Buzzard Point Ultimate Club Defeats DRC for their first Corporate League win of 2012!

(July 5, 2012) BPUC (1-1) brought SIXTEEN Buzzards to the WAFC Corporate league game last Thursday. Count ‘em, S-I-X-T-E-E-N: Dan “Mount” Peterson, Mike Chandler, Rob-who-can-throw Endres, Fast Brad Bergan, Cale “Garnish” Cooper, Tall Kyle Parrish is Tall, Anya “Anya” Lagasse, Sarah-with-an-H Perez, Emily “EmKay” Kehrt, Emily “EmEff” Ferguson, Jeana “EmJay?” Lee, Jeana’s Evan, Jeana’s brother (The Other Brandon Lee) Jeff “Beke” VanOverBeke, Neil “I have a Nickname?” Pratt, and yours, Truly. That’s a full-squad-and-change more than the eight noble souls that Dynamic Research Consultants brought. Things we did well: A smothering zone defense and some beautiful transitions from the cup to the score from Fast Brad, Cale and EmKay. Good spirit, good fun and thanks everyone who brought water & drinks. The final score, 15-8, wasn't bad, either.

Things we could do better: Before our next game, we will run an offensive drill. And I don’t mean a Craftsman that tells religious jokes, I mean a stack. Looky: a website about the vertical stack offense: http://www.ultimatehandbook.com/uh/basics_stack.html! And one about horizontal stack, too: http://www.ultimatehandbook.com/uh/strategy.html! Anyone willing to step up and teach either of these offenses, tell me or Jeana or Brad.

Speaking of leadership, in an effort to inspire the more experienced players to step up, I put up the most disjointed, incoherent and ineffective coaching job I have ever seen from a sober person. Hint-hint, you salty club players. Don’t make me screw this up again. I’m great at buying ice. Coaching? Not so much. Let me know if you are willing to field captain a game.

Thanks to DRC for a fun game, great spirit and some tired sounding cheers from both sides. Good luck with the rest of your season and we’ll see you in the playoffs.

A big Buzzard Thank You to Arlington Parks: the fields at Long Bridge are gorgeous, thanks for leaving the lights on and the biffys unlocked.

I’ll see all the Buzzards on Monday, July 9th at 5:45 at Montgomery Hills (In Silver Spring, MD). Our opponent is The Compact Discs (2-0).

-Kevin d'Buzzardio

Buzzards Defeat Disc of Enlightenment to go 2-0.

Final score: 13-11 Buzzards at the time cap, and there was never more than a two-point difference in the score. The Buzzards took the half and the win based on athleticism and a good game plan. Disc of Enlightenment played a strong man-to-man defense (go TO THE DISC, you lazy Buzzards) and had a textbook short game which (in my opinion) would have handled a zone defense like fat guy handles pie. The Buzzards benefitted from four (!) strong women in the middle (new Buzzards Trish, Julia, and Alison, and veteran Jeana), LOTS of deep speed (Dan G, Leroy, his brother Devon, and his other brother Devin), and a bench full of solid handlers (Jeff VoB, Karl, Dan P, Jordan, Paul, Sean, and yours, truly).

The ESPN highlight plays of the game go to Alison, who out-legged her defender for a momentum-changing score right in front of the home bench, and to Devon, for multiple defensive plays in the end zone.

We are going to practice the dump and go offensive play this week. It is (or ought to be) a standard play for us. We gave away at least four scoring opportunities on the goal line. Executive summary: on a long completion to just outside of the goal, the receiver should look backwards for an easy, 8-10 yard dump, then take off to the swing side, just INSIDE the end zone line.

Well done, Buzzards! Next game: Monday June 28th, 6:30pm at Anacostia #1 vs. Big Discs. Game #4 two days later: Wednesday the 30th, 8:00 p.m. at Wilson HS #2.

Coming back from sabbatical...

Posted by Bill -

Three months and no post?!!! That’s no way to run a blog. Let me catch everybody up on the Buzzard Point Ultimate Club if I can. The last two months have seen two successive record setting participation totals in the most recent era of this club (re: since I started playing in uh…’05). This week alone we have had three of the four highest totals of the year – 19, 17, and 21 respectively. I’m bound to forget somebody here but let me make a point to welcome some of the newest Buzzards from the last few months: Shahzad, Mike Cav, Jenny, & Mike F.

Most of the regular cast of characters remain around and we even had a visit this week from an old Buzzard from a couple years ago, Kashyap.

Here are some pictures from today’s huge game with 21!

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!

Pegging out an impossible hand

Posted by Bill

What do Cribbage and winter Ultimate have in common? Until yesterday I thought it was the number 19. In Cribbage for those of you familiar with the game with pegs, cribs, and holed boards, the score “19” is impossible to get. You can score between 0-29 except for 19. In winter Ultimate when folks have just received power and gas bills in the hundreds and caused many of them to consider billing their in-laws for energy usage over the holidays, 19 is a number of players you don’t ever anticipate seeing out on the pitch.

At 0830 yesterday morning I already had 9-10 positive RSVPs to the game request though and I knew the afternoon would hold promise. At 1115 I went down to the locker room to change out knowing we had 12-14 players on the way. The opening pull had 7’s on either side, one cameraman, another stretching to come in, and more on their way. There were 19 of us at one point in the game. That makes for some crowded passing lanes.

Surprisingly though there were some decent drives on both sides and some effective cross-field passes. The cynic would say it was the unseasonably warm weather that spurred people out. And it may have been but we’ll take it. A couple guys were coming back from injury rehab and it was good to see Matt and Erick back out there. By the way, anybody else notice we had 3 Matts on the field yesterday? Somebody needs to start thinking of some nicknames soon. Throw in the 2 Dans (G & P) and 2 Ericks (N & S – they spell it differently but that doesn’t help) and even Frank could remember all the names on the field by just guessing 1 of 3.

The rest of the cast, if I can remember everybody was Sean, Steave, Bob, Todd, Kelly, Kevin, Jordan, Ron, Paul, Mike, and yours truly.

Today looks promising as well. Just got the 11th reply with 2 more probable and 1 up in the air. Brian, you gotta come out of the air once in a while!

Great turnout everyone. Check out Facebook for the pics and I’ll try and get them up here later on.

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.