Getting back home...or the story of how much Seattle sucked this holiday season ('cept for Julia and Sledding)

After I finished exams, I went out with my classmates and got ready for my early-morning train Saturday morning.

Caught the AmTrak up from Durham to Washington DC. Whole trip takes about 7 hours and is only mitigated by the fact that there is a power outlet next to your seat. The only other ray of sunshine was the 10 year old black kid that sat next to me in Richmond and talked to me non-stop until I got off. Seriously, sweet kid who told ridiculous stories while traveling alone and on a massive sugar high. After I explained how calories work, I think I also blew his mind. After a quick teriyaki dinner at Union Station and a short cab ride, I collapsed in my hotel room and watched Gonzaga lose to UConn on a ridiculously clutch shot.

(Would've gone out with some friends but Petums was in PA for some reason and my law school buddy from the area was apparently in Atlantic City.)

Caught a super early shuttle the next morning and hopped on my flight at Reagan National. Was delayed an hour after we pulled back from the jetway because our de-icing machine broke (seriously...omen). As we're landing, I'm super afraid I'm going to miss my flight, particularly when we land and it's a blizzard AND we are stuck 20 minutes trying to get the jetway to pull up to the plane.

Of course, when I get off and realize that my flight isn't even listed on the board I should've clued in and realized I was not getting out. My flight was delayed three times and cancelled, but I got to hang out with some guys I hadn't seen since high school.

After my flight was cancelled, I called up my cousin who had just moved into the area to work for Microsoft. She saved my ass by picking me up and giving me a place to crash. Of course, this awesomeness was tempered by the fact that the airlines couldn't get me home until Dec. 24.

That night Julia and I go out and drink with a friend of hers from Bucknell, Matt, and his two Seattle friends, Alex and Keith. Alex went to Duke undergrad so we had tons to talk about. He's also doing TFA in LA, so we chatted about poor children, too.

After drinking at a local pub called The Attic (baller, highly recommended), we head over to "the hill" to see another of Matt's high school friends. When we get there we're told that we're going sledding. We head over about three blocks to find an entire street blocked off by about 200 very drunk individuals sledding downhill on ANYTHING that will slide (seen: sleds, skis, snowboard, trash can lids, rubbermaid laundry hampers, kiddy pools, street signs, cardboard, garbage bags...). Although my knees and elbows are still bruised, was a ton of fun until the cops showed up at 1:45ish and kicked us off the streets. (Also, a very Asian man got pissed when a bunch of us tried to help him with his stalled car.)

We get home and pass out, only to wake up to my phone and my mother telling me that I've got a seat on an 11:45 flight to Juneau. Run to the airport and skip the RIDICULOUS line (seriously, half mile long probably, filled the entire lower floor of the SeaTac airport) to check a bag as I'd left my bag at the airport the night before. Get on the flight, which is slightly delayed and spend an entertaining time with a ferry master who lives in Juneau.

When I get to Juneau I realize that my flight doesn't leave there for another 7 hours. I order a pizza from a local favorite and watch the Packers get a good lead before leaving for security (later find out that they choked it away). By the time I get inside the terminal again, I find out the plane is delayed again. As it keeps getting delayed, I realize I DO NOT WANT TO BE STUCK IN JUNEAU. When we finally get on the plane, they march us all back off because the attendants can't count! By the time we get back on, we're late and we arrive in Anchorage at midnight, almost three hours after we were supposed to arrive.

Overall, I spent 61 hours in transit in order to get home.

I don't even want to think about the return trip...

1.5L

So I'm done with my first semester of law school. Hasn't really sunk in yet, but so far it's been a pretty fun time. My classmates are all good people and Brimstone took all of my free time and made it awesome. Can't really ask for more.

Kudos to all of you guys; making my job a lot easier.

WaWaWaluigi...

I've listened to this song 50+ times today and I still think it's hilarious and awesome. There's also a smash bros love song on YouTube using the same melody, but lacking the musical talent. Then again, his octave drop on "Ganondorf" is kind of funny in its own way.



This second video was my study music for the last two days. For those unfamiliar with the song, it's "Coca-Cola" by Jesse Lacey of Brand New. For some reason, I can't get it out of my head.

In real world news, first law school exam is over. Two more to go.

In ultimate news, I've started winter lifting and am also doing some rock climbing on the side.

CUFF...ugh

Two weeks late. I would blame this on me falling disastrously ill immediately following the tournament, but I honestly just didn't want to write about it that much.

Left Durham on Friday to make the five-plus hour drive North to Maryland. The tournament would be at the same fields as Roll Call the previous year, but unlike Princeton's visit there, we had no surplus of members who made their home in the DC-metropolitan area. Then again, Comfort Suites is disgustingly nice for a frisbee team.

Highlight of the drive: Stopping for almost an hour at a weird rest stop in VA, complete with Wendy's, weird quarter gambling machine, crazy knit hats (purchased by Tommy) and a low-rent iTrip that never was made to successfully work.

Second highlight: Driving through Richmond at 8 and listening to the Hot 5 at 8 (back in my day it was the top 8 at 8, standards have really gone down...). First two songs were both political remixes. The best was the remix of Pop Champagne entitled Barack Campaign which goes: "We voted for a change and now we made it, no disrespect to McCain and Palin, we rocked the vote now we celebratin', President Barack and VP Biden...we pop champagne for Barack campaign". Unfortunately, the remainder of the songs were women lamenting about their men. Odds that Joe Biden thought he'd be mentioned in a hip-hop song, VERY LOW.

Saturday:

Rolled up to the fields to discover that it was kind of windy. The fields were set up different than Roll Call and we ended up pretty much upwind-downwind for our first game against Maryland alumni. Princeton was two fields away and I got to say hi to the kids that made the trip (I'm looking at Tomi and Matt Cheng...). As we got ready to start, the Alums had already started drinking. I did enjoy their "Eagle Sucks" hats.

Maryland Alums, 10-9

We broke twice to start the game and then gave them back, but got the last break to take half up one, 7-6. After half we got two breaks to go up 9-6, then gave back three straight to tie at 9s, double game point. We worked it down after a turnover and put it in to win.

The guys were fun and would have been a better team (probably better than us) had they a) not all been at least two drinks in and b) not been out of frisbee for 2-4 years. Cuneo threw sick shit as per normal. Hempstead also played baller. I missed a sick layout D at shoulder height, only to realize that my man had caught the disc even though I trucked him.

UPenn, 7-9

Apparently, Duke lost to these guys last year badly. This year started better with us going up two breaks early 3-1. Then we gave them back and got broken again. We trailed at half 7-5. The wind really picked up from about halftime of the Maryland Alums game to this game and it was solid upwind-downwind. We traded the rest of the way, although we had a couple of chances to convert, in particular at least two turns within five yards of the upwind endzone. Just unacceptable offense.

Spent a good portion of my D points playing on Aman Nalavade, who played for Pike this year. Real fast kid who I would love to play under more normal conditions. Missed a layout D on him to save the game. I knew he'd stutter-step the cut to the cone (it's the Pike endzone cut), but I thought I could bait it a little. We'd get a rematch against this team, but this loss was still really unsatisfying.

Maryland X, 8-5

By far the strangest game of the tournament. Game opened up with the weather starting to get even worse. Wind got gusty and a little bit of rain started falling. Our play got much worse for some reason including some poor decisions by the O-line (this was kind of a theme, but I can't say the D-line strategy was any better) and Maryland went up 5-1. We scored and got the turn and then...the heavens opened. Seriously, sideways rain, hail and lightning.

Horns start sounding for all of us to get the fuck out of dodge. Teams on the far field apparently didn't hear, so while most of us were huddling freezing in the pavillion some teams kept playing and a couple Maryland kids went streaking. When the weather finally broke (about twenty minutes later), we were given the okay to restart.

And lo and behold the weather was clear. A little bit of mist, but absolutely NO WIND. So we restarted the game and either Maryland forgot how to play in normal weather or we're just that badass. Either way we scored six straight to win the game. Guarded Freddy Tsai (ME FoTY last year) who is quick. Scored on him to win the game. Another guy I would like to play again in better weather/situations.

The crossover game was cancelled so we finished 2-1 and second in our pool. The schedule would've had us play GW Alums, but Reuben hooked me up and rearranged the schedule for Duke to play Princeton on Sunday.

That evening we made a really inept caravan into the city to watch Quantum of Solace. I saw Jackie Bello, who was in DC for a funeral (weird coincidence). After a big dinner in the food court (yey enchiladas), we hit up the theatre which was comically overpriced and left the team with mixed feelings. I enjoyed it. When we returned, ice baths ensued for Berendes and Hagan. I pussed out after about five minutes. Ah well.

Sunday:

Weather got a lot colder. Seriously, barely above freezing. Add in 15 mph winds going crossfield and the weather was worse than Saturday, where it had been shitty.

Princeton, 11-6

Playing the old team was weird. Really weird. I knew everyone on the team and so match-ups were kind of fun. Berendes on Petums was entertaining, although Berendes left the game thinking my old team thought he was a dick. Overall, the game was pretty calm and uneventful. I got skyed by Brain and point-blocked by Michael Gibbs. Also scored the game winner (I think).

Old team looked much-improved from last year, although they could really use the old seniors. Isaiah and Bergman in particular really stepped up. Also, Isaiah's "Which Nut?" skills have improved tremendously. He totally tooled me in our impromptu game. Just you wait for better weather and my new secret twist.

Queens-Kingston, 11-13

I've never liked the Canadians and this game got a little heated with calls. Also demonstrated how terrible the weather was in relation to the quality of the ultimate. We got a couple breaks early and then gave a lot of them back as they threw a very aggressive zone. They took half 8-4.

After half, we decided to respond with a zone of our own, which worked to run off six straight to take the lead 10-8. They started to break our zone and scored twice to tie. We scored and then they replied to tie at 11s, game to 13. We then threw a Callahan and dropped an easy pass, which lead to an easy score, for them to take the game.

They ended up winning the tournament, but I think we would have the upper hand on a less windy day. They had some decent handlers and some decent cutters, but I was unimpressed with any one of their players in both areas. We got a good number of turns playing tight defense on their handlers and I think that would be just as doable in better weather.

UPenn, 13-8

Some of their players weren't suited up for the game and we were all freezing. We took the lead with five or six straight points and then both teams started playing a lot of their rookies. I only played two points in the second half, both guarding Aman again, in which both of us managed to do...nothing. Seriously, I want a rematch with better weather.

After the game, both GW and our team were frozen to the core, so we hit up the cars and got going. Stopped after an hour to eat some strip mall food (low-rent Chinese...yum!) and then booked it home. I went to sleep expecting to wake up ready to die and I did. Ended up sleeping for 36 of the next 48 hours and skipped two days of school. Decent tournament (ended up tied for 5th), but the weather was so awful I'm not sure we learned much other than how to play zone in shitty weather.

I'm done for the fall now, although I should be bringing reports in January (ACC tournament), February (Vegas, hopefully) and beyond. Also, some stuff regarding C1 might be discussed and I may or may not die from law school exams.

Pictures may be posted if anyone was stupid enough to have their hands exposed to the elements for that long.

Classic City Classic...which was classic.

This was the only picture taken of us all weekend. And we aren't even playing, but Knute gets the limelight in the background. Go here if you want to see a ludicrous number of pictures of Emory.

Rolled out of Durham around 6, got into the hotel around 11:30. Considering we were getting up at 6, this was not ideal. The fact that we then got lost (stupid tourney directions labeling Thomas Dr as East Campus Dr, which it is CLEARLY NOT) made for a less than ideal warm-up. The fact that it was about 49 degrees made it more of a cold-up. After Wade almost stepped on my iPod, I was a little worried. Wonder how the day turned out...

Illinois, 11-6

First game of the day against a nationals quarterfinalist and a C1 team. We were a little intimidated, but came out fired up. They didn't. We took half 6-3 on great O line play and solid, intense defense. O line was never broken and I scored a Callahan on a floated dump/swing. Tommy scored a couple goals and threw a blady flick that Ethan laid out for to score and end the game. (1-0 vs. C1)

North Carolina, 8-10

They had just finished earning a double game point win over Texas and we had just tooled Illinois. Both teams came out intense, but a little sloppy. The wind had picked up somewhat (by the third round it would be pretty squarely upwind-downwind) and we dropped an easy pass to give up a break on the first point. UNC made a run to take half 4-6. We made a run back to get it to 8-9, cap goes on and the game is first to ten. Unfortunately, they make a nice grab in the endzone to end the game. (1-1 vs. C1)

Texas, 11-9

Texas is a fun team and Guenther knows every one of their players. Callahan front-runner Stephen Presley seemed real chill and made some baller plays. Even with their star-studded line-up, we managed to get a couple of breaks on them early and late in the game. They evened it up mid-game and closed to 10-9 late, but we managed to punch it in after a couple turnovers. Hagan and I took turns covering Presley and he did a great job (me, I didn't get ludicrously tooled). Berendes made a crazy layout grab to score the gamewinner (disc was point-blocked and D'ed prior to his catch). (2-1 vs. C1)

Virginia, 4-10

We had played them two weeks earlier at Wolfpack and had given them a lead early and then fought back to lose a tight game. This time we gave them a lead early...and lost the game pretty badly. We opened up the rotation after falling at half 3-6 and the game ended at cap with the good guys scoring. They played a very quick offense, moving the disc within the first couple counts as often as possible. First game of the day we had significant problems scoring with the O line.

Ole Miss, 11-5

Two byes later (weird schedule due to field availability), we play our last game against the pool's bottom seed. Considering we came in as the fifth seed, we should have taken them more seriously, but we played lackluster throughout the first couple points. When they broke to take the lead 2-3, we all got pissed and started a 9-2 run to win the game. They had a couple decent players, but our depth was too much for them to handle.

Sunday

Emory, 15-8

Number 7 on Emory is a dick. Lots of travel calls, lots of talk, lots of yelling and lots of turnovers. Unfortunately, I got into it with him. So did Trahey. So did Guenther. Besides him, their team was pretty chill. Sam, their stud, seemed particularly cool and he kept a pretty good attitude considering Berendes had a sick layout D on him in the endzone. A lot of great rookie play sealed the deal for us. Also led to the best quote of the weekend: Emory in their halftime huddle shouts "Second Half, Our Half!" and both Guenther and Trahey simultaneously deadpan "Nope" causing the entire line to double over laughing.

Ohio State, 13-15

Probably the only game of the weekend that I am angry about. They had just finished tooling UNCW 15-6 and we were warned they would be chippy with calls. Didn't really turn out to be true, with two exceptions.

We came out forcing them under and managed to control their hucks for most of the game. Traded the first points and then I threw a big upwind flick for a break...that gets called back on a travel. Not on the throw though, apparently I took too many steps to stop. We work it up and turn it on the goal line. They score, break, break to go up 4-1. We break back later in the half to tie it at 5s. At 6-6, they score and then break to take half 8-6.

After half, we come out pissed and run off four straight to lead 10-8. As we keep trading, Trahey makes a sick D in the upwind endzone that gets called a foul because the guy he was guarding ran into him and fell over. They end up scoring. They eventually get the break with the wind to pull it to 13-12. They score going downwind even after I point-block them on the goal line. 13-13. O-line gets broken 13-14. We get the disc going upwind and manage to turn it over on a reset. I have the disc trapped on the sideline and decide to pressure the mark to throw upfield. Gets to stall 9 and he uncorks a 60 degree blade that gets caught in the endzone. Game over. Fiddlesticks. Sadly, the two calls that stand out end up being the margin of victory. We played pretty well against yet another C1 team and I was honestly not impressed. Had my best statistical game of the weekend with 3 goals, 2 assists and a D (0 turns). (2-2 vs C1)

Davidson, 11-8

After another bye where we watched Wisconsin and North Carolina try to out-call each other (also saw three UNC players carted off the field), we had a trap game against Davidson, who had lost to Georgia. Went up 5-1 on great defense from the rookies and then gave it right back on poor zone play against a four man cup and a 15 mile an hour headwind. Took half 6-5 (we agreed to play a shortened game to 11).

In the second half, we played better against the zone and scored a break or two to win by three. Sadly, my play did not correlate with the team's as I got point-blocked twice in one point. Need to work on my fakes or at least get my low backhand-to-high backhand-to-flick fake more fluid. Screw it, next time I'm throwing hammers.

Random addition: There was a long drawn out argument in this game that I feel should be mentioned. Going upwind, I catch the disc on an in-cut, turn and throw an upwind flick huck as I get bumped by my mark. I call "foul". The disc floats and ends up getting caught by Wade pretty much on the goal line. Wade spikes the disc, which prompts a big argument as Davidson claims he wasn't in, while we argue that his spike obviously indicates he thought he was. Me, I'm forty yards from the play arguing with my man if my foul allows Wade to keep the disc based off "one-throw continuation", which it is quickly pointed out would completely contradict the point of continuation. I back down, only to see my man get into a shouting match with Gunther on the sideline coming from the other argument. Looking back, was kind of hilarious, though it did lead to a great debate about the value of compromise (seriously, that word was used at least 10 times in the ensuing discussion).

Overall, 5-3 weekend for 11th. Finished higher than four of the twelve C1 teams in attendance and got a good win against a sectional rival. Our close game against UNC gives me some hope for the season and the amazing improvement of our rookies in the last two weeks makes me giddy. We need to work a little on our offensive flow (looked good at times, bad at others) and I need to either solidify my handling or find a replacement. Considering we were missing two of our starting O-liners, I'm pretty psyched.

Next week, CUFF and Princeton!

Pictures may be added later if any relevant ones appear on the interwebs.

Wolfpack Invite 10/25-10/26

First tournament of the year with my new team. Saw a lot of good things and a lot of things that can be improved. Was kind of shocked at how few rookies I saw playing on many of the teams we played/saw. I honestly believe that of the eight teams that were playing in quarters, three or four of them were playing 10-15 man rotations with no recognizable rookies.

Saturday

Kent State: 13-7



We came out really sloppy and gave up a break on offense. KState's offense pretty much ran through Doc, a shorter player with a nasty-looking beard (could be good or bad, your choice). After turning up the pressure on defense a little (including a couple points of zone defense), we got the break back and earned one of our own to take half 7-5. Second half was much crisper and the defense continued to earn breaks leading to a final O-line score to end the game.


NC State: 11-7

We had a bye prior to this game and when we came in State had already lost to the pool's 3rd and 4th seeds, ECU and Wake Forest. They had almost pulled off a ridiculous comeback against ECU, coming back from 12-5 to lose 13-12, so they would either come out flat or really fired up. Turned out it would be flat.



We got 2 straight breaks to start. I had a decent poach layout D and a layout huck catch for a score. Kept breaking to take half 7-2. Second half saw State get a break or two back, but the outcome wasn't really in doubt. Scored two straight when cap went on at 9-7 to win.

ECU: 9-13

First part of the game saw ECU playing a little better than us. We couldn't really control them on D (maybe one turn in first four or five points, didn't convert it) and they got a break or two on D to lead at half 7-4 or 7-5. We picked it up on defense in the second half and managed to tie it up at 9s. Unfortunately, our O-line proceeded to get broken multiple times and the game ended before we really knew it.

ECU looked pretty good this early in the season, though they seemed to be playing almost exclusively returners. They ended up making the finals against UVA. #6 (Joey), who I guarded for a large portion of the game, was probably the best player I marked up against all weekend.

Wake Forest: 9-13

Terrible game on our part. Started on D and I proceeded to dink a wide-open catch in the endzone. This would be an omen. After going down 2-1 (on serve), we proceeded to give up three straight breaks to Wake's zone, which featured a very aggresive and tight cup. Once we started going over the top with hammers to downfield players, we managed to fix our O (I think we gave up two more breaks, one more in the first half and only one in the second). Unfortunately, our D never picked up. We forced lots of near stall-outs which led to blady 50-50 hucks that always seemed to go their way.

At the end of pool play, we had gone 2-2 and placed 3rd in our pool, which thankfully gave us 8th place in the seedings and a spot in quarters.



Sunday

Elon: 15-12

They had upset UNC to take the top seed. They played a very tight rotation and we decided to take advantage of it. We played straight up marks and locked down on the hucks forcing them to run a lot. They broke once or twice to take a two point lead into half.



In the second half at 10-7, we put in an all-star line with the ultimatum that if we didn't score we were all being benched. After putting the O point in, we stayed on and rolled off three straight breaks. Normal D-line grabbed another one. Ended up getting another break near the end and closed it out to win by three.



UVA: 12-15

Best game of the tournament in terms of how we played. Night train played very physical and very clean. They got a couple early breaks to take half 4-8, receiving the disc to start the half.



After half, we came out wanting to make it a game, but stumbled a bit and went down further, 10-5. Then we turned it on. Ran off a string of points to close to 10-12, traded out from there to lose 12-15. Had we turned it on earlier, played more consistently we could have given them a game. Luckily, we get to play them again at CCC this weekend, so we'll get that chance.

I played decently. Had a sweet layout D on a huck that left me with a bloody lip. First time I've ever had to invoke the Magic Johnson rule.

Overall: 3-3, 3rd place

Kind of weird to be playing with a team not clockwork, but I'm getting used to it. We were missing our two Ring players, so getting them back will definitely help. Overall, I'm cautiously optimistic about the potential for this team. Next up, CCC.

Photos courtesy of Jim Ashcraft.

The Myth of Injury Games

Had a thought that was worth posting on RSD. Figured I'd repost it here so I don't forget it in an hour.

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It seems that a lot of people from the "top 25" are complaining about the existence of injury games, meaningless games in which the outcome is essentially predetermined. The general location of these games is identified as sectionals, where a team like Wisconsin spends 4-5 games pasting teams who wouldn't win a single game if they played 100 times.

Cultimate's response has been to replace those games with a 34 game regular series which is used as a qualifier for a new national tournament, thus avoiding these so-called "injury games".

My real question though: how many injury games does Wisconsin (or a similar team really play) ?

Looking at Wisconsin's record, they played in Mardi Gras, Vegas, Stanford, Centex, Sectionals, Regionals, Nationals.

At every single one of those tournaments (excepting Sectionals), they were placed in some form of power pool or pre-selecting tournament (I'm assuming this was true of Mardi Gras as all 12 teams competing for 1st place came out of the top 3 pools). Barring one possible aberration game at each "regular season" tournament (Winona State at Mardi Gras - 7th at Regionals, Davidson at Vegas - 9th at Regionals, Whitman at SI - 7th at Regionals) and their first two games at Regionals (against teams who placed 11th and 13th), there line-up of games is already almost solely against the "top 25" (not as Conference1 would have it, but in a more general sense). Even at sectionals, Wisconsin played two decent teams (Marquette and Whitewater) who performed decently at Regionals.

My question then is if playing those 4-5 games (a number which could be minimized if a non-pool play format was adopted for sectionals) is really any impediment to those teams OR if it's any more of a danger than practicing with their own teammates. Considering the level of physicality that has become the standard among high level teams, this seems like a pretty legitimate question.

Also, Wisconsin played 43 games last season not including Nationals. Take away six "injury games" at Sectionals and two at Regionals and you have a 35 game regular season THAT THEY ALREADY PLAY.

If Wisconsin wants to come out in favor of Conference1, they shouldn't do it based off the idea of playing less "injury games", they should do it because they want free jerseys, no entry fees and a rumored travel budget.

*Wisconsin was used as the example because they are the reigning champions and they choose to attend a significant number of tournaments. A cursory glance shows Florida to have done something similar (although they attended Warm Up, a tournament which featured a less impressive roster than Mardi Gras and I imagine held some form of compensation for the team, chose not to attend Stanford), Carleton is in the same boat as Wisconsin, and Colorado's only blemish was Fool's Fest, a tournament which they have traditionally chosen to attend.

In Princeton...solidly Conference 2

Visiting the girlfriend during my break. Lots of shit going down in the ultimate world regarding Conference1. Will hold my thoughts on it for the moment (would definitely like more information and want to see how top teams like Wisconsin and Carleton fall), but my knee-jerk reaction is negative. More to come, less to follow.

Brand New Day

Going to start updating again, hopefully on a weekly schedule. I don't want this to be a workout blog, so I'll try and keep my posts centered on stuff people might actually care about.

Clockwork's New Face

I promised I'd show off our new jerseys "soon" and that date kept getting pushed back. Finally, I've got what I believe is going to be Clockwork's new look this year. We've changed it up a bit from previous seasons, but we're definitely going to look baller on the field.

I'm incredibly excited about our new jerseys. We got this kind of sketchy e-mail from Gotham Printwear in October this year and, on a whim, I decided to get a quote for what we were looking at. I can say that their service and their prices are fantastic and if their quality matches, I think we will be working with them for a long time.

The only thing holding us up is the Patagonia jerseys (so our jerseys will finally be orange and no longer "clockwork mango"), but once they ship the whole thing should move along nicely. The current timetable should get us the jerseys by HOTI or at the latest Georgia.

Currently Reading:
Destiny by Elizabeth Haydon

On the iPod:
The Possibility and the Promise by Amber Pacific

One week in, not many left...

Thought I'd throw some thoughts up now that we've finished our first week of spring practice. It's odd thinking that this could be my last year of college ultimate. I don't know exactly what I'll be doing next year, but the chances that it involves college disc and the amount of fun I have with my team is not nearly as high as I'd like.

It's interesting evaluating my team since we're essentially the same team we were last year, plus some new freshmen and with a lot more experience. I will say that after our first two practices outside, we appear to have a lot more fire than we did last year. Since we've been missing some of our defensive studs (Kulkarni, Kulkarni *in Buehler voice*), I would have expected a lot less intensity, but our new players especially have really been bringing it.

Of our older players, Mutton has been playing out of his mind. 50 yard hammers, ridiculous lay-outs, near-death experiences, etc. If he doesn't hurt himself, I think he's a legit all-region candidate. When we get Jonah back from his hammy injury, I think we're going to have a lot of play-making ability that was missing last year. This is going to compliment our growing stable of role players that gives us needed consistency.

In general, we're a better team than last year and we weren't bad last year. Huck of the Irish looks to have a great field and the eye is going to be playing on Sunday.

Pictures of our new uniforms should be up tomorrow.

Currently Reading:
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt

On the iPod:
The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan

Almost Heading Back Home

Broke the training line on Sunday, but got it back Mon-Tue, so I'm feeling pretty good about physical health. My mental state is a little frayed after a weird week and I really need to finish up some of my thesis work. I think a week home is going to be a great rest interval for me before we start balls out in the spring.

Our schedule right now looks like:
Huck of the Irish, Mar 8-9
High Tide, Mar 18-20
College Southerns, Mar 22-23
Roll Call, Mar 29-30
Sectionals, Apr 5-6, 12-13, 19-20
Regionals @ Princeton, Apr 26-27

Our trip to Georgia for spring break hsa been an absolute mess to plan and I feel really bad for Nasty and Mutton, who've shouldered the brunt of the planning responsibilities. Hopefully it's cleared up in the next couple days, because I really want my last year of Georgia to rock.

On the positive side, orders for our new jerseys are almost done and we're going to be a stylish team this year. Images to come soon, but we're going to be one of the best-dressed teams in the nations. Now to see if we can play like one of the best teams in the nation.

Currently Reading:
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

On the iPod:
Burntpiano remixes

Tickling Makes You Smarter

Abstract:
In various experiments, scientists showed that the average IQ and mental acuity levels of human test subjects increased significantly after extended bouts of physical reflex stimulation (i.e. tickling). These gains remained constant throughout the duration of the study, a period of 18 months. Scientists believe that the rapid stimulation of neurons caused by repeated reflexive reactions is the cause of this increase.

Link to full article:
Darwin, C., G.S. Hall and A Allin. "A potential link between knismesis and cognitive functions." New England Journal of Medicine Feb 3, Vol. 352, No. 5, 452-456

The Line Continues

After being completely lax in my postings, I hope this signals an actual revival of my posting. It might be a little haphazard until the season gets into full swing in February, but hopefully for my two readers it will be a return to reading.

I think this is going to turn into mostly a workout blog (much like Glenn's), but it might also be a dumping ground for my random ultimate-related thoughts.

Got linked to a great article from Lean and Hungry, which I found interesting and worth trying out. The Thin Red Line

With my three unbroken days staring me in th face, I decided that I had to get off my ass and get working. Thought I'd do a very quick general fitness routine.

5-minute bike warm-up
5-minute ultimate stretches
(hip flexors, lunges, sideways lunges, etc.)
Tabata set of push-ups
Tabata set of bodyweight squats*

*I dropped out of these on set number 7 as I was feeling some pain in my right knee when I stopped below parallel. Since I was putting out 16-14 squats per interval, I felt I just pushed myself a little too hard. Next time, I'll aim for a few less squats and finish the whole thing.

Currently Reading:
The Hollow Man by Dan Simmons

On the iPod:
Soundtrack from Wicked