mischief08

We're number one! Er... sorta.

Blog

At the beginning of the day, we came into the tournament seated number one of sixteen teams. At the end of the day, we're still seated number one, but we managed to keep that spot in a strange point differential, head to head, power pool format way.

I tried to run pounds for taking stats in the first game. I made sure I had a new binary. I made sure I had lots of battery juice. I made sure I had the team name in and ready to go.

What I didn't do, however, is make sure the undo function was working properly. After three points and two incomplete undos, I switched away from the computer and back to the paper notebook for keeping stats. I'm a little annoyed that the program didn't work, this being the last opportunity this season to actually get it working right, but I'm also not-so-secretly relieved to have a paper trail on the actions. Of course, I'd rather have a video of all of the games, but I can't find anyone willing to give up five days to help me out with this stuff.

Maybe a clone IS the way to go.

I spent most of the day bundled up under four layers of clothing, and still cold. At one point, LT, in his jersey, shorts and sweat pouring down his face, looked over at me and asked, "How can you stand all of that? Aren't you hot?" I immediately answered back, "Actually, I have a fever. I'm pretty cold right now." I wished I had brought more clothing to the fields.

So, we lost our first game to Chewbacca Defense 13-15, having been up 8-4 at the half (my commentary from my twitter posts, which I kept up to date fairly well today):

mischief 0 v chewbacca defense 0
mis 3 chew 2
mis 5 chew 2
misch 5 chew 3
misch 7 chew 3
misch time out
misch takes half 8-4

wow, the only warm spot here is in the porta-potty

misch 8 chew 5
misch 9 chew 6
misch 9 chew 7
wind picked up a LOT misch 10 chew 8 on 4 turnovers

wind, the sport's great equalizer misch 10 chew 9 on wind aided turns

misch 11 chew 10
I hate this wind. misch 12 chew 11

misch 12 chew 12 on more wind aided turns. no, this isn't painful to watch, why do you ask?

fuck. misch 12 chew 13

andy comes in, easiest score we've had. misch 13 chew 13, chew still up the break

misch 13 chew 14
misch 13 chew 15

As Mark says, "Sometimes you take the easy road, sometimes you take the hard road. We're taking the hard one."

We then won our game 15-4 against Cougars, who were the last seed in our pool:

game against cougars

misch 4 cougars 0
misch 7 cougars 0

cougars [call time out with] no t.oouts remaining

misch 7 coug 1

wind picks up, has no effect on misch O, as Andy is in. misch takes half 8-1

da da da da da da 10 minute half, no action da da da da da da

misch 8 coug 2
misch 9 coug 3
misch 9 coug 3 on crappy foul contest
misch 10 coug 3 on nick to paul breakmark, layout grab
misch 12 coug 3 on drive that included 3 layout grabs
misch 13 coug 4
misch 14 coug 4

too much damned talk on the sidelines about point differential. misch 15 coug 4

Our last game of the day was against Barrio, who, like Chewbacca this morning, beat us in the first game of the day last year at Nationals. We needed to win this game to be in the power pools for tomorrow. We needed to win this game by more than three points to win the pool outright.

If we won the game, we would be both first in the powerpools going in tomorrow (as we could lose on point differential, but still have the head-to-head win for a record of 1-0 going in) and have redemption on the team for last year's loss.

We won 15-13, in a bitter, unpleasant game with observers who both don't know the rules and ruled against us in every call (which, could be valid, except for the "don't know the rules" part).

My twitter stream in reverse order, since I don't want to bother inverting it:

team in power pools with 1-0 record

13-12
kyle huck, mark pulls defender off, goes up too early, disc floats over both into gizmo's happy hands

bar takes too much time to pull? lose a time out

12-12
gizmo brutal catch from chucky to take it 12-11

sunya turn, gizmo block, foul called by mark, fresh with disc

11-11, game to 13, softcap on
11-10 on adam leventhal to adam brown

on a throw that she couldn't see because she was running the wrong way, she called pick after realizing her woman caught the score.
liz penny sucks

softcap horn should go on any moment
fresh to andy toe in layout for 10-10
bar guy laid out kicking chucky in head
9-10

doyle callahan for 9-9

8-9 kyle to giz from giz block
7-9 emily to paul
6-9 after half

half time la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la
barrio takes half 6-8, observers called in on previous point. down by only one break

6-7
4-7

misch 4 bar 6 on a 13 turnovers point
long point 7 turns so far. bar calls last t.o. in half

3-6
zone d failed 2-6
2-5
1-5

I give. this is too painful to watch. misch 1 bar 4
misch 1 bar 3

heads up the collective butt. misch 0 bar 3
misch 0 barrio 2
misch 0 bar 1 on 6 turn over point

timeout mischief in first point

So, we're 1-0 in tomorrow's power pool play, even though we're second in our pool, having 0 on point differential (won by 2, lost by 2). Barrio is first in our pool, but goes into tomorrow's power pools with the loss to us.

Yeah. We're number one! Uh, sorta.

Today's activity? Grocery shopping

Blog

One shopping list.

Two shoppers.

Three carts.

Four hours.

Five villas.

Six nights.

Thirty people.

$900 later, we should be set for the week.

Heading out to Florida

Blog

I firmly believe that I have done as well as I have in life because of the ultimate community I've been a part of for the last 15 years. Most of my friends have come from that community, with many of the friendships enduring beyond the original bond of ultimate.

Given that belief, it should come as exactly no surprise that travelling with a group of ultimate friends should be not only a good time, but also an adventure.

Taking Andy's advice (gee, I wish I could get him to set up his domain), four of us journeyed out to Florida today, in anticipation of the 2008 Ultimate Players Association Club Championships in Sarasota. Andy suggested people fly on Tuesday, as any delay flying on Wednesday means that you potentially arrive on Thursday and in poor shape for playing. We listened to him, and out we flew.

With me were Paul, Warren, Andy and Tyler, who really can't get enough Mischief even though he's left the team. I honestly can't say I blame him in his inability to leave Mischief. Look at me. Though, I typically don't say "Sure!" to playing poker with Paul then losing $120 on a six hour journey across country either.

When we arrived in Sarasota, Paul turned to me and said, "Hey, look. My bag has this whistle on it." He blew into it and generated the sixth most pathetic whiffing noise I'd heard from a whistle. "Hey! I wonder if my bag has one of those, too." I responded, mostly joking.

Turns out, my bag does indeed have one of those whistles, and, hey, what do you know, my whistle works. When I tweeted it, both Paul and I ended up with ear hemorrhages from the sound. Yeah, not very wise to do INSIDE the security section of an airport.

After tooting my own whistle and wandering to the car rental agency, the five of us discovered that my organizational skills do, indeed, have a weak point, and that weak point is located in the Tampa Bay car rental desk area. I couldn't find my rental confirmation number, and no one had a reservation under Hodsden. I am completely positive I had booked a car, and completely unable to find the reservation.

Fortunately, both Tyler and Paul had corporate discounts, so we were able to rent a car at a reasonable rate and head out. The car we rented had a trunk whose volume was exactly equal to the volume of luggage the five of us were willing to put into the trunk, a fact we discovered by using the Tetris skills of the four engineers standing around waiting while the fifth ran back to the terminal to pee.

The best part of the whole car adventure was, of course, having Tyler ride bitch in the back.

track workout 2008 10 21

Book page
warmup:
800m jog
form running (high knees, butt kicks, side shuffle, etc.)
stretching

strength / plyos:
20 push ups / 100 crunches/abs
2 sets 20 squats
2 sets 15 rocket jumps
20 push ups / 100 crunches/abs

4 sets 5-10-5

50-100-200-200-100-50
50-100-200-200-100-50

cool down lap

Like the champion you are

Blog

The team had a double practice this weekend. Or rather, today, with two practices: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I ended up missing the morning practice to take care of Kris, though I can't say I was particularly upset about not going to play ultimate at 7:30 in the morning. Of course, still waking up at 7 but not actually doing what you woke up for sorta sucks.

I left Kris propped up on the couch in front of the football game and hustled to the afternoon practice around noon.

I was (happily) called as a handler a bunch today, which once again makes sense, as it allows everyone else on the team to play the positions they're good at and have been working on all season. I had problems positioning myself on a couple points, but shwu helped me out from the sidelines. I managed to throw upfield a couple times, including a satisfying low release under my defender's arm to Will.

After a few six pulls going both ways, a scrimmage or two, and a couple drills moving the disc off the line, we neared the end of practice early. We had one more fun drill, the elimination marking drill where two lines face each other and throw to the first in the line on the opposite side. After throwing, the thrower becomes the marker on the opposite line. If a throw doesn't make it to the receiver, because of a hand block, foot block or bad throw, the thrower has a chance to stay in play by preventing the next thrower from completing her pass.

On the sideline before the elimination marking drill, Will was having some water. "Are we done?"

"No," I answered, "we have the elimination marking drill."

"That sucks."

"Why?"

"Because that's my favorite drill, and I don't feel like doing it."

"Well," I responded, "this is when you suck it up and be the champion you are." It was so cliche, what I said, but it was exactly what Kris would be thinking when he said, "Nothing hurts in the finals."

Will looked at me, and without sarcasm, said, "That's just what I needed to hear." He put down his water bottle, and trotted out to the field to throw in the marking drill.

On the women's side (we split into gendered groups), I was the first out with a bad upwind throw, much like the last time, alas. I still had a good time. Next time, I'm starting with a downwind throw.

Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less than you think. -- RP

Going to the Show

Blog

Having won our semis yesterday, we had our first game today at 1:00 in the afternoon. I used the time to work furiously on POUNDS, only to discover that I needed an internet connection to build the AIR release package (YEARGH). So, I had to take stats AGAIN on the paper. Good thing I had my notebook from yesterday.

The finals were against Mental Toss Flycoons, in a game that was, I thought, spirited (but I wasn't on the field). The scores went 0-0, 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 3-3, 3-4, 3-5, 3-6, 4-6, 5-6, 6-6 (hey, it's a game of runs), 6-7, 7-7, 8-7, with our taking half, and no team having any net breaks at half. The scores continued 8-8, 9-8, 9-9, 9-10, when the soft cap went on. The problem with the cap going on during the 9-10 point was that on the far sideline, a guy was blowing an annoying horn. I heard the soft cap horn go on before we scored 10-10, but everyone kept telling me, no, it was the annoying horn on the far sideline. I kept insisting, so Warren ran over to frisbee central to find out. Sure enough, the soft cap horn had blown when I heard it, and the game was capped at 12.

We scored the last two points, 11-10, 12-10 to take the top seed from the Northwest going into Nationals. WHOO!

Float like a butterfly, stung by a bee

Blog

Last year for the fall series, Brynne suggested we have secret psych-up buddies. Each teammate was assigned another teammate, whom s/he was to secretly inspire. This year, even without Brynne's inspiration, we did the same thing, with Steffi leading the charge (I think). For the most part, the women on the team are all excited about the idea, and the men are all fairly much down on the idea.

For the most part.

Last year, Paul had, I don't recall why, Gu packets clipped to his nipples and shorts, asking anyone if they wanted a shot of Gu. This year, Paul's psych-up buddy helped him to a repeat, providing clips and Gu. Paul obliged and asked the team, if anyone wanted a shot.

Oddly enough, some were willing. He had takers.

DanO had an inspirational buddy, who made sure he stayed hydrated with his very own adult sippy cup.

The most spectacular psych-up idea was, however, from Mark's buddy. She, and oh boy does it have to be a she because of the idea, and a player new this year, painted the Mischief logo (in this year's colors, not last year's colors, hence the belief she's new this season) on two paddle ball paddles. She then wrote up an instruction manual on the uses of the paddles: either as paddles in the game or, tied together around his broken hand, as a splint.

The instruction manual was both entertaining and well done. The gift was inspiring.

Doyle picked up the paddles and was walking around swinging them. Of course, when you swing, you hit things. Say, bees. And when you hit bees, you, uh, piss them off.

The frost in the morning had gotten my feet so wet that I had to do something to dry them. I was tired of their being damp and cold, so I took them off and was walking around barefoot as the socks were drying in the sun. I stepped over a couple bags on my way to sit down, avoiding a yellow jacket that was buzzing around the bags.

Except that I didn't.

And it stung me.

I jumped up, screaming and crying, brushing my foot where I had just been bitten. I tried to turn away from everyone, because I knew I had just made a fool of myself, with the screaming, and that my face was going to be a screwed up mess with the pain and tears. My teammates are awesome, though, and took care of me. I iced the foot, and didn't seem to have any swelling, which is a BIG change from the last bee sting, which caused my ankle to swell to the size of my knee.

I can't believe that even WITHOUT playing, I still manage to be injured.

Regionals first day

Blog

So far, what I've seen of Corvallis is nice. Seems to be a small(ish) town with lots of space not crammed full of buildings and houses and such. Not that I could tell much, though, as the windows were frosted so thick that I ended up driving straight through a red light (not a yellow light, not an orange light, a full on red light), much to my horror upon the realization.

My plan was, and always had been to use POUNDS for taking stats today, but the chaos of last night meant I wasn't able to finish the last input details. After dropping my carload of teammates off at the fields, I dashed back out to the nearest Safeway for paper, as I had tragically had forgotten not only my notebook, but all of my paper, and notecards and everything.

We were scheduled to play four games today. If we won our pool, we'd play semis in the last round, against Shazam if they also held seed.

As expected, the fields were pretty wonderful, but good lord so cold. I spent the whole bundled up in three or four layers, including DanO's wind jacket. Gillian was able to warm up somehow, a talent I wish I had.

The first game was against Night Train, whom we see every tournament practically, and certainly every Sectionals and most Regionals. Recognizing that we have a problem with morning games, the start of the first game in particular, the team came out on FIRE, going up 3-0 before Night Train woke up. We took the first half 8-2 and stupidly relaxed in the second half, barely winning the second half 7-6, for a final score of 15-8.

The second game was against Bozos, which has historically played better than their seeding. Realizing we had problems finishing the last game, we focused on finishing the second half in this game, taking the first half 8-1 and the second half 7-3. Better, but still not as good as we wanted. If we can play 8-1 in the first half, why not 7-1 in the second?

The third game was against Hunzinger Proxy, the first seed out of Oregon. The team is made up of Carleton Alums, and had crushed their opponents in their Sectionals. However, as Kris often says, just because you crush your opponents, doesn't mean you're any good ouside your section. Indeed. We took half 8-3 and won 15-5. On to semis.

Shazam, who are actually "Shazam Remains," had also held seed, so we were in Semis against them, with the other semis being D'oh and Mental Toss Flycoons, from Big Sky. The first part of the game was an uncomfortable frantic game, with no settling, as the one of Shazam's women kept hucking to another of Shazam's women who kept skying our women. Shazam took half 6-8 then scored the first point after half to take the score 6-9.

And then "the incident" happened. Close to the endzone we were defending, Steffi caught the disc, turned up field and threw to Chucky, who was fairly uncovered. A pick call had happened before Steffi's catch (but as the disc was in the air), and a couple people (in particular, the defender on Will), stopped playing. Steffi didn't hear the call, hence didn't acknowledge the call, so threw the disc to Chucky, who caught it. As in 11th edition rules, the disc stays with Chucky, as he wasn't involved in the pick.

Now, Will's defender began arguing the disc went back to Steffi. Everyone explained the rules to the guy, but he wanted nothing of it, the disc should go back he insisted. As near as we could tell, he had stopped playing, allowing a gap on Will, and he wanted to recover that gap. No, the disc stayed with Chucky, and when it was tapped in, Will turned to sprint deep.

Will's defender, a handler, which in this case meant "slower than Will, with less ups, but better throws," stepped into Will's path to stop his cut, a clearly illegal move, as well as unsportsmanlike, highly discouraged and dishonorable on the field. Will lost a step and was unable to catch the huck from Chucky.

On the turn, Will's opponent, picked up the disc, then turfed it. Chucky returned the favor by throwing away the disc, but the same opponent of Will's threw the disc away again, after calling a contested foul on Will. Chucky picked up the disc again, and threw a quick throw to Will for the score, as Will burned his opponent again.

Will, in his excitement, threw the disc at the ground, and missed. Instead of hitting the ground, he hit a Shazam woman standing 15 yards away. He immediately ran to apologize, but the whole endzone exploded into chaos. Someone asked if we were about to have a fist fight, a first for Mixed ultimate, but cooler heads prevailed, and both teams split to their sidelines.

We asked if Shazam wanted observers, but they declined. The pace of the game slowed, and we ended up outscoring them 9-4, and winning 15-12 on a throw from Kyle to Andy.

The win guaranteed our bid, and we're on our way to Nationals as the 1st, 2nd or 3rd seed from the Northwest.

track workout 2008 09 30

Book page

warmup:
800m jog
form running/dynamic warmup (high knees, butt kicks, side shuffle, etc.)
stretching

strength / plyos:
15 push ups
75 crunches/abs
15 rocket jumps
15 tuck jumps
40m frog jumps
single leg bounding, 5 with left leg then 5 with right leg (go for
maximum distance)

repeat plyo circuit

6 sets 5-10-5

1 set A shuttles (4 cones at 5m, return to 1 on each leg 2-3-4-3-2,
4-4-4, 3-4-3-4, 4-3-2))
2 sets 10x40m on 30 a second timer

cool down lap

track workout 2008 09 23

Book page

warmup:
800m jog
form running (high knees, butt kicks, side shuffle, etc.)
stretching

strength / plyos:
15 push ups
20 squats
75 crunches/abs
30m lunges twist both sides

repeat strength

5 sets 5-10-5

short sprints (cones at 0, 10, 25, and 40 yards)
 a) do four 40 yard sprints; rest 30 seconds in between
 b) do four 50 yard sprints between the 0 and 25 yd cones (down to 25,
back to 0); rest 45 seconds in between
 c) do four 50 yard sprint as follows:  start at 10, run to 0, run to
40; rest 45 seconds in between
 d) do four 100 yard sprints between the 0 and 25 yd cones (down to 25,
back to 0, down to 25, back to 0); rest 60 seconds in between
 e) do four 100 yard sprints as follows:  start at 0, run to 10, run
backwards to 0, run to 40, run to 0; rest 60 seconds in between


cool down lap
abs 

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