Labor Day Recap

At the end of the 2008 Labor Day tournament at the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, I remember sitting around with the team just reflecting on a tournament where we only won one game. and lost maybe 5 or 6. It was a very difficult tournament in that we had a shortened squad, but there was no excuse as to how we played. We showed very little heart, a lot of nerves, and pretty much let down the Section and the Region that we represented.The team has changed a lot since last year but the veterans from '08 knew that we had to step it up this year and prove to ourselves that we could achieve all we set out to do.


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Round 1 vs. A.I.R.

Not a good start as AIR came out firing on all cylinders and had us down in an early 2-7 hole. Our offensive lines could not find a rhythm and we had some key drops and turns in our own end zone that led to easy scores. One key time-out later and a hungry defensive line finally got on the field and closed the gap from 2-7 to 7-8. Good way to end the half but we were still down, starting on D. We began to develop some "swagger" as Matt Welsh put it, and started dictating the game and closed strong after trading from half till 11's. Game to 13, we take the last 2 points of the game to win 13-11 and complete the comeback victory. AIR was, no pun intended, pretty deflated after that game as it was a very gutsy win for us avoiding another repeat of Chico and coming back to win from being down 4 breaks.


Round 2 vs. Denver Ultimate Club

We had a dreaded BYE the second round and I don't know if it was a factor, but we started flat again going down 0-2 but then begin to set the pace of the game. DUC played well, but we were able to contain their H-stack as well as run our offense efficiently. We threw a lot of counterpunches in transition D-->O and took care of the disc a lot better than we did in the previous game. We take half 8-4 and then storm up to 12-4. We took our foot off the gas near the end and take the game 13-8. Our offense feels a lot more fluid but our defense was still a bit sluggish. Good win after a bad start in the first round.


Round 3 vs. Night Train

I have no idea what happened this game. We currently had a 3-0 lifetime record against Night Train and I felt like we didn't take them seriously at all as they went up on us 2-6 quite easily. Our defense seemed soft and our offense confused and we simply could not establish a rhythm on offense and/or generate D's on defense. It was frustrating to watch them take the game 15-10, but our 20 throwaways told the story. We didn't play well at all and Night Train deserved the victory as they ran a DEEP H-stack that opened the entire under-lane for easy in-cuts that we neglected to respect. As our captain put it... it sucks to lose when we don't play well.


Round 4 vs. CTR

This was a friggin awesome game from the start. Both teams running their respective offenses well. CTR ran a standard vertical stack and relied on two main handlers to facilitate the offense and open up the deep game. We were in it from the start despite giving up an early break. We trade until 9's and then we go on a run to win it 13-11. We played this game with a lot of desire, and Barrs went crazy this game. It was wet, cold, foggy, and the last round, but we showed a lot of resilience against a very good CTR team and showed that despite the elements and a disasterous loss in the previous round, we could recover and bounce back, play our game and win.


3-1 on the day... went to sleep upset about the Night Train loss... in addition to the pain from partially dislocating my shoulder again on a lay-out D against DUC.

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Sunday
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Game 1 vs. Mischief

How do we even start with this one. We got pwned... nuff said. Mischief played a very sound game with minimal throw-aways which made our margin for error even smaller but we managed to give the game away right on the get go. We came out super flat at 8:00am and were never in it. These guys are a solid team... even at 8:00 in the morning. We are a great team... but we need to strive to be a team that's great whenever we take the field.


Game 2 vs. Golden Spike

Golden Spike is a good team. Well rounded with solid cutters, handles, and deep game, they surprised us out of the gate and went up 5-2 with relative ease. It was a very heated game with arguments, disputes, and finger pointing going on from both sides but that aside, it was a very intense and fun ultimate game. We had great offensive flow as did they, but our defense stepped it up and from 10-8, we go on a 5-0 run to take the game 13-10. This game had a lot of heated moments, but it was good to see our team keep our cool and work things out in a way that was both spirited and true to the game. Birthday boy Mark Miller catching the final score for the win through a defender was pretty sweet as well. Our ladies played well and made some pretty grabs. Great play all around. Great team win.


Game 3 vs. White Wedding

We STILL spotted them a 0-2 lead! There was a lot of wind in this game and we found ourselves on the field that had a straight up and down wind so a lot of zone was implemented (atleast from our side). We worked on zones and transitions and also played great offensive transition. This team was very short on numbers but it was very admirable to see them play the way they did against such great competition.


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In all, this tournament was very successful in that it helped us gauge where were and where we need to be for the series. We have one full practice before Sectionals, and then two practices until Regionals. It's the heart of the season right now, and when it all counts. Time to finish healing up injuries (in my case), to hit the track, to eat healthy, and to be in top shape because when you're in the game to go to nationals, you don't have a second shot. Life then goes point by point until a winner is decided. Overall it was a great tournament for us outside our two losses. We showed heart, grit, and passion with every point we played, every deficit we clawed back from, and every game that we won or loss. Sectionals in Long Beach in a week and a half.

Till then,

Hammie #10

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Elite-Mixed Final Standings

1. Mischief (6-0)
2. LA Metro (5-2)
3. A.I.R (5-2)
T-4. CTR (4-3)
T-4. BCBC (4-3)
6. Golden Spike (3-4)
7. Night Train (2-5)
8. White Wedding (1-6)
9. DUC (1-6)

Labor Day 2009 Preview

1. Mischief, San Francisco, CA

2. LA Metro, Los Angeles, CA

3. CTR, San Francisco, CA

4. Golden Spike, Salt Lake City, UT

5. BCBC, CA

6. Night Train, Davis, CA

7. Denver Ultimate Club (DUC), Denver, CO

8. White Wedding, Eugene, OR

9. A.I.R., San Francisco, CA

Format: Round Robin

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This year's Labor Day Tournament takes us away from the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park to a new all-weather turf in Oceanview, about 10 minutes south of downtown San Francisco. The move brings groans from the non-turf crowd, but also makes those veterans of the Polo Fields happy. (Worst fields in Ultimate). I saw a field last year at Labor Day with 5 or 6 hazard discs.

This year's format is also a round robin, instead of pools and bracket. We will be playing the same number of games, but this format allows for teams to play teams from other regions and allow for more variety. Our current schedule has us playing all the teams in the bunch EXCEPT for BCBC but this could change with placement for finals, etc.

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1. Mischief

Probably one of the most well-balanced teams I've seen in the co-ed circuit. They have great leadership, discipline, as well as poise that explains why they are so successful. They did struggle a bit at ECC, but look for Mischief to continue their success as they gear up for another Nationals run in the always difficult Northwest division.

2. LA Metro

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3. CTR

They've established themselves as a surprise contender and a solid #2 in the Bay Area behind Mischief. They surprised everyone and made finals at ECC and from when we played them, showed a lot of talent and athleticism drawing talent from Cal and the the rest of the bay.

4. Golden Spike

No one knows anything about this team. Myself included. All I know is that they play/practice at altitude. Probably going to be running harder than anyone out there.

5. BCBC

What team will they come up with next?

6. Night Train

Another surprise in the NW, they made finals at Chico, beating the likes of BCBC and BAG along the way. They've got a lot of experience on their side, and Mel is their go-to handler.

7. DUC

Denver Ultimate Club is a conglomeration of Bad Larry and Ripe, two teams that placed in the top 10 at regionals last year. Don't know too much about this team... but like Golden Spike, they live/practice at altitude. Should be one of those run and run teams.

8. White Wedding

I haven't a clue about this team. But if they're anything close to what Oregon Ultimate is known to be, there's no way anyone can take these guys lightly.

9. A.I.R.

Another Bay Area team, these guys gave us a close game up at Stanford, and beat us twice at Labor Day last year. It will be interesting to see how things pan out, and it's scary to think that a team THIS good in AIR is a 9th seed.

Predicted Final Standings

1. Mischief

2. LA Metro

3. Golden Spike

4. CTR

5. BCBC

6. DUC

7. White Wedding

8. AIR

9. Night Train

I will be updating scores and video-blogging on my posterous starting Saturday morning.

See you all in SF, best of luck to those playing in Santa Cruz.

-Hammie #10

Labor Day Championship Team List (mixed)

Air- San Francisco
Brown Chicken Brown Cow- Southern California
Butter - East Bay
Classy - San Francisco
CTR - South Bay
Denver Ultimate Club (DUC) - Denver
Feral Cows - South Bay
FOG - San Francisco
Golden Spike - Salt Lake City
LA Metro - LA
Merge- LA
Mischief- San Francisco/South Bay
Misery Loves Company- Stockton/Central Valley
Night Train- Davis
PieMo- Berkeley
Rush- San Francisco
That's What She Said - Marin County
The Fun Team- San Francisco
Unnamed (BAG?)- San Francisco
White Wedding- Eugene, OR

source: http://bayareadiscassociation.org/labor_day_tournament.asp

I am assuming the top 8 teams will include: BCBC, Metro, DUC, Mischief, CTR, Golden Spike, Night Train, and AIR.

-hammie

Discos Calientes 2009 Wrap-Up

As day broke on a beautiful Saturday morning in Chico, CA, 21 mixed teams and 10 open teams converged at Community Park, a short stone's throw from the Sierra Nevada Brewery. After several weeks of anticipation and preparation, it was tournament Saturday. The weather wasn't bad. Cool and brisk in the morning with occassional wind that topped out at maybe 10mph at times. Great fields, great weather, but an unusually late start time of 2:30pm.

Most of were already at the fields in the morning watching the Open division matchups between Strike Slip and Monster, or YR and Condors and were treated to very high level ultimate that gave hints as to which team would prove themselves to be superior in the NW and SW divisions. In the Southwest, just from a very early view of things, the team to beat is still Johnny Bravo folllowed by Street Gang, Strike Slip, Condors, and Monster. Early prediction, but we'll see how things pan out.

LA Metro was ranked #2 going into the tournament as the top seed in pool B that included Brass Monkey, Classy, and Bid*well Nuts. We had an awesome warm-up at around 1:00pm, felt confident, looked confident, almost borderline cocky. That proved to be our immediate downfall.

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Round 1 vs. Classy

Talk about a nut-buster of a first half. After trading the first two points on O, a "meltdown" would be an understatement. The wheels fell off early in this game as our O-line struggled to even move the disc off the pull. It wasn't the pressure from Classy running down on the pull, it wasn't their defense, it was just our nerves, our over-confidence, and our lack of heart. We did not work at all during this game. We had 19 turn-overs in this game, with the majority coming from unforced errors such as turfs and drops. No credit taken away from Classy, but they didn't do much to take this game from us other then to just take it from us. We gave this game to them, and it wasn't pretty. Being down 1-7 at half time, and then broken twice after half to make a 1-9 hole called for a huge change in mentality. Instead of winning the game, we focused on simply closing the gap. Small runs that would hopefully give us our dignity back. We closed until the final score of 7-13, but no heads were held high that game. *We embarassed ourselves, our supporters on the sideline, and Southern California ultimate in this game.* There were very few words during the post-game huddle other than from the captains. We were outplayed, and embarassed by a team we had beaten twice already, and it showed on the faces of every single player.

Classy upsets Metro 13-7

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Round 2 vs. Bid*Well Nuts

Mark of a good team: the ability to bounce back from disaster. After a disasterous first round, we changed our menality and began to work with our legs. We ran a 3 vs. 3 handler pre-game drill that would focus on quick movement and hard running which I believe was the main factor in the sudden metamorphosis of our offense from anemic, skiddish movement to beautiful ho-flo and fluid movement. It was an entirely different team out there the second game and our offense led the way to a 13-6 bounce back win. We played harder than these guys and definitely showed the character of an elite team by just having short-term memory and playing the game at hand.

Metro over Chico 13-6

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Round 3 vs. Brass Monkey

Brass Monkey was a reunion team with a lot of experience and skill. I'll keep this short, but the only way to describe this game was that we had our chances to put it away. We had MULTIPLE chances to put away but we let them off the hook (Insert Dennis Green joke here). We were up a couple breaks until their zone stiffled and frustrated our offense and took us to a universe point in which an ill-timed hard cap TO and a almost-heroic hammer doomed our team to a 10-9 defeat. On the upside, we played well. it wasn't a game where we gave them the W on a plate, but we showed a lot of resolve and fight, but they simply made the plays when they had to and we didn't. The focus was now on our decision-making with the disc and overall frisbee-IQ. Tough loss that would have all but sealed up the pool for us. Instead of winning the pool (that no longer had a distinct favorite), we took the B-4 spot. First to worst in our pool. It was kindof numbing that things could go so bad, but we weren't out of it yet. We still had a chance to do well in this tournament.

Brass Monkey over Metro 10-9 DGP

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Round 4 vs. Humboldt

Most fun game of the tournament for me. They played hard and as the sun set and the lights (kindof) came on, we proved to be the better team with a pretty easy 13-6 win. The margin should have been wider, but we kindof let off the gas a bit and made some ill-timed decisions that led to scores.

It was a good way to end the day, but we knew that because of our struggles the first day, we knew that we had a long day on Sunday and that the teams we played would give us quality games. Team Dinner+beer at the Sierra Nevada Brewery after a long day of ultimate. Perfect way to end the day.

LA Metro over Humboldt 13-6

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Pre-Quarters vs. Dutch Rudder

Quarters vs. Bid*well Nuts

We played well this game and opened up the deep game with Matt Welsh and Keegan leading the charge. After our disasterous first round on Saturday, we knew that we had to pick it up this game to prove that as a team, we didn't need a "warm-up" game to get into our groove. We didn't really do that as we started out down a break or two and had to claw our way back. We were down 4-6 I believe before we scored on O, and then two straight defensive breaks for the 7-6 half. We didn't look back from there and opened up the throttle and cruised to a 13-8 win, out-scoring Dutch Rudder 9-2 in the latter half of the game. That set up another match against Bid*well Nuts in which we won out again 13-8 in a very fun and spirited game that was actually covered by the local newspaper!

Metro over Dutch Rudder 13-8

Metro over Bid*Well Nuts 13-8

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Advancing to semifinals meant another match against our rivals Brown Chicken Brown Cow. This was "supposed" to be the Saturday-night Showcase game, but at that point, we knew that this game would be close and that if we wanted to really push ourselves to win, we would need to show a lot of poise, passion, and heart.

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Semifinals vs. Brown Chicken Brown Cow

Both of our rosters were short-staffed. It was apparent as big names from both teams were absent but that was no way an excuse or a crutch that either team could lean on in case of a defeat. We were both good teams that had played each other 2 times in the past already, with the rivalry tied at 1 game-apiece. The game started out with simple trading before our defensive line generated an early break. It was very obvious that our energy level was elevated for this game and that we were running well and hard. Our offense looked very smooth and fluid, with good decisions but several bad executions. Of note was Meesh playing very fundamentally sound defense on BCBC's best woman, as well as our general defense on their ladies. They are one of the few teams that consistently runs a 3-4 on offense and makes us prove that we can beat

their very talented and fast ladies. So we threw a wonky zone at them. And it worked. That was where the tide turned. We were up maybe one break, but after throwing a zone, we confused them, and stopped any kind of flow that they had and went up several breaks for a 10-5 lead. The biggest complaint we had for this game was that we let off a bit at the end because we knew we had this game won (due to time-caps), and pulled out a 11-8 win, when it should have been easily 13-5. It was a hard fought game with huge lay-outs from Keegan and Whitey. Our women played so well and did us proud. Above all though, we played with passion and heart but didn't let the excitement and adrennaline from playing our main rivals force us into "hero" mode. Back to fundamentals, back to working hard, back to Finals!

LA Metro over BCBC 11-8 (hard cap)

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Finals vs. Night Train

NightTrain (to me), was the surprise of the tournament. I had seen them play this past year and didn't think too much of them, but they surprised the A-pool much like Classy did in our pool and beat BCBC in pool play and BAG in semis to advance to finals. They had finished maybe 5 minutes prior to end of our game and were watching us play, almost scouting us. That 5 minutes was probably the difference in that we were able to smoothly transition into the game with our level of play already up. Due to the fact that many of us had to catch flights, the captains from both teams agreed that the game would end at 4:55pm (55-minute round), so that we would have ample time.

We came out on fire with great Ho-Flow and great defense on their ladies. They had maybe one or two handlers that could really jack it deep, but we stiffled them a bit in the beginning and went on a big run to make it a 5-0 game, practically putting the game away early. They did manage to close the gap a bit by working it with their women, but we pulled out the victory 9-5 and the tournament title. Of note from this game was Lindsey running deep and snagging the disc over a guy who was bidding for it, as well as Trogdor's crazy poach Lay-out D on my cutter who had to jump over him as he hit the deck. I liked the offense in this game in that we simply out-worked the opposition through dump swings and short passes which would gradually open up our deep shots from Keegan to our ladies. It was a great feeling to win this game as many of us were fighting cramps, fatigue, and exhaustion.

LA Metro over Night Train 9-5 (time cap)

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So we did it. We started the tournament on a disasterous note, but showed enough poise and composure to slowly bring ourselves together and win each game, one at a time. Going into bracket play as the last seed out of pool play, we had a lot of critics to answer. Many people questioning our team ability, our cohesiveness, our desire to win. I think we did answer a lot of questions this weekend that we also had for ourselves. Could we bounce back? Could we win in more than one way? We learned a lot about ourselves this weekend and the tournament victory tasted so much better than the Sierra Nevada 24-pack that came with it.

As we raced back to the airport to catch our 8:00pm flights, it was apparent on the faces of every single player on this team that it had taken a lot out of each of us. True we were excited and proud that we won, but many of us wore our emotions on our sleeve after that game and displayed faces of exhaustion, fatigue, and above all relief. Coming all the way back to win really showed that we did have what it takes to gut it out but that we have so much more to learn and work on as a team. For every player that was there this week, it was a victory for our team, but it was also a personal victory as each person stepped up their game and brought it for Metro Blue. I am proud to wear this jersey, and I am proud of every single one of my teammates for their commitment to the team, their desire to work for each other, and just the smiles I saw as we earned the title of the 2009 Discos Calientes Mixed-Division Champions.

Great job Metro.

-Hammie

Discos Calientes Preview

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Pool A

A1. Brown Chicken Brown Cow (1)

A2. Night Train (4)

A3. Classy (6)

A4. Humboldt (8)

Pool B

B1. LA Metro (2)

B2. Brass Monkey (3)

B3. BAG (5)

B4. Bidwell* Nuts (7)

courtesy: upa.org

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The current weather forecast for Chico, CA this weekend is: high of 94 with approximately 30-40% humidity. So actually this isn't that bad compared to last year, although Chico hit 103 yesterday.

Discos Calientes is a tournament I haven't really been looking forward to in that it calls for teams to deal with extreme elements such as heat, UV-index, and insects. That aside, the tournament vibe is very awesome in that you can jump into a 65 degree river after playing and/or visit the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company across the street from the fields. The rankings listed above were posted by Fetch, the tournament TD and are no-way finalized. I just know that I won't have time later in the week to write this up so I'm going to take care of it now with the information I've got.

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Brown Chicken is ranked #1 for this tournament (no surprise) and look to continue proving that putting together a team the week before a tournament from an assortment of in-region and out of region players works. In theory, such a strategy should bring chemistry problems and/or unfamiliarity between teammates, but Calle has done it well and put together teams that are not only more talented then most in the region, but also can quickly gel together and flow seamlessly. They bring a more limited roster to Chico, but which team isn't. It's about the half-way point in the season and I'm sure many teams are stuck with injuries and/or mid-summer wedding obligations. =)

Brass Monkey is back! I was very surprised at this and thought that it was a misprint in that "SF-Rush" was supposed to be slotted at the 3-seed. However I was wrong as it was brought to my attention that this was a Brass Monkey reunion type team. We played Brass last year at CalStates (W:15-12), but outside several handlers and women, I don't know very much about this team. Should be a strong team since they've played together for all those years in the Bay Area but who knows. I know several ex-Brass players have moved onto other teams so numbers could possibly be an issue.

Night Train brings a good balance of handlers + cutters to the table. Through watching them at this year's Calstates or playing them last year at Labor Day, they don't have the huge superstars that a "big market" area would yield, but they are definitely a team with veteran leadership and great fundamentals.

BAG is a team I would love to play for if I had returned home to the Bay Area. The "Bay Area Gangsters," or formerly the "Black Actor's Guild," are mostly comprised of current or recently graduated college students from schools like Davis, Cal, SF State, that rely heavily on handler movement and/or a huge jack into the end zone. They've got a lot of great cutters that also can handle and played relatively well at Stanford with wins over GNT, Rush, and Dutch Rudder. They're a young team, but they have a lot of potential for upsets. I see them breaking seed and more.

Seeds 6-9 are Classy, Bidwell Nuts, and Humboldt. I don't know too much about these teams other then the fact that they cannot be underestimated. Humboldt has a great program up there and they consistently bring very good athletes to the pitch. Classy gave us a good game at Calstates, mounting a run in the early second half to keep it close before we pulled to a 15-9 win. They've got plenty of height and cutters, I just feel that their handling core isn't as strong as other teams in this pool.

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The tournament has been set up so that the Mixed-division is split into two groups; the top 8 in one group, and the rest of the field in the other group. There is also an Open Division with the following pools:

Pool A

A1. Condors (1)

A2. End Phase (4)

A3. Army of Darkness (5)

A4. Buddies (7)

A5. The Pirate Bay (10)

Pool B

B1. Strike Slip (2)

B2. Monster (3)

B3. SCUC (6)

B4. Seduction (8)

B5. Club Sac (9)

This is looking to be a pretty good field for an open division tournament with the tournament debut of the new-look Condors as well as LA Monster. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like YR has now become "End-Phase," but were called "Sharky" at CalStates. Weird... but the game to watch for the open division seems to be between Condors and Strike Slip, or the latter vs. the new YR team. Look for Santa Cruz (SCUM) to give the top teams trouble. In terms of prediction, it's a toss up for me. I'd like to see Strike Slip take the tournament, with the talent they have, this tournament is theirs to lose.

My blog mostly deals with the mixed division, but if you want a look at the open division, more specifically a look-in with LA's top open team, Strike-Slip, hit up my friend DOT's blog for their tournament previews and wraps.

Once the actual pools and rankings are out, I will update. Till then.

-Hammie

LA Metro 2009 Roster (REVISED)

Ladies

Martha Uhl (c)

Enway Hsu

Jen "Zip" Chen

Holly Schwarz

Mary Kate "Uzi" Hogan

Lindsey Cross

Sarah "Carny" Carnahan

Michelle Andrews

Karen Ko

Gerene Garcia

LA Metro returns 5 ladies who played during the entire 2008 club season which includes solid handlers in Enway, Holly, and Zip. Key losses include Iris, Dara, and Nicole. Key pickups include Lindsey Cross and Uzi who are fresh off of college nationals. We have a lot of new faces on the women's side but all are very talented and each bring a different skill-set to our very diverse team.

Men

Chad Christensen (c)

Keegan Uhl (c)

Simon Margolis

Samuel "Hammie" Chen

Spencer Barr

Scott Mahr

Kief Zangaro

Rob Seversen

Mark Miller

Jon "Yugo" Miles

Barrs Lang

Frankie Rho (c)

Jeff Chai

Ryan "Trogdor" Hunt

Andy Curtis

Todd Krumpe

Matt Welsh

With 11 returners, the captains were faced with a very tough task of streamlining the team with a mix of new and old to yield the greatest result. Before the season started, there was the possibility of losing 4-5 members to other teams however all have decided to return and that means that the core component of our team as well as our role players remain intact. Key pickups include UCLA's Trogdor and Chai as well as Matt Welsh, who brings us a very high level of intensity, athelticism and speed to our team. Look for the new guys to complement the returners, adding in speed, versatility, and energy to our solid core of returning players.

As 808 said, Play time IS over. Time to focus on the Club Season.

Regards,

-Sam

Committing Larceny: Skying people taller than you

coming soon...