Animal IQ Test

Posted by Bill

It’s been said that "Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow." I’m not sure where that puts Buzzards in the animal IQ chain as we got 12 to come out and play Ultimate yesterday (six who were repeat offenders from Tuesday) on a field that, in many places, still hadn’t been trod on and where the snow was probably still in the 12-18” depth range.

Wanted to give a “welcome back” to Nate who was one of the repeat offenders. He’s had fun diving (in most cases needlessly) for discs the past two days and has upped the number of Buzzards we consider “speedy” by about 25%.

There’s a strange thing about this snow. Even normally adept handlers have been heard the last two days swearing at themselves and asking why they cannot complete a pass. There haven’t been a whole lot of opportunities to lead anybody since not too many people have run under a disc. Todd may have been one of the exceptions yesterday as I was able to keep one up in the air long enough for him to run under it for a score.

Brad, after getting the full court press of peer pressure to play on Tuesday, decided not to reply yesterday but show up anyway and play. Anybody else noticed recently that he’s seemed to healed from whatever had been keeping him from running. I’m starting not to like it when I have to mark him. Still, you need to be careful when he’s marking you. Ask Brook who took a full body shot from Brad hurling himself at him. “Oh hey Brook, welcome back yourself!”

I was glad to see Frank out yesterday with long pants and socks after playing in neither back on our first snow game in December. Of course he’s headed out to Monterey soon on a Buzzard Sabbatical. Yesterday the temps there were in the 70’s and it was sunny. We hate you Frank!

The rest of the Buzzards besides Todd, Brad and Nate who have doubled up on the snow games this week have been Sean, Kevin, Eric and yours truly. And three of us are RSVPd for today’s game as well.

The rest of the snow Buzzards who have been out this week are Steave, Brian, Frank, Brook, Bob, Tom and Conrad. And today we’re expecting even some others who haven’t played in the snow yet…Erick and Dan G. Rumor has it there will be a camera out today also so stay tuned for some photographic evidence that Buzzards are perhaps no smarter than cats or dogs but certainly more hearty...Iditarod schmitarod.

Snowbuzzards 2010

The scary part about this picture is that after 45 minutes of slogging around in 6 inches of powdery goodness, this picture will always be referred to as "the one taken before the snowstorm."

Art Garfunkel where are you?

Posted by Bill


How good does your job have to be for a lunch time of Ultimate in a “freshly fallen shroud of snow” not to be better than work? That’s the rhetorical question for the day. Matt Caldwell got the first points of the day for correctly identifying the song lyric and calling me “a rock” but then followed up with an immediate point erasure for having forgotten clothes to play and complaining that his shoes would get wet.

Speaking of forgetting clothes… “Newbie” Sean who fancies himself a regular, having come out tirelessly since being introduced to the Buzzards, somehow was not “regular” enough to have shown up with certain articles of clothing today. Reminded of the option of our Coast Guard Exchange right in the same building selling all sorts of textile wares, he still begged out of the game.

Meaghan was actually the first to RSVP for the game today and we found out why later as she broke out her MVP performance with not one but two outstanding diving catches today and assist on the snowman crafting that she and Bridgette put together before the first pull. Sadly Snowbuzzard was decapitated at game’s end as I tried to remove the pinnie.

Fortunately we did get a game today because Karl was making a special appearance from the Charm City to our north. I think that was probably the first time we’d had Meaghan, Bridgette and Karl out on the same field since summer league play. Great to have you all!

Another somewhat unexpected RSVP today came from Mike C. I say unexpected, not because Mike doesn’t like to play with us whenever he can but because Mike is my favorite (only?) SoCal guy and I sometimes tease him that he may be a little fair weathered in his playing patterns. Well shame on me…and chalk up a snow game for the “Howler”.

Todd and I were the beneficiaries of Meaghan, Mike and Conrad’s winter energy and the svelte new disc which sailed long and smooth unencumbered by any cracks, scratches or warpedness.

Joining Karl and Bridgette on the blue team were Kevin, Eric, and Jordan. Both teams had sporadic success and both teams had some….uh, how would we say this at work “areas for improvement”. But really, the snow was great for snowballs which proved to be an amusing distraction for those of us who suffer varying degrees of attention deficit disorder and how good is your job if would not rather have been out there playing with us?
“I won’t disturb the slumber of feelings that have died. If I never hucked I never would have cried”… or something like that. Thanks everybody for coming out today.

Roose, where were you?

There's no Business Like Snow Business...

Every winter, we hear Buzzards squawking about the mud and goose poop. But today, neither of those hazards was a threat. Mother Nature was gracious enough to provide a blanket of snowy goodness to protect all our feathers from that nasty field. And boy, did we take advantage of it!

Lets hear it for the Buzzards, representing strong with 6-on-5 on a Monday, in 4” of powder. And not the usual Southwest D.C. Columbian Marching Powder, this was actual SNOW! Brian “Plays” Moore, Brad “Hasno” Soule, Conrad “Likesta” Theroux, Eric “I cover no one and everyone from my place in mid-field, for I am Zen” Neussel, Fabulous Frankie Nolan (his real name), Jordan Balda.. Baldez… there’s only one Jordan, Kevin “should not have posting rights to the Blog” d’Eustachio, Sean “Hood Ornament” Rogers, Steve “I’ll get there” Habbert, Todd “jumps to orbit” Akins, and Tom “Pants are for pantsys” Chaleki all braved ice and cold to play a little bit of the frisbee game.

Semper Paratus award to Conrad Theroux, who emailed this morning that he’d “been off the list for a month,” due to some travel and wanted to be back on. “Well, we’re playing today,” I replied. And of course, Conrad just happened to bring shoes and the fourteen layers of high tech gear required to play a little frisbee. You are an inspiration to us all, and if you get double pneumonia from playing in the snow, we promise to flirt with your widow.

The Madison Avenue award for false advertising goes to Eric and Todd, who claimed Hollan Sellers was back in town. Well, he sure as heck wasn’t in the part of town I was covering today (of course, that was a very small neighborhood). Hollan, if you are reading this, we mocked them mercilessly in your absence. Hope you can come back, and come out, soon.

And in science news, the Human Genome Project recently revealed that perennial Buzzard Jordan Baldueza is actually 30% Barn Owl, as evidenced by his ability to turn his entire torso around 360 degrees while still running in a straight line in pursuit of a disc. Although after today, maybe he’s more snowy owl.

Thanks to all who came out! Those who missed it missed an awesome game, and Hollan, if you are reading this, and were at HQ today, I hope your heart aches as much as my calves, you missed a good’un. See you next time, Buzzards!