- Honestly, I spent so much time worried about collapsing due to sickness combined w/altitude that it did not entirely occur to me to be really worried about how I was playing. It is no exaggeration that Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and for brief moments on Friday, I felt god-awful, couldn't-lift-my-head energy-less. I was pretty resigned to the notion that I would roll out to the fields on Saturday, try to do a warm-up, and I'd have that same fade-from-the-world feeling I got in Flagstaff a couple of weeks back. So to be able to play at all, let alone well, was a pleasant surprise.
- So I was in a relatively low key mode and was aiming to conserve energy as much as I could, which meant playing fairly, appropriately enough, conservatively. If J-Ro is a prototypical conservative, disc-control handler, and Garret is a prototypical take-chances swashbuckler, my ideal contribution is to be somewhere inbetween near halfway, but I spent most of the weekend closer to the J-Ro end of the spectrum.
- This was completely fine because, as I'll note below, Griesy was in a very aggressive mode hucking-wise and took a fair number of chances for all of us. They weren't all perfect, natch, but with him picking his spots, I could "run the offense" a lot more than trying to huck left and right. Consequently, I think I put it deep fewer than five times all weekend - weird for me, but the right move given the balance of our offense.
- I also had Trant's suggestion running through my head to stay back and run the O (rather than join the fray upfield) - he's right, that's my role on Sprawl, and while I think I can spell our horses a little better by joining the fray on occasion, this weekend, I was more of an anchor than a spark. Um, that's not a metaphor. I also played the hitch position maybe 90+ percent of the time I was out there - largely because Garret was gone and BP explicitly told me at one point he didn't want to play hitch ever again, more or less - so I ended up being a really conservative quarterback of sorts. If the Ravens would like to pay me to run their Super Bowl team, I'll take it.
- Not to overstate my carefulness this weekend - I did bust out break marks when needed, specifically dissecting some zones with scoobers, getting a few wrap-arounds off to Cole for scores, and one particularly nice breakmark BH to BP who turned and flipped to Rob for an easy goal. So I'd say my impact, while nowhere near as flashy as Griesy's cannon show, was quite positive for the team. Again, I was more worried about surviving and captaining, though, so maybe I'm not the person to ask.
- I had five turns on the weekend*, all on Sunday, and three of them in the finals in ridiculous wind conditions - not to make excuses, but when you're playing hitch and picking up the disc trapped on the sideline in a 35 mph wind all the time, the occasional turn is going to happen as a matter of percentage. They were:
- In the ITB game, a backhand semi-huck to Cole at the back left corner; he didn't get there in time and had to toe the line instead of skying to catch the disc. He missed it, giving me one of our four turns in the game and leading to the only offensive break we had. I suck.
- In the 99 Problems game, a guy poached the BH lane, so instead of throwing to BP, I turned and fired a quick backhand to J-Ro - or where he used to be standing. He had started to cut to the middle of the field and caught me off guard. D'oh. Normally J-Ro and I are psychic, so this was a pretty weird miscue on both of our parts.
- In the finals, I was trapped on our goal line, turned to activate, but BP fell down on the dump and J-Ro got lost behind the confusion back there. I turned on stall 8 to put a tight throw downfield to Griesy, but ended up throwing it directly into a poach. D'oh.
- Not even worth recounting, as it was pretty much a carbon copy of the above - dumps got mixed up, very windy, and I tried to desperation put it up for Gries, but it got wind-eaten and knocked down by a defender. Boo.
- I put up a huge backhand huck directly over/through the cup in the wind and rain to a streaking Cole for an easy goal. Only our good friend #29 (I believe) made the "you scored ergo travel" call. Aggravating. So I got the disc back and put it right back to the exact same spot - Cole skyed for it and looked like he got it but it got knocked away; he said later this may have been a strip. I'm not too bothered by this one as it was effectively a punt, and we got the turn quickly and punched the disc in for a goal. So huzzah, and seriously Flux #29, ugh. Odd how one dude can ruin a game.
* - I should always qualify this as "five for which I will take credit/blame." On Saturday, Dixon danced and danced behind the mark, and as I went to throw it to the open space on the open side, he inexplicably stopped moving. So I ended up throwing it to no one, but I'm chalking that up to wacky Dixon behavior, sorry. In the finals, I activated BP at the dump and noticed his man was playing five yards off him upfield - easy dump/swing, right? So as I went to throw the flick, BP - again, inexplicably - cut upfield toward his guy. Que? The situation was such an automatic "throw the flick out to space" that I had already started the throw by reflex, so when I tried to pull it back, I ended up spiking the disc more or less at my feet and looking like a complete idiot. So I'm not eating that one, either. These two were actually legit cross-ups, way more than the usual "always blame the receiver," and I declare them not my fault sans guilt. :)
- I had plenty of legs for the few times we did have to play D on our O-lines, and Ionly got significantly beat once on a big cross-field breakmark flick (by Rice-bud Marcus, I believe) that was a really nice throw and something I couldn't do a whole lot about. Otherwise, I actually made some pretty solid D contributions - I had a big goal line poach D in the first Flux game, a D on a huck in that same game that drew a crap foul call, but which I followed up with a shutdown mark that got us a high stall turn, a D on an iso huck in the Critical Mass game, and my personal favorite highlight of the weekend, a layout D on a predictable swing backhand at a big point in the 99 Problems game.
- This last one was especially funny because I hit the disc well after it was out of the thrower's hand, but he called foul - it was a pretty silly call; I am 99% sure I didn't touch him at all, let alone foul him, as I hit the disc before everything when it was a good foot out of his hand already. So given the silliness of the foul call, I wasn't exactly in the mood for a conversation about it - he having eliminated himself as a candidate for productive rational discourse - so I stood up and didn't even bother contesting it, just said, "No, I'm sending that to the observer." It was a breach of Ultimate code of sorts, but when an egregious call is made, it's the thing to do. Unfortunately, the observer directly behind the disc replied "I didn't see it" (which is WACK as it seems to confuse the very meaning of the verb root of her job title). Ugh. Fortunately, the other observer did and quickly called no foul; big turn, and we punched it in shortly thereafter. Huzzah!
- I had a couple of layout catches for goals on the weekend (one from Cole and one on the aforementioned windblown mess from BP) and a few jump and land in the endzone gaols, too. But really my job was to be steady, and outside the finals, I did a good job of that (and even in the finals, all things considered, I played okay and got some key breaks off - the scoober to Rob probably being my "throw of the weekend"). So a steady not spectacular performance by me, but I really think that's what Sprawl needs from their fat handler captain these days, and really, I continue to be amazed that I was able to do it at all, given my dampened energy / spirits of the previous week.
Alright, player by player review, with stats in the form of Name (Offensive +/-, Defensive +/-, Total +/-, O-points, D-points, Total playing time percentage)
- Nyet the Lesser (47, -1, 46, 61, 3, 37%) - You've read enough about this jerk above, so I'll just comment on the captaining - I stayed remarkably level this weekend and kept people's heads in, gave feedback, etc., without making it negative. There's a lot to keep track of when you're captaining alone - again, sucked to miss Dheintime this weekend - but I think I game/team-managed pretty well. And I really like how last night's practice went, too. Props also the line-callers who helped a ton, and to the other Sprawl leaders who kept suggestions / thoughts coming.
- J-Ro (40, 3, 43, 52, 9, 35%) - Rock-steady per usual - I probably should have had him play Hitch more, but our offensive formula clicked so well that changing it seemed silly. His role at this point is very well defined, and he nails it time and again - great cog for our O, and he's a key guy even though he's not necessarily making big hucks or splashy plays.
- Joe K (3, 13, 16, 7, 61, 39%) - Great job by Joe - he's really an O-line player who plays some great D, so it was really nice to have him on the field for when we got turns; he uses his breakmark throws exceptionally well. I don't remember him hucking a whole lot, though he did pull very effectively all weekend long. had those two weird, unforced turns in the first Flux game that put us in a hole early, but otherwise had a very solid weekend.
- Aaron (11, 4, 15, 11, 34, 26%) - Probably the one guy who didn't get enough PT this weekend - he played very steady this weekend, nothing huge on either side, but no mistakes to speak of, either, and his handles kept things moving on both lines. AND he was one of the few guys routinely containing breaks and swings - again, little things that don't stand out like, say, hand blacks, but integral to success. Another cog guy who did his job very well. He is probably more O-line than D-line but can fill in at either spot - but with our O playing fewer points than usual, most of the PT there was given to O-only guys. He of course, is a stand up dude and didn't even mention this - great to know we've got him ready to step up when needed but happy to play his part, too. Plus, he chugs a mean ICE.
- Jim (1,8,9, 5, 32, 21%) - Jim played great this weekend - had one hiccupy series with a couple of goal line turns, but he brought a lot of energy to the D and filled in on D-line hands nicely. Still needs to get the quick snap decisions / throws going on O - he ended up playing hitch / ratchet on a few D lines, and he was a little hesitant to break the mark which stalled out our O at moments. But that is probably more a matter of matching skills to position - he did a great job at the catch, and really, in terms of team role, the occasionally psychotic energy he brought to the sidelines was hella fun. And as mentioned, extraordinarily helpful to have his help calling lines.
- Paul (3, 11, 14, 5, 27, 18%) - Paul also really brought it this weekend - I thought his times as hitch were a little more successful when we had the disc, and he generally adopted a good, sweet spot approach w/r/t aggression at caution on the O side. He did have that one ridiculously silly push pass attempt - it ended up flipping end over end - but I think the ballcap was only flung in disgust that one time all weekend, a great sign. Lots of hustle, and again, great help on the line-calling - he really took the reins with it. Homes really stepped it up this weekend and demonstrated he belonged.
- BP (32, -4, 28, 44, 30 , 43%) - huge D and O play from BP; he continues to be a playmaker, grabbing us D's (layout handblock? Skies on deep shots? YES) and being an integral Man on the O. He was oddly uncomfortably playing the Hitch at points and goofed some long hucks here and there, but his laid-back buttery yet somehow aggressive game was on full display this weekend.
- Ian (8, 1, 9, 8, 49, 33%) - dude was coming off an MCL sprain and four weeks of no sprinting, and it unfortunately showed - he was just rusty and dragging on the field way more than usual, uncharacteristically biting on in-fakes and getting beat deep. Once we figured out that we just needed to scale back his PT a little bit, he bounced back excellently and made some big D plays - really psyched that he could start having a "bad tournament" and not let it get to him, just rallied and contributed, both on D and with the disc. I am completely unconcerned that he'll get his sea legs back, and again, he struggled but adjusted quite well to it.
- Ebay (30, 0 , 30, 36, 28, 37%) - The career Ulty path of Ebay is surely upward trending, and it is dope to see him at this height - hombre was *great* all around, gave us handling, mid play, defense, skies, you name it. His rundown of Cole's huck in the finals was a tournament Top Play, and he generally brought it big time. Still needs to up the speed for when we face the big boys - just to give him some kind of criticism - but damn, hombre played really well.
- Studer (7, 6, 13, 7, 50, 33%) - Another role player who just flat out brought it - hustle D all weekend, threw a Mr. Wobblesworth Special huck to Ebay for a score and hooked up with Big Nate on a hammer, and caught the winning goal in the finals taboot. Tom also continues to upward trend, and while we'd like to see him be able to grab some D hands now and then, his fill play this weekend was key.
- Josh (11, 11, 22, 13, 53, 38%) - Rookie baller Josh fulfilled all expectation in his first tournament, getting who knows how many D's of the layout, sky and handblock variety. Absolute gem of a game, and he was really consistent with his decisions on top of that. Only 22, just graduated from UW, and really just outside teh BP/Griesy range of all-around dominant games. great addition to the team.
- Dixon (19, 4, 23, 23, 56, 46%) - Another big tournament from the guy who never stops running - Dixon only had one or two turnovers for the whole weekend and gave us a ton of shutdown D and energetic filling on O. A little less overt than his play from last year's CO Cup, but only because everyone else stepped it up, too - he didn't need to do as much.
- Rob (5, 6, 11, 9, 52, 35%) - homes routinely puts in huge tournaments that don't make a lot of noise - he takes on other teams big cutters and shuts them down (so he's not necessarily getting huge D's, just preventing his guy from touching the disc), makes who know how many key midfield cuts, and really makes no mistakes. Tis one was par for the course - great play, *great* popping against the zone, and the veteran masters-eligible speedster continues to blow my mind.
- Trant (21, 3 ,24, 23, 41, 37%) - Jason battled hamstring issues all weekend and had to sit a bit at times, but provided his stellar D and up-and-coming O throughout the tournament. Trant is sneakily one of Sprawl's most improved palyers - and he was already good - so to have him stepping it up and making, e.g., some huge deep cuts and poach reads, is helping a ton.
- Skunk (3, 17, 20, 3, 45, 28%) - Skunker continues to baffle with his occasional drifting concentration, but he kept it together and really stuck to his role of energetic defender this weekend. Most importantly, he was the guy who took off full sprint style on people when our opponents turned it, and got himself a few quick transition goals for his troubles. A big question mark before the tourney, Skunk showed that he can focus it in when he wants to. He still needs to eliminate the lapses when e.g. guarding the dump, and still makes weird decisions with poaches and giving his guy too much cushion - so there's plenty to work on - but I really appreicated the solid attitude and the willignness to play his role.
- Kyle (2, 12, 14, 4, 46, 29%) - repeatedly people said "that guy is fast," "he gets D's." Kyle did exactly what he needed to, which is run all over the field and knock stuff down. He got a little winded at one point and suffered accordingly, but he bounced back and made numerous plays in the air - I think people challenge him because of his height, but he was up to the task. On the O side, he took a chance down a sideline that someone (Skunk?) toed in, and immediately recognized that making that sort of throw wasn't his job. We'll unfortunately be missing him for regionals - something about an anniversary trip to Hawaii - but for now , Kyle amply demonstrated the value of his making the Sprawl cut.
- Griesy (43, 13, 56, 51, 29, 46%) - with Dhein out, even more weight than usual fell on Griesy to be the guy, and dios mio did he pull it off. I've already alluded to this repeatedly, so suffice it to say that he was a beast - umpteen hucks for goals, breaks, sweet cuts, etc. He keyed our offense, and the only thing I can think to say is that he didn't go deep enough - with skies like the one he had in the finals (over EVERYONE, it was an all-timer), you know he could be hauling things in downfield. But really, he played insanely well this weekend - took chances so the handlers didn't have to, and was absolutely feeling it with his Cole connection. Perfectly aggressive and able to keep it up consistently through the weekend in which he played 46% of points and cut hard on all of them, Griesy was the obvious tourney MVP.
- Vince (3, 4, 7, 3, 64, 39%) - Vince was huge on D - his numbers are a little deceptive as he sat out once we got ahead in games - i.e., he was really only playing against other teams starters and in our two tight games. But he patrolled the deep game very well, baited more than a few throws, and took out the other teams' deep threat repeatedly. He also wore a preposterous mustache throughout - no indication whether this hurt or helped - and only had a few of his trademark way overly aggressive deep chucks. He fell in love a bit with playing VOTS style and throwing it to Will all the time, but otherwise put ina stellar weekend - a little harder to see since it happened nearly 100% on D, but Vince was a top player for this tourney, too.
- Cole (46, -1, 45, 60, 9, 40%) - Dominant deep threat who scored a ton. That doesn't even capture it. Wait, here:
These are the saddest of possible words
Jones to Griesy to Cole
Trio of Sprawlers, fleeter than birds
Jones to Griesy to Cole
Ruthlessly picking on your trailing deep
Making a giant get skyed and weep,
This was the play that made you say, "Bleep!"
Jones to Griesy to Cole
- Cole scored 27+ goals on the weekend, and I swear 90% of them happened in the above fashion. Ridiculous and a perfect playing of his part - he adopted his role with aplomb. He definitely started to get frustrated with teammates and lose his cool on a couple of occasions - memorably spiking it at an opponent after a rough foul - but he responded very well to being calmed by the Nyet Zen-master. Great play, and we really need him to continue to make huge plays for us once the competition gets stiffer.
- Will (0, -2, -2, 0, 32, 18%) - gave us big energy when we needed it on D and gave us another stellar rookie performance. Also, ho hum, had the play of the weekend - someone sent it deep for Griesy but threw it was too lasery hard and flat. It was a sure turn at a big point in the first Flux game. But out of nowhere comes a screamingly streaking Will to catch up to the disc, lay out and grab the goal. In. cred. i. ble. Will maintained a great attitde all weekend, helped out with the line-calling, and filled in with a spark when we needed it. Obviously lots of skill-areas to work on in his game, but he's already made a contribution.
- Big Nate (1, -2, -1, 9, 28, 21%) - A running joke was that I kept inadvertently insulting Nate all weekend - said he couldn't handle, made fun of old players, made fun of Ogden(ville) where he happens to have been born - so I'll refrain from that here. Big Nate did a great job on O, never turning it over and making a few big grabs in the endzone over shorter defenders. He struggled to stop deep cuts on D a little bit, but that's a minor complaint; yet another case of filling his role well and putting the team first. Plus a tremendously fun and helpful guy to have on our sidelines - did a nice job staying on people about running down on the pull and letting me know what he was seeing. Nice work.
Oy. So I know I said I would throw in some general highlights, too, but I'm a bit tired, and I've pretty much hit the bulk of the big ones already. Just picture a ton of Josh layouts, Griesy gunning it, a near greatest from Big Nate to Cole... and you'll get enough of an idea of the nice play that went down. I'll post videos and/or more pics as I see / get them, but that should do it for CO Cup 200. On to the next thing - thanks for reading, and pave the world. Sprawl.
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