A Scribe's Diatribe or 'The Straw (re: Mitchell report) that broke the camel's back'

When was the last time you heard an Ultimate player’s name in the news for steroid use, perjury, dog fighting, spousal abuse, DUI, drug abuse, sexual harassment, etc? Oh, you haven’t? Do you wonder why? Well, it would be nice to think that it’s because those of us in the sport of Ultimate sit on a morally higher ground and conduct ourselves in a more ethical manner. And there could be some argument, with our “Spirit of the Game” self-governance, offered as evidence, that this is true on some level. But the real reason is that we don’t make bazillions of dollars a year playing a child’s game. All those things occur throughout society but they don’t make the front page headlines because our collective earning power doesn’t make a ripple in the pond of multi-billionaire, ego-maniacal, far-removed from “the common man” professional sports figures.

For those of us decrying the state of professional, and in many instances even collegiate level, sports as having eroded to the level of social cesspool, I offer this New Year’s resolution challenge…STOP WATCHING! Heck, get a head start at your holiday celebrations over the next few weeks. Instead of falling into the cosmic forces that seem to separate family gatherings into the 3 spheres of kid’s table, kitchen help, or TV sports watchers dare to pull your cousins, nieces, nephews and even Grandmom Mildred into the back yard and throw the disc around. Or pull out somebody’s game of Cranium, Would You Rather, UNO, or even Twister, a nice bottle (or eight depending on your family size) of a local Virginia wine…the 2003 Keswick Vineyards Chardonnay or 2001 Barbousville Winery Octagon, that’s white & red respectively for you “Frisbee” players, and stop watching! Do something more constructive with your time, reclaim your search for fun, sportsmanship, fair competition & general well-being. Stop making the rich richer while complaining that the "out of work veteran" panhandler should find a job and stop holding a sign in the same parking lot each day...the one of the Starbucks we're pulling into to plunk down $3.50 on a gingerbread latte...okay, I'm rambling. ESPN has sent me over the edge today.

I’m in the planning stages of my “year-in-review” entry for this forum. Please forgive me if it doesn’t completely have something to do with the sport of Ultimate but the company of players I keep is so “Renaissance” in its collective spectrum of interests and stories that it’s likely I’ll ramble off on many tangents and you’ll wonder what in the world you’ve clicked to.

If any of you have any submissions, feel free to send those along for my consideration.

In the meantime, looks like we’ll have a decent day for a game today for those of you who have come to work. Thanks for keeping the games going this week in my departure. Just want to give a hearty (or squawky) Buzzard shout out to Rob. This was his last week of internship at CGHQ and he has been a faithful participant since his introduction to the BPUC. You’ll notice he was both, a wind & snow ribbon recipient. Good luck Rob.

So, what’s happened this week Buzzards? No interesting stories? I find that hard to believe. Chime in and find yourself published.

See you on the field today.

Welcome BPUC & Friends!

This is intended to be the web presence for the Buzzards Point Ultimate Club (BPUC). The BPUC is the intramural team of mostly Coast Guard members from Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C. We play as often as we can during the week at Ft. McNair during lunch for games of Ultimate.

I have been at Headquarters since December of 2003 and the club has been around since before then but like many other things associated with the military it has gone through the growing pains of the transfer of people in and out. My own first recollections of the club were from an "Interest Email" sent out by Lonnie. I came out and wheezed and gasped through the first few weeks before I became addicted and the rest is cliche'.

Interestingly enough, one of our current "regulars" claims to have introduced Lonnie to the sport - Lindsay "Mallard", of famed wingspan if not unlimited endurance. I'd also like to give a shout out to Annette who helped resuscitate this club when it looked like it was going to die off last year. I have tried to add my encouragement and support and good fortune has brought us a great group of core players now that eagerly gather each day to celebrate the "Spirit of the Game". I hope that you will enjoy reading of our adventures and games.

One last point of housekeeping. This blog is in no way associated with the U.S. Coast Guard and does not have any official license to speak for that organization. While many of the players are active or former members of the service we come out as fellow Ultimate players and not as a military organization. As such, the reference to players will be by their names, either given by their parents at their birth or dubbed by their fellow Ultimate players. It is not my intent to offend any sense of military protocol...but in fact, that is checked at the gate as we step on the field. The "Spirit of the Game" governs Ultimate's unique sense of respect for each other and we believe that is sufficient.

Lay out & enjoy! - Bill