For the crotchety old crank in all of us...

My favorite website of the moment. Enjoy, but keep the volume down you damn hooligans!

www.ihateyoungpeople.com


"Why do you pierce your nose? I've got allergies. I can't imagine having a runny nose with piercings."

NW Plains Sectionals

This past weekend was the first step of the real season. I'm of course talking about the Badgers defeat of the Hawkeyes and the start of their Big Ten football schedule.

Sectionals were played in Delafield at the Milwaukee Polo Club fields, where when you think about it, we've played a whole load of tournaments there as they hold Cooler, Sectionals, and Regionals there over the years. 14 teams and 3 bids left us with a 4 pool into semi's mish-mash (maybe a preview of regionals?). We were in a pool with Goose Egg and the second best college team out of Northfield, MN (aka CUT) with games to 17. We cruised in both games, only allowing 6 against CUT and 5 against Goose. High points from the games:
1) My CUT defender seemingly trying to prevent my around by bowling into my knees, me taking exception, calling foul, shoving him to the ground and throwing a push-pass blade at him (without any intention of hitting him). What can I say? I'm very conscious of others hurting my knees as I've put a lot of money into them. (He had tripped and apologized to me).
2) CK taking the Goldstein mantle and controlling arguments with opposing teams and making fun calls to annoy the other team.
3) Beast Master lay out D's for Goose Egg against CUT. That kid may be skinnier than Timmy, but you gotta feed the beast.
4) Lagging as a team against Goose Egg, the game reaching 5-5, then reeling off 12 points in a row enroute to a double oat bag.

Semi's were against Ding Wop. Our D line came out firing, and we essentially won the game shortly after it started. 15-5. Sunday finals were against Frontline (Madison), and they seemed to be as psyched out as Ding Wop was, making bad throwing mistakes and decisions. We win 15-4 and keep Dan Heijmen's Sectional title streak rolling.

Overall, I think the loss to Goat in the finals of CHC may have been a goood wake-up call for us. We played much more relaxed and that allowed us to bring a much higher intensity on D. This team operates well under much different conditions that Sub Zero's past. We can do the "intense yelling" thing to get us motivated but seem to perform better under more relaxed almost fun attitudes than when we are very pissed.

There's been some discussions about lifting versus technique in ultimate in the blogs and RSD. While throwing technique is paramount, after playing more with the likes of Shane Hohenstein, Will Lokke, and Muffin, no one is going to convince me that a good weights program won't take your game to the next level.

Favorite moment of the weekend that made me laugh besides Pat Baylis getting lost and making CUT almost miss the start of our first game:
Poodle Club (Mixed Carleton currents and alums) playing Flaming Moe, Leon going after a deep throw, and a Moe woman gets in his way as she runs for the disc too. Without her there, Leon definitely gets to the disc for a score. So what does Leon do? Calls the foul. I've never seen such shock and disdain at a call before from the Moe side.

CHC

I'm sure if I wrote these recaps within a couple days of the actual tourney, I probably would remember more (unless I could remember every point I ever played in). Therefore I rely on a spotty memory and the UPA Score Reporter...

San Diego United (mostly UCSD players) and Mad Hatters games were the first two of the day and went through without any hitches. PoNY was the third game of the day, with Masulis only fulfilling the "coach" section of his player/coach responsibilities. Obviously BVH is their player, and a good one at that. As would be a preview of a few other teams playing us throughout the weekend, they held tough through the first half before relenting in the second 12-8.

Going 3-0 in our pool led to two power pool games to round out the day. First, Madcow is an improved team and could make a push for a Nationals spot (and thus the opportunity to win the E. Pig Game). We didn't struggle against them, but it was certainly a chippy game from the outset (which from what I heard from other teams, was a common occurrence with Madcow throughout the tourney). During one series of ticky tack calls by one player on Shane, the cuddliest Hodag proceeded to back down the (rightfully) frightened Madcow player and flip his hat off his head. Madcow players flipped, tempers flared, and after the point was done, everyone apologized and was fine. BAT was next and this game held close to point-for-point until we pulled out a couple breaks in the second half to win 12-10. Undefeated on the day.

Everyone's favorite blogging personalities were on hand for the VBB-Zero matchup on Sunday morning. As I've said before, VBB will always play up against us. Just like playing against the Packages during winter indoor tournaments, there is something about the matchup that they relish. As well as they typically do against us, VBB seem to struggle against the other top 4 teams in the region, and are going to have to prove they can play up to other teams, too.

Semi's brought Machine, another tight first half, and then a second half drubbing by our D-line. To this point in the weekend, the O-line hadn't been broken more than once in a row (insert ominous foreboding feeling here). As anticipated, we faced Goat in the finals. They were running a smaller roster than the rest of the open teams, but are just past the peak of the CUC season (and show it). They have three or four of the 6'4" or taller players with good deep throws (specifically to each other). This was mostly an upwind-downwind game with Goat collecting only a break or two here and there. We were getting turns but weren't handling the disc well after the turns. Eventually the breaks added up and their deep game continued to be spot on, taking finals 14-10 and the free 5-Ultimate jerseys (it should be noted that 5 created a WUCC style players lounge area with couches and coffee tables, very excellent setup!).

We're on to Sectionals next weekend. I may actually complete a couple existing drafts that I have kicking around about refs in ultimate as well as the big-fish/small-pond corollary to Timmy's old post.