Sir Edmund Hillary couldn't flick...

Posted by Bill

Anybody remember me? I’m the guy that started this blog a little over two years and 150 or so posts ago. I kept it fairly current with a post usually up once a week or ten days or more often depending on how much we played and then something happened this past summer. The Buzzards Point Ultimate Club sent a team into the Washington Area Frisbee Club Summer Corporate League and did very well in fact and Kevin started writing accounts of the league games for the blog which was great because well he was the Captain and that’s what Captains should do besides wear a hand scrawled “C” on their shirt.

Then in the fall something else happened. “Research Foundations” and “Policy in Education” classes and I stopped writing anything for fun. We did manage to get a Facebook group up for the BPUC and some of you have taken part in that arena. Mostly I was lazy. But today has inspired me to get back to the keyboard and chronicle what was certainly one of the more memorable Ultimate events in this club’s brief but storied history.

As most of you who will be reading this already know, the D.C. metro area had about 2 feet of snow dumped on it this past weekend. A record December snowfall by any accounts. It closed the Federal Offices on Monday which made for a nice 3-day weekend (at least) for most of us. Yesterday we slowly eased back into work while still fighting the icy side streets of our neighborhoods. At about 1000 yesterday Kevin sends me a message “What? No game?” I guess my expectations had been low and since he was the first to even ask, that seemed somewhat justified, but I sent out the invite anyway and he, Brad, Kelly, and Conrad all admirably RSVPd that they would play but it's all we could persuade and so it went "No Game"

Today I decided to try earlier and got a rousing response from a thinned out holiday mode Buzzards crowd at work. We trekked out to the field to find that much of the snow had been untouched. And it was still fairly deep despite some settling. There would not be much sprinting today by anybody. Tom remarked once he got out “Finally, speed will not be a factor” and he was for the most part right. Pinpoint throwing was more the premium today and we did some of that though Brian and I seemed to enjoy making our pinpoint throws to Kevin who happened to be wearing the opposite color pinnie.

“I couldn’t help it, he looked so darn attractive, I couldn’t resist” Brian protested.

“At least make him move hips and tease you. I mean he was standing still” I pleaded back.

Frank wins the award for coming out with the least weather appropriate clothing on. Shorts and no socks with his cleats. Sean was a close second also in shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt until somebody turned over an extra long sleeved one. Kelly made the first snow layout with a beautiful grab and a face full of snow as she went soaring over the sideline. Conrad, Brad and Kevin also managed horizontal moves of varying degrees of effectiveness. I will say that Brad’s was for a score and even more impressive considering the cantaloupe-sized welt he had on his leg from his weekend kayak sledding accident.

For the first time, maybe since the departure of Matt P for Texas, I heard the claim of being in by one cone if not the other (that is a straight line between those right?) That was Sean I think using the “Peeler Geometric Theorem” Another Matt, the goggled one came out to balance the early uneven numbers and swayed the advantage back to orange for most of the rest of the game but there was not an overabundance of scoring. We don’t ever keep score out here but I’m pretty sure we didn’t reach 15 by both teams.

At any rate, as Conrad reminded me as we high stepped off the field, elements like this usually engender some sort of award or nickname for those who play. It wasn’t actually snowing while we played but the depths of the snow have hereby obliged the issuance of the first ever Buzzards Point Sherpa award. For braving snow depths of double digits in inches, snow blindness, insufficient oxygen (or alcohol), pedestrian garb, and holiday leave. Congratulations Frank, Tom, Kevin, Brad, Brian, Kelly, Conrad, Sean, Matt & Bill. It wasn’t Chomolungma but it was good. Happy holidays to all the Buzzards, their family and friends. I wish you all the best and look forward to seeing you back 2010.

p.s. congrats to Conrad and Juliette new parents of Genevieve Marie.

Conrad Theroux questioned in theft of field.

Security forces at Fort McNair in Southwest Washington, D.C. are seeking Conrad Theroux, Coast Guard employee, for questioning in the theft of a parade field from the Fort on Friday afternoon. Mr. Theroux was seen leaving the Fort with a significant amount of the field stuck to his arms, legs, clothes, and hair.

Accomplices included several other members of the Buzzard Point Ultimate Club: Tom, Paul, Steve, Eric, Kevin, Matt and Brian. Matt Murtha may be facing perjury charges for a statement he made to investigators “I was the first one out to the field today.” That statement, while true, was so unlikely that anything else Matt says will not be believed for the rest of the day.

In other news, stock in Orange Glo International, maker of OxiClean, jumped 3% on reports of the theft. The late OxiClean pitchman Billy Mays was heard to say “Hi! Billy Mays here for HOLY MOLY YOU GUYS ARE DIRTY! I don’t know if OxiClean can clean that!”

And player of the game honors go to Steve Habbert, for sweet disc handling skills and not one but TWO beautiful box-out catches for scores. We would have given you the medal on the field, but it was the wrong color to wear with your orange shorts, orange sweatshirt, orange socks, and orange fruit of the looms. Steve also played the entire game holding a bag of carrots and wearing a deer-hunter’s blaze cap (with earflaps). Hey, Steve, pumpkins are sooooo October! Get with the season!

Thanks to all who came out for MudBowl 2009. Warm up, rest up and lets play Monday!

Its not the (lack of) Heat, its the Humidity...

Remember when we were worried that summer would get too humid? Ha!

Nine valiant Buzzards (Steve, St. Paul, Conrad, Frank N., New Nate, New Nate’s Friend (NNF... "Adam"?), John Fiorentine, Kevin d’ and Matt) braved the wind and the rain to go and play a little 5 on 4. Anyone who is wondering when winter disc is going to start should take note: it started today at 1130.

Game disc to Conrad Theroux, first for calling the game (thanks!), washing the pinnies, stepping up with sweet hands, and finally for being the difference on at least two teams. If Conrad was on your team today, your team did well. Of course, Conrad got passed around like Italy in WWII, but every team he was on did well while he was on it.

The only problem with playing in a cold rain is that you wind up not-warm and not-dry. On the plus side, soft ground and wet grass meant lots of pain-free (or, at least, reduced pain) layouts. Hot cocoa and a cold pack is an odd, but good, combination, like oranges & chocolate or bacon & anything.

In automotive news, the 2010 Mazda “Pinnie” was unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show. Just like its namesake, the day after you wash it, it rains. You ever actually read the stencil on the pinnies? It says "Wash. Rinse. Repeat."

That’s probably our last game this week. Lots of Buzzards are flying home for the holidays today and tomorrow, and (God Bless VADM Currier & RADM Brice-O’Hara) I suspect slim pickins Wednesday after liberty is granted. So enjoy your Thanksgiving and come back with pumpkin-pie fueled fire on Monday. Remember: its not about food or football, its about family. Especially family that cooks and has the game on.

Where there's a will...

“Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not.” – William James

For all of you who have not exactly “felt” like coming out this week to play Ultimate but have done so anyway I sincerely thank you. Here we are on the 24th of September and we’ve just had our 4th consecutive week of the month with at least 3 days in a row of games. This week seemed particularly challenging after a couple weeks of unseasonably cool weather and low humidity got most of us deacclimated from the oppressive summer weather that frankly never materialized much this past July and August.

But summer staged a last hurrah as we celebrated the Autumnal Equinox this week and as our days begin to get progressively shorter. Three days of mid 80’s and high humidity certainly made it seem like it was still August. To exacerbate the conditions of the weather we also were having difficulty getting any big games called this week and so for two days were at the bare minimum of 8 and another day we managed 10.

So for those of you who willed yourself out there this week…bravo. Erick, Todd & Bob, you guys hit the trifecta and came out each day this week. Thanks for trying to keep me running and putting up with me when I wasn’t. Kevin, John & Frank all got multiple games in this week as well and then our string of solo acts included Dennis, Paul, Matt, Joe, Dan & Tom. Ladies, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but that list does not include any of you. A disappointing week for the girl power.

Oh, also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the alumni visit a couple weeks ago of Rodney who made it down for a couple games. Great to have you back out there. Now if you could arrange to have you Swinny, Phill, Hollan, Thunder & Matty P all show up on the same week...that would be fabulous.

I would like to just make a couple housekeeping notes. We’ve been playing on the south field for the majoring of softball season and the consensus has been…..”Yuck!” The terrain is neither soft nor smooth. I’m not sure softball has ended but I’m inclined to try back to the North starting next week. Also I’d like to throw out my semi-annual plea for starting our game at 1130 rather than wandering out at 1130 (or later). Of course we want you whenever you can make but if we can get the majority of us out on the field ready to start at 1130 we can salvage a little more play time…and get this, it’s a novel idea, have a little stretch time after we’re finished.

So we’re finishing off September next week and the extended forecast is showing highs only in the 60’s on Tuesday and Wednesday. I’m thinking big finish to the month! Stop telling yourself you don’t feel like it or you’ll play when you feel better, or in better shape, or healthier…take the step out on the field, the “feelings” will follow and we’ll all be better for it.

The Phoenix rises...

Okay, despite what the blog entries would indicate, the Buzzards did survive the Summer Corporate League Season and actually represented very well as we finished in the Final 4. We also survived the scorching weather for a couple weeks after that and have made it to this week, which for disc players, has been close to idyllic. Temperatures in the 70s and 80’s, slight breeze, and low humidity.

We had a great game of 7 on 7 yesterday. One of the few big games we’ve had here at work over the last month. And we had a good game on Monday as well. We aren’t going to miss out on this weather. I want to first of all welcome out some of the new players this summer that I have been remiss in mentioning in the blog perhaps. Want to give a big Buzzard welcome to Dan, Eve, Joe, MattM, Ron, & Pat. Great to have you all as additions to our roster. Dan comes to us as a referral from MattC who also came back to us on his return to HQ as a civilian. Matt your usual “finders fee” is in the mail. Eve comes to us from academia, she’s a local professor of International Studies (I think that’s what you told me) and a “neighbor” of Brad. We won’t hold that against you. Joe is a former player here at HQ back for a 2nd tour. He remembers the days of playing with the soccer goals, and uh, let’s say when this club used to play the “contact version” of Ultimate. He recognized the name of Lindsay and for those of you who remember the Mallard, that is really all you need to know about Joe. To his credit, be blended into this evolved state of disc here seamlessly and I didn’t seem him foul anybody. MattM is a disc player transferring in this summer and a welcome addition to the growing stable of handlers here. And finally Ron joins us admitting his experience has been in some bastardized version of Ultimate/Frisbee football probably resembling more what Joe remembers being played here. Pat is our newest addition, just joining us yesterday for the first time, dragged out by Paul. Let me just say that this is two summers running when we have perhaps added more talent than we have lost which of course is the essential key to this club’s survival.

That is not to say that we haven’t missed the players that have left us. And so as our way of saying so and saying thank you we just want to give a shout out to Phill, Scott, Hollan, Will, Mark, MattP, Swinny, Travis, Rodney, JasonK, JasonN, George, JQ, Alec, Leroy, Kashyap, and hell, even Lindsay. I’m sure I’m missing some folks. Please forgive me and if you’re actually reading this, drop me a line and we’ll get you special mention and maybe even dig up an old pic to post.

Back to yesterday’s game of 7’s. Great to have Eli back out with us. It had been a while since we played with this many people and the early part of the game looked like it as both teams struggled to find spacing. So when you’re having trouble finding horizontal space you sometimes look vertical and it was good to have Dan on the blue team yesterday as he made a couple nice grabs up above the heads of some defenders. Todd, for the orange also had the idea of getting vertical a couple times but then I wondered what Erick was whispering at him as he’d run toward Todd just as he was jumping and Todd didn’t seem convinced his legs weren’t going to be taken out from under him and short-armed both throws. But then he finally found some space on the edges and made a couple of really nice leading throws on cuts across the end zones to Kevin and Dennis where both times a defender was pretty close on the heels.

The rest of the crew yesterday was Bob, Steve, Matt, Paul, Pat, Bridgette, Ron, and yours truly. It was great weather and a great game. A couple of promotions to celebrate – Bridgette & Todd, congrats! Bridgette says hers may hamper her Ultimate playing availability so I’m not sure that’s a great thing for us but it’s good for her. Todd’s thankful the upcoming wedding to another adopted Summer Buzzard, Reagan now has another income source. Reagan, if you’re reading, I’d certainly try and get an extension on the honeymoon with this as consideration.

For the new folks playing and reading this via the blog, please check us out on Facebook. I can’t actually add the hyperlink from here at work since our LAN police have that site blocked. Use your iPhone though if you can’t wait until you get home.

Great to be back up here. Will try to be better about keeping you amused, bemused, confused or just used. I only want you for your flick.

Pull!

BUZZARDS LOSE SEMI-FINAL TO GREENSPIN 15-5.

The Corporate League Buzzards' (Bill, Brad, Bridgette, Brook, Devon, Jason, Jeff, Karl, Kevin, Leroy, Meaghan, Reagan, and Todd) summer 2009 Corporate League season ended last Monday with a 5-15 loss to Greenspin, the team from the Federal Reserve. Greenspin’s tenacious defense prevented the Buzzards from making the second & third passes that rack up the big yardage, and their completion-prone offense moved the disc quickly and well. The Buzzards finished their inaugural season with a respectable 8 wins and 4 losses (counting playoff games), and made it all the way to the round of four.

Looking back on the season, we’ve got a lot to be proud of. I certainly appreciate every Buzzard’s dedication to the team. The RosterManager schedule pages are full of “On my way up from Norfolk, but should be in time for the game,” or “I’ll be there unless I miss my connecting flight.” Many people would use jet lag as an excuse; we use it as a reason for being early.

Thanks also for letting go of some other-than-Spirited play that we saw this season. We cannot prevent someone else from being a jerk, but we do decide whether to rise to the bait. In a recent game, one of our opponent’s players was complaining to me about other people complaining from the sidelines about him being a jackass. First, if he wasn’t such a jackass, people wouldn’t talk about him so much. But second and more importantly, immediately after his rant, two of his teammates approached me and apologized for his ‘tude, and we all got along fine after that. This certainly would not have happened if anyone on our side had “responded in kind.” Teams often consist of fourteen nice folks and one jerk, and running into “that guy” certainly brings out the worst in me, but I’m really proud of the way the Buzzards handled poor-Spirited players all-season.

My personal Thanks to Brad, for setting up the RosterManager site (a huge data-entry job) and for doing a lot of the other grunt-work associated with running a team, to Bill, for taking over the catering (we didn’t always play our best, but we always ate well), and to everyone else who paced off fields, worked the grill, or brought goodies.

Here’s something the Buzzards do that no other team does: we show up on time. It sounds silly, but it works. In at least two games (including both of our playoff wins), the fact that we were ready to play at 6:30 meant that our opponents had to start with whoever they happened to have around. The PPC Complexificationizers started with three women and four men because that’s what they had. In the Wesleyan game, at least one of their best players didn’t play until the second half. And because of the way Ultimate halves work (by score, not by time) it is much harder to come back once you are behind.

I have no rules clarifications or strategerical lessons for this post. I offer one observation, which occurred to me while setting an offense this season. Being a handler is not about having amazing throwing skills, it is about having the judgment to only throw passes you will complete. Not can complete (on a good day, no wind, dry disc, no mark…), but will complete, every time. Disc gets thrown, disc gets caught, repeat. We have about half-a-dozen budding handlers out there, and if my saying it saves you the twenty years it took me to realize it, you’re welcome.

Thanks again to all of you for a great season, and I’ll see you at McNair!

BUZZARDS OVERCOME WESLEYAN 15-6, to Advance to the Round of Four!

If you want to know what a patient dump/swing/repeat/repeat/... Zone Offense looks like, contact Wesleyan Corporate C league (the real Wesleyan, from Waterbury, CT), because they showed it to us all night long. The Buzzards (Bill, Bridgette, Devon, Jeana, Jeff VoB, Karl, Kevin, Leroy, Meaghan, Paul, Reagan and Todd) pulled ahead early, but Wesleyan, a team of great heart and fantastic Spirit, did not give up and played a much tougher game than the final score suggests. It was a lot of fun playing you guys, and we definitely look forward to seeing you again.

One of the things that made the game so much fun was that we were able to resolve rules questions in the Spirit of fun and fair play. Here’s a rule thing that I had wrong(!). If you get fouled in the end zone, there are two possibilities: either you caught the disc and had it stripped out of your hands (AKA Bridgette, last Monday) or you went up for the disc and were interfered with and didn’t make the catch (AKA Todd). If either of these fouls is contested, the disc goes back to the thrower. If uncontested, Bridgette gets the disc at the spot of the foul and scores a point. Todd gets possession of the disc at the spot of the foul, and it becomes “live”, but he must carry it out to the nearest spot on the goal line and play from there. “Live” means the game is on, no need to check the disc in again, play it like you just picked up an out of-bounds throw. Kudos to Wesleyan for knowing the rule and to Captain Natalie for not rolling her eyes at my ignorance. See the 11th Edition Rules FAQ page for where that all came from. FYI, if you make the catch while airborne, but are pushed out-of-bounds, you are Bridgette, not Todd.

A fond Buzzard farewell for the next two weeks to Paul St. Pierre, departing for Norway for a well deserved rest. He’s leaving behind a legacy of second- and third-chance catches and a textbook on how to make popper cuts. You couldn't ask for a better send-off than to score the game winning point to advance to the semi-finals. You will be missed, we'll keep you updated on how it goes.

The thing that made our Zone offense work and that Wesleyan struggled with was moving the disc up the field after a swing. If you played wing during this game (Leroy, Jeff, Karl, Devon, Kevin, Bill) I’m talking about you, shuttin’ em down. And speaking of closing the door on the offense...

Reagan, you are tougher, per linear foot, than anyone else on the team. Yes, we turned it over too often in the second half. Many of those were the Buzzards trying something a little different for the purpose of player development. This is a good thing, but it still meant 15 minutes of cup for you.

In fact, all of the Buzzard women have made us proud all season long (under "budding handlers," see Jeana, Kelly; under “Defense wins games” see Mariam, Meaghan, Rachel; under “Just tougher than you,” see Annette, Bridgette). You are the stubbornest disc chasers in the league, and every time the Buzzards get the disc on the opponent’s own twenty-yard line, it’s the cup that put us there.

Cup, if you start flagging because the offense isn’t getting it done, you have two tools: when next on offense, call for a timeout. Only the person with the disc can call for a timeout (Rule VI.B.4), so communicate with that person that you need a break. This is something we as a team should have done better to support the cup in this game. In 11 games we’ve had 44 timeouts and called maybe three.

The other thing you can do in the cup is play the passing lanes, not the distance. At ten feet from the disc (the minimum legal distance) you cut off a lot of passing lanes automatically. But if you are unable to keep up with the movement, put yourself in the lane where they want to throw: cut off either the up-field popper or the swing. If you cut off that lane, you buy yourself time to get into position.

The Michael and Janet Jackson Award for Wednesday, August 5th goes to Devon and Leroy for sweet moves and possibly being the same person. Speed in the backfield means we could play the 3-3-1 zone (as opposed to 3-2-2) and really pressure the disc. Here’s some math: Which takes longer? A disc thrown from midfield traveling up the sideline or our deep man coming from the center of the goal line to get the block? I’m not saying what answer I put down, but my grade was 15/6.

The reason you shouldn’t both be in at the same time is because its considered poor Spirit to get the block, then have another defender make a play on the disc, and then, after a commercial break, have the intended receiver appear. Also, somebody’s gotta throw the thing.

A special wave of the feathery wing to our cheering section: season-ticket-holder Jack, mom Marianne (not Jack's mom. C'mon, keep up!), wife Mariam, sig-o’s Mary and Angela and future roommate Danielle (“She’s filling in for Ian. No, wait, I mean…”). We should have brought those bleachers from Bluemont with us. First ten fans get to take a Buzzard home with them. No home for you, Jeff. Get back to the NAC.

Our next game is Monday, August 10th at the Polo Fields (2B). Game at 6:30, cookout at 5:45. I’m not certain who our opponent will be (apparently, google docs is that hard to use), but best bet is our Sligo nemesis, Disc of Enlightenment. Bring your “A” game.

BUZZARDS DEFEAT PPC COMPLEXIFICATIONIZERS, 15-7, and Advance to the Round of Eight

Show up on time and put it up deep. That pretty much defined the Buzzards' key to early success (taking half at 8-3) in their first ever playoff win against PPC Complexificationizers, a company team of consultants who consult on the things that their company does, which is consulting (we think they may be ninjas).

The game started promptly at 6:30, possibly a first in Ultimate history, and PPC took advantage of a careless turnover at our own end zone to draw first blood. But the Buzzards (Todd, Reagan, Paul, Leroy, Kevin, Kelly, Karl, Jeff, Brook, Bridgette and Bill) stepped up, taking the game to 2-2, and then on a 6-1 run to half.

A big Buzzard “Welcome Back” to Devon Clark, Leroy Posey’s evil twin brother. Together, the twins scored probably 70% of the Buzzard Points on deep throws to the end zone. You can tell which one is evil because of the evil one always has facial hair (“I’ve got sensitive skin!”) and the good one reads the Washington Post.

Some more Complexificationizers showed up by halftime (including someone to make the twins work for the disk in the end zone), and the Buzzards gave up three quick points getting adjusted to PPC's zone defense. At 8-6, the Buzzards decided it was time to get serious, and eight points later it was 15-7 and “Good game, blue”. The second half was classic Buzzard flow, with nice popper cuts from Paul, Bridgette, Reagan, and Kelly, and relaxed, high-percentage handling from Todd, Karl, Jeff, Bill and Kevin.

Plays of the game (tonight on “the Ocho”):
Bill “maybe if I lay out it’ll fix my back” Putnam, for digging the disk like the volleyball powerhouse he is.
Kelly “Garot is French for 'Handler', boys” Garot, for not being afraid to put up the deep stuff.
Paul “Popper” St. Pierre, for making the cup look over their shoulders and cry one big teardrop, like at the end of that Prince video.
And Bridgette “strip me again and I will gut you like a fish” Barchek, for showing Jack that Mom is NOT to be messed with.

A rules clarification: Contact which affects your ability to make a play on the disk is a foul. In short: shoving on the way up is a foul and should be called, shoving on the way down is poor Spirit and should be avoided. On a receiving foul, if the foul is contested, the disk goes back to the thrower. If uncontested, the disk goes to the fouled player.

From the 11th Edition rules :
XVI.H.3.b.(1). If a player contacts an opponent while the disc is in the air and thereby interferes with that opponent’s attempt to make a play on the disc, that player has committed a receiving foul. Some amount of incidental contact before, during, or immediately after the attempt often is unavoidable and is not a foul.

but...

XVI.H.2. Contact resulting from adjacent opposing players simultaneously vying for the same unoccupied position, is not in itself a foul.

see also...

XVI.H.3.b.(1) The Principle of Verticality: All players have the right to enter the air space immediately above their torso to make a play on a thrown disc. If non-incidental contact occurs in the airspace immediately above a player before the outcome of the play is determined (e.g., before possession is gained or an incomplete pass is effected), it is a foul on the player entering the vertical space of the other player.

And, of course, pushing an airborne player out of the end zone is a no-no.

Things to think about for next time:
The Zone offense is all about smooth flow. The Buzzards did an excellent job of not forcing bad passes, but the dump-swing-repeat could flow a little faster. Remember, the mission is to run the cup ragged so that they are out of position when you want to go deep. The middle handler’s primary look is a quick continuation to the swing. He’s got about ¾ of a second before the cup gets there. If the middle handler dallies, then the swings are going to start looking for arcing passes across the width of the field. This is low-percentage play and exactly what the cup wants. Keep is simple and keep it moving.

On man defense, if your man is playing deep, cover him deep. But if he is playing middle or short, don’t be afraid to get between him and the disc. If they put up a deep throw, our own deep cover will be there to back you up. Don’t be afraid to commit up close, cut off the passing lanes and get the layout D.

Be proud of your performance, Buzzards. You played tough D against a team with good throws. You played smart O, and forced them to play your game. And you advanced to the round of 8.

Our next game is Wednesday, August 5th at the Polo Fields #1B. Our opponent is either "Air it Out" or Wesleyan. Game at 6:30, cookout at 5:45. See you there!

Is that a wet towel on me?

It’s here! You know that feeling you get when you walk outside and you feel like you’re swimming wherever you walk. When, no matter how leisurely your pace, everything you’re wearing is drenched by the time you get where you’re going? Any of you who are familiar with the D.C. area during the summer are familiar with this phenomenon called “humidity”.

As a native Northern Virginian I grew up with this and really thought nothing of it. I mean it’s what drove me away from other sports with lots more clothing and equipment like football. I remember that first summer of pee wee and having all those pads on and long pants and heavy jersey and just thinking there have to be better ways to have fun….I was 8 was playing for the Cardinals with all my other friends in Elementary school and though many of those guys went on to high school stardom at Gar-Field and Woodbridge Senior High Schools respectively, I don’t have much regret about not sticking with football. But I digress…other than the football experiment I don’t recall minding the humidity too much.

But I have to say, this July has been pretty darn nice…right up until about 3 days ago. This week, the humidity has moved up into the 90% range, the temperatures have hovered in and around 90 and evening thunderstorms have visited the area. This is summer as we metro D.C. area denizens have come to love it.

On the Ultimate pitch it means that we are in the season where the pinnies need to be taken home and washed almost every night. Please feel free to step up and volunteer for this duty occasionally. I’m pretty happy with my new Bosch washer and Dryer but I just feel funny saying that, I have a laundry room full of stray leaves that have found their way into our mesh bag, and it would just be nice to share the load (pun intended) once in a while.

We’ve had a couple decent games already this week all things considered. Thanks to those who have come out so far. July is typically a tough month to call games. Lots of people on leave, transfers just settling in or having left us, and oh, did I mention it’s humid. We want to give a bit Buzzard welcome to Marcia joining us for the first time yesterday. She’s newly arrived from Port Arthur, TX. Yes she’s the player we traded MattP for, no word yet on what type of towels she uses. Matt, did you leave her any princess motifs in the office?

Kelly was the star of yesterday’s game. She and Todd worked some great give and go drives late in the game and she make a couple great leading throws for scores. Great throws were not to be found much on the blue side as myself, Kevin, & Erick did not give Marcia a good first impression of the quality of game she can sometimes find out here.

Our theory of trying to force mark worked on and off. I remember having a really strong mark on Bob at one point and taking away the backhand completely and forcing flick. Then Bob finally relented and threw a flick that defied physics for half its flight, finally flattened out, never got more than about 2 feet off the ground and sailed into Todd’s hands for a score. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him make that throw out here before.

Low throws abounded though…ask Paul how it was affecting his pulls yesterday. Okay, so the air was a bit heavy. Did I mention the humidity? Marcia told me this wasn’t really even hot compared to Port Arthur. The flip side of that “truth is relative to the perception of the individual” theory (Mr. Bunn, 11th grade, U.S. History) is that Meaghan last week when the weather was still relatively comfortable (for around here) wondered if she hadn’t been transferred to the face of the sun. Of course she was coming from Seattle.

Welcome to D.C. everyone, welcome to summer, and just keep plugging along. Your playing in this will pay huge dividends when fall rolls around. You’ll feel like a seasoned tri-athlete…okay well at least like an 8-year old pee wee football player.

Pull!

Buzzards Throw One Away to Disc of Enlightenment

The “Disc of Enlightenment” defense made a strong showing Monday, aided by the Buzzard’s unquenchable desire to throw the disc away. The Buzzards (Brad, Bridgette, Brook, Karl, Kevin, Leroy, Mariam, Meaghan, Paul, & Todd) played hard but fell to a team with good spirit, good throws, and lots of hustle, 15-7.

Spectacular marking by DoE may entice some Buzzards to practice throwing against a mark. Here's a good, three person drill: http://www.menalto.com/ultimate/view_play.php?play_id=197.

Something to think about as well: in the first half, we forced flick and got outscored 8-3. In the first eight points of the second half, we forced middle and went 4-4.

This next paragraph actually causes me pain to write. Todd pointed out that we never really took advantage of our vertical game. In other words, we didn't throw a lot of overhand- and high floaty passes and rely on our height and athleticism to bring the disc in. This is an area we left unexplored; maybe we shouldn't have.

In other news, food did not happen, largely because I am a slacker who didn’t feel like hauling the grill up the hill, and also because we’d have had to prepare and roast a child, since there was no food for the grill. But we had plenty of children, including Bridgette’s Jack and Mariam & Kevin’s Grace and Sam, plus some other little poison-ivy magnets on the other team. Welcome kids! Each week we designate a teammate to forget that you are there and talk like a dirty sailor, so be sure to bring a notebook and an unabridged dictionary.

Stay turned for more craziness. The Playoff schedule should be coming out tonight(!). Right now the schedule shows one “play-in” game (no idea what that is) for two as-yet-unnamed teams this Thursday July 30th and then single elimination games Mon/Wed/Mon/Wed per roster manager.

So, lessons for next time: Practice throwing against a mark. Visualize making smart, energetic cuts. And let's bring food, or at least snacks- 6:30 is a long way away from lunch. The the playoffs are next week: We’re 6-3, and I imagine we're gonna some of those “3" again before long.

Finding our lunchtime groove...

Lunchtime Ultimate had been suffering from expected transfer and vacation season flux and July temperatures rising (though this hasn’t been your normal July in D.C.), and the unexpected oversaturation that the Corporate League had perhaps added to. Yesterday the 1130 crowd was back out in force thanks to newcomers Meaghan (who has been playing Corporate with the Buzzards) and Dan, a basketball player looking for another exercise outlet (thanks Matt, you’re finder’s fee will be in the mail), and also to John who was back out with us after a bit of a hiatus.

We had our first 7 on 7 game in about a month. We were rewarded with another unseasonable temperate July day. Though the humidity did increase some, it was still in the low 80’s somewhat overcast and even a bit breezy again. I heard Meaghan on the field saying something about “I’ll get used to this heat and humidity soon” as she has come to us from Seattle. Any of the rest of you who have the pleasure of living or visiting the Pacific Northwest, know you can declimatize from this mid-Atlantic oppressiveness pretty quickly. Now reacclimatizing may not happen as quickly and I just didn’t want to tell her that it really hasn’t even gotten bad hear yet. Normally by this time in the summer we’ve had a couple weeks of solid 90/90 days.

You couldn’t really tell John hadn’t been out there in a while as he made several great pinpoint passes for the blue team. He and his receivers were finding the holes in the orange team’s porous zone. A good strong cup defense is difficult to play when you know you won’t be getting any substitutions for the full hour we’re out there. And even more difficult when you take a play off to discuss work business (as I found Dennis and Brian doing on one play). Before we could recover from that diversion blue had made two passes and were well over mid-field.

Also out with us yesterday were Steve, Kevin, Brad, Leroy, Mike, Tom & Frank. Thanks everybody for getting back out for a great lunch time game.

"One small step..."

Blasting off on the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing the Buzzards took their own respective “giant leaps” yesterday, if not for mankind then at least for that 175 gram pie shaped piece of plastic. And unlike our Summer League games where we routinely spot the opposing team a good decade at least at many positions and which has been getting most of the press here in the blog of late I would guess that most of our participants yesterday were alive for that historic event in 1969.

In fact Tom gave me that look of incredulity again yesterday as I was dividing up the teams. “You did it to us again, didn’t you Bill?” he asked. Somehow insinuating that I had conspired to put the bulk of the old slow guys on the same team. What I also did, but what did not pay any immediate dividends, was to give us an extra player. Of course that did not stop the blue team from scorching us early and often as Kevin and Bob worked the disc around nicely, throwing to Leroy occasionally sprinting long, Frank, gliding across his old familiar haunts at the back of the end zone and Dennis, looking for every long pass he could throw.

For our part, the orange team struggled to find some rhythm early on. We had Doug back out with us for the first time in a long while after his soccer brethren abandoned a fabulous weather day… low 80’s, overcast, and breezy. Oh, also, I’m not sure I’ve formally welcomed out Ron who’s been out with us a few times over the last couple weeks. Please join me in giving him a fond Buzzard hello.

We put Doug to good use having him fly around as safety knocking down as many passes as we could but we just couldn’t seem to find him very often on the offensive side of the field. Brian’s chicken wing pass looked a little rusty, Tom was the recipient of a lot of contact on passes in the end zone. I saw him get hit by Bob, Dennis, & Frank on 3 successive possessions. Then finally when he was able to lurk around behind Doug and let him get hit instead, he was able to come down with a deep pass.

Mike made some nice grabs and passes while working up some short drives later in the game as blue started to come around some and make things a bit more competitive. I got caught trying to out jump Leroy on a couple long passes. The first one our lets got tangled up, and my knee went right into his calf and neither of us came down with it. The 2nd one we were able to avoid contact and both got up to the disc but he hauled it down with a nice 2-handed grab and then made the subsequent pass for the winning score.

Walking back to the sideline Tom offered his wry assessment of the final score. “Bill you’re old and you can’t jump, what did you expect?” To be fair, Leroy isn’t even old enough to legally drink, let alone have any recollection of Neil Armstrong taking that first step on the cratered surface of the moon. I could have used a little anti-gravity situation to out jump him.

Battle of the High Seas - Coast Guard vs Navy

Or more aptly, battle on the concrete fields of Anacostia between the Coast Guard and Navy teams last night with those of the smaller boats but longer hucks prevailing 15-10 as the sun was beginning to set and we were closing in precariously on “Taps, taps, lights out”.

The Buzzards were represented last night by Annette, Bill, Bob, Brad, Howard, Jason, Jeff, Jeana, Karl, Kelly, Leroy, Meaghan, Paul, Reagan, & Todd. We also had somewhat of a cheering section show up…welcome Connie, Elena, Stephanie & her Basset Hound that I’ve forgotten the name of, hopefully she won’t be offended…I mean I did offer her one of the leftover Italian sausages from the grill as we were leaving last night.

Arriving at the field yesterday evening, we found the wind to be blowing fairly well and thought we might have to rely more predominantly on a short passing game. For those of you keeping score at home and who have watched the Buzzards once or twice before you know we tend to like to throw long occasionally. We…well I say we, but really I was outvoted on this…decided also to stick with zone defense which apparently worked phenomenally in my absence Monday night. And it worked fairly well tonight too (more on that in a bit).

With another great turnout we had a full A & B squad for substitutions plus 1 additional women so there was no excuse for getting tired. But we started slow and struggled to find a passing rhythm with the first rotation and at first substitution we were down 0-2. The B team came in feeling energized and quickly got two scores – both to Howard – after needing to learn the hard way that one of the Navy players, Ben I believe his name was, had a wingspan similar to some small planes and was knocking down passes thrown anywhere near him.

At any rate, I heard Howard as we were coming off the field saying “I wonder if I’ll ever be able to say again that I’m so far responsible for 100% of my team’s scoring?”

The A team got back on the field and settled down some and found their scoring groove finally with some nice short passing in the lanes. Jason made some really nice catches in traffic, Brad did a great job last night of cutting back to Karl & Jeff and giving them that extra short option as the Navy did a good job of clogging the middle up most of the time.

On the defensive front, Meaghan was a nuisance all night long for the Navy handlers while she was playing cup and getting great marks and forces on almost every drive making them work extremely hard for their points. With such good pressure at the point we were able to defend the deep really easily and I think they may have only gotten 1-2 points that way all night and both of those may have actually been mistakes as one was tipped and the other sailed over the intended receiver and fell into the hands of somebody else as Todd and I crossed in front of each other in the end zone.

Meanwhile, we were able to connect on a few long passes from time to time to compliment our short passing. Paul also, like Brad, continually gave Todd and I another outlet on the short passing game and opened up the back so that we could find Jeana, Howard, & Leroy at times on the wings or headed into the end zone.

We also saw Annette sneaking open in the end zone several times on one possession. Well, when I say we, I mean those of us on the sideline as apparently her teammates on the field couldn’t see her through all the less vertically challenged players in front of her.

Reagan & Kelly were also giving the handlers great passing lanes to work with even though we didn’t always see them. Todd’s mom, Connie, remarked on the sideline at one point “Is there a reason you aren’t throwing to them?”

Todd and I explained somewhat sheepishly “It’s not really intentional”.

“We just aren’t very good sometimes on our field vision.”

Last night also turned out to be a good learning opportunity for several rules. “Pick” was called a couple times on the Buzzards last night. We had to give the Navy friendly reminders that they were well in excess of the 70 seconds allotted before the receiving team must signal they are ready for the pull. If you are the pulling team you have 90 seconds to release after a score and that was also being liberally extended.

Another rule that we don't often enforce is that the person who retrieves the disc on an out of bonds turnover must also be the person who puts it in play. The Navy called us on that last night and most of our players weren't sure what was going on but they were correct in the call.

We had several sideline and end zone line calls that were disputed to some degree or another with a friendly reconciliation on all but the one end zone call which seemed to get a little testy before we were all able to settle down and agree to replay from the point of the throw. Nobody got verbally abusive and there didn’t seem to be any lasting hard feelings so kudos to both teams for ultimately ceding to the Spirit of the Game.

We finally got off the field last night on a long throw to Bob in the middle of the field that he had to make a great adjustment on and then he threw the follow on pass to Karl in the end zone who had to make another great adjustment and grab to end the game.

The Buzzards again found themselves on the short end of the unofficial tally for best end of game cheers but went home with a win nonetheless.

BOTTOMLESS GREEN FALLS TO BUZZARDS

In a game a lot more competetive than the score would indicate, the Buzzard Point Ultimate Club (Meaghan, Ian, Karl, Paul, Brad, Todd, Reagan, Annette, Kelly, Kevin, Mariam, and Jeff) defeated Bottomless Green 15-7. The starting seven chose to receive, scored the first point and the Buzzards kept the lead all the way home.

Bottomless ran an extraordinarily patient dump & swing zone offense and even worked it into the end zone, two yards at a time, often. But the "Wall of Women"(tm) (Annette, Kelly, Meaghan, Mariam & Reagan) plus cup appearances from Paul, Ian, Kevin & Brad, kept the pressure on and forced turnovers. And the transition offense was downright scary, with plenty of speed already downfield (Brad, Meaghan, Kelly, Paul, Kevin) and plenty of range coming up from playing deep defense (Karl, Todd, & Jeff), and some nice, smart handling in the middle from Paul, Annette, Reagan and Ian.

Having nine different people cycle through the cup meant that the pressure was always on, and when turnovers came, we had four fresh offensive players coming upfield to exploit the opportunity and give the cup a break. Brad pulled down so many discs in the front corner of the end zone that even I was embarrassed. And I'm hard to embarrass: look at how I dress. The funny part is, he made the same cut to the front left corner about nine times, and he scored on at least three of them. At some point you just put a defender in that corner and tell him "When Brad gets here, punch him in the face."

A fond Buzzard farewell to Ian, who flaps off to Seattle this Wednesday.
Ian made his last appearance for this summer a good one, playing both cup and middle/ wing. He's off to finish grad school, but will be back in a year. So it is not goodbye, but "until we meet again." By the way, what the heck kind of fisheries ninja is Meaghan that there is not ONE JOB for her in Seattle until Ian is done in a year. What, did they cancel fisheries enforcement in D13? No more salmon? The Buzzards gain, but chalk up another "family friendly" move by the assignments office.

Kudos to Paul stepping into the handler role on a gimpy knee. If you want someone to appreciate beauty, ask a man who used to be blind. And if you want a guy to throw nice, flat, waist-height passes for completions, ask Paul, who normally has so much garbage thrown at him that he's not certain which side of the disc is considered the top.

There was some discussion about the brick rule. The 11th edition rules provide:

If the disc initially hits an out-of-bounds area, the receiving team may put the disc into play:
(1) at the spot determined by IX.H [the sideline where it went out –kmd]; or
(2) after signaling for a brick or middle by fully extending one hand overhead and calling “brick” or “middle” before gaining possession of the disc, either at
(a) the brick mark closest to the end zone that the receiving team is defending if “brick” was called, or
(b) the spot on the long axis of the playing field proper nearest to the spot determined by IX.H if “middle” was called.

This allows the receiving team the choice of the middle of the field where it went out, or the brick mark (middle of the field, twenty (20) yards up), but NOT middle-plus-ten-yards.

Things that worked: Zone. Closed. The. Door.

Things that didn't work: Forgot. The. Grill. Although, to be honest, I would support starting the grill at halftime and eating after. I mean, how many hamburgers do you want to carry up and down the field? Snacks before & burgers after is my new rallying cry.

Things to work on:
Middle cuts: a good middle cut goes straight to the sideline inside of your defender. Leave when the first pass (to the handler cut) is still in the air, and look to hang a pass up downfield for a deep cut, or dump back to a handler to reset.
Throwing against the mark.

Overall, though, a top-notch effort by all hands. Congratulations on a job well done.

Our next game is Wednesday, July 15th vs. Navy at Anacostia #1 (the manhole cover field, again). We have seen some of the Navy players before, go out and have a good time.

Buzzards (3-2) defeat Peace Corps (3-3) 15-13.

Seriously? No one (Putnam) has posted a game summary from Friday? Seriously?

I got there so late the only thing I can say is “nice catch Paul, hope your knee replacement surgery goes well” as the Buzzards (Annette, Bill, Bob, Brad, Howard, Jeff, Karl, Kelly, Kevin, Leroy, Mariam, Paul & Tim) earned a win against the hard-chargers from Peace Corps/ Agency for International Development.

Peace Corps/ AID is a good & good-spirited team, and the game (final score 15-13 Buzzards) easily could have gone the other way. And, to be honest, except for several big defensive plays by Karl (“Like Shaq, but sexier”) Lander, it pretty much would have.

A big Buzzard welcome to Howard Wright for his first corporate league game! Hello, Howard! Glad to have you! Also present were the real Bill Putnam (this time, with throws!) and Mariam “What’s RosterManager.com?” d’Eustachio, who got on the scorecard with her first catch as a Buzzard! In fact, the Buzzard women had an exceptional game, with Kelly Garot coming up big on defense and Annette “the Hook” Ambrosio hauling in some throws that polite company prohibits me from accurately describing. Of course, St. Paul of the Second Chance reeled in the game winner: a worm burner that could easily have been incomplete except that Paul wanted to go home and put some ice on the knee he destroyed making the catch. I don’t know if that’s precognition or what, but it worked.

Some other Things That Worked:

Splitting the boys into two squads. Kept good skills distribution and allowed a little chemistry to develop, while still giving everyone the opportunity to play their hearts out. The women are organized enough to sub out smoothly. The men benefit from specific direction.

The give & go. After the swing, run straight down the field (toward the end zone). You’ll get the jump on your defender every time, its an easy pass to make, and your team picks up five yards and resets the stall count. But DO NOT cut across the field (left/ right), you will bring your defender with you and block every passing lane for several seconds.


Things that Did Not Work so much:

Stalling out. “If the thrower has not released the disc at the first utterance of the word ‘ten,’ it is a turnover. The marker loudly announces ‘stall’ and play stops." (Rule XIV.3.).

Officially, there must be one second between each number in a stall count. In practice, what happens is “stalling eight, stalling nine-ten!” and the “T” means a turnover.

Dump after four, Throw by eight, punt on nine, by ten you should be playing defense.

What to do if you throw the disc before “Ten” and the marker (still) calls a stall on you: if the pass was incomplete, its a turnover where the disc lies. If the pass was complete, it comes back to the thrower and stalling resumes at eight.

Picking up a point block. Rule 2 of all things Ultimate is: A spectacular play will inevitably be followed by something awful. So when you get the big point block: RUN! Don’t pick up the disc: (1) You are the farthest downfield of your whole team, your whole team will have to run past you to make cuts. (2) You just did something spectacular, your karma needs time to recharge. (3) You just had a disc spang! off your throwing hand. Maybe now isn’t the time for trying out the inside-out, double-helix no-look hammer.

Next game Monday, July 13th against Bottomless Green at Anacostia #1. See you there!

Back from the beach

Running on the Ultimate pitch and running through the sand and surf are two different things I abruptly discovered yesterday upon my return to D.C. after two weeks at the beach. Called a game yesterday even though the Buzzards Corporate team had a game later in the evening (more on that shortly). I was anxious to get back out and play after only having tossed a disc around on the beach for the last couple weeks.

Fortunately, others were suffering the long weekend, Monday recovery style of play that has become somewhat ordinary for us at the beginning of the week, dropped passes, a little less than full speed running (which is saying something for those of us who don’t normally find full speed very often anyway), and just a bit of rust.

Want to welcome back two old Buzzards to the nest though. Frank & MattC both got back yesterday. We hadn’t seen either in over a year I don’t think. Great to have you both back out there and it was “just like riding a bike” right? Matt said he’d let me know later about that…or have his wife call me if he went into cardiac arrest later on.

Somebody else that wanted to check back with me later was John after I came crashing down on his ankle on a nice end zone play where he made a great grab for a score as we both had gone up for the disc. “It’s okay” he reassured me…. “for now”.

“Later” turned out to be our Corporate League game at the Anacostia fields last night. We thought it might be a slim turnout with just enough to get by but it turned out that was true for the ERG team who only had 9 players show while we wound up having a big turnout with plenty of substitutes for both men and women. That did not translate however to the final outcome.

Kevin has his own account already posted so I’ll cede my time to him.

HARD FIELDS, HARD GAME, HARD LOSS: BLAME BROOK SHERMAN

Buzzards,

I have some rather disturbing news from Monday’s game, a hard fought 15-10 loss to a great-spirited team from the Environmental Research Group. It was our first game at Anacostia park (official park motto: "Like a concrete slab, but with holes!"), and our second loss, dropping the Buzzards official record to 2-2. In reviewing the tapes, I have analyzed the offense, defense and chain-link fence and there is only one logical conclusion. It is Brook Sherman’s fault.

I know a lot of the players who came out today (another huge turnout with Regan, Rachel, Mariam, Megan (her first appearance!), Annette, Todd, Leroy, Ian (his first appearance), Jeff, Bill, Brad, Brian, Paul, Jason, Matt and Kevin) will find it hard to blame Brook for a defeat he didn't even participate in, but the evidence is incontrovertible. Brook, or “Brook” as many of us call him, is usually a reliable handler, but in Monday's game he did not complete a single pass. Even when he’s not handling, Brook can be counted on for sharp, smart cuts in the end-zone. Today, it seemed like he was in an entirely different zip code from the goal. I’m sorry to say it, but there’s no other explanation except to blame Brook Sherman.

Now many of you may point to exceptional defense and extraordinary athleticism by the team from the Environmental Research Group (“ERG”), or some, uh, less than complete passes thrown pretty much across the board. I’m sticking with blaming Brook. Hey, if it works, we can Blame Brook for a whole host of things: poor internet connectivity, global climate change and lack of sesame chicken in the buffet. So until our next game (Friday at the Polo Fields against the Peace Corps/ Agency for International Development, 6:30, practice @ 5:45), remember: rest up, be ready to play hard, and blame Brook Sherman.

BUZZARDS DON'T FLY IN THUNDERSTORMS

As Vince Lombardi said, "We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time." Of course, as the 11th edition rules say “The team with the most goals at the end of the game is the winner.” So there you have it as the Buzzard Point Ultimate Club (2-1) receives its first Corporate League defeat at the hands of Multiple Scoregasm (a group of alums from Takoma Park Middle, Whitman and Mongomery Blair High Schools in Maryland) 10 to 9 in a game called at about 8 pm due to lightning.

To be honest, I’m having a hard time putting this one in the “L” column, as every circumstance seemed to line up against the Buzzards to create the loss. A tiny field created by a local club team’s need to practice in the middle of WAFC Corporate League games (I’m not a good sharer), a half-hour late start (I’m not patient, especially for late starts where we then run out of time), and a game called due to weather (I’m allergic to lightning) all combined to cut short a game that already had two lead changes and the Buzzards on a three-point run.

Kudos to opponents M.S. for running a patient zone offense. On the plus side, the Buzzards stuck with it and forced the opponents to crawl up the field in a dump, swing, [repeat] fashion. Nice job sticking with the defense Buzzards: no breakdowns on the Buzzards side, but certainly no mistakes by M.S., either. And at least a whole lot of us got to see it as we brought fifteen (!) Buzzards to the game (Todd, Reagan, Paul, Matt, Mariam, Leroy, Kevin, Kelly, Karl, Jeana, Jason, Brook, Brad, Bob, Annette).

A big Buzzards welcome to Mariam d’Eustachio, playing her first game of Ultimate in the 21st century. She says “Everyone on the team is really nice & helpful.” I say “It really is a great group, [they’re all so nice that if you had to pick someone (ha-ha), I would say that] I’m pretty much the biggest jerk on the team.” She says “Yeah, you are."

Things to do different for next time:
(1) Recognize we brought a LOT more players, and start running for the sake of running earlier in the game. We didn’t really realize this until halftime, and we started to see the benefits shortly thereafter.
(2) We spend a lot of lunch-time putting up big bombs to hyper-athletic end-zone cuts. We’ve tried to get away from this because we need to develop other skills, but lets not forget what we’re good at.
(3) Fix the grill. Cripes, what a piece of junk. You’d think that something I paid nearly twenty dollars for back in 2002 would stand up a little better. Thanks to Mariam, Annette and Kevin’s Mom for improvising hot dog skewers and feeding the Buzzards.

In my Great Big Book of Frisbee Strategy, things (1) + (2) = HORIZONTAL STACK! Give it a look here (http://www.ultimatehandbook.com/blog/strategy/horizontal/) . A good horizontal stack opens up the field for our athleticism and also our ability to run the length of the field on deep cuts, then bring in fresh legs.

Our next games are MONDAY, JULY 6th in Anacostia vs. ERG and FRIDAY, JULY 10th at the Polo Fields vs. Peace Corps/ Agency for International Development. Directions at www.wafc.org/page/fields. Sign up at www.rostermanager.com.

BUZZARDS OVERCOME E.D. to go 2-0!

An upstanding Buzzards team (Annette, Jeana, Rachel, Brad, Brian, Brooke, Jason, Karl, Kevin, Leroy, Paul) had no problems with E.D. yesterday, defeating the team from the Environmental Defense Fund 15-5. The glory of making deep throws to streaking cuts was only slightly marred by the occasional “it bounced off the meaty part of my hand” moment. You know who you are.

Bluepoint is (in my opinion) the nicest field we’ve seen, and reliable sources claim that there is a disc golf course in that same park. Next Bluepoint game is, um, never. We don’t go back to Bluepoint this season. But maybe in the fall…

The Grillman Medal with cheesewedge-shaped distinguishing device goes to Karl “Strahan” Lander, who worked magic on the grill, making cheeseburgers and cheddar bratwurst for all. This King Midas of Fromage also played handler the whole game, which meant he only had one beautiful corner cut for a score (poor baby). And thanks to the dessert fairy (Annette), for making triple chocolate brownies, because double chocolate brownies are just not chocolate enough.

A special Buzzards welcome to every single person in the world that Brian Moore is related to, who all showed up at the game. Mr. Moore (Brian’s dad) had never seen Ultimate before, but was throwing the long stuff before the day was out. The presence of Brian’s brother inspired Brian to throw the disc away less, which we all appreciate. No, my brother will not be attending any games this season.

Drills included a little double-disc challenge (two players, two discs, ten yards apart, keep ‘em moving) and a little bit of the zone offense demo. Our next game is our third, which means zone defense is in the playbook. Anyone who wants zone defense explained, see Brad, Brook, Bill or Kevin. If you want two contradictory zone defense explanations, see any two of them.

There was some discussion yesterday with EDFrisbee about when you can bring the disc up to the end zone line, and when you must play from where it lies in the end zone. The 11th edition rules provide that if you gain possession in “your” (defending) end zone, either by interception or incomplete pass, you must CHOOSE either to establish a pivot foot and play it from the spot where you got the disc, or you may move the disc to the closest point on the “playing field proper” (the nearest part of the end zone line) and play it from there. (Rule X.A.) Note that on the initial pull, if the disc lands in or rolls into the end zone, it is put into play from the spot where it stopped (Rule VIII.B.6.a).

Our next game is THIS WEDNESDAY July 1st at the POLO FIELDS at 6:30 p.m., dinner and practice at 5:45. Don’t forget to roger up with what you’re bringing on Roster Manager. See you there!

BPUC 1-0 in Corporate league play!

Bringing a team that can best be described as “tall,” (Todd, Jeff, Karl, Kevin, Bridgette, Tim, and Leroy, plus Reagan and Paul) the Buzzards made a strong showing against Greenspin, a more normally-heighted team from the Federal Reserve. Greenspin brought iced tea to the cookoout and a good cheer at the end (a long-standing Ultimate tradition), but fell 15-4.

Special thanks to Bridgette, the star of meat and grill. Her Italian sausage & teriyaki chicken were both well received. We’ll have to sabotage someone else’s freezer next week to ensure a good meal for all.

Missing in action: Brian and Rachel, last minute cancellations, and HRH Princess Jeana, reported overdue and missing until a first light search of her cubicle.

Several lessons learned at Monday’s game:
(1) If you try and throw deep against Todd, it will not go well for you.
(2) Kevin’s stride is 15% shorter than one yard, he will pace out a short field not (just) because he’s lazy, but because he has short little stumpy legs. Fortunately, he's enough of a geek to think that he can bring 400' of masonry twine and somehow use that to make a square field.
(3) Do not let any of the following people behind you on offense: Leroy, Karl, Leroy, Paul and Leroy; they will all score on you.
(4) Zone Offense: Dump, swing, repeat. We forced some weak passes through the cup when we didn’t have to. You can throw through the cup AFTER you’ve made them respect your dump & swing, and after you’ve spread out the defense a bit.

Next week: Games Monday 6/29 AND Wednesday 7/1:
Monday 6/29: 5:45 pm (game at 6:30) at Bluemont vs. EDFrisbee.

Wednesday 7/1: 5:45 pm (game at 6:30) at the Polo Fields vs. Multiple Scorgasms.

Don’t forget to sign up to bring stuff via RosterManager.com!

-Kevin d'
Buzzard Corps.

WAFC (Wimps Awaiting Fairer Conditions?)

Start of league play last night for the Buzzards…or maybe not. There was a very late call yesterday afternoon by WAFC to cancel games but as Kevin noted about an hour before game time, “This is the strangest Ultimate experience I’ve ever had…everybody is out here early”.

Early or no…that of course is all in one’s perspective, I hope this isn’t an indication of WAFC’s organizational skills. And as it turns out the field was completely playable and so that’s exactly what we did. The Buzzards had a huge turnout…the whole team (who said they were coming) except Leroy did show up. Reagan & Rachel, two of our female contingent were there for their inaugural (I think?) Ultimate experiences and they both used their athleticism to their advantage and looked like seasoned veterans. Bridgette, our true seasoned veteran, was there anchoring our women. And she brought Jack who I got to sneak a cookie to like I was some goofy uncle enjoying the luxury of feeding his nephew sugar and sending him home with mom.

Our Capitan’ Kevin, with shirt clearly marked “C”, showed up with a truck full of picnic and disc supplies. After a few minutes of conversation that ended with Todd clearly inpatient and wanting to get things going, I decided to roll the grill over, fire it up and throw on some hot dogs while Bob, Kevin & Todd tried, with varying degrees of success to walk off 40X70 and 25.

The rest of our crew arrived in stages, Brian & Rachel with a cooler full of beer, a watermelon and the aforementioned cookies, Brad with a couple tubs of salads and the news of the late cancellation, and Karl, Paul, Devan, Conrad (and family), Jeff (who it was great to see again), and even a last minute appearance by Thunder, fresh off house-hunting/moving bedlam.

There were a few other Ultimate players out at the fields. A Navy contingent of a half dozen were there and so we gave them a few players and scrimmaged. And we all clearly aren’t aligned well with the DC Ultimate modus operandi for calling games for weather…nobody from our actual opponent, Sloths! Sloths! Sloths! showed up indicating that they actually knew not to come out until the very last minute before a game.

Of course the WAFC was shown up by some local volleyball pickup league who wasn’t afraid of a little rain that didn’t actually come down or standing water, of which there wasn’t any. They had all their matches going on down on one end of the field. Why we didn’t play last night is inexplicable to me. I’ve played in an Ultimate league where we played in 30 mph winds and 7 degree temperatures so an overcast sky, with barely a breeze, and 75 degrees sounded idyllic to me. Is Jeana secretly on the WAFC board?

Rain or no rain, the Buzzards will be playing at lunch today. I’m looking forward to my last game before two weeks at the beach.

Pull!

Unveiling the orange and blue

Finally the new pinnies were unveiled yesterday! And a good thing I decided to order a dozen of each color because we had a huge crowd of 19 out yesterday! We played substitutes for the first time in a while. Want to welcome out 3 new players – Pinsuda, Lilly, & Lizzy. It was great to have you all out and hope you’ll join us as often as you can.

It was a nice return to our June numbers too after struggling to get a game 3 days last week. Hope to see this continue. If those of you who only play 1-2 days a week could partner up with other similar scheduled players and arrange to have your off days alternate with somebody else that would be fantastic! : )

So what’s the verdict on the new pinnies? I heard several comments yesterday (some of which are repeatable). Great new CG colors, sexy, long, durable, more to hold the stink. It’s the shirt with a little something for everyone. In fact I heard Lilly & Lizzy deliberating before the game as to whether or not they had to wear their shirts underneath them. I’m not going to make any definitive rule about this one way or another. I’ll tell you it’s been done before (I seem to recall Leroy shedding his shirt one day last summer) and some of us look better than others in mesh. For you women who play in some sort of half shirt/sports bra looking top I don’t think it would cause too big a ruckus. I’m going to leave this up to common sense. The problem I see in that is that I heard something about that on the radio last week – the commentator mentioned that he thought “common sense wasn’t very common”.

I’ll tell you what’s nice about having 19. It’s almost impossible to make the teams too uneven when pairing them off to begin play. We seemed pretty well matched up yesterday. The other challenge though is when you have subs running on and off the field is figuring out which defense you’re playing. Particularly when you have teammates who respectively love and hate zone or man defense.

Here was one conversation yesterday on the orange side – Todd running in from his rest on the sideline… “Okay, what are we playing?” as we readied to pull.

“Well” I offered “Paul just went out so we can go back to man if you want but he hates it so we were playing zone”.

And then whoever was pulling didn’t wait for the consensus before launching the disc and so we ran down in some bastardized combination of matchup zone which I, by the way, almost always prefer playing.

Blue wasn’t fairing much better figuring out what they were playing. As I was running off the field one play I heard Bob shout “Okay, let’s shift to zone!”

“I thought that’s what you were playing” I said half jokingly to which Erick replied,

“Well, that’s what we wanted you to think.”

Well, what I think was that there seemed to be somewhat of a lack of scoring going on yesterday on both sides so whatever the defense was must have been working or we just weren’t doing great getting the offensive schemes going.

Orange did have a stretch of a few plays where we got some short passing drives that seemed to work and on back to back plays Tim made really nice throws for scores after we worked the disc up field. On the blue side, I saw Brad, Kevin, Karl, & Erick seemed to put together a couple of weaves that worked well.

As is often the case we tried some deep throws that stayed up too long and Devan and or Bob would track down and break up.

Conrad, who would be the first to tell you that he sometimes drops throws he has not business dropping, caught a couple passes yesterday I thought he had no business catching. One was a juggling catch that he started batting around mid field and caught just before going out of bounds on the sideline. Lizzy in her first day out laid out a couple times on some great hustle plays.

Kelly! Isn’t it great that you aren’t the only female playing anymore? Yesterday’s turnout of 4 women was the best that I can remember in a long time. And when you add yesterday’s additions to yourself, Bridgette, Annette, & Jeana, and if Carolyn can ever stop hurting herself and get back on the pitch, we’d have quite a women’s team.

So Joe, your worries yesterday morning when you RSVPd to the game invite about it possibly being a 3rd game in a row that you could play and then didn’t get enough players for turned out to be for naught. Plenty of Buzzards in the nest yesterday.

Just a reminder for those of you playing Wednesday night in our corporate league to go onto Roster Manager and confirm if you haven’t already. I think at last check I saw that we only had 9 confirmed players 6 men and 3 women. If you aren’t playing but just to come out and watch, bring family and friends and come cheer us on! Game time is 1830 at the polo fields. See Washington Area’s Frisbee club’s page for directions. Folks that are playing, be there at 1745 for rehearsal.

"Wings" is leaving the Runway.

Farewell Matt – We’ll miss your Hello Kitty, Hannah Montana, and Lizzy McGuire towels, your calling yourself in by one cone but not the other (that’s a straight line between two points right?), your cries of “Ball up!” even though we continue to play this game with discs, and your politically incorrect sense of humor always welcome on this pitch. It’s been great having you with the Buzzards and we wish you Fair Winds as you travel to Texas.

Yesterday, and the last couple days really were fitting weather to send off somebody to Texas. Consider yourself acclimated as the humidity has been oppressively heavy. Or as another Texan Buzzard put it “You know what they call this weather in Houston? Spring!” Well, in fact Brian, it’s still technically just spring here also.

The first day of summer does not come until the 21st which coincidentally or not will also be my first full day of waking up for two weeks at the beach in Kitty Hawk, NC. Not that I’m counting the days or anything.

Prior to beach trip though we have time for some great Ultimate (and I’m sure there will be some great games when I’m gone as well). We’ve been playing in front of bleachers the last couple of days out on the parade field. Well, I guess more accurately, we’ve been behind the bleachers. Now we probably all have some interesting “behind the bleachers” stories to tell but this blogger doesn’t really want to head down those clouded and time embellished lanes right now.

What has actually happened behind the bleachers, which we assume are set up on the parade field for some pass and review ceremonies coming up on Ft. McNair, is that we’ve had two big games. The Buzzards are on a roll lately and it’s been a rare occurrence when we haven’t had at least a dozen players out recently.

So yesterday, when there was a wicked thunderstorm going on about the time I was sending out the morning invite, I suspected the potential weather might scare away some players. And, in fact, the email RSVPs to the game were sparse. Only 9 confirmed players on the way out to the pitch for Matt’s final game. But, as has been the pattern lately, plan for at least an extra 25-30% to show up.

You know there is a saying in some other team sports that “speed kills”. Well I’m finding that “heat kills speed” and our sprinters like Leroy, and Devan were showing signs of that as I noticed them walking up the field several times yesterday. Kevin and I continue to do our best tortoise impersonations and Tom keeps wondering why I’m sticking all the “old and slow” guys on the same team.

May have dubbed Steve with a new nickname yesterday – “Gunn” not to be confused with his handling aptitude but his desire to walk off the “Runway” with his pinnie on. Many of you won’t get this reference and so I’ll refer you to Erick who did know the Project Runway host’s name which may have only been slightly less disturbing than the fact that I used it. He “at least had an excuse” he claimed by living in a house full of girls. I’m blaming mine on 123 Washington Ave. and Alexa, Kelsey, Margaret & Mary.

Speaking of pinnies! Today will mark the unveiling of the new pinnies for the Buzzards so come out and see the new colors as we retire the green and gold for something a little more organizationally inspiring (or if you prefer, they can be considered the colors of Virginia, Illinois, Florida, or some Scandinavian’s national soccer team which escapes me). At any rate, gone will be the plunging neckline and thong models of the gently worn pinnies we’ve used.

Looking forward to seeing you all in them. I’m not sure they make the Tim Gunn’s 10 Essential Elements list but I think we’ll look “mahhhhhhhrvelous”!

Dinner party planning

After Monday’s monster 2-game day I was surprised to get somewhat tepid response to yesterday’s invite and in fact had to send out a 2nd email asking for players to which Tom kindly replied “I hate to see you beg, I’m in” and allowed me to go ahead and call the game around 0930.

Like Monday though, the replies were not quite indicative of the number of players that came out. All I can say about this group is I’m glad I don’t plan dinner for them. “Hmmmm, let’s see I’ve got 8 coming out, this should be enough steaks…crap, there are 14 of us? Somebody go get another cow or get that guy that does the loaves and fishes party trick!”

Fortunately we didn’t need more food, just more pinnies as Brook came out on the field with two new players and then another wandered out about 20 minutes later. Together with Brad & Scott who were surprise attendees for the day’s disc event, Matt who passed up lunch at Cantina Maria, and MikeC, we quickly fleshed out to 8 on 8.

So, by the way, an official Buzzard welcome to Karl, Mark, & Matt who all joined us for the first time yesterday. Great to have all of you out there. And no matter what Brook tells you, it’s much easier for me to plan when I know who’s coming out but don’t ever let that stop you from coming if you haven’t told me.

The humidity is here. Temperatures aren’t in the 90’s yet but with all the thunderstorm warning this week, the humidity is high meaning heavy air, heavy shirts, and heavier gym bags on the way home in the afternoons. Please remember to hydrate early and often as we move into summer.

Some decent play at times yesterday. Leroy made a few nice defensive plays, MikeC had some really good cuts and grabs, Brad also made a really nice catch yesterday and since I give him good natured grief so often on the pitch I thought I’d note a good play for a change (especially since he caught it with me playing pretty tight D on him), and the trio of “newbies” all showed flashes of Ultimate prowess.

We had a short discussion on a rule clarification for those of you who were not there, or have already forgotten what we talked about. On any pull into the end zone, the thrower must play the disc from where it lands. We should not be walking pulls out to the front line of the end zone. You may still bring a turnover into the end zone to the front goal line but not a pull.

By the way, for those of you who haven’t been following one of our Buzzard alumni, Hollan, on Facebook, the poor guy has had to resort to playing “Cornhole” now that Ultimate isn’t in his daily regimen any more. And who knows what Swinny and Phil are up to. Swinny told me he’d just been on a run or a bike or something the last time I talked to him but from the sounds of Phil & Erica’s blog, it sounds like they’re just eating and drinking their way across country. Dude you’re going to need some Ultimate. You should stop back by through D.C. before you head to NY for good and get in a week of disc.

For the rest of you Buzzards…June has been a bonanza so far. Keep it up. And don’t forget, Thursday, we’re taking a little disc sabbatical to send Matt off with a game of Flag Football instead.

Punt!

Record-Setting day part II

I changed my mind...you should mention everybody on record-setting days. Now, I have a problem though. I can only come up with 23 names...I'm pretty sure there were 24 people out there yesterday. Please don't take it personally that I can't remember who the other name was (it was probably somebody I actually played with) but let me know so I can add you...

In the order that I got the responses yesterday morning and then remembered the others this morning: Steve, Devan, Leroy, Brian, Erick, Kelly, Bob, Brad, Todd, Scott, Tom, MikeC, Tim, JasonD, Dennis Kevin, Bridgette, George, Brook, Paul, Matt, Karen, & yours truly.

Record-setting day on the pitch

June was ushered in yesterday for the buzzards in record-setting fashion. For the first time in the “modern” Buzzards era and I suspect ever, there were enough people on the pitch yesterday for us to have two games going on simultaneously, next to each other. 24 players came out yesterday in fantastic weather!

That becomes a challenge to get everybody named and I don’t think I’ll even try. Want to mention just a couple though. First timers always get a warm Buzzard welcome and we want to extend one to a new Jason who joined us for the first time, courtesy of an invitation from Tom. Also, welcome back to the building and the Buzzards to Kelly. She had made some guest appearances while she was gone but we’re looking forward to having you out there on a regular basis with us again.

I called the game yesterday at 0805 when I already had 10 responses. That, in itself may have been another record for earliest time for a confirmed game. But a funny thing happens when you call the game that early, you don’t really hear from all the others that may be coming out (they figure they’ll just surprise you I guess). Well surprise it was when we finally ran out of pinnies to wear and realized we had way too many for just one game. Paul looked at the ground when I told him to grab gold and saw that the only pinnie left was the ripped up string bikini model.

Okay, change of plans – “Kevin, Todd, Bob, and somebody else…choose up 4 teams, I’m going to set cones up for another field” I said more people wandered out. So two games it was. Then at the half way point, we switched up teams and played another game.

Just a great day for the Buzzard Point Ultimate Club! Well done folks. Thanks for enthusiastic participation. Looking forward to a great summer of playing!

"Return of the Buzzards"...not just a bad sequel

It’s been “Return of the Buzzards” for the past week as some past season players have returned for visits or extended stays. Devan & Leroy have both showed up and increased the average team speed a great deal but also perhaps the risk of injury as I’ve been ducking bodies flying through the air that aren’t usually there.

On the less fleet but still highly revered Buzzard list we were paid the rare visit of the headbanded one – Rodney for a game last week. He showed up in my cube before I’d even sent out the game invite. He said “I’m in if we’re playing”

“Not if” I replied confidently “we’ve had 7’s or better for about a week” I told him. And to not disappoint him, a rousing 16 showed up to play that day.

Then yesterday after the long Memorial Day Weekend and a forecast that was calling for showers for the next couple days I thought the attendance might be a little less enthusiastic. But Matt showed up in my cube early and asked if we were playing so I sent out the invite to see if anybody else was interested and got a relatively quick quorum to call “Game On”.

We wound up with 11 yesterday in what looked like it was going to be a drenching rain game but actually wound up a pretty pleasant day in a slight drizzle which was actually comfortable. The field was a bit wet and it was a little breezy but our shorthanded green team held its own against the speed of the gold team.

Birthday game

It wasn’t our typical Monday game yesterday which usually means a lot of sloppy passing and some trouble getting all the muscles to act in concert with each other to get up and down the field. But despite the pretty steady breeze we played in yesterday which alternatively knocked passes down a bit or carried them about 10 yards farther, play yesterday was pretty good.

It was a birthday game for Thunder. I forgot that until I got home and had Facebook remind me but Happy Birthday. I apologize for missing the opportunity for us to sing to you.

It was also a Welcome Back game for JQ. I had to clear him through customs and check his ID before letting back on the field. Something about school and Africa having kept him away for so long. You looked no worse the wear for the missed time, patrolling centerfield and picking off all the throws that hung up in the air too long.

We had another nice turnout yesterday. I think it made the 6th game in a row we’ve had attendance in the teens.

For those of you interested in getting some more Ultimate in this summer. Kevin is soliciting interested players for a Summer Corporate league run in conjunction with Washington Area Frisbee Club. Please let him know if you’re interested as we need to get registered fairly quickly with play starting in June.

Hope to get another great turnout today. Weather is going to be awesome again all week.

See you on the pitch!

Kudos Erick

Want to thank Erick a lot for the great new Buzzard graphic. Look for t-shirts and discs soon.

Wrapping up a great week

Thunder - The Grill Master and Picnic mastermind.

Dennis trying to get the Geese to honk their horns.

It's been a great week of disc Buzzards. The numbers this past week have been record-shattering (if I actually kept records). With yesterday's 6 on 6 game I think gave us over 70 players for the last 5 games (including last Friday's game). Coupled with "First Annual Buzzard Picnic" the week has been one to remember. Welcome back yesterday to Todd and Karen who had missed some time this past week for travel. Yesterday's game proved to be a bit challenging with the wind gusting in the high teens and low 20's...sorry Conrad, not quite strong enough for the Wind Ribbon. Matt was able to get his Hammer to work with the wind a couple times but not many other throws worked with a lot of consistency yesterday. I think we only had 2 scores against the wind the whole game.

Scenes from a not so Italian Restaurant.

Table #2

The "Newbie", John heard there would be food and came out for a couple games this week.

Wanted to upload some pics from earlier in the week and from the cookout....Hey Brad, look! Some of them did come out! No really, nice job on these game photos.

3 big guys doing a little Rumba...or something.

Shane marking Jeana who is trying to get off 3-foot pass to Dennis.

They must have scored as they led the team in a cheer..."Give me an 'O'!"

You've heard of the Screamin' Eagles....witness a Screamin' Buzzard - "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" as Mike can't catch up to the disc and Paul watches.

I don't think Steve sees this one.

Jeana involved with more horseplay...this time The Hokey Pokey with Bill...."No, no I said put your left foot in."

"Excuse me while I pull this disc out of your skirt"

It takes two to....uh, I have no idea what this dance is actually.

Powerful pull form.

Steve looks to get off a throw.







Jeff watching one in.

Devan showing the disc...

Some of these pictures are more complimentary than others but all of them give a good representation of what goes on out at the old Buzzard pitch.

It must be time to get back to work.