Weekend Practice Recap/Team X Recap

Practice Recap 10/28/07

The turnout at practice was quite low. Maybe people did not realize weekend practices are not generally optional. I guess the captains did not explain this well enough. Or, maybe because it was our college teams first weekend practice instead of just the club team. Anyway the weather was very nice and the winds were calm.

After warming up, Fist, Jets, Murderers, Instinct or whatever you want to call us went straight into a hucking drill. The drill was set up as Tau with 3 cutting then hucking it 4. The drill went smoothly, there were plenty of pretty hucks. Perhaps the biggest mistake was to let Mickey participate. Lately he has been out for blood in huck drill. This time he claimed Brad as victim. Here are a couple of things to remember about the huck game. First, do not flirt with the sidelines on your throws. Secondly, cutters need to cut down the middle of the field, do not angle your cut to the sideline. It takes away the throwing space for the thrower.

After throwing, we practiced some 10-pull with an O line D line split. The O line moved the disc pretty well up the field and scored with only a few mistakes. There was one break by the D line and Two points where play was stopped by turnovers.

Next, the D line got there chance at offense, but they did not convert at the same rate as the offense. The O Line got some fast break scores after D line turns. However, The O line did not really seem to be creating a lot of the D’s. The D line had some throw aways and drops. This may have been caused by the mix if vets and rookies on the line. Maybe not the same familiarity as the mostly vet O line had.

Finally, the O line scrimmaged the D line to end practice. In a race to 7, the D line game out with 2 quick scores. Then, the two lines traded to 3-1. At this point, the O line seemed to rally around Pat and scored 3 straight to go up 4-3. The D line tied it at 4’s, and then the O line went on a 3 point run again to win 7-4.

Highlights: Pavan catching a score after him and Jman went way up on a huck and collided in the end zone.

J man jumping up to block Brad’s huck to a wide open player.

Pat leaving his feet for a couple of layout d’s.

Team X Fall-Out Recap

Team X headed into Fall-Out with a lot of pressure on their shoulders after winning Glory Days. If an Illinois team was going to win Fall-Out, Team X was going to make sure it was them.

X- Factor played Loyola in their first game of the day, and it appeared that the rookies and veterans were ready for the pressure of being a defending champion. The game featured a decent wind about 15 mph (the least windy game of the weekend), but Illinois looked good moving the disc taking half at 7-1 against Darkwing. Everything was clicking for Illinois as Pavan and Joel hooked up on two up wind scores while Zubair found a bunch of different rookies for scores downwind. At half Illinois talked about not letting Loyola back in the game and promptly scored three making it 10-1. Then, X went into its shell thinking Darkwing would fold, but Darkwing rattled off six breaks including a Callahan. After a timeout, Illinois regrouped and the team traded points to get to 13-10.

Illinois faced Depaultimate in the second game of the day. This would be a game that featured great plays by the rookies; I saw layout bids from Chris, Sul, Kyle, and Jake. As well as skies from Kevin and Tom. DePaul broke Illinois upwind to start the game. However, Illinois was not shaken as they rattled off 13 straight to win in a landslide. At this point the team was really gelling and people were finding some defined roles that would make the rest of the weekend easier. Next up, sectional rival Northwestern.

Northwestern brought split squads to the tournament, and Illinois faced the squad with what seemed to be more veterans in pool play. After a little speech before the game Illinois was ready to play. Illinois rattled off the first 6 points of their game running their streak to 19 goals without the opposition scoring. At this point Northwestern scored, but their sidelines were completely devastated. As one Illinois member overheard them talking about how they couldn’t win this game but they treat the game like it was practice. The final score ended up being 13-5.

Illinois started feeling really confident after a 3-0 record and a spot guaranteed in the A pool. Our overconfidence showed in the beginning of the Western Illinois Game. We fell down 4-0 then 5-1 after trading points. But, X went on another one of its runs taking a 6-5 lead and a 7-6 half time. Illinois closed out a perfect Saturday with a few more breaks and a 13-10 victory. One pool play game left on Sunday followed by the A bracket.

Illinois had a seemingly meaningless game in Sunday morning’s pool game with seed already locked up. But, knowing the rest of day would have games played in 30 mph winds, Illinois X knew it needed practice working the disc up field. Illinois moved the disc fairly easily to start the game and went up 7-0 at half. Feeling pretty confident Joel asked the team for some early morning bagels, but Valparaiso broke the scoring streak at eight. At this point it seemed Illinois lost some interest in the game letting Valpo score six straight. However, Illinois finished out the game and headed to the brackets with a game against Northwestern’s second split squad.

Illinois X found a new intensity level when playing in the bracket playing. The wind really started picking up at this point, but Illinois just kept breaking Northwestern at will taking half 7-1. The first half featured some great plays to set up the breaks including a layout d by Miles near Northwestern’s goalline. Then, near the end of the first half Pavan made the most spectacular D ever recorded by an Illinois Ultimate player (ps. not an exaggeration). Northwestern works the disc all the way up wind to the goal line. At this point Pavan is guarding a defender in the middle of the field while the disc was on the sideline and being trapped there by the mark. Pavan’s man seemingly shook Pavan and was going to wrap around the mark and catch a flip pass in the end zone for the easy score. But, Pavan (in his never give up mode) sprinted towards the goal line taking a direct route that was going to lead through the marker and the thrower, which would seemingly create a barrier keeping him from getting the d. However, Air Snake decided it was time to take flight. Here are the two important things to remember. 1) Pavan dove before the disc was released from the throwers hands. 2) Pavan needed to layout in between the thrower and the marker, which had a space of less than 4 feet. Amazingly, Pavan did not make contact with the thrower and the receiver and lay out hand blocked the flip passing. Basically, the most amazing thing ever unless he does it again and catches the disc. With this D, Illinois found the fire it needed to replace Zubair’s missing hat. Simultaneously it crushed Northwestern’s spirit, allowing Illinois to win 15-4 and move to the semis.

The semis matched UM Rolla against Illinois X. This was a battle of unbeatens that would be Illinois X’s first challenge of the week. Rolla broke Illinois upwind to start the game in 25 mph winds to take the 1-0 lead. However, Illinois responded strongly taking the game to 5-2. The teams traded points until the last point of the game when X got another upwind break giving Illinois the 15-11 victory and an appearance in the championship game against a Washington University.

Wash U always wants to win against Illinois (it creates some credibility for their program). Both teams cruised through the weekend without much adversity. But, this game would bring the best out of both teams, as it was a tough physical game featuring quite a few injuries. Illinois started off the game scoring downwind on a point with no turnovers against Wash U’s zone defense. Everybody on the line got involved in this point. Wash U responded with a quick score of their own. Again Illinois responded with a quick score on a huck by Joel. X got the first break of the game getting the crucial up winder in a huck to Miles from about 30 yards out. Illinois followed with an easy down winder making the game 4-1. After trading down winders Illinois got another break on a forehand huck to Miles (who at this point was playing through an injury). Wash U called a timeout to regroup after being down 6-2. Illinois almost puts away the game on a Callahan, but two anxious defenders collide creating a turnover on the goal line but no Callahan. Then, Joel makes a poor throwing decision on the goal line, which leads to a turnover. Wash U calmly marches down the field and scores. Wash U follows with the down winder, then the teams trade points to half. But, Illinois was clearly struggling after the loss of their star handler Zubair. Wash U comes out of half scoring a down winder, then breaking with an up winder. The score was tied at 8-8 and Illinois was looking tired and definitely suffered some injuries. After a couple of turnovers on a point, Kurt tries to fire up the team with a second effort score to put up Illinois 9-8. The teams trade to 10 and the cap was only minutes away. Could Illinois just hold off scoring the downwind points? At 10-10 Illinois played with a mostly rookie line. Illinois needed to score this point while some of its vets were trying to get rest. Wash U had a great layout d on an in cut that led to a short field for Wash U. Wash U used the break side to score and take command of the game. Illinois quickly turned the disc near their own goal line, and scored moved to 12-10 as the cap went on. Illinois clearly tired and injured left everything on the field, but they fell short as Wash U ended up winning 14-10. But, Illinois never gave up as evidenced by the hard work after the hard cap went on and Illinois couldn’t win. X fought through with Kurt and Pavan getting injured, while playing for pride.

All in All it was a great weekend and we got to know each better and played well together. I think the number of injuries and no shows on Sunday hurt X as they clearly looked like the more tired team in the championship game.

Highlights from the weekend:

Schmid- returns to playing after a semester off doing schoolwork with a couple of Callahans and solid handler play

Keenan- Gets a layout D and a Callahan in the same game. Great Work!

Kyle S. – Was a beast when cutting and playing defense all weekend

Joe- Nice toe drags on grabs near the sidelines in the cross wind games. Also, got a d against Wash U’s best long

Chris- They had some good layouts on Saturday

Zubair- Losing his hat. Followed by Mickey finding the hat forcing Zubair into Mickey’s debt.

Zac- A few good d’s in the semis against Rolla. Solid defense most of the weekend.

Jordan- Always on the opposite line trying to fire up X when they needed it

Jake, Kevin, Tom and Sul- Had great cutting all weekend with some good sky grabs. Also played solid defense with all of them having at least one crucial d in a game over the weekend.

If I left anyone out of the recap, I apologize. Everyone really played well and hard all weekend.

Player Spotlight

Player Spotlight

Here at the blog a new weekly feature has been created. It is a rip off from the ESPN magazine feature. This allows us to spotlight one player a week and have two contestants respond as the spotlighted player would. At the end of the year, we will have plenty of spotlighted players. We will also determine which player knows their teammates best. Finally, if any alums want to take part feel free to email the blog or comment below.

The first week spotlights all-star J-man, while pitting former rivals now friends Zubair and Mickey. Lets get to the action.

Players	J-Man	Mickey	Zubair
Red or Black?	Black	Red(0)	Black (5)
Lion vs. Tiger?	Lion	Lion(5)	Tiger (0)
Apple Juice vs. Orange Juice	Apple	OJ(0)	OJ (0)
Jack in the Box vs. Taco Bell	Taco Bell	T-Bell(5)	Taco Bell (5)
Twist vs. Swirl	McTwist	Swirl (0)	Swirl (0)
Favorite Illinois Ultimate Moment?	Any time we beat UWW	Jake vs. Haymaker (1) (Jman doesn’t remember this game as there was a blonde waiting for him in champaign)	Skying Bitches (2)
Who is the blogger?	Brad	Joel? (0)	Ripsky (0)
Favorite Sports Team?	Stl Rams	Illini (0)	Illinois Ulty (0)
Jersey number?	41	44 (-3)	41 (5)
Team name Suggestion?	Instinct	Trout (0)	Illinois (0)
Most desired team gear?	Track Jacket	Polos (0)	Hoodie (1)
Player you would let date your daughter?	Pavan	Walden (0)	Walden (0)

Final Score: Zubair 18 vs. Mickey 8.

Looks like Zubair will be moving on in the player spotlight challenge.

Ps. correct answers are awarded five points. For any incorrect answer, I can arbitrarily assign points as I see fit.

Team Z Glory Days Recap

With Denis on Team Z, you knew we would have a good team name. Although it hardly made any sense, Team Poppins was born during the Wednesday practice before Glory Days. Having won the split-squad trophy, Poppins was ready to roll.

Poppins’ first game came against Purdue-B. They had one good handler who was making all of the plays for them. He hit some of his looks, but didn’t seem to have much of a supporting cast. Purdue-B never committed to dumping the disc and Team Z took advantage. The rookies and vets flowed very well off the turnovers and won 13-2 in a largely uneventful game.

After the first round, the tournament director informed us that Michigan St. would not be showing up. That meant that our other two games would be played to 17. With the team’s final game against the Art Institute, Poppins knew they could give an all-out effort against the University of Chicago. U. of Chicago was filled with some veteran players, so the team knew their athleticism would only carry them so far.

Junk had two relentless cutters mixed in with some veteran handlers. However, Z’s defense set the tone for the game, creating a ton of D’s. The handlers, let by one Denis Madison Agniel, moved the disc quickly thereafter and Team Z jumped out to an 8-3 lead. Junk was able to stay in it with good cutting by a guy with blonde hair. We corrected this problem by putting the airsnake on him. Pavan came up with some huge D’s and Poppins coasted to a 17-13 victory.

Team Z took on the Art Institute in its’ final game of the day. We took this opportunity to work on the zone. We ran it for most of the game and created a ton of turnovers in their end of the field. A lot of quick points later, Team Z emerged victorious 17-0.

Team Z came in to Sunday with the largest point differential out of any team in tournament. However, due to tournament scheduling that would avoid rematches and games against other Illinois teams, Team Z received the 3 seed and played Truman St. Team Z knew they were not a typical 14 seed and would need to come out on fire to take the game.

The game started out well, as Miles was left unguarded in the end zone to give Team Z an early 1-0 lead. However, Team Z’s failed to execute the fundamentals thereafter. On our next four offensive possessions, our first upfield passes were not completed due to throwaways and drops. Truman St. capitalized on our mistakes by transitioning and scoring easily to go up 5-1. We called a timeout in order to settle our nerves.

The timeout did not seem to help as Truman St.’s composure won out in the remainder of the half, going up 7-1. Team Z possibly underestimated their athleticism as they skyed us deep for scores on numerous occasions. We rallied in the second half as tall Joe skyed for a few scores. Truman St.’s consistent execution won out in the second half as they cruised to a 13-6 victory.

Team Z headed toward the 9^th place bracket. There was still a lot of ultimate to be played and the team looked forward to redeeming itself. We played Chicago Funk. (Note: I have no idea what the difference in schools is between Funk and Junk, so don’t ask me) Funk came out throwing ridiculous deep shots mixed in with a plethora of ill-advised hammers. Z capitalized on Funk’s loose play and easily worked the disc in to go up 7-1 at half. The onslaught continued in the second half as Team Z made quick work of Funk, winning 13-2. After the game, one of Funk’s players was heard saying, “Sweet, now we can watch the Bears game.” Terrific.

The semis of Ninals would pit Team Z against Michigan. Let me start with the highlight of the game. A Michigan player gets an up-line and Pavan is trailing his man by 10 yards downfield. You can hear a cry from the Michigan sideline, “Don’t do it!” Sure enough, their handler rips the huck. I proceed to yell, “Yeah right,” (Something I always do when somebody throws deep on Pavan) as Pavan snatches the D. Pretty. Lowlight of the game: Hidaka throws an up-line pass to Brad who gets trucksticked by one of Michigan’s biggest players. In no way was the play dirty, but Brad got ENVELOPED.

Anyway, on to the game. Team Z’s offense looked the best it did all weekend. Handler movement looked good and there was plenty of break side action as many of the rookies were timing their cuts well off of the handler movement. However, our marks did not look good as Michigan got off a ton of break throws, including hucks, that let them work it fairly easily. Michigan takes the game 13-7ish.

Team Z faced Iowa in the 11^th place game. The marks plagued Poppins again as Iowa had good break side action. They jumped out to an early six-point advantage. Deep shots from Brad to Pat gave Poppins a fighting chance. Brad also played some sweet D to cut the lead to 12-9 late in the game. Iowa’s composure with the disc was too much for Z, taking the game on the next point.

Overall, Team Z went 4-3 and took 12^th place. The rookies got good experience working the zone and on their marks. Some of the younger veterans got experience stepping up into newer roles.

Things we learned this weekend…

1. Joe is really tall.
2. Brad is pretty short. Yet, he can take a beating like no other.
3. Eric looks like some guy who used to play for the Phillies. You can call him Dickie now.
4. Pavan scares other teams into submission. Taste it.

That is all.

Practice Recaps

10/22/07 Practice Recap

The weather again was brutal, but the attendance at practice was high. Coming off a tourney weekend, it would seem that FIST would practices their throws and have an easy practice. However, the captains had other ideas in mind. After tearing up the fields with some cut-to’s the captain picked teams to scrimmage each other.

This scrimmage would prove to be as intense as some of the more recent scrimmages. Pat captained a team (Murderers) that seemed to have more veteran throwers while Joel captained a team made of mostly rookies and few veterans (lets call them the Bloggers). As Joel’s team only had two experienced handlers, Joel played the up winders while Walden handle the downwind points. Both teams seemed equally capable of scoring up wind while the scores traded to 4-3. Then, the Murderers rattled off 3 straight to take half. During this sequence things got particular spicy as Leftsky decided to show up Pavan, with the Ripsky hand blow, after a crucial hand block. Pavan seemed irritated and never mentally the same for the rest of the game. Tempers seemed to be running high when Denis tomahawk spiked a disc after scoring another goal for the murderers. At this point, there was confusion about the score. Teams did not know if the margin was 4 or 6 points in a game to 11. At any rate, Joel decided to come back into the game after leaving earlier with an injury. His team rallied behind him scoring 3 straight. These points were intense and included Joel hand blocking Denis along with one of the worst collisions in practice history. Brad made an up line cut while Max was running hard into get the d. The two collided and both ended up on the ground clearly shaken up.

The murderers seemed to regain composure and put a few goals into close out the game with 11 points but the score of the other team still remains a mystery.

Highlights of the practice include a Jon H. layout grab for a big up wind score. Additionally, Chris (C-Lo or Eminem you pick the nickname) had a big shoulder high layout d for the Bloggers. Mitch also played a big role with a sick lay grab d and some up wind break throws to get the Bloggers moving.

All and All this was one of my favorite practices for the intensity reasons and conditions. But, remember we are a team, and while things get dicey in practice make sure to talk to the other team after the game. As Jake says, we need chemistry.

Practice Recap 10/24/07

The good early season weather seems to be catching up to the team as every practice seems to be really rainy or windy. Today the first 1.5 hours focused on throwing drills. We started with an inside out box to work on the swing passes and windy conditions. Then we moved to everyone’s favorite triangle of death. To make things easier the triangle faced downfield. One thing noticeable in the drill was people trying to over throw down wind hucks. Last year, Stupca would suggest taking something of the throw and putting it higher in the air and letting your teammates run to it. Another thing I noticed was people throwing bullets on the incuts. I think one possible reason for this was people wanted to put more spin on their throws. However, people were getting more spin by throwing the disc harder. We need to have touch on the down wind throws, so they are catchable.

After the triangle of death, the teams moved into a scrimmage with Jake and Dave picking squads. There was clearly a lack of depth for both teams as many vets and rookies were missing from practice. Both teams had handler problems which forced longs to come back and handle. They did a good job but with the veteran longs handling sometimes, that left the rookies to cut. This was especially a problem for Dave's team going upwind as the rookies did not know how to get open underneath. There was one point where Dave's team was just throwing it back and forth in their own end zone waiting for a rookie to get open. Eventually Walden went upline and unleashed a backhand bomb to Connor close to the endzone but they were unable to score. Now if Walden could throw a forehand, things could get interesting. There was another similar point but the upline pass floated in the air and gave Keenan a Callahan. Both teams were able to score upwind usually by a huck or two and then finally working the disc in. Downwind however, there were a ton of hucks by everybody. Most of them were completed but there were some D's.

Highlights

Keenans Callahan

10/17/07

Practice Recap



Practice started with a bit of wind and rain. But, the conditions did not deter Illinois from having a meaningful practice. After the 20-minute warm-up, the captains decided that the team could use some more practice with cut-to’s in bad conditions. After brushing up on throwing in the wind and rain, players split into Fall-Out teams. A three way split meant two teams worked on defensive sets, and the other team did more throwing drills on the side before their turn to practice defensive sets. As Denis prepares for his nationals glory, he was not placed on a Fall-Out team. This left him clearly confused and possibly upset.








The focus of defensive work involved 23, 21 and a little trap zone. After going through the stations, Illinois Y played Illinois Z in a play-in game. The winner facing Illinois X in the finals. Meanwhile, Illinois X played an intense intrasquad scrimmage evidenced by the Max-Joel collision in the endzone. Eventually, Illinois Z beat Illinois in a game featuring plenty of up wind goals. In the finals, Illinois Z rode phenom to an easy victory over X.

Key Notes-



Cut-to’s- It seems some rookies have trouble throwing because they make too many movements with their hands when making fakes. Maybe some veteran throwers can comment and I hope they do. But, when I try to throw I like to throw a hard pivot, but while pivoting I try to be a threat throwing. If I do not have the disc in a good position to throw the pivot is wasted. Keep the pivots simple, but make a good solid fake. Then, pivot back and make a throw. I think a simple motion is best. Try to visualize Pat’s throwing motion. His pivots gets his defender to the backhand side, then he has a simple forehand shot up-field. Simply, to many hand motions do not confuse defenders plus it creates a bad throwing position. Secondly, know where you want to throw and pivot to get your marker away from that area.

Defensive Sets- I did not get a great evaluation because there seemed to be turnovers on throws and catches rather than good bids or defense. One area of improvement for the team would be on defensive handlers. We need to stop the upline cuts first. I know it is frustrating to let dumps get the disc on a reset, but that alternative is better that an up line cut. I think we can use more work on marking and instructions with the man defenses.



All and all it seemed like a good practice and people are excited for Fall-Out. Hopefully, Illinois will come home with another trophy.

Team Y Recap

Y naught

Saturday began with a rough start for kracklin. When UIC showed up five minutes before game time, we thought we’d roll ‘em. Little did we realize that they brought a core group of veterans. We kept the lines relatively open, hoping to run them down with our athleticism and endurance since they only had about 10 guys. But their experience showed (and our rooks’ inexperience showed even more), and we ended up getting rolled 13 to 6. It really didn’t help that one of their guys played for machine. We went into the bye round realizing it was gonna be one of those days.

Kentucky proved a bit easier than the first game. A pretty rag tag group that was carrying a lot of rookies became easy prey for kracklin. Our vets completely dominated their experienced players. Only lucky hucks that triple helixed away from the defender gave Kentucky any hope of scoring. Our rooks stepped it up big time. They realized that attacking disc gave them a pretty good shot at catching it. Circus laid out like crazy, even catching goals after a defender attempted a spike d. He got a logo glass for that one. After solid win like that, you feel pretty good going into your next game.

The captains knew that SLU would be a challenge. We also knew that in order to advance to the A bracket on Sunday, we would have to win against them and Miami Ohio. The line calling was pretty tight, and there were always four vets waiting on the line. The rooks seemed to know that their level of play had to improve (it takes seven, not four. Unless you play for a team called My Little Ponies, then it only takes 3). And improve it did. Cuts seemed coordinated. Rooks showed good patience after gaining huge yards. Very few bad decisions were made, and the veteran handlers rewarded their patience by throwing goals. The game remained somewhat close, but team y closed the door in the second half.

Miami of Ohio meant everything. In order to take first, we had to win by 8 points. This feat sounds great in a pep talk, but they were the one seed for a reason. We were down six-four, mainly a result of their “giant” catching lazy hucks. Team Y knew something had to be done. Throughout the day, we had played well together, but had yet to reach that which defines a team. It was gonna take a team to pull this one out. Something happened and we started playing for each other. We fed off the energy that each teammate brought to the field. It was amazing. They ended up taking half seven-five, but we were not deterred. We came out on defense, and our tenacity quickly led to a score of 9-7. They fought back, and it was nines. We pulled it together and went up 12-9. The cap went off. We ended the day three and one. Our point differential meant a third place finish, but that was enough to set the stage for day two as snap, crackle, and pop all entered the top brackets.

The rain held off, and team y just knew it would be a good day. They seeded us 16^th, and Iowa came to the field expecting an easy game. A vicious fight ensued. Spectacular plays were made on both sides. Sick scoring skies were had by jman and leftsky. Dave roasted his defenders upline leaving them in tears. Caleb threw hucks prettier than all the women I’ve ever dated, and the rest of rooks actually looked like they knew how to play ultimate. The score was consistently tied until the end of game. We emerged victorious 13-11. Northwestern was in for a world of hurt.

We took half 7-3, playing ultimate like we were being paid to do it. We warned ourselves at half that we couldn’t let up, but we’ve always been bad at taking our own advice. They fought back with good hucks and even better catches. The score was 11-11 when the cap went off; next point wins. Luckily we were on O. The flow was pretty smooth about halfway down the field, when j-man broke free for a deep shot (that’s what she said). Unfortunately, Dave’s huck looked less than spectacular. It slowed up right after the release and began to blade. It was like watching some horrific scene being played in slow motion. The defender caught up, and gained perfect position as the disc dived hard for the ground. All seemed lost. But jman said, “No, I won’t let it end like this. I’ll make it end like this.” Laying out on his back, he slid into the endzone, catching the disc at his defender’s feet. (Cozza Award)

North Park was next on the checklist. They came over looking just as tired as we were. The previous games meant nothing, and team y would need to find that energy from the Miami game in order to overcome. North Park had some players who could throw hucks through any mark, and they had players that could catch discs over any player. Our smart play kept this one close, but in the end, it proved just out of reach and team y faltered 8 to 10. A disappointment yes, a failure no.

Team y moved four fields down to take on the other semi-final loser, Iowa State. After battling through 3 tough games in a row, the vets were eager for a break, and the rooks were itching to show us what they got. Wiese is tall and it showed. He tooled at least 4 scrubs on floating discs. Caleb showed that he has A-team caliber play, but is it enough? Jordan proved himself master of the in-cut playing well both in setting up the flow and cutting with in it. Brett showed a lot of promise in attacking the disc. Anthony had moments of greatness, and he seems to know how to take his gameplay to the next level. Inconsistency will hold him back for now. Oh Rodo, right now, your name is on the population sign of Noforhandville. I know it’s a nice town. I’ve lived there myself, but it’s just like Sodom and Gamorrah. You gotta leave and never look back. Circus, every time I see you lay out, that theme music starts playing in my head. Your heart is strong and your lack of self-preservation is a virtue. Speed and Strength will take your game to a whole new level. Luke, you didn’t play much, so I got nothing.

Vets, we ended up getting battered and banged from all the playing time, but for me, seeing the rookies gain marked improvement makes it all worth it.

Team X Glory Days Recap

Of course it’s up to one of the rookies to handle the write-up for Team X (Bloggers) after our recent victory at Glory Days. Zubair was very nearly foaming at the mouth when he found out the honor wasn’t bestowed upon him. Needless to say, I was highly encouraged to cast his performance in a positive light. I suppose I’ll start from the beginning.

At just barely past 8:00 am on a Saturday morning, the majority of the members of Team X
stumbled out of their cars, still clad in “cold weather” gear and marveling at the number of people who actually get up this early in the morning. Nobody was really quite sure what to expect at this point, as few of us had ever played as a team together. Once we had separated from the rest of the Illinois squad, some quick warm-ups and drills woke everybody up in preparation for our day of tests.

The pool play for Team X on Saturday consisted of games against Grinnell, Maharishi, North Park, and Iowa. The first game against the Grinnelephants was a very shaky start for the Bloggers. Although their lineup included at least two pirates (not kidding, they were pirates), this game against the 4 seed in our pool probably shouldn’t have been so close. We started on defense, and got the turn almost immediately for a score. As we would soon see, this quick turn may have been our saving grace. Our offense was in need of a bit more organization, but that was to be expected with this being the first truly competitive play that exactly half the team had seen. There were lots of drops, and lots of turns. Thankfully, the vets were able to respond on defense and the team was able to keep chugging away to a slim victory.

Maharishi was the massacre of a game that we needed to get us into the A bracket. We started off strong, and maintained our hold on the game without too much difficulty. Our O-game was still having trouble flowing, but iFuc offered little resistance. They were the team with the girl on it. This girl got a D. I think that’s all I need to say. If I remember correctly, which I hope I do, this was the team that attempted a zone defense against Lamp and Joel. Three scoobers and a point later, they decided to not do that anymore. I think the final score was 13-4.

Immediately after the Maharishi game, we had our first encounter with the guys from North Park. They turned out to be a good match for our team, with 2 handlers and a long that seemed to carry the team. They may have had a decent supporting cast, but we didn’t get to see much of it. Our team was clearly improving at this point in the day, and our offense was starting to show it. With Zubair, Lamp, and Joel all sending Charlie and Kurley deep, North Park was having a tough time keeping us out of the endzone. Movement up the field became possible now that mine and the rest of the rookies’ hands had warmed up. We traded points with North Park for the most part, until they were able to lock on and send us packing at 13 – 11. Thankfully, this wasn’t the last they would see of us.

We began our game against Iowa looking and feeling slightly dejected. We all knew this game was important, but we couldn’t muster a W against this squad. It clearly wasn’t our best game, but it also wasn’t an awful game for us. The team was tired, and not even Joel could replenish the enthusiasm. By the time it was over, we all knew it could have been a very different outcome. I’ll speak for myself when I say that I didn’t step up to the plate in this game, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way. On the bright side, we learned from this game and carried this knowledge into our Sunday games.

Lamp described it best when he said, “I think our rookies took crazy pills this morning.” Sunday was our day. That morning, we faced one of the toughest routes to the championship. Thanks to our crushing defeat of Maharishi the day before, we made it into the A bracket with one of two positive point differentials out of the 2-2 teams. After some bracket rearranging to avoid match-ups against Illinois Z and Iowa, we ended up playing UW Milwaukee in the first round.

Milwaukee was a tough team, and had clearly earned their spot in the A bracket. Unfortunately for them, they were facing an entirely new squad. Everybody came out to play on Sunday. After a short pump-up speech from Joel, the team was fired up. Although they managed to take half at 7 – 3 (I think), our defense was on fire. After play resumed at half, we went on a 4 point run to tie it up. Some very key breaks were exposed by our mostly rookie D-line, which was refreshing to see. In the course of this game, Jason especially became a big threat on O and D. Tom and Mark refused to let any passes off to their longs by running shoulder to shoulder with them. John and Shane turned into defensive animals as well, taking a D each. With the rookies guarding the longs relentlessly, Joel was able to truly go to work for the first time that weekend. He provided run-through after run-through until we had the advantage. At 12-11 with our possession, we played our power line and scored with little trouble to start our road to the finals.

Miami Ohio didn’t stand a chance against our jacked up X team. Still riding the high from the last game, everybody was ready to stomp these guys. I came out early with a fantastically gratuitous and painful layout for the D on my 5’4” long. Jason got a flying layout D in the endzone, proving that he is quite tall. To further impress this point upon us, he also skyed the shit out of some guy for a point. Sammy cleaned up the garbage for us twice on O. Considering that one of these was to save my crappy invert to Ryan, I was very grateful for his heads-up play. Speaking of Ryan, this was around the time that we figured out that he has a dangerous flick. Why he was hiding this from us, I’m not sure. He immediately became a handler named Peyton, tossing his fair share in for the goal. Memorable points include Charlie throwing a hammer point to Kurley in the back corner of the endzone on stall 9, and Kurley floating a beautiful flick over the head of my defender and into the endzone for an easy catch by me. This game was proof that we had come together as a team, and that we were ready to take on anyone.

The game against Iowa State was easily my favorite game of the weekend, and not just because it was my first game against a fellow TROUT alumnus. Their team came to win, and was not ready to give up their spot to an X team from the wild card spot. Our team performed near flawlessly, with only one or two breaks against us taking it to double game point. With such an intense game, we had no choice but to utilize our vets. Charlie was absolutely on his game, and the deep shots to him from Joel and Zubair were unstoppable. He came down with the disc time after time, capitalizing on ISUC’s shorter line. On defense, the rookie powerhouses kept up the pressure on the in-cuts, forcing ISUC to rely on up-line cuts by the handlers and the occasional crazy huck. Joel and Lamp ate up just about everything in the short range. We had trouble on defense once Iowa State got within scoring range, with numerous layouts to pick up the garbage on their part. It seemed to take forever, but we maintained our lead with two breaks for most of the game. It finally came to 12-11 and our possession. We put in the power line to finish things up, but they scored on a break to tie it up with the hard cap. With the same line in, we were now upwind at game point. We worked it to the goal line, and then called a time out. Charlie had possession off a characteristic huck, with Joel starting immediately behind him. The quick handler from ISUC that I couldn’t manage to guard was on Joel, and he was looking either for the up-line score or the swing and score to Zubair. “Just put it in the air and I’ll get it,” Joel assured us. After the disc came in, Joel powered his way into the endzone chasing the flip from Chuck for a very exciting 13-12 victory. The only thing left in our way was a rematch against North Park.

Had most of the other teams not been playing out their seed, there would have been a crowd at this championship game. Illinois X, having just broken seed thrice, versus North Park, who had also risen to the top most likely to the surprise of their victims. We were tired, but excited. What North Park thought would be an easy win turned into a brawl for the title. They had the advantage for the first few points of the game, capitalizing on easy break throws from their talented handler line. Our O-line was able to keep up without too much trouble by heavily utilizing Chuck. He continued to come through for us with great reads, and ended up scoring around half of our points. The real change in pace of the game was when Joel geared the defense toward stopping the breaks from their handlers. Realizing that the high backhand was their weapon of choice, he proceeded to handblock at least three such passes from their main handler. With the rookie D-line doing their job and Joel making a mockery of their offense, the game quickly turned in our favor. Big plays included Lamp throwing a falling backhand to the break side at a high stall count for the score, and Kurley easily skying his defense for the winning point on a huck.

Rookies to watch:

All of them. Seriously. They learned how to play defense this weekend. It’s ridiculous. There are some things I’d like to point out though.

Jason – He really learned how to use his size to his advantage this weekend. I think before long, he and the other tall freshmen will make some of the vets fear the skies.

Peyton (Ryan) – He favors his flick huck. Enough said.

Tom – He showed great defensive instinct right from the start. He put himself in position for several D’s, but needs to commit just a hair more and go for the layout.

Underrated vets:

Cozza – I hardly mentioned him in my writeup. This is partly because he was injured and played less for a few games, and partly because I was busy trying to analyze Joel’s defense. He was a great example for the rookies both on offense and defense – knowing where to be and when.

Zubair – It was painfully obvious that we were short on handlers. Zubair stepped up his game to fill the void, often making two active handlers seem like three. His fakes and pivots were killer, especially against ISUC when they started forcing straight-up. Nobody could stop his huck from getting off, and his up-line cuts were something the other teams had to watch out for.

Lambka – Throughout the course of the tournament, he filled in at every position. He played a lot of points. A lot. He was on the receiving end of most of Joel’s over the top passes, and threw a few over the cup himself. I wish I would have kept track of how many people ended up on the ground as a result of his presence.

It was a great tournament Team X, and I hope to see some of you on my team for Fallout.

Mailbag

To my great pleasure the mailman visited my little blog here for the first time the other day. To say that I was excited to receive my first piece of electronic mail would be a dramatic understatement. And let me tell you, I was not dissapointed. In fact, I was flattered to discover that the wonders of the internet age has brought the shining light of this blog to even the darkest corners of the Great lakes region.

So without further ado, let me present to you, dearest reader, the first missive from the depths of the internet to our corner of the world.

hey illinois ultimate blogger,

let's just say that i'm a college ultimate player in your region and i was directed to your site by a friend of mine. anyways, i've been reading up on your blog and i got to say that it - like your team - totally sucks.

first of all, i've seen your team play this summer/year and i gotta say i'm not impressed. personally, i thought you were overrated last year and i think youre overrated this year too. i'm sure you'd say the same about my team though, so lets call it a push.

basically, i just wanted to let you know that your blog is terrible. youre not funny, youre not witty, and you know nothing about ultimate. you talk like youre the shit and i'd bet my left nut that you are just some scrub who rides the bench.

i've been trying to think about all the illinois players i've seen in the last couple years and i thought you might be that #10 handler but i'm not sure if he graduated or not. and if youre not him, then you are clearly the second dumbest person to ever play for illinois ultimate.

you should read a real blog like the one wisconsin puts out. they know ultimate. you clearly don't.

anyway, if i knew who you were then i'd say "see you on the field" but since you want to hide your identity like a true loser then i guess i'll just have to sky every one of you when we meet up. i'll be the one with the nuts in your mouth.

Now that all you illinois ultimate blog faithful have had a chance to revel in the beauty of this our first email (go ahead and read it again, if you'd like), let's take a moment to break it down piece by wonderfully pathetic piece.

let's just say that i'm a college ultimate player in your region and i was directed to your site by a friend of mine. anyways, i've been reading up on your blog and i got to say that it - like your team - totally sucks.

why would "we" say that you are "a college ultimate player in [our] region"? Either you are or you aren't. Apparently you're not able to tell. I'm guessing that's because you are less a "player" and more of a "scrub." To be more clear, Its probably more likely for me to find you competing for the spirit award at your local rec league than to see you on the line in a game at regionals. Nice 25-yard bladey flick "huck" to the dude in the skirt! maybe you'll make the b-team next year - keep running hard, rudy.

and what's this "friend" of yours think about you hating illinois so much? not such a great friend are you? probably about as good of a friend as you are an ultimate player. If any of you Illinois ultimate players out there have friends at gl schools who have read this, who have apparently seen us play this summer and fall, then maybe its time to start realizing that this friend is a weasel.



So, great lakes reader, apparently you are not much of an ultimate player and not much of a friedn either...

i've been trying to think about all the illinois players i've seen in the last couple years and i thought you might be that #10 handler but i'm not sure if he graduated or not. and if youre not him, then you are clearly the second dumbest person to ever play for illinois ultimate.

Well at least we can agree on one thing, pappy's an idiot. If there's one thing this blog can stand behind its that pappy is the single dumbest person to have ever played for illinois (i love you, pappy!).


And how don't you know his name? Check out the hardware, sucker: http://www.upa.org/college/all-region/2007

you should read a real blog like the one wisconsin puts out. they know ultimate. you clearly don't.

Are you kidding? I've put up like 5 posts that are mostly full of jokes and you're comparing me to the write-down-every-single-point-of-every-game-we've-ever-played hodag blog? really? ok. I mean, this blog is still better, but whatever. At least my eyes don't bleed when i look at how much text is on the page.

anyway, if i knew who you were then i'd say "see you on the field" but since you want to hide your identity like a true loser then i guess i'll just have to sky every one of you when we meet up. i'll be the one with the nuts in your mouth.

you can keep your nuts away from anyone's mouth as far as this blog is concerned.


but if you ever decide to reveal yourself and own up to your ridiculous claim, then i'm sure that we'd all like to see you try to sky jman or chuck or anyone else on illinois for that matter.


but that's obviously not happening bc you are a sally who would rather spend his time posting shit on another team's blog rather than hitting the weights and doing what it takes to win.

while we're talking about you insulting the team,

basically, i just wanted to let you know that your blog is terrible. youre not funny, youre not witty, and you know nothing about ultimate. you talk like youre the shit and i'd bet my left nut that you are just some scrub who rides the bench.

First of all, can we quit talking about nuts. I mean, geez. what's the preoccupation?

secondly, on the outside chance that joel writes this blog, you look rediculous for even writing that. let's go over the players in the region that can get open on joel:

1. nobody
2. no one
3. ...


But, even if i am "just some scrub who rides the bench," that basically makes me better than you whatever team you play for. THis is a great time for me to do my great lakes season preview:

illinois-looks really good, only losing pappy, returning a ton of seniors and fifth years.
michigan-will be really good, good bet for the #1 come regionals
nd-sucks
northwestern-sucks
mich st-sucks
everyone else-sucks

And i know your not from michigan bc i can see where the pageviews come from, so have a good season, sucker.

Practice Recap

Practice Recap

Team X showed up in big force today at practice; however, their fearless leader Joel disappeared during the middle portion of practice. No one exactly knows where he went, but sources say he was doing school work. (Not an excuse for leaving practice). Non X factor players also showed up, it was a good turnout even with the tourney over the weekend. It was good to see people practicing hard. It will make the difference at the next few tournaments.

Anyway, today’s practice started off with some break mark cut-to’s in response to the Illinois teams having trouble marking opponents at glory days. It was pretty tough to determine the success of the marks in the drill because the team had one of its windiest practices to date. (Key note- everyone needs to work on both their forehand and backhand inverts especially with a mark. Remember to grip the disc tight to get that much-required spin).

A problem Illinois had with marking relates to the fact that everyone is trying to get hand blocks on every throw. This is not the goal of marking. Remember marking needs to take away a portion of the field while the downfield defends take away the other portion of the field. Positioning and sidelines are the biggest keys to a good defense.

Next, Illinois moved to an inside out box drill to continue its work on throwing in windy conditions. The side with more veterans surprisingly got to 20 completed backhands in a row first BUT lost to the other side in the race to 10 forehands. How this happened is beyond me.

Trap Zone Defense

Key problems- 1 and 2 not working together in the zone. It is important for 1 to be marking around 90 degrees and 2 to be at 60 degrees. We have the 0 spot guarding the dump so 1 doesn’t need to bite as hard on a straight behind dump pass. Secondly, the gap in between 60 and 0 degrees is handle by the middle flat, so 2 cannot bite as much on the up field fake, stay at home. Finally, the strong side flat cannot be in the middle of the field when the trap is on. We cannot have an easy up field pass past the cup. ( This paragraph is technical so if you don’t know the numbers or positions yet just let a captain or vet know and they will help with numbers).

Scrimmage- There were some upwind breaks on both sides as the wind really died down from the beginning of practice. There wasn't as much intensity as the scrimmages on Wednesday but was to be expected since everybody was sore from the long weekend. Hopefully this gets fixed on Wednesday when people have had enough time to recover and the Fall-out teams are up.

Story from the weekend

I’m going to tell you the whole story, but I’m so excited right now. I’m going to tell you the ending first, I’m going to tell you the ending and then we’re going to Tarantino it. We’re going to go from the end, going backwards through time in this story, then figure out what we did to make a state trooper say “If I get one more call about you guys playing fribee, I’m going to give you all tickets.” Let’s go back, let’s figure it out. Once again he said “If I get one more call about you guys playing frisbee, I’m going to give you all tickets.”

So we were northbound on 57, about 5 miles south of I-80. We are all in J-Ko’s car that he lent us for the weekend. The car was filled with DGN guys, Miles, Joe Sidrys, Domingo, and Eric Thonn. The car is a 2 door coup and Joe is easily 6-3 so he could not even get his feet on the ground because his thighs are so long (picture one). While we are driving, we all hear a thud, and then nothing, the car was doing fine so we kept driving. I changed lanes, but the car did not recover as it should have, I changed lanes again, and this time started making a noise. So I pulled over to the left shoulder and we found the tire to be shredded. Being 5 young strapping college students, we start looking for the spare time which we found in the trunk, but in our search we did not find a lug nut wrench nor a jack. J-ko had screwed us. I call AAA, and they say the wait for a tow truck will be anytime between now (4:00) and 5:10. So we have no other choice but to wait it out. What are 5 frisbee players to do when there is an hour to kill and the trunk if full of Frisbees? Well, you probably guessed it, we threw a disk. The median was large enough for us to throw a Frisbee around. While Miles and I were making phone calls to see if other cars could come pick us up, Joe, Eric and Domingo were practicing their throws.


They started to attract gapers, and not to long after a traffic jam started to form. Everyone but Miles was wearing orange, so we got a lot of encouragement from passersby yelling “Go Illini”, “Go Chief”, and of course “ILL-INI!”. And of course many cars with female drivers were honking at us, but none of them stopped to get a better look at Miles. The tow truck pulled up within half an hour, but because J-Ko has fancy hubcaps, normal lug nut wrench’s don’t fit into the hubcaps, rendering changing the tire on the road impossible. The tow truck says he would tow us, but he can’t fit all 5 of us in his cab, so he tells us to call AAA again to get another tow truck. I call AAA again and this time they say the tow truck will be there between no (4:40) and 5:50.


Joe calls his mom to come pick the three younger kids up, so that the tow truck can drive Miles and I to a tire store in Downers. We all update our parents with our new situation, and while we are doing this a gentleman stops his car dead in the left lane to ask us what happened. We tell him that our tire is flat, so he promptly yells back at us, “WELL FIX IT!” and he drove off. What a concept.


Not to long after we get a visit from the State Police, Illinois’ Finest. He has his lights on and everything, talking on his radio. He pulls up behind us, waves us over, so Miles and I go to talk to him. Our conversation goes as follows.

Officer-in a very serious voice “Two things. One, if I get one more call about you guys playing frisbee, I’m going to give you all tickets.
Miles and I “Yes officer, we’ll stop. Sorry”
Officer-“Two- is there anything I can help you with today?”
Wow what a turn around.
Me- “We just have a flat tire, the tow truck is on the way, we just don’t have a lug nut wrench to do it ourselves.”
Officer-“ Okay, where are you boys coming from?”
Me “We’re from the U of I and were going to an ultimate Frisbee tournament.”
Officer “Ahhh, now I get it. When I was college student I dicked around a lot too, but you really need to not play Frisbee in the middle of the highway. “
Miles and I “ hahah, yeah.”
Officer “So how are you guys doing this year”
Me- “We’re ranked 18th in the nation”
Officer- “Why aren’t you higher? You guys need to pick it up. Are those guys slacking? (pointing to Thonn, Sidrys and Domingo who have no idea what we are talking about)
Those three start to look worried thinking the worst about what the officer will do to them.
Miles-“Haha, yeah, they are mostly rookies, so we are going to this tournament to help them learn.”
Officer- “Okay, well since there really isn’t much I can do for you guys, I’m going to get going. But no more Frisbee, cause the idiots on the road, call the idiot dispatchers who call me, and I don’t want anymore calls. But good luck this weekend”
Miles- “Okay, thanks. Don’t get any flat tires yourself.”


The tow truck comes sometime later and puts the car on the bed, but he doesn’t want to leave anyone on the side of the road, because Joe’s mom is still 25-30 minutes away. So all 5 of us, and the by all means not a skinny driver fit into the cab as he heads towards the nearest gas station to drop of Sidrys, Thonn, and Domingo.

Glory Days preview

Team X- Has a great top 4 with Joel, Chuck, Lamp and Zubair. Also has very good veteran depth with no weak links on the team. Their rookies are solid and should be able to contribute especially Austin who has already played in a couple tournaments. The rookies should be able improve with Joel's leadership. Joel won Glory Days last year and probably expects to do the same this year. As long as the expectations and pressure don't get to the rookies, expect a repeat from them.

Keys to Victory-Making sure nobody gets hurt on Saturday, so they can turn up the intensity and let Joel loose on Sunday. Getting the rookies to look for Joel as soon as they get the disc.

Potential Problems-If Lamp and Chuck show any signs of rust from not coming to practice, the team could struggle on Saturday. If that happens, they will have a tougher road than expected on Sunday.

Team Y-Has a pretty good to great top 4 with Dave, Walden, J-man and Rip. Probably the best defensive top 4 out of all three teams. If they meet another Illinois team during the tournament, they should be able to match up very well against them. However their biggest weakness is the lack of veteran depth, after the aforementioned top 4, they have basically nobody. However their squad of rookies are good, especially with Rado and Caleb. Team Y will be relying on the rookies to make plays more than the other teams. This will determine how far they go.

Keys to Victory-Making sure the top 4 play the important points and having at least one of them play every point. Their deep game should be the best out of all three teams, with Dave and Walden being able to huck it to whoever goes deep.

Potential Problems-If the team has to rely on the second line to do some damage, the team will be looking at a very short Sunday.

Team Z-Has a stellar top 3 in Denis, Pat and Pavan. They have the best veteran depth with Miles, Brad, Domingo and Hidaka. However, Denis will only be there on Saturday so the team has to be able to account for his loss. Since they have very good depth, if someone is able to step into the void caused by Denis, they will challenge Team X for the title. They have a decent group of rookies but they will improve playing with Denis and Pat. As long as Pat remains patient and doesn't think about his past Fall-Out teams, this team should be fine. I predict that they will have the best record on Saturday but they will falter on Sunday as Denis' loss will be too great.

Keys to Victory-They should be able to work the disc under all day with Denis throwing and the rookies cutting off of Pat. If they can discover a deep game, they could be very dangerous.

Potential Problems-The void caused by Denis on Sunday could be too much to overcome. Also if they run into another Illinois team on Sunday, they will have match-up problems.


Picks to Click Veteran Edition

1. Zubair-He is well known for his ability to dominate against lesser opponents. During the club practices he completely desecrated Brad and Cozza. However he struggles against players in equal or greater ability. So as long as Team X does not run into Team Y, he should be a major player throughout the tournament.

2. Ripsky/J-man-Both of these guys are extremely fast and should be able to cover anybody at the tournament. Because of this, I expect a ton of in-cut d's where they just outrun their opponents to the disc. They also aren't bad in the air and should be able to come down with a lot of hucks over the weekend.

3. Denis-If the last practice was any indication, he will be a force to be reckoned with. Even without Pat, he led his team to the best record. He is also very enthusiastic about playing this weekend and this should rub off on his rookies.

Picks to Click Rookie Edition

1. Austin-He has already played in two Club tournaments and knows what to expect. Also playing on Joel's team should be a big boost. He won't feel any pressure to make plays and should be able to have a great weekend.

2. Rado-Also has played in two Club tournaments. Unlike Austin, his team will be looking at him to make plays, and I think he will be able to. With Dave and Walden being able to throw deep to him and having J-man and Rip there to teach him the long position, he is in good position to step up this weekend.

3. Kurt-He has definitely played well during the last couple of practices. He also has some very good veteran leadership around him in Denis, Pat and Pavan. If he is able to adjust to tournament play, he will have a very sold weekend.


Player with the most pressure-Pat, his last couple of Fall-Out teams have under-perfomed greatly. Lets hope he gets his act together and has his team make a deep run this weekend.

Handicaps

Team X even odds

Team Y 3-1

Team Z 5-2


Tourney Prediction-Teams Y and Z meet in semis and have tough drawn out game which Y pulls out. Then Team Y gets destroyed by X in finals.

Practice Recap (10/10/07)

It's finally gotten cold, and practice featured more hoodies than the x games (Wicked!! I love Mat Hoffman, too!). The weather was pretty much perfect for ultimate, though, and you could tell that everyone was ready for Glory Days this weekend (preview forthcoming, stay tuned - you've bookmarked this page now, right?).

We started off with a brisk jog around the complex, while Brad and Austin (for some reason) sallied back at the field. This blogger suspects they are both just pussies.


Then we started in on cut-to's. This seemed to go pretty well, especially because the wind was not quite cross nor upwind-downwind - a little tricky, but the rookies (and the bad vets, like zubair) handled it well.

[note: at some point, pat just left. no one knows where he went.


sources within the team suggest that there might be more to this story. Some speculate he has a drug habit. Others speculate he is slipping off to write a blog(?!?!?!??). In any event, those in the know are wondering if he might see his playing time slip at Glory Days. Only time will tell...]

After that, we ran through the o-sets (alpha, beta, tau), and this seemed to help some of the rookies who may have missed a practice or two to get caught up and to refresh everyone's memory going into the tournament.



Then we split up into four teams: three were the x-y-z teams from this weekend, and the other was the guys who aren't going. Everyone should (feel free to) post your comments about practice, esp the scrimmages. Who played well, who didn't, that sort of stuff. I'll try to give quick recaps, but let's hear from everone else.

On one field, team y, featuring walden dave and world's dirtiest player jman, played team z, featuring pavan, dennis, and brad. They battled it out to 5-3, I think, with lots of bad long shots going up which you might expect with four mediocre huckers and jman and pavan on the field.

On the other field, the most intense game ever* was taking place between team x and team unglory days.

Regulation time couldn't hold these teams, and team x (purportedly named the bloggers) eventually fell, despite having joel and a presumably well-rested austin, to cole and phenom's bunch of can-do ragamuffins, 7-6.

Darkness was swiftly approaching, so the teams hurried to get their last games in. The winners faced off in a slaughterfest. Team z beat team y 5-1. The other game was between losers, so does it really matter?

Overall, we should be happy with our direction heading into Glory Days. It was good to split up into teams and get some (fledgling) rivalries sprouting. There's no doubt these teams will be gunning for each other this weekend.



*of this season so far.

Pictures

P.S. Guys if you have any pictures of the team, send them to my email address at illinoisultimateblog@gmail.com (Walden this means you!)

Recap of Club Regionals

This past weekend, we traveled 560 miles to play in a tournament where we were clearly a notch below the top teams in the region. Having some impact players not be able to make the trip was a big loss and disappointment. However the team still played extremely well at times and shockingly bad at others.

(A quick aside, this post will only cover the games against Madison, Sub-Zero and Van Buren Boys. The other games were against bad/average teams that we should have beaten and did, i.e. Hustle, Rawhide and Dingwop, or a game where we were completely rocked, Machine 11-1.)

The first game of the weekend was against Sub-Zero. The offense played extremely well in the first half making sure the game stayed on serve until close to halftime. Pat, J-man and Phenom pretty much scored all of the points in the 1st half on hucks, usually from Joel. The d-line played some hard defense and forced Sub-Zero to work hard some points but was not able to convert any of the turnovers into breaks. The second half, Sub-Zero's d-line comes out fired up and raises the intensity which we could not match. The 6-6 score quickly turns to 11-6 when the play of the weekend occurs, Cozza somehow gets open deep and Joels throws a huck which floats for a while. Cozza's defender quickly makes up ground and gets into great position to d the huck. Cozza notices this and boxes his defender out, forcing him to jump a second early and allow the huck to go right to Cozza who doesn't even jump to catch it. After a couple of short passes, the offense scores. There was a miscommunication during the game as both teams thought the game was supposed to go to 13 but in reality it was to 11, so after that point, Sub-Zero scores again to make it 12-7 but finds out the game was only supposed to go to 11. So the final score ends up being 11-7 which is the closest any team was to beating Sub-Zero all weekend.


Having Sub-Zero as the first game of the day and then having three games against mediocre teams cause us to come out flat in all three games making those scores a lot closer than they should have been.

(Pat flipping with Van Buren Boys)

The last game of the day on Saturday was against Van Buren Boys who are a mix of guys from Kansas, Iowa and Minnesota. They are a fairly good team and Pat fires the team up going into the game saying that winning this game will feel really good afterwards. The team takes those words to heart and comes out on fire. The d-line gets 2 breaks in the first half and probably should have had more. The offense scored mainly on hucks to a variety of guys culminating in a layout score by Bettsy. We take half 6-3. However, the 2nd half is a complete 180 from the first half. The offense can't even get the disc past half field as swings are dropped, stall counts get high and no one can manage to get open. Van Buren gets 7 straight points before the offense is able to stop the bleeding, by that point it was too late as Van Buren scores quickly to end the game 11-7.

(Huddle after the Van Buren Boys game)

The best game of the weekend came against Madison. The offense gets broken a couple of times in the first half and the defense only manages to get one break. Madison has trouble keeping up with the speed of J-man and Phenom allowing them to catch many hucks in the endzone. It even gets to the point where they start backing them and they still get open deep which causes some frustration on the Madison sidelines. At half the score is 8-6 and things are starting to get a little grim. But the defense switches to allowing the wide side handler to get the disc and then tightening up. Madison has trouble recognizing what is going on and have a couple of uncharacteristic turnovers which the d-line converts. The score is now 10-10 but at that point the Madison offense gets their act together and scores and then the offense gets broken making the score 12-10. After that a couple points get traded and the final score ends up being 15-12.

Final Record 3-4

Top 3 Ballers of the Weekend

1. Pat-definitely stepped up when needed against Madison, Sub and Van Buren Boys, got open whenever he had to and gave the throwers an option. Also scored a bunch of goals on hucks which was good to see. Looks like he is finally back to his old pre-injury self.


2. Joel-was all over the field getting d's and making things happen on offense as usual. Had some bad turnovers throwing into poaches but besides that was his usual stellar self.


3.J-man/Phenom Got some d's and made a ton of plays on offense usually on hucks. Made a huge difference in the Madison game as they were able to get open deep whenever they wanted. Only downside was J-man's bad stall call.


Worst play of the weekend-Against Dingwop, the offense is receiving the disc and the pull is in the air. It is a good pull into the wind and Joel our fearless captain is waiting there to catch it. However at the last second, he changes his mind and decides to let it hit the ground. Except he didn't move fast enough and the pull hits him on the leg, giving Dingwop an easy break.



Worst call of the weeked-Against Frontline, J-man calls a pretty egregious stall prompting one of the Frontline players to say "Theres no way it was a stall, you were at four, one second ago." This fires J-man up and after he scores that point he promptly spikes it causing Pavan and Walden to go out there and calm him down.

Questionable call of the weekend-Against Van Buren Boys after the d-line gets a tough upwind break, Joel, our fearless captain decides to call a time out. The logic was to get all the d-line players rested up for the easy downwind break. Needless to say, the logic didn't pan out as the Van Buren Boys score the upwinder. Was it the right call? Who knows, but it was certainly a questionable one.


Poor Spirit Award-Goes to J-man for his intense spike after the disputed stall call.

edit-added pictures and a little more analysis (Thanks go to Walden for the pictures)