1999-2000: KEEP ON KEEPING ON

1999 was a strange year. College Nationals in Boulder was awesome. I even wrote a "stranger in a strange land" story about tripping and driving around the Foothills of Boulder, eventually winding up at a one-horse diner town in the middle of nowhere named WonderVu. That story got published in the New York Press and it looked like I might have some sort of journalism career on my hands.

Later that year, the UPA and Michael Guuitz sent me out to cover Club Nationals in San Diego. I had a great time there, too, and wrote the most insane piece of journalism I've ever attempted, the epic tale of Fortunat Mueller and the cast from DoG. Due to the bloated piece being a few days late (despite my repeated warnings) and over word-count, it got me in trouble with the UPA and Michael Guuitz (the then Vice President) just before Joey Gray was coming in to office. I earned something of a blackmark from the UPA and never regained the love of writing for the Newsletter.

So in 2000 I played it chill. I needed a break, I was burned out from covering so many tournaments and I knew the "Forch Piece" had tired me quickly of the scene. But still I couldn't resist – I decided to go to College Nationals in Boise because my alma mater, Notre Dame, had qualified in both divisions and I was excited to join them at the Big Dance. I emailed Peldi at Ultilinks and told him I would cover the tournament for his site if we wanted. I posted daily to Ultilinks and I think he tallied 6,000 unique hits over the three-day tournament for my postings.

In the Spring the work I did for Peldi paid off when Jumpi from Paganello contacted me with an offer to come to Italy and cover the World's largest beach tournament. Sporadically I wrote on other things as well, most notably my very tongue-in-cheek "Top Ten" RSD post scouting the top teams at Club Nationals.

In the Spring of 2000, the lovable but crazy Jon Shepard invited me to the Stanford Invite college tournament. A representative from Toyota had contacted him after the very successful Boulder College Nationals which he helped run. They were interested in Ultimate, so Shepard brought them to Stanford and hired me as the Press Man. On Toyota's dime I covered the Stanford Invite, providing daily Press Releases and coverage for Toyota and for as many Ultimate players as we could reach.

Now I know some of you have deep-seeded fears and hatreds towards Jon Shepard, but you just have to understand the man. He has a good heart, and sure he can be tough to bear at times, but hey, there are a lot of people like that.

Finally, at the end of the year, Brent Russell of the Condors, whom I had met six years earlier, asked me if I could interview TK for the 2000 Santa Barbara Invite program. As a relatively young fellow in the game, it was a very rewarding experience talking to the man who founded the Condors and the UPA and by all accounts is thought of as one of the great representatives of the "Spirit" of Ultimate, no matter how you choose to define Spirit.

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