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.
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