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!

Rodney Reunion Tour

“So with Rodney playing today, do we have to let him win?” was the question I got asked yesterday morning in preparation for the BPUC reunion game we had planned for him as he was going to be back in the building and hoped to play.

“No way” I said “Let’s just treat him like we always do…like our little sister”. I mean we didn’t want to make him feel unwelcome. I did notice though that JQ was making Rodney look deceptively fast early in the game zipping two passes into end zone corners where the defense wasn’t actually that badly beaten. Ah, handlers…sometimes they make you look good.

There seemed to be a variety of defenses being played yesterday. My team, overwhelmingly outvoted me and wanted to play zone to begin with. So Brad and Brian headed forward to play the cup with mid-play tutoring going on (which, oddly enough, seems to impact the effectiveness of the defense actually being played…not in a good way). Phil, Dennis & I roamed the middle and Bob played deep safety (he likes that position too much and jumps at the chance he gets to play it).

The green team seemed to be playing some bastardized version of pentagon and 1 or what I like to call 5 guys playing man and the 6th letting Brian run loose. After we found Brian for the 3rd or 4th open pass early in the game, I heard Todd shouting “Who in the world has Brian?” I’m not completely sure but when I saw JQ racing back and forth across the field as safety a la Bob, I figured he was the one who’d been cheating on the man defense.

I had a particularly tough time throwing yesterday due to the new defense being played on me. Scott was marking me with the “bump pivot” D. That’s when I’m trying to get him out of my shirt and I pivot around and he keeps bumping me. It’s legality clearly in question…I could picture Phil if he’d had to endure it, constantly rotating the disc around in front of his stomach to try and cry for more room…but the effectiveness of it could not be disputed. My handling sucked yesterday. Aside from a couple that I decided to just throw out of bounds and let come back in (and one of those got caught up in the tree), I was pretty much useless.

Several players deferred playing yesterday and said they’d be playing today. If that was your idea of fair weather Ultimate playing I might point out that you didn’t check your weather forecasts very well. Yesterday was almost perfect playing conditions with temperatures in the 50’s and almost no wind. Today will barely reach into the 50’s and there is 100% chance of rain. Oh, we’ll still play but for Alec & Jeana…I’ll be looking for you two.

And while I’m throwing people under the bus…er…uh…I mean…missing players who haven’t been out this week…that we usually see out there is…Jason, Paul, Brook? Are you guys here this week? We got George back out yesterday so I’ve taken him off the MIA list. Rachel, are you coming back out? How ‘bout some other former players who have really gone into the Witness Protection Program…MattD, Jorge, Bo, Eric B, Denise, Roz? Hey, don’t think I don’t know who’s on this list. Come on back out folks!

You know I sometimes mention the conversation on the way out or back from the pitch or in the locker room…they’re generally my most interesting of the day. Last week there was talk of loofahs, waxing, and quality whites (wine, not linens) that would have made you think you were at the spa and not the guy’s locker room. Yesterday, Kevin and I were comparing our driving lives that shared commonalities like 3-generation pickups, routes (29 & 95 respectively), some Va. State Trooper observations, and High School Musical 3 (okay we don’t share that but we talked about it). You don’t get this kind of renaissance intellectual and emotional stimulus in many other circles.

So, I’m thinking…what this White House transition team really needs is a lunchtime Ultimate game coordinator to keep everybody motivated and physically fit and…you know…informed.

pre Halloween & Election Day wear.

~ posted by Bill

It’s getting to be that time of year. What time of year you ask? The time of year when we walk around the wall of the loading dock on the way out to the pitch and that wind hits you and you say “Crap, it’s colder than I thought!” and wonder if you shouldn’t turn around and go back in.

Okay, it wasn’t quite that cold…but it’s getting there, quickly I suspect. And for the record, Brad and Jeana were the first to wear either tights and/or sweats out on the pitch. I thought wearing long leg wear before Halloween was like wearing white after Labor Day.

Some of you heard me ponder aloud a couple weeks ago, when we had 19 come out to play, “I wonder how many we’ll get when it’s in the 40’s and raining?” Well, I guess we’ll find out today. Not to lower anybody’s expectations but today has the potential for all the worst elements. Cold, it’s only supposed to feel like 40 around game time. Rain, chance of showers all day. Wind, and not just some little breeze like we had yesterday. It’s supposed to be 25 mph by the time we’d head out.

I bet we don’t see anybody on the volleyball court today. I overheard Larry yesterday complaining about frostbite on his feet from the cold sand. You ever try to serve a volleyball in high winds? You think throwing our disc is challenging? Alas, the netters can move indoors. We Buzzards? We’re resigned to the fact that if we want to continue to play our fine sport, that we’re going to have to play on days like this. Well, maybe not just like this. I prefer to only have to contend with one or two of the above mentioned elements rather than all 3 on the same day. Especially since I don’t have my tights with me today. However, I do have my gloves and if we get enough people to play, I suspect I’ll be wearing those.

But I actually think the chances of getting enough for a game today are slimmer than those of Governor Palin passing the CLEP for American Government and finding out that even if she were to somehow find herself on the winning ticket next week (also a long shot at this point), she would not be in charge of the Senate as Vice President.

So, it’s a good thing we had a game yesterday. Despite the cooler temperatures and breeze, it was a good day on the pitch. Where’s Rodney when you need him? You would not believe the example of Spirit of the Game attitude we had yesterday. But perhaps it’s gone too far when you stop to help up a defender who likely just fouled you and you miss your own player cutting into the end zone for a score…okay it didn’t happen like that Brian but next time you can just leave him on the ground until after you throw it and not risk it.

I checked with Kevin and he said most of the leagues he’s played in don’t actually require you to stop play unless it’s a puncture wound and you see blood spurting in the air. Speaking of league play. I heard Jeanna asking to play “the cup” yesterday after Paul kept getting past her or reaching above her for completions. So there’s your homework Buzzards. Find out what “the cup” is. I learned this strategy last winter when I played in CUDO. I’m not convinced it doesn’t actually take a higher degree of athleticism but maybe that’s just because I was nursing that pulled groin last year.

Thanks to everyone else that got out yesterday. Pull out the cold weather gear.

Welcome to Autumn

- posted by Bill

This run of 14+ games is starting to spoil me. When was the last time we got stood up by two players and didn’t miss them? Okay, well when I say “didn’t miss” I meant, we still had plenty to play, not that we didn’t want you guys there…

Listen Todd, I know it was your first day back after about a month of leave but in case you need a small reminder I found the perfect bumper sticker for you…

We had another great game on the first day of Autumn which ironically seemed much warmer and more humid then our last days of summer last week.

Want to welcome out Tim2 (look you already get a nickname since we have an established Tim), and welcome back to George and to Kelly who made a surprise visit and who obviously is in the spirit of the above bumper sticker, giving up the job search for Ultimate today.

We had some nice collisions today. Brook and I had a rude intersection after I had tapped a high pass into the air and that tried to recalibrate the landing. Rodney took out Scott on a slide tackle in the end zone and Brian clobbered Bob on one pass along the sideline (though apparently not hard enough as Bob caught it anyway).

In fact, with that grab and another one in which Bob outran Phil half way up the field and all the way across the end zone for a score took some credibility away from the “old stiff and sore” routine that Bob would like for you to believe. Jason found the words the more common belief among his fellow Buzzards, “Bob’s full of it! I’m not buying that bum ankle story anymore. He’s outrunning everybody.”

Will and Mark also joined us but somebody forgot to explain another Ultimate rule to them…if you’re going to be late, you don’t get to stretch. Again, it’s nice to have so many people playing right now that you can start without everybody that RSVPs.

By the way, anybody think that if the BPUC can increase our debt to income ratio a little higher that we’d qualify for the current Federal buyout of all things private. You suppose this is what Alexander Hamilton had in mind when he established the Department of Treasury? You suppose anybody will challenge Ben Bernanke to a duel?

New Math and Avian head shops...

- posted by Bill

“8 + 7 does not equal 17 Bill”. Okay, to be fair I can add, but somehow I’d gotten into my head that a regulation game was 16 players and when I start adding or subtracting from that point I actually got the math right but my baseline data was flawed. Which is a ridiculous excuse but actually what was going on in my head yesterday afternoon as we were coming back into the locker room after a great game of 8 on 7.

As we wandered out yesterday, I noticed the grass had not been cut and that there were a gaggle of Canadian Geese just sitting on our field. They quickly took flight noticing the approaching Buzzards but they left us “presents” all over the field. Is it just me or does goose feces have a disturbingly similar aroma to cannabis? Had they detoured over Northern California? You know, as professional Law Enforcement officers, we weren’t too sure what our jurisdiction over the geese were or if we had extradition agreements with Canada so we decided not to pursue that action and instead just pulled the disc to start our game.

Since I’ve been playing with this group it’s been my observation that the extra person makes huge differences in games with 7-11 players. Not usually so much with anything more that that because often it gets so crowded that you can just kind of zone the other team when you’re down a player. But what is not supposed to happen is that the team short a player gets a lot of long scores because in theory the extra-player team can always have a “safety”.

Yesterday was the exception to that Ultimate axiom. The gold team, stacked with the legs of JQ, Bob, Hollan, & Will exploded for a run of early scores on deep passes. Despite the attempted force lessons of yesterday, our green team could still just not effect the defensive theory of “forcing middle” and gave up pass after pass down the sidelines.

We also gave up two toe dragging end zone sideline scores to ballerinas Rodney & Will. Kevin almost came down with one of his own for green but called himself out on the back line. Mercifully, Ultimate Karma provided for an immediate gold turnover after that and we got a nice short score but it was one of very too few for green yesterday.

Erik did manage to pull in a few scores yesterday for green but I would submit that at least two of those were on “missed” throws to other players that he just found himself in the right position for. I know this because the first one came out of my hands and was headed for JasonK whom I could just not find the range to yesterday missing him by about ½ arm’s length on at least 3 passes in the end zone.

Good to see some guys back out yesterday that have been missing some lately…Brian & Mark. Thunder keeps trying to quit us for a day or two of rest, then checks the temperature at game time and realizes the addiction is just too strong and winds up wandering out to the field.

Alec, a newer addition to the Buzzards, and I were talking on the way out to the pitch yesterday and he asked how late in the season we play. I told him we played all through the winter last year and he asked for clarification.

“So you move inside at some point?”

“No we stay out” I said. “It’s only really bad on those high 20’s, low 30’s days with icy drizzle.”

“You’d have to trudge through 3 feet of snow in the winter where I’m from.” Alec observed.

“Oh? Where did you come here from?”

“Maine”

Well welcome to D.C. Alex. I grew up in the Northern Virginia suburbs and have lived in this area parts of about 25 years of my life and I can only remember 2-3 snowstorms that ever dropped that much of the white stuff. I think you’ll find our winter games practically mild by Maine standards.

Of course after a great defensive block on a mark yesterday, Alec was glad it wasn’t winter yet. He took a mean shot of disc off his hand.

Today is picture day boys & girls. Remember to brush your hair and tuck your shirts in before you come out today and Hollan has hopefully brought his camera. Phil, I hope you brought a clean shirt. The one you’ve been wearing that reeks of weekend beer and goose droppings is wearing thin.

"What's a crop?"

Posted by Bill

Great game of 7 on 7 yesterday. The wind was blowing 15-20 mph and we really had to work on our short game but the teams were pretty well balanced and play was good.

Strong winds don’t deter some people from trying long passes. Your's truly got one to sail nicely early in the game and it wound up going off Brook’s fingertips in the end zone but encouraged by that near miss I kept hucking away, at one stretch about 4 times in a row down the field trying to hit Tim with one as he seemingly kept sneaking behind the defense. But either the wind would pick it up or I’d turn over the flick, or zip one into the defender’s arms and never found much success with that. Of course I was relieved to see I wasn’t the only one having trouble. JQ let loose with one of his golf slice shots that he likes to start out of bounds and come slicing back in to a man running deep…well it sliced back in, all the way across the field, and then all the way out on the other side…mad wind!

So he and Bob tried to stick to their short game for the most part and handled well, feeding Hollan, Tom, Erik, Jason & Fred as they found lanes to cut in.

There was some really good defense being played yesterday and even when you thought you had a throw in, sometimes the wind would hold it up long enough for the defender to get there. Phil made a great play on one nice zip throw from Bob to a cutting JQ in the corner and got his hand up to knock it down.

For the gold team, Rodney did manage to find Thunder early in the game for a nice mid length score that looked like it was headed over Scott’s head until he jumped a little, got a hand up, deflected the disc and it came down in his arms as he tumbled to the ground. And Mike at one point, after some frustrating discs off fingertips and throws in the wind, triumphantly spiked the disc after a score late in the game.

We tried to use the windy day to work on some formations and mechanics but when two of the more “experienced” players shouted back to directions of “force middle” and “shift force” ….” What’s the middle?” and “Shift what?” I realized that maybe we hadn’t practiced either of those things much or Rodney and Phil’s collective ability to pay attention was waning.

I was reminded of the scene in “Field of Dreams” with Costner’s character, Ray Kinsella and his ruthless, foreclosing brother-in-law Mark:

Mark: "Admit it, Ray. You've never liked farming."

Ray Kinsella: "That's not true."

Mark:"It is true. You don't know the first thing about farming."

Ray Kinsella: "Yes I do. I know a lot about farming. I know more than you think I know."

Mark: "Then how could you plow under your major crop?"

Ray Kinsella:"What's a crop?"

Uh….”What’s a force?”

For the sake of the discussion…in general terms the word “force” refers to the direction you are either trying to get the handler to look to throw, or the direction you are trying to make the person you are covering run to. And usually, the marker is trying to force the handler to throw to the middle as the rest of the defense forces the cutters to a respective sideline.

Then you have commands like “switch force” which you can use if the marker is forcing to sideline to get them to move their force direction for a few seconds so that the defender can catch up to a cutter that may be headed for that sideline, especially near the end zone. The basic idea is to force a team to throw a long ways across the field.

Maybe we’ll take 5-10 minutes prior to game time today and just work on a couple formations.

Thanks everybody for a great game yesterday. Weather is going to be perfect today. PULL!

Diagonal pitch, crazy 8's

~ posted by Bill

Okay, I’m updating, I’m updating! I’m always surprised to find people actually miss reading this when I leave it fallow for too long.

Last week I was forecasted to write a blog…singularly about me, as I’d had an atypical all around good day of disc. Now, narcissistic as I am, and really, as easy as this blog realm is to really make it “all about me”, I would be very remiss not to mention we had a great game last week before the holiday of some all around good play by several people.

I can’t even really remember what day it was. We were softball and soccer free on the south field, which by the way has begun to take on its August concrete-like properties, and a couple folks from NDU or ICAF joined us. This game almost wasn’t called at all as we only had 7 for sure and I really wasn’t feeling like running on a 3-man team. But replies back from Will, Hollan, Mark, et al. said “Let’s play, who cares” so I reluctantly called the game at the last minute and we wound up having 11 out there as two others besides our McNair brethren joined us.

Splitting up the teams was a bit of a challenge. I had no idea what to expect from those two. Both played well but J.Q. was a complete ringer and I just really got lucky picking him for my team. Todd also was pleasantly surprised to find he had somebody running to the end zone when he had the disc in hand to throw. He had some serious wheels and made the rest of us look pretty good on several plays including a behind the back toss I managed to get close enough to him to run down. It was noted my paltry 20% completion percentage on such tosses were actually worth the disbelief factor when it actually works.

Hollan may have had the play of the day making me look like a better thrower than I actually am, once again. I had cut loose on a high arcing flick that was coming over Will’s shoulder into the end zone. At the last second Will actually got a hand up and deflected the disc…back up. Well when the disc stays up, guys that hustle make plays and Hollan had stayed with it and sliding across the back of the end zone came down with a great catch.

Anyway, that was pre-Labor Day weekend…after the holiday, we came out on the field yesterday, many of us needing to purge some 3 or 4 day weekend toxins, or, in the case of Phil and Rodney (returning from long absences) even more.

I called the game yesterday after 11 responses, one actually cancelled but 5 on 5 sounded good. We got out to the south field to find two softball games strolling on right after us and crunching us for space so we went with the diagonal pitch layout and 16 people actually showed up!!! After about two trips up and down the already condensed field, we decided to play 6 on 6 and have 2 subs each, introducing some to the “last back” tool of Ultimate. I’m not sure this actually functioned as designed and often times just a couple needing air or water went off the field after a score. It was hot, and the substitutions worked well.

Welcome out to some new faces even though a couple of you have played already I may not have officially greeted you…Mike, Paul, Eric, & Bill. Great to have all 4 of you out there yesterday. Welcome back Rodney & Phil. I had forgotten how much I missed the great attitude and Spirit of the Game until standing next to Rodney on the sideline yesterday listening to him comment on the softball game next to us “Next time down the field we ought to chuck the disc right upside his head, get out of our #&*@ing enzone you *@&!”....nice.

Dog Days

posted by Bill

Having been out of the office Monday and Tuesday and missing those two scorcher games and then not getting enough on Wednesday, yesterday was my first game of the week..

Got an email from Phil asking who was playing and I realized we had kind of an eclectic group yesterday. Welcome by the way to Mark, another new Buzzard this week. He made the aforementioned Monday/Tuesday games and still came out yesterday so that bodes well for continuing to see him out there. He and Will were our “new guy” representatives but both have pretty good running ability (which is to say, they can) and Will has these Go-Go Gadget arms that I found tough to D on the couple of times that I got stuck with that bad switch.

In fact, we had trouble, in general on defense yesterday on the green team and Leroy remarked that we might need to do something with our match ups. I think it may have had more to do with our offense actually as we gave up several deep turnovers not being able to complete 2 passes in a row. But Dennis did throw several great deep passes early and that led gold to their early lead. Will, Frank & Phil all hauled in throws from Dennis.

Meanwhile, Mark, Leroy, Tom & I kind of fuddled around trying to find some offensive rhythm that seemed more limited than internet access in Beijing. And with humidity hovering around 105% and even a light rain during part of the game we also seemed to have some problems hanging onto the disc.

We have several Buzzards out nursing injuries and other things I think. I thought we might see Thunder back this week but his doctor put the kibosh on that idea and he remains on the DL though he was well enough to vacation down in Florida last week. Todd is still out, MattP decided to rest from the Ultimate field but did so with his newfound love…sand volleyball. Should we feel cheated on? Carolyn has apparently left us and our thoughts are with her, Annette is still in and out with her treatment, Hollan has been on limited play duty and so we’ve been missing many of the regulars.

Speaking of missing regulars, heard from Bryan yesterday up in Milwaukee and he said to pass along a hello to everybody. Apparently he was headed out to play some floor hockey. Hope he remembers that floors are generally harder than fields and that layouts may not be a good maneuver for that sport. Rodney has abandoned us for a few weeks TDY and will be gone for good before too long. Frank is also on his farewell tour.

It’s great to be getting all the new faces out. We’ve more than replenished the transferring out folks from this summer…at least in number. Look forward to seeing more of you all out and bring friends and co-workers. This weather will have to break before too long and the fall is a great time to play out here, you’ll love it. Get in condition now and you’ll be running all over the place by then.

New discs were ordered yesterday and we should have those by sometime next week. Hope everybody has a great weekend and gets a chance to get out and enjoy themselves some outside.

Hammer Time

posted by Bill

I’ve been a little remiss in keeping up with the blog lately. School has started again and I find myself working on papers and reading on my “free time”.

Great game yesterday though as the weather broke a little bit and we had some nice temperatures. One reason I know I haven’t been as current on this is that my welcome (back) to Buzzard JasonK is coming about 2 weeks into his return to playing. Many of you didn’t know Jason but he played out here when I first started playing 3-4 years ago. Mallard and Annette are probably the only other ones who may remember. Want to also welcome out another new player yesterday…Will. He was trying to catch his wind early in the game but had a few good catches and we hope to see you back out soon.

Apparently M.C. Rodney has found a new secret weapon as he was responsible for the bulk of excellent hammer throws I saw yesterday. On one in particular I heard Brian chastising himself on the way back up the field about not playing good enough D but we quickly noted that Rodney had dropped that throw right in the lap of Tom cutting across the end zone and the defense was actually pretty good.

Todd and Phil were both back out on the field yesterday after short leaves of absence; Todd nursing an injury and Phil nursing a short-handed office while Thunder is trolling a fishing line somewhere in Florida.

We scheduled the game early yesterday so Frank could make it out and then he left us early anyway… ? What’s up with that amigo? Word has it, this is the Shadow’s last week of play with us as he heads off to grad school….another degree on the Coast Guard’s dime? Sweet deal!

Will try and get up some new pictures on the Flickr account soon so keep checking there. Have a bunch that Hollan took a couple week’s ago. And I will try and stay a little more current here. Oh, I’m up here for a guest Friday appearance so hopefully we’ll get a run today. Temps are going back up and it will be hot but let’s go. Pull!

2 new, a weave and SOTG refresher

Posted by Bill

We had a good game on Monday with 6 on 5. I’d like to give a warm welcome to a couple new players, Bob & Carolyn, it was great to have you both out there. I love this game because players of all experience levels can step right in and have fun. Bob came out and I joked that he should have come with a warning label…usually when I see somebody with his…uh…”career maturity”, humble height and being follicle-challenged…I assume they are going to be in a physical condition more like…well…me. But Bob had obviously played before and forgot to tell me that he could actually run. By the way, we have another "older running Bob" so one of you guys is abosolutely going to need a nickname.

He, Tood, & Frank ran a flawless 3-man weave play at one point in the game that Todd remarked about later “We should have just quit right then after we scored, it wasn’t going to get any better”.

And Carolyn, admittedly a new player to Ultimate made an outstanding one hand grab off a pass from Todd for a score. I checked with her before the game “Has anybody explained any of the rules to you?”

“Well, I remember some from high school P.E. class” she replied.

“Perfect!” I told her, “You’re already at our level”

Kelly G was back after her early summer hiatus and looked like it was a little challenge to get her wind back completely. Hollan was also back…trying to talk himself into being back in playing shape after his injury…and then took another ugly fall that was trying to argue the opposite.

Speaking of ugly falls…er…layouts…Todd was particularly impressed by my instinctual turn and dive for a pass from Eli that wound up being 10-15 yards short and just made me look silly.

Tim and I hooked up on a couple nice scores on Monday but I wish I could have also hit him on about 6 more that I just totally missed the throws on. Saved my best throw for last though after getting a nice entry pass from Hollan that Frank just barely missed, I looked up field and started yelling “Go, go, go” to Rodney, who was already on his way to the end zone as I cut one loose sailing over his head. He ran it down and made a great layout catch as Todd pulled up claiming he had heard “Foul, foul, foul” and assume it had been so after Frank and I had made a little contact.

*** Official vanity paragraph *** uh for those of you who have been caught gawking at pictures of yourself and reading heroic captions to your co-workers about your exploits from the blog, this paragraph is officially dedicated to you today… "and there were others, not previously mentioned, on the field today” :)

A reminder from the Ultimate Players Association website page on the Spirit of the Game –
Spirit of the Game sets Ultimate apart from other competitive team sports.

For over 30 years, Ultimate has flourished, reaching a highly competitive level, without the use of referees. In Ultimate, the honor system works. Sure, human nature rears its ugly head from time to time - just as in any sport, just as in life. Yet, one of the many beauties of Ultimate is how, even amid the most difficult of situations, utmost graciousness is allowed to meet that challenge head on. Through this balance, Ultimate players are free to demonstrate the most honorable and the most joyous sides of human nature in sport.

Looking forward to having some of the regulars back on the field soon….Phil, Bob…today? Thunder is due out next week according to the NASA systems countdown.

Again, the chance of precipitation is less than half today for game so let’s head out…pull!

First of July!

posted by Bill

July is here! And really, even though it started to seem warmer than the weather.com announcement that it was about 76 degrees at game time, it was still pretty nice for the beginning of July. And we had a great turnout yesterday also! Welcome out for the first time to Denise, a co-worker of Kevin’s. It was great to have you, please come back and join us anytime. It was also nice to meet Kay…Eric, she knows your tall and bald right? : )

Welcome back out Bridgette…watch out, if you come out twice within a week, this sport has been known to become addictive. You see it even draws out those who are injured and have no business being on the field…one, was smart enough to just come take pictures, thanks Thunder, sorry the battery crapped out on you after only 7 shots, and Hollan, who actually thought he was well enough to play…and by all accounts looked fine through the whole game except for a couple of drops (heck some of us do that when we’re completely healthy and he did catch at least one score as well)….but then it came…

“Hey, 3 more points” yells somebody on gold and then they proceed to score a quick one. Then as green is coming back down the field to try and tie it up at 1, Hollan was going full speed toward the sideline to try and break up a pass headed for Tom. Okay, I want to be fair here…for those of you who’ve played with Tom for a while, you’re thinking you know how this winds up. Well, I just want to say, Tom did not really have anything to do with this and it was just a play of two guys going after the disc and one crumbling to the ground in agony. “Boom Boom” needs a new nickname because his game, I’ve noticed over the last few months, has been remarkably free of contact…well, at least when Frank hasn’t been marking him.

That wasn’t the only problem on gold yesterday as they had trouble clicking from the start. When I first separated the teams and then kind of threw Eric the last gold pinnie, not sure which team to stick him on I felt sure I had shifted the balance of power that way…with Eric and Kevin handling and Hollan, Phil, and Dennis running…and they had substitutes as Denise used Bridgette’s late arrival as a good excuse to take a breather. But for some reason that combination didn’t work for them.

Again, as I am apt to do, I stuck Todd with 3 old slow guys (myself, Tom & Rodney, another guy with two bum heels (MattP) and then Leroy who has been running like crazy but let’s just say has had some communication breakdown between the legs, eyes, & hands prior to today. Well, who knew, I found a couple runs in me today, two layouts that actually did not pan out into anything except a mouth full of clover and a heaving chest, Tom finding his mid to long range throwing skills, Rodney and Matt always showing bursts of speed when you least expect it and Leroy mastering the “tip drill” score…two in a row, in fact from Todd and over Eric. Matt followed those up by catching a “machete” headed for the ground and green actually looked like we knew what we were doing despite our lock down D on a long stall count.

All in all, a great day of disc. It’s a pleasure playing with all of you…always the highlight of my day at work.

It’s not too late to get me your votes for June’s “Most Outstanding Buzzard” (MOB) and “Spirit of the Game” (SOTG) award winner. I need to get the SOTG disc that Bryan won last month out of my cube where he left it when he departed…by the way, we didn’t really give him a proper farewell which seems to happen a lot around here…sorry. Bryan, you’ll be sorely missed my friend. Fair winds!

By the way...in regards to the following pictures...the camera battery died after only 7 shots but why do 4 of them have Todd in them? Can you say "man crush" Thunder?

Todd looking for the next throw as he catches it with Tom cutting.

Rodney getting ready to pull.

Todd elevating...of course everybody looks like they're going high with Rodney in the picture.

Eric...nice patriotic bacground there.

Phil looks to pass as Todd comes up to mark.

Watch it all the way in Phil.

Todd releasing from the clover.

Calling on Webster

Posted by Bill

We had our third great game of the week yesterday and while I’m at it I just want to welcome back out a couple people who have played sporadically with the Buzzards in the past and have been back out this week…Steve & Bridgette, great to see you both back out there!

“Skeptically humorous”…in case any of you were still wondering about the accusation flung about in the email exchange yesterday prior to the game. That’s what sardonic means and what my comments were labeled for questioning the intentions of some of the Buzzards for wanting to know how many were coming out to play yesterday. I apologize if I offended anybody by questioning their devotion to duty (extra points for working in a core value today).

Continuing to thumb through the BPUC vocabulary we stumbled across prostate (well, not literally) but as you’ll see in one picture below, Bridgette may have been on her way there with Todd if she’d taken any more clothes off him, prostrate which is what Rodney was after his fabulous lay out catch yesterday, and redundant possessive which happens with a misplaced apostrophe or when you watch the seagulls on “Finding Nemo” “mine, mine, mine, mine, mine”!

At any rate, we had 9 today as Bridgette did finally get out on the field though apparently fielding an important call on her cell as she tried to decide which color pinnie to wear and eventually joined Phil, Bob, Tim & Steve on the gold side. I saddled Todd with Rodney and myself again but also gave him Leroy hoping to find some sort of balance of speed. Who knew Rodney and I would actually both run a few times on the same play? What a pleasant surprise!

Hollan came out again and snapped off some more fine photography as you’ll see, though in a couple instances he may have missed the best action by a couple seconds either right before or right after it happened.

Todd had a great line yesterday by the way. After Leroy could not adjust to a pass in the end zone and pointed to where he wanted it to have actually been thrown, Todd remarked “Hey, if I could put the plate where I wanted all the time…” I’m not sure what the follow up was to the “If/then” statement but my own take is that it would be a lot less interesting.

If you check out the Flickr Ultimate Action Shots you’ll notice people making great leaps and lay outs for passes partly because the disc doesn’t always go where we want it and the receiver, occasionally needs to make a play…go get the plate!!!!!

Going to start getting a little hotter out this afternoon but we should be able to beat the 90’s by our game time. See you out there.




Bill chasing one down with Steve in pursuit.

Now this is tight D, Bridgette is literally undressing Todd as he tries to get off a throw.

More interesting D - Leroy high kicking on Phil.

Steve posting up Rodney.

...or are you just happy to see me?

Posted by Bill

“Ultimate is a non-contact sport” I had to remind myself yesterday after getting body blocked to the ground by Phil and hearing Frank cheer in the background…

“Yea! Great move man!”

To be fair, there was a little of that big brother slips in the first shot, little brother’s retaliation is more dramatic and the only thing seen by the parents but geez Phil!!!!

Welcome back humidity! Did we mention, we didn’t really miss you though? After last week’s comparatively mild temperatures and low humidity, we were reminded yesterday that summer, has in fact, begun. It really wasn’t that hot yesterday but as the cliché goes “that ain’t what kills ya.”

#1 fan (he's got the t-shirt to prove it), and most active member of the disabled list, Hollan, was out on the field again yesterday taking some shots with my camera, fully charged on batteries this time. He remarked though that it was difficult to get good shots with the nice short passing game that the gold team was using yesterday. Frank, Phil, Bob & Leroy abandoned the long game after Leroy had some “tracking” issues on a couple discs up in the air.

“I hate this thing!” he said, shaking the orange 175g’s after a fumble in the end zone.

“Well” Phil said, later in the locker room “you know it’s not shaped like most things”. What Phil, you mean like plates & tires?

“Like most other sports gear” Phil clarified, “like basketballs, footballs, baseballs, golf balls”.

Ah, you’re right. Well, that’s because it’s not like most other sports. Did I mention Ultimate is non-contact? And self-officiated?

Exhibit A ~ Todd called a foul on himself (which even technically you can’t do, the person being fouled needs to call it) but he felt so bad about sending Leroy tumbling across the end zone line on a pass the clearly was going to be out of reach anyway. Well SOTG points for Todd, I thought it was the right call. It was a foul and you never know when somebody is going to make that “catching the disc in the air on the way out of the end zone tossing it back in for a score” play.

I put the extra guy on the green team yesterday because I had stuck Todd with myself, Rodney, Tim, & Tom. Now Tim is the youngest and swiftest of that foursome which is all you need to know about it because let’s face it, he hasn’t exactly shown “breakaway speed” out there yet. But lo and behold all four of us sprinted to the end zone on a couple occasions for scores. “I like the Monday legs” Todd observed with pleasant surprise.

There were a couple nice deflections caught for scores yesterday. Bob, to nobody’s surprise had one of them. You can’t let that guy keep circling around a disc like a Buzzard around roadkill. He’s going to grab hold of it eventually. And Leroy after a couple frustrating drops snagged one that I had managed to misdirect. Bob also made a nice play coming around Rodney on the end zone line and reaching in front of him to take away what should have been an interception. Rodney remarked he just needed a little refresher lesson on why you should come to the disc.

You’ll see a good picture below of Bob homing in on Rodney and the disc with Tom and Leroy also in the muddle. Surprisingly, there was no contact on this play other than maybe the disc bouncing off Rodney.

Repeat after me, “Ultimate is a non-contact sport”.

We've reached the maximum upload on Flickr for the month so good thing July is right around the corner.

Really, there was no contact between bodies here...just the disc bouncing off Rodney.

Todd looking for an open cutter.

Frank getting vertical against Tom.

Me catching one in stride...which means I actually was striding.

Okay, I have no idea what's going on here.

Categories of new players...

Posted by Bill

It was nice to get some decent numbers back out on the field yesterday. We want to welcome out two new players, Leroy & Kevin and one returning player, Brook, who had been gone so long he had to get put back on the distribution list first.

Leroy reminded me of some of the other summer hires, interns and students we’ve had come play with us before… "young and can run”…Thanks for making some of us more “seasoned” players feel even older and slower. And speaking of feeling slower…playing with Dennis yesterday I found out after that amazing catch he made in the end zone where I thought he just misplayed it but found out he was really juking up the defender first before running behind him and falling down to catch it…anyway, Dennis, who most of you know has some good wheels when he’s running is doing so short one ACL…I’ve got two perfectly healthy ACLs and I don’t usually run that well.

Of course the other type of player knows you can run smarter, not harder and that would describe our other new addition, Kevin. I knew he had played before as we were marking up he was shouting out the number player he was taking, “I’ve got 6”, which most organized Ultimate players will recognize as him saying he had the 6th guy from the left . Of course most of the guys on the gold team yesterday had no idea what he was saying and asked for some sort of clarification “green shorts”, Kevin elaborated, not wanting to confuse anybody with the jumble of names he promised to remember, albeit, not with any particular faces. I knew I was going to enjoy playing with him when I heard him mention “I don’t need anybody to mark me when I don’t have the disc, I can do that myself”. Sorry, Kevin, hope I didn’t let out the secret to your elusiveness.

So Brook, how was the first game back in, uh, how many months? Feeling a little gassed? It was fairly humid yesterday until about two thirds of the way into the game when we were mercifully given some cloud cover and a breeze.

Hollan was playing some mad D yesterday…well, right up until he broke his heel. Okay, so we don’t know exactly if that’s what happened but his negative reply to the game this morning “because I’m on crutches and headed to Bethesda” didn’t sound good.

Rodney and I both seemed pleasantly surprised at the lack of contact from each other after the game yesterday but he seemed genuinely offended that I told him I’d have to use veto power on any selection of him for SOTG in June. Speaking of the Spirit…Bryan brought the SOTG trophy disc out to the field yesterday. I initially suspected he’d been through too many hazing ceremonies and thought he had to carry it around with him everywhere until it was awarded to somebody else but as it turns out, he’s winding down his last week with us before departing to the upper Midwest and wants me to keep it safe so he doesn’t forget and leave with it.

Conrad…how is it you’ll drop a disc in the wide open but when I’m marking you and am all over you and tipping the disc, you manage to come down with it?

I heard Bob mention that there were a lot of good handlers out yesterday…I’d have to agree. Whenever you’re playing with Eli, Todd, Brook, or Eric, you know if you can get yourself open that you’re likely to get a good pass at some point. Todd may have made the best one on the last point of the game yesterday…a full length huck for a score.

We managed to keep Bryan from diving for anything yesterday, hoping to preserve him for his marathon this weekend. Good luck!

Going to be another great weather day today but surprisingly only 4 people have responded so far this morning. Hollan, you’re excused, the rest of you????

First June posting...

I suppose a lot has happened since the last entry here. Just not much of it has had to do with Ultimate. We did have a game last Wednesday of 5 on 5 and played East-West for a change of pace. There was some good play. Hollan made a couple of great catches in the end zone right on the sidelines, Tim tripped over a puddle, there was talk of Rodney, Hollan, a cage match and thongs that I’m not sure I want to clearly remember and hopefully MattP has deleted all email evidence to any such conversation.

Some other things that are going on though that may or may not be worth blogging about… I’ve bought a new HD TV and a Wii. I’m pretty good at golf but my 9-year old niece knocked me out the other night in boxing. So with the HD TV thing…even if I don’t have an HD signal coming into my apartment, should I buy HD DVDs now or will it matter? What’s the next Wii game I should invest 5 “Hamiltons” on?

Now that Clinton has conceded the Democratic primary, we can be subjected to the media blitz that will be the presidential election. My question is “With gasoline hovering around $4 a gallon, would it be too much to ask for the Republican nominee for President to have some sort of energy policy idea on his ‘issues’ web page?”

The Celtics and Lakers are playing in the NBA finals again for the first time since 1987 and that may have been the last time I watched the NBA and took it seriously. And with games starting at 9pm and my alarm going off at 3am, I don’t see me watching a lot of this series either. Elsewhere in the sporting world, Big Brown failed to win The Triple Crown. Maybe he needed some of whatever Kasey Kahne has been running on the last month. It’s almost the all-star break and the Cubs are still in 1st place and the Oriole are still playing .500, there is a new baseball stadium open about 10 blocks from here and I still have watched a full inning of this sport yet this year.

One of the voices of sports that I remember growing up with, Jim McKay, of ABC’s Wide World of Sports…”the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat”, died last week. Not to date myself too much but in the days of 3 networks, some fuzzy UHF channels, no sports talk radio, no anything.com, no blogs, and just you and your buddies trying to scrape up enough players for a game of tackle football on a cool November afternoon, we imagined Jim McKay calling out our names on one of his broadcasts and forever etching us in the image of sports lore. Rest in peace, sir.

Kung Fu Panda is my summer movie blockbuster? I think I’ll stick to my House, M.D. DVD reruns.

We may need an M.D. if we get to play today. The heat index is supposed to hit 104! Hoping to get an earlier game at 1100 to beat the triple digits but it’s still going to be HOT! Please drink water ahead of time and bring some with you if you’re playing.

Big crowd, no rain...

Submitted by Bill

With thunderstorms in the forecast when I came in yesterday, I decided to schedule a racquetball game with Ink & Visor instead. So of course, when some of the other whiny regulars shuffled in yesterday, notably Phil & Rodney, they wanted to know why we weren’t playing. And Rodney didn’t wait for an answer, he just called for a game. And as it turns out, it never rained at all yesterday and the 3 racquetball players came out for Ultimate anyway and we had 15! Or at least until Jason gimped off the field after pulling his calf. First game back after being gone at school. Hopefully not your last game before you leave J, that would be a lousy way to have to go. But it was good to see you out.

We also had a new player out yesterday. Everybody give a warm Buzzard welcome to KellyR from Rodney & Jorge’s shop. She got to experience the rumbling of Wings bearing down on her as she was getting ready to catch one. Hopefully that didn’t cause any PTUD (Post Traumatic Ultimate Disorder) and she’ll come back out.

Like most games when we have 7’s or more on either side, it was crowded and we had to find some passing lanes. Those were tough as I remember Conrad, Todd, Dennis, Phil & Eric all knocking discs out of the air in the endzone. Of course Conrad’s stellar defensive play went for naught as Tom & MattP were standing right there in the corner as the swatted disc fell in their collective hands. Bob also pulled in a deflection yesterday. Remember defense, hit them into the ground if you have the chance. With that many people any disc that stays up in the air probably has a good chance of landing in somebody’s hands. And if you hang around the end zone long enough…right Frank?...good things can happen (or bad depending on who’s team you’re on).

Okay folks, today is picture day!!!! Come on out at least for a team photo, even if you can’t play. If anybody is interested in taking some action shots during the game, that would be great. Maybe we’ll have enough where we can run a couple substitutes for each team and they can be the photographers.

Just a friendly reminder too about hydration. Yesterday was one of the first pretty humid days we’ve had out there. Please bring your water with you out on the field and don’t hesitate to call for a water break. We all need it and if you’re thinking it, then at least 3-4 other players are probably needing the break too. Or just run over to the sideline after a score if you don’t want to stop play. But please keep hydrated as we play…because you never know when the water won’t be there, like yesterday’s rain.

Redemption Songs...

Submitted by Bill

Old pirates, yes, they rob I;
Sold I to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit.
But my hand was made strong
By the hand of the Almighty.
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly.
Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs,
Redemption songs.

And those of us who had such a brutally awful game on Wednesday, and who came out yesterday had a bit of redemption in a much better game.

As usual, the 15-player game had a much different dynamic than the 7-player game and short passing was the rewarded premium. Of course with 8-7 the short passing lanes are often clogged with hands, legs, and other assorted body parts. Rodney even spiked one pass into my forehead yesterday. To add to that crowd control challenge yesterday, the breeze had picked up pretty nicely by game time and even though we were playing north to south to try and mitigate its advantage going one way all the time, it was still a factor blowing across the field generally and making the long pass a scarce commodity yesterday.

I believe yesterday was Justin’s last day of BPUC and though he hasn’t been out much of late we managed a great turnout for his farewell game.

There were a few awesome catches yesterday. Devan had a classic sideways layout for a score that required a great last second grab. Phil & Swinny also had very nice grabs. Tired of chasing Bob & Hollan around the past couple weeks, I decided to put myself on their team yesterday. Hey! You guys can both throw too!

There was some pre-game discussion as to what SOTG does and does not involve and suffice it to say that any friendly touching of anatomical areas of another player, while not specifically outlawed should fall back to that “two consenting adults” rule. Thanks for that mental image Rodney & MattP.

Thanks also to Frank, Eli, Conrad, & Jorge for rounding out the big crowd.

Anybody think we can get permissive orders to travel to Texel Beach for a tournament in June. Ah, now the real question…does anybody, without using Google, actually know where Texel Beach is? You might be surprised…the hint…it’s in the land of my ancestors.

Hope everybody has a safe and happy holiday weekend. Hollan, let this substitute for the “safety speech” you’ll be missing today. In all seriousness folks, even if you are being safe, there is a good chance that if driving, long hours, or alcohol is going to be involved in your weekend that somebody may not practice the best safety practice. Please be careful, watch out for your family and friends, be the example of good judgment and come back to the field in one piece next week.

Thank you to all those who have paid the Ultimate price so that I can go out on a field during lunch break of my job to play a game.

Missing the bus

Submitted by Bill

Well, by the time Swinny got out there and asked “What color should I put on?” it was already painfully evident that he needed to come to our side. The “school bus yellow” team was in desperate need of the extra man as we were, indeed, getting schooled.

So then, I’m thinking, “I’ve got Phil, Swinny & the extra person...this should absolutely swing the balance of power our way”. Unfortunately, Ultimate Karma had already set in apparently and with Phil mocking the SOTG score sheet, Jorge, Frank, Swinny & I were left to suffer the wrath of the disc gods, not to mention just some pretty good play on the other side of the field by Todd, Hollan, Rodney, & Wings (making his return after being gone a couple weeks).

Despite all the rain the evening before and earlier that morning, the field was in surprisingly good shape with hardly any standing water…well except for that one mud bog that MattP stepped in when pivoting for a throw. It distracted him so much that I came about a half second from getting a 10 count on him.

I found myself a half second or half foot shy in several other instances as well…going up for a jump disc against Todd, following Rodney across and enzone cut and watching his arms extend further than I’ve ever seen them before to catch a score, tossing my “machete” to Phil for a potential score gone bad, and whirling around on the final point of the game some 13 times before watching the disc land in Hollan’s hands for the final score.

At the suggestion of another faithful Buzzard, there has been some talk of offering up a couple monthly awards; most Outstanding Buzzard, and of course “Spirit of the Game” winner. The prizes are yet to be determined but we’ll start with May honorees. Please email me with your selections towards the end of next week. The “SOTG” award is self explanatory if you read the description on the upa.org website.

As far as criteria for the “MOB” award…I’m open for suggestions but it should, I suspect, be someone who has come out “regularly” (a majority of the games called), and who has demonstrated some Ultimate prowess, throwing efficiency, catching (layouts are a plus), and the underappreciated good defense. Perhaps when you nominate somebody you could just give me a couple bullets as to why you are.

Since we rarely keep score in any kind of official capacity and because my team pairing can be unfairly prohibitive to individual success at times, that should not necessarily be a factor in your nominations. Obviously, the MOB is going to make his/her teammates better but they still may not come out on top all the time. Also, to keep this as a morale booster (as if playing Ultimate everyday wasn’t enough), maybe we could stipulate that a player can not win the award more than once a quarter? I’m open for ideas. Shoot me an email if you have some thoughts.

Going to be a beautiful day for a game today…sunny, mid 60’s, don’t miss the chance to come out before the long weekend.

Readying the ark...

Submitted by Bill

Long as I remember
The rain been comin' down.
Clouds of myst'ry pourin'
Confusion on the ground.
Good men through the ages,
Tryin' to find the sun;
And I wonder, Still I wonder,
Who'll stop the rain.

You missed a great day yesterday if you didn’t come out. Sunny, mild and 6 on 5. We switched it up and played east to west on the north field yesterday. And it was fairly evenly matched 5 on 5 early in the game until Eric showed up and threw the balance of power over to the gold team. They worked a short passing game with surprising precision with Eric, Phil & Frank handling and finding Bob & Hollan with early-week speed in the end zones. Jorge back out for his 2nd game took a page from the MattC style guide for Ultimate, wore the bright yellow shirt and didn’t need a pinnie and then roamed the middle of the field making some nice grabs.

I liked my chances with green yesterday as any time I can have Todd & Eli throwing to me I know the chance are usually pretty good for getting some scores. Unfortunately, Thunder, Rodney & I couldn’t run under enough of them (re: we don’t run much to begin with). I think we each had our chances in the end zones and Todd and I managed to hook up on one nice floater early in the game but we just didn’t seem to get it quite in sync all game long.

Of course most of our offensive problems stemmed from lazy defense. Repeat after me everybody…”When you’re a man short, you have to come off the thrower and mark the cutter”… we all know this in our heads but transmitting that message to our feet was the problem yesterday and we got caught in a lot of short field circumstances where we were marking the thrower near the end zone and they just had to find the open cutter.

Well, it would be a really soggy game today. I’ve got my gear and I’m pondering sending out the email but the forecast has it coming down all day and it’s not exactly a warm rain….anybody else out there feeling ducky? Mallard? Where the heck are you?

Chiefly addition, playing for 2, & losing traction

Submitted by Bill

Great numbers toward the end of last week. On Wednesday we had a ridiculous 16 come on out. Much of the regular cast but a new face also. Welcome out Jorge. Another Chief is always welcome. Devin also came out for the first time since last summer and we took turns chasing him around. 8 on 8 is a lot of players. You’ve really got to have your short passing game on and some semblance of order and being able to run from a stack. We’ll have to have a skills practice or two sometime soon maybe.

Thursday I missed but I hear there were another 12 out there including Bryan’s wife and their child to be.

Friday was a rain game. Well, actually it had stopped by the time we got out there and we got a nice turn out (for a rainy Friday) of 8. They dynamics are crazy different from playing with 8 players on a team to only 8 on the field. I was apologizing ahead of time to my team for stacking the opposing gold team with more speed but as it turned out…erroneously so. Todd, Tom, Frank & I actually looked like the running team on many occasions as we found a nice formula…Todd and I would make the first couple passes then hit Tom or Frank on a medium length pass and let those two give and go it into the end zone. In fact, we ran Tom silly in the end zone from side to side on Friday. Tom was showing off the other aspects of his game this week (throwing & running) to become that renaissance player. Despite Rodney’s claims of goon play the week before.

Phil, Bob, Hollan & Conrad couldn’t quite get gold all on the same page Friday. I told Bob, who had been showing off some speed earlier in the week “that he must have run his tank low” by Friday’s game. Conrad was planning a trip to the sports store for the weekend to cleat shop after his third or fourth fall in the wet grass.

Today looks like it may be the best day of the week to play as rain and thunderstorms move in on Tuesday & Wednesday. So let’s get out and have a great game today.

Got an email from Travis late Friday afternoon…made it safely to Massachusetts and sends along his greetings to the Buzzards. Oh, and another reply to the historian that chalks up his initial attendance to Annette. Travis says he remembers her first email invite after she took over the list. Stand up and take a bow Annette (oh, you are standing).