|
2009 Olympia Co-Ed Traveling Team |
Especially for the recap fairy (hereinafter r.f.), who is no fan of the a.m., Logjam had inauspicious beginnings, with a pickup time of a quarter to way too early. But much like a family reunion with a solid supply of beer, O's day got much better as it went on.
Our first game against Possum was the equivalent of chatting with our Aunt Maureen about her latest colonoscopy. Not that there weren't some fine moments. We matched the flea-infested rodents for the first four points, including a hammer from Beth to Molly for a score. The recap fairy swears that Beth waited for stall-9 on purpose. Then we actually ran that "vertical stack" we so often talk about, and Ian hammered one to Andrew cutting out of the stack, who hit Molly long. Now that r.f. does the math, looks like Molly had at least half the O points in the contest. She wore her "i'm intensely displeased and i'm going to make something happen now" face for the only O score of the second half. Just a little 6-15 warm-up.
The next one against Pleistocene Supernova was too close to call early on. The D line had 4 of the first 6 points (ha!), in one of which Pam cut long up the line and broke the field wide open for a Will-to-fairy score to tie it at 5's. Liam showed up (literally, just in time for game 2) with his customary layout D, this time diving into a pile of freshly mowed Estacada hay. Ian had a mile-wide outside-in backhand that Molly snagged low to make it 7-6. Pleistocene threw a zone, and O flowed right through it. Jimmy had a crisp cut on the home-side wing and sent it immediately to Molly, who was waiting patiently by herself in the corner. 8-6 at half. Then Andrew dropped the pull. In his defense, it was very blade-y. (Don't punish him; he has already punished himself--and his hat--enough). Too bad it was a sign of things to come. Pleistocene persisted with their dirty-ass-permanent-double-team-we-don't-care-what-you-or-your-stupid-sideline-says zone. O chalked up its second 1-point half of the day. 9-11. Never a good number.
Then O went and sat in the shade and made self-deprecating jokes for a while. Ate some donuts with candy on top and drank tube-sock-covered beers for an hour. Didn't worry too much about anything, including the impending game against Tacoma. Jake used this time to discover that, yes, Beth and Pam are sisters.
In game 3, O went point-for-point with Tacoma for the first four . . . and the first eight . . . and the first 12. Gordon set the tone on the first possession when he, guarded by Mr. Rich Coker, fired off a half-field throw to Molly for a score. O's handlers were tenacious against Tacoma's zone. Todd had some hot D and long run for bookends. Andrew, inner tiger unleashed by his rivals to the North, laid out at full throttle. Jon pulled out a footblock and a deep D on in the same point and exclaimed, "I love Double D's!" (tell r.f. something she doesn't know). After half, Gordon grabbed a Liam put over a fast little defender to make it 9-8. Todd heaved a half-field hammer to Erica for a score. 10-8. Gordon connected with Pam's sister. 11-10. Ian capitalized on Rich's poach for a score. 12-11. Jimmy had insane cuts all game, setting up a good handful of the points just mentioned. In the end, Jake hauled in Will's long backhand to make it 16-14, and the first O victory against Tacoma in a long-ass time.
|
The captains started the last game against PenFifteen with O's new starting lineup tunnel. (Picture Jon, backed by boom-boxed "Dancing Queen", red in the face, and shouting, WWF-announcer style, " ...he used to have really cool hair and now it just looks normaaaaal..." for Gordon, or "...his mom's a huge whoooore..." for Todd). Kathy showed 'em who was boss early with a poached D, then a hot endzone D two points later. Jimmy bought himself D-assist bookends, knocking one down, catching the ensuing huck on the goal line, and throwing to Molly for the score. Liam and Gordon had a geoduck love fest: Liam broke the cup, upline to Gordon, back to Liam for a hat-losing layout catch, back to Gordon for the score. Spencer hit r.f. for a hay-gathering score (see picture), and caught one himself shortly thereafter (hotly contested. . .after the fact (by that Napoleonic pen15 guy)). The crowd-pleaser of the game was Will long to Andrew to Beth for a belly flop deluxe in the endzone. 13-8, O. |
 |
 |
 |
Then we won the party. Even if we didn't close down the dance floor, we sure as hell burned it up, thanks to Kathy and Liam, the flannel-and-questionable-hat-wearing party shenanigans* duo. Todd won the margarita contest for the second year running, this time with a carefully crafted pomegranate Olyrita. It's the water! Meanwhile, Ian and Spencer (a wickets rookie!) won the whole damn wickets tournament.
*Ask Jon for the definition of "shenanigans."
 |
 |
In the morning, we had a chance to up-end Mystic Goo (a Moonshine/Coltrane combo) and came damn close. Cynthia joined us to fill the hole created by Beth and Erica's departure. Jake rescued a well-defended blade in the endzone. Emily threw Molly a nice little flick with honey for a score. With the game at 7-6, Mystic Goo took advantage of the special Logjam rule allowing 2 points for a cross-gender upside-down score from over half field (couldn't they have made it at least a bit difficult?). Nicely played by the Goo. . . and it turned out to be the game winner. We battled all the way through the second half, with the O line holding them off for about five minutes on their own goal line. Andrew hit Gordon for the widest open score ever. And Jake threaded the needle to Spencer for a grin-producer. In the end, the hard cap cut us off at 12-13. Damn creative rulemaking.
With no official games left to play, O still wasn't done. We tracked down Rowboat and challenged them to a Wenatchee grudge rematch (or just a fun game in the sunshine . . . after it stopped raining like hell). Levi put on his aggressive long cut pants for a nice point. Jake, in a stroke of disability-accommodating brilliance, made eye contact with the fairy (her hearing aids were hiding from the rain) and improvised sign language that couldn't be mistaken for anything other than "T stack on you right now." Will to r.f. to Jake for the score. Spencer snagged one in the back corner off of an endzone L stack. R.f. D'd the hell out of Liam's banana peel on the sideline. The handlers wrote the manual on the hurricane play. Hannah got herself some extra sweet bookends with a snazzy D and a put from Will. Todd D'ed Levi for a score to make it 14-5 ("If you can catch it, it was to you," explained Todd). And Jon finished things off with a huck to the Hanimal for a game-ending layout.
Last game's spirit game photos (on Facebook)
The captains handed out awards-- one to Gordon for having 53 zillion things worth mention in the recap, and one to the fairy herself for who-knows-what (perhaps for falling face-up out of the ez-up tent just as her teammates were clearing the excess rainwater off the roof). Then we trooped over for the traditional playground team picture.
A crew of the faithful lobbied to watch our old friend Jeremy Clark and his new and nameless Portland team in the finals. Much to Will's chagrin, the majority were wooed by the thought of immediate Burgerville milkshakes. Those we did find, along with burgers, fries, and good conversation. Another good weekend with good folks. Back for more at Potlatch! T minus 4 days!
"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."
