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2011 Olympia Co-Ed Traveling Team |
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Cooper, Corey, Todd, Santana, Hannah, Will, Shannon, Pam (front row, kneeling) Andrew, Armand, Asher, Beth, Andrea, Mandy, Lisa |
In the middle of May, we headed to the Apple Capitol of the World with a handful of players new to O, a slim number of practices under our belts, and our fingers crossed. Then we stepped onto the field and scored on an all touch. Congratulations for that first point go to Armand, Asher, Beth, Pam, Lisa, Mandy, and Andrew. The recap fairy has nary seen anything so pretty. Then Todd scoobered to Andrew on stall 9 for the score, which was not pretty but got the damn job done. And Mandy, who is pretty, busted open the cup -- up and over to Andrew, who sent it long to Lisa. Also qualifying as pretty were Armand's sizable hammer to Corey (the reception, not so attractive), and Asher's layout D in the endzone. The score was pretty close, 10-13 to a talented bunch of folks from Missoula/Idaho/Spokane.
O marched on with sodden shoes to battle Desert Lorax from the Tri Cities to 5-4. Then Pam absconded deep for a huck from Will. 6-4. Todd's layout rescue kept things rolling, and Andrew's layout rescue provided pure entertainment. The fairy won't try to improve on Mike Santana's impeccable description: "Andrew, you looked like you got hit in the back of the head with a brick." (Go ahead, say it like you're a puerto rican from the bronx.) Mike, on a roll himself, then declared that no one should remotely expect him to throw deep. That's when Will caught a Lorax huck and fed Mike, who hit Shannon* long for a score. Mike then put up a seriously beautiful forehand to Corey on the next point. The fairy is marginally ashamed to admit that she actually noted that the disc reminded her of a hummingbird in flight. Cooper finished things off, receiving a sparrow-like IO from Will. 13-7, Oly.
*Shannon, cajoled at the last minute into joining us, pulled her hamstring early in paragraph 1. This score was all her little leg had left in it.
In game 3, we faced Eruption, the crew from Lisa's alma mater in Cheney. Lisa had a signature "oh look, I'm in. Tap." score for 3-4, and a not-so-polite handblock of an Eruption handler in the cup. Shannon tossed back Charles Shaw out of the bottle. Corey turned on the layout D machine. Shannon started a banana-peel abacus for scorekeeping purposes. Will had a layout snag and put it to his hannah banana for the score. 7-6. To take half against the zone, Todd and Santana worked a give-n-go and connected with Armand in the endzone. Shannon, down to 1/4 bottle of pinot, failed to mark the score. After half, Asher threw the craziest damn IO forehand ever. It was like a circling peregrine falcon, or some shit. The fairy was too busy with avian hyperbole to remember if somebody scored on the throw. But she knows that after that Andrew sent it to Corey, who connected with Mandy for the game winner. 12-10 O over a bunch of spring chickens.
The next game against a stacked Seattle conglomerate called Bigfoot wouldn't be so poetic. (an aside--if you played on a national-champion elite team, would you wear the jersey from that team at THAT? just wondering.) The good news about the first five points was that they took a long while. The bad news is that they all went to Bigfoot. But Mandy saved us from a skunking, sending it long to Armand, who flipped the score to Lisa, Our Lady of the Endzone. For score number two, the fairy waited to the south of the Eiffel Tower to collect the throw intended for Todd. For point three, Corey got fouled on a Mandy huck, then dished it to the hustling Mandy himself. 3-13, and well . . .
It was off to an appropriate opponent in game five against Flight Risk, a Seattle league team. The weather was looking ugly, as the clouds crept in over the mountains and the wind kicked up. It was going to be all zone all the time. Early on, O worked the disc up the field, and Armand called an advisable time out on the line. Then he threw a high-release backhand to the fairy, who caught the disc with the aid of her face. Will's airbounce backhand was the star of the show against the zone, rivaled by Ms. Reliable Pam Quinn. Andrew also found his way out of the cup--- long to Lisa, who had it with a rolling catch. She hit Beth, who scored with her feet in the endzone and the disc not quite there. . . like she was opening the oven to examine her pie. With the game hardcapped at 10, the point refused to die. Thank goodness for Asher in the middle, who kept things moving until he could hit Lisa with a halo for the winner. 10-7 O.
Then it began to rain. It rained on the Red Robin while we ordered. It rained while the vegetarian fairy ate a solid half of a burger meant for Cooper. It rained while Mandy talked about his girlfriend. It rained while the weaker among us took off to sleep in beds in a permanent structure somewhere. It rained on tent setup. . . on tents. . . inside tents (particularly the tent of Will and Hannah). It rained on the roof of the car in which Santana slept. And on breakfast. It rained on the folks setting up the EZ-up tents. And on the EZ-up tents as we crowded inside to do EZ-up warm-ups. It rained while Mandy did EZ-up Vaudeville. (Pam: "I'm going to do some slow high-knees over here." Mandy: "I think all our hinies* are going to be slow today.")
*that's the plural of hiney. get it?
We pulled in the rain and ran in the rain and scored some points in the rain. These included one point in which Beth, for a score, on a D'd throw, laid out (in the rain). Asher came up big with a two-finger catch of a wayward hammer. Corey had hot long-jump D in the sand pit next to the endzone. Asher sent an inside-out forehand (in the rain? yes.) to Hannah for a score. And Beth scooped up an errant huck behind Lisa. 15-6 O against some college kids who had to huddle under a tarp the whole time. In the rain.
Fittingly, our next opponent was MUD, a collection of Seattle A-leaguers. It was 2-1 after the clock ticked off half an hour. Then it was 4-8 at half. Cooper put another eternal point to rest, busting deep and reeling in Armand's huck. The MUD sideline peanut gallery became suspicious of Mandy, and were heard to opine: "those aren't the shoulders of a handler." After which they demanded, "do something, ripped guy!" The fairy does not remember whether Mandy did something. However, Will pulled out his feather-touch layout D, caressing the disc just enough to leave the intended receiver incredulously examining her empty hands. And Lisa held on to a soggy put between her calves for a score. 10-15 MUD, and hearty congrats to them for surviving to play another game. In the rain.
Captains' awards to Asher for being enduringly energetic and a neverending font of IOs and to Lisa for catching things with her well-defined calves (among other useful moves). Kudos to Shannon for whipping out her coloring skillz for the captains' award certificates and for the inspired re-naming of the tournament (The Wet Apple Turnover).
"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."