1999 CLUB NATIONALS (JOCKEY U.P.A. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS) – INTRODUCTION

OK, so as someone has pointed out, having 'Nationals' part of this silly tournament title is an anachronism. It's International now, right? And it's Jockey's. And the UPA's too – so official sounding, such an offical tournament, designed to showcase the respectability of Ultimate. Even a corporate-friendly logo, approved by Jockey, our dear money-lender (fact: the UPA will not make money on the Jockey sponsorship. But we gain free advertisements in Sports Illustrated. Advertisements that were completely absent for this tournament).

Perhaps those not in San Diego from October 28 through October 31 may think that Ultimate has again sold out (like Cuervo, or Bic, or Wham-O). Not so. This year's tournament was about as grassroots as Ultimate gets. I've been to kite-flying fests that were more professional. The 1999 Continental Championships was strictly an amateur event.

And we love it and we carp about it. Amateur means free and true and reveals the love behind the sport. It means word of mouth will do for scoreboards, and player rosters are optional. It means we can hold an event that is strictly about the players on the field in the game. Observers available in rare instance. Statkeepers optional. Press coverage unnecessary.

"Obviously I'd like to have more sponsorship. At the same time you know you are playing ultimate for you, as opposed to 'hey, if I complete this great throw I'll get a million dollars.'" says Nathan Wicks, one of DoG's pups.

Ultimate is an individual thing, and collectively we like it that way. Sure, a few of us in the UPA will bitch about all the inconsistencies, and some press jerk like me will put it in print, but to the rest it's about the game, the competition, and how one is playing. No lawyers, or market-men, or profiteers, or middle-managers, or greedy corporate vultures. Goddamn it is almost a beautiiful thing. We can all feel it. Feel that Ultimate is something, something special.

But at the same time Ultimate is ready now, more than ever, to adopt observers and changes in playing time and rules to make the sport more spectator-friendly. The Ex-Rules in the college division have certainly seeped into the Club ranks. Not a soul said a word about this year's format and game lengths (games to 15, finals to 17, the format similar to this past year's college nationals).

What I did hear a lot was, "where are the observers? why are they so untrained?" and "I wish this game would move along." So that is something to think about for the future. I think the college division proved that these simple changes are easily adoptable and inherent in the nature of the game itself, despite the legal objections of a handful of players.

Certainly it should happen at the Nationals level, at least. One of the great things abut Ultimate is that no tournament is the same. Everything varies from year to year, from tournament to tournament. I don't think this will ever change. But Nationals–wouldn't it be nice if it was at the same high level every year? Someday, maybe someday.

Ultimate will be its own thing for a long time here in the good ol' USA. Three cheers to that. But you know what–when something becomes good, really good, it breaks through and demands its own. You know what? Ultimate is good, really good, and its gonna break through. Don't pretend it won't. And keep on keeping on.

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