No Troubles in Vegas

This was my first year attending Trouble in Vegas and I was super psyched to see all of my Alaska friends who play for big name schools. I don't regret going to Princeton, but I do regret not having played for a team that traveled to the more prestigious tournaments. Coming into TiV, Duke had finally started earning some respect and we were seeded #24, which earned us one of the last spots in the elite bracket.

Thursday was spent traveling. Pretty glad I'm no longer a captain as I wouldn't have wanted to coordinate a team of 22 guys and our coach on a cross-country flight involving rental cars, hotels (two of them...more on this later) and a tourney schedule that was straight up made up on the fly. After arriving and checking in (to the hotel and the tournament), I went to bed pretty excited for the next day's games.

The schedule had us playing three pool games spread over two days along with four random crossover games against teams not in your pool spread over all three days. One team from each pool advances to the championship bracket based off their overall record (not just their pool record). We were seeded last in our pool, so there was nowhere to go but up.

Friday

Kansas, 10-7

First game of the tournament was against the Horrorzontals of Kansas. They were in our pool and were only a year removed from being a nationals team, so we expected a bit of fight.

However, they weren't ready to go. They'd just finished a universe point loss to Florida and looked very sloppy. We broke on the first point. After getting the turn and throwing it away on the goal line, they put the disc in to tie the game at 1-1 (should have been 2-0). What should have been quickly became reality, though, as we ran off five straight points to take a 6-1 lead. Kansas finally puts one in and we score to take half 7-2.

After half, we receive the disc and work it to the goal line before B-des puts up a scoober that Tommy drops. Kansas scores the disc and the O-line gets broken twice more. Suddenly, the game is 7-5 and tight. I catch the goal on a great upline throw from Borg to stop the bleeding. We trade points to 9-6 and then a huge argument breaks out. Kansas player makes a great catch and tries to toe himself in, but he lands on the line. He claims to be in, but Trahey argues that he has best perspective. After a 10 minute argument, Kansas eventually taps the disc in on the line and punches it in for the goal, but it's too little too late as the cap sounds during the next point and our O-line manages to score after a lot of turns to take the game 10-7.

I played pretty well catching a goal and throwing three or four. Had a sweet poach D early in the first half that led to a floaty IO flick that Knute tore down. B-des also had a sweet tear down on a floaty throw by yours truly.

Washington, 6-10

Washington had just finished winning a universe point game over Iowa on the field next to us. Unfortunately for us, the adjacent field happened to be perpendicular to the one we'd just played on and the wind, which had been crossfield in the Kansas game, was now upwind-downwind and had increased to constant gale force levels.

The game started great for us as we worked it upwind on offense and put in our first score. We then capitolized on it and scored the downwind break to go up 2-0. However, Washington ran off three straight points to take the lead. After getting another set of breaks (up and downwind), they ended up taking half 7-4.

Out of half, we put a score in, but couldn't stop them from scoring with the wind. We scored upwind again, but didn't convert the downwind break and our O-line got broken on the final point of the game.

Ultivillage was there to film this game, but after playing it I can't say that there was much I want to watch again. Tommy had a sick grab (pretty standard for him) as well as a Callahan on a floaty throw, but I can't think of any other plays that were highlight-worthy.

Virginia, 8-4

After a bye where I got to catch up with Chris, Bill and Kalgin, we got to play Virginia (who had won the ACC championships two weeks earlier). Virginia had pulled the big upset of the tournament earlier that day by beating Wisconsin 10-8 (turned out to be less of a big deal as Washington would beat them and they would finish the weekend with four or five losses). We were on the same field where we'd lost to Washington and the game looked like it was going to be very similar in terms of strategy.

The difference in this game was that we played hard on both sides of the disc.
The O-line did a great job this game and didn't give up an upwind break. The D-line managed to score upwind twice, both times filled with some great plays. Trahey made an absolutely disgusting grab to score the first of the two breaks when he pulled down a floaty throw from Knute that was meant for me. After taking half 7-4, we scored the first point upwind on an upline flick from me to Peter (twice, first one got called back on an "up/down" call) to finish the game and secure the win.

Afterwards, we watched Florida beat Wisconsin 7-6 in a call-fest. Brodie Smith is a fantastic athlete, but their entire team seems designed to stroke his ego (Berendes coined the term "Florida Brodie Fellatio" to describe their team strategy). In order to beat them, you need to be able beat their four-man cup and you need to stop their deep 50-50s. We'll see if it happens.

Saturday

We show up at the fields to zero wind and consistently inconsisent rain. The temperature was a little lower than it had been on Friday, but it was still decent.

Florida, 5-11

Florida had a boner check before the game even started, but it didn't help them much as our all-star line punched in a break on the first point. We held our lead until 3-2 when Florida scored the point and then got the break back to take the lead 3-4. At that point, Florida went on a 1-7 run until the cap sounded. Berendes made a nice sky to score the point and end the suffering.

Florida didn't play any of the zone we'd seen the day before (either because it wasn't windy or because they didn't think it was necessary) and for the first couple points our offense looked very crisp against their man defense. We thought they might change defenses, but they stuck to man and ended up trouncing us. On offense, they put up lots of hucks and 50-50s and probably pulled down about that percentage. To set up their hucks they used a lot of quick handler passes and low break backhands. When we were able to shut those down, they would simply jack it and hope they came down with it. Unfortunately, we didn't score on their turns when they made them and it cost us.

Ethan made some great plays on offense, including two sick grabs, one for the score. Schwartz and Peter made great cuts all game and were consistently open. Guenther had a sick layout D on an upline cut. Vivek played way above his height when guarding a 6'4" dude and D'ing him up twice.

Coming in, we knew they had a reputation for calls and unforunately, it was deserved. There were a handful of borderline foul calls, but what was worse was the way they approached the discussions. Will threw a great upline backhand to Max called back on a travel. When he called out his marker for not possibly seeing his foot, the guy simply replied "Travel" and stopped talking to him.

Oh yeah...the cheating. Trahey made an upline cut and literally had his jersey grabbed and yanked backward. Schwartz had an unmarked huck stopped by a trailing defender locking arms with him. The worst occurred when Borg watched a pull land out of bounds and Windham, the Florida coach, started yelling loudly that it was in. He was forty yards away and Borg was standing over the disc. When Borg placed the disc down to demonstrate where it landed, the dude claimed it was a turnover. Finally, when Borg proceeded to pace off the brick, the entire Florida sideline got in his way and tried to prevent him from pacing it off. Add in calling a phantom call while we were in goal line defense and I felt completely legit with not shaking his hand at the end of the game.

If it sounds like I didn't like this game, that's because I really didn't.

Claremont, 12-10

We followed up the Florida game with a game against the much nicer Claremont Braineaters. Our offense continued their trend of getting broken about as often as they scored. Thankfully, our defense stepped up in a big way this game. The O-line ended a nice D-line run giving up a break to go in to half on serve 6-7.

After half, we stopped fucking around and scored the O point. Unfortunately, they scored and got the break again to take the lead 7-9. Our D-line finally turned it on we ran off four straight to take the lead 11-9. However, we couldn't hold the Braineaters from scoring before the cap went on, which forced us to score in order to win the game. After a couple misfires, we managed to punch it in and win the game.

I had a nice poach D and a run-through that got called back on a foul. Sadly, the game ended with a little controversy when I called a foul on a backhand break to Berendes. My mark had moved over to block the backhand, but I don't believe he was stationary. Had it happened prior to the last point, no one would've cared, but it cast a little shadow on our victory.

Iowa, 11-4

After a bye where the weather turned sour again (it had cleared up briefly during the Claremont game) and none of us really wanted to get out of the cars. Iowa seemed to have the same mindset, particularly since their tournament wasn't going as well as their shocking upset victory at Warm Up. It was wet, shitty and the field was a mud pit and yet, we came out PUMPED.

Starting on defense, we scored three straight breaks. Iowa was a pretty big team, but somehow they could't connect on their deep throws and definitely couldn't get open on their unders. They finally score to stop the run (on a point where we had a chance to continue breaking) and then manage to break the O-line. After we scored and got the defense back on the field, the game was over. Our defense was the best I'd ever seen it (except for a brief stretch in a game coming up soon) and we took half with three more breaks. Iowa put in a couple, but mostly we rolled.

It was really muddy and wet, so miscues happened, but lady luck seemed to be on our side. Or to quote Napoleon, "fortune...favors the bold." I had to layout to catch a hammer from Berendes that ended up being released sixty feet straight up. I had my own problems when I shanked a high release backhand huck to Jeff that ended up going forty yards downfield AND about forty feet up in the air. Nick saved my ass by catching the rebound. Berendes managed to overthrow a lasered flick to one of Trahey's rare deep cuts only to be saved when Alex elevated like whoa and tore the disc out of the sky. Schwartz also went airborne to try and save a hammer from Tommy and managed to get taken out in the process. After the foul was contested, the same play got repeated and Schwartz showed off by nailing the grab.

Our D had nothing to do with luck, however. Nick had a picture perfect full extension layout that was just short of a block. Knute went ho and got the full extension bid after having one of his Ds called back. Hagan had a couple sick Ds including a great poach block (I had one, too) that he knocked down on the goal line. Should've been a Callahan. All in all, lots of plays with our feet and the end result was a rout.

Sunday

We'd gone 2-1 each day to compile an overall record of 4-2. Unfortunately, Florida was 5-1 (their only loss to Carleton) so we had no chance of making the championship bracket. Even so, there was a palpable energy on the sideline. We'd already outperformed most people's expectations and we hadn't found our ceiling yet. Plus, we had a rematch with a team we'd crushed at CCC.

Illinois, 13-12

This team was better than the one we'd played at CCC. But, we were better than we were at CCC. Unfortunately for both teams, that improvement wasn't always evident on the field. The game started off fine with the D-line putting in a break and the O-lines trading to 3-2. Then the O-line got broken twice to make it 3-4. After we punched it in, the D-line got back to work and got two straight breaks to take the lead again 6-4.

Unfortunately, the O-line managed to get broken twice and Illinois ran off three straight to take half 6-7. After half, we had a small run that got us the lead 8-7, but then we self-destructed and gave up four straight points to their defense. This left us trailing 11-8 with eight minutes until hard cap came on.

And somehow, we began to play fucking inspired. Schwartz got the O-line off the field with a sick point block on an Illinois huck and then a nasty toe drag on the back line on an OI flick from Borg. This put the D on the field and we didn't leave until we had the lead 12-11. I guarded #12 on Illinois who called a throwing foul EVERY TIME he threw the disc (even when I didn't touch him). I may have yelled at him during the point, a lot...repeatedly. Thankfully, I managed to D the shit out of him on a dump cut at 11-11 and force the turn. Hagan got a layout, Cameron got two (w00t!) and suddenly, we're in the lead and the cap still hasn't come on.

The D-line finally gives up a score to tie the game at 12-12. Hard cap is on so the next point is universe. We put in our all-star line and worked the field. I catch the final goal from B-des on an OI flick that Hagan also could have grabbed. Duke wins.

This was a great game for our morale considering we dug ourselves a hole and managed to climb back out of it with an emphatic defensive stand. The game ended with a 5-1 run. If the key to success is learning to win close games, this was a huge step for us and we did it on the play of our entire roster, not just our studs.

Wisconsin, 5-15

Of course, because Florida was in our pool, we were excluded from the championship bracket and instead were shunted into a four-team mini-bracket for an undisclosed final placing. Our first game was against Wisconsin, last year's national champions. They'd been having a rough weekend with lots of close (and some not so close) losses, but we did not take advantage of any supposed weakness.

During the bye between this game and the Illinois game, the wind had picked up significantly and to make matters worse, we again were playing on a field that was upwind-downwind. It was also the muddiest field we played on all weekend. Add in the fact that many of our best players were hurting from the long weekend and this game did not feature our best play.

Those are all excuses, but the fact is that we just didn't execute in this game. Wisconsin managed to score upwind five times and we got zero upwind breaks even though we managed to get the disc within 10 yards of the upwind endzone four times! I managed to barely underthrow a wide-open Charlie who missed the bid. Berendes's throw to a fully horizontal Knute doinked off his fingers. Etc. Etc. Wisco's four man cup was particularly effective against us in the weather as we were forced to go over the top and the weather made that particularly difficult.

Even so, there were a couple highlights. Early in the game, Berendes skied Foster on a Trahey huck to set up one of the aforementioned scoring opportunities. I threw a forty yard downfield hammer to B-des that he snatched out of Pat's hands. Most impressively, Jeff G got a SICK layout D on an incut to set up one of our final scores. Unfortunately, Wisconsin made way more highlight reel type catches and they took the game convincingly.

While waiting to find out if we had another game, Nick's parents provided us all with tacos. Unfortunately, I only got one of them (stupid Peter...) as I volunteered to find out if we had another game. Thirty minutes later (and twenty minutes into the final round) we were switched from a rematch against Claremont to play Whitman, who was just as late getting to our field as we were.

Whitman, 6-3

Whitman had made a name for themselves the previous year at TiV. Unfortunately, they didn't look to be having the same level of success this year. The wind was still wreaking havoc with throws, but at least on our new field it was crossfield.

To say that both teams looked unexcited to play would be an understatement, but we both took the field and made a couple of plays. Whitman relies A LOT on quick handler passes (particularly the high release backhand break) and due to the wind they couldn't corral all of them. They also liked to huck a lot for a team that wasn't particularly tall.

We scored the first point on offense and then scored a break before they put a goal in. We scored again and got another break to grab a 4-1 lead. At this point, hell points began. The next two points, both Whitman scores, took approximately thirty minutes and left everyone on the field exhausted. When Whitman finally put the break in, it was time for the all-star line to go out and make sure that the game didn't end up a loss.

After a couple turns, we punched it in and hard cap goes on to guarantee us the win. We agree to play the last point anyway and a mostly rookie line consisting of Jeff G, Charlie, Cameron, Nick, Wade, Venters and Trahey punch it in and give us the double-up. Only real highlights of the game were Trahey huge OI backhand hucks that he was putting both ways to Berendes and Knute for scores. Also, Nick played some great ultimate including shutting down Whitman's stud, Jeremy Norden, for a series.

After basking in our 6-3 record and warming down/stretching out, most of us headed over to watch the finals between Colorado and Florida. Colorado had taken a universe point win over Carleton and it had either effected them physically or mentally as they went down 8-3 at half. They managed to make a comeback in the second half, but lost a capped game 13-11 even though cap had gone on at 12-6 and Mamabird scored the last point. The Florida win was made slightly palatable by the fact that Schwartz and Tommy, who had disappeared immediately after our Whitman game, reappeared mid-finals with a truckload of In-N-Out burgers for the whole team to enjoy.

Overall:
6-3

I thought this weekend was a statement from our team. We played at a relatively consistent level all weekend and only lost games to both of last year's national finalists and an upstart Washington team, all three losses coming in terrible weather games. Our defense is significantly improved over the fall and ACCs, but our offense (and particularly our O-line defense) needs work. The weekend left us with a lot to work on and a great base to improve upon. Ignoring the hate on RSD (although we do appreciate the motivation), I feel good about where we are and very excited for the rest of the season.

The rest of the trip was a nice coda. A number of us went out Sunday night and I technically lost money playing blackjack (big winner was Vivek with his roulette magic). On the way home, we had a long layover in Denver where I won at Egyptian Rat Screw and enjoyed some great airport burritos and TCBY frozen yogurt. Glad to be home, but memories of the weekend are sticking with me. Good job Brimstone.