|
2008 Olympia Co-Ed Traveling Team |
This is a long recap because it was an epic 3-day tournament on and off the field. I think it's well worth the read though. Sorry if I forgot something ... it was a lot of info.
Statistics
60 Acres, 33 Frisbee Fields, 3 days, 9 games, 13 men, 8 women, 2 song circles, 3 guitars, 4 players whose parents visited, 1 full-time groupie, 13 dancers (1 naked), 2 injuries (broken finger, busted heel), 6 wins, 3 losses, 1 billion laughs ...
We Love Universal Point
O won three games at universal point; one on each day. In game 3 on Friday against Magnum HI, a huck was thrown, by whom and to whom ... I don't know. Will and Beth sped to the endzone along with their defenders. Will jumped up to make a play on the disc causing a chain reaction of the two defensive players to follow his lead. The disc caught an air pocket just long enough to float right over all three of them and gracefully into Beth's hands as she stood just outside the play waiting patiently. The best part was the fact that Beth didn't know her catch won O the game because she thought the hardcap was such that Magnum HI had already won the game regardless of the outcome of the current point. Don't ask her how this can happen because her reply will be "I play every point like it's game point and so should you". And she's right! I believe it was Ian who later said, "We can blame Beth when we get put in a tough pool on Saturday" as our record for the day was 3-0. Sure enough, Ian was right too.
After two consecutive losses on Saturday to Couch Box and 7 Potatoes, SombrerO met their match with Chiquita from BC. I have asked 3 people if they remembered how this point went down and no one knows. So, if you know the story, and I'm sure it was awesome, please tell the people.
(Ian's note: We scored once on a scoober from Todd that was called back by a contested stall. We were about to score on a runaway give and go when the same guy called a travel. Can't remember the last (real) scoring play. That point lasted forever.)
The Saint Martin's Connection won SombrerO's final universal point on Sunday against Thunderhorse. Molly's parents were hanging out in the endzone, which is the best place to be if you want to catch a glimpse of Molly on the field. So many emotions are attached to universe point, desire probably being the biggest. There is nothing more great on universe point than watching Molly instinctively making a fast, deep cut for her buddy Paul who hucks a half-field forehand. Molly pulled the disc down right in front of her padres in the endzone. Desire then leads to ... relief. We did it and I am so glad to have those young bucks playing with O.
Outrageous O
I've already mentioned the speediness of Molly, but I also have to point out that that girl has perfected the give and go. There is no one else on the team who does it better than Molly, it's that simple. Watch her at pickup and learn.
It was fun to play Corey's Syracuse Alumni team, Couch Box, on Saturday. I mean, 100 teams at Potlatch ... what were the odds (actually, they were 1 in 99)? But really, it was particularly nice for me to meet all his college buddies (oooo, awwwe ... okay enough sappiness ... I wanted O to kick his ass!!). But, we didn't. They are just too damn tall and more athletic than us. O had the play of the game though. A throw was made to Molly in the endzone (I know, this recap is getting boring, enough about Molly), but she missed it somehow and Clint was right, freakin' there and the disc popped out of Molly's hands and deflected off Clint's foot, never hitting the ground, and bounced it back into Molly's hands for the score! Don't get me wrong, it was controversial and Couch didn't want to give it to us, but they did. Turns out, after Strategy Coordinator, Ian, took a closer look at 11th edition, a deflection like that is against the rules. Oops, sorry Couch Box, but it was pretty sweet.
(Ian's note: This just isn't true. I looked at the rules and found that intentional "macs" to another teammate when the disc gets advanced is a travel. This was in the end zone, so no advancement occurred, plus, it wasn't intentional. Score all the way, great job Clint.)
Fried Potatoes
Many, many people particularly enjoyed the 7 Potato game so I have to give it special recognition here. We were getting thrashed by the Potato's zone because we could not break their 4 person cup and the score was 0-8 at the half. We revamped our defensive strategy during halftime and decided to use 2 handlers, 4 wings, and 1 deep. I am proud of O for being able to modify on the fly. Will busted-ass popping in and around their cup and was able to completely break their zone on one point by working the give-and-go's towards the upwind side of the field and away from the zone. The modification proved to work and the second half score was 6-7. Special props go to Phil during this game because he worked it like a mo' fo, laying out for a score. His outrageous energy inspired the team to turn it around this game. Nice job O. I should mention here that the 7 potatoes went on to win the D pool on Sunday against Couch Box.
Daring D
Paul had 3 handblocks in one game and one of them was on Corey. After Paul handblocked Corey, bystanders claim that 5' 9'' Paul turned around to 6' 3'' Corey and said "What?" Defensive Captain Andrew had 3 handblocks this tournament ... a bit of a downer, but we'll take that guy gives us. I'm sure there were others ...
Kathy on Krack, Party Pam
The games on Saturday ended well after our universal point win on Chiquita. They gave us banana shots, which got the party ball rolling! After some chocolate milk and cool-down yoga led by the 7 Potatoes, Olympia pounded a few beers and headed for the showers before the heading to Redhook Brewery. And that's where the party actually began. When they got to the shower, Kathy and Beth had a nice little buzz while they waited in the shower line (which consists of a line of naked women) and Kathy started talking about Jay and Silent Bob and some song that goes "Who's got the blunt? You've got the blunt." And Kathy says, "Instead of saying blunt we can say, "Who's got the soap? You've got the soap. Pass the soap, pass the soap." But imagine, Kathy's dancing around, naked in the shower line while singing about the soap. I was rolling ... ROLLING!! From that point on, Kathy got dubbed "Naked Dancer", which proved to be highly valuable because Ian iso'ed Naked Dancer on Sunday and we got the score! That wasn't the only funny thing Kathy did all night. I left her for 5 minutes at the party and next thing I know she's getting a "Heart o' Life" tattoo painted on to her calf and a lizard on her stomach. What the ... ?? But, in the drunken stupor of the night, the Heart o' Life became an epic story about savior.
As if Kathy weren't enough ... Party Pam was in full effect!! That's right folks! We never know when or where we get to experience Party Pam, but she came out at Potlatch. After the party, we went back to the fields and were singing and dancing around the tents. Ian got out of his tent because he figured if you can't fight 'em, you might as well join' em. And thus, the strobe light dance party began. We played the cd we received from iRobots on the boom box and everyone wore their flashing headlamps and cut a rug. Pam walked around to other team's tents trying to recruit people to come to O's dance party. During the party on the fields, I also remember Jeremy being taken away on the top of a golf cart and we all waved and said goodbye to him as if he were being taken off by aliens ... we continued on with the dance party. Another highlight from Saturday night was 6 rolling trash cans going by and people laying out on them, which Corey and I confirmed was in fact, fun.
Cheers and Games
You wouldn't think it was possible, but O's cheers keep getting better and better with each tournament. At Potlatch, we brought a full ensemble of guitars, singers, drums, and hand-made maracas! Our songs varied from: I've Got Friends with Low Releases, 500 Hucks and many more hits. Special thanks go to Todd, Eric, and Lisa for making sure we had great cheers. Also, thanks to Jon for finding the bad-ass sombreros we wore all weekend. We had great gifts AND were well-protected from the sun. Brocc gets props for her call and response cheer that took us over by Sunday: "Hey, SombrerO! Oh, yea, SombrerO yea! Olympia, Olympia!"
Two of our favorite cheers from other teams were from iRobot and 7 Potatoes. iRobot had us participate in a great relay race with a partner (drink shot-ski, headspin, leapfrog, 3-legged race followed by flip-cup), which we lost at, but it was fun! 7 Potatos had 4 O volunteers relay race by drinking a bloody mary, clam, asparagus drink, eating a Kinder chocolate surprise, then putting together the toy inside. I believe Phil won, but Andrea gets props for being a vegetarian and drinking meat. Eewwwe.
Goodbyes
Potlatch 08 was the last tournament for three O players:
Bill, or Biel as we like to call him, has played in Olympia for about a year. He leaves Olympia in August for a teaching job in Alaska. This ends an era of making fun of Bill (and his mom) right to his face, but do not think for one moment that the Bill Jokes will die when he leaves; they will continue on as a part of Olympia Ultimate history forever. Biel is officially the Most Made Fun-of Player in the past 5 years -- thank you for entertaining us. This weekend, Bill was very open-minded to learning team strategy and seeking advice from Ian on how to improve his play. We will miss Biel and his slutty mom.
Phil is already a star in O's eyes, but after his big Grease debut this month in Tacoma, he's moving to the Big Apple to become a star there too. Phil (or Feel as we began calling him in our drunkenness) had his first tournament with us at Wenatchee 07. Phil is inspiring as a person and an ultimate player. After a terrible car accident last year where Phil lost two fingers from his throwing hand, he came back this season with more positive energy than ever and proved that he could throw an airbounce backhand with or without those fingers. At the end of the weekend, Phil sang a beautiful solo of "It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday", by Boyz II Men. We will miss Phil and his dance moves.
This was most likely, and very unfortunately, Jeremy's last tournament with Olympia. He and his family have decided to move to Portland where he is currently looking for a teaching job. Jeremy has played in Olympia for about 10 years so I am not the best person to give you the history on Jeremy. He is one of a handful of "Old School Players" left in Oly. But, I can tell you that I've heard of lots of great stories from when Jeremy, Santana, Chris, and Ted lived together back when Olympia actually had a party team. The truth is that we will never replace Jeremy. He is a unique, impact player that most of us wish we could be if only for one day. If we all could read a disc and pull it out of the sky half as good as Jeremy, we'd be rock stars. In recent years, Jeremy has put much effort into establishing youth ultimate in Olympia. We can't thank him enough for his dedication to Olympia Ultimate and we will miss him greatly.
Captain's Award Winners
The male player award goes to Jeremy for one last hoorah of hucks and lifetime achievement. The female player award goes to Party Pam. Despite how much she may have been hung over on Sunday, the girl rarely drops a pass, a quality that is critical for a handler. Pam also does an excellent job of resetting the disc as she reliably gets open for the dump. This tournament, Pam stepped it up on the D with 2 handblocks. This just goes to show how much Pam has improved her field sense and maximized her defensive positioning this year.
Molly, Andrea, Lisa, Pam, Broc, Erica, Kathy, Beth, Jeremy
Ian, Todd, Bill, Jon, Eric, Paul
Clint, Mike, Phil, Will, Andrew
Many, Many, More Highlights
Andrea ... making tons of deeps cuts for O. Erica ... driving all the way from California to play with us. Ron ... making an appearance on Friday. Eric ... making a sweet, long, inside out forehand for a score on Sunday. Santana ... making Beth look good by throwing a throw that she had to LAY OUT for. Ian ... snickering when he dropped the pull. Bill ... giving and going, which created a huck score to Andrea. Eric and Todd ... giving and going through a zone like it was their J-O-B. Erica ... throwing a beautiful backhand score on Sunday. Lisa ... keeping her throw in-bounds on Sunday. Todd ... singing the call and response song in the guitar circle (I loved that song).
No doubt, best tournament ever. Thanks to everyone for putting a lot of work into it, playing well, and having a ton of fun.
"Put your entire team in the spotlight. Thanks to them, you're able to experience a level of success that you wouldn't have been able to achieve on your own. Remember that when it's your turn to help one of them out."