thomas Paine reference at the end of the first verse, its pretty cool and not overly obvious).
Favorite Tracks: RE:Definition, Respiration

There you have it.

Mission Statement

Okay, so I made this blog for a couple of reasons, first, I think it'll be sweet to have a place to put down my opinions on the things I love to do, second, I'm not going to school this fall, so this might be a way for me to keep my mind occupied, and finally, Jay said I should. With that said, these are the things you should know about what will show up here:

1. A lot of typos. I'm a horrible speller, and my grammar is questionable at best.

2. My predictions about sports. This will be mostly on Ultimate, but I think the NBA will make an appearance or two.

3. My opinions about music. I like writing about music, and I don't know how good I am at it, but I'll give it a shot.

4. Some everyday boringness. I like reading about what my friends are up to, maybe you guys will appreciate reading about what I'm doing.

So, with all that out of the way, here is where I'm at in life right now:

I'm living at home after having recently graduated from college. I think it's both good for my parents and myself, also, if and when I get a job, living at home will allow me to maybe save some money while paying off loans and things like that. For the current club ultimate season I'm playing coed with a Santa Cruz team called Family Style (FS). As a young guy who wants to play 'elite', I'm lucky to have a team like FS to play with because it isn't a team with a lot of carrier co-ed players. I really like my teammates, and I'm fortunate to be able to play with and learn from veterans who've played top level open and womens.

Also, my iPod was recently stolen at a party. As such, I've had to make do with my mom's Shuffle for my car music. Although it's a bummer to have lost all my playlists and the random songs I've gotten from friends over the years, not having my iPod has made me focus on music a little bit more. I'm actively seeking it out, and really thinking about what I want on the little 1 GB shuffle.

So, that's kind of where I'm at in general. Word.