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

Pre-Thanksgiving

This week was our final week of outdoor practice. Now that the fall is over, I'm hoping that we'll see a little more dedication from our returners. The team is going to be doing a lot of winter conditioning, but I get two weeks off to see my family and let my body heal. Gotta be ready come spring. In other news, work sucks and has piled up. After I finish my law school apps (soon...), finish my thesis and manage to graduate, maybe I can sleep.

Currently Reading:
Confessor by Terry Goodkind
King of the Murgos by David Eddings

On the iPod:
Eyes Open by Snow Patrol

Post Tourney

Crappy tournament. A combination of injuries (including a captain on the first point of the first game), people bagging Sunday and just all-around bad play left us 1-5, though we still managed to get 10th. I played okay: decent pulls, a couple nice hucks (back and fore), lots of cutting. Played 55/57 points on Sunday (damn Matt Cheng who went 56/57), which made for a crappy Monday. I miss my team...maybe they'll be healthy sometime soon.

Currently Reading:
First Rider's Call by Kristen Britain

On the iPod:
Songs for Silent Movies by Something Corporate

Random Thoughts

Tournament this weekend at Delaware. Should be a good time, though I don't think we're going to have a full-strength squad (which should be the tagline for the fall this year...). We're in an interesting pool with Penn, Delaware and Boston College; three teams I've never played while on Clockwork. Add in a match against Rutgers and it should be a good day of ultimate. I honestly don't know if we'll go 0-4 or 4-0, though the second would require a lot more luck.

Currently Reading:
Dragonflight by Anne McCaffery

On the iPod:
CK's Mix

A couple months late, a couple months in...

Lots of stuff happening in my life right now, not much of it blog-worthy. Since there was little blog-worthy to begin with, I guess I just got lazy. Now that the focus of my life is off LSATs and applications and back to research and frisbee, maybe I'll post a little more often.

Currently Reading:
The Old Kingdom Trilogy by Garth Nix

On the iPod:
The Shade of Poison Trees by Dashboard Confessional

Smorgasbord

Had Pike practice this morning in Philadelphia. I caught a ride with Mutton, who isn't playing due to his wrist. I kind of wish I had his excuse because I played somewhere between poor and terrible. Had a drop in the endzone, multiple throwaways, and I got skied twice by Dusty in the endzone (even though he's giving up ~5 inches to me). I played timid; I don't know if it was the heel (which still hurt) or some other factor, but I wasn't there.

After practice, scarfed down the remaining Chicken Alfredo from Zorba's brother and caught a bus to Market Faire to see Ratatouille with Rachel. I don't know how Pixar keeps putting out success after success, but it's really good. Great animation, subtle and intelligent comedy, an outstanding performance by Peter O'Toole, it's got a lot going for it. It's not as good as Brad Bird's other films; The Iron Giant and The Incredibles are both better, but it's very satisfying and it left me VERY hungry.

After the movie, we hit up Stupalooza. Besides the idiocy of Mutton playing Robo with a damaged wrist, the party was pretty awesome all-around. Rachel and I skipped out a little early and apparently missed the REAL craziness, but I think I'm okay with that. Happy 21st Stu.

Today's Workout:
Pike Practice

On the iPod:
Silent Alarm by Bloc Party

She Comes...

Rachel's coming down tonight, which should be a good time. A lot of stuff is happening this weekend: Pike, Stupalooza, Ratatouille opening; hopefully we get to attend/enjoy it all. Should be a good time no matter what.

Heel still hurts, but it's feeling a little better. I need to stop using it as an excuse not to work out.

Today's Workout:
Rest Day

On the iPod:
Chroma by Cartel

Lightning-ed Out...

Had draft league again tonight. The heel didn't feel great, but I figured that I should at least try since my draft team needs me more than the Illuminati do. I had bought some new insoles to replace what was left of the originals, but due to the apparent preponderance of shin splints the only insoles I could find were massively insulated and didn't fit worth a damn. It was intermittently raining at the fields and by the time the lightning rolled around (along with a lot more rain) we were up 10-4 or so and I had had enough of playing. We won due to weather and I couldn't decide whether to curse the heavens for the weather or thank the Gods for getting me off the field.

Perhaps this is just a geographic thing, but on reflection I can remember only a handful of tournaments that I've played in college in inclement weather. Ignoring wind, it seems that significantly bad weather usually gets tournaments cancelled (exceptions: Salisbury freshman year, Rutgers-Sectionals sophomore year) in the tri-state area. However, my first two tournaments in AK were held in bad weather and I've heard of a number of tournaments on the west coast that almost advertise their bad weather. I talked briefly to Meredith about this and she thought that fields were cared for more frequently (re-sodded, maintained) on the west coast. Then why the hell aren't fields on this coast cared for? Having tournaments rescheduled/moved is frustrating and problematic for teams and tournament directors. Perhaps securing better fields with better funding should be a primary concern of the UPA.

Today's Workout:
Mercer Draft League (abbreviated)

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

Ouch

I didn't go to A league tonight, mainly because my heel is still throbbing. Took a long nap instead, which capped off an uneventful and boring day. When your life is work, frisbee, sleep and you cut one of them out due to physical limitation, you don't have much to talk about. Unless someone wants to hear about HDMR and its fascinating optimal polynomial functions, I'm signing off.

Today's Workout:
Rest Day

On the iPod:
Zoo by Anadivine

Sun shining through the clouds...

I played a decent game of ultimate tonight, probably my best of the summer. I covered Goose, Lehigh's ex-captain, pretty much all night and felt like I contained him. I had some good grabs in the air and felt good pretty much all-around. Sadly, I bruised my heel at the end of the half and it's currently reminding me that I kept playing.

We didn't have any women, which meant we had to play a man down, but the other team allowed us to play 7 men on offense, which helped significantly. We also managed to break them while playing a man down. Eventually, we co-opted a random passerby into playing with us and besides her complete inexperience, we went on to dominate.

Hopefully the heel doesn't keep me from A league tomorrow.

Today's Workout:
MCUDL Draft league

Currently Reading:
Mists of Avalon by MZ Bradley

On the iPod:
Good Apollo I'm Burning IV: Part One by Coheed and Cambria

Team Defense vs. Individual Glory

Over the last two seasons, I've seen our team improve significantly on defense. Particularly compared to my freshman year, we play significantly harder and force more turns. At the same time, we haven't reached anything near great defense. I think part of this lies in our philosophy.

We often talk about "winning" individual match-ups. In pregame talks, we tell people to "beat" their men to the disc. However, even if you are more athletic, more skilled, or more good-looking, you won't always be able to do this. Positioning, situations (particularly fast breaks), and dumb luck constantly allow comparatively slower or weaker players to get the disc. This isn't an insult to our players, it's simply the truth about a game that is heavily weighted towards the offensive team.

Great defense is not seven individual's "winning" their match-ups. There are a host of small, important details that separate seven glory-minded players from a hard-nosed defensive team. If we want to win games at big tournaments and at regionals, we need to incorporate these elements.

Thinking about our last season, our deep defense was never particularly strong. Our dump defense wasn't particularly effective and we often got beat on the open side. While we did play strong defense against weak teams (a difference from previous years), we couldn't hold that same intensity against stronger teams (GDub, Pitt).

The failure of an individual-centric defensive philosophy is its lack of trust. On defense, trust between teammates is essential because it evens the playing field between offender and defender and allows individuals an even chance to "win" their match-ups.

Simple things like holding forces (NOT reaching for the point block), utilizing the mark as a method of dump defense, and calling switches to prevent deep throws require trust and unselfishness between teammates.

On defense, it doesn't matter how many blocks you get or how many in-cuts you cover. If the other team scores, you failed. Period. We need to approach defense with a chip on our shoulders. We need to be just as happy when a teammate gets a block as when we do. GDub once described their team strategy as blue-collar defense. We play too much white-collar defense, relying on ourselves over our teammates. We need to be smash-mouth, hard-nosed defenders, but we also need to be a team. I think the only thing holding us back is desire, a willingness to be part of a team.

I'm fucking excited for next season, are you?

Today's Workout:
Shoulder Rehab
Pike Core Workout

Currently Reading:
Mists of Avalon by MZ Bradley (on hiatus)
Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind

On the iPod:
Greatest Hits by Bob Dylan

Boston, Day Two

Day two of the sideline adventure. Pike had three games against Truck Stop (who had lost to GOAT the previous day to finish 2nd in their pool), Zebra Muscles and the Van Buren Boys (apparently the men from CLX, a pretty iconic mixed team; their women also played under the name "Small Rackages").

Again, no recaps. Suitable ones can be found at Dusty's blog (Boston, Day Two) and scores can be seen on the UPA score reporter (Boston Invitational).

The team had the same problems as Saturday; too many turnovers, miscommunications, sluggish early play and the complete and utter inability to score on D. Hilarious that moving from college to club reveals the same problems in the same areas. At times we looked strong and at times we looked incompetent, hopefully it's just early season play.

I got to play one point on defense, which was definitely the most stressful two minutes of my weekend. My man didn't touch the disc, but we got scored on without forcing a turn. Made me have some thoughts about defense (will discuss further on Monday).

At the end of the tourney, caught a ride back with Dono and his wife. We were joined by Dan Yi and Emily (Wicked), which turned the once-spacious backseat into a rather cramped experience. One car ride later and there are now funny pictures of me asleep along with the knowledge that my iPod nano and Dono's 10k song monster have ~10 songs in common (either I have obscure musical taste or he does, I'm going with me...). Good weekend.

Today's Workout:
Boston Invitational, Day Two

On the iPod:
Dizzy Up the Girl by Goo Goo Dolls (the only common songs...)

Boston, Day One

The first day of Boston was a lot of fun. Pike played four games against Medicine Men, PoNY (with ex-Pike and Princeton alumnus Bailey Russell), Boston and New Noise. The sideline wasn't as fun as playing, but it was a nice experience being a "partial" observer while being part of the team.

I'm not going to recap each game individually. Decent recaps can be found on Dusty's blog (Boston Invitational, Day One) and scores can be seen on the UPA score reporter (Boston Invitational).

I think most of the team feels that Pike underperformed at the tournament. From my perspective, I saw a lot of chemistry and mental problems relative to other teams. PoNY, in particular, looked to have a lot of trust between their players and this definitely proved crucial to their upset of Boston and going 3-0 in the pool. Particularly on defense, we had numerous turnovers on dumps/swings/poor deep throws, all of which rely on trust/chemistry between teammates.

While the O line had similar problems early in the tournament, they seemed to mesh moreso than the D as the tournament progressed. I would say they were also more effective integrating newer players (Mutton, Perry, Art), which is probably due to their tighter rotation. The team brought 20-some D players, but seemed to be playing all of them equally or half in a tight rotation. I think this hurt any chemistry that was developing.

A large portion of the team went to Applebee's for dinner. Results: Foss may be one of the funniest guys I know, my ID appears to work even though it LOUDLY states "Under 21" and is expired and Perry needs to keep a tighter watch on his french fries. After watching some "Deadliest Catch" and explaining that I didn't know anyone on the show, the bed was pretty sweet.

Today's Workout:
Boston Invitational

On the iPod:
Magnificient City Instrumentals by Rjd2