Armistice from the cube!

Tuesday holidays? Strange things…Does anybody use the word armistice anymore? Do any of the Buzzards readers know what the word means? I’ll save you the time of going to Dictionary or Webster’s dot com edition…it’s the “temporary suspension of hostilities” which is a strange thing to call the end of the “war to end all wars”. Temporary? It turns out to be rather prophetic as a generation later the world headed off to the sequel.

In all seriousness, I’d like to give a big Buzzard’s nod to all Veterans all over the world who have served their countries in hopes that their children and grandchildren would have a safer place to live. Personally speaking, I’m Bill, III and Bill Sr., was a Major in the 29th Infantry Division at D-Day and Bill, Jr., was a swabbie aboard ship around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

On a lighter note, I’d like to give a nod to some Buzzard “Veterans” no longer playing with us regularly…Lonnie, Lindsay, Craig, JasonN, MattC, Kashyap, Lon, Justin, Derek, Conrad, Frank, Tag, Travis, KellyG, Bryan, CAPTK and I’m sure I’m forgetting others. Thanks for your dedication and participation.

“Guys that should be Veterans” should have been the name of the gold team on Monday. As I wandered out on the field Tom asked “Bill, why did you put all the slow guys on one team?”

I thought he said “…all the old guys” –

“yea, it could be either” he corrected, “or both, old and slow…anyway, we’re all on this side”. I looked up and down the line….Tom, Bob, Scott, Mark and I. Actually, I think Mark just looks old and slow, he was really the “baby” on the team but the rest of us were mostly guilty as charged.

“Don’t worry” I assured Tom, “I gave us all the wily guys too.” He looked over and saw Todd, Hollan, Tim, Bridgette, & MikeC on the green team and didn’t seem convinced. Then when Lee wandered out…by the way, was that his first time? Welcome…just one point of rules…you can’t knock the disc out of anybody’s hands. We know you didn’t know that so we let you just celebrate it. As I was saying…Lee came out and I told him to throw green on too and Tom thought I had lost all of my limited faculties.

Turns out, wily was working on Monday. Even a player short we managed to control the game hitting on a couple timely long passes and basically working the field. It didn’t hurt that Hollan was recuperating from a bout of food poisoning (re: hangover?). Of course he gets points for coming out. Phil, reportedly having similar symptoms stayed safely inside.

MikeC ~ we’ve got to get you to learn to run with your hands down. Does anybody else get scared when they see Mike running by them with his arms waving frantically and him yelling something while having no chance of catching up to the disc? It reminds me of when I used to coach my daughter’s softball team. You have to persuade the outfielders they can run faster for a ball with their glove down and then stick it up when they get there. Just teasing you Mike...keep running...keep screaming...keep having fun.

Initially when we went out on Monday, people thought they had underdressed and Todd & Hollan considered going back in for long pants. Forecasts of varying wind strengths had circulated. One said 3 mph and another 15 mph. It was closer to the latter on the way out but by about mid game it had settled down to the other and the temperatures were quite pleasant. These days in the 50’s are really ideal Ultimate weather.

Other new players to welcome out of late have been Jeana & Rachel. Hope you all have had fun and will be back out with us. A few of you haven’t been out in a while but have played a lot in the past. I know some of you are injured but I just wanted to let you know the Buzzards were thinking about you from time to time…MattP, MattD, Brady, Eric, and ErikN. And then some of you are just hanging around on a distribution list and really have no good excuse for not coming out.

Come on! Think of it as a “work armistice” ….temporary cessation of hostilities of your cube.
Pull!

Nothing to sneeze at!

posted by Bill

So I come in this morning to find out 3 Buzzards have transferred that were here at the beginning of last week, another is headed for the DL with some disc issues (pun intended but really not funny for him), and another is out today at the allergist (really, I couldn’t make this stuff up Phil). Another is on leave until the end of June and I suspect is on a honeymoon but I don’t know that for sure and since I wasn’t invited…

Fair winds to CaptK, Jason & Lon!

Anyway, so you’d think we might be a little short today on numbers right? Well, not quite. You misjudge the depth of the Buzzards roster. We had another, Brook, do his best Lazarus routine and he will be back on the field today. Hollan has also recruited one of the 6 interns in his office to come out. How do you get 6 interns in one office???!!!!! And apparently he’d already finished the projects they were hired to work on so they’re really getting paid to do nothing but he could only get one of them out on the field.

At any rate, Happy Belated Father’s Day to all you dads. If you’re not one and forgot to call yours yesterday, go ahead and call today. Trust me, he won’t mind it late. Better than not hearing from you at all.

I’ve been splashing around in my new Keens this past week. They perform fabulously in the river if anybody’s in the market for such footwear. I also think I could probably take them from the water straight to an Ultimate field if the need ever arose. They have a nice cushion to them and strap across the feet well. Plus, on those days in the fall and spring when we play on the field and it resembles a sponge, I’d be right in my element and I wouldn’t have deodorize my gym bag after particularly wet shoe days.

For you golfers out there…and I know there are several that read this…did you catch Tiger’s putt on 18 yesterday? This guy was playing injured and missed way more fairways than he hit and still was able to pull off that putt to send the U.S. Open to an 18-hole playoff today. Hard not to root for a guy named Rocco though, especially since he’s 45 (right Bob?) but man, the “Cat” came roaring back on that last hole right when it looked like he would lose his first ever major that he went into Sunday leading.

Speaking of exciting golf, I fired a 3 under on the Wii last night? Can you play this interactively with other people that own Wiis? Maybe that’s the way we can finally match up our schedules Todd? You guys need to go out and get one of these if you haven’t already.

Fore!

Running on empty...it's too late for me

Submitted by Bill

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheelsLooking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields.

I could hear Jackson Browne’s melodic Southern California style ringing in my ears yesterday as I returned to the field after more than a week away and struggled to find my wind. Of course, that wasn’t the worst of it. In my misrepresentation of my own running potential I must have evaluated some others on our green team similarly and when Todd lined up for the first pull and looked down the line to see who would be “running” with him he must have been discouraged not only to find he was a player short but that there weren’t a lot of chasers there on his side.

After the game, Phil remarked “Well, you had a lot of handlers…” and to be sure we had a very nice team of handlers yesterday. Of course, the handlers can’t just all hang back and throw to themselves in the middle of the field all day long and our inability to cut and slash and run vertically caused some problems yesterday. The lack of running was not limited to the offense and we let a lot of runners by us on the defensive side as well.

I called the game with 8 responses yesterday and then Wings came out after we secretly sabotaged the football game by having his boss call a meeting and then excusing himself at the last minute…okay, we’re not quite that conniving…or smart for that matter. So we had 9 confirmed on the way down to the locker room. I saw Swinny as I was leaving and that made 10 and then got out to the field and Paul had wandered out as well. That gave us the 6 on 5 game and for some reason I thought putting Phil, Swinny, Paul & the “sneaky fast” trio of Bob, MattC & Wings on one side seemed equitable.

Myself, Tim, Thunder & Shadow are more “bursty fast” which is to say we have bursts of speed surrounded by a lot of, um, “field stagnation” leaving Todd to wonder whether to cover Phil or Swinny each time down and playing the odds that Tim or I might be able to stay with the other for a play or two. Even when Lon wandered out and gave us and even 6 on 6, we seemed to have problems tying 3 or 4 completed passes together or marking all our men at one time.

Give gold credit for realizing this and making several nice short pass drives up the field and playing some good D. I told Bob on one trip down the field that usually I could just toss the disc up and count Todd being able to out hustle a defender to the disc but after watching a lazy pass into the end zone get quickly double teamed and drop to the ground I realized that I’d have to do a better job placing the disc.

You know each game seems to bring something unique to the field and yesterday was no exception. While setting up the cones we noticed a nice surprise toward the middle of one side of the field…a pile of horse crap! So, we deployed a couple extra cones and had the added bonus of aromatherapy. I think I may need to switch to jasmine, juniper berries or patchouli today because yesterday’s scent was too indicative of the way I played.

I want to take a minute to offer a hearty Buzzard farewell to another regular. Yesterday was Travis’ last day at HQ, and in fact, in the Coast Guard. As one of the few guys who could actually run with Swinny on a regular basis, you’ll be sorely missed. We wish you the best as you head to MIT to get more geekier. We hope to see you on their Team Page in the future.

Good idea of the day ~ Phil making sure to have a 120’x40’ yard field mowed at his vineyard for the annual Ultimate Vine Invitational ~ “Now, pulling for the Shiraz team, Thunder”… “Oh, what a layout by Swinny of team Reisling” Quick, respond now with your favorite grape and start recruiting your players

It’s good to be back Buzzards.

Doctor my eyes
Tell me what is real
I hear their cries
Just saying "It's too late for me"

Ultimate Dozen

There are a lot of great things that comes in sets of twelve, or dozen if you prefer. Some that come to mind for me right off are a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts…having recently “passed” another Coast Guard weigh-in, they can go back on the diet a little more often…do you know there is one of the old original KK factory stores in Richmond. You can go there and watch them rolling off the lines and get them hot…it’s pure ecstasy. There is also Horace Mann’s Twelfth Annual Report on Education. This will be incredibly obscure and probably unknown to most of you but I feel compelled to mention it since I had to read it during this current class I’m taking and much of the excuse I’ve given to not keeping this blog updated more often. There is, of course, the classic film The Dirty Dozen, of which may actually have some interesting application to the characters of this blog and we may address that later…how about a 12-pack of ice cold adult beverages? Realizing, I am way down the food chain of Buzzards as beer coinsures (maybe they’ll offer up a comments for some I’ve missed) here are maybe my top dozen brews, in no particular order…Amstel Light, Wiked Pete’s Summer Brew, Rogues American Amber Ale, St. Pauli’s Girl, Sam Adams Pale Ale, Anchor Steam, Schlitz (has an inexplicable dorm room nostalgia feel to it…I offer no excuses)…and you know what, I don’t think I can ramble off another 4 impressive ones so I’ll leave that to Todd, Swinny, Phil et al…I like the Twelve Days of Christmas, not the song mind you, but the actual days…I’m a holiday kind of guy and it’s a great excuse to bake desserts…but of course the best 12 is a dozen Buzzards flocking about in the sunshine for a game of Ultimate.

It was a fabulous turnout and game yesterday. Early on, it looked like a fairly even match up but for some reason the green team never really clicked and the gold team of Bryan, Bob, MattC, MattP, Hollan, Scott just found its groove and spanked us. Half this team is in recovery from some sort of injury, knees, calves, shin splints, hamstring…but you would not have know it from the way they kept getting open. The green team was definitely the more winded as Bill, Lon, Conrad & Frank kept watching their guys go by them. We stuck Todd with Bryan who complained after the game that he “didn’t get to run enough with 6’s” ….poor guy. Green also had a new Buzzard out on the field…Tim. He more than held his own showing that could both catch & throw as Scott observed…sometimes on the same play which can be a rare occurrence for us.

The first Ultimate cookout is in the planning stages. Hope to have something on the calendar in the next few days so stay tuned and be ready to tell your supervisor that you’ll be headed out for a game of Ultimate and then a cookout…estimated time back in the cube, uh, tomorrow morning.

Old guys holding their own...

Sunny day, new players, 5 on 4…good day for Buzzards Ultimate.

We continue to enjoy the spring-like weather even though we’re still technically in winter. Thanks to MattP for selling Ultimate to his Flag Football corps on days they don’t play. We got some cross-over yesterday as Hollan came out and joined us. Welcome! And not to blow too much smoke up…well anyway, one of the better Ultimate debuts we’ve seen in a while (once he realized 10 seconds is a long time)…dude can run!

Speaking of runners, who was the ringer that came in at halftime? Rumor has it that was the office mate (re:boss) of Scott, Phil & Kash. Well, first off, congrats for being the best represented office on the Ultimate field and maybe in fitness activities in general. Secondly, and maybe Lon, aka “39” said it best “Why does the extra player get to go to the side with the young guys?”.

Of course, the green team, pre-qualifying for AARP yesterday, of 39, Bob, Bill, & CaptK had one of their best points against the extra-manned team by shredding their defense with short passes up the middle for an early score in the 2nd half. But the extra (and fresh) legs took their toll and gold pulled away towards the end.

We saw one of the best layouts of the season yesterday by Phil catching up to a disc that looked like it was sailing away from him for a one-handed fully extended grab. Well done!

Oh, speaking of the 10 seconds…We had one turnover yesterday on a stall count and were an "open mouth words about to come out" away from a 2nd one as the gold team decided to exercise all their time yesterday…or maybe the old guys were actually playing good D. By the way, because it doesn’t happen very often and we want to recognize the participants in that play, Bill got the stall turnover on Scott.

So Buzzards, it’s March Madness time and I’m a bit of a college basketball fan so look for my invite to a little online bracket challenge. If you did not get one it might be due to a couple reasons. I wasn’t sure about your email address (if you didn’t have a .uscg.mil address I wasn’t sure about using it ~ CaptK), you don’t actually come out and play with us so I may not really know you very well and didn’t want to bother you. If you think I’ve made an error and just plain left you out, send me an email, plead your case and I’ll reconsider my invitation list.

Going to be a great day today. We have a volunteer photographer so you have the potential (if Scott knows how to work a zoom better than Shadow) of seeing your photo up on the blog soon.

The Wind Blew In!

It was a great turnout yesterday for a chilly and windy day! In fact, we have some new award recipients for the Wind Ribbon. Only MattP on the gold team yesterday already had his so we added his teammates Travis, Eric, Conrad & Frank. And on the green team, Bryan and Lon picked up their ribbons and were playing with Todd, Bill, & Bob who already had played in 25+ winds which may have explained the big lead they shot out to early in yesterday’s game.

The disc was dancing all over the place though and it was a gusty wind so we actually had many (okay, some) instances of being able to complete long passes between gusts. Todd connected on a few to Bryan and myself (800mg Motrin has been a miracle cure!) and Conrad hauled in a long one as well. Mostly though, both teams were more successful with the short passing game (which I think neutralized Frank). Not the really short passes like when Conrad took one in his ear but the more “medium short” passes. Because at other times Eric was sailing one through the SE endzone corner multiple times in a strange jet stream and Todd, when not completing long passes, was throwing it in the ground.

I saw at least 4 hammer passes completed yesterday, maybe more. I think MattP & I each threw one for a score and there were others. Interesting that pass would be somewhat effective in that kind of wind. Especially for me since I can not usually throw it where I want it on a calm day.

Tried to run the “39 go” play a few times today with varying degrees of success. Speaking of that, good to have Lon back on the field. He and Swinny had checked the same weather report thinking it was going to be in the 50’s and had been lured out to find temps down in the 20’s with the wind chill. So thanks to everyone who did come out anyway because 5 on 5 is a nice game.

As we head to the weekend the Chief Buzzard will be headed to the mountains for a little hiking and photography. However, if you’re so inclined to stay home and take in some indoor activities I’ll give you my weekend preview…

Quick Buzzard’s-eye view on the world of sports…NFL: Commissioner is in town speaking to Congress about drugs in his sports…ironically, Kevin Faulk of the Patriots was in Louisiana hangin’ with his peeps at a Lil Wayne concert and got cited for “simple possession”…nice poetic juxtaposition there pigskin league…speaking of better living through medication…how ‘bout “The Rocket”? The latest on the Clemens saga is that his wife and the ex of Jose Canseco allegedly had an implant show and tell at a Canseco party. Ah the life styles of the rich and famous. March Madness is not quite upon us…check back next week or so and I’ll be starting to get excited. The gear heads are in Las Vegas this weekend…Look for Toyota to get its first win.

Not in the mood for sports viewing…I’ve watched several movies on DVD in the last couple weeks I would recommend with varying degrees of enthusiasm…Knocked Up if you’re feeling nostalgic about some friends you haven’t spoken to since college…Fantastic Four 2...okay outside of Jessica Alba in a jumpsuit, there's not a lot of redeeming value here…if you’re in the mood for an adventure sequel, I’d steer you towards Spiderman 3, Pirates – At World’s End, or X-Men: The Last Stand instead. Want a good sports movie? Invincible has been out a while but is a decent flick based on a true story…and if you need a good, hmmmm, how should I say this? Uh, let’s say something on the more relationship based…romantic comedy side then No Reservations I thought was pretty enjoyable.

Doesn’t look like we’re going to get enough to play today which is too bad. Now I’ll be forced to choose between flag football and studying for my class.

Fly high Buzzards.