Regionals

Well, I was hoping that the video below would not be a metaphor for Moe's performance over Regionals weekend. Thankfully, my hopes were realized.



Okay okay, so maybe I had more lofty goals than "don't tank," but given historical precedent, it's not like I hadn't considered the possibility that the 2006 Moe train might jerk it into the bridge. Still, I'd gone into the weekend fairly confident no team would score 10 on us. And after an undefeated Saturday, during which our highest scoring opponent WASN'T Briefcase, my confidence was reinforced. Perhaps the most unexpected moment of the day was after scoring the game winner in our game-to-go, not only did Moe rush the field, but so did CLX. It's interesting that in the past, Moe's biggest rival (Hot Action), was also its mortal enemy. Times they have a changed. It appears that our biggest rival is now our biggest fan. Perhaps the biggest twist is that apparently a large contingent on CLX (and, as previously noted, the Mixed world) has historically hated Moe. Why the change? Someone suggested guilt, but I don't see it.

a) It's in their best interest to see us do well, seeing as they won't be at Nationals
b) I've never felt guilty beating a team that I hate

My personal play on Saturday left a lackluster taste in my mouth, a flavor not unlike that of Sour Skittles -- bitter, tough to chew, and tougher to swallow. I threw just 1 goal and received just 1 goal. I had 3 turns. One, a huck that caught 1 yard too much of the wind. Two, a long bending flick that was about 6 inches too wide. Three, on game point of the game-to-go, I had no mark and a chance to make the throw to make Moe history and I managed to find the precise 4 foot window between our 2 best D line female receivers waiting anxiously in the endzone that made the pass uncatchable for either. On D, I knocked down exactly 0 discs. That said, I had numerous shutdowns on the dump that resulted in turnovers, I forced several bad throws that failed to make it to their intended receiver, and not one man I was covering threw or received a goal all day.

Sunday, what can I say, we played well, but our opponents played better. Barely better, but still better. Moss wisely elected to sit out the games to avoid further injury and ensure plentiful PT at Nationals. I'd like to think we're the same offensive team without him, but that became painfully obviously untrue in the championship game against the usual suspect, CLX, as his replacement was visibly fatigued by late in the first half. Consequently, our offense struggled. It's just too bad that our offensive shortcomings aren't in the vein of being outplayed, but instead, in the vein of unforced error. The result? Another 3 point loss to our biggest fans.

For "third," in the seemingly always ill-fated "backdoor" game in which a team on a winning streak faces a team coming off an emotional loss, we had a rematch against Briefcase. Briefcase will never play another game so well again. Our D line had just 2 breaks in the game, probably the lowest number all season, and not for lack of effort. Briefcase just came to play. First point, all cylinders were firing and they scored in just a few throws. As the half progressed, our defensive prowess flourished and we earned 2 breaks for a 7-5 lead. Briefcase then took 3 straight, getting their 2 breaks back to take half. The second half featured exactly 1 break, theirs, and it was to win the game 15-13. The O line defense was just superb. Though they had their turnovers, they fought like, in the words of a certain redheaded curly haired handler, wild rabid dogs that have been tazered. I was downright inspired by it. I just wish our D line could have played at 50% of that intensity, but because we didn't, there would be no repeating of the beating.

My Sunday play was solid. Defensively, again, nothing big. I did intercept one pass. Offensively, I felt great. Just one turn on the day, early in the Briefcase game. I overestimated Giner's cut and overthrew her by about a foot. I played 6 points in the CLX game, and we broke them 5 of those times, 3 of which were goals I received. The sixth point was the only point all weekend where my player threw a goal. In the game, I think we had one other break. I played 7 points in the Briefcase game, only 1 of which was a break, but I threw the goal. So, in total, we had 8 breaks (6 vs CLX, 2 vs Case) and I was on the field for 6 of them and involved in the scoring on 4 of them. I'm very pleased with those numbers.

Apart from the obvious moment where we qualified for Nationals, my unforgettable moments were . . .

• Baker being yelled at to swing to the open handlers on more than one occasion when instead he just threw to an open person in the endzone.
• The look of jubilation and disappointment in Gloede face after being told that we had, indeed, qualified for Nationals. Jubilations because, yes, we had qualified. Disappointment because she missed the initial excitement and emotion, having not known that we were in a game-to-go until someone explained it to her several minutes after the original rush.
• My embarrassingly failed attempt at the "the meaning of this half of this game is over" speech. I still don't see what's so confusing about it. No one was confused when I heard that speech the first time. It seems somewhat microcosmic of the greater experience I've had on the team this year.
  

Overall, I think it was a great Regionals. As Davey put it on Saturday night, "we did not come here to get beat by CLX," but alas, having to play at less than full strength yet again really hurt us. I think the loss-loss ending is going to have a good effect on the team, though, now knowing that we've got to prove something at Nationals. Being the underdog is kind of our specialty. Just ask Puppet Regime, the team that was up 5 breaks on us at CHC. Or Briefcase when they were seeded above us.

Up next, Nationals breakdown.

O Boy

My offensive woes are over.

Northwest Plains Sectionals was this past weekend. On Saturday, I was perfect. I think I played a little over half of the D points, which amounted to probably about 26. Every pass I threw was caught and I caught every throw to me, including one I probably shouldn't have caught -- a laser shot behind me that I caught between my middle and ring fingers, no thumb. I threw 7 goals, including 3 in our game against my Hopkins kids and 2 hucks. I caught 2 goals. At most, my line was scored on 5 times, which meant I was involved in the scoring 9 of 21 chances.

On D, there were really too few opportunities to do anything. I don't recall a single BIG D by anyone all weekend, but that's because we were putting enough pressure on marks and cutters that we were forcing errors rather than making big Ds. I had just 3 Ds. As usual, solid on the dump all day. My one defensive highlight was a huck deflection about 10 yards from the thrower, close enough to make me worry for a second that my hand might be broken. My guy only cut deep once all day and I ended up hacking the kid they call Hopkins on Hot Dish pretty badly. And altogether, my downfield D was pretty solid. My guy barely ever got the disc and when he did it was usually on a break throw, after which I never allowed an easy continuation throw. I was scored on once by a Norgaard hammer to Matty Spillum.

Sunday on O was a bit different. We had just one game, the Championship. I threw 3 passes that fell incomplete. One was a horrible horrible huck that should not have been thrown in the first place. I had no mark and Baker was open by 20 yards, but there was still a woman and her defender 20 yards behind him and the wind had picked up since I had warmed up. Another was something I talked briefly with Mike about. I saw him start his cut and I threw to him, but he had already started cutting away and he never even thought the throw was to him. I'll take 75% or more credit on that one. The other was a swing to a male handler who was jogging directly at a female defender. The female poach came off for an easy D. At the time, it looked like one step closer to the disc or just a reach out to catch it and it would have been completed, but from watching the video last night, it looked much worse, although the video was shot with a poor perspective of the play. While I thought this was about 25% my fault, I'll take 75% based on the footage.

The closest I got to a D in the finals came on a tough mark that forced a bad huck. It might have been the comical highlight of the weekend, too, since there were people on the field telling the thrower to call the foul when there was literally no contact. The thrower even said something to the effect of "I wanted to call a foul, but I didn't expect he wasn't going to foul me."

So, 2.5 turns on the weekend and plenty of scoring. On Saturday, I'd even say I was probably the most productive and efficient offensive player, with maybe Jeanine as an exception. Every time I turned around she was catching a goal. I'll bet she caught 10+.

Our team? Well, we just plain dominated. Our O line was perfect on 23 of 23 chances. Our D, while we weren't laying out left and right, was forcing errors all over the place. The score reporter says Salsa Police scored 7 on us, but my guess is that no one in that game would know the difference or probably even argue if it read 13-3.

Team D, I noticed, was exceptional with Schwa, Mike, Baker, and Lou for the men. Our women almost always outmatch our opponent's women. With Schwa and Mike down field and me and Baker guarding handlers, everyone on the field has to work to get open AND to throw (if they do manage to get the disc). A good combination. I really feel like it's a nearly guaranteed turn when Baker and I are covering the handlers and a weak thrower gets the disc or even if a decent thrower lets the count get above 6.

Altogether, our only weakness heading in to the UPA series was O line conversion and this weekend was a huge testament to its improvement -- and we've still not gotten back our 2 arguably most valuable O line players.

Up next: Regionals talk.

I saw The Illusionist tonight and am so thankful I did. After rewatching SE7EN yesterday, I longed for a feeling I've not had in a long time, a feeling I never know I'm having until it's gone. Now that I've seen SE7EN, I can never ever EVER watch it again without knowing Gwen's head is in that box. I'll always know. Occasionally I do forget how movies end, but that's because they are largely forgetable. It's the big twists that I can never forget and never again be surprised when the secret is revealed.

Leaving the theater and reflecting on the movie gave me pause to contemplate that, after this season is over, I'll know exactly how it ended for Moe. Good, bad, average, or mediocre, once I know and I'll know forever. Right now, however, it's a mystery. All these moments leading up to the ending are what make the ending special. Truth is, no ending, either good or bad, will ever signifcantly affect me if I've not invested in it. The greater the investment, the greater the impact. So how will this end? And is it worth the wait? I don't know how it will end, but what I must remember, no matter the finale, is that the journey has been reward enough already. And yes, it is worth the wait. I have my hard work and my teammates to thank for that.

Chicago HEAVYWEIGHT Championship sure lived up to its billing this past weekend. Well, at least in the Mixed division. I unfortunately screwed up my predictions slightly because of my misread of the 1 seed crossovers. At the risk of dislocating my shoulder, let me pat myself on the back:

1. On the pool play predictions, I nailed every spot except the C1/C2 spot. ICE won 9-8 to take the pool by a hair, else I'd have been 16 for 16.

2. Though we didn't meet in the 1 seed crossover, Moe's D was indeed too much for Puppet Regime. Our O line troubles in this game were a microcosm of our tournament as we began the game failing to get a break on D followed by our O line being broken 4 points in a row. The 5-0 gap closed as soon as the O line scored, though, and our D line got on the field. We closed it to 6-5 before the D finally missed a break. The O line then got broken again to make it 8-5 at half with the cap nearly upon us. The O line started second half going downwind and scored in just a few throws, then our D line ran the table to win the game 9-8. D line was 7 for 9. Exciting win to make it to semis.

3. Briefcase did, in fact, make use of their home field advantage with an impressive showing.

4. DoG and Sub Zero in the finals with the DoG victory. I wish I'd have recorded my predicted score, as it was just what I was thinking.

I think my Moe predictions to win weren't because of my provincial nature, but because at press time I didn't know we would be missing 2 of our top 4 O line players, including our #1 handler whose name I won't bother mentioning.

One thing I really liked about the weekend (and all season long) is that we're shedding what was evidently a very bad image. Call it what you will, but many refer to it as the Paul Norgaard effect. With Mr. Norgaard off the roster, it's pretty hard to find anything or anyone to dislike about any of our players. Even the remnants of the hateable me have seriously diminished if not completely vanished -- though that still doesn't prevent some people from occasionally projecting fault of bad circumstances onto me by virtue of proximity. A number of our opponents didn't say "good luck" or "good game" in the post game handshake, but "we better see you guys at Nationals" instead. We even had a player in the finals wearing a Moe temporary tattoo. On his forehead.

In terms of how Moe played, as I mentioned, our defense was more than any team could handle. Our O line, however, was a bit worrisome. Despite missing 2 of our top 4 offensive threats, we still should have been able to convert at a much higher rate than we did. Just 2 of 8 in the quarterfinals and I think it was 4 of 14 in the semifinals. I think maybe part of the problem is that our O line tries a little too hard to win the game for us. Truth is, O line can't win the game for you. The O line can only lose the game (barring 0 breaks, 0 turns, which will never happen against an elite opponent), whereas the D line can only win the game. Thankfully, that's exactly what the D line was doing most of the weekend.

Overall, I think we established ourselves as being in the UPA Championship conversation. With an anemic offense we still only lost 2 games, one point each to the two teams in the finals. It seems, though, that we need to feel like our backs are against the wall in order to get to get really fired up. If we can manufacture that state for ourselves, I don't envy our opponent, whomever they may be.

My play was a little better on O, a little weaker on D. I still made several unforced errors, though I did come closer to identifying the cause. On Saturday, I had 5 passes that fell incomplete. Two of them went to receivers who were wide open and made a totally unexpected cut in a direction away from where I was throwing and one hesitated as I threw the disc to make the pass uncatchable. I'll take 25% credit on the first two and 75% credit on the last one, leaving me at 3.25 turns for Saturday. My first two touches on Sunday were turns, but perfect after that. On hucks, I was 2 for 3. One was about 55 yards and perfect to Pat. Another was ugly, but right on target. And the turn was about 50 yards and caught, but the wind pushed it about 1 yard out of bounds. As usual, no drops.

Saturday, I had 5 Ds. One point block, one block from the cup, 2 dumps shut down, and 1 D on a cut underneath. I was scored on 3 times. Twice deep, and once on a break throw while guarding the ISO that I still hit pretty hard. One deep score on me was pretty embarrassing. The guy had position on me while we waiting a long time for the disc. He boxed me out and was pushing me back and back and back until he caught the disc easily. My embarrassment got the best of me and I didn't call a foul. Thinking back, calling anything would started a serious argument, even though it was unquestionably a foul. Sunday I shut down 2 dumps that resulted in turnovers. My D play of the day, though, had to be stopping a first throw after a pull that landed in the back corner while we were putting on our zone D.

Saturday I had 4 thrown goals and 2 received. Sunday, 1 thrown goal.

Total line, 5 TG, 2 RG, 7 D, 5.25 TO. I'm very happy with these numbers. Relative to the rest of the handlers on the team this weekend and most of our O line, that line is pretty good. Moreover, I'm happy with my play. One thing I noticed is that I was again involved in another momentum building big play. I like making big plays. Last season at Sectionals, I had a callahan that started a run of 7 points needed to beat Madison in the semis. At MUDI in the CLX game I had a poach D and huck that helped start a run. In Madison, I made a first throw layout D in the endzone against Optimus Lime that sparked some more focus in a contentious game. At Cooler, I had a pretty unexpected layout D in the endzone, although that didn't have the same effect as the others. And in our Annapolis game this past weekend, up by one late in the game, I shut down a dump that forced a bad throw. Mike caught the pass and I was already busting deep. I ran it down and caught it just inside the goalline. The team got a bit energized and we ran the table to win the game. I'm not saying that I'm the team inspiration, because in fact Baker's and Mike's catches this weekend were far more inspirational, but lately it's been fun to be lucky enough to be a part of momentum shifting type of plays.

As well as our whole team played this weekend, if we're able to get healthy enough by Regionals, I can honestly see us not giving up 10 points to anyone until Nationals. Considering our season until this point, though, that's kind of a big IF.

Wow. Everything is happening at once. Fantasy football has started (2 drafts yesterday, A+ in one, C in the other), the big project I've been planning for 12 months at work is in high gear, HUrt (high school ultimate) first practice is tomorrow and after my promotion to coach the A team there are high expectations (state champion streak, 2nd place finish at Nationals, with a higher finish at Nationals every year we've gone so far), my poker play has gotten better (and more profitable) than ever, and most importantly the UPA series is nearly upon us.

It's true what Schmelzeielzelze wrote: no one worth reading in the ultimate blogosphere is writing about cool strategy stuff right now. And with good reason! Everyone worth reading is likely being read by their competition. No one wants to tip their hand. Well, no one except Seillor, but he and CLX have nothing to lose. I've actually felt the same hesitation to post team strategy stuff for most of the season. Although, I'm not sure why that is, considering the only readers of my blog are either (a) the man who designs our strategy or (b) in the high school division.

For some reason, no one in the ultimate world does predictions. It's time for that to change. CHC is this weekend so let's do this. I don't know what kind of roster to expect from the teams traveling from the east coast, but I imagine they'll be bringing a full squad. Which mixed team wouldn't want to play in this tournament? Three of the top 5 ranked teams (Ice, who probably doesn't belong, CLX, back to back semis appearances, and Moe, my team) are there, plus a couple perennial championship contenders and a few others who look to be preparing for a UPA Championships berth, and George Cooke is the TD. Sounds like a good formula. Now, to my predictions:

My inclination here, given CLX's seemingly weaker early rounds in previous tournaments, given that 6 Trained Monkeys edged out CLX last year, and given that they lost a couple big men from their roster, is that CLX might again fall to 6 Trained Monkeys. 6TM, however, is seeded 8th! This tells me George knows something we don't know (i.e. they're not bringing a full strength squad). Pool standings: CLX, 6TM, Third Coast, Hot Dish

Well, after what looks like it was probably a pretty disappointing finish at a seemingly hometown tourney (that looked to be filled with several odd resuls), I don't expect the Annapolis All Stars to bring a very strong squad. I'm guessing Pleasuretown was "Friends with benefits" at thier hometown tourney (FWB won it), but their subsequent results weren't all that impressive. Seiche has the capacity to bring a good game so you can't really take them too lightly. I think we'll take the pool pretty handily, maybe keeping 2 of the games close for a while, because that's what we seem to like to do. Standings: Moe, All Stars, Seiche, Pleasuretown.

Gooseysnakefister must be the Carleton team. Who knows what ICE will bring, but Seillor's assessment about how they might be win-the-UPA-championship-good might be a little overblown considering they didn't give us much of a game after about the sixth point of our game at Cooler. I heard two things from multiple sources about them at Cooler: (a) they were missing people at Cooler and (b) they had their new players with them, but the ringers can't play at Regionals. We'll see if they're at CHC. Puppet Regime looks pretty solid. Posting two victories against each of Slow White and AAS? Pretty good. I think the phrase least likely to be heard by anyone in this pool is "and we would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those Meddling Kids." They've got their hands full. I'm rooting for them to score 10 points in their pool play games, combined that is. Standings: Puppet Regime, ICE, Goosey, Meddling Kids.

Slow White is hot. They've not lost since mid July. Black Molly sure is getting a lot of respect after such a mediocre showing at their last tournament. Again, might have to do with a tuned in TD. Mr. Briefcase has shown a superior ability to make short order out of inferior teams. Unfortunately that ability has not translated into better battles against better bodies. I think that's about to change, though, as they do have a bit of home field advantage here. Another 4 seed has a tough road ahead. Hopefully Soy Nuts brings a deck of cards or some other form of alternative entertainment. Standings: Slow White, Briefcase, Black Molly, Soy Nuts.

CLX had a good run, but the winning streak ends here. Slow White is going to take them down. CLX just has not played any elite team yet except Moe, a team they know well and a team that hasn't been playing to win, but playing to give everyone PT in "the big game." And it's too bad, too, because it's going to set up yet another CLX-Moe meeting. This time it'll be in an earlier round, though.

Puppet Regime is in for a surprise. Moe D isn't just good. It's "routinely shut down 6 receivers for 10 stall counts" good. Plus, our best downfield defender returns this weekend and a move on the O line is going to pay big dividends. Moe wins.

The only team that has a chance for an upset in the quarters is ICE, but they'll draw us and we'll win.

Semis:

Slow White vs. Puppet Regime.
Slow White just seems too hot right now and the stars are aligning for them to build some serious momentum. Slow White wins by a decent margin.

CLX vs. Moe
Well, there's a little more at stake in this game. Until now, our meetings haven't meant you don't get another game if you lose. That'll be the extra motivation the team needs, both to play better and to tighten the lineup. Plus, games to 13 are for suckaz. We win 15-12.

Finals:

Slow White vs. Moe
Our D is just too good. Plus, if the weather forecast is accurate, rain is likely. We've had rain in just about every tournament. That experience is going to come in really handy, especially given that our O line handlers are turnoverless machines right now. Slow White is going to have to work hard to keep this one close. Moe takes the trophy home, 15-11.

Oh, the open division? Well, Sub Zero has this year traveled more than ever. They've lost most of the games you'd expect them to lose, plus a few more, without really pulling off any big upsets. That said, they're getting some big big game experience against big big teams. They got games against both Furious and Sockeye last weekend. They lost to DoG earlier this season, who also made an appearance at ECC. DoG's results were far less impressive, but I have to imagine they had a much weaker roster, given the greater travel distance. I'd be pretty shocked to see anyone but DoG and Sub Zero in the finals. And DoG should win. If you get bonus points for each player over 25 players on your roster, however, Sub Zero will win by 10.

This post expects to be a report of my play this weekend. I'll be sure to write a more interesting read very soon.

Last weekend was Cooler. This means I've had what feels like 20 tournaments since my last update. It's not, however, hard to wrap up my personal play into a compact and accurate summary: 4 highlights and an innumerable number of errors. With that, I'm thankful for 2 things: to be a part of a incredibly talented team (Moe) and that the Championship Series doesn't begin for another 4+ weeks.

Mad-disc-on was most likely my worst tournament statistically since 04, featuring a point in which I threw 4 incomplete passes -- more than my total at Regionals last year, when I was playing 80% of the points as our primary handler. I partly wish that the reason for the increased number of turnovers is that I'm throwing high reward type throws, but it's just not. I'm throwing 10 yard uncatchable passes. Embarrassing. At least I still have my hands. My only legitimate drops this season were in a Ding Wop jersey (I dropped one in heavy rain in Bozeman and one this weekend on a layout trying to catch an errant pass that wasn't intended for me). And I've still got my D, more on that in a moment.

Cooler was a little better for me offensively. I played roughly 42 points, give or take. I had 7 turns, 3 of which were completely uncatchable, 2 those 3 were completely unforced. The other 4 required a challenging or really difficult catch. I had 4 hucks: 2 backhands that were completed and impossible to defend (1 was 70 yards into a light wind) and 2 forehands that gave the game a true TCUL feel. I had at least 6 thrown goals, one received, out of probably about 25 that the line I was on scored over the weekend.

Until this weekend, I think I'd only been scored on twice in a Moe jersey. A perfect throw to Seillor in the MUDI finals was one. The other was a chump in Bozeman who picked up a garbage throw. Boy did that run come to a screeching halt this weekend. The only consolation was that it was only on hucks. In one game, I played 6 points and got scored on 4 times on hucks, almost half of the other teams points. Then there was a fifth time in the game against Meth with the score 12-5. I was running down on the pull, the cutter made a move in and I accelerated towards him almost to top speed and he bolted deep. A nearly perfect throw came and the receiver made a nice play to milk an extra couple yards out of the throw and landed 2 inches inside the goalline. In total, my offender was hucked to 6 times. Four of the throws were perfect. I had a line on one of them, but got cutoff by a teammate. And on the last one, I knocked the disc away and a very suspect foul was called. I contested, but the first throw after the stoppage was a huck to a girl completed for a goal.

Apart from that, my D was solid. I'm challenging myself to completely shut down the receiver (handler or cutter). The only weakness is a huck. Although, calling it weakness may be a bit liberal. The only time I wasn't right in the play was on a perfect 50+ yard throw. I can play containment if necessary, but that's for game-to-go D, not quarterfinals at Cooler D. I'm on the D line to create turnovers, not to slow down the opponent's offense, hoping they give it to us. Which is precisely what I did this weekend. I had 8 takeaways total (2 point blocks, 1 layout underneath on a cutter, 1 big layout in the goal on an upline cut in the finals, 2 poach D's, 1 in the air on a floaty upline throw, and 1 in the zone). I had another catch "D" on a poor huck in the finals and probably another 2 or 3 other pressures that indirectly caused a turn. So, maybe cumulatively 10 Ds, which I'm sure was at or near the top of the team stat sheet.

Oh, and I pulled about a dozen times -- 2 out of bounds, 1 only made it just past midfield, the others ranged from the 5 yard line to 10 yards deep (none of which were all that great on hang time), all were "upwind." We had 3 comical pulls this weekend. One, our puller fell over, another didn't wait for the opponent to signal, and I had the one that landed two fields over and barely past our own brickmark. Ugh.

On the season:

First, at the beginning of the season, when I was still on the bubble for making the team, I was told that my huck completion percentage should be 90%. At the time, I laughed a little to myself because it's my personal goal to complete 100%. And at that point, my hucks WERE completing at a 90+% rate. And in the huck drills, I was completing like 14 of 15, whereas everyone else was completing less than half. Since then, though, I've been trying to keep a season long log in my head. Including practices, I'm somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 for 50, with the majority of the incompletions coming in tournaments. So, even if I complete the next 50, I'll still fall well short of 90%. It's just strange that my throws have regressed so significantly since the start of the season. My best huck of the season was at Bozeman where I threw a forehand about 80 yards perfectly to a female receiver whose defender had no chance -- well, at least not until the receiver caught it and was tackled by her defender. The receiver dropped it and no foul was called. Since then, I've only had one good completed 50+ yard forehand in a tournament (thankfully, it was in the MUDI finals for a goal).

If there's any consolation in my offensive slump the last 6 weeks, it's that in the 3 finals games, I have 5 good Ds, 5 thrown goals, and 1 incomplete pass. My incomplete pass was this weekend. I picked up in our endzone about 5 yards deep and Davey said "do it." I looked up and saw Alicia open by a good 25 yards behind everyone. I let off a pretty weak forehand that went no more than 50 yards and hung for way too long. Turned out Alicia wasn't even watching or expecting the huck so early and didn't find it for about half the flight. Tai closed the gap and layed out for the D.

The big question is WHY I've had so much trouble throwing lately. Davey suggested I ditch the nickname Grandpa. Only problem is, you can't really pick your own nickname. I was the last on the team to go to bed after the Cooler party and I woke in the morning to tell everyone Grandpa died of old age the night before and Hot Lou is back. No avail. Everyone still called me Grandpa Lou throughout the day and my carmates even bought me an "Over the Hill Gift Grab Bag" from a gas station, complete with oversized playing cards, a "50" button, a black rose, and some trick chewing gum. Oh well, I'm satisfied knowing that my 2 big layout Ds are among the 3 best (and most timely) the team has had all season. Call me Grandpa if you want, but Joe's Brother is Hot Lou.

I think the problem is that for the past 4 years, it's been my routine to play 4 or 5 consecutive points, then sit 1 or 2. I'm having a little trouble achieving my Ideal Performance State (IPS) in this adjusted playing routine, but I definitely made some headway this weekend. I noticed in the couple times I had an opportunity to play consecutive points, my offense (and defense) was more comfortable, calm, and confident. It's not realistic, however, to think I'll have the opportunity to play consecutive points in games that matter, especially given that I'm on the bottom half of the depth chart right now because of my poor offensive output and that we have 12 other super athletic men on the team. The good news is I'm confident my D is currently among the best on the team and improving on offense is easy (compared to learning to play better D). Just throw the easy pass, Lou, just wait for the easy pass.

So, I'm convinced I'm starting to find my method in achieving my IPS for this level of playing time. I've got 2 more tournaments to see if I can make a full transition in time for the games that start mattering.

And that's more than enough time.

The Worst Advice in Ultimate (1st Edition)

I'll be writing more than one of these kinds of posts. Their order will be random. And I should say that I don't know what THE worst advice in Ultimate is, but I do know a handful of things that are among the contenders. And further, these posts will only include discussion of commonly heard pieces of advice. I think for it to qualify as "advice in Ultimate," it has to be said more than a couple times by a couple foolish players.

I've actually been writing the list for this series of posts in my head for a while now, but it wasn't until this weekend at the first outdoor practice that I was reminded it's time to start writing them where everyone listens: my two reader blog. Hearing, "when you're cutting, make your cut straight at your defender," is what triggered my memory.

Before I continue, I should note that I honestly don't know exactly how effective the "cut straight at him" technique is. What I do know is:

(1) it's virtually useless against me
(2) it's dangerous
(3) it's a foul if the defender fails to or doesn't move out of the way
(4) it's not difficult using a different technique that doesn't risk (2) or (3)

I think the advice isn't inherently among the worst, but combined with the fact that you so often hear it given without a follow-up on what to do AFTER you've charged your defender, clearly places it among the worst. I guess when people preach the "cut straight at him" strategy, they assume it's obvious what you do next. Frankly, I wonder if even the preachers know what to do.

Along similar lines is the defensive equivalent of this, which is "jump in front of your man when he cuts." I don't put this advice in the same "worst" category, mostly because, quite simply, the defense works. In fact, it works remarkably well. Too bad it's cheating. Case in point, at Regionals 2003, it was seemingly the only way CUT played D on us when I was playing for Minnesota. That year we had a number of players still learning, but our offensive was for the most part very effective (against man defense, our Zone O sucked as always). I'm not spewing sour grapes here or trying to say, "CUT is a bunch of cheaters," I'm just saying that CUT flat out shut us down with that D. And with a mostly green squad, most of our players failed to recognize the fouls when they occurred. It's different from the "cut straight at him" advice because the "jump in front of him" technique actually works. Fact is, though, this defensive strategy is categorically a foul, which makes consciously doing it illegal (i.e. cheating). The truly foolish part about this technique is that so many players have been taught that "I got to my position first" is an argument to contest the foul. Unfortunately for them, rule XVI.I.8.b* clearly states establishing position first does not grant the perpetrator clemency for his infraction (unless of course there was ample time for the moving player to adjust his cut).

The common thread between these bad pieces of advice reminds me of the flaws in this game; the game that from my non-Ultimate friends' perspectives seems comically important to me at times. I don't think by any means do these flaws make it a less great game, but it does sadden me a bit when these flaws make it less fun.

Still to come: "Watch His Hips"


* When the disc is not in the air, players may not take a position that is unavoidable by a moving opponent when time, distance, and line of sight are taken into account. Contact resulting from a player taking an unavoidable position is a foul on the blocking player.

Favorite Ultimate Moments (1st Edition)

This being my 7th year of ultimate, I've collected memories too numerous to mention all in one post. I imagine I could write about 2 dozen favorite moments from my ultimate career, but none of which involve a single game at Nationals -- college or club. My teams have never qualified and being that I vowed long ago to make my first trip to the Championships by UPA-invitation-only, I've never been a live-and-in-person spectator either.

The first edition favorites will include some memorable moments from two rather exciting games on Sunday at Beasterns of '03. Three teams finished 4-1 in our pool on Saturday. Our point diff was 0, which put us at #2 in the pool and pitting us against Kansas B first round Sunday. The rain came down hard on Saturday afternoon -- which reminds me, Lehigh had a kid pulling a soaking wet disc with his forehand and the disc still was making it to the back of the endzone. I wonder if that kid's still around. Anyway, the hard rain left large, deep puddles on the fields for Sunday morning. Several times during our game, while getting on D after the pull I would discover in a large puddle between me and the player I was to mark. One time in particular, a player that had been arguing with my teammates earlier in the game had the disc as I was approaching him. As I waded through Swamp Midfield in a full sprint, I made less of an effort to lift my feet out of the water with each stride. My failed efforts caused a significant deluge of muddy puddle water, engulfing the player, soaking his uniform, and disorienting him for the first 6 counts of the stall. In the four seconds that remained, he failed to find an open receiver and threw an incomplete pass as I snickered to myself.

Later in the same game, in what I believe to be one of his teammate seeking revenge, the player made a dangerously aggressive bid on one of my under cuts. He landed near my pivot foot and was slow to get up. Jakob was well covered, but streaking deep. As my mark slowly started to get up, predicting he'd have to push me off to get all the way up, I straddled his body, hucked it (as it was a free throw to the endzone), and called a foul as he fulfilled the push-off prophecy. My throw wasn't very good, but the disc came back on the contested foul. Actually, he never offically contested. He just yelled something like, "well what the hell was I supposed to do?"

We defeated Kansas B and faced Columbia in the quarters. A crosswind grew in this game and I made two fun plays. The first wasn't all that good, but the Columbia coach's reaction made it unforgettable. I was cutting on the backhand side when one of our handlers threw a floaty, bendy flick to the forehand cutters. As the 2 forehand cutters and their defenders positioned themselves under the disc, I started running towards them. I saw an opening among the group of 4 and jumped up and snagged the disc out from between them all. I landed awkwardly, falling to the ground about 2 yards away from the feet of the Columbia coach. With nothing but resignation in his voice, he exclaimed, "well, that's just the greatest play you're ever gunna see," and literally tossed his clipboard and pen in the air in defeat. Greatest play ever? Not hardly. Funniest opposing-coach exclamation ever overheard? Pretty much.

Late in the game, on what was probably the 50th floaty pass of the "tilt," I was chasing down a disc drifting out of bounds and yelled "get over here" to Bruss. I jumped out of bounds and completed the World's Greatest to him for a goal to extend our lead to 2, the final margin of victory for us.

Oh, and less of a favorite moment, but still memorable was when for about the 12th time in the semi-finals against Iowa State, Zach drew a ticky-tack foul to restart the stall by motioning a backhand into the arm of his mark (as is his trademark move). From no less than 25 yards away, Kevin Seiler in a determined pace towards Zach screams, "fuck you, you fuckin' faggot!" We all stood in shock with "where did that come from?" looks on our faces. Apart from that, the game was pretty uneventful, other than setting the groundwork for what would become a season long theme for us: Iowa State defeating us by a large margin.

More to come . . .

I’ve never heard the term Winner’s Remorse before, but I’m sure it’s been already been coined. I experienced it last night slightly and this morning in a big way. I guess it’s bound to happen when my opponents are usually my friends.

My games against my weekly match against Paul went

W, 15-8
W, 15-6
W, 15-4
W, 15-6

I was especially motivated to win today because for the first time since we’ve begun playing regularly again, he won 2 games in one session last week. He probably should have won a third game since he was up 13-8, but I ran the table to win 15-13. I probably only play at around 60% of my top game against him now and I’m winning easily (with the occasional random loss).

Despite my motivation to win, I really was only giving it about 70% effort today, though I will admit I was putting forth more concentration than I usually do. In each of the games, I had 11 points before he had 5, at which point he became very vocal with his frustration – with his misses and with my consistency. This is when I started experiencing this Winner’s Remorse.

And I let up.

I actually started making less of an effort and allowed him to score more points. Particularly in the third game, I gave no effort to finish the game four times serving at 14-1 until he finally put up a few points on his serve.

Last night in my league match, I experienced some Winner’s Remorse, but not quite to the same degree. My opponent, maybe the top player in the league besides myself, happens to be an angry, vocal guy. I destroyed in him the first game, 15-6. But when it got to be around 13-4, I stopped giving it my all. The second game surprised me a bit because it turned out to be one of the most fun games I’ve ever played. I was ahead 12-6 and we had a really long point, maybe 12 shots each, in which he dived twice and ended up killing it on a spectacular running shot that barely came off the back wall. At 12-7 then, I felt like it was over. I couldn’t beat that. Sure enough, he fought back to make it 13-11 and we each served probably 5 or 6 times at that score before I got an ace and an easy kill for the win.

We left the court and a crowd had gathered watching our game. Someone asked me what the final score was and that twinge of Winner’s Remorse hit me. I actually felt bad telling someone I had won directly in front of my opponent. In those situations, I’ve always felt more comfortable saying, “he whooped me,” than something like, “I won by 12.”

I have felt it in Ultimate, too, especially in the years where I played against Brother. After he transferred to UMD, the Main U matched up against them frequently. And it was always easier for me to shake hands/hug after the games where I’d lost.

What’s odd is that I do prefer winning, by an enormous margin, but this Winner’s Remorse is starting to get to me. Maybe it’s pity, maybe it’s sympathy, but at some point it might cost me more than a meaningless league game so whatever it is, I want to get rid of it.

I want to know just how much nutrition can affect my performance without actually having to subscribe to a rigid diet.

Let me stop here and say that as I type this post, I am periodically reaching over to the barrel filled with 4 pounds of gourmet (not the Sport Beans) Jelly Belly jelly beans invitingly neighboring my keyboard to pull out a half handful and deposit the beans individually into my mouth, savoring each one -- except those lousy buttered popcorns. And I might add that for lunch today, like most days of the week, my lunch consisted of the $1.50 Costco Hot Dog, a Coke, and the available free samples offered near the freezer section.

That said, I have attended numerous nutrition seminars facilitated by nutrionists. I've got a pretty good idea what makes a balanced meal. And granted, my breakfasts are generally of the nutritious ilk (smoothies w/protein, fruit w/cottage cheese or yogurt, etc.), but my dinners -- particularly those following a workout -- are gluttonous enough to make hog blush. I can repeatedly disobey every voice screaming at me that the last set of stairs is not worth it all season long, but to win the "don't stuff yourself" battle just once is a minor miracle. Food is just too good.

I guess food discipline is harder than exercise for me because despite my gluttonous irresponsibility, I'm not overweight. And I don't know what advantage I have to gain from laying off that second or third can of Mountain Dew. And since I have in the past gone on 5 or 6 week health binges, eating very healthfully, but I've failed to observe any increased performance, I'm further convinced of the futility of diet.

So being that food is so good and that depriving myself of it appears not to have a noticeable affect on my performance, I guess I've resigned myself to my Hot Dog and Jelly Bean paradise.

My 17 game winning streak against my racquetball partner came to a screeching halt last Thursday. We play 3 or 4 games each week, depending on time, fatigue, etc. He defeated me in our first game last week 15-10, scoring the first 11 points. I was really tired from the games and sprinting I had done the night before and it took those first 11 points for me to sufficiently warm up.

My racquetball partner's name is Paul. He's 57, my former Calculus professor/boss, and a former Minnesota state champion. In 2003, my racquet strings broke and I was unable to find someone capable of restringing it. After a few weeks of not playing, I just stopped altogether -- after having played once a week for 5 years. I mostly only played Paul, with an occasional exception of when he'd put on a little mini tournament among his regular opponents.

I did once play in the U of M Intramurals tournament. In the first round of pool play, I faced an atheletic kid named Eric Gruen. Our match went 15-14, 14-15, 11-10. If you didn't already know, racquetball is NOT "win by 2" and the tiebreaker is a game to 11. So I won, but became worried that this was going to be a lot harder than I thought it would be. Every opponent from then on, however, failed to put up double digits on me. That is, until the finals where I met Eric again. I'd like to think that if IM Racquetball tournaments at Big Ten schools were at the forefront of the casual sports fan's interest, this championship match would have been the lead on SportsCenter because I intensely fought to repeat history in dramatic fashion as our match again went 15-14, 14-15, 11-10. I won the tournament and a "U of M IM Champion" T-shirt, which I proudly wore exactly one time before misplacing it.

I bought a new racquet and started playing again this Fall after two and a half years off. Before this hiatus, Paul and I matched up pretty evenly. I'd even say he had a slight edge. After two weeks, though, I started to dominate him. I've probably lost no more than 5 games to him out of roughly 60 that past 2 months. I'm not sure if it's his old age or that I've started playing other opponents regularly now, but he doesn't seem any worse and I don't seem any better.

I'm trying to get into the racquetball tournament scene at a similar level to the Ultimate tournament scene, but I've only played in 1 tournament since returning from my hiatus, and it wasn't nearly as dramatic. I played in the B division and never broke a sweat against anyone except one lefty who couldn't hit a backhand -- and he embarrassed me. He maneuvered around the court for nearly every shot to get a forehand swing. I was depressed after having lost 3 games to such a chump. My goal is to compete in the A division by the end of the year, but that was a huge blow to my confidence. Maybe getting to the Open division before I'm 30 isn't realistic.

Next tournament, February 25.

Next Ultimate tournament, this weekend in Tempe for New Year's Fest.

Indoor last weekend. MLK Tourney up in Duluth, MN. I had planned on playing with the club team with which I played last season (Ding Wop), but they had 17 players already. For a 5v5 tourney, I wasn't too excited to be the 18th guy. Instead, Truesdale brought up his St. Olaf freshman. My brother Joe and I elected to play with them as the 8th and 9th players.

I made the 2+ hour drive in the morning and was late getting there. I ran around, got a sweat going, and jumped onto the field. After 4 or 5 easily completed forehands, I threw my first backhand of the day that flew as well as if I had thrown a tourney bagel. My self-serving bias would probably influence me to say the disc made it to the receiver's feet, but it probably only made it 3/4 that far. I got off the field and didn't return until I had thrown 50 backhands. I never want to make that mistake again.

There's a phrase in Ultimate. If you haven't already heard it, you soon will -- mostly because I'm about to say it. "Hell hath no fury like Lou Abramowski's scorn." The St. Cloud team learned this axiom the fun way. One of their vets, Jack, was cutting for a dump while I was covering him. He had made one or two moves and didn't shake me, but the pass went up anyway. I reached out and caught the disc with my forearm across the top of it and fingers grasping the far edge of the rim. At about the same time, Jack made a clap catch that included my forearm. I yanked the disc free and he called a strip. I hate the rules in this scenario because there's nothing the defense can do. O retains possession. I argued, noting that he had caught my arm, but that lasted about 2 seconds when I realized there was nothing to come of it. I didn't bother contesting because I wanted to be on the mark. Sure enough, I got the point block [insert "disc never lies" comment] and bolted deep. Truesdale hung a high floater and Jack got inside position and swatted at the disc. He got all of the disc, too, but I reached over the top of him and got a firm grip before the disc sailed away.

On the sideline, he complimented my play and apologized about the argument. I shrugged and said "eh, part of the game." In retrospect, I should have offered an apology in return. I know he wasn't cheating, but I was still blowing off some residual steam, despite already having exacted my "revenge."

TBA also beat us in as fun of a game as you'll get indoor. In OT, they came back to beat us 15-14 at the cap. Despite the loss, it's always nice to have that "this is why I play Ultimate" at the most unexpected times.

In the evening, we played CUT in the quarters. They beat us deep for at least 8 of their 13 points. The only memorable moment for me was when I was guarding Rupp, a long pass was underthrown and Rupp had the inside. I lunged in and knocked the disc away at the last second and he announced incredulously, "but I had it right in my hands!" He then added, "nice D," which I never expected Rupp to say to me ever in my life.

We met TBA again in Chumpionship semis. I think I set a personal best by having 4 D's in 1 point and a fifth during the next point -- 2 point blocks, 2 poach D's, and one just outrunning the guy to the disc underneath. I footblocked a guy on 3 consecutive throws during the same point once, but didn't have a fourth D. Sadly, we didn't even score the point in which I got the 4 D's. And I'm pretty sure all 4 of our turns were unforced. Even still, we defeated TBA something like 13-9.

Ding Wop stomped us in the Chumpionship. I missed 3 D's that were inches from my finger tips on passes that I tend to classify as "so bad, they are good."

Not that this is news, but indoor Ultimate is hard on the body. I don't hurt nearly as much after a weekend of outdoor. MLK 2006 might have been my last indoor tourney.