casual ultimate » Colorado Cup

Game for game..here we go

Game 1: Jam
We go up 6-3. Offense was flawless. Defense got breaks, but we never really created a turn, Jam just dropped a lot. Then there came the timeout. Jam decided to stop sucking. We decided otherwise. They went on to win 15-6 if I’m not mistaken.

Game 2: SubZero
Zero got rid of some scrubs, got rid of some old guys, and took the top half of the College Champion Wisconsin Hodags team. They were solid, and we came out like chumps. Another spanking.

Game 3: Revolver
We finally got acclimated to the mile high air. We finally got pissed off at our piss-poor performance. We decided to hurt on Revolver. Offense was literally FLAWLESS. It was beautiful to see. Defense decided to put a hurt down and got some sweet layout D’s with breaks to boot. Fun game.

Game 4: Boston Ultimate
The combo Dog/Twisted team has had a rough start so far this season. Lots of big names still. Tight game the whole way through with us trailing most of the way. At the end, Boston is up 13-12, and straight to 14. Offense scores. 13-13. We pull, Mini gets a layout D and then puts up a perfect flick to Joel Wooten streaking into the endzone. Game. First time Chicago beats Boston.

Saturday overall: 2-2. Started roughly with us craving EPO more than Floyd Landis. Ended beautifully. We got our pizza, tried to watch the showcase game b/t Rare Air and Ozone, but got rained out.

Went back to the hotel (Boulder Outlook..awesome), and jumped in the pool/hot tub with Nemesis. Well, everyone did but me. I like the first shower.

Team dinner at some restaurant that wasn’t memorable, and then most of us are too bushed from the day and the lack of oxygen to do anything that night. Except for Hens. He parties it up with the Ambush ladies and says that Jam was out in full force that night also. I hate those guys.

Sunday

Game 1: Johnny Bravo
First time I felt like a team had a bunch of dudes who just plain outran us. And I’m not talking about Beau alone. Home fields, the entire team, and acclimated to crazy thin air…recipe for success. I’m not sure what was with us either, but we were NOT ready for this game. We came out flat and timid. 15-6 or something embarrassing like that.

Game 2: Truck Stop
TS came off losing to Boston on universe point. This was our game to win. We ended up losing on universe to them. I can’t describe how disappointing this game was to us as a whole. We should have crushed this team.

Game 3: Condors
Once again a slow start buries us. To be honest I don’t remember much from this game. Offense wasn’t looking good. Defense was getting the turns but crashed and burned when it came to converting. Looking forward to a very cold Boulder Brewery beer near the end of this game.

Thoughts from the weekend (basically the real stuff that I paid attention to):

1. Mike Shiel is awesome. I mean AWESOME. Best player in Midwest?
2. Mini. Man I’m glad we stole this kid from Briefcase.
3. New guys. Awesome. Ed, Andy, Denis (and Mini, Mike S.) Made contributions all weekend. Are gonna be pivotal come Regionals/Nationals.
4. We were missing some of our BIG names…Timmy, Bill F., Kolb, Gary, Cash, IU boys (Dave Campos and Gravy). Could this have been a completely different weekend?
5. Bjorn Gunderson. He’s starting to love grass again. It ain’t all beach in his world anymore.
6. Joel Wooten. He’s good. Like better than Mike Shiel good.
7. Will I stop turning the disc over?
8. Are we doomed without a small, squirrely Asian handler? (Cho-bot and Tyson are both gone this season)
9. I’m pretty confident about this team. I think we will be better than last year. (I realize this weekend’s results are not reassuring..but trust me). However, I wonder if we can break into quarters/semis? Playing Bravo (not so much Jam) was a real awakening. These guys are solid top to bottom. And I mean SOLID.
a. Beau Kittredge. A lot of us talk about how we are athletes, etc etc. The truth is most club players are still at most, really good ex-high school athletes. (Hens is also an exception). Beau is the real deal. That dude is an ATHLETE. On 2 different occasions I saw him run down hucks where he was the 4th dude. He outran THREE guys ahead of him (including his own teammate) in a span of like 40 yards. That is nuts. I am by no means the first person to notice this, but I guess it really struck me this weekend (I was pretty drunk during semis last year at Natties…you can hear Bill and I arguing on the UV disc during the game about who is better…Beau or Alex Nord).
10. As you can tell..I have crushes on many dudes in ultimate.
11. Machine. Cooler, CHC, Sectionals, Regionals, Natties. Not much time, but I am confident that things are gonna fall in place real quick. A tourney like this creates a massive learning curve. I’m glad we started out with such intense competition; we know what we need to do now to get to the next level. Watch out Bravo. I don’t plan on ever feeling like I did after that game against you in Boulder. You’re on the shit list.