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.