Tony Leonardo's Collection of Ultimate Frisbee Writing
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2001 Paganello

2001 Pasticiotto

2001 College Nationals Dirt

2001 National Champions Carleton

Beach Ultimate Digs In

2001 Westchester Summer League Top 20 Rumors

2001 Purchase Cup

2001 Hingham

Village Voice Spec Piece

2001 U.S. Club Nationals
Open Preview
Women Preview
Open
Women
Mixed
Photos

2001 Turkey Bowl, CT

Festivus: South Bend, Indiana
Janus: Brooklyn, New York

Interview with Sam O'Brien

2002 Paganello
Final Writeup (Paga)
Final Writeup (UPA)

Interview with Gian Pietro Miscione (Jumpi)

2002 Yale Cup

2002 Boston Invitational/ Club Easterns

2002 Worlds Preview
Women
Open
Mixed
Masters

 

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2001 UPA CHAMPIONSHIPS (CLUB NATIONALS)
OPEN

Written daily from Sarasota.
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday Finals


THURSDAY

There was plenty of action today on the fields, as seeds seemed to move up and down at will through the brackets. You could almost sense a general disturbance in the air, carried by the strong winds blowing from the east. And there's expected to be even more wind when the outreach of a Caribbean tropical storm begins to be felt in Florida. Perhaps the gales from that southwesterly force will counter the inland winds and settle things a bit. Otherwise we are in for some bizarre games of Ultimate.

I am not overestimating the effects of the wind, as even some of the Open games were played as upwind-downwind. Spoke Billy Rodriguez earlier in the day, "It's disappointing.

It's boring. Instead of two teams playing each other its each team versus the wind."

He said that before the big upset of the day however, when the wind seemed to be less of an opponent than Sub Zero. Seeded 14th and predicted to finish out of the running, Sub Zero came into this tournament with something to prove. "Maybe coming in with no expectations was the best thing that could have happened to us," said one of Sub Zero's veterans, Steve Steury.

Sub Zero started the day by upsetting Ring of Fire, 15-12, behind an offense that only turned over the disc twice. Then came the showdown with DoG and evidently they caught Boston napping. Or comatose. The game had been close throughout when I stopped by at 10-10. But where Sub Zero looked like they were playing an intense and involved game, Dog seemed to be sleepwalking. Sub Zero scored a huge upwind point from Dave Boardman to Chase Sparling-Beckley to take an 11-10 advantage. They followed up to 12-10 when DoG's Jim Parinella inexplicably threw a pass directly to a Zero defender.

They traded goals to 13-11 when Zero got another turnover and Dan Rydell hit Chase downwind from 2 yards out to take a 14-11 advantage. The Dog was ready to die. They looked very perplexed. They were on the verge of losing their first pool play game ever, dating back to the first incarnation of the team in 1994. No one on the team was stepping up. Everyone looked old, and slow, and their patient, purposeful, unemotional and strategically superior attitude were an anathema to the game.

Sub Zero got another turnover and had a chance to win downwind, but gakked the disc. Dog scored upwind, got a turnover and were suddenly rejuvenated and honestly excited to be down 14-13. For a few points it looked like Sub Zero was about to choke the game away. Instead they scored on a pretty downwind put and the deed was done. The Dog was dead. The day belonged to Minnesota.

"Did you hear we lost? We sucked." Spoke a half-smiling Rodriguez later in the day, and added, "We weren't having fun. We were in a bay cycle where we win and its nothing special — we were supposed to win. We lose and it's the end of the world. I told the team that we had to get back to enjoying it when we win."

As for Mooney's offensive strategy replacement Nathan Wicks, Rodriguez said, "He must've had sunstroke or something."

Sub Zero took care of business this time, finishing the day by defeating Madison, a team in their region, section and living rooms back in Minneapolis. They play each other constantly at every two-bit Northern Midwestern tournament from Cooler Classic to Centrals. All that practice…Sub Zero jumped 11 spots to finish the day 3-0 as the new number 3 seed, already placing 1-0 going into tomorrow's crossover pool with Jam, New York and Dog

"We feel good. I don't think there's a team out there we can't beat," spoke SZ co-captain Mark Severt. His recruiting efforts this summer really paid off as the team only returned 11 guys from last year's squad and filled the roster with fresh legs.

For the other teams in the pool, Madison and Ring of Fire, it was no fun. Madison played well and defeated Ring by a few points and kept seed, while Ring crumbled and fell to the bottom. "We're playing so fucking timid out there. It's killing us," said one Ring player. Added Chris Hinkle, "I don't know why we were in sucha lull today. We needed to fire it up."

Confidence is an insanely important element to Ultimate play. A team that has it, a team that feels that groove, can and will beat teams of equal or greater strength. Sub Zero felt it today, Ring did not. The Condors, top seed and defending champions, were pretty confident going in.

"Holy shit. I'm a great Ultimate player," smiled Greg "Hollywood" Husak, confidently, nonchalantly, as he was in the process of catching the game-winning hammer in their final match of the day against Sockeye. I swear to you, he said those exact words as the disc landed in his hands. Cocksure? Sure.

Seattle had taken a 9-8 lead and were playing well. But the Condors knew when to step it up and they did in grand fashion, going on a 6-0 run to finish the game. They Condors have a good sense of when to go on streaks to take out their opponents. They've been doing it all season.

They finished 3-0, also laying waste to Electric Pig, from Washington DC, and Texas's Doublewide. "It's the win. We just take the turnovers and score," said Santa Barbara's Brent Russell, 37 years of age and still playing after 17 years. Electric Pig rebounded from that embarrassing loss with a tough match against Sockeye for what would likely be a birth in the top crossover pool for tomorrow. The turnover-plagued game was tied at 11s with the cap enacted before Pig ripped an upwind huck for a goal and converted the downwinder to take the win 13-11 and advance as the 8 seed to the crossover pool.

There they will should be matched up with the 4 and 5 seeds, but as predicted here and by Colorado homeboy Dave Samuels, the Federation of Bonzi was denied a chance early in the day as Colorado's Johnny Bravo came out of the gates geared to shut them down.

OK, so maybe Portland was slightly overrated. You can't fault anyone, as they did manage to come out with second seed in the vaunted Northwest. But it was a fluke. They run hard and have a crazy energy on the sidelines, a wedding party with 27 guests, drums, cowbells, and a whole lot of booze. They are completely nuts. They seem to have no strategy anyone can make out, hardly any offenses or defenses, and just a bevy of players from god knows where. At one point, two of them on the sidelines psyched each other up by punching and bumping into each other like pitbulls.

"They're from Eugene. We don't do that in Portland," noted one sidelines player.

"We rely heavily on defense," confided Bonzi's Chris Thomas, watching his team throw it away yet again in the wind.

So Bonzi lost to a very well-prepared Colorado team stepping up to the big leagues for the first time in a long while. Johnny Bravo played Furious George tough even, before bowing out 15-10. Bonzi knew they were in trouble however, as the Angry Monkeys weren't likely going to play less than stellar against Portland this time, and they came equipped with their missing players and leader Andrew Lugsdin.

Big Ass Truck had the opportunity to knock off Bonzi even, sending a message that central number 2 is just as strong as NW number 2. They even took a three-goal lead, scoring effectively upwind in the first half, behind some smooth throws from Rick Eikstadt. But Bonzi finally stemmed the bleeding and got out of the funk they were in to close out with a win.

Furious does have an impressive team. They didn't look dominant today, but it also looks like they will be a tough team to beat. They finished 3-0 to make a good showing and crossover with the Condors and Electric Pig. The Bravo-Pig matchup will almost certainly determine who will have to play the "betty bowl" for play-in quarters tomorrow. Furious against Condors should be exciting.

Finally, we come to Pool C with Jam, Florida, New York and The Warriors. A gritty pool for those last three, as the pretty San Francisco boys seemed to beat each team with relative ease. They opened 8-2 on New York, closing to win 15-9. In the next game they faced a satisfied Warriors team, fresh from upsetting Florida. And in the final game, a 0-2 demoralized Florida team was their final victim. First rule of nationals: Florida will always play opposite to their seed.

So Jam left New York and the Warriors to battle for 2nd spot. New York had a comfortable advantage by 3 or 4 when strange things began to happen one day after Halloween. A Warriors pull actually hit New York player Elijah Hawke in the cleat without him noticing and the turnover became an easy Wilmington score. Then a delayed reaction to a travel call resulted in a completed pass, then a bad turnover but the travel call was never heeded and by the time New York realized it, the Warriors had received a hand to pull the disc.

All this sowed confusion into New York's state of mind. The Warriors tied the game at 13s before New York finally managed top put them away, 15-13 and take second seed.

FRIDAY

Screw the wind. Have it as you like, its not about the wind. No gust or steady breeze is going to alter the game so much that it's no fun to play and no good for running hard and jumping high. Ripping an upwind huck can be very satisfying. Positioning your body to intercept a screaming downwind forehand can be like catching a bolt of lightning. And there's always the feelings of superiority one welcomes when blinding your opponent into thinking your team won't be able to score upwind.

In any case, it wasn't as windy today, really it wasn't that bad at all. Just ask the Furious super combo of Jeff Cruickshank and Mike Grant. Or rather, ask New York and Boston about Jeff Cruickshank and Mike Grant.

"Right about now's the time when Shank just throws up a forehand to Grant," commented Dog's Fortunat Mueller on the sideline of the Furious—Condors game. And on cue, about 20 yards out of the upwind end zone. Shank zipped a low bladey lefty forehand and Mike Grant tracked it down and scored.

"Shank & Mike Grant remain the task," cautioned New York's Joe McHugh. New York will play them first thing tomorrow morning and they should hope that those two oversleep after staying up all night playing video games.

Really, I watched Shank hit Grant with those arrow-shots all game against the Condors, especially towards the end of it. It seemed as if all the great Condors defense was useless against that particular connection, as every time it was needed, Shank ripped a difficult disc and Grant cut perfectly to the spot and skied his defender.

Furious George won that game, as I am sure you know, 15-12."Not a bad day. Could have been better," smiled Hollywood. "Well, at least we scored more than last year," said James Studarus, noting that when the Condors won the Championship last year they lost this very same crossover match

"We're happy, sure, but we haven't done anything yet," related Jamie Houssain on Furious. "Trying to keep it in perspective." Then he took another bite of a chicken burrito, laughed as he poached his chair back and told me about how he was working on an Ultimate documentary he was editing. You can check out parts of it at IBleedBlack.com.

Both the Condors and Furious exhibit that sort of casual nonchalance after games, even during games on the sideline. It may be necessary as a coping technique for Condor players because when you sit out a point or two you may not get back in with the open subbing sort of thing.

Their last game of the day between Furious and Condors ended with the teams trading 3 straight upwind goals each and Furious winning on a huck to Mike Grant. The remarkable offense showed that they were both in high gear and playing their top game.

Earlier in the day Condors opened with Bravo and perhaps Colorado was a little nervous. "We would work it up on zone and then drop it on the goalline," said the team's newest player, Mark Driver. I saw several drops in the first half and left with the Condors up at half 8-4. But from there on out Johnny Bravo score upwind and downwind and played it out even to a 14-9 loss.

On the other side, Furious withstood some pizzazz from DC's Electric Pig and won 15-8. Pig and Bravo then got entwined in a battle for the automatic quarters, a must-desired placement for both programs looking to make a stir on the Nationals scene. Bravo pulled away to win 15-12. Johnny Bravo: captained by Matt lipscomb and Wes Williams.

So DoG didn't have to cry about the wind being a factor today. Instead they came out enthused, vibrant and active instead of sullen and expectant. The result was what you might expect from a replenished DoG team, they strode past Jam 15-10.

DoG won their pool, even after saddled with an 0-1 record entering the crossovers. They proved that they regrouped from their lethargic Thursday by getting back to enjoying themselves and owning the sidelines.

In the first half it was a close game, with Jam ahead by one or two. But somewhere DoG sensed an opportunity to strike. They turned it up a notch and took 2 straight to win half 8-7 and gain an upwinder. This tenuous lead ballooned when Jam found itself quiet and subdued in the face of DoG exuberance.

"Yesterday was a frustrating day. We played not to lose," said offensive leader Nathan Wicks. "I think we had more fun in this Jam game than we had in years."

Indeed, the sidelines were a factor and DoG was everywhere whooping it up point after point, sowing doubt in their opponent. Jam tried to gather themselves, but the silly mistakes and easy turnovers kept coming in the face of DoG's mostly man defense. After a close first half, they only managed downwind points in the second.

But after the game Jam was undeterred. Faust told his team, "The only thing we have control of is that we win our next game. We take it out in our next game. The only team we can take our frustrations out on is Sub Zero." And with those words, the cycle of guilt fell firmly on Sub Zero, who received a whipping, more or less, losing to Jam 15-9.

"I think we played flat," said Zero's Dave Boardman later in the day. Earlier Sub Zero had defeated New York soundly, 15-9. But losing so badly to Jam effed their point differential and they finished at 2-1 but minus 4. DoG ended up winning the pool despite entering with an 0-1 record.

The consolation bracket opened with the WUFF Warriors defeating local rivals Ring of Fire. The Warriors brought their top game and, as usual, weren't afraid to punk out Ring of Fire. They can be a strange team. Against stronger, more respected opponents their demeanor is more or less gentlemanly. But against Ring it was a down-home tangle. I heard one "Keep it on the field fuckface." You can't say they are unspirited per se, but rather play with a different understanding of what the game of Ultimate means. But I'm not going to get into any of that Warrior/ Battle Ancient Art of War stuff.

Those college kids at Wilmington couldn't get by the college kids of Madison however. Madison beat them and Florida to win the bracket and face off against the Condors-crossover loser, Electric Pig. Ring of Fire salvaged the slimmest hope by defeating Florida 14-13. Florida again went 0-fer.

On the other side, a crazy heated battle between longtime rivals Seattle Sockeye and Portland Bonzi ended in a Portland win. But it may have cost them. Top player Sanaton went down with a concussion after laying out into another player. And super leader Brian Linkfield wearied towards the end and finally fell victim to heat exhaustion.

The deadly battle between those two Northwest teams proved to nightmarish results for the region. The injured but game-ready Portland team took the field against New York in the pre-quarter play-in game. New York jumped to an early 3-0 lead and fended off several Portland rallies and energetic upwinders.

It seemed as if every big Portland huck or defensive play was followed by either a bad turnover or a New York score. One big Joe McHugh upwind huck to Walter was a significant point midway in the first half, as Walter pulled it in just above a diving Linkfield.(or it could been a Linkfield-alike).

On the sideline, a heavily drinking Sockeye team seemed quite flummoxed by the turn of events. They had to root desperately for arch-rival Portland. "Fuck! That's our bid!" one of them screamed after Portland failed to convert.

Indeed, there goes not just one, but two Northwest bids according to early reports. With bot Sockeye and Portland bowing out it meant that their average was going to drop. Meanwhile, with 2 out of 2 from the Northwest making quarters (Bravo and Condors) and 2 out of 2 from the Northeast making it (DoG and New York) it seems to be the case that those regions would get the strength bids for next year. But I'm not really up on the whole thing. Check back with the UPA.

For New York, the day ended on a good note and a possibility for the team to them to earn a trip to Worlds, "for Walter, Arnold and Joe."

"The nucleus of this team is starting to know each other. We were pretty laid back today, really loose and laying it on the line. We had fun," related McHugh.

So maybe some ideas of what's going to happen Saturday?

Furious will defeat New York. New York can give them a game, but can't match the height and huck power of Furious. DoG should be able to beat Electric Pig, but I predict that this game will be closer than expected, as Pig will not fall victim to headgames. I say DoG wins 15-12.

The Condors play Sub Zero. Minnesota teams have had a historically difficult time beating Santa Barbara. In fact, no one really knows if it has ever really happened. The Condors have everything in the bag for this one. But that may be too much. Sub Zero will again be "underdogs" and that's proven a strong motivation for this team this year. If they can somehow get away from the grip of fear they experience playing the Condors, they can beat them. It will be a very difficult challenge. Santa Barbara is a powerful opponent and defending champion and they are quite comfortable opening with Zero.

Jam will play Johnny bravo. Bravo is very excited for this game and thinks they can surprise Jam early (as they did to Portland) and eke out a win. They believe that Jam, when they are playing their best game, cannot be beat. But they can be taken out of their mental game. Johnny could take a halftime lead but maintaining it against Jam could be difficult. Jam should pull out the win, but they could conceivably lose.

SATURDAY

A good day for Ultimate. The wind died down. All those stupid prognosticators (like me) who seemed to think a tropical storm would come by were foiled by the sunny skies and big fluffy clouds rolling by.

There was something else going on, too. This is my fourth Nationals and I've never been to one where the overall vibe was almost universally positive. Teams spend a lot of time, a lot of training and money to get to nationals. Players invest much of their lives to play at the highest level of Ultimate, and are thus often subject to swings of emotions, from good to bad and back again. Simply put, there's a lot at stake.

But not this year. By and by I saw players that competed against each other fiercely on the field genuinely calm and graceful afterwards. There was a definite camaraderie across the board. It went so far as having Dave Boardman, former Carleton player and Sub Zero star say, "I like playing the Condors," and mean it.

After Death or Glory lost to the Condors in semis again, they were cordial. I saw Forch speaking with Dugan, and Kenny Dobyns chatting with DoG players, and Condors hanging out with Furious George guys. Be-yoo-tiful.

No seriously, there was a very real difference in attitudes from other years I have seen. No one had any bones to pick with particular teams. Potentially hot-under-the-collar teams like the Warriors, Ring of Fire and New York were chill. Florida and Doublewide did not get in a fight. The dislike the Condors have for Jam and vice-versa wasn't on display. Instead they openly talked about how they had played each other 17 times in the past two years. Additionally, it was brought up that every tournament this year that both Jam and the Condors played in ended up with those two in Finals.

But there was no hatred, no thinly—veiled one-upmanship. Not that both teams aren't keenly aware of what's at stake. But for many, I think, and no less than an expert at managing emotions Billy Rodriguez explains, a lot of teams realized that Ultimate is a game, and not such a big deal as it once seemed. With all the seriousness in the news and the tragedies that have hit New York and the nation (and strangely enough, New York may have been one of the more nonchalant teams here) there was more going on subconsciously in the back of players' minds.

After losses, teams congratulated their opponents and talked of how both sides played a good game. They didn't vow revenge or complain of bad spirit. "I think we even have a chance to win the spirit award," said the Condors' Corey Sanford , facetiously of course.

"I thought it was an awesome game. Credit to Jam, we have nothing to hang our heads about," spoke Furious's captain Andrew Lugsdin after the Monkey lost in semifinals. "Those guys played hard and effectively. We played very tough D but couldn't slow down their Idris, Damien and that blond-haired guy."

That blond-haired guy being Scott Johnston, back on the scene after a year traveling abroad and in an injury year in 1999, so its not a surprise that Furious wasn't entirely familiar with Johnston's speed and ups.

But I'm getting ahead of the story. Furious opened the day with New York. FG went up a break early but New York felt like running hard and playing smart offense. More than a few times in the middle part of the game New York scored an upwinder to close within 1, maybe at 9-8 or so. And there was a scary play when FG's Mark Seraglia and New York's Joe McHugh blindly crashed into each other and were knocked temporarily unconscious. Both players slowly regained their senses, Mark by remembering vaguely what his name was and Joe able to know the name of his newborn son.

Both returned to play later in the day and were cleared to smoke pot.

Furious eventually withstood "that scrappy team" as Jeff Cruickshank favorably labeled them, 15-10 to make semis and face Jam. Jam benefited from a nervous and jittery Bravo team looking to make a name for themselves. Several drops and unforced errors early were all San Francisco needed. They traded points late and Jam won 15-11, up all game.

The game to watch was DoG versus Electric Pig. It came down exactly as called, 15-12, but it was even closer than that. The wind was a factor. Several air-bounced garbage passes were collected all day. And so this match was upwind-downwind.

DoG had their chances to put this away, but they hadn't really looked sharp all tournament and this game was no exception. They took half 8-5, but let DC tie it at 9s. From there it was point for point with neither team backing down. The Pig wanted to stick the Dog.

"Our O guys are working hard playing a lot of D," said DoG's Dan Cogan on the sideline.

Indeed, it was that kind of game here, and that kind of tournament for DoG. Their offense simply looked sloppy. They chucked away in games with alarming frequency. They dropped discs and threw passes to no one. They were out of sync.

I think DoG received the pull going downwind to start the game, as when the match was tied they still held the wind advantage. Their big break came at 11-10. Forch popped a short pass to someone but a defender got a piece, it bounced up high in the end and Forch stood in perfect fortunate position as the disc landed in his lap. Not wanted to make the same mistake, he cranked a huge backhand upwind that was caught by Moses Rifkin skying his defender and Rifkin threw for the goal to make it 12-10. DoG looked to stay on top.

But Pig seemed eager to prove they too could make the big play too. Facing the wind, a backhand sailed a little long on a pass to the flat. It was a sure defensive stop for DoG but out of nowhere, running like a demon, surefire handler Sam Rosenthal streaked to the nearly downed disc and stuck the pass. He had made a 30 yard run to read the overthrow and timed it perfectly. That huge play was an uplift for Pig and they completed the good fortune by scoring to make it 12-11, and then completing the downwinder to tie it at 12s. DoG then scored downwind. Then a turnover, and DoG worked it patiently, Lyn Debevoise, Safdie, Seeger and Rob Barrett making the plays, before Safdie hit Barrett across the field for their upwinder and a 14-12 lead. But Pig was undeterred. They marched it up the line with a 35 yarder to Corky. Corky had a relatively easy throw to make into the endzone but it floated a little. Not so much as to be uncatchable, but it floated high. If you're familiar with Corky's throws you know that's what can happen sometimes. Hey, this guy is one of the best receivers in the game. He doesn't need to throw all that often because he usually catches it in the endzone. But this was a new team and I'm not sure if #11 Jonathon O'Connell (you may know him as Opie) knew the likely vector for that pass. He jumped early and the disc floated just over his head. The upwind score would have made it a 14-13 game with a great chance for Pig to tie it going downwind. Instead a DoG player picked up the turnover on the goalline, wound-up, and chucked a forehand 85 yards downwind to Alex "Dutchie" Ghesquirre for the instant death goal. Game 15-12.

Afterwards Billy Rodriguez gathered the rattled but still hopeful troops. "Sometimes its fun to blow out teams, and sometimes its fun to win by the skin of our teeth. We have to keep up this intensity. It's about us, not them."

That thought was later reiterated by Nathan Wicks, still ill after suffering a stomach virus on Friday. "Not about them. It's about us." DoG was right about that.

The Condors- Sub Zero game was hot to start. At one point Sub Zero scored three times, each one called back on violations before they finally put in the fourth. There is no love lost between these teams, we know that. The Condors are the superior wind team and they are much better at adapting to different situations on the field when offenses break down. They broke a few times early and held Sub Zero back. The pace of the game slowed to a crawl, The DoG-Pig quarterfinal finished before Santa Barbara had scored 12.

Sub Zero had chances, but they kept making mistakes and could never really get over the hump. One point in particular I recall is when they were working the disc upwind. A player on the far sideline was within 15 yards but had nowhere to throw it. He saw a guy clear across the other side and sent a big crossfield throw that was easily snatched by the Condors' Tommy Burfiend. "I was over here yelling 'don't throw it, don't throw it!' said Sub Zero's Alex Masulis. "I couldn't believe he did that," said Burfiend later. It was that kind of game perhaps for Sub Zero. Fittingly, the Condors ended it with an upwinder from Dan Dewey to Mike Namkung.

So the semis were set exactly the same as last year, with jam and Furious and DoG and Condors.

They started the game staggered by a half-hour. First up was Furious and Jam. Again, these two teams are quite knowledgeable of each other, meeting at several Northwest tournaments and being Regional rivals. But more importantly, Jam cannot forget their devastating loss to Furious in last year's semifinal when their 13-10 lead turned into a 17-14 FG win.

"We've been dreaming of it all year, playing them in the semis again," related Josh Faust before the game.

The game started off in familiar territory. Jam took an upwind break lead and took half 8-5. Furious would receive going downwind. At halftime, Lugsdin urged his team to step it up physically on the marks and to implement different defensive strategies to try and disrupt Jam's flow, but also admitted that "they are playing very well."

In the second half, Furious did indeed get more physical. That has been successful in the past against these guys but it didn't slow them down this time. In any case, Furious scored downwind and Jam followed. Traded two each before Furious got their break. They patiently worked it upwind and scored to close within one and, more importantly, even the wind advantage. But instead of freaking out, Jam responded through tough Furious man defense and scored upwind right back. Toaster was everywhere for this point, collecting junk garbage throws and getting open at will. That guy has some serious wheels. Have you seen that Ultimate Fighting Tape where the 5 foot 5 Russian trained in a special martial arts nearly whips and claws and beats to death a 6 foot gorilla? That 5 foot 5 guy is toaster and in Ultimate frisbee he's just a crazy sparkplug for the team, a real flash. Anyway, Jam scores upwind right back. Kazat! And this after two plays were called back on fouls and various violations, as Mike Grant tried to stuff Jam with his mark.

But not to be outdone, Furious, worked it up against Jam playing man defense (Furious seemed to play a force backhand a lot when playing D on Jam going downwind. Jam used a very nifty zone a few times but generally stuck with man going both directions). There's one big problem playing man D against Furious and that's Mike Grant. Of course Seraglia and Span and Lugsdin and Evan Wood are targets too but it's really that psychic connection that Grant has with the team. He seems to know when and where the disc is going when they throw it, every time. In this instance, after a huge junk save by Mauro Ortiz on an overblown throw, Mike Grant made a pretty layout on a low pass and then tossed it to the short corner. 12-11 Jam.

"I think we were a little nervous when they scored that upwinder back. But then when we got our back I knew we regained our confidence for good,' spoke Idris Nolan after the game. Indeed, it looked as if Furious's second straight upwinder could potentially unravel Jam's game plan. But instead they got the disc, worked it up the forehand sideline between Damien Scott and Idris and then Idris zipped a dead-on 40 yard forehand strike to an uncovered Scott, uncovered because he was 10 yards beyond what furious figured anyone could reasonably throw against the wind.

That made it 13-11 Jam and they were feeling groovy. Furious was running out of chances, but a Lugsdin IO forehand to Grant going upwind after a pair of turnovers gave Grant a chance to show off his new throwing capabilities. He faked hard which sent his man to the turf, and then threw neatly to the corner for Span. Furious connects on the downwinder with Shank placing a break mark backhand after after patiently working the disc. 13 all. But Jam has the advantage, receiving going downwind. Jam scores, Toaster to Idris. Then they get the block and have a chance to score upwind and win the game. Brent Shannon uncorked an upwind huck to 2 Jam guys and Dan Eisenberg goes up big to snatch the disc over a diving Span. But going upwind again they fail to connect, throwing it away. Furious works downfield and scores, a sick layout endzone grab by Anthony Maler off a Shank huck.

For the most part, this game was a matter of hucks. Furious would send it downfield on a huck 75% of the time and then mix it up and come under the other 25%. Upwind, the numbers were less but still there. Both teams liked to send it.

So now the score is 14 all and the officials confer and call it hard-capped at 17. Everyone fully expected it to go to that, what with the wind and all. Jam scores easily going downwind, with Scott Johnston providing the cut that breaks it open. Furious hucks it too far deep for Lugsdin. He ran hard after that disc.

Jam takes the turnover, gets it to Dan Eisenberg on the short side of the field and suddenly he rips a huge 40 yard backhand into the wind to a wide-open Josh Faust.

"I didn't think he could get it that far," explained Lugsdin about why his man got so open. It was a huge throw at the perfect time.

Faust called timeout. When he got it back in, he flipped a trailing edge away forehand, an "outside-in" to Ken Lesierson standing in the goal and it was over.

"He knows my swill throws," said Faust later. The Jam huddle: "We've been here before. It's all about the next game. Don't overanalyze. That's the team we want to play. The Condors."

On the other fields, the Condors had taken an 8-5 halftime lead. Could they keep it up? Or rather, could DoG get it up? The answer is no. The late game heroics that set Death or Glory apart from the competition in recent years was not there this time. Miscommunications, unnecessary hucks and nothing much creative on offense prevented Boston from reclaiming their title they held for so long.

Boston seemed to rally to get the upwinder back by scoring upwind to close within one, but the Condors responded. Jason Seidler neatly picked up a crazy play when a diving Condors player seemed to catch a disc in the endzone only to have it jump out of his hands and out of the endzone where Seidler cleanly picked it up and shot it to the short corner for the goal. That propelled them onto a three-goal run that pretty much put the game away.

The DoG mistakes on offense were plentiful. A Wicks to DeFrondeville dump turned crappy with a drop and Condors scored. A crossfield pass going downwind went to no one. And then to end the misery, DoG's first pass off a pull was d-blocked by Jimmy Price.

"Last year is was very satisfying to beat DoG in the semis. But it's not quite the same this time. We want more," said the Condors' Chris Gavigan after the game.

"The Condors have never not lost a pool play game at Nationals," reminded Ted Savage, sagely pointing out that the Condors loss to Furious yesterday was all in the game plan.

So there you have it. Santa Barbara versus Stanford. South versus North. Condors versus Flying Circus. 310 against 415. The debacle of Fatty Arbuckle relived. The battle for Northern California secession. 17 times they've played each other in the last two years, according to Jam's Mike Payne.

My prediction: a good game.

SUNDAY – FINALS

Jam's Scott Johnston patrolled the sideline. How was Club Nationals different than College Nationals, I asked him. "it's a sweet tournament because you get so much rest. With this team having so much depth you don't have to play every point."

Scott was then called to the line and for all practical purposes, he didn't sit out the rest of the game,

This match was a very strange game. "It was a pick-up game," Josh Faust said afterwards.

In the Women's final, Riot scored maybe 3 points upwind, Godiva 5. In the Mixed finals, the first two points were upwinders. In the Open Final, no one scored upwind. At one point the score was wind 31, Jam and Condors, 0.

Condors won the flip and had the advantage, scoring the first downwinder. It looked for all the world at 15-15 that Brent Russell's call of "same" on the opening flip was going to win the game for Santa Barbara.

As mentioned earlier, this was the 18th meeting between these teams in the past two years and the fourth time they met in Finals this year, I think. Jam has won the majority of those Finals games.

"I didn't know if we could beat them," spoke several Condors before and after the game. They were truly wary of playing San Francisco.

With so much familiarity its no wonder this game was boring. On Thursday I mentioned how this tournament felt very different this year as few teams seemed to carry a grudge. Nobody had an axe to grind, there were few moments of bad spirit this whole tournament which is, quite frankly, a little uncommon. The Wilmington Warriors won the Spirit award if that doesn't tell you something.

"We always try to overachieve," said Mike Gerics about his team's play.

So I think the relative calm that pervaded the weekend affected the finals. Neither team gained a mental or emotional edge. On both sides there was steady play but not spectacular play.

As every point was scored downwind and these two California teams traded goals, there were few big points to mention, save for the last one. What we saw instead was this: Idris Nolan throwing a wide variety of passes against various Condors defenses to Damien, Toaster and Scott Johnston, or resetting to Russell Furr and Josh Faust.

The Condor's James Studarus throwing lefty scoobers and the usual suspects like Hollywood, Gavigan, Jimmy Price and Brandon Steets catching them for goals.

The Condors had many more opportunities to score upwind and failed each time. Why exactly this was the case is something not so easily definable, for Santa Barbara is an excellent team throwing in the wind and over the course of the tournament they probably registered four or five upwinders a game, even eight against Electric Pig and Doublewide. But the Jam defense was always in the right position to stop the upwind chances. Each and every time the Condors seemed to force a bad throw or Jam would get the block. There were also several Condor drops.

I think the fact that teams essentially know intrinsically the other's game was part of the reason neither side was able to gain advantage in the wind.

The Condor's "secret" 1-2-3-1 zone that supposedly stopped Jam during the year failed. Jam's traditional zone failed. The Condors zone with Jam going downwind failed. The man defense failed.

At 8-8 Jam had a great opportunity to score upwind. Damien zipped a very nice forehand up the line to a wide-open Seth Blacher but he completely dropped the easy goal. However, it was later revealed that his defender had called foul on him for pushing off so the disc would have gone back to the thrower anyway. A "karma block" as they say. Halftime score was 9-8 Condors.

At halftime, the Jam huddle focused on strategies for stopping the Condors downwind. "Dugan is sitting on his flick, so make sure you stop it. Camp out on the underneath throws. Force flick otherwise."

They ended with John Shelton leading a rousing cheer and declaring "Jam has waited four years for this half!! Let's win it now!!"

In the Condors huddle, they also discussed specific players. "Idris is getting open. Body him, force him back and play him under."

The main strategists of the team, Hollywood, Dugan and Studarus also realized that their defensive team had to have strong handlers so that when they got the turnover, which almost always came with Jam going downwind, they would be able to get the upwinder. "We have to pick times to have handlers in there."

The turn came to start the second half, the Condors couldn't score upwind and Jam scored to tie 9-9. The turn came to start the next point but Jam couldn't score upwind and the Condors scored, 10-9. I waited in line to buy a hamburger and Fierce Melon Gatorade. The turn came to start the next point but The Condors couldn't score upwind and jam tied it 10-10. I filled up my beer cup. Condors scored downwind without a turnover. Jam scored downwind without a turnover. Idris, Damien, Toaster, Russell Furr, Faust, Seth, Scott Johnston, Mike Payne, Biscuit. Dugan, Crews, taro, Dan Dewey, Shep Frankel, Gavigan, Husak, Studarus, Yarbrough, Seidler, JD. Just a bunch of people out there playing frisbee.

Mostly the Condors had more chances. Idris kept throwing crazy junk passes, hammers, scoobers, push passes, hooking forehands, a huge array of throws and some of them were for scores and some of them were easy tunovers. It was weird. After the game, Dan Dewey and Idris traded jerseys and it was said that Dewey told Idris, "You made 14 turnovers and I made 1, both of which led our team so it makes sense for us to trade."

The notable plays: Idris desperation downwind hammer that Scott Johnston reads perfectly and sticks the landing. A Seidler hammer that Brandon Steets one-hands perfectly in mid-air. Toaster runs circles around his defenders, from one side of the endzone to the other, catches the goal, and runs at full speed back to his seat 50 yards away on the sidelines. Ryan Nation makes a huge block on a poach D when guarding Toaster, after he tried to run Toaster over on offense. Toaster yelling "get the fuck off me!!" after Taro accidentally dives into him. Faust hucks full field to Scott Johnston who outruns his defender for the goal. Studarus sends a full-field flick to Ryan Yarbrough and Yarbrough makes a tremendous read to sky in the back of the endzone. Brandon Steets gets a big goal heading out of the back of the endzone. Most of the sidelines think he is out, but the observer rules him in. Later, a videotape reveals that the observer was right and he had his back foot planted and the disc in his hand before his other foot stepped over the line.

The observer came in play later in the game on the only point that mattered. 16-15 condors, game to 17. A few Jam turnovers gives the Condors a golden chance to score upwind but they could not, even after a time-out. Instead a throw comes across to the middle and Idris makes a layout block over a layout bid from Steve Dugan. Dugan calls a foul, as it seemed apparent that Idris got him with the body. The call is overturned. But a few Jam passes later and the can't get it downfield. Shep Frankel makes a hard diving play on a comeback Seth Blacher cut. Shep gets the disc and the body, just as Idris had done. Staying consistent, the observers rule it a block and the Condors get the disc at midfield. A swing pass then Hollywood throws up a swilly forehand to Dugan. "I've been messing up that throw all weekend so I stopped throwing it in the finals. But I saw Dugan and just got big eyes," said Hollywood later.

The disc overturned in the wind to become a hanging blade. The nearest Condor and a Jam player converged to the disc and macked it in the air. Two more Condors came chasing it down, one them rookie Taylor Cascino. Cascino went up high and snagged it then turned to discover Dugan wide open in the endzone. He threw it to Dugan easily for the score.

"That's not enough if we don't score the downwind!" yelled the rookie as his teammates mobbed him because the game was over, 17-15, on the first and only upwinder.

"I made the conscious decision to get the disc and it just ended up in my hands. I threw it and I don't remember what happened next," said Cascino after.

It was only his second point of the game, but it was the only one that counted for Santa Barbara. Remarkable.

"I learned so much this year," related Cascino. "Everyone on this team helps out. Everyone rallied behind me."

"They're an amazing team," says Faust. "They've got whatever it is that makes them a better team. I've always said that if we played our best game no one could beat us, and that was not our best game. We gave them too many chances and they did not return the favor. I credit them for a great downwind game and great upwind defense."

Toaster, Damien and Johnston were unstoppable for Jam and registered magnificent games. Idris Nolan was the defining force, constantly putting the Condors defense on their heels with his throws.

In the gathering after winning the game, Brent Russell, one of the spiritual guides behind the Condors success, related his thoughts, "I love the passion of this team. When did we give up? Never!"

"For me, playing Jam goes back to college when it was Stanford versus Black Tide," says Jason Seidler, "beating those guys was the most important thing. I hated them and they hatred us. But this was the only team that got the better of us last year. There's so much respect now. We've grown up to be men. They have something deeper, something similar to what we have."

As Joe Seidler predicted, a California showdown in the finals. Both teams played well, neither superbly. Its almost too bad one had to lose and one had to win.


This was written for UltyLife.com.

 

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