Winter Fashions

The wind subsided a bit today which was nice. But it was pretty chilly out and Buzzards were ready for it. By the way, winter Ultimate makes for lousy fashion. You could see the all the necessary winter articles in the locker room, jeans, sweats, tights, watch caps, thermals, a down jacket , and a thong….a what? Yea, a pretty little silver thing that we wanted to all sign with a Sharpie and send back to its rightful owner…assuming of course the person who found it in their clothes wasn’t the rightful owner which brings to mind a bad visual and I’m feeling my lunch make an encore appearance…Also, there was some discussion as to whether or not all our signatures would fit, and well….we decided this was a conversation better had in the Impala.

So we trekked out to play in our winter garb. Football was also on today and at least 3 of our players had defected to play that. Hey Bob, how you liking that decision now? Twang!

We let Kash set up the field today and it may have been as wide as it was long which made for some interesting “field awareness” moments… “Hey Visor! You’re out of the end zone!”…Phil, just throw your arms out in front of you and jump…it’s called “laying out” and it won’t hurt on this nice tall grass before the field freezes over for the winter so do it….Now!!!!!

Finally somebody besides me got hit in the head. MattC aka Coach Brackett (very obscure movie reference) took the disc upside the bridge of his nose…minor blood…actually no more than was on the pennie that I had on which apparently served as the bandage to Kevin’s fingernail removal last week.

Seeing our even numbers, a new player appeared out of the trees…okay, he says it was a trailer over on McNair and Eliot (?) joined us for his first game with the Buzzards and made sure we again were playing with odd numbers. Embarrassingly enough, it didn’t really matter for a while and the 4 player team held its own with the 5 player team while Mallard cursed himself every other time down the field

We finished up in time to walk by the football game still in progress…and got to see Bob aka Defector….bounce one to his receiver…hmmmm, that doesn’t work in this sport either does it Bob? Enjoy your 3-day weekend and we’ll expect you to heal up and be back on the Ultimate field next week.

Pull!

Blown Assignment

Unbelievable game on Tuesday. We went out to secure the field with a nice response of 10 players and were met by an Army NCO informing us the field would be off limits today due to helo ops. All this despite Lindsay’s charming overtures to dissuade him. He suggested we go play down on an alleged field next to the water.

After changing fields 37 times we landed down on the far SW lot of McNair. We actually played with one of the older discs in our collection because we were concerned we might throw one in the water. By the time we started we actually had 11 (seems like we can’t play without an odd number of late).

Now for those of you who have played Ultimate through a full calendar year you know that there are many weather elements that can make this game challenging. It started to get cold a couple weeks ago and we realized that frozen hands and discs aren’t always a good combination, wet fields and rain can sometimes be an adjustment though after playing on the cement field all summer that has generally been a welcome condition. And for those of you who haven’t played in the snow yet….well, just wait.

But the most challenging condition of all for Ultimate players is the wind. Tuesday we had 30 mile and hour winds gusting over on the point where we were playing and it made for at times comical attempts at pass completions (even for the Buzzards normally comical). “Low, flat, short” was the mantra some of the more knowledgeable of our players were repeating right before Brook or Matt C would flip the nose up or I would try to throw another long one.

“Sixth time is a charm, right?”

Heck, one time Wings thought he had the wind pattern down and threw a long to me. Our initial worry was that we’d finally struck a car parked along the field but that was quickly dismissed and we were more concerned that it might hit an unsuspecting football player on the field next to us.

We actually managed to score several times and other than not being able to work up a sweat because the wind was drying us off as fast as we could perspire…

Anyway, kudos to all of you who braved the windiest of days that we’ve played in this season. Please see the award list on the sidebar as you have survived and thrived in the 25 mph + day that scares off the amateurs. I think we had 3 decent dings today also, 2 ankles and a hand.

By the way, I miss one day of work and my inbox explodes with emails Subject “Ultimate” but having to do with extra rooms in garages disguised as Impalas, fat arses, whining that 8 really is not enough, and suggesting that Mallard may be the next marketing strategy for birth control pills. How ‘bout we just play a little disc?

Game on!

Green & Gold Addendum

U. of Vermont…home of the Chill & Ruckus the men’s & women’s Ultimate teams.

There’s a little school called Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC. Their colors are “Coastal Green & Bronze” which is close to ours but we could all play on the same field and easily be able to tell the difference. They do have an Ultimate Club though. And the school mascot is a “Chanticleer” (that’s rooster to you and me) which may have more in common with a Buzzard then a Sea Wolf.

There are also the Baylor Bears which have the same nickname as our Coast Guard Academy but share colors with the Buzzards.

Great game this afternoon! We had 13 players and would have had an official 14 if we hadn’t been stood up by “Altar” (that’s as in ‘left at’), aka Kelly. She tried to throw me a bone by sending me an email (from her TREO 3 minutes after start time) saying her “plans had changed” and by giving me another name to add to the distribution list. And all Ican say there is Jason you’re working from a “guilty by association” already.

We had to start late today because of a baby shower. Yes, you read that right. Mallard where is your friend who thinks we’re a bunch of mid-life testosterone overdosed wannabes? We actually delayed our start time so that the lovely couple of MacKash could attend the shower, which they had to sneak out of early anyway.

Nutrition hint of the day: Don’t eat two chili dogs before game time. The normally gazelle-like Travis was trying to shake off the effects of Hormel & Oscar Meyer all game.

Welcome back off the DL to Annette. Okay, so she wasn’t completely in game shape. I last heard/saw her saying “I got him” as Rodney jogged up the side of the field, and then I turned to see him 20 yards behind her in the end zone. This is the same Rodney who is also coming off a leg injury and is not, how shall we say this, the swiftest of Buzzards. Kash even had to shake off a week and half’s absence as the first two discs thrown his way bounced off his hands.

Still, for the 2nd day in a row, the team with a 1-player disadvantage probably got the best of the game. Upper 60’s, partly sunny, soft field…it was paradisiacal from an Ultimate standpoint today no matter what side of the score you wound up on. And like the “Great Train Missing Duck” is fond of saying “A bad day of Ultimate is still better than a good day in the cube”.

By the way, when did “Taters” stop becoming an anatomical description and start being the “Winged One’s” new nickname?

Green and Gold

Anybody wondering who else we share our team colors with? Since the purchase of the new pinnies and because the fabulous vendor was out of blue (substituting green…Kelly Green to be exact) some of you may have wondered if there was any significance to this. There was not. But there are some other great establishments we share the green & gold with.

Already mentioned in a previous post was the University of Oregon in Eugene. They are Ducks, we are Buzzards and Eugene is a conclave of all things “hippiesh” which at one time or another did include the sport of Ultimate.

The University of Alaska at Anchorage and the mighty Sea Wolves sport the green & gold. Of course Alaska has a lot of Coast Guard ties (not so much Anchorage maybe) and they do have an Ultimate Club team.

The Green Bay Packers who have, in my humble opinion, the ultimate football player of this generation, Brett Favre.

There is a Green & Gold political party in Australia. They market themselves as the “non-political” political party who says they will “keep the bastards honest”. Now that would be the ultimate.

The Woodbridge Senior High School Vikings were the arch rival to my school, the Gar-Field Indians just down the road in Dale City, VA. We were Red, White & Blue but I always liked their Green & Gold better.

Locally, we share our colors with George Mason University.

"De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da"

166. That’s how many years the green team had on their 4-man team today that seemed to still manage to out run the 5-man gold team. That’s almost as old as The Police whom I saw a couple weeks ago. Granted, they’re only a 3-man team but judging from the shape Sting looked to be in, I think he could have outrun us on the field today too.

The game was not nearly as mismatched as Mallard made it out to be in the locker room during the post-game smack-fest. The wet field made for some nice sliding and probably helped us avoid some collisions today.

Apparently the rosters on the sidebar need to be updated some. The grapevine shared that Kevin “No D” is not MIA but actually also on the disabled list from another Ultimate leg injury. Sniper was back from the honeymoon and can now be taken off the disabled list. Rumor also has it that Kashyap actually had to work today during the game and couldn’t play. That’s extremely hard to imagine and the Buzzard’s Scribe is currently trying to find a secondary source to confirm that unlikely story.

We’ve had some ID issues lately. Friday, Eric who actually comes over here from Arlington, got here to discover he had forgotten his and couldn’t get on base. The remaining players were forced to go 3-3. Well done lads.

Today, Matt, claimed to have no ID at all. So let me get this straight, a Department of Homeland Security employee can get into his workplace and log onto his computer with no ID but can’t get to the Ultimate Field? Something is wrong with that picture to be sure. Anybody else go over to Jemal regularly though. I do have an ID and sometimes can’t get on and off the elevators.

It’s great weather these days folks. Get on out there and play. Bob said he saw a tournament going on in Williamsburg this weekend and I’m getting ready to start play in the Charlottesville Winter League. This is the year round sport…Check with “Billie Jean” aka Rodney and he can hook you up with a good glove recommendation.

Just Beat It!

48 Degrees

There are different degrees of 48 aren’t there? I was thinking this morning as I was out with the Colors detail that “Hmmm, this is going to be a little brisk at lunch for today’s game” and when I first walked out I was hoping for a little more sun. But without much wind, once you get running, 48 degrees is almost perfect Ultimate weather

Other degrees of 48….

Cadmium has the atomic number of 48…my least favorite NASCAR driver is #48…It was the number worn by Gerald Ford when he played football at Michigan. For those of you who are familiar with Ford’s “agility reputation” if he played Ultimate it would look something like Bob pulling today and almost knotting himself up like a pretzel…that may also be how old Bob is but I can neither confirm or deny that. Mahatma Gandhi was murdered in 1948…he would have loved Ultimate…that whole “Sprit of the Game” thing is pure Gandhi. Al Gore was born in ’48…you know he invented Ultimate…no wait, that was something else wasn’t it?

At any rate…we had a great game of 5 on 5 today ~ Visor, Brady, DD, Matt & Newbie vs Phil, Header, Bob, Wings & Father Bryan (no, it’s my fault, my bad, that sucked, sorry). The gold team used their team speed (ok, well Bryan ran some) to its advantage today. There were lots of hammers soaring today and a couple of machetes also.

Is it just me or does anybody else think it's a strange coincidence that Kashyap hasn't been here the whole week that Sniper said he'd be on his honeymoon?

Innovative colors, catching & comments

Yesterday marked the return of a couple players safe, and either released under their own recognizance, or amazingly, out of New Orleans and out of trouble.

We had a nice game of 11 today. Phil just thought he was running faster than all his defenders until he realized his team actually had the extra player most of the game.

Today was also the unveiling of the new pinnies. So, our new team colors (by virtue of what was in stock from the vendor) are green & gold… "Mallard", coincidentally or not, remarked that they were the colors of the Ducks (of University of Oregon fame). I have some fond memories of a few weekends spent in the hippie time warp that is Eugene, which, by the way is a great Ultimate setting, but really the color selection was more accidental. The company was out of the blue.

So from Mallards to Ducks to Buzzards…it’s all Avian to me. All I know is that I didn’t throw it to the wrong player at all yesterday which is more than I can say for Todd who must have thought he’d thrown it to the wrong team every time I dropped one which by the way included a great long throw to the back of the end zone which I’d actually managed to run under and then drop while taking a peak to see if I was going to still be in. To his credit (like a great outside shooter), Todd kept with it and I was able to finally catch one for the final score of the game.

Speaking of ducks…today’s weather early looks like a fine Coast Guard day…wet and windy. As of this posting, 2 of you have already confirmed your attendance for the game today.

There was much discussion on the walk back in yesterday of a team cook out one day. If any of you are interested in this, email me with your ideas of when, where, what (the “tube burger” thing didn’t sound exactly appetizing by the way).