1999 COLLEGE NATIONALS: MEN
MAY 28–30, BOULDER, COLORADO

Sixteenth seed Salisbury State's captain Adam Campbell came to Nationals with a pedigree. His father had played with the Santa Barbara team that won the 1977 Club Nationals. Therefore southern California's good vibrations followed the team throughout the 1999 College Nationals.

But UC Santa Cruz, from northern California, beat them 15–8 to open the round. All other seedings held place, with Michigan winning the closest game 15–10 over Rice.

U.C. Santa Barbara came to this tournament to dominant. They returned several key starters from last year's championship and had the attitude, reputation, and training to work all other teams into the ground. On Friday they defeated all comers identically, 15–5, including a beatdown of Santa Cruz who were not mentally prepared to tangle with the Tide.

Brown opened with a resounding 15–4 win over Cornell. They were riding a groundswell of support for Callahan nominee (and eventual winner) Fortunat Mueller, who promised to bring the team to the promised land. They brought a mixture of east coast confidence and calculation to the show, hoping to emulate their idols Death or Glory and win the final game on Sunday.

North Carolina State gave up twelve points to a feisty Oberlin team in the second round of the day. Game watcher Ken Dobyns, a recent transfer to the Triangle, commented, "they have a tendency to play down to their competition." Oberlin is not a candy-ass team, but third-seeded Jinx, who have prepared for this tournament since this time last year, should have handed them their shorts.

Carleton came to the show with a front line of six-foot-fivers trained to catch the disc high in the air above opponents' heads. The three-point basketball strategy of Carleton impressed many teams unaccustomed to seeing such a tall lineup be so damned athletic. Never before has the Carleton machine been so flexible and so willing to send the disc long. But they would have to go through a difficult schedule to get to game-time on Sunday.

Colorado has had a steady but unlucky program for several years. Boulder is a lively Ultimate community and C.U. benefits from a wealth of experienced graduate students, but the lack of strong local competition forces the team to travel to distant lands for crucial game experiences. They lost a three-way tie at last year's Nationals and were switched into Santa Barbara's region in the offseason. Colorado brought Nationals home for 1999, hoping a groundswell of friendly fans would bring the team to the Finals.

Stanford lost several starters from last year's Finals team. They are relatively young and envision 1999 as a rebuilding year. Pollsters did not expect them to be in contention for the title this year. But Scott Johnston and Dan Eisenberg made sure the youngsters got in some good competition at the highest levels. Any team looking past Karma would find themselves on the losing end.

The final pool play games, pitting one versus two seeds, were staggered starting at 4:00. Brown faced Michigan in a rematch of the Yale Cup finals, a 16–14 victory for the then number one team in the country. Brown won this round again, 15–10.

N.C. State matched up against Stanford, a game promised to be a "barnburner" in the sepctator's guide. But foremost for most of the fans present was the game squaring off hometown heroes Colorado against the highlanders from Carleton.

But more exciting were the games on the undercard as lower-seeded teams were staving off being sent to the Consolation bracket.

Iowa and Oberlin played a point-for-point game to 16 all, game at 17. Iowa had the disc on the goalline with a chance to score when an Oberlin player made a spectacular defense up high in the endzone. A foul was called and upheld by the observer–wrongly according to sideline spectators–and the disc went back to the line. Again Iowa put the disc to their man and again Oberlin's man got a layout block on the line to deny the score. But the Horsecows could not march the length of the field and Iowa finally punched it in to win, 17–16.

Yale's Superfly dressed as part of the New England boating set–white polo shirts, khaki shorts and Martha's Vineyard hats. Evidently they had a late luncheon to attend after the rounds. They officially win the syle award and played well enough to warrant the attention, defeating Kansas in a tight match 16–14.

N.C. State took half against Stanford 8–6, playing with a "smooth offense and a shaky defense" according to a Jinx player. But Stanford was playing a good, solid game, with deep looks to Scott Johnston, smart handling, and nothing to lose. N.C. State, for their part, played without fear, putting the disc up frequently in their run and gun offense.

The teams traded points all game, with neither team strong enough to deliver the knockout blow. N.C. State maintained a one or two-point advantage without letting Stanford tie the game. Despite the closeness, Jinx never looked back and won 15–13 to earn a bye into quarters to start Saturday.

Stanford looked better than they had at College Easterns. They were more cohesive, relaxed, and dangerous.

How good is Carleton this year?

"We're going to crush them like a supermodel" read a quote from Colorado captain Dan "Jello" Revelle in the school newspaper. The Mama Bird was looking forward to Carleton and recognized that a win would have them in good position for making semifinals.

"Everything we have is riding on this game," spoke Carelton co-captain Gus Jesperson before the game.

Continued Jesperson, "Take a look at our team–we have four or five guys over 6'5' so we're going to put it up. Defensively, I'm assuming they're going to be a west coast-type set so we're going to switch a lot. I know they throw a lot of big crossfield break throws so were going to try and clamp down on those."

Carleton's deep game benefitted from clear skies and little wind as they took an 8–5 lead into halftime. But Colorado opened the second stanza with two straight points and a couple of fortunate breaks, rallying the large crowd and closing within one at 7–8. After getting back a turnover, Carleton scored to take away some of the Mama Bird's momentum. They then enacted a four-man trapping cup zone defense after the pull.

CUT's zone was heavy in front, weak in the middle, and dangerous deep where the tall men lurked. But Colorado punched through the front line and worked it through the middle to return the score, 9–8 Carleton.

Receive pull, swing pass, 15-yard upfield pass, huck! Score for Carleton, repeat, and the advantage was 11–8. Colorado returned some of the ICBM attack with a long endzone crank of their own which Poster Boy Mark Driver was able to collect with one of those beautiful, fully outstrecthed fingertip catches where the hand scrapes the turf before the disc lands in it.

Carleton switched to a three-man-and-a-clam zone, got the turnover, and sent it deep again. A little in-the-air contact between sophomore superstar Alex Nord and a Colorado defender was not called and the score was 12–9, CUT.

The next point gave the fans a glimpse at the future of Ultimate. CUT's freshman sensation Sam O'Brien, reading a Colorado swing pass, came charging to a disc that was thrown behind a receiver. He got to the disc and the body of the Colorado player at the same time. A foul was called. Normally this type of call would never be resolved by the players since the contact between O'Brien, the disc, and the player was simultaneous. But venerable Observer Ken Dobyns made the call when requested: no foul.

Surprisingly, although booed on the sidelines, neither Colorado nor Carleton disputed the call after the game. Driver, however, knew what the result was going to be, saying "the observers we know, especially in that game, weren't going to let fouls be called–they like physical play," but added, "I thought it was a good bid. I thought they had equal chance of getting it."

Colorado scored one more point before more CUT hucks came raining down to big men Nord, Josh "Kaiser" Wilhelm, and Thomas Sebby. The last one of the game belonged to Nord who deservedly recorded the game-winner, 15–10.

"Usually you feel that with hucks there's a 50% chance they'll come down with it. But they made it more like a 75% chance," spoke Driver after the loss.

"Most teams will throw 15-20 throws and score. We'd just assume to throw up one," commented Jesperson.

In other games, U.C. Santa Cruz, seeded 8th overall, defused 9th seed UNC–Chapel Hill upset attempt 15–9. The teams were jousting over the internet about the game, but in the end Santa Cruz's more formidable offense won out.

Saturday's play had been set: top seeds Santa Barbara, Brown, NC State and Carleton received a bye into quarters. In pre-quarter play-ins, Michigan would face UNC-Chapel Hill, Stanford would meet Yale, Colorado against Iowa and Santa Cruz versus Cornell. Rice, Oberlin, Kansas and Salisbury State awaited pre-quarters losers in the consoaltion bracket, an addition to this year's tournament.

SATURDAY

In the category for most-represented non-playing Ultimate team, the award goes to Notre Dame and Bucknell University. Whereas two dozen N.D. players on both the men's and women's teams arrived in Boulder from across the nation, the Bucknell Mudsharks road-tripped from Eastern Pennsylvania. That's something like a 2-day trip. Furthermore, both ND and Bucknell players volunteered to help with the duties of the tournament. Much props to these two swell teams.

Also of note: the finest Observers in the land were flown out to Boulder to keep the games in line. Dobyns, Mike G, Tom Kompare (aka The Rev), Nathan Wicks and Chris Van Holmes (CVH). I'm probably forgetting a lot too. Everybody did well.

Michigan versus Chapel Hill looked to be an ideal matchup. Both teams were coming to Nationals for the first time, both are big State schools with rising Ultimate programs, and both wore traditional school colored uniforms: Chapel Hill in blue and Michigan in gold.

UNC's junior Ray Parrish and Michigan's junior Tim Murray provided the sparks with great ups and hot defense. The game began in UNC's favor,but Michigan stormed back to take an 11–9 advantage.

Michigan ran what I have always regarded as a standard midwestern stack, featuring short-middle cutbacks with swing passes to maintain possesion. A favorite Midwestern throw is the inside-out forehand, and Michigan used those and mid-range hammers to break through marks.

Chapel Hill countered with trademark North Carolina sass. Insiders credit their come-from-behind win over East Carolina at Regionals as the inspiration to utilize bursts of attitude and intensity. It works. Darkside isn't as vocal as ECU and UNCW, but a little mustard from them seemed to do the trick against the team from Ann Arbor.

The game turned back in UNC's favor when Parrish rose up in the endzone between two Michigan defenders, including Murray, and skyed for the disc. When he came down he let MagnUM know he was ready for more, "Anyone else want to guard me?"

The very next possession, a mental mistake on the goalline turned into a possession that UNC converted to tie at 11s. From there the Darkside rode the momentum all the way to victory 15–11. Michigan looked tired and may have run out of gas after their comeback to start the second half.

The other play-in games were closer than expected, as top seeds hoped to conserve some energy before meeting their well-rested opponent in quarters. Lower seeded teams had nothing to lose and thus were free to lay it on the line.

Stanford bested their East-Coast counterparts Yale, 15–11, while Colorado defeated Iowa 15–10 and U.C. Santa Cruz outlasted the Cornell Buds 15–12. An excellent showing for Cornell considering the fact that they were missing several stating seniors to graduation ceremonies back home in Ithaca.

The results left the following quarterfinal matchups: UCSB vs UNC-Chapel Hill, Brown vs UC Santa Cruz, NC State vs Colorado and Carleton vs Stanford.

The Colorado fans were out again and Mama Bird looked to avenge last year's Nationals elimination loss at the hands of Jinx. N.C. State was ready and waiting.

State received the opening pull, swung the disc, rifled a forehand up the sidelines, followed by another, then another, then a score to the corner. Five passes and twenty seconds later the score was 1–0.

"Thats a set play. We call out five guys in row so we can run it all the way down the field, and with five guys it doesn't look like a homey," explained Jinx part-time coach Brian Dobyns, "if you've got a bunch of guys who know each other really well, then they're going to score."

Colorado could not find a way to stop State from scoring, and soon it was 4–1 N.C. State. 'Rev up the buzzsaw' is the motto for State and they had a Black & Decker steeltip set on shred. Colorado appeared a little dazed after State's offensive burst.

The Jinx defense is deceptive. On one hand, starters Chris Hinkle and Brian Snyder appear relaxed on defense, playing to contain the offense as opposed to challenging it. But then on streaking cutbacks, speedsters Brian Bolduc, Kris Bass, Patrick Hard or Rhett Nichols will bear down on the opponent with a full head of steam, looking for the block.

Colorado features a man back for dumps and it appeared that the Stanford offense would work to prevent too many cutback isolations. What Colorado failed to figure out all game was how to stop State from scoring. They certainly knew where to look, considering that one man touched the disc every other throw.

Chris Hinkle is an offensive machine, involved in nearly every play for N.C. State. After a Colorado score was followed by some sort of junk zone defense, Hinkle came up throwing, tossing a hammer to the endzone to take a 5–2 lead.

Finally, Colorado scored two in a row as the Jinx defense took a breather. The last one was a huck to Driver who caught it above Brian Bolduc, then straddled him and offered some words of advice. Bolduc almost tackled Driver before an observer stepped in with warnings for both teams.

Colorado needed to be fired-up and Driver hoped to instill some attitude into his team. Instead, N.C. State, familiar with years of attitude from several notable North Carolina fireheads, scored three in a row, the last two on soaring hucks from the second or third pass in the stack. They weren't slowing down and they weren't holstering their guns. Mark Driver and the rest of Colorado were rattled.

Jinx cruised into half up 8–4 on the home team. They were playing on another level.

Mama Bird opened the second half with a score from Ben Bronson who went up high for a disc and then stroked a forehand into the endzone. But N.C. State stayed put and traded points to 10–8 before the final turning point in the game.

At 10–8 Brian Snyder sent a big throw downfield for an apparent score. But it was brought back on a travel call. Unfazed, State patiently worked underneath, baiting Colorado into being wary of another huck. The strategy worked, they scored to go up by three. I'll let coach Dobyns explain the rest.

"A one goal bulge with a team like Colorado is no bulge at all, but a three goal bulge with any team gives you a chance to use people you might not otherwise use on your defense."

And what defense was your team using?

"The gameplan was to play them straight up and not allow any of thier hucks, because they go downfield well and they go downfield often. Play denial defense, keep them from having easy cutbacks and wear down their offense, make their offense work really hard."

N.C. State, now with a late three-goal lead, had the opportunity to rest their offensive mainstays and send in the defensive stalwarts. Colorado got the next point, but the damage was intractable. State stayed fired-up and ran off the next four points to win with emphasis 15–9. It was a similar score to last year's Nationals match between the teams.

It was a tough loss for Colorado. They had hoped to at least get to semis for the hometown fans. But Ultimate players aren't used to having fan support. Their presence may have added to the pressure on Colorado to perform well.

"I'd say there was significant hometown pressure," related Mark Driver, "I don't think we played up to potential at all in this tournament."

Continued Driver, "We certainly gave a lot of points to them. It was pretty disappointing, our chilliness on offense. We had a lot of drops, a lot of miscommunication errors. I think we took ourselves out of the game more than they took us out of the game."

Up next for Jinx: rivals Brown University in the semifinals.

Brown was somewhat quiet all tournament. They never rolled any teams after the first game and managed to avoid the tough 'top six' by being the comfortable second seed.

Santa Cruz is no team to be looked past. At the Stanford Invite, the Slugs lost to eventual winners Colorado 14–13 in quarterfinals. In pool play they ran neck and neck with Brown before the final score belonged to the Nor'esasterners, 13-12.

But the Slugs dismal shellacking at the hands of UCSB was a bad sign. They looked out of rhythym in that game, despite carrying a formidable and healthy team.

Maybe coach Karlinsky could get the team fired up to play Brown. Karlinsky guided UCSC to the Finals in 1995 and has stuck around the Bay Area scene as a force ever since. He paces the sidelines like a somewhat taller, more cut version of Joe Pesci.

The Slugs also feature versatile Idris Nolan, a 6-footer-and-some who can play any position and and throw any throw. He has been getting the team attention in recent years and has helped to maintain a program that has always been top-notch. For this tournament he died his hair black and spiked it up like Sid Vicious. Sid and Joe, ready for Forch and Safdie.

Brown opened up a three-goal advantage in the first half and never reliquished the lead, despite several one-point closeouts by Santa Cruz. Jeremy Schwartz and Moses Rifkin had solid games and Forch, as always, played well.

Cruz could not find a way to stop Brown from scoring, despute managing to put points on the boad themselves. Brown emerged victorious, 15–12, advancing to semis as expected.

Meanwhile, in other quarters activity, chants of Black Tide! Never Dies! encircled the field as UCSB began their customary pre-game warmup lap. I'm sure UNC was trying not to pay attention, but to everyone else, eighteen identical übermen jogging in stride to the monotone chanting of We Will! Crush Them! can be quite chilling.

Simply put, UNC did not have enough firepower to battle the Tide army. Ray Parrish and captain Carl Erickson, despite playing with a cast on his left hand, were not enough for Darkside. After staying close early, UCSB walked away with a comfortable 15–6 victory. They still had not been tested.

The most exciting quarterfinal game was Carleton versus Stanford. Both teams are made up of good-natured athletes who play an extremely solid game of Ultimate. For both schools, Ultimate is a way of life more than some sort of social-sports club like other schools.

Stanford saw 100 people try out for the team in fall. They routinely have the best B-team in the nation, keeping the ranks for the varsity squad filled with experienced players year after year.

Carleton is a small liberal-arts school. They have taken to the sport like lemmings to the sea. Close to 80% of the school's student body plays Ultimate in some form or another. Like Stanford, CUT's ranks are restocked with experienced talent on a yearly basis.

The teams met at College Easterns this year, with Carleton winning fairly securely. In fact, Carleton has beaten every team they've played this year. The only team that has beaten them back has been N.C. State.

This game promised to be a good match. Stanford looked good against N.C. State and they were playing without fear. Perhaps they had a little Karma on their side too. If they had just a little more height...

Carleton came out fresh after the bye, going up 3–1. Stanford caught up to 4–3 and the game went point for point there on out. Carleton was playing on the same field they had hucked Colorado on, so they decided to do the same against Stanford. Skinny legs and all Alex Nord and 6'7" senior Josh Wilhelm anchored the tall men, which also included six-foot-fivers Brody Felchle and Thomas Sebby. CUT's handlers Jesperson, O'Brien, Clay Preheim and Seth Partnow had the green light to send it deep.

You must understand that such a loose, opened-up offense (one word: scoober) is unlike Carleton teams of the past, which have traditionally relied on extremely tight offensive sets, lots of handling, and hard-running defenses.

Fortunately Carleton does have that background of hard cuts and crisp throws, so when the wind started to pick up early in the first half they were not necessarily in trouble. But getting the disc proved to be more difficult, and their troubles were exacerbated by Stanford's Scott Johnston, all 6'2" and blonde surfer-cut of him.

Johnston had no fear going up in the air with Carleton's big men, and more times than expected he came down with the disc.

It helped that Stanford played zone in an attempt to curb CUT's penchant for hucking. It seemed to work for 10 or so passes, and then Carleton would throw up a risky bomb anyway, just to see if a man in blue would come down with it.

The game progrssed slowly. Stanford was somewhat successful in forcing Carleton to handle the disc more than huck it. Karma had also done a nice job of winning some important in-air discs, thanks to the efforts of Johnston and captain Dan Eisenberg. Unfortunately their offense was not as tight as it could have been, as throwaways were common to both sides of the field.

At 12–10 Carleton the time cap was enacted, hard to 14. Carleton had a chance to score, but threw the disc away in the handle. Stanford registered the point. They pulled to Carleton and came out in a zone. CUT pretended the zone didn't exist and sent the disc to Nord deep in the endzone. But Johnston was back deep and he came down with the disc instead. Karma had an opportunity to tie the game, but they could not work it deep. Finally Carleton scored to go to game point.

CUT had been ahead all game but Stanford never gave up. They came right back with a successful offensive possession and it looked like they might be able to capitalize on the late surge and Carleton's fear. Carleton, however, wasn't playing scared and they weren't going to crumble. Instead on the next possession they lofted a quite risky huck that looked for sure to be a turnover. Johnston had a good read on the disc, but Wilhelm was in position and his extra five inches of height was just enough to get the disc. Wilhelm is not known for his disc-handling skills however. CUT had recruited him straight from the B-ball team for real. He landed and wisely called timeout. Carleton worked the possession and finished the game, 14–12.

In the consolation bracket, new Regional foes Salisbury State and Cornell began what may be a great rivalry. Cornell defeated Salisbury at Regionals by five points. Both teams came back from identical 14–12 game point deficits to Princeton to win. Cornell did it first and Salisbury followed up in the backdoor game. Princeton was quite the unlucky team this year.

Here in Boulder, Salisbury was seeded 16th out of 16 teams and Cornell 10th. Cornell is Ultimate royalty–they've been competing since 1928. OK, maybe like 1978 or something. They've been to the semifinals of Nationals seven times. They voted against the Experimental Rules because they don't need 'em.

Captain Phil "Tigger" Ting showed why, calling a turnover on himself late in the game. The Salisbury State Buzz ended up winning the game, the first game at Nationals ever won by the sixteenth seed.

From the Southern region, old school Kansas qualified. It looks like they may have found a decent region at last. Years of traveling to Madison and St. Louis may be replaced by ten-hour drives to meet Rice in Austin instead.

There is no question in my mind that Kansas has the coolest looking shirts. The HorrorZontal has remained the same for how long? 15 years? It should also be noted here that the Kansas team dedicated their play to alum Ryan Hartnett who died this year backcountry skiing.

And my roving reporter tells me that Nate Johnson from Rice is an excellent player, worthy of all possible praise in print or otherwise.

Also of note: according to a RSD posting, Yale senior captain Webster McBride (one of eleven seniors) used Fire in the Ro-Sham with Oberlin for shirt color, choosing white of course, because they didn't have any extra dark shirts for the dummy. Unfortunately for them Oberlin won the game.

SEMIFINALS

Unlike years past, the semis matchups began a mere thirty minutes after quarterfinals. The hallowed aura around semis was therefore diminished. No longer did teams have an evening to prepare for their opponent and no longer did it look so special to make the Final Four.

Instead teams were immediately thrust into a battle to make Finals. The format helps the teams that won the bye out of pool-play, but punishes a team that fought through pre-quarters en route to making semis. It so happened this year that the four pool-play winners advanced to semis and were thus playing on a more or less even level, but any Cinderella team advancing would have played an extra round.

N.C. State playing Brown was a dream match for semis. State's losses this season came at the hands of Brown, Carleton, and no one else. In their last loss, Brownian Motion outscored Jinx 15–5 after giving away the game's first four points. It was on North Carolina turf too, in the finals of College Easterns.

Brown had thwrated N.C. State with a clam zone, recording block after block and scoring on the turnovers. State looked tired, confused and timid. They refused to throw above Brown's cup and never altered their four-man zone offense.

Brown's crafty deep man Justin Safdie beat Jinx's Brian Snyder to endzone discs countless times while Fortunat Mueller schooled them offensively with breakaway scores and big backhands.

Brown expected more of the same in the rematch. They wanted to stop Snyder from going long and they counted on their zone defense to monkeywrench the Jinx buzzsaw.

"When we played them at Easterns they certainly didn't know how to pop," recalled Justin Safdie.

Unfortunately the Ivy Leaguers were playing with a less-than-healthy Safdie. Justin injured his back at Regionals and was sitting out points during Brown's run through pool play. He had to be doped up on Naproxin to play through the pain and there is no doubt that his extraordinary game was hampered by the injury.

Also unfortunate for Brown was N.C. State's re-tooled strategy. Coach Dobyns recognized the team's problems in the Finals loss to Brown and adjusted the offense in time for Nationals.

"[At Easterns] we were using a four-man across handling scheme and they were playing a really flat zone. We were able to move the disc back and forth–but we didnt go up the field," explained Dobyns, "so we've dropped one of the four guys forward as a popper and now we're using hammers to go over that front line."

Whoops. Looks like N.C. State knew how to pop now.

N.C. State began the game receiving and immediately pulled the trigger on a long throw to Kevin Kusy, guarded by Safdie. Safdie couldn't make the play but Kusy couldn't hang on. Like a boxer, Brown counterpunched with a deep strike of their own to veteran Lyn Debevoise. But he couldn't hang on either. Brown came out in a clam and forced a turnover. Two passes later they threw it away and State scored easily.

Mueller walked back to the line hanging his head. He does this every now and then, but something was different this time. His eyes, normally bright and meaningful were downcast. It was 1–0 Jinx.

A couple more throwaways from Brown and the score was quickly 3–0. State had once again jumped out to their customary early-game lead.

Brown finally got two in a row to put them in the game. Brown isn't the type of team to start off slow and rally late in the game. Like N.C. they usually come out of the gates fast and play point-for-point after that. Even at such an early stage in the game it was evident they were not playing their best.

At 4–2 Brown had a good chance to convert a turnover into points. Uncharacteristically Mueller missed a scoring opportunity by throwing the disc away. This was the first of at least five turnovers for the Callahan winner. State scored the point to go up 5–2.

Brown got on the board thanks to a Moses Rifkin score to Harper Alexander. As underclassmen, Rifkin and Alexander make up one half of Brown's super recruiting class. Jeremy Schwartz and Kyle Weisbrod are two others that played competitive high school Ultimate.

Once again strategy captain John Gearen set up Brown to come out in a zone defense. Jinx was more than ready. Using the popper most effectively they roached the defense with amazing ease, getting the point on a put from Kris Bass to Pat Hard.

Bass, Hard and Rhett Nichols were all over the field for N.C. State and Brown could not find an answer. Their zone was not working and their defense was unable to find the seams to register blocks.

At 7–5, Forch dropped a pass, Chris Hinkle picked up the turnover and hucked deep to Kusy who came down with the half-ending goal.

Brown tried to regroup at half. They have a great deal of patience and Ultimate serenity.

Related Gearen, "I think we just said, 'Don't lose confidence in us. Play our game. They will play a good game or they will play a bad game–don't wait for them to turn it over. Don't expect them to shut us down because when we're running on all cylinders, people have not shut us down.'"

However, they were not running on all cylinders while N.C. State's engine was maintaining a steady 5000 RPM. That number would rise in the second half.

Brown opened with a downwind huck from Rifkin to Mueller. State countered with a full field Snyder rope to Pat Hard. Brown put one back in, a textbook backhand from Forch to Alexander. 9–7 State. Maybe Brown could make it a game after all.

Not if Hinkle could help it. The sandy-haired man with the big feet owned the field. He had thrown every other score in the first half. Not enough!

So on the next possession Hinkle sent it deep after the second pass, putting the onus on the receiver to make a great play. Patrick Hard was happy to oblige as he rose up in the endzone and skied for the goal.

Next possession Bryan Bolduc turned on the afterburners chasing a Brown huck and made the mad block. State worked it upwind and then Hinkle let another one rip to Pat Hard who got air while the Brown defender stayed planted. Another huge score.

A mental drop from Brown and Hinkle throws another huck score. It was three in a row like that. Brown was stunned, State ecstatic. Hard, Hinkle, Bolduc and the rest of Jinx were playing two levels above Brown.

Brown could never recover. A Forch score to make it 12–8 would be the last hurrah for B-Motion. N.C. State scored the final three on three straight possessions and the game was over like it began. 15–8 State was going to Finals for the first time.

How did they keep up the intensity?

"Well, it's pretty easy when you keep scoring and its a big game like that," laughed a stoked-up Chris Hinkle after the game, "But we're not done yet. We've worked hard all season. We've got one more game to go."

Brown's co-captain John Gearen was still a little confused at the end of the game. "I felt that, in the final analysis, we werent worried enough. At times in the past we've been too afraid of teams. Now we feel confident, that we're going to pull it out. I think in this game, perhaps, it translated to not as much intensity."

It was also pretty clear that Brown did not play a particularly good game, and that Forch in fact played one of the worst games of his career. Safdie was nearly invisible as were seniors Matt Kromer, Matt Root and Olivier Humboldt.

At least they kept their heads on straight. Afterwards a group of Brown alumni who had made the trip to Boulder scrimmaged the current Brown team. They were up 7–6 last count.

And Forch, who appeared so out of sync and flustered throughout the entire semifinal, was able to joke around with friends who reminded him that "you're not a real superstar until you've buried your team."

Kill the Bunny.

While all the Midwesterners I know call them 'the Borg', I sensed the UCSB nickname for Carleton was 'Bunny.' Santa Barbara had a special chant for this semifinal and it was 'Kill the Bunny.'

I can't say for certain that the teams hate each other. Hate is a strong word. The teams really, really do not like each other. There's a lot of history, most of it dating back to the 1996 College Finals between the teams on Carleton's home turf. UCSB won a gritty, call-plagued game 21–18. CUT thought they were robbed.

But this version of Carleton is no Bunny. They've loosened up considerably, thanks to the mellow, even-keeled nature of co-captains Clay Preheim and Gus Jesperson. All season they've played more like komoda dragons than rabbits. Um, yeah.

Carleton had looked especially good in wins over Colorado and Stanford. Still, Santa Barbara was more than happy to meet Carleton in semis.

"I'd like to play Carleton," said captain Tommy Burfiend after their quarters win. "We're both really big and we both put it up. A chance to see some atheletes get in the air, get after the disc. It should be a fun game."

Related Jesperson, "Obviously I think they are the team to beat until someone proves them wrong. Most college teams make a few mistakes–but offensively they [UCSB] get the disc and hold onto it. We're going to have to throw a lot of defensive looks at them, not necesarily force a block, but make them throw a pass tthey aren't used to throwing."

The game began badly for CUT. They had just finished a tough game against Stanford and had little time to rest up and prepare for the best team in the nation–the team that had so far given up only 21 points in four games.

UCSB was relaxed and ready to throw around a little attitude. They really enjoy projecting a bad guy image. It works really well when you've got the talent to back it up.

The game opened 3–0 in Black Tide's favor. CUT's defense looked sluggish. They were not getting back on hucks.

Santa Barbara would not let up on the pressure. They were taking Carleton out of their game with a prevent zone. CUT began to revert to their old handle-heavy ways, swinging the disc across the field without looking to send it deep.

The winds and dark clouds also conspired against them, threatening to make the game too windy for Carleton's hucks and just windy enough for Santa Barbara's throws.

The tough quarterfinal game, the long history between the teams, the wind, dark clouds, a tough Black Tide zone–only one thing was missing from making this semifinal a rotten and forgettable event for Carleton. And then Greg "Hollywood" Husak scored and spiked the disc.

It was looking like trouble for CUT, now standing in a four-point hole at 6–2 UCSB. Wait, better make that five as Carleton's zone offense again failed to connect, this time heading downwind.

Half ended with Black Tide up 8–3. It was a remarkably quick half. Carleton's defense gave up eight goals in eleven opportunities whereas UCSB only let Carleton score three times in ten chances.

James Studarus was having little difficulty throwing goals. Burfiend, Adam Glimme and Ernie Aubin were having an easy time scoring them.

"Let's play our game CUT!!" screamed the sidelines, as usual packed with CUT alum appearing out of nowhere.

Well, it's about time someone pointed that out. So far Carleton was playing every game but their game and they were getting creamed because of it.

But the winds had picked up to stay and the zephyrs favor the Californians. It looked over for sure at 10–4. CUT finally put in a big score on an upwind huck from Seth Partnow to make it 10–5. Yawn.

UCSB took the pull and nonchalantly sent a disc deep that Partnow defensed. Tide again lined up in defensive battle formation–the dreaded zone. Carleton worked two passes and said fuggit! Clay Preheim cranked to Kaiser for an alley-oop in the endzone. Bang. Within four, crowd's in the game, and the big man is feeling all right.

The Carleton defense came out like banshees, trying to stop Black Tide from scoring downwind. UCSB looked unfazed but then threw the disc away nonetheless. Jesperson connected with Wilhelm and the score was 10–7.

Santa Barbara wisely called timeout. They needed to get that edge back. CUT was on fire, the sidelines were in the game and they were not playing up to the expected levels of Santa Barbara Ultimate.

As they do so masterfully, so naturally, UCSB responded with a critical upwind score, working it underneath by sending cuts deep and then under, hitting them in stride with the disc. Junior Oren Skoog did the honors this time.

Carleton faced a big point. Their run of three was snapped and they were heading upwind again. Patiently the handling clique worked it upfield and then let it go to the endzone where Alex Nord was hanging out. Score!

Hollywood was pretty quiet up until these final crucial points of play. He hadn't gotten any skies like the one on the cover of the Nationals program (incidentally over a CUT player). But he still relished playing under pressure. He returned the point with a nice forehand to a streaking Brandon Steets who layed-out perfectly for the score to make it 12–8.

Carleton still had more game left in them. They scored upwind, totem pole to totem pole style, Nord to Wilhelm. On defense Carleton tried a zone again, hoping that UCSB wouldn't roach it like they did in the first half. After working countless passes, Black Tide threw the disc away.

Michael Hanslick picked up the plastic and...sent it long! But not a very good throw. It was upwind and floated. Nord and Hollywood were positioning at the goalline. The disc started to come down. Nord bodied Hollywood, went up for the disc, caught it and landed two feet over the line facing Husak. Hola, that face has got to burn señor!

Hollywood tried not pay attention to the howling Carleton fans on the sidelines. The scoreboard still had SB by two, and their motto is down by two, so that's a comfortable four-point margin.

Really, UCSB has just too much big-game experience to be afraid, to choke away a game. Carleton even got a chance to score again after a Black Tide turnover. But their run of six straight possesions resulting in scores was over. Studarus and Hollywood hooked for the score. Another Carleton huck to Nord for a score (where were these in the first half?). Studarus and Hollywood hooked up for a score. Studarus felt comfortable enough to jaw Carleton.

Rangy James has a way of getting open and rugged Husak finds ways to make openings. This was their game time, so they did what they've been doing for four years. It didn't matter who the opponent was.

The last hookup put Tide ahead 14–11. Carleton was still in a groove but time was running out. Tommy Burfiend got a d-block for UCSB and it looked like it was all over. But Carleton got it back and scored again to make it 14–12.

The crowds swelled with excitement, hoping for one last CUT burst to tie the game. Black Tide knew who to put on the line for offense. James. Hollywood. Glimme. Burfiend. Schneider. Working patiently, using the underneath cuts, Tide moved to within thirty yards of victory and called timeout. Studarus had the disc on the left side. Time–in, Hollywood is bolting to the front cone with a defender in his shorts, Studarus breaks the mark with that albatross high-release backhand and the disc sticks to Hollywood's hands. Game over.

"I think we might have defeated the second best team here, outside of us. I can't believe we didn't know them from last year. We beat them pretty handily and we heard they lost a bunch of guys, but they came back bigger and stronger and better than last year –those guys are studs," reflected Husak after the game.

Carleton will definitely be in the hunt next year. Maybe they had their Danny Manning all along. It's a zen thing.

"Fourth year in the finals. Going to try to make it four in a row. But it will be tough. We havent seen NC State yet, we saw them play Stanford a little, but I don't know what they're all about. They're good players," mused Husak.

FINALS

Black Tide was staying at the main hotel with the rest of the teams. In fact they were staying in the room below mine. Saturday night at 11:30, Matt the Gaia Man, Super Rick the Photog, Skyboy Tom Vacca and I are sharing some beers and stories from the rounds of play. One is of Mike G, The Rev, and Charles Kerr sitting at a post-game table downing root beers and some tasty homemade pasta. The Rev and Mike G, complete opposites in the spectrum of life, turn out to have more in common than anyone would've guessed. Jon Shepard, the Mad Tournament Director was also a favorite touchstone. He put together a fine, fine show but may have given half the volunteers ulcers. Matt sold a lot of his stuff. He was happy. It's got to be a tough business starting a clothing company geared entirely towards the whimsies of iconoclastic Ultimate players.

I digress. I'm rambling. It was that kind of night too, the way it should be. But at 11:30 we heard one singular chant of Black Fucking Tide! and with that everyone went to bed.

"Thursday nite we have a team meeting and Kris Bass has his jerseys from the past four years. N.C. State 1983 Phys Ed t-shirt, from when the basketball team won the Championship. Then the jersey from our first trip to Nationlas, a jersey from our trip last year, and some other jersey. The team was all gathered around. 'Here we are –this is what we've come to do. This first jersey, we played in semis last year but right now it doesn't mean that much' and he took a match and threw it down–it was soaked in kerosene. 'Burn it.' And he went to the next, and he told a story about each jersey...torched it. Went down the line, all four of them, and no one said a word. We watched all the jerseys burn and we knew what we had to do."

Maybe it was a strange prophecy for them to see me coming up to their first game on Friday wearing a Jinx t-shirt I had traded for in 1994. I thought nothing of it, but they certainly looked at me funny. Did I know? Was this the one jersey they didn't burn and should have? Or did it mean something else?

Hah hah, I don't know. Just thought I'd bring it up because it's true. On with the show.

"We're number nine! We're number nine!"

The Michigan cheers were loud and happy. They had just won the first ever Consolation Finals in the history of Nationals. They beat Iowa 16–14 in a game that could have gone either way depending on the breaks. They got to play on the super-dope Finals field. They also got to boast "We're undefeated Sunday at Nationals!"

Iowa is as hard-working a team you're likely to find. They can never seem to really get close to knocking out the big teams, but for everyone else you know they're going to fight tooth and nail. They have a tight-knit Ultimate community, isolated in the Plains with few teams to play against in a 200 mile radius. Led by seniors Ryan Nation and Kyle Cannon, Iowa has made Nationals twice in a row and looks to be building a solid base for future appearances.

Michigan may have just outlasted them in this Final. This was the seventh game for both teams and Jon Bakija's MagnUM squad brought more players. The final score to Tim Murray came after several turnovers.

Funny thing about the direction Ultimate may be heading. Murray was a cross-country star in high school and refused to throw discs with his schoolmates, chiding them for playing such a sport. Somehow he was recruited to play at Michigan and the next thing you know he's a Callahan candidate, and his team is here at Nationals.

Recruitment is such a key element of building and maintaining Ultimate programs. Charles Kerr recognized this years ago and began an intensive program at N.C. State to recruit athletes to play Ultimate. Using game videos and Ultimate press, Kerr had freshmen and sophomores envisioning a future where Ultimate was able to draw fans, maybe even paying fans, and respect.

He partnered with Nortel and started the Nortel Series of College Ultimate to provide N.C. State players with an in to a decent job after college. The Nortel Series also allowed Kerr to experiment with a more spectator-friendly version of the sport–one that would simultaneously curb the less attractive elements of the sport and effect changes to regulate the typically free-form structure of Ultimate games.

The Rules made sense and College Teams took to them at the Classic City Classic, Yale Cup, the Stanford Invite and College Easterns. Now they were here at the highest level of collegiate competition. Does that mean Ultimate is going to be cutting sponsorship deals soon and that the soul and spirit of Ultimate will be lost forever. Somehow I don't think so. In fact, it could happen though. I guess we'll just have to invent a new 6 on 6 game with a disc and call it Penultimate.

--------

You have to want to beat UCSB with all your guts. Anything less will not work.

The finals was a story of little big men versus big big men. Quick speedsters Kris Bass, Brian Bolduc, Patrick Hard and Brian Lang would have to sneak under the UCSB radar broadcast by beefy backs Greg Husak, Adam Glimme, Ernie Aubin and Tommy Hellyer.

Jinx received the disc to start and scored, Hinkle to Kusy. UCSB scored right back. N.C. State scored again, UCSB responded. No turnovers so far.

The game was played in a sort of natural stadium. Grassy berms rose up on three sides of the field, giving everyone a good seat for the match. In the beginning the fans were evenly spread out, but towards the end a large group of anti-Black Tide congregated on the North Carolina side of the field while a similar group of pro-Black Tide/pro-California resided on the other. Fortunately the walls of grass were thirty feet from the lines, preventing any uncalled-for abuses.

State got the first defensive block of the tournament when Brian Bolduc stopped a huck from completion, allowing N.C. to score.

On the next point both teams tested the limits of the game, measuring out the opponent and feeling what type of offensive groove was going to work best. We knew State's was 'fire up the cavalry and charge! Send the troops deep and fire 'em in there if you got the chance. If not, pull back and bait the deep to work the underneath. Just keep Hinkle around the disc.'

For UCSB it was a matter of James finding out the right amount of touch necessary for his throws to land in stride with the receiver. After many turnovers by both teams, mostly on hucks, Black Tide scored to tie.

Already N.C. State had an edge. Although they typically blew out opponents in the first three or four possessions, UCSB was a different ball of wax.

Snyder reponded for Jinx with a crowd-raising layout grab in the endzone from an overthrown Bolduc forehand.

UCSB returned the score with an impossible to defend high-release lefty backhand to Brandon Steets. A State huckaway turned into another Santa Barbara score, this one Hollywood to Schneider. UCSBturned to the zone for some help defensively.

N.C. State moved patiently through the defense and scored after 10 or so passes to tie the game at 5s.

Hmmm. Something was a little fishy. N.C. State was not scared and whatever weird offense they were playing was working to perfection. Santa Barbara might have been a little disoriented. There are used to an opponent providing a thread of slack for them to exploit. N.C. State seemed unflappable. The only mistakes they were making were overthrown hucks and they didn't seem to care.

UCSB dropped the disc and turned to zone. Snyder sent a questionable hammer to the endzone, got the foul call, and N.C. State scored again. UCSB retaliated and scored to Brandon Steets who performed a most-unusual cock-spike, bouncing the disc off his groin. It looked kinda silly.

Again N.C's offense was unaffected. They moved effectively down the field before Pat Hard felt it was righteous enough to send a deep hammer to Snyder in the corner. 7–6 N.C. State. Had UCSB been down before at this late in the game?

The anti–Black Tide crowd didn't think they had, but they weren't taking any chances. Chants of "Holllllywoood" echoed across the field trying to find a way into Husak's pride.

Meanwhile, a very uncharacteristic and rare endzone turnover for UCSB gave the disc back to State. They flipped a few passes before getting it to Hinkle who wisely called timeout at about midfield. Hinkle with disc in hand after timeout = disc will be in endzone within 10 seconds.

Sure enough, some sort of play was set up, Hinkle checked the disc in, and immediately sent a madly hooking forehand to the middle of the field. No one was there. What the hell was that?

But Kris Bass was on rails after the damn thing. Suddenly he leapt into the air with his back arched and his hand out straight, matching the trajectory of the disc, flying upwards and sideways in a most unusual manner. The disc stuck to his hand like a dart in cork and he came down on his side, in the endzone, for the half. Electrifying.

Explained straight-talking Bass, "That one was a set play. We just kind of set it up to have the endzone open. They didn't really match up the way we wanted it to, but Hinkle made a great throw. Landed right in my hand."

Hell no! You had to jump up two feet and to the side two feet to get your hand anywhere near that badly thrown disc!

Bass smiled and responded, "Naw–did it just for looks."

It was pretty clear to most game watchers that UCSB was not getting its deep looks at the end of the first half. They were making unforced errors in their handle positions. Some kind of defense N.C. was playing had taken away their deep game.

Burfiend determined that the outcome of the game rested in defense, "They're getting themselves inside way too easily, getting the discs at will. Defense is going to win this game."

State was holding on to a thin two-goal margin over the three-time defending Champions. Was coach Brian Dobyns a little nervous?

"You bet your ass," replied Dobyns.

The half couldn't have started out any better for Jinx. Mild-mannered Snyder got a huge layout block coming back to the disc to halt the Tide's advance. Four passes later Kevin Kusy fed him dessert, sending a sky-hammer deep to the back of the endzone for Snyder to track down.

The score gave N.C. State the fuel to power the buzzsaw for another half of play. UCSB felt the sting immediately, trudging back to the line with calls of "time to fire up Tide!" coming from worried teammates.

On the next possession Studarus overthrew Hollywood on the second pass. State scored easily. 10–6.

Both teams sensed a turning point in the game. Instead, the next point featured a rash of turnovers. Santa Barbara was trying to regain their concentration while State anteed up for all the amazing catches they had made earlier by missing connections, including a goalline turnover after a timeout.

After a few more misses, Studarus finally found Burfiend wide open in the endzone for a much-needed Tide score. Hinkle got back on track and State scored easily to keep the four-point lead at 11–7.

Santa Barbara was still rattled. They drove the length of the field only to turf an easy score. Burfiend got the disc back for S.B. on a misguided huck to Kusy. Tide had an opportunity to drive and score.

But Brian Bolduc put a stop to that and provided State with their biggest play yet. On a comeback pass, Bolduc made a sweet layout fingertip block on the heels of the Tide player. State dropped a score in the endzone and Bolduc amazingly made the exact same block three passes later. State punched it in.

Now it looked like the Jinx defense was clicking just as their offense had gone south. They had a 12–7 lead and Santa Barbara was looking more and more vulnerable every possession.

"We expected them to make a run, we didn't expect to help them quite as much. We knew it was going to come, and when it did come I was a little worried," spoke Chris Hinkle after the game.

N.C. State continued to make defensive stops but their confidence in the offense began to wilt. The huge Bolduc blocks had drained the team mentally and physically. Their energy level had dipped, like coming down off a thirty-minute Ginseng buzz. They were a step too slow to respond to Santa Barbara on defense, while on offense they were sadly imprecise and recklessly adventuresome with their throws.

Hollywood sprung back to life. He and James were having off games. It finally hit him that the time was now to get the shit in check. He got his fire back on defense, reading N.C. State's throws and jumping in for poach blocks. James took off his hat. He too was ready to play inspired D and get Tide back on top where they belonged.

Black Tide scored three straight points to close to 12–10. N.C. State got lucky on the next possession as Glimme took one away and then gave it back after a phantom block from Pat Hard. State scored, 13–10.

Time was running out on UCSB for a change. Someone called out, "Don't the fans want to see a game to 21!?" Too late now.

James untracked and sent a backhand huck to Tommy in the endzone. 13–11. N.C. State threw it away on the next possession and Hollywood makes the knockdown in a crowd. They moved upwind 10 yards from the goalline and called time. When play resumed, it's James' lefty backhand high-release to Hollywood that does the trick, 13–12.

The lineups had really tightened for both teams as subbing became infrequent. Both teams were starting to wear down. First Hinkle drops a pass up high. Then Glimme throws a pass to James too deep in the endzone. Next, Hinkle throws it away after failing to get good looks from his deep men. Then S.B. turfs a throw. Hinkle, going for the trifecta, finally makes the connection to Rhett Nichols and Jinx is in the catbird seat, 14–12.

Jinx subbed in some new faces to keep legs fresh. Studarus marches through on offense, puts it to Steets for an easy score, 14–13.

Santa Barbara matched up their defensive team: Studarus, Husak, Glimme, Aubin, Hellyer, Ben Smith and Nick Fiske. Then, just as N.C. State is preparing a strategy for scoring the final point, James called timeout.

Wow, a timeout to ice the opponent. Brilliant idea and brilliant execution. As if on cue, UCSB pulled, Snyder took the disc and sailed a forehand past his diving receiver. Tide took the turnover and tied the game.

"Talk about heart-dropping," spoke Snyder about the throwaway, "I knew as soon as I let it go. I knew exactly who I was throwing to and I knew as soon as I released it it was going down."

"It seemed like we kinda crushed them to go 14s," related Husak, "But I think that's the hardest point in Ultimate, when the team just breaks even."

"I never thought we'd give in. I knew it was going to be a battle to the very end," spoke Hinkle.

Brian Snyder never thought to hang his head after the demoralizing throwaway. Instead he followed it with the greatest play of the tournament.

State received a decent pull and got the disc to Snyder about 15 yards from their goalline. They had called a set play on the line, but suddenly Snyder wound up for a big backhand and...released! One of those classic sports moments that you see and can't quite believe, can't fathom what it takes to make that kind of throw in that situation.

Snyder had spotted Bass making a run for the border and he lofted a good one. Bass had a few steps on his defender but the disc kept going, and going, and then it slowed down and dropped down a bit near the back of the endzone. Still in full stride with Ben Smith now right on his tail, Bass went way up, snagged the disc and came down in-bounds. Whoa.

"For being 5'4 or 5'5, whatever Kris Bass is, he's a helluva target. I knew as soon as I saw him cut that was the throw I wanted and its kind of like in basketball–if you're missing your shots, keep taking them," explained Snyder.

But the game wasn't over yet. It was overtime, 15–14 N.C. State. UCSB and James decided that they could do the same thing.

N.C. State was rapidly running out of energy. The pull sailed OB giving Santa Barbara a chance for a set offense. James called out a huck to Brandon Steets who had a few inches on his man, Kris Bass. The throw was perfect, catching Steets in stride in the endzone. Bass tried to get a piece of the disc but all he got was air. Instead, Steets, who had gotten turned around, could not clutch the plastic and the disc became the property of Jinx.

Jinx looked tired maneuvering up the field. They even threw the disc away on a tailing backhand to Patrick Hard. Hard and his defender were heading out of bounds rapidly and it looked like the disc was uncatchable. Somehow Hard reached up and grabbed it at the last second, still heading out of bounds. He landed out, but called a foul arguing that he was pushed out. It was an extremely difficult call to make, but it went to the observer Chris Van Holmes and he ruled 'return to thrower.'

State moved to within 20 yards of the final score. Hinkle called timeout. Play resumed with a standard endzone stack. Hinkle appeared nervous and double-clutched a few throws. Finally he ill-advisedly sent a tricky backhand to the far corner for Kevin Kusy. Tommy Burfiend was practically standing in front of him.

"Actually, I saw him with his hands in front of me. I couldnt even see the disc and then it kind of came around, I reached up and it stuck," revealed Kusy, "I was a little shocked because I didn't really realize it was game point. Then everyone started tackling me and I knew it was game over."

A miracle catch. Somebody wanted them to win.

UCSB was in disbelief. They shook hands with N.C. State like shock victims and moved off the field very, very slowly.

"Since Freshman year we knew that they were the team to beat. We always wanted to have that final game against them because that way we really knew we were the best team," explained Kusy.

MVP of the Finals goes to Kris Bass. It was his spirit that guided this team, but it was his game-turning scores that won it.

"This is the whole reason why you practice three times a week, for the one opportunity to risk it all for the Ultimate game," says Bass. Words to live by.

"You just expect to win so much. Its almost like it hasnt even set in because you always just win. I dont even know what it feels like yet," spoke Husak afterwards.

"It feels great. I've wanted to stop that streak for a while, man. Especially since Snyder and I lost to Hollywood and James in club semifinasls last year," spoke Hinkle.

"Those are the guys we want to beat. Those are the guys that have taken it to the national title three years in a row–we want to replace them, we want to beat them, we want to stop them getting four in a row–and that was the talk pretty much all season," admitted Snyder.

Back in Raleigh one week later the team celebrated with much Pepe Lopez and frequent screenings of the finals, captured on videotape for future generations.

This was written for the UPA Newsletter. The UPA flew me to Boulder to cover this tournament.

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