I thought I would put some thoughts together regarding the Santa Barbara Invite results from this last weekend. I was in attendance last weekend as a coach with UC Davis so perhaps my opinions are a tad bais but probably not by much.
First off the schedule was ridiculous, we played two games early in the day and were done by 1, then we had a 4 hour bye until our game at 520, then the next game at 9:20. Then after our 9:20 game we had an 8 am game.
Anyways my thoughts on the teams I saw...
UCLA: They were the team I expected to see, lots of handler movement and give-gos all day. They went up on us early but we stayed tight on our marks and and started generating turns and evenutally came away with the win 9-6. I think this team is pretty solid but with the offense they run they need solid timing and anticipating from the handlers and cutters. This is probably why they didn't do too well at this early tournament. Initally I would expect them to finish around the back door semis at regionals.
Colorado: Athletically gifted team with height and solid fundamentals all the way around. They liked the side stack with iso cuts and the IO break. We brought the game within 1 or 2 but really didn't play our best game. They didn't seem to have an amazingly dominant player but they did win the tourney so you can't count them out of being a good team.
Arizona: A much younger team then of years past but still very athletic. They liked the deep ball and would at times blindly huck it to someone deep. They are probably a team around the same talent level as UCLA.
Cal: This team is a solid fundamental team. They only try to do a few things and do them well. Mateo can throw what ever he wants and Hagen anchors the deep D and O. Again they are fundamentally sound and really enjoy breaking the mark. They have great role players in James, Gary, and Rhoeder. They're a lot deeper than I expected and I guess it just goes to show that you can't coun't out Nationals experience.
Stanford: They lost a lot of talent from last year and you can see that in their play this year. They have a few talented players but they aren't the dominate team they have been in years past. They do a lot of verical stack with a cut from the front going deep and they like to those big back hand hucks. We were able to match up well and limit the number of hucks they completed. I'm not ready to count them out because they still have a well established program and just like everyone else they will continue to get better. So we'll see how they do come stanford invite.
UC Santa Barbara: They have been declining since my Junior year in college and now I think they are the the least talented Tide team I have ever seen. They just seem deflated from the team they used to be. They aren't very loud or enthusiastic at least not to the level they used to be. They still work hard and run hard but they are young and make typical mistakes. I'm sure they will keep working but I don't seem them in Madison this year.
San Diego State: My Alma Matter. My boys have been running hard from what I hear and they look like they are in pretty good shape. They had a rough weekend partly due to there age (young team), silly drops, and lack of practices prior to this tourney. I still think they will improve especially since Cliffy says they are the best team State has had. I'll be rooting for them and I think they can defeat Squids and Tide this year. But you gotta do it at regionals for it to count.
UW: From what I could tell they didn't have the talent they have had in the past. Not sure if they were missing anyone but they seemed beatable and under staffed. Maybe the travel got to them but it seems that they didn't bring there best game. But hey it's early.
See you at Vegas...all on black!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
How Many Times Can I Miss a Bid in One Weekend?
ONCE...
TWICE...
THRICE
FOUR FUCKING TIMES!!!!!
OH I GOT THIS ONE!!!!!
NOPE - GOD DAMMIT
My inadequacy keeps me up at night...
Better hit the gym...sad face:(
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
SDSU Beats Azrizon on Universe...WOW
WOW is right.
This is probably the most memorable game I ever played in. It was 2008 my senior year and captain year at San Diego State. We had just played the three day tournament in Vegas called 'Trouble in Vegas' and we had a decent perfomance. I think overall we came out with a 4-5 record but we felt good about how we played and knew we could make a few adjustments and be a better team.
Arizona had a better vegas. They were relatively unknown and were able to win a few games and ended up in the round of 16 on day two. We had just finished beating Richmond and we went over to watch the end of the Arizona vs. Florida game. I only watched the last 4 points or so but it was worth it. Sunburn and the Gators were in a battle, they were trading points and Joe Kershner was tearing it up. Lopp, they called him, had a big sky over Kurt Gibson and ended the game on a universe layout over Gibson. The sideline was huge and it felt like the entire tournament was watching. Lopp basically won the Callahan award in that game and reallly in that layout universe catch. Arizona would go on to make the finals and lose on time cap to Wisconsin by one point. But again Lopp had a huge layout grab to end the game.
Anyways the very next weekend in San Diego for Presday we take second in our pool to Kansas, a game we could have won, and they win there pool. This matches us up in power pools the next day. First we had to battle to get through Arkansas, which was a game we probably should have lost be we battled back. Next we lost to Tide X. Then we were set to play Arizona. I distinctly remember talking with our coach about wanting to beat UCLA, our opponent in our 4th game. So our focus was not on the Arizona game at all, we did not expect to even be in that game.
So the game starts, I can't remember too many details, but I do remember them turning the disc pretty easily and us being able to score. We didn't do anything special or tricky, we didn't talk much before the game about a strategy we simply played ultimate in a lose fun atmoshpere because we expected to lose. Occasionally we would run our junk D but again we overal strategy. I do remember Wes catching several scores, Wes is a small little Asian guy who is sneaky. We called him cheat codes because he would often times end up catching the disc over someone twice his size.
All of a sudden we are up 6-3 and end up taking half at 7-5 I believe. At this point the game tightened up and both sides put pressure on defense. I covered Lopp mostly in this game and wasn't overly impressed. Don't get me wrong he is a great ultimate player but he didn't hurt us much this game. I think his main strength is his intelligence on the field as well as his athletic ability, but again I didn't find him terribly difficult to contain and I felt someone like Seraf on UCLA was a much tougher assignment for me and I usually stuggled. However I did hear he was recovering from an ankle sprain, but hey I spained mine at Vegas as well.
So the battle continued and we were still up a break or two, some how they got it back and we were neck and neck. It seemed that all our game with Arizona was going running long because other teams had finished there games and came over to watch surprised that we were still playing. The sidelines began to bolster and then your adrenaline starts pumping. The score has to be something like 11 at this point and as were being pulled to the hard cap goes off, universe!
We work it down the field and utilize the center of the field in our spread offense. I remember at one point cutting to the middle of the field and being vastly over throwed, I layed out and couldn't get to it. I thought we had turned it and our shot at completing the upset may have been lost, but Jackson was there to catch the errant throw and we were still in business. We get down to the end zone I get a break throw from the front of the stack and continue the break to someone for the score and the win!! We beat Arizona and completed the upset! Or so I thought...
One of the Arizona captains come over and say that he just talked to the TD and he said that you must win by two in soft cap. We didn't think that was correct but hey he talked to the TD. So we kept playing and Zona scores it to make it 12s I believe. At this point the Hard Cap goes off and were now in universe. As were working it up the field there is a pick call or something and play stops, at this point the TD runs on to the field and says that the game should be over. We should have won the Zona captain was confused and heard wrong. We decide to just play it out, if we were at regionals it might have been a different story.
So again we drive down the field and Grill gets the disc about 30 yards out of the end zone, I'm cutting from the opposite side of the field towards the back cone and Grill puts it. I track it down with a lay out goal and the win! We beat Arizona. It was an epic win and probably is the biggest win that SDSU has had ever. All in all zona was a great opponent and very fun spirited team. They actually crashed at my house for regionals in Arizona and they were a lot of fun.
This is probably the most memorable game I ever played in. It was 2008 my senior year and captain year at San Diego State. We had just played the three day tournament in Vegas called 'Trouble in Vegas' and we had a decent perfomance. I think overall we came out with a 4-5 record but we felt good about how we played and knew we could make a few adjustments and be a better team.Arizona had a better vegas. They were relatively unknown and were able to win a few games and ended up in the round of 16 on day two. We had just finished beating Richmond and we went over to watch the end of the Arizona vs. Florida game. I only watched the last 4 points or so but it was worth it. Sunburn and the Gators were in a battle, they were trading points and Joe Kershner was tearing it up. Lopp, they called him, had a big sky over Kurt Gibson and ended the game on a universe layout over Gibson. The sideline was huge and it felt like the entire tournament was watching. Lopp basically won the Callahan award in that game and reallly in that layout universe catch. Arizona would go on to make the finals and lose on time cap to Wisconsin by one point. But again Lopp had a huge layout grab to end the game.
Anyways the very next weekend in San Diego for Presday we take second in our pool to Kansas, a game we could have won, and they win there pool. This matches us up in power pools the next day. First we had to battle to get through Arkansas, which was a game we probably should have lost be we battled back. Next we lost to Tide X. Then we were set to play Arizona. I distinctly remember talking with our coach about wanting to beat UCLA, our opponent in our 4th game. So our focus was not on the Arizona game at all, we did not expect to even be in that game.
So the game starts, I can't remember too many details, but I do remember them turning the disc pretty easily and us being able to score. We didn't do anything special or tricky, we didn't talk much before the game about a strategy we simply played ultimate in a lose fun atmoshpere because we expected to lose. Occasionally we would run our junk D but again we overal strategy. I do remember Wes catching several scores, Wes is a small little Asian guy who is sneaky. We called him cheat codes because he would often times end up catching the disc over someone twice his size.
All of a sudden we are up 6-3 and end up taking half at 7-5 I believe. At this point the game tightened up and both sides put pressure on defense. I covered Lopp mostly in this game and wasn't overly impressed. Don't get me wrong he is a great ultimate player but he didn't hurt us much this game. I think his main strength is his intelligence on the field as well as his athletic ability, but again I didn't find him terribly difficult to contain and I felt someone like Seraf on UCLA was a much tougher assignment for me and I usually stuggled. However I did hear he was recovering from an ankle sprain, but hey I spained mine at Vegas as well.
So the battle continued and we were still up a break or two, some how they got it back and we were neck and neck. It seemed that all our game with Arizona was going running long because other teams had finished there games and came over to watch surprised that we were still playing. The sidelines began to bolster and then your adrenaline starts pumping. The score has to be something like 11 at this point and as were being pulled to the hard cap goes off, universe!
We work it down the field and utilize the center of the field in our spread offense. I remember at one point cutting to the middle of the field and being vastly over throwed, I layed out and couldn't get to it. I thought we had turned it and our shot at completing the upset may have been lost, but Jackson was there to catch the errant throw and we were still in business. We get down to the end zone I get a break throw from the front of the stack and continue the break to someone for the score and the win!! We beat Arizona and completed the upset! Or so I thought...
One of the Arizona captains come over and say that he just talked to the TD and he said that you must win by two in soft cap. We didn't think that was correct but hey he talked to the TD. So we kept playing and Zona scores it to make it 12s I believe. At this point the Hard Cap goes off and were now in universe. As were working it up the field there is a pick call or something and play stops, at this point the TD runs on to the field and says that the game should be over. We should have won the Zona captain was confused and heard wrong. We decide to just play it out, if we were at regionals it might have been a different story.
So again we drive down the field and Grill gets the disc about 30 yards out of the end zone, I'm cutting from the opposite side of the field towards the back cone and Grill puts it. I track it down with a lay out goal and the win! We beat Arizona. It was an epic win and probably is the biggest win that SDSU has had ever. All in all zona was a great opponent and very fun spirited team. They actually crashed at my house for regionals in Arizona and they were a lot of fun.
Some one captured the last point on video, not long but epic.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Happy New Year!
That's right it is 2010 (that's 'twenty-ten' not 'two thousand & ten', no one ever said 'One thousand nine hundred and ninety nine' - get it right)
And since I still haven't had a significant amount of posts on this blog, mostly due to blog writers block, I thought this would be a good topic to spark my thoughts and creativity to help that snowball get rolling.
So first off I have never been a big fan of New Years Resolutions mostly because I forget them pretty quick and what is important to you right now may not be important to you tomorrow I also prefer to enact some sort of change in my behavior rather than try to accomplish a specific goal. For example say your resolution is to quit smoking and say you do that by Feb, now you have 10 more months of nothing to accomplish, or I guess you could just work to continue to not smoke but that seems like a stagnant way of going about it. So I prefer more of a New Month Resolutions or Quarterly Resolutions.
But for the sake of actually completing a post with any logical thought free of irrational rambling and nonsense I will post my New Years Resolutions.
Here they are in no particular order...
Move - That's right, move out of Sacramento. I don't like living here, I don't know too many people and I haven't really set out to try and meet many people mostly because I don't want to get too involved in anything and somehow become stuck. I would love to get back down to San Diego, I really enjoyed it there and I feel that I really am the person I want to be when I'm down there. Or at least can become that person. I would settle for the Bay Area but still not ideal.
New Job - I don't necessarily have to be with a different company but I would prefer to have a different set of responsibilities that I enjoy. Right now I'm in sort of a rut when it comes to work and it has become a "Job", in a sense that it is painful to do the work. I want to enjoy what I do and have a clearer direction in where I am going. Right now I don't have either.
Pay off all Debt - I don't think I can get it all paid off but I certainly can get a large chunk out of the way, having it hang over my head as I go about my every day life is a weight that I can literally feel. I'm not in bad shape at all actually compared to many of my peers and maybe I'm just a bit paranoid but I think that is a good thing. So I would like to have my Truck, School Loans, and Credit Cards significantly paid off by this time 2011.
Qualify for Club Nationals - A lofty goal to set this year but if you don't make that your goal you'll never be disappointed when you don't make it. I simply want to be the type of player that can help a team get there and significantly contribute to the success of the team. We'll see what this year holds and what team / division I will be playing in.
Win the Super Bowl in Madden 10 - I'm 5 or 6 seasons in on franchise mode and I've lost the Super Bowl twice in consecutive years and these last two years I went out in the first round and then finished 3-13. I should have a top pick in this years draft so hopefully I can get a big time running back or defensive guy and make a good run this year. This may sound like a lame goal and I could actually probably accomplish it later tonight if I get some time on the XBox, but yeah you gotta have fun.
Catch a Hand block - nuff said
Develop Better Eating and Exercises Habits - Right now I'm some what streaky. I'll have a good streak of working out regularly and eating well, then I'll fall off the wagon and get a bit lazy. Right now I'm in the lazy portion because it is my off season in a sense. But that shouldn't excuse it. I need to get heading in the right direction again.
Read & Write More - I want to read a bit more this year and really get some more books under my belt. I also want to put my thoughts on paper, electronic or actual, more. I think that will help me start to figure out what I want in this world.
So those are some of my goals / resolutions this year so we'll see where that gets me and maybe in a few months I can give an update on how I'm doing on these.
Will
And since I still haven't had a significant amount of posts on this blog, mostly due to blog writers block, I thought this would be a good topic to spark my thoughts and creativity to help that snowball get rolling.
So first off I have never been a big fan of New Years Resolutions mostly because I forget them pretty quick and what is important to you right now may not be important to you tomorrow I also prefer to enact some sort of change in my behavior rather than try to accomplish a specific goal. For example say your resolution is to quit smoking and say you do that by Feb, now you have 10 more months of nothing to accomplish, or I guess you could just work to continue to not smoke but that seems like a stagnant way of going about it. So I prefer more of a New Month Resolutions or Quarterly Resolutions.
But for the sake of actually completing a post with any logical thought free of irrational rambling and nonsense I will post my New Years Resolutions.
Here they are in no particular order...
Move - That's right, move out of Sacramento. I don't like living here, I don't know too many people and I haven't really set out to try and meet many people mostly because I don't want to get too involved in anything and somehow become stuck. I would love to get back down to San Diego, I really enjoyed it there and I feel that I really am the person I want to be when I'm down there. Or at least can become that person. I would settle for the Bay Area but still not ideal.
New Job - I don't necessarily have to be with a different company but I would prefer to have a different set of responsibilities that I enjoy. Right now I'm in sort of a rut when it comes to work and it has become a "Job", in a sense that it is painful to do the work. I want to enjoy what I do and have a clearer direction in where I am going. Right now I don't have either.
Pay off all Debt - I don't think I can get it all paid off but I certainly can get a large chunk out of the way, having it hang over my head as I go about my every day life is a weight that I can literally feel. I'm not in bad shape at all actually compared to many of my peers and maybe I'm just a bit paranoid but I think that is a good thing. So I would like to have my Truck, School Loans, and Credit Cards significantly paid off by this time 2011.
Qualify for Club Nationals - A lofty goal to set this year but if you don't make that your goal you'll never be disappointed when you don't make it. I simply want to be the type of player that can help a team get there and significantly contribute to the success of the team. We'll see what this year holds and what team / division I will be playing in.
Win the Super Bowl in Madden 10 - I'm 5 or 6 seasons in on franchise mode and I've lost the Super Bowl twice in consecutive years and these last two years I went out in the first round and then finished 3-13. I should have a top pick in this years draft so hopefully I can get a big time running back or defensive guy and make a good run this year. This may sound like a lame goal and I could actually probably accomplish it later tonight if I get some time on the XBox, but yeah you gotta have fun.
Catch a Hand block - nuff said
Develop Better Eating and Exercises Habits - Right now I'm some what streaky. I'll have a good streak of working out regularly and eating well, then I'll fall off the wagon and get a bit lazy. Right now I'm in the lazy portion because it is my off season in a sense. But that shouldn't excuse it. I need to get heading in the right direction again.
Read & Write More - I want to read a bit more this year and really get some more books under my belt. I also want to put my thoughts on paper, electronic or actual, more. I think that will help me start to figure out what I want in this world.
So those are some of my goals / resolutions this year so we'll see where that gets me and maybe in a few months I can give an update on how I'm doing on these.
Will
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