Nice guys finish last

"Stubborn Love"

She'll lie and steal, and cheat, and beg you from her knees
Make you think she means it this time
She'll tear a hole in you, the one you can't repair
But I still love her, I don't really care

When we were young, oh, oh, we did enough
When it got cold, ooh, ooh, we bundled up
I can't be told, ah, ah, it can't be done

It's better to feel pain, than nothing at all
The opposite of love's indifference
So pay attention now, I'm standing on your porch screaming out
And I won't leave until you come downstairs

So keep your head up, keep your love
Keep your head up, my love [x2]
Keep your head up, keep your love

And I don't blame you dear for running like you did all these years
I would do the same, you'd best believe
And the highway signs say we're close but I don't read those things anymore
I never trusted my own eyes

When we were young oh, oh, we did enough
When it got cold, ooh, ooh we bundled up
I can't be told, ah, ah, it can't be done

So keep your head up, keep your love
Keep your head up, my love [x2]
Keep your head up, keep your love
Head up, love
Head up, love
Head up, love
Head up, love

Let the season begin!

For most college teams the fall was a time to get those rookies up to speed, dust off returners rust, and have your stars be frustrated with the entire process But now the College Regular Season has begun and its time to head to the Santa Barbara Invite.

The SB Invite is typically full of SW teams all trying to figure things out. Most teams recently returned from winter break meaning their few practices have been highly saturated with conditioning & overall ultimate content. So the teams loaded with veterans tend to have the best results at this tournament. For Example; UW, UBC, SDSU, and UC Santa Cruz were semi final teams last year and all came into the season with many returners who could handle the lack of practice.

As for the pools...
http://scores.usaultimate.org/scores/#college-open/tournament/10542

The pools are not that surprising, it's tough to seed such an early tournament where you have no results to base anything on. It's really a guessing game.

Pool A:
Santa Clara is not the roll over team they used to be, I expect they will have a couple of guys who can play and will do their best to make plays. Since they played in the qualifier they are one of the only teams at this tournament who have played actual competition, should help them capitalize on teams with slower starts.

Chico has always been athletic but the past two years they seem to have been approaching the game with more seriousness of purpose. Less flannels & nalgenes of colored beverages and more hard defense, discipline, and big plays. They will be a tough opponent all year.

SDSU had a great run last year but fell short at the end at regionals. They lost several stand out seniors and 5th years and will now be a younger team. With younger teams come typical younger team mistakes. However seniors Dominic Leggio and Steven Milardovich have grown into stand out players since playing for Streetgang this summer and they will be the ones to lead this team and build off last years successes.

Stanford comes off a Nationals Quarter Finals appearance last season and are the top dogs in the pool. They have a program that just keeps winning so you cannot count them out in any year. They looked athletic and energized at Sean Ryan but were a bit too rusty and ended up losing to Cal, I expect they will be much more polished come Saturday.

Pool B:
I believe this is SLO's pool to lose. They are the perceived best team in that pool, I say "perceived" because with no results I could be eating my words later on. Jake Juszak will be ruling the skies and Peter (I don't know his last name) will be touching the disc every other. The only thing that I would be concerned about if I was SLO would be depth, but we'll see if that is an issue.

UCLA returns a lot of guys from last year which, as I stated before, that may be helpful this weekend. They seem to have moved from an handler centric offence that was typical UCLA for a long time, to a huck and make big play type of team. With retained chemistry from last year I would expect them to play well.

Santa Cruz is the opposite of UCLA by not retaining anyone, or at least not anyone of note. They are well coached so they should be prepared at the least.

Cal-Poly Pomona won the qualifier so they will have a lot of confidence working in their favor. We'll see if they can turn that into W's.

In the end I think the SLO vs UCLA game will be the best game of this pool.

Pool C:
Cal is in the same league as Stanford in my opinion, looked good at Sean Ryan, they have an army of guys who are athletic and make plays. They have a system they rely on that they know and trust, and with James Pollard as their guy they are the favorite in this pool.

Tide is always tough at their home tourney and since most of their guys played Condors they should be a team with established chemistry.

Not sure what to expect from Arizona or Long Beach. LB will probably have a skeleton roster while Arizona will have some athletes to huck to.

Pool D:
This pool I have no idea what to expect from any team. UW went to Nationals last year but who have they returned? They went to the finals of this tourney last year and I would assume that they expect to be their again. Davis is young but hungry and with Kevin Cissna coaching they should play close to their top potential. UCSD has a lot of good players and are well coached but they are young and who knows how they will respond to adversity. And who knows anything about Williams, quite the trip to make all the way from MA. I'm thinking no one wins this pool outright, two teams will finish 2-1 and someone takes it on Point Dif. This is absolutely the most interesting pool of the tourney.

The SW should have a good amount of parity this year and the results here should be interesting. But in the end the cream always rises to the top, so expect the semis or even the finals to be a potential Regional Finals match up.

The boring prediction is obviously Cal and Stanford in the finals but SLO should be at least in the semis and we'll see about the rest.

But my "take it to the bank" prediction is that Santa Clara will avenge their SB Qualifier Finals lost to Pomona this weekend, go ahead and make the call to Vegas. Easy money.

Sweating!

Did a work out yesterday with the Blade. Took a page out of Pumba's crossfit book.

As many rounds as you can complete in 20 minutes

5 pull ups
10 push ups
15 squats
20 sit ups / crunches

I completed 10.5 - crushed the Blade!

Boom!

And I'm back. After a long dry spell I am back on the keyboard determined to type up my usual non-sense, upload my poorly taken photos, and make more of those gramatical errors both of you love. 

No real reason why I stopped blogging other than I was busy doing other things. Being unemployed allowed me to not be in an office and away from the need to fill the lulls in actual work I had to do. But now that I am gainfully employed again, paying taxes, and generally getting back into the mindless consuming lifestyle - I suppose it's time to put things on paper. 

Looks like my last post was way back in April after our Sectional (Conference) Tournament. It seems like a lot has happened since then but at the same time not really. Man I must be boring. Anyways this post is just for me to start rollin with the posts. Let's see if I can go a post a Day for a week. 

Anyways here's to livin large!

SoCal Conference Championships

Wrote up a Conference Preview for Skyd Magazine and Inside Breaks. Figure I'd post here about it...

www.skydmagazine.com/2011/04/conference-match-ups-socal

Pres Day Classic

The Pres Day Classic took place this weekend in "sunny" San Diego. The weather was in question all week and with the lack of quality field space there was a chance that the tournament would not happen. I have to give credit to Stephen "Pumba" Hubbard for having to deal with the stress of so much uncertainly. Would the fields be closed? Or won't they? Will the back up fields close? Won't they? He was able to handle everything well and not lose his mind. At least I think.

Anyways to how we did...

Day 1

The first day was met with uncertainly on whether or not we would play. We show up at 9:45 for a 11 o'clock game but we were forced to delay our start a few minutes to help the fields dry out. Finally at 11:15 we were able to start.

Dartmoth
We didn't have much of a scouting report coming in and I'm sure they knew nothing about us so we were just going to show up and play to our strengths and adjust as needed as the game went on. The field was small and half of it was full of puddles and mud. We get a turn on the first few points but can't put in the breaks and our offense looks smooth early and we trade for till about 3-3. Dartmoth was able to work it through their handles with give and go's so we switched to a flick force to help counter. We were able to get a break or two and take half 7-5 I believe.

In the second half we were able to maintain offensive consistantly by not getting broken all game and were able to take the game 13-11. A little too close but a win either way. I figured that we were a little sluggish to start but now we got our legs going and will be able to bring more intensity on D in the coming game, that wasn't the case.

Texas A&M
Again we had little to no idea about this team before playing them but they did just have a game agains Minnesota and did not play too well. But we knew Minnesota was good so we were not going to overlook them.

We came out sluggish again, we seemed sleepy or unintersted and we could not get a break. On the contrary our offense again was consistant and kept us in the game while our D would get going. A&M ran a simple stack and string plays off the pull, we were able to shut down most of those cuts but they were getting off ridiculous dump thows and would get a huck off. We threw some junk and were able to get a few breaks to close out the game in the second half 13-9. But again our Defense was not bringing enough pressure and we were not getting the breaks and D's that I felt we should. Some discussions with the other coaches and we concluded that we really just needed someone to make a big play and hoped that would start the snowball. We were right...

UCSB
I've said it before, I hate playing these guys. Partially because of when I played them in college they were all classless and disrespectful and because they are always tough competition. The weather was starting to show it's teeth at the start of the game with some winds gusting as well as some light rain and by 3rd point or so the clouds opened up and dumped buckets for about ten minutes.

We started this game on O and scored promptly on their box d. We came down 4 man paritally because of the weather and because it was effective against them at the SB Invite. We were able to generate turns but our Endzone O was couldn't decide if they wanted to fast break score or set up the O so we weren't able to get the breaks.

At 2-2 out Defense finally started showing some intensity and started putting in breaks. We kept with the zone and they could not get it off the trap side, a problem that again would be evident when Tide played Texas in Quarters against their Zone. They don't try to get it off the line and they don't throw over the top. We take half at 7-2 and never look back. Finally our defense started showing up and just in time for our game against Minnesota.

Minnesota
There was some trash talking on RSD in the week leading up to Pres Day. Someone stated that we would not put 8 up on Minnesota and that they would win the pool handily. However they already lost a close one to SB earlier (I did here there was some hard cap issues however) and we were now beaming with confidence after the Tide game so we knew we had a good shot to give them a game.

Again the weather was not holding well and it would rain occasionally and at one point it hailed for about 2 points. By far the hardest I've ever seen it come down during an ultimate tournament / game.

Steve Prodan watched alot of their game before ours so he was able to help with match ups. We forced flick to take away their lefty's flick and came down in hard man. We pressured the dumps and were able to make them go to their second option but still traded until about 2's. We threw some junk D and were able to ger a few breaks in a row and take half 7-3 I believe. The first half we were running hard and making plays all over the place. At one point they huck it deep and Blardo runs down hard to make up the ground and bids huge for the D. This really fired up the D and we just rolled after that. Another highlight was when Richard Prodan pulled it out of bounds and was on the mark at the brick, the thrower wound up big and Rich footblocked it with what looked like little effort.

Minnesota looked like they were ready to go to their hotel and call it a day, and we were able to finish the game 13-7. The team responded to the trash talk and didn't allow Minnesota to score 8 on us. We were feeling good after the day and could feel we were getting better ever point of every game. Overall Minnesota is a good team full of athletes, my guess is they haven't had sufficient amounts of practice time and that contributed to their struggles.

Day 2
The weather on this day was much better and there was no shot at it raining. We were on field 1 taking on the winner of Texas St. and Kansas, Kansas took care of business so we had the Zontals to deal with.

Kansas
To start the game we stressed fundamentals and sticking with what we do best and everything would come together for us. Kansas came out super poachy and we were hesitant to start and had two silly turns and go down two breaks to start. We stop the bleeding with some good flow and a nice huck to Tim Giligan who proceeds to spike the disc, Kansas became upset thinking we taco-ed the disc. This would be the theme of the first half, Kansas being upset with us and a lot of bickering between our players and theirs. The next point we come box and get a break back and the Kansas coach asked us to switch the disc saying it wobbled, we did and moved on.

Kansas liked to huck it but their recievers couldn't pull them down consistently. We were able to pressure with both aggresive man and junk and pull ahead. Score reporter says we won 15-7 but I thought it was more like 9.

UW
These guys were def intimidating at SB Invite in the Semis when we were dead tired and 4 guys down. Now we were confident and were feeling good so we were welcoming the challenge, the point being that our mind set was much stronger going into this game.

We start on O and promplty get broken to start the game again, this was concerning because our Offense was so clean all weekend but faltered to start both games. Our offense gets back on form and ties it up, we trade for a bit while UW is able to work it in their vert stack offense and their red head afro hucker is on point. We're able to get our break back and take half on serve 8-7. Early in the game we threw our junk d and they were able to throw it over the top, in the second half we went back to it and they stopped going over the top and were able to get a break or two. Our offense was holding serve, a few points our O turned it but our their Doffense could not work it all the way up and we were able to get the turn back.

We trade the last 3 points as we score on a Bobble huck to Gil to win 15-13. In the end it was prob the best game we have played all year but we left a lot of points on the field, too many times we turned the disc on the goal line of what would have been a break. Overall that would be our theme for the weekend. But at the moment we are meeting our goal of getting better every game.

Day 3
Again a very nice day and we had UBC in semis. This was big for us with back to back semi final appearances at our home tourney it was time to really show up and play.

UBC
We knew these guys were good and were basically Furious Lite with guys like Norris, Loach, and that Asian guy. We start on D and get the turn on a UBC drop. We work it the entire length of the field and give it back to them on the goal line. Again this would be a theme as we had the disc 4 times on the goal line for a break in the first half. Obviously something to work on at practice.

We do manage to get a break but they break half and they take half on serve 8-7. At half we talked about valuing the disc on the goal line and taking advantage of the opportunities we get. But out of half UBC ups their intensity and we are not able to match it. We get broken 3 times out of half to go down 11-7. We call a time out to try and refocus but are unable to respond to their pressure as we continue to shoot our selves in the foot. They take the game 15-9 in a second half beat down.

All weekend we were improving up until that second half, tired legs may have caught up to us but bascially a veteran team made the adjustments and we didn't. UBC is good and I expect that they will be around come Nationals.

Texas
We lost the semi's which was a bummer but we tried to get the guys amped up for this game. but Jackson went down in the UBC game and Bobble had to leave which dropped our moral. But we battled any way.

Texas wasn't much of a hucking team as they preferred to abuse the mark and work the break side. We were able to contain the breaks throws and pressure the open side. However our offense was not doing it's job and we went down 3 breaks or so. We def were not into this game but as coaches we tried to get the guys up for it. Our studs were having so-so games and we opened up the lines a bit which did not help with our pressure. In the end we lost 15-11 in a game I think we could have been in if we were into it. I think the three day weekend wore us down mentally and we faltered in the end.

Overall their were a ton of positives to take from the weekend but the few negatives are the most beneficial for us. We will practice those things we did not do well and look to respond at Stanford with some more good games and results.

How to Lose 5 Pounds in 5 Minutes!!!!!!!

Three easy steps...

1.

2.

3.

It's like backwards Chia Pets...

SB Invite

Last weekend I went to my first tournament as a coach for San Diego State, the Santa Barbara Invite. I've been to this tournament several times before as both a player and a coach but I can not remember a better weekend weather wise. Beautiful 75 degrees and cloudless both days. Day two was a bit more breezy but not that significant to hinder a good thrower.

Day 1
We knew we had low numbers on the weekend with a few absences in JT, Lobster, and Bobble. We were going to be down to 16 people. But with a veteran team we knew we would be ok.

UCLA - We warmed up well and came out strong agasint UCLA. We expected the typical UCLA style offense with quick squirly handler movements and breaking the mark. But with Smaug losing so many seniors from last year it was obvious from the beginning that this offense was vastly different. They were running a spread style offense where they would try to get the disc up field and have the handlers stay back and let the cutters do the work. However our defense wouldn't let them get the disc up field and they had trouble on the dumps.

Our offense was working well and I don't believe we were ever broken on O. We had trouble initially on our dump sets but after we stressed getting into proper dump position we didn't have much trouble. UCLA will likely have a slow start to the season after losing so many big players from last year. But I would expect that they will improve throughout the season and with the athletes they have they can string together some wins. In the end we take the game 13-5.

LPC - A young team with a lot of High School players. They looked like they had not practiced much this spring yet and had trouble scoring consistently. But with the great coaching LPC has had over the years, Casey Ikeda, and the possibility they will pick up another stud with a year of eligibility left to use they will get better. However with a competitive section its tough to see them finishing any better than 5th place, and the last two years you need 4 bids to get out of that section.

Again our offense was working well and we were scoring pretty consistently. LPC gave us a little trouble since they looked to break the mark when UCLA didn't. We made the adjustment on our marks and mentally and we were able to walk away with the game in the second half. 13-5.

Davis - I really didn't want to coach this game since I coached Davis the last two years. Davis is full of young talent and Taylor is trying to do everything he can to get his squad on board and ready to play. The main difference with Davis this year is they seem full of guys who really WANT to get better and win games. The last few years they would sometimes seem uninterested and not eager to learn or get better. But with adding Eli Kerns along with a handful of other high school players Davis's future is looking up. If they can pull it all together they will be a team that will compete for a sectional championship, and with that who knows what will happen at regionals.

In our game with them I was able to match up our players with their top guys. An advantage I brought just by knowing all of their players. It seemed to pay off since we started on O and then proceeded to go up 3-0. They call a time out to regroup, I think our guys got a little ahead of themselves thinking that Davis would just roll over. But they made adjustments and our offense sputtered a few times and Davis was able to take half 7-6. Davis was looking to huck the disc early, we felt we could match up against their deep cutters and encouraged them to huck. In the second half they weren't able to complete their hucks as efficiently as they wanted. Taylor was over hucking and Eli hucked a few out of bounds. We came down in our junk D periodically to get them out of their string play and we were able to get a few breaks back.

We traded the last few points until it was 12-11 us. We came down on D in our junk and Taylor tried to swing the disc that floated just over the other handler and right into the hands of Dylan (one of our rookies) who was coming down on the pull. He had a clap catch Callaghan for the win but decided to swat at it like it was a Bee. We picked up the disc and ran our end zone O for the win. 13-11. We take the pool and it's off to the jacuzzi. On a side note Richie Prodan went down in this game with a tweaked hamstring. He wouldn't play the rest of the weekend.

Sunday
UCSB
I always have hated playing these guys. It used to be because they would play the typical "Tide" persona. Basically belittling their opponents through bad calls, trash talk, and dangerous play. But that was more of the "Old Tide" mantra, now I just hate playing them because they are well coached and are rarely an easy game.

This game started well for us, our Offense worked it up great and scored without much trouble. We then broke them on the next point. The following point we had a three turn per team point. It was a bit windy and we couldn't close out the point, but our Defense wouldn't let them score. In the end they scored the point but on that play we didn't get the break but we also lost Tyler to a sprained knee, later we would also find out that Cocks broke his wrist in that game and will likely miss Pres Day.

We were able to play tough D and get a few more breaks, our box and zones were working in the light wind and we take half 8-4 I believe. At the start of the second half our small roster size on the weekend was evident. We started making lazy throws and tired cuts and they were able to take advantage of that and bring the game to 9-8. A timely time out, a refocus on our mark, and efficient O helped us regain focus and finish the game 13-9 I believe.

SB will be a tough "out" at regionals. You'll have to account for them as they will get better with they type of program that they have.

Semi's
UW
They had just beaten the Squids in the quarters and from talking with my Streetgang counterparts they all said that UW is good. It didn't help that UCSD went down early and couldn't get out. But UW looked like they had some Rhino and ECU players on their squad and with a ton of height and athleticism they looked good.

We start on O and promptly turn it on a floaty huck. We go down 2-0 before we put one in to bring it to 2-1. We trade on a few points with our O being patient and our D trying to figure them out. It's 5-3 when they get another break and then take half 8-4. Most of our turns are on lazy throws and tired decisions. UW definitely wanted it more and we did not have the legs to keep up. They started to throw zone to get our smooth O out of rhythm and were able to get another break or two. We generated enough turns to get back and be in that game but we couldn't punch it in. In they end UW takes the game 15-10 in a game they controlled from the get go. We had our chances but obviously we need to get our legs under us before we can really challenge deep into a tournament.

Overall
We finished right where we should have. We held seed and played well, the Feds responded to the challenges that us as coaches presented to them and they earned the wins they got. We have several weeks to still prepare before Pres Day and assuming we get healed we should be a force to reckon with come this local tournament.

Our results from this tournament also helped us get into Stanford Invite and Terminus in Georgia so again overall it was a good tournament.

Until next time...

Do it again...

News years time and just like last year where a new years resolution post got me back into the writing mood I bring you the 2011 version. First a recap on how well I did on last years resolutions...



Move - Check, I am now living in San Diego!
New Job - Well I'm on the right track since I no longer work at Fujitsu, now I just have to go and find it.
Pay off all Debt - Well I have significantly reduced it, and am on a steady plan to keep paying it off. Most of my debt is school related so the rates are pretty good.
Qualify for Nationals - I did qualify with Streetgang for the USA Ultimate Championships last year, but it was somewhat anti climatic. Mostly because I did not play a significant role in it. I broke my foot in the early part of the season and never really could get back to being the player I was.
Win the Super Bowl in Madden 10 - Check
Catch a Handblock - Will have to be a carry over.
Develop better eating and exercise habits - It may have been just that I was in Sac but since I have been down in SD I seem to work out every other day if not every day, and eating mostly the right things. So I say check.
Read & Write More - I have been reading a ton, lately it has been more related to job and soul searching.


Overall I'm going to say it was a good year. I think I achieved most of my goals or resolutions and I'll keep striving to get better.

As for a new years resolution this year, I don't think I'm going to write down any points that I want to accomplish. Mostly I just want to do things that make me happy. Too often I have done things because I feel I have to or because I feel others want me to. So going forward I'm just going to do what I want to do. When it comes down to it I just have to be happy with my decisions.

Drinks are on me...

Updates!

It's been a rough couple of weeks since my last post.

Nationals sucked

I'm no longer employed

And I'm in Oregon

More details to come!

Pre-Gaming

Pre-Nationals meal...Pasta with Pesto Sauce, some broccoli, and a nice piece of salmon. Tasty.

I fly out in the morning for my first natties. This was my goal since the start of club and it is finally happening. It looked bleak when I broke my foot but I'm back and feeling good. I'll try to update anyone who wants to listen. I'll twitter and facebook. Laters

Regionals Day 2...

Day two of regionals was at another location than Saturday and the fields were worse. There were ankle breaking holes everywhere. But that didn't matter because we came focused and ready to claim a spot to nationals.


First game was against Bravo in the semis. We expected to see them in the finals but after our stumble on day one we had them in the semis. It was warmer on Sunday and even at 9 am you were already sweating. We came out on O and over shot two wide open hucks and they broke to start the game. Our offense was turning it but would continue to get it back and prevent the break. Bravo too half 8-7 being up one break.


At half we talked about staying on our man and not poaching their break throws. We were able to trade some more in the first half but they eventually get a few more breaks and we end up losing 15-12. In this game Billings went down with a Calvin Johnson type move. He went up and caught it in the end zone but lost it when he hit the ground and twisted his knee. He sat out the next two games but played in the game to go.

Next game was against Inception, they had trouble moving it up field and didn't have the throws to really challenge us deep. We win 15-2.

Time to take on 405 again who just beat Sprawl in a tight game I hear. They gave us quite a game the day before but this time our season was on the line so we were going to come out ready. We capitalize early on a turn from their handlers and never look back. They run mostly a UCLA type offense with everything running through the handlers. We were able to make things tough on them and walk away with the game 15-6 maybe.

Finally we had to play Condors for the game to go. I think we all expected to be in this game but to get there a different way. But either way it didn't matter we were in a game and it was time to battle. We knew their defense was playing well and our offense was struggling all weekend but we know were a better team and we need to just play our game.

Nothing special happens the first few points we trade to 4's maybe, then we get a break. Our hucks are offline and not connecting and they get a break or two. We break back to take half 8-7 on serve. Feel good coming out of half but the condors go on a run. They score on offense then break us twice to take a 9-8 lead. Again our hucks are not connecting and they go up 11-9. Then 13-10 game to 15. Our backs are against the wall and things don't look good.

We call a timeout and say that we need to apply pressure and make them earn it. That we can still win this game. So we put it in on offense then put on a thug D line. They work it up and throw a goal to Jeff over wormser, 14-11. But Allen calls a travel that the Observer up holds and two throws later Gill gets a handblock and we put it in 13-12. Next Forge gets a deep D and again we convert to make it 13's. Now you can really feel that the Condors are playing tentative, trying not to lose rather than trying to Win.

Next point they punch it in and our offense holds up to tie it at 14's. There was a question of caps that went on and it was decided that it was over time or something but either way the Condors scored on O to make it 15-14 but it was the first to 16. Our O holds up again and it's 15's game to 16, double game point. Winner goes to Nationals. We pull the disc they get they center the disc, they get an under cut where Allen lays out and almost gets it, the guy gets up and tries to throw a quick dump pass. Wormser gets a poach hand block and the disc hits the turf. The guy calls foul, not sure why or on what but he changes his story a few times. Observer says no foul and we get the disc at about the brick, just 25 yards or so from the endzone. Dollar to wormser in the back corner and we've punched our ticket.

It was a great feeling to finally qualify for the show, especially after coming back from such a deficit. I didn't play great in the Condor game, I kept getting matched up on Bacon and he beat me deep twice. It's just made me work harder these last few weeks to get faster and ready for natties.

NATIONALS!

Regionals

My first SW Regionals in 2 years. When looking at the lack of depth in the SW region it makes the NW's number of teams and talent even more impressive. Going in it looked like only Bravo, Condors, and Streetgang could compete for the two bids to nationals. With Bravo and Streetgang being the clear favorites and Condors being a team you'd have to worry about.

Saturday

Saturday started out nice but progressivly got hotter throughout the day. It was easily in the mid 80's by the final round. The format was a bit screwy with 11 teams. So our pool had 6 teams which meat 5 games day one while each game was to be played to 11.

First game was against Sinergy, a Las Vegas team that basically showed up at game time. We rolled through them no problem with a score of 11-3. Overall we were pretty sloppy though.

Next was 405, an LA team comprised of alot of Irvine guys and and some UCLA. We shot ourselves in the foot by going down 3-0, three strait breaks to start the game. And with a game to 11 that meant had to get moving ASAP. It didn't help that on our first D point we had a miscommunication and leaving a wide open deep huck. We go down 4-1. They were constantly working to break the mark and move it through the handlers and they were coming up with some big catches and plays to put the pressure on us. We got a few breaks back and pulled it to 9-8 i believe. Offense finally started flowing and we traded to 10's game to 12. We came down with an aggressive D and got the turn and the break making it 11-10, they score tieing it at 11's. Universe point and were being pulled to. Our offense works it in with no real problems and we pull it out. But again, another sloppy game for us. It was easy to see that we were going to see everyones best game.

Next was Monsoon, an Arizona team I believe. They had trouble getting the disc up field against our D and we were able to finish this game quickly. 11-2

Full Boar Burbank is mostly High School kids with some old guys. One guy had a big sky high hammer that he threw several times, completing one of them.

Next we had Condors. A game we knew they would be amped for since we took care of them at sectionals. They looked to be resting their stars until the final round against us. This game we had Observers by request of the condors from what I hear.

We start slow again getting broken to start the game and then having a turnover fest on point two until we punch it in. We came down in a zone for the first few D points since it worked well at sectionals but this day was less effective. they get another break and take half at 6-4. In the second half we stick with our zone defenses but they weren't getting the D's we needed, we get 2 breaks or so but they break our offense a few more times as well and the game is at 10-8. We throw away the first throw on the goal line and they punch it in for the 11-8 win.

After the game we stretched and tried to quickly put that game behind us knowing that it didn't end our season. We noted a few things we needed to adjust for tomorrow and it really just made it so we saw Bravo in the semi's instead of the finals. So we got some food and headed back to Oxnard to the hotels for some college football and sleep.

Sorry if the details are a bit vague but I don't recall every detail. I'll post Sundays write up later. Pictures to come as well.

Back to writing

I've been MIA for awhile but I'm going to get back up and writting the mindless dribble that all 5 of you are accustomed to.

Congrats to the Polar Bears for qualifying for the show. Now I have to make sure we qualify this weekend inorder to make my decision to not play with them a decent one. Time to carbo load!

Sunny San Diego!

I've finally made the move back to San Diego! I always regretted leaving San Diego for Sacramento, never a good decision. But getting back down here just feels right.

I will miss most of the Davis guys as well as the Bay Area friends I've made these last two years while living up North but I know I'll see them again.

It's a new chapter in my life and I plan to take a lot of time to figure out what I want to do in it. Since my new job isn't super demanding right now I hope I'll be able to really get some things figured out.

Anyways come down and visit me ASAP! We can cuddle!

The Day the World Changed

A paper I had to write about my self back in school. This is for an upper division Management class I had to take in order to graduate. Basically I had to write a 2 page quick autobiography, so I had some fun with it. I did go to a state school so what can I say.

The Day the World Changed

The world changed forever on January 25th, 1986. I like to think that the world became a brighter, livelier, and happier world on that date because I, William John Griffin, came to be. I was born in Panorama City Ca to Bill and Debbie Griffin. I was the first of three children in the new Griffin family so I had to become that shining example for my younger siblings, and boy did I shine. We lived in Palmdale CA for the first seven years of my life until my father's job forced us to move up north to the quaint village of Vacaville CA. I enjoyed a good life in "cow town", (as the locals often referred to it as), it was a very peaceful town with good schools and good people. I met plenty of people and peers that would become lifelong friends.

In Vacaville I was very active within my community and was often seen at annual Christmas Tree Lightings, carnivals, taking part in Little League, youth soccer, and the Boy Scouts of America. When I became older and went to the famous Vacaville High School i joined the Ultimate Frisbee Club, Student Council, Link Crew, and an anti-drug organization. I grew to an age where it was appropriate to obtain a job and began working at the local In-n-Out Burger and made enough to purchase a small truck. I had a car, a girlfriend, and was about to graduate from high school everything was going well in my life. Then things continued to go well and didn't falter.

I would say the greatest memory and memories that I have come from my summers working at a Boy Scout Summer Camp called Camp Winton. I started as a counselor in training and worked my way up to assistant camp director. Throughout my 8 years on staff I grew up tremendously and can honestly say that I would not be the person I am today without my years as a camp counselor. During my years there I went on camp outs, played capture the flag, went star gazing, cooked cobblers, washed dishes, swam polar bear, fought 2 forest fires, searched for lost scouts, sang songs, acted in skits, flipped burgers, drove motor boats, water skied, snorkeled, rock climbed, danced around a fire dressed in Native American regalia, and much much more.

After two years at a local community college I transferred here to SDSU and I am majoring in Business Management. I am the captain of the Ultimate Frisbee Team, I have met plenty of friend, a girlfriend, and becoming involved in more campus activities. I am enjoying my time here in Southern California and look forward to the future. I feel that everything that I have done in my life so far has just been to prepare me for what I will do next. I don't know that that next thing is but it feels like everything builds upon the next thing and continues to make me a stronger, smarter, and overall better person. I am looking forward to the future.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looks like I didn't know what I was talking about but I did get a 100% on this paper, if you can call it a paper.

Injuries

I'm six weeks into my broken foot injury and it still sucks. I broke my 5th metatarsal six weeks ago at SB Classic. I wasn't playing when it happened I was actually at the beach and decided to run into the water to push someone in and slipped on a rock. Boom broken.

It was dishartening because I was really getting into a rhythum in ultimate and in life in general. Then I break it and now I can barely get myself a bowl of ceral. I let too much milk go spoiled. :(

The treatment called for 4 weeks in a not weight bearing cast then 4 weeks in a walking boot. If everything looks good after that then it's a slow ramping up of hard contact. Which would put me back at 100%, (if everything goes to plan) around the end of August. That sounds good to me as it should get me back right before the series.

Well I spent the 4 weeks in the cast and crutchs and now I'm at week one of my 4 weeks of a walking cast, 2 of which will be in a hard fiberglass cast. I go back in on the 21st and hopefully they will put me into a soft walking removable boot. Then I can take a shower without that annoying removable boot.

Anyways mentally I'm better now that I can walk. But when I couldn't walk I was constantly annoyed and hating life. I guess anyone who would be in that situation would feel the same. But now since I'm about halfway through my recovery its all down hill. And with my potential new job / move I am in an even better mood, but that is for another post.

Anyways don't break your foot!

Potlatch!

As always on the 4th of July weekend I head up to Seattle to partake in one of the most enjoyable Ultimate Tournaments around, Potlatch. This is a great tournament with 100ish teams with lots of competition, tons of spirt, costumes, games, and adult beverages.

This tourney is even more special to mee because it is where I met my girl. Two years ago we met playing on the same team. Who would have known that we would still be together two years later at our third Potlatch.

This year I couldn't play but I did win the MVP of the Showcase game by catching a huck in my rented Rascal Scooter! Solid. Also had some awesome heckles and a solid costume made it all worth while. Hopefully next year I can play.

The Least Interesting Man in the World

That's right, it's time for the next lowly-anticipated installment of Will-Ographies.

This time the information was a bit harder to come by as Eric Halverson's defenses are nearly impossible to penetrate. He is like a rubics cube you can't solve, a fortune cookie you cannot open, he is the sister's diary you just can't unlock. He is...The Least Interesting Man in the World!

His cereal never gets soggy, because he eats it so before it does.

When the Police pull him over, they talk to the passenger.

When he walks, he puts one foot in front of the other.

His Organ Donor card also lists his beard.

He doesn’t believe in using oven mitts, he prefers potholders.

His shirts are never wrinkled.

He is right handed.

He once received an extra taco by mistake at a drive thru, and didn't tell a soul.

He mysteriously goes missing, later it is discovered he was grocery shopping.

He has never been known to rock the casbas.

He has never lost a sock.

He can't speak French, in Russian…

He will never be tan.

He has a tailor made hospital gown, in case he ever needs to see a doctor.

His morning breath smells like fresh mint.

He never pays to much money for something, it's always him who rips them off.

He is the Least Interesting Man in the World.

"I don't always drink beer but when I do, wait... I don't drink beer. Stay hydrated my friends." - Eric Halverson

Summer is Approaching!

So I've been away for awhile, I know Mom you missed me. But I'm back up and writing again.

The next Bio is in the works and will be posted soon. As for where I've been and my next few weekends here it is:

Sat March 27th: Revolver Tryouts
Sun March 28th: Dogs Practice & sprain my ankle at shitty pick up. Later I find out I was invited back to Revolver Tryouts.
Sat April 3rd: DUI, played with P Bears and Wolf, Pulled my Hamstring - WTF!
Sun April 4th: Watch from the sidelines as P Bears win DUI - nice work - never went back to wolf
Sat April 10th: Revolver Tryouts in Santa Cruz - I heavily medicate and wrap my Hamstring to get through it - still at about 75% - Played ok
Sun April 11th: Fly to Dallas for a work conference all week = Lame
April 17-18th: Bay Area Sectionals - Dogs take 3rd
Sat April 24th: Wolf Tryouts in the morning = Dominate. Davis practice in the afternoon, then hope on a plane to San Diego
Sun April 25th: Streetgang Tryouts = Me a bit tired but still played well
Sat May 1-2nd: NW Regionals in Seattle, Dogs finished 5th

Present Day

May 8th-11th: Going to Eugene to hang out with the girl friend, like a mini vacation!
May 15th-16th: Fly down to San Diego for SD Tryouts
Sat May 22nd: Polar Bear Tryouts
Sun May 23rd: Wolf Tryouts
May 29-30th: Santa Barbara Classic
June 5-6th: Cal States in Santa Cruz (Who do I play with?)

Busy slate but bring it on.