So this is what I am spending this summer doing:
Title: Geodetic Measurements and Numerical Models of Rifting in Northern Iceland
The objective of this study is to describe quantitatively deformation in the Northern Volcanic Zone (NVZ) of Iceland. The observations were made using interferometric analysis of synthetic aperture radar images (InSAR) between 1993 and 2000. They can be modeled as three sources of deformation in this region: a shallow deflating (Mogi) source, a deep inflating (Mogi) source, and an opening dike trending north south. The modeling assumes an elastic half-space and builds on a previous study using a superset of the InSAR data (De Zeeuw-Van Dalfsen et al., Geophys. Res. Lett., 2004). An innovative new technique to model phase without unwrapping parameters directly (Feigl and Thurber, Geophys. J. Int., 2008) is applied to estimate the model. The parameters of interest include the three-dimensional position and volume change of each source. We test the hypothesis of secular deformation at a constant rate of volume change. If validated, this hypothesis would imply that the post-rifting deformation following the 1975-1980 Kralfa eruption has dissipated on a time scale on the order of 20 years.
Friday, June 06, 2008
Monday, June 02, 2008
Pimpdags Regionals
So I'm finally getting to this now that it's summer, and I'm still bitter about this tournament. I went into it focused and prepared to help lead the Pimps to their typical overachieving regional finish, treating the games just like I did last year with the Pain Train, and left disgruntled and pissed.
I should've seen it coming when we arrived. It was cold, in the 40's, with a strong 15-20mph cross-wind, and the fields were drenched from rain the previous few days. It was a replay of Nashville and a disaster waiting to happen. I'd like to think we could've handled it if it was just upwind/downwind, but we had no such luck. Our first two games were against Winona St. and UW-Eau Claire, and we showed a lack of fire, determination, or any ability to give a shit. Our best players had numerous drops and throwaways as we proved absolutely ineffective at moving the disc against a zone in the cross-wind while the other teams were making plays and ripping through our man and zone D's not so much with their skill but more with our laziness. Basically we started making excuses for bad play and gave up while the other teams embraced the weather and kicked the crap out of us. It was very frustrating to lose our first two games 15-3 and 11-7, as I while I wasn't playing great, I was running hard, but I just didn't have the throws or the defensive ability to make plays in the conditions. As the inevitable result of each game drew closer I couldn't help but make the contrast between this regionals and the euphoria (followed quickly by crushing defeat) of last year.
So with those two games under our belt, field preservation and schedule changes meant we were done for the day, at noon. So we went back to a player's dad's house in Iowa about an hour away from Decorah to relax. I took a long walk about the town, along the flood-stage river banks and then up a ridge for a nice view. I then returned to the house, got some reading done, then enjoyed a great home-cooked meal, some good conversation, and a little beer before retiring for the night. It was a nice opportunity to collect my thoughts.
Sunday brought us to the fields extra early, as our 10am game had been moved to noon without us knowing. SO we watched some of the back door games before finally warming up and playing Northern Iowa, which at the time I thought would be my last college game ever. We played to 9 since the CUT/Hodags final was going on at the same time and we wanted to watch. Despite coming out flat and without any motivation, we beat UNI, in no small part due to my determination not to lose. There. I said it, I played a good game, and eventually the rest of the team woke up and we managed to win 9-7.
At this point I thought I was done and was taking small sips of the left over beer from the previous night's keg that others had brought to the fields in milk jugs while watching the Hodags/CUT final. That was a great game to watch, lots of big plays. At this point I realized we had a 4th game, and that while most of us were relaxing and drinking beer, our opponents were warming up two fields over by scrimmaging themselves. You can guess now how that game went. I think we went down 5 or 6 to 0 before I got super pissed, intentionally tackled a guy to stop a huck, then faked an injury to get off the field on our next possession and went and sat on a berm for 3 points. Frustration indeed. We slowly started to come back, and eventually went on a 4 or 5 point run in the second half as the weather was much much nicer and we were starting to play close to potential. However, our opening play had dug too deep a hole and we lost 13-11 or so, the game winning goal scored by some tall long haired hipped skying the crap out of me. Just the way I wanted to go out. Fuck.
It was really frustrating not to peak for out last tournament, as that's what you train for all year. We had so much potential and really never used all of it except for the second half of the Milwaukee game at sectionals. I guess we played well when it mattered. Hopefully the younger guys were frustrated by this ending as well and will make sure it doesn't happen next year. All in all it was a fun year and I enjoyed getting to play with the Pimpdags, we definitely had some great games along the way.
I should've seen it coming when we arrived. It was cold, in the 40's, with a strong 15-20mph cross-wind, and the fields were drenched from rain the previous few days. It was a replay of Nashville and a disaster waiting to happen. I'd like to think we could've handled it if it was just upwind/downwind, but we had no such luck. Our first two games were against Winona St. and UW-Eau Claire, and we showed a lack of fire, determination, or any ability to give a shit. Our best players had numerous drops and throwaways as we proved absolutely ineffective at moving the disc against a zone in the cross-wind while the other teams were making plays and ripping through our man and zone D's not so much with their skill but more with our laziness. Basically we started making excuses for bad play and gave up while the other teams embraced the weather and kicked the crap out of us. It was very frustrating to lose our first two games 15-3 and 11-7, as I while I wasn't playing great, I was running hard, but I just didn't have the throws or the defensive ability to make plays in the conditions. As the inevitable result of each game drew closer I couldn't help but make the contrast between this regionals and the euphoria (followed quickly by crushing defeat) of last year.
So with those two games under our belt, field preservation and schedule changes meant we were done for the day, at noon. So we went back to a player's dad's house in Iowa about an hour away from Decorah to relax. I took a long walk about the town, along the flood-stage river banks and then up a ridge for a nice view. I then returned to the house, got some reading done, then enjoyed a great home-cooked meal, some good conversation, and a little beer before retiring for the night. It was a nice opportunity to collect my thoughts.
Sunday brought us to the fields extra early, as our 10am game had been moved to noon without us knowing. SO we watched some of the back door games before finally warming up and playing Northern Iowa, which at the time I thought would be my last college game ever. We played to 9 since the CUT/Hodags final was going on at the same time and we wanted to watch. Despite coming out flat and without any motivation, we beat UNI, in no small part due to my determination not to lose. There. I said it, I played a good game, and eventually the rest of the team woke up and we managed to win 9-7.
At this point I thought I was done and was taking small sips of the left over beer from the previous night's keg that others had brought to the fields in milk jugs while watching the Hodags/CUT final. That was a great game to watch, lots of big plays. At this point I realized we had a 4th game, and that while most of us were relaxing and drinking beer, our opponents were warming up two fields over by scrimmaging themselves. You can guess now how that game went. I think we went down 5 or 6 to 0 before I got super pissed, intentionally tackled a guy to stop a huck, then faked an injury to get off the field on our next possession and went and sat on a berm for 3 points. Frustration indeed. We slowly started to come back, and eventually went on a 4 or 5 point run in the second half as the weather was much much nicer and we were starting to play close to potential. However, our opening play had dug too deep a hole and we lost 13-11 or so, the game winning goal scored by some tall long haired hipped skying the crap out of me. Just the way I wanted to go out. Fuck.
It was really frustrating not to peak for out last tournament, as that's what you train for all year. We had so much potential and really never used all of it except for the second half of the Milwaukee game at sectionals. I guess we played well when it mattered. Hopefully the younger guys were frustrated by this ending as well and will make sure it doesn't happen next year. All in all it was a fun year and I enjoyed getting to play with the Pimpdags, we definitely had some great games along the way.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Summer Plans
So now that my spring semester is over I finally have the time to get back to updating this, starting with my summer plans. Feel free to get in touch if you'll be in my area or I'll be in yours.
May 15-19: UPA College Nationals, Boulder, CO
May 23-26: WMO @ Dartmouth
June 13-16: Cousin's weeding, Beverly, MA
July 19-20: M.U.T at Owe My Knee, Albany, NY
Late July/Early August: Trip to Norman and Colorado
In between those dates I'll be in Madison doing research for my Master's thesis. There will also be a few ultimate tournaments thrown in, but I won't know those dates and locations exactly until I know which team I'll be playing for (Madison Open or Coed).
May 15-19: UPA College Nationals, Boulder, CO
May 23-26: WMO @ Dartmouth
June 13-16: Cousin's weeding, Beverly, MA
July 19-20: M.U.T at Owe My Knee, Albany, NY
Late July/Early August: Trip to Norman and Colorado
In between those dates I'll be in Madison doing research for my Master's thesis. There will also be a few ultimate tournaments thrown in, but I won't know those dates and locations exactly until I know which team I'll be playing for (Madison Open or Coed).
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Sectionals
Well, the Pimpdags made it to regionals. Here's what I remember about how it happened:
Game 1 vs. Beloit: Beloit was stronger than they were at Huck Finn, and we were a little slow out of the gate as usual. Since this game was the first with our full team playing to win, there was a lot of figuring out what role to play to for the team during our first two games, which caused this game to be a bit closer than it probably should've. Still, we win comfortably while keeping an open rotation 15-10.
Bye: I went and watched the hodags for while, they were in full costume and throwing hammers at will against Stevens Point. I laughed when some huge guy on SP skied a couple of them for a score and then left to go watch the Slutdags (Wisconsin C) and scout the rest of our pool.
Game 2 vs. UW-Milwaukee B: This game is where we really started to figure stuff out, especially on defense, and we never relented. They couldn't figure out our sponge D and we ran it nearly every point as we cruised to a 15-1 win, narrowly missing the bagel due to a miss-thrown hitch pass off of a pull.
Game 3 vs. Whitewater: Our last game of the day, we were really excited to see how we could match up with guys. The answer: not all that well. We were complacent from our earlier wins and were not ready for the pressure Whitewater put on us. Dumps couldn't get open, the cutters got shut down in and were handing out deep, nothing was coming easy and we got frustrated and turned the disc over a lot. We fought, but couldn't put it together, losing 15-5. However, the lost was good for us I think as it made us realize what improvements to make come Sunday.
With 2nd place in our pool we were schedule to play Marquette in the quarterfinals Sunday morning:
Quarters vs. Marquette: Marquette really just has one guy with ridiculous backhand breaks. Marquette ran their offense through him, playing conservative and knowing that their guy would make the plays and throws for them, which he did. He played nearly every point to start the game, resting only on D points when Marquette had gone up a break. We stayed in it, but just couldn't shut down their offense despite the Hodags cheering us on, and we lost 13-10.
Backdoor quarters vs. Stevens Point: Now we found ourselves in must-win territory. Lose this game and our season was over. So of course we got broken on the first point of the game. Stevens Point was big and was scoring on deep looks. Over the course of the game was starting working it under them and stifiling them with handler defense, and we slowly caught back up and built a lead. I hit Bob with a pretty backhand huck for the game-winning score 12-9.
Backdoor Semis vs. UW-Milwaukee: Win this game and we were in regionals, lose and we faced a 5th-place do or die game. This was a game of runs, we went up 3-1, they went up 5-3, we tied it at 5's, they took half 8-6, and stretched that lead to 10-7. UW-M is an athletic team, but didn't value the disc well. We were getting turns but being frustrated by their D, many points we long with 3-5 TO's per team. Then at 10-7, knowing we were tired and dreading a do-or-die game against Eau Claire, we cleaned up our offense, throwing 100% throws, and kept the pressure on D to tied the game at 10's. They would score the O-point 11-10, but we would answer with chilly offense and 0 turns as we worked it up the field and scored to force universe. On universe Milwaukee moved the disc up half the field before trying a deep shot, we wolf-packed it and Calkins came up with a huge D. Then that same chilly O took over, Friedman hit a wide open Bentley on a huck, and a couple passes later Mark hit Calkins for the win, the bid to regionals, and the bookends. Everyone played amazing in this game, though Calkins and Mark get special mention, I think each of them had multiple double happiness points and huge skies to keep us in the game and keep our momentum rolling.
3rd Place game vs. Marquette: We lost 15-4. We were simply exhausted and were happy with simply making it to regionals. Some of our starters had their cleats and shirts off by half-time. I kept putting myself in, trying to have one last good point before being done, but it took forever as I was exhausted and kept making mental errors. Eventually at 14-3 Marquette came down in zone and we worked it up and I threw the score. I was done. The good news from this game is that we were slowly figuring out to mark their main handler, so if we see them again at regionals I expect this match up to go solidly the other way.
After the Marquette game I walked a field over to root on my Frontline teamates who play for Milwaukee in their game to go against Eau Claire. This was a great game with a lot deep hucks, few turnovers, and even a callahan. With no cap on Eau Claire scored the break to win 17-15 and take a bid to regionals for the first time a couple years. Heartbreaking for Milwaukee, both teams had played 4 long games that day and were probably just as tired as I was.
All in all it was a great weekend. I feel that I finally found the role I need to play for the Pimps and I relish it, hopefully we can make some adjustments this week during practice and play even better at regionals this weekend, where it looks like we'll be coming in as the 11 seed.
Game 1 vs. Beloit: Beloit was stronger than they were at Huck Finn, and we were a little slow out of the gate as usual. Since this game was the first with our full team playing to win, there was a lot of figuring out what role to play to for the team during our first two games, which caused this game to be a bit closer than it probably should've. Still, we win comfortably while keeping an open rotation 15-10.
Bye: I went and watched the hodags for while, they were in full costume and throwing hammers at will against Stevens Point. I laughed when some huge guy on SP skied a couple of them for a score and then left to go watch the Slutdags (Wisconsin C) and scout the rest of our pool.
Game 2 vs. UW-Milwaukee B: This game is where we really started to figure stuff out, especially on defense, and we never relented. They couldn't figure out our sponge D and we ran it nearly every point as we cruised to a 15-1 win, narrowly missing the bagel due to a miss-thrown hitch pass off of a pull.
Game 3 vs. Whitewater: Our last game of the day, we were really excited to see how we could match up with guys. The answer: not all that well. We were complacent from our earlier wins and were not ready for the pressure Whitewater put on us. Dumps couldn't get open, the cutters got shut down in and were handing out deep, nothing was coming easy and we got frustrated and turned the disc over a lot. We fought, but couldn't put it together, losing 15-5. However, the lost was good for us I think as it made us realize what improvements to make come Sunday.
With 2nd place in our pool we were schedule to play Marquette in the quarterfinals Sunday morning:
Quarters vs. Marquette: Marquette really just has one guy with ridiculous backhand breaks. Marquette ran their offense through him, playing conservative and knowing that their guy would make the plays and throws for them, which he did. He played nearly every point to start the game, resting only on D points when Marquette had gone up a break. We stayed in it, but just couldn't shut down their offense despite the Hodags cheering us on, and we lost 13-10.
Backdoor quarters vs. Stevens Point: Now we found ourselves in must-win territory. Lose this game and our season was over. So of course we got broken on the first point of the game. Stevens Point was big and was scoring on deep looks. Over the course of the game was starting working it under them and stifiling them with handler defense, and we slowly caught back up and built a lead. I hit Bob with a pretty backhand huck for the game-winning score 12-9.
Backdoor Semis vs. UW-Milwaukee: Win this game and we were in regionals, lose and we faced a 5th-place do or die game. This was a game of runs, we went up 3-1, they went up 5-3, we tied it at 5's, they took half 8-6, and stretched that lead to 10-7. UW-M is an athletic team, but didn't value the disc well. We were getting turns but being frustrated by their D, many points we long with 3-5 TO's per team. Then at 10-7, knowing we were tired and dreading a do-or-die game against Eau Claire, we cleaned up our offense, throwing 100% throws, and kept the pressure on D to tied the game at 10's. They would score the O-point 11-10, but we would answer with chilly offense and 0 turns as we worked it up the field and scored to force universe. On universe Milwaukee moved the disc up half the field before trying a deep shot, we wolf-packed it and Calkins came up with a huge D. Then that same chilly O took over, Friedman hit a wide open Bentley on a huck, and a couple passes later Mark hit Calkins for the win, the bid to regionals, and the bookends. Everyone played amazing in this game, though Calkins and Mark get special mention, I think each of them had multiple double happiness points and huge skies to keep us in the game and keep our momentum rolling.
3rd Place game vs. Marquette: We lost 15-4. We were simply exhausted and were happy with simply making it to regionals. Some of our starters had their cleats and shirts off by half-time. I kept putting myself in, trying to have one last good point before being done, but it took forever as I was exhausted and kept making mental errors. Eventually at 14-3 Marquette came down in zone and we worked it up and I threw the score. I was done. The good news from this game is that we were slowly figuring out to mark their main handler, so if we see them again at regionals I expect this match up to go solidly the other way.
After the Marquette game I walked a field over to root on my Frontline teamates who play for Milwaukee in their game to go against Eau Claire. This was a great game with a lot deep hucks, few turnovers, and even a callahan. With no cap on Eau Claire scored the break to win 17-15 and take a bid to regionals for the first time a couple years. Heartbreaking for Milwaukee, both teams had played 4 long games that day and were probably just as tired as I was.
All in all it was a great weekend. I feel that I finally found the role I need to play for the Pimps and I relish it, hopefully we can make some adjustments this week during practice and play even better at regionals this weekend, where it looks like we'll be coming in as the 11 seed.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Wisconsin Wolves
First, a quick word on sectionals. The weather won and the tournament was moved to this weekend. Weather looks to be around 60 degrees, maybe some showers on Saturday, with a light wind. All in all perfect conditions for the pimps. All that other stuff I said still stands.
I feel at some point I'll figure out how to add links to the sidebar, highlight words as links in the text, and add photos so the blog doesn't suck, but that's a summer project, so we'll just deal with it for now. Photos of stuff are on Facebook anyway.
So the subject of the post is Tyke's latest adventure, that of being a professional football player. The season opener was last weekend and I went, not quite knowing what to expect. I had gotten dirty looks from Tyke a couple weeks ago when I said I thought womens football would look like the 7th grade football team I covered for yearbook in 8th grade. After seeing the game, well, I'll say in terms of size and average football experience, the women are probably around that 8th-9th grade level, but they play a lot smarter, which would be expected.
Not that I know a lot about football, but from I saw there were very few sacks/missed blocking assignments or miscommunications between players compared to the middle school football I've watched, which at times resembled a gag reel of screw ups. The weather (snowing, windy, temp around 30) didn't help at all, and the football proved very hard to throw and fumbles from frozen hands were prevelent. Wisconsin has a good QB, so I'm looking forward to seeing what this team looks like when it's warm enough to actually throw a spiral.
In the end the Wolves lost 14-7 to Chicago, mainly due to size difference. The largest player on Chicago was a running back, and she was about twice the size of any of the Wisconsin defenders, so most of the Chicago's plays involved running this woman up the middle, where behind a nearly-as-large O-line she was usually able to gain 4-5 yards. Very hard to stop.
The highlight of the game though was Wisconsin's touchdown, which originally started out as a screen pass to the left for about 3-4 yards. At that point the WR was about to be tackled, but she decided she saw an opening back to the right, turned directly around, ran back to the line of scrimmage and began a dash across the field, allowing another Wolf to throw a viscous block, opening up the entire side of the field for the WR to beat the Chicago defense in a sprint to the endzone. The play was recorded as a 21 yard pass, but the woman probably ran 80 yards. For a second there I thought I was watching Reggie Bush. Very cool.
Tyke unfortunately didn't get to play at all, as despite being the 2nd fastest on the team she hasn't fully transitioned from no-contact ultimate to full-contact football. She's listed as Tight End and Corner back, and as soon as she figures out that whole jamming/getting out of being jammed thing, she'll be a force. Hopefully I'll get to see her wreck havoc as a special teams gunner at the next home game in May against Detroit.
I feel at some point I'll figure out how to add links to the sidebar, highlight words as links in the text, and add photos so the blog doesn't suck, but that's a summer project, so we'll just deal with it for now. Photos of stuff are on Facebook anyway.
So the subject of the post is Tyke's latest adventure, that of being a professional football player. The season opener was last weekend and I went, not quite knowing what to expect. I had gotten dirty looks from Tyke a couple weeks ago when I said I thought womens football would look like the 7th grade football team I covered for yearbook in 8th grade. After seeing the game, well, I'll say in terms of size and average football experience, the women are probably around that 8th-9th grade level, but they play a lot smarter, which would be expected.
Not that I know a lot about football, but from I saw there were very few sacks/missed blocking assignments or miscommunications between players compared to the middle school football I've watched, which at times resembled a gag reel of screw ups. The weather (snowing, windy, temp around 30) didn't help at all, and the football proved very hard to throw and fumbles from frozen hands were prevelent. Wisconsin has a good QB, so I'm looking forward to seeing what this team looks like when it's warm enough to actually throw a spiral.
In the end the Wolves lost 14-7 to Chicago, mainly due to size difference. The largest player on Chicago was a running back, and she was about twice the size of any of the Wisconsin defenders, so most of the Chicago's plays involved running this woman up the middle, where behind a nearly-as-large O-line she was usually able to gain 4-5 yards. Very hard to stop.
The highlight of the game though was Wisconsin's touchdown, which originally started out as a screen pass to the left for about 3-4 yards. At that point the WR was about to be tackled, but she decided she saw an opening back to the right, turned directly around, ran back to the line of scrimmage and began a dash across the field, allowing another Wolf to throw a viscous block, opening up the entire side of the field for the WR to beat the Chicago defense in a sprint to the endzone. The play was recorded as a 21 yard pass, but the woman probably ran 80 yards. For a second there I thought I was watching Reggie Bush. Very cool.
Tyke unfortunately didn't get to play at all, as despite being the 2nd fastest on the team she hasn't fully transitioned from no-contact ultimate to full-contact football. She's listed as Tight End and Corner back, and as soon as she figures out that whole jamming/getting out of being jammed thing, she'll be a force. Hopefully I'll get to see her wreck havoc as a special teams gunner at the next home game in May against Detroit.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Lake Superior Sectionals Preview
Sectionals is this weekend, and it's interesting as I'm approaching this tournament like I approached regionals last year: we're seeded to quality to play further, but that's no guarantee, we have to prove it and play very well. It's the biggest tournament of the year and regionals is the reward.
Aside from only 5 bids for 7 quality teams, the weather is making this even tougher. Current forecast is for temps in the 30's with a chance of snow and moderate wind. There's currently no mention of rain, so as long as the fields aren't soaked from the rain this week (Tuesday and likely Thursday and Friday) the tourney is on, and we have to ready to play in bad conditions, especially after our collapse in bad weather in Nashville. The best performances this weekend will belong to teams that embrace the conditions and play through them as opposed to making excuses. As Tyke's coach always told her team, you can't control the weather, so there's no use worrying about it, focus your energy on the things that you can control: solid throws, watching the disc into your hands, running the offense right, playing hard D. Doing well this weekend is all about winning the mental battle with ourselves, if we do that the results will take care of themselves.
Still, we do have to play other teams this weekend. We're seeded 5th behind the Hodags, Whitewater, Marquette, and Milwaukee. Eau Claire and Stevens Point make up a close 6th and 7th. The format is here: http://www.upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=127&id=4487
I'm not a fan of the additions the SC made to the format, but they're easy enough to avoid. We have a relatively easy first day, 2 warm up games against teams that won't beat us, but will work us and make us realize what we immediately need to work on. Then we have Whitewater. Then we have a cross-over game that has no bearing on Sunday seeding, the odds of this game being played seriously are very low. The games of concern for the Pimpdags on Saturday are the Marquette/Milwaukee game and the Stevens Point/Eau Claire game in round 4. If we can get a chance to see some of these games it'd be a great scouting opportunity. The 3rd game of interest will hopefully see us rooting on our C-team in the 3rd place cross-over game for a spot in the champ bracket on Sunday.
Sunday: Our most important game of the whole weekend is the first game on Sunday, if we win we're playing well with confidence and are in good position to get a bid via the 3rd place bracket semis. If we lose our confidence will be shaken and we'll have to rebound quickly in a must-win game in a tougher draw in the lower brackets. I think it's possible we finish 3rd at this tournament, it's also possible we finish 7th. This will be the first tournament we will have our full team playing together, and it's going to be good.
Marquette and Milwaukee are good teams, but looking beyond RRI and raw tournament finish, their individual game results show me nothing to make me question our ability to beat them. Stevens Point hasn't played a game all year, though are usually around the Pimpdags level, here's hoping their lack of experience hurts them more than the advantage they gain on other teams having no clue what to expect. Eau Claire beat us in Nashville, yes, but the second half was 7-6 Pimps after everything went wrong in the first half, not to mention we were missing some key players. Excuses yes, but excuses that give us confidence and Eau Claire concern.
All in all I'm pumped. I'm excited to see us play to potential. Personally I've done this before and I know what I need to do: play my role, run our system, and dominate like I know I can. Stay focused. Stay calm. Play smart. As long as I have something to say about it, this will not be my last weekend playing college ultimate.
Results to follow when it's all over.
Aside from only 5 bids for 7 quality teams, the weather is making this even tougher. Current forecast is for temps in the 30's with a chance of snow and moderate wind. There's currently no mention of rain, so as long as the fields aren't soaked from the rain this week (Tuesday and likely Thursday and Friday) the tourney is on, and we have to ready to play in bad conditions, especially after our collapse in bad weather in Nashville. The best performances this weekend will belong to teams that embrace the conditions and play through them as opposed to making excuses. As Tyke's coach always told her team, you can't control the weather, so there's no use worrying about it, focus your energy on the things that you can control: solid throws, watching the disc into your hands, running the offense right, playing hard D. Doing well this weekend is all about winning the mental battle with ourselves, if we do that the results will take care of themselves.
Still, we do have to play other teams this weekend. We're seeded 5th behind the Hodags, Whitewater, Marquette, and Milwaukee. Eau Claire and Stevens Point make up a close 6th and 7th. The format is here: http://www.upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=127&id=4487
I'm not a fan of the additions the SC made to the format, but they're easy enough to avoid. We have a relatively easy first day, 2 warm up games against teams that won't beat us, but will work us and make us realize what we immediately need to work on. Then we have Whitewater. Then we have a cross-over game that has no bearing on Sunday seeding, the odds of this game being played seriously are very low. The games of concern for the Pimpdags on Saturday are the Marquette/Milwaukee game and the Stevens Point/Eau Claire game in round 4. If we can get a chance to see some of these games it'd be a great scouting opportunity. The 3rd game of interest will hopefully see us rooting on our C-team in the 3rd place cross-over game for a spot in the champ bracket on Sunday.
Sunday: Our most important game of the whole weekend is the first game on Sunday, if we win we're playing well with confidence and are in good position to get a bid via the 3rd place bracket semis. If we lose our confidence will be shaken and we'll have to rebound quickly in a must-win game in a tougher draw in the lower brackets. I think it's possible we finish 3rd at this tournament, it's also possible we finish 7th. This will be the first tournament we will have our full team playing together, and it's going to be good.
Marquette and Milwaukee are good teams, but looking beyond RRI and raw tournament finish, their individual game results show me nothing to make me question our ability to beat them. Stevens Point hasn't played a game all year, though are usually around the Pimpdags level, here's hoping their lack of experience hurts them more than the advantage they gain on other teams having no clue what to expect. Eau Claire beat us in Nashville, yes, but the second half was 7-6 Pimps after everything went wrong in the first half, not to mention we were missing some key players. Excuses yes, but excuses that give us confidence and Eau Claire concern.
All in all I'm pumped. I'm excited to see us play to potential. Personally I've done this before and I know what I need to do: play my role, run our system, and dominate like I know I can. Stay focused. Stay calm. Play smart. As long as I have something to say about it, this will not be my last weekend playing college ultimate.
Results to follow when it's all over.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Huck Finn
Tourney recap week concludes today with Huck Finn, held last weekend in St. Louis. I was originally annoyed we were left out of the power pools, but as it turns out that was a good thing, as we took a skeleton crew of 17 that included only 5 people who will start for the Pimpdags in sectionals next weekend. We were short handlers (with only 5) and even shorter on experienced cutters, but it was a great weekend of progress for the next generation of pimps.
Saturday:
This day started out with Davidman and myself taking bets on how many points we would play. The weather was windy upwind/downwind with occasional sprinkles. Our first game was Illinois B, and it was close at first before we started figuring out how to get upwind scores (and Illinois started giving us the disc) and cruised to an 11-5 win. We then lost to Wheaton, our inexperience showing greatly as there were numerous turns on miscommunications, poor throws, and drops. The same was the story later in the day against Missouri, a game characterized in my mind by a turfed backhand on my part giving Missouri an easy upwind score right as we were trying to make a run and get back in the game. Our other two wins were easy, but were also very sloppy with lots of turns. At the end of the day I had played 62 points over 5 games to 11, or 74% of the points, and our rookies were coming along nicely. While some of us went to the party that night, I stayed in, watched basketball, and went to bed early.
Sunday:
Our first game was against some group of Carleton players that went on to win the tournament. We lost 14-2, but it was fun to play against these guys and really focus on playing good defense and making throws under pressure. Our next game was against Western Illinois (who?), which turned out to be a respectable team. The collected a lot scores off of transition hucks, as our D after turns continued to be poor at best. I played every point I could in this game, and probably more than that, as an injury one of our 5 handlers and stomach problems for another forced 3 of us to play about 8 points in a row. We were playing better in this game, but exhaustion was showing among our best players, and defense was slack as times and mental errors were all too common. Notable plays in this game were me going ho feet first after catching an O2 (babytalk) to toe the endzone line for the score, and me throwing a technically perfect huck to Dave, only to have him brutally misread it, running towards the 4 defenders on the open side trying to D it instead of going breakside where the disc trailed off nicely and landed calmly in the middle of the endzone. In the end we lost 13-10, simply losing steam at the end. I ended up with a pretty good statline: 2 goals, 4 assists, maybe 3-4 turns, but I too was exhausted as the winning goal was score on me, my guy running towards the back corner of the endzone and me unable to follow. Total points played on the weekend: 90.
Coming Up: Sectionals Preview.
Saturday:
This day started out with Davidman and myself taking bets on how many points we would play. The weather was windy upwind/downwind with occasional sprinkles. Our first game was Illinois B, and it was close at first before we started figuring out how to get upwind scores (and Illinois started giving us the disc) and cruised to an 11-5 win. We then lost to Wheaton, our inexperience showing greatly as there were numerous turns on miscommunications, poor throws, and drops. The same was the story later in the day against Missouri, a game characterized in my mind by a turfed backhand on my part giving Missouri an easy upwind score right as we were trying to make a run and get back in the game. Our other two wins were easy, but were also very sloppy with lots of turns. At the end of the day I had played 62 points over 5 games to 11, or 74% of the points, and our rookies were coming along nicely. While some of us went to the party that night, I stayed in, watched basketball, and went to bed early.
Sunday:
Our first game was against some group of Carleton players that went on to win the tournament. We lost 14-2, but it was fun to play against these guys and really focus on playing good defense and making throws under pressure. Our next game was against Western Illinois (who?), which turned out to be a respectable team. The collected a lot scores off of transition hucks, as our D after turns continued to be poor at best. I played every point I could in this game, and probably more than that, as an injury one of our 5 handlers and stomach problems for another forced 3 of us to play about 8 points in a row. We were playing better in this game, but exhaustion was showing among our best players, and defense was slack as times and mental errors were all too common. Notable plays in this game were me going ho feet first after catching an O2 (babytalk) to toe the endzone line for the score, and me throwing a technically perfect huck to Dave, only to have him brutally misread it, running towards the 4 defenders on the open side trying to D it instead of going breakside where the disc trailed off nicely and landed calmly in the middle of the endzone. In the end we lost 13-10, simply losing steam at the end. I ended up with a pretty good statline: 2 goals, 4 assists, maybe 3-4 turns, but I too was exhausted as the winning goal was score on me, my guy running towards the back corner of the endzone and me unable to follow. Total points played on the weekend: 90.
Coming Up: Sectionals Preview.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Southerns
Back after a brief hiatus yesterday when I decided nothing happened over spring break worth writing about. Basically I tried to do work while everyone else drank themselves stupid. Recap over.
The second weekend of spring break though brought the tournament that I had been looking forward to most all year: Southerns. This was the 3rd year in a row I've been to this tourney and it's probably my second favorite after Vegas. Dartmouth men were there, Wellesley women were there, and a van containing Ian, Mark, and Lechmaier would also be there. Things were looking up.
Saturday:
Game 1 v. Middlebury: It's always fun to play against the northeast teams I know well, and I love Midd. I gave our coaches a scouting report that proved correct, Midd put it deep again and again to a couple great athletes and played a smart game that took advantage of our turnovers. They won 13-6 as we opened up our 28 man roster. Highlight of the game was Midd recognizing me and appologizing for the keg incident at regionals last year. I then put the person to blame for that in a headlock.
Game 2 v. Tulane: Tulane is a great team, lots of fun, and kept a positive attitude despite only have 7 guys and 3 guys on their roster this weekend. We had an open rotation from the start and cruised to a 13-7 victory, assuring us of holding seed in our pool.
Game 3 v. Wake Forest: A rematch for me from Southerns last year when Wake beat Dartmouth with a decent zone. I don't think Wake is as good this year. They got up on us early, but we stayed in it, down a break or two. Then at 9-7 them our zone clicked and we started getting turns. Wake had been trying to break our zone with high floaty throws over our cup, and we finally threw a tall line in to stop that. Needless to say it worked and we went on a 4 point run to win 11-9. Great game, though I feel Wake lost their fight after we tied it at 9s. The last two points for us were breaks that happened on a short field turn due to our zone: for 10-9 Wake forgot to guard me in transition and I scored an easy up the line cut from Ian. For 11-9 I returned the favor to Ian when Wake forgot to guard him.
Game 4 v. St. Olaf: This was our fourth game in a row and our starters were feeling it. We're generally a pretty deep team, but against this type of competition we go maybe 14 deep, which isn't enough for 4 games in a row. St. Olaf threw our same zone and the start of the game was notable for very long points and lots of throws gaining not many yards. Ian and I had some good teamwork on short throws in the cup to gain yards, and I believe I had a 100% hammer completion rate, but something would always seem to go wrong at some point and we'd turn it. Half was still close at 7-5 Olaf, but in the 2nd half they picked it up and we ran out of steam and got bageled. 12-5 final. I'm looking forward to seeing these guys again at regionals.
Interlude: After our game I took advantage of our last round bye and went to watch Wellesley play a few fields away. Davidman tagged along, intrigued at the concept of an all-womens college. We watched the first half as I caught up with my friends on the Whips and called Tyke to gloat that I was hanging out with her team. I then walked a couple fields over to say hi to Wellesley B and Dartmouth womens B. Next it was off to watch the Pain Train play. Unfortunately they romped their last round opponent 13-3 and I missed the whole thing. I still got to hang out with them afterwards, and it was great to see them all again and hear about how well they're playing. I also met Carson, the former CUT player who is effectively my replacement cutting on the O-line. I hate to say it, but they definitely traded up. A few hours later I went to the party for the first time in my 3 years, where I spent most of my time talking to Fishie and beating my drunk Pimpdag teammates off of her with a stick. I think my coach actually introduced himself to her twice. When she left I went over to dance with Wellesley for a while before it became time to drag my shitfaced coach back to our campsite and go to sleep.
Sunday: Our 3rd place finish in our pool landed us an upper seed in the 17th place bracket, and even greater luck as due to Eau Claire and another team going home, we were matched up against Chicago B, serving as a filler team.
Game 5 v. Chicago B: We showed up about 20 minutes before game and thank god we were just playing Chicago B or we would've lost. Highlight of the warmup was Dartmouth a couple fields away doing 'the cheer' and me sprinting through two teams' endzone drills to get there in time to scream "we are psychotic". I used this game to begin implementing my "don't turn it over, don't be a hero" handler strategy as the rest of the team goofed off. Half was 8-2 and I tried to pump us up and get us to play clean, saying we could win 15-5, or we could win 15-2. Needless to say we won 15-5. Figures.
Game 6 v. Towson: This team had a couple good handlers with great facial hair, but hardly anyone else. Our zone kept them from getting their offense flowing and forced turns upfield if the handlers ever advanced the disc. Our offense was running well and I spent my time on the sidelines watching Dartmouth play Ohio St. in the quarterfinals a couple fields over. So yeah, we ended up winning this one 15-7 as Towson was happy to hand the game to us after we got up a few points.
Game 7 v. South Florida: We switched fields to the swamp fields and immediately saw a huge snapping turtle. Poking it with a stick failed to produce a desired result, so we went about warming up after watching the end of an intense Brown-B v. Florida B game. That game however was in the consolation bracket of the 17th bracket, while we were in the semis of the 17th bracket, so we began our warm ups with the confirmation that we were indeed the best B team in the country. South Florida was an interested game, intense and good spirited. Both teams collected a lot of breaks in the first half, but we were able to clean it up better than them in the second half and rolled to yet another victory 12-8.
Game 8 v. Princeton: The finals of the 17th place bracket. I played in this same game last year and lost to a rested Richmond team (their semis opponent had bagged), so I looking for a little redemption. The early points were multi-turn battles as Princeton was putting defensive pressure on us like we hadn't see yet this season. I threw into a couple layout D's as our cutters haven't mastered running through the disc and catching at full extension. I also had a couple other bad throws as my "don't be a hero" mentality slowly fell apart as everyone was looking to throw a score just so these marathon points would end. Princeton ended up taking a 4-0 lead before we could punch one in. We actually managed to get a couple breaks in this game as well, but the O-line just couldn't hold onto the disc against Princeton's defense. Despite my throwaways I though I played a good game, my defense was definitely it's most intense on the weekend despite my exhaustion, and I had two great IO hucks for scores. I also had another rules argument for the ages, as I actually made Princeton get out my rulebook so I could prove myself right about a travel call (that wasn't a travel). In the end this was an 11-4 lost for the Pimps, but one I was proud off as it was really the first time this season I felt like I was back playing intense ultimate with Dartmouth.
Speaking of Dartmouth, they went on to win whole the damn thing, holy shit. We never win tournaments. Fishie and Cornell also won. Hopefully I'll see both teams at Nationals in May.
The drive home was more eventful than I would've hoped, but that's a story for another post.
The second weekend of spring break though brought the tournament that I had been looking forward to most all year: Southerns. This was the 3rd year in a row I've been to this tourney and it's probably my second favorite after Vegas. Dartmouth men were there, Wellesley women were there, and a van containing Ian, Mark, and Lechmaier would also be there. Things were looking up.
Saturday:
Game 1 v. Middlebury: It's always fun to play against the northeast teams I know well, and I love Midd. I gave our coaches a scouting report that proved correct, Midd put it deep again and again to a couple great athletes and played a smart game that took advantage of our turnovers. They won 13-6 as we opened up our 28 man roster. Highlight of the game was Midd recognizing me and appologizing for the keg incident at regionals last year. I then put the person to blame for that in a headlock.
Game 2 v. Tulane: Tulane is a great team, lots of fun, and kept a positive attitude despite only have 7 guys and 3 guys on their roster this weekend. We had an open rotation from the start and cruised to a 13-7 victory, assuring us of holding seed in our pool.
Game 3 v. Wake Forest: A rematch for me from Southerns last year when Wake beat Dartmouth with a decent zone. I don't think Wake is as good this year. They got up on us early, but we stayed in it, down a break or two. Then at 9-7 them our zone clicked and we started getting turns. Wake had been trying to break our zone with high floaty throws over our cup, and we finally threw a tall line in to stop that. Needless to say it worked and we went on a 4 point run to win 11-9. Great game, though I feel Wake lost their fight after we tied it at 9s. The last two points for us were breaks that happened on a short field turn due to our zone: for 10-9 Wake forgot to guard me in transition and I scored an easy up the line cut from Ian. For 11-9 I returned the favor to Ian when Wake forgot to guard him.
Game 4 v. St. Olaf: This was our fourth game in a row and our starters were feeling it. We're generally a pretty deep team, but against this type of competition we go maybe 14 deep, which isn't enough for 4 games in a row. St. Olaf threw our same zone and the start of the game was notable for very long points and lots of throws gaining not many yards. Ian and I had some good teamwork on short throws in the cup to gain yards, and I believe I had a 100% hammer completion rate, but something would always seem to go wrong at some point and we'd turn it. Half was still close at 7-5 Olaf, but in the 2nd half they picked it up and we ran out of steam and got bageled. 12-5 final. I'm looking forward to seeing these guys again at regionals.
Interlude: After our game I took advantage of our last round bye and went to watch Wellesley play a few fields away. Davidman tagged along, intrigued at the concept of an all-womens college. We watched the first half as I caught up with my friends on the Whips and called Tyke to gloat that I was hanging out with her team. I then walked a couple fields over to say hi to Wellesley B and Dartmouth womens B. Next it was off to watch the Pain Train play. Unfortunately they romped their last round opponent 13-3 and I missed the whole thing. I still got to hang out with them afterwards, and it was great to see them all again and hear about how well they're playing. I also met Carson, the former CUT player who is effectively my replacement cutting on the O-line. I hate to say it, but they definitely traded up. A few hours later I went to the party for the first time in my 3 years, where I spent most of my time talking to Fishie and beating my drunk Pimpdag teammates off of her with a stick. I think my coach actually introduced himself to her twice. When she left I went over to dance with Wellesley for a while before it became time to drag my shitfaced coach back to our campsite and go to sleep.
Sunday: Our 3rd place finish in our pool landed us an upper seed in the 17th place bracket, and even greater luck as due to Eau Claire and another team going home, we were matched up against Chicago B, serving as a filler team.
Game 5 v. Chicago B: We showed up about 20 minutes before game and thank god we were just playing Chicago B or we would've lost. Highlight of the warmup was Dartmouth a couple fields away doing 'the cheer' and me sprinting through two teams' endzone drills to get there in time to scream "we are psychotic". I used this game to begin implementing my "don't turn it over, don't be a hero" handler strategy as the rest of the team goofed off. Half was 8-2 and I tried to pump us up and get us to play clean, saying we could win 15-5, or we could win 15-2. Needless to say we won 15-5. Figures.
Game 6 v. Towson: This team had a couple good handlers with great facial hair, but hardly anyone else. Our zone kept them from getting their offense flowing and forced turns upfield if the handlers ever advanced the disc. Our offense was running well and I spent my time on the sidelines watching Dartmouth play Ohio St. in the quarterfinals a couple fields over. So yeah, we ended up winning this one 15-7 as Towson was happy to hand the game to us after we got up a few points.
Game 7 v. South Florida: We switched fields to the swamp fields and immediately saw a huge snapping turtle. Poking it with a stick failed to produce a desired result, so we went about warming up after watching the end of an intense Brown-B v. Florida B game. That game however was in the consolation bracket of the 17th bracket, while we were in the semis of the 17th bracket, so we began our warm ups with the confirmation that we were indeed the best B team in the country. South Florida was an interested game, intense and good spirited. Both teams collected a lot of breaks in the first half, but we were able to clean it up better than them in the second half and rolled to yet another victory 12-8.
Game 8 v. Princeton: The finals of the 17th place bracket. I played in this same game last year and lost to a rested Richmond team (their semis opponent had bagged), so I looking for a little redemption. The early points were multi-turn battles as Princeton was putting defensive pressure on us like we hadn't see yet this season. I threw into a couple layout D's as our cutters haven't mastered running through the disc and catching at full extension. I also had a couple other bad throws as my "don't be a hero" mentality slowly fell apart as everyone was looking to throw a score just so these marathon points would end. Princeton ended up taking a 4-0 lead before we could punch one in. We actually managed to get a couple breaks in this game as well, but the O-line just couldn't hold onto the disc against Princeton's defense. Despite my throwaways I though I played a good game, my defense was definitely it's most intense on the weekend despite my exhaustion, and I had two great IO hucks for scores. I also had another rules argument for the ages, as I actually made Princeton get out my rulebook so I could prove myself right about a travel call (that wasn't a travel). In the end this was an 11-4 lost for the Pimps, but one I was proud off as it was really the first time this season I felt like I was back playing intense ultimate with Dartmouth.
Speaking of Dartmouth, they went on to win whole the damn thing, holy shit. We never win tournaments. Fishie and Cornell also won. Hopefully I'll see both teams at Nationals in May.
The drive home was more eventful than I would've hoped, but that's a story for another post.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Music City Tune-Up
Tourney recap week continues today with the Music City Tune-Up in Nashville, TN. Now the team vowed never to speak of this tournament again, and I don't like thinking about it, but if you try to forget something never happened, you'll never learn from it, so here goes.
This tourney was the first weekend of spring break and we were missing some key players, notably Ian, Mark, and Lechmaier. We were short handlers, short cutters, and full of inexperience for this one, with the makings of a great tournament for the younger pimps to learn and improve. Unfortunately that was not going to happen as the skies opened up during our second game and that inexperience turned into drops, throw-aways, bad decisions, and overall misery. The fields turned into mud pits and by our last game of the day we were down to 12 players as 2 cars had returned to the hotel to ward off pneumonia. I'm not going to recap individual games on Saturday as every game was basically the same: our zone was good, but the other team just seemed to pull down some swill and we just didn't care as much as the other teams. As the day progressed I started hucking without cause as that was often a better option than a dump throw to cold shivering hands. With nothing really to play for and the desire for a relaxing, comfortable spring break overwhelming, we learned that we don't play well in the cold and wet (surprising, I know, coming from Wisconsin), and that this is a very emotionally driven team. We made a good run to almost come back against sectional rival Eau Claire, but it was quite obvious that the desire to play good ultimate is not enough to motivate this group, there are intangibles involved that the captains will need to draw upon come the series so that we can play our best.
Sunday was at least a better day, sunny and warm, though with numerous puddles left on the field from Saturday. Due to some of the most idiotic TDing I've ever seen we had a pool play rematch in a 12-team bracket for our first game.
Game 1 v. UT-Chatanooga: We had lost to them 13-5 the day before, and were determined to beat them this time, as we knew we could run with them easily. We had the fire this time, but were lacking intelligent play. I know I had a couple bonehead turnovers, and we seemed incapable of getting on D after a turnover as UTC score many times on fast breaks. Our D line couldn't guard the deep look and despite fighting hard and playing a tight rotation, couldn't get a break in the second half and lost 13-11.
Game 2 v. Tulane: This was our consolation game before heading south to Florida for the week and I was determined not to have this be the first tournament ever where I didn't win a game. The wind died down and hucking practice with Alter before the game really helped me out as I threw 5 assists on throws over 30 yards. We cruised to a 13-7 win.
Of note is that this tournament saw the debut of cutter Brett on 4 points, a quick recap of those 4 points:
Point 1 v. JMU Sat: Rainy, didn't get open in, didn't get the disc
Point 2 v. JMU Sat: Hosed my guy deep for the score on the 2nd throw of the point
Point 3 v. Tulane Sun: Got open in, hucked for a score
Point 4 v. Tulane Sun: Got open in, hucked for a score
So, obviously this is something I'd like to do more often, but for that to happen a couple handlers need to step up as right now my greatest value to the team is probably my ability to consistently get open for the dump and keep the offense flowing with accurate throws. If someone else can do that (which I think they can now that we're practicing outside), hopefully I can transition into a role of making the offense run from the cutting side of thing.
Next Post: Spring break in Pensacola Beach
This tourney was the first weekend of spring break and we were missing some key players, notably Ian, Mark, and Lechmaier. We were short handlers, short cutters, and full of inexperience for this one, with the makings of a great tournament for the younger pimps to learn and improve. Unfortunately that was not going to happen as the skies opened up during our second game and that inexperience turned into drops, throw-aways, bad decisions, and overall misery. The fields turned into mud pits and by our last game of the day we were down to 12 players as 2 cars had returned to the hotel to ward off pneumonia. I'm not going to recap individual games on Saturday as every game was basically the same: our zone was good, but the other team just seemed to pull down some swill and we just didn't care as much as the other teams. As the day progressed I started hucking without cause as that was often a better option than a dump throw to cold shivering hands. With nothing really to play for and the desire for a relaxing, comfortable spring break overwhelming, we learned that we don't play well in the cold and wet (surprising, I know, coming from Wisconsin), and that this is a very emotionally driven team. We made a good run to almost come back against sectional rival Eau Claire, but it was quite obvious that the desire to play good ultimate is not enough to motivate this group, there are intangibles involved that the captains will need to draw upon come the series so that we can play our best.
Sunday was at least a better day, sunny and warm, though with numerous puddles left on the field from Saturday. Due to some of the most idiotic TDing I've ever seen we had a pool play rematch in a 12-team bracket for our first game.
Game 1 v. UT-Chatanooga: We had lost to them 13-5 the day before, and were determined to beat them this time, as we knew we could run with them easily. We had the fire this time, but were lacking intelligent play. I know I had a couple bonehead turnovers, and we seemed incapable of getting on D after a turnover as UTC score many times on fast breaks. Our D line couldn't guard the deep look and despite fighting hard and playing a tight rotation, couldn't get a break in the second half and lost 13-11.
Game 2 v. Tulane: This was our consolation game before heading south to Florida for the week and I was determined not to have this be the first tournament ever where I didn't win a game. The wind died down and hucking practice with Alter before the game really helped me out as I threw 5 assists on throws over 30 yards. We cruised to a 13-7 win.
Of note is that this tournament saw the debut of cutter Brett on 4 points, a quick recap of those 4 points:
Point 1 v. JMU Sat: Rainy, didn't get open in, didn't get the disc
Point 2 v. JMU Sat: Hosed my guy deep for the score on the 2nd throw of the point
Point 3 v. Tulane Sun: Got open in, hucked for a score
Point 4 v. Tulane Sun: Got open in, hucked for a score
So, obviously this is something I'd like to do more often, but for that to happen a couple handlers need to step up as right now my greatest value to the team is probably my ability to consistently get open for the dump and keep the offense flowing with accurate throws. If someone else can do that (which I think they can now that we're practicing outside), hopefully I can transition into a role of making the offense run from the cutting side of thing.
Next Post: Spring break in Pensacola Beach
Monday, March 31, 2008
Frostbite
Been busy here recently, and it's not going to get any easier, but I feel writing here is a more constructive study break than getting lost in YouTube (where today, by the way, I discovered a high school friend of mine is featured in a Serj Tankian music video) or something, so this week I've decided to declare is tourney recap week, and each day I'll be recapping an ultimate tourney I've been to.
Frostbite '08: Springfield, MO.
This was a 40 team tournament with an upper division of 20 teams and the Pimpdags came in seeded 14th. This tournament was notable for the first appearance in the spring season of handlers Ian, Davidman, and Rubinyi, which definitely came in very handy as the weather all weekend was very windy. It seemed each successive round was windier than the one before, and by the time the weekend was over, we playing in sustained 25+ mph winds.
Game 1 v. Wash U: We really wanted to beat these guys after nearly dropping a game to them in fall in which we took half 7-1. We played close with them in the first half, I remember catching the first score on a half-field huck and then throwing a forehand huck upwind which nearly took off the heads of people on the sideline before Calkins made a great toe-the-line snag for the score. Unfortunately, their handlers were consistent and our zone was rusty. Wash U was able to get a couple upwinders out of half and we opened our roster and dropped a game to the 1 seed in our pool 11-6.
Game 2 v. Truman State: This game came after a bye during which we worked on our zone and I retrieved my hat from the hotel. It was another revenge game for us, as TSU has beaten us 9-6 in the fall, a game I remember well as I still have a huge grassburn scar on my hip from laying out for a score during the first half. Anyway, this was a weird game. I think we scored more upwind points than downwind points somehow, probably a result of assuming the wind would cause a turn when TSU was working upwind and really valuing the disc when we were going upwind. We had a downwind O point at 8-7, game to 9, but we our universe line turned it over, and then both myself and Friedman managed to get brutally skied on successive throws to let up the TSU upwind score. So we were forced to play universe point upwind. There were a couple turns, one completely my fault (though I got the D back on an easy intercept of a punt), but eventually we worked it up and scored to win 9-8.
Game 3 v. Missouri-Rolla: We were motivated by our universe point win and the last seed in our pool stood no chance. We won this game 10-7 in a game where the rotation opened up a bit and was only notable by the debut of our upwind and downwind lines as opposed to O and D lines.
Game 4. Minnesota-Deluth: Another game we could get pumped for, and another game that showed us what we can do when we're motivated as a team. UMD is a regional rival and many Pimps have friends they play for them, so this was personal. The game started off poorly as I overthrew a handler on a dump on the second throw of the game, giving UMD the easy upwinder, which was followed by their downwinder. 2-0 bad guys. Oops. I resolved to stop sucking and proceeded to collect multiple point blocks as the mark in our zone as UMD would not score upwind again. On their 3rd try, our upwind line figured out UMD's zone with patient swinging and amazing cup-breaking throws from Ian and Alter and never looked back. With the score 4-2 Duluth, we scored 8 points in a row to win the game 10-4. Amazing.
Interlude: Due to other craziness in our pool, our 3-1 record and punishing of Duluth was enough to give us 1st in our pool and avoid a 5th crossover game on Saturday. We went back to the hotel, showered, and attacked a chinese buffet like there was no tomorrow. We got even more satisfaction for that day's performance as during our dinner non-showered, exhausted ultimate teams started filing into the buffet after their 5th game. After some relaxing at the hotel 13 of us crammed into a minivan with myself as the DD to go the tourney party, which was at a bar downtown. Despite arriving at 10:30, there were no ultimate players to be seen and only a few locals in the bar, i.e., the place was dead. So, since most of our team didn't want to pay money for bad beer, 8 of the team piled into a bathroom stall and started passing around beers they had snuck in. This lasted about 10 minutes before they were kicked out, me following behind shaking my head in amusement. Party over. I took most people back to the hotel but I ended up spending 3 hours with my coaches in a little place called Sassy Reds. Seeing how I have purged memory of that place from my mind I can't give details, but suffice to say that was the first strip club I've ever been to, and after that experience, I am never ever going to another one again.
Sunday, Game 1 v. Kansas B: Our pool win on Saturday gave us a favorable draw and we faced a Kansas B team that had the tremendous help of a couple of Kansas A handlers I recognized from playing club. However, the wind was approaching ridiculous levels at this point, so any team could lose to any other if they lucked into an upwind goal. We almost did that to Kansas B, as an errant pull gave them the disc 2 yards from their upwind endzone leading to a goal. Our upwind line was up to the task though, and scored multiple times upwind as the downwind line's zone kept Kansas from making any progress upwind. I think I collected a couple more handblocks as we cruised to a win 10-7.
Game 2 v. Kansas State: We knew nothing about this team, but they were solid. They had one handler with a wicked low release backhand who shredded our cup going upwind early in the game before we could adjust. They got with 10 yards of the endzone, called time out, we came out with man D, but their iso beat our defender openside for the easy upwind score. The wind picked up steadily and our upwind line struggled to make progress, each time seemingly getting closer and closer, once as close as 15 yards, but with 75+ passes probably required to break the zone and score, we could never string enough together to punch it in. It's a shame to lose a game for the sole reason of 3 quick backhands through the cup and a defensive brain fart, but with the wind as it was, that's what happened. K-State never got within the brick mark of their endzone again, but all that mattered was that they did it once and we couldn't do it. K-State advances to the semis with an 8-5 win.
Still though, it was a tourney to be proud of and a tourney that kept my hopes alive of being able to cut come series time as Ian, Davidman, and Rubinyi are all solid handlers.
Frostbite '08: Springfield, MO.
This was a 40 team tournament with an upper division of 20 teams and the Pimpdags came in seeded 14th. This tournament was notable for the first appearance in the spring season of handlers Ian, Davidman, and Rubinyi, which definitely came in very handy as the weather all weekend was very windy. It seemed each successive round was windier than the one before, and by the time the weekend was over, we playing in sustained 25+ mph winds.
Game 1 v. Wash U: We really wanted to beat these guys after nearly dropping a game to them in fall in which we took half 7-1. We played close with them in the first half, I remember catching the first score on a half-field huck and then throwing a forehand huck upwind which nearly took off the heads of people on the sideline before Calkins made a great toe-the-line snag for the score. Unfortunately, their handlers were consistent and our zone was rusty. Wash U was able to get a couple upwinders out of half and we opened our roster and dropped a game to the 1 seed in our pool 11-6.
Game 2 v. Truman State: This game came after a bye during which we worked on our zone and I retrieved my hat from the hotel. It was another revenge game for us, as TSU has beaten us 9-6 in the fall, a game I remember well as I still have a huge grassburn scar on my hip from laying out for a score during the first half. Anyway, this was a weird game. I think we scored more upwind points than downwind points somehow, probably a result of assuming the wind would cause a turn when TSU was working upwind and really valuing the disc when we were going upwind. We had a downwind O point at 8-7, game to 9, but we our universe line turned it over, and then both myself and Friedman managed to get brutally skied on successive throws to let up the TSU upwind score. So we were forced to play universe point upwind. There were a couple turns, one completely my fault (though I got the D back on an easy intercept of a punt), but eventually we worked it up and scored to win 9-8.
Game 3 v. Missouri-Rolla: We were motivated by our universe point win and the last seed in our pool stood no chance. We won this game 10-7 in a game where the rotation opened up a bit and was only notable by the debut of our upwind and downwind lines as opposed to O and D lines.
Game 4. Minnesota-Deluth: Another game we could get pumped for, and another game that showed us what we can do when we're motivated as a team. UMD is a regional rival and many Pimps have friends they play for them, so this was personal. The game started off poorly as I overthrew a handler on a dump on the second throw of the game, giving UMD the easy upwinder, which was followed by their downwinder. 2-0 bad guys. Oops. I resolved to stop sucking and proceeded to collect multiple point blocks as the mark in our zone as UMD would not score upwind again. On their 3rd try, our upwind line figured out UMD's zone with patient swinging and amazing cup-breaking throws from Ian and Alter and never looked back. With the score 4-2 Duluth, we scored 8 points in a row to win the game 10-4. Amazing.
Interlude: Due to other craziness in our pool, our 3-1 record and punishing of Duluth was enough to give us 1st in our pool and avoid a 5th crossover game on Saturday. We went back to the hotel, showered, and attacked a chinese buffet like there was no tomorrow. We got even more satisfaction for that day's performance as during our dinner non-showered, exhausted ultimate teams started filing into the buffet after their 5th game. After some relaxing at the hotel 13 of us crammed into a minivan with myself as the DD to go the tourney party, which was at a bar downtown. Despite arriving at 10:30, there were no ultimate players to be seen and only a few locals in the bar, i.e., the place was dead. So, since most of our team didn't want to pay money for bad beer, 8 of the team piled into a bathroom stall and started passing around beers they had snuck in. This lasted about 10 minutes before they were kicked out, me following behind shaking my head in amusement. Party over. I took most people back to the hotel but I ended up spending 3 hours with my coaches in a little place called Sassy Reds. Seeing how I have purged memory of that place from my mind I can't give details, but suffice to say that was the first strip club I've ever been to, and after that experience, I am never ever going to another one again.
Sunday, Game 1 v. Kansas B: Our pool win on Saturday gave us a favorable draw and we faced a Kansas B team that had the tremendous help of a couple of Kansas A handlers I recognized from playing club. However, the wind was approaching ridiculous levels at this point, so any team could lose to any other if they lucked into an upwind goal. We almost did that to Kansas B, as an errant pull gave them the disc 2 yards from their upwind endzone leading to a goal. Our upwind line was up to the task though, and scored multiple times upwind as the downwind line's zone kept Kansas from making any progress upwind. I think I collected a couple more handblocks as we cruised to a win 10-7.
Game 2 v. Kansas State: We knew nothing about this team, but they were solid. They had one handler with a wicked low release backhand who shredded our cup going upwind early in the game before we could adjust. They got with 10 yards of the endzone, called time out, we came out with man D, but their iso beat our defender openside for the easy upwind score. The wind picked up steadily and our upwind line struggled to make progress, each time seemingly getting closer and closer, once as close as 15 yards, but with 75+ passes probably required to break the zone and score, we could never string enough together to punch it in. It's a shame to lose a game for the sole reason of 3 quick backhands through the cup and a defensive brain fart, but with the wind as it was, that's what happened. K-State never got within the brick mark of their endzone again, but all that mattered was that they did it once and we couldn't do it. K-State advances to the semis with an 8-5 win.
Still though, it was a tourney to be proud of and a tourney that kept my hopes alive of being able to cut come series time as Ian, Davidman, and Rubinyi are all solid handlers.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
So About That Whole Grad School Thing
Today I just had my beautiful 5-year plan for a Ph.D. destroyed. Thank you budget cuts. When I was accepted here last April I was taken on using auxiliary funds and not guaranteed future support. The idea then was that they wanted me to come to Wisconsin and that getting guaranteed funding for future years would be more or less simple after having been in the system for a year. What my advisers, to no fault of their own, did not count on was another exceptionally strong applicant class coinciding with budget cuts on both the state and national level. Now there are barely enough assistantships available to give to the students who have guaranteed support and still have a few left to give to best applicants. Fitting neither of those categories, to no fault of my own, I get left out to dry. No funding for next year, meaning I have to leave.
The current plan which I just discussed with my advisers is to bust my ass this term in order to prove to the geophysics group here that I am worthy of giving emergency funding to so that I can get paid over the summer and next fall while I finish my masters. That means in addition to taking my first engineering class ever this term, I have to do a majority of the preliminary research for a publishable paper and write a rough draft by the end of April. I don't think my bed will be getting much attention from me for the next couple of months.
So this summer will be spent writing and doing analysis for a paper, and then the fall will be spent turning that paper into a masters thesis. If I'm lucky, I'll actually be getting paid to do that, otherwise I'm working for free and most likely mooching rent money off my parents. Then I'll graduate in December. After that I have no clue what'll happen, to be honest I'll probably go get a job doing something in Colorado ski country in the winter, and the summer... gees, I did not plan on having to figure this stuff out so soon. Maybe apply for Ph.D. programs... who knows.
Time will tell whether or not this ends up being a good thing. There's a part of me that's looking forward to trying something random for a while and being out of school and there's another part that is pretty pissed I'm being shown the door here. But that's the future, right now I need to focus on actually getting enough done by December that I can actually graduate, because the only thing worse than leaving here after just 18 months is leaving here after 18 months without a degree.
The current plan which I just discussed with my advisers is to bust my ass this term in order to prove to the geophysics group here that I am worthy of giving emergency funding to so that I can get paid over the summer and next fall while I finish my masters. That means in addition to taking my first engineering class ever this term, I have to do a majority of the preliminary research for a publishable paper and write a rough draft by the end of April. I don't think my bed will be getting much attention from me for the next couple of months.
So this summer will be spent writing and doing analysis for a paper, and then the fall will be spent turning that paper into a masters thesis. If I'm lucky, I'll actually be getting paid to do that, otherwise I'm working for free and most likely mooching rent money off my parents. Then I'll graduate in December. After that I have no clue what'll happen, to be honest I'll probably go get a job doing something in Colorado ski country in the winter, and the summer... gees, I did not plan on having to figure this stuff out so soon. Maybe apply for Ph.D. programs... who knows.
Time will tell whether or not this ends up being a good thing. There's a part of me that's looking forward to trying something random for a while and being out of school and there's another part that is pretty pissed I'm being shown the door here. But that's the future, right now I need to focus on actually getting enough done by December that I can actually graduate, because the only thing worse than leaving here after just 18 months is leaving here after 18 months without a degree.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Mardi Gras
The Pimpdags rolled to Mardi Gras this past weekend.
First off, we were lucky to get down there in the first place. A snowstorm dropped about 8 inches of snow on Illinois while we were driving down Thursday night/Friday morning. The car I was in had a couple close calls with other cars and ditches, but we were able to slowly make our way through it, stopping every hour or so to clean the ice off the windshield. A Hodag car did end up in a ditch, and I head two ISU cars had to be towed, but otherwise I didn't hear anything about accidents, which is amazing considering the number of teams going to this tournament that had to drive through that mess.
We arrived in Baton Rouge late Friday afternoon, with enough time to enjoy happy hour at our hotel before heading into New Orleans to experience Mardi Gras on Bourbon Street, which was an amazing experience, one of those once in your life things. Apparently Hulk Hogan was there, but I didn't see him. I was too busy throwing beads at people on the balcony.
Saturday arrived with a day-saving first round bye (we had returned from New Orleans at around 3am), followed by a very tough power pool C that would end up producing two of the semis teams. There's no need for me to give a recap of each game as every game went basically the same way: the other team would score, usually on a huck, we'd try a retalitory huck, turn it over, the other team would work it up and score, we'd try to work it up, get pressured into a throw away, they'd work it up and score. With no time to work on our problems from last weekend, they perpetuated themselves this weekend. We were consistently broken and burned deep. We made bad decisions throwing deep and had a lot problems getting open for the dump. The difference between this weekend and last weekend in terms of results is that at Mardi Gras we were playing teams that punished us severely for our mistakes. We lost to North Texas, Minnesota, Georgia Tech, and Notre Dame by anywhere from 6 to 12 points. This gave us a cross over 5th game under the lights against Ole Miss, whom we had lost to 13-10 in Alabama. This time the game wasn't even that close as their one stud cutter consistently hosed us. Saturday record: 0-5, 70 points for them, 31 for us. Ouch.
Sunday was sort of better. We came out and beat LSU 13-8, which felt really good, and confirmed to us that we were a decent team. We then had yet another opportunity to play Oklahoma, but in that game the same problems from Saturday haunted us and we lost 15-10. With a .500 record for the second day and a 19th place finish, we set off towards home.
I think this tournament showed us very clearly where we stand as a team and what things we need to work on before we can compete with the teams of the caliber of those we played Saturday. We now have 5 weeks until our next tournament (I think), and with a couple turf practices and many track workouts between now and then, we should be in good shape, both physically and mentally. We'll see how it goes.
First off, we were lucky to get down there in the first place. A snowstorm dropped about 8 inches of snow on Illinois while we were driving down Thursday night/Friday morning. The car I was in had a couple close calls with other cars and ditches, but we were able to slowly make our way through it, stopping every hour or so to clean the ice off the windshield. A Hodag car did end up in a ditch, and I head two ISU cars had to be towed, but otherwise I didn't hear anything about accidents, which is amazing considering the number of teams going to this tournament that had to drive through that mess.
We arrived in Baton Rouge late Friday afternoon, with enough time to enjoy happy hour at our hotel before heading into New Orleans to experience Mardi Gras on Bourbon Street, which was an amazing experience, one of those once in your life things. Apparently Hulk Hogan was there, but I didn't see him. I was too busy throwing beads at people on the balcony.
Saturday arrived with a day-saving first round bye (we had returned from New Orleans at around 3am), followed by a very tough power pool C that would end up producing two of the semis teams. There's no need for me to give a recap of each game as every game went basically the same way: the other team would score, usually on a huck, we'd try a retalitory huck, turn it over, the other team would work it up and score, we'd try to work it up, get pressured into a throw away, they'd work it up and score. With no time to work on our problems from last weekend, they perpetuated themselves this weekend. We were consistently broken and burned deep. We made bad decisions throwing deep and had a lot problems getting open for the dump. The difference between this weekend and last weekend in terms of results is that at Mardi Gras we were playing teams that punished us severely for our mistakes. We lost to North Texas, Minnesota, Georgia Tech, and Notre Dame by anywhere from 6 to 12 points. This gave us a cross over 5th game under the lights against Ole Miss, whom we had lost to 13-10 in Alabama. This time the game wasn't even that close as their one stud cutter consistently hosed us. Saturday record: 0-5, 70 points for them, 31 for us. Ouch.
Sunday was sort of better. We came out and beat LSU 13-8, which felt really good, and confirmed to us that we were a decent team. We then had yet another opportunity to play Oklahoma, but in that game the same problems from Saturday haunted us and we lost 15-10. With a .500 record for the second day and a 19th place finish, we set off towards home.
I think this tournament showed us very clearly where we stand as a team and what things we need to work on before we can compete with the teams of the caliber of those we played Saturday. We now have 5 weeks until our next tournament (I think), and with a couple turf practices and many track workouts between now and then, we should be in good shape, both physically and mentally. We'll see how it goes.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
T-Town Introspective
As always, the first tournament of the season gives you a long list of things to work on, and this past weekend was no different. However, I was surprised with how well we played. Everyone remembered our zone and split stack offense despite not working on it all that much in the fall. We didn't play down to teams, weren't prone to stupid mistakes (at least for a B team), and always played hard. Even if we don't improve much skill-wise we'll will a lot of games just by doing that.
Obviously the lack of throwing practice over the past couple months hurt. There were quite a few turns on drops, turfed throws, inaccurate hucks, and people trying throws they don't quite have yet. That will get better as the season progresses, and even was much better Sunday than Saturday. As long as we practice it, it won't be a problem.
The most obvious concern was team defense. If others were like me, they were having a hard enough time remembering how to guard their man let alone help out with someone elses. Still, with the Hodags depriving us of the best available athletes, we need to be able to play a strong last back and learn how to play smart defense as opposed to just running hard, which can only take you so far. As Sunday progressed we were getting burned deep more and more because we simply tired. Conditioning will help with this also, but so will learning to play as a unit.
The second major problem was handler movement. Oftentimes the handlers wouldn't look dump until stall 6 or 7, not near enough time for the wrap to be run. Other times the dump would start cutting before the handler was looking. The cycling of the handlers would get confusing as well, sometimes there'd be 4 people back clogging or the person with the disc would have no options. In the future we'll need to communicate better when to start cutting and make sure the handlers come back and set up the dump after every throw, or have a cutter recognize the need to fill a void if a handler gets out of position upfield. However, I don't remember near as many punts this tournament as at Missoui, though that may be due to our cutters always getting open and making the dump unnecessary.
Finally, one last nitpicky thing is just the timing of cuts, it seemed like we'd either have 3 people going deep or no one at all whenever a handler got an up the line cut. If we can figure that out soon it'd be great.
On a personal level I need to remember how to position myself on D and not get burned deep and work on that handler stuff, especially if I'm going to keep playing this whole D handler position thing. I also need to figure out my decision making in the context of my role on the team. If I'm someone expected to make things happen with my throws (I'll pause for Dartmouth people to stop laughing), there's a certain amount of risk taking involved. On the other hand, I can't be a turnover machine. I can remember 3 turns on poor throws/bad ideas right near our opponents endzone, and a couple more near our own end zone, those can't happen regardless of what I'm trying to do. If I'm going to keep playing some O points too I need to be able to flip O and D mindsets instantly as well. What might be a good deep look for the D line could be a horrible idea for the O line. It's almost as much about managing game momentum as it is making good decisions. In a close game with few breaks, the O line needs to play it close and not turn the disc as they're expected to score. For the D, it can be worth it to just to put the disc out there to a favorable match up on the chance it works, because if it's a turn, hey, you're not supposed to score, but if it works, then the whole tide of the game just switched.
Mardi Gras preview and write up to follow in the next week, and maybe more of that psychology BS from the last paragraph, it's interesting to think about.
Obviously the lack of throwing practice over the past couple months hurt. There were quite a few turns on drops, turfed throws, inaccurate hucks, and people trying throws they don't quite have yet. That will get better as the season progresses, and even was much better Sunday than Saturday. As long as we practice it, it won't be a problem.
The most obvious concern was team defense. If others were like me, they were having a hard enough time remembering how to guard their man let alone help out with someone elses. Still, with the Hodags depriving us of the best available athletes, we need to be able to play a strong last back and learn how to play smart defense as opposed to just running hard, which can only take you so far. As Sunday progressed we were getting burned deep more and more because we simply tired. Conditioning will help with this also, but so will learning to play as a unit.
The second major problem was handler movement. Oftentimes the handlers wouldn't look dump until stall 6 or 7, not near enough time for the wrap to be run. Other times the dump would start cutting before the handler was looking. The cycling of the handlers would get confusing as well, sometimes there'd be 4 people back clogging or the person with the disc would have no options. In the future we'll need to communicate better when to start cutting and make sure the handlers come back and set up the dump after every throw, or have a cutter recognize the need to fill a void if a handler gets out of position upfield. However, I don't remember near as many punts this tournament as at Missoui, though that may be due to our cutters always getting open and making the dump unnecessary.
Finally, one last nitpicky thing is just the timing of cuts, it seemed like we'd either have 3 people going deep or no one at all whenever a handler got an up the line cut. If we can figure that out soon it'd be great.
On a personal level I need to remember how to position myself on D and not get burned deep and work on that handler stuff, especially if I'm going to keep playing this whole D handler position thing. I also need to figure out my decision making in the context of my role on the team. If I'm someone expected to make things happen with my throws (I'll pause for Dartmouth people to stop laughing), there's a certain amount of risk taking involved. On the other hand, I can't be a turnover machine. I can remember 3 turns on poor throws/bad ideas right near our opponents endzone, and a couple more near our own end zone, those can't happen regardless of what I'm trying to do. If I'm going to keep playing some O points too I need to be able to flip O and D mindsets instantly as well. What might be a good deep look for the D line could be a horrible idea for the O line. It's almost as much about managing game momentum as it is making good decisions. In a close game with few breaks, the O line needs to play it close and not turn the disc as they're expected to score. For the D, it can be worth it to just to put the disc out there to a favorable match up on the chance it works, because if it's a turn, hey, you're not supposed to score, but if it works, then the whole tide of the game just switched.
Mardi Gras preview and write up to follow in the next week, and maybe more of that psychology BS from the last paragraph, it's interesting to think about.
Monday, January 28, 2008
T-Town Throwdown
This weekend marked the start of the Pimpdags' Spring season. 20 of us or so traveled 13.5 hours south to play in Tuscaloosa, AL (http://www.upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=127&id=4449). Surprisingly, the rust seemed to come off pretty quick as we remembered what playing outside and wearing shorts felt like.
Saturday: We came in 6th overall and 2rd in our pool of 4.
Game 1 vs. Homes Community College: This was a great warm-up game. I tried not to get overconfident as I watched them warm-up for the game by throwing BBQ backhands that despite the wind, never seemed to go where they were intended. They did have one guy with throws though, and despite a lack of D's for the amount of swill they put up, we took half 7-2. The second half was better as we became more comfortable running around and our legs loosened up from the long car ride. Final 13-2.
Game 2: Next up was Georgia B, another B team from a nationally competitive program. We don't lose to other B teams though. This was a close game, and like the Pimpdags, they had some throwers and some good athletes, and quite a few points were multi-turn battles. We always seemed to win the long points though, and slowly the D line managed to accumulate a few breaks and we won under the hard cap 12-8.
Game 3: After a bye filled with shouted references to power thirst (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrPIRYhdnqs), we had our first chance of the weekend against an A team in playing Ole Miss. I'd like to think we were a deeper and more athletic team (we certainly had a larger roster), but it was obvious Ole Miss' best players had been playing together for a few years as they knew exactly what they wanted and how to get it on offense and very often threw a poachy match up zone D on us. Unprepared for zone O, we spotted them two breaks to start the game. We paused to breathe a little bit and after that we usually shredded their zone in a few throws. Though we were able to accumulate a few Defensive scores the offense wasn't running on high efficiency yet, possibly looking for the deep ball a little too much, and we weren't able to come back from the initial brain fart as we lost 13-10.
Game 4 v. Geogria D: Our last game of the day was a cross over against UGA's 3rd team (long story for why it's not the 'C' team). We started out subbing normally and experimenting with our newly installed 'sponge' D and took a 4-1 lead. It was obvious we would win at this point, and we started messing around and playing way down to them as a few starters chose to sit the rest of the game out. We ended up winning 13-7 in a game that took much longer than it should've. Still, I'll generally take 3-1 for a record on Saturday.
Sunday: Our loss to Ole Miss meant we missed out on a first round bye and had to play a pre-quarters game.
Pre-Quarters: By some weird combo of point differential and cross-over upsets our opponent would again be Georgia B. I think it obvious that UGA-B was more pumped up to play us than visa versa, and as a result we traded breaks and excruciatingly long points during the first half, but we managed to go into half clinging to a 7-6 lead. Then, starting a theme for the day, we realized we could play much better, sacked up, and took it to Georgia B in the second half. The O-line was striking quickly, slowly demoralizing their D in their inability to stop us, and the D-line was making UGA-B fight for every throw, showing no mercy whenever they got the disc. Final score 11-7.
Quarters v. LSU: LSU got a bye and this would be their first game, we were pumped up and in a groove, but they had fresh legs. In the first half fresh legs had the advantage and they opened up their deep game on us and flustered our Offense with smart play. Obviously this team practices outside all year doesn't have another team robbing them of their best players every year. Our heads were down as LSU was up 7-4 at half. But then, without really saying it, every person on our roster decided that this would not be their last game of the day, that they would not lose like this, that they would not be asking themselves "what if I played harder" on the long ride back to Madison. The O line was a model of efficiency, rarely turning the disc over and not getting broken at all in the 2nd half. The D-line was simply rabid, forcing LSU to play long points and jack low percentage hucks. Then we'd get the disc and work it up the field like we were an O-line or something. Huge skys, layout D's, and gorgeous hucks abounded for the pimpdags this game as the D-line carried us to victory and birth in the semifinals, 13-11.
Semi-Finals vs. Auburn: You never want to say it, or admit it to yourself, but after 6 hard fought games 13 hours from home with a near zero conditioning base, we were tired, possibly exhausted, and it showed this game. Auburn had played one less game and it definitely helped them, as they were consistently able to beat us deep. Still, the O-line continued to be money, giving up only a few breaks. Half found us down multiple breaks again, and again we forced ourselves to play harder, making sure we left everything on the field. The D-line got the breaks back, tying the game, but then Auburn's rested D got to our O and our D continued to have problems stopping Auburn's deep game. We had a chance to take this to universe, but an unfortunate turnover (my bad) on our last O point allowed Auburn to punch in the break for the win, 13-11.
All-in-all nothing to be disappointed about, especially for the first tournament of the year. I'm excited for what we can do next weekend at Mardi Gras and in future tournaments. Specific commentary on our play to follow in a later post.
Saturday: We came in 6th overall and 2rd in our pool of 4.
Game 1 vs. Homes Community College: This was a great warm-up game. I tried not to get overconfident as I watched them warm-up for the game by throwing BBQ backhands that despite the wind, never seemed to go where they were intended. They did have one guy with throws though, and despite a lack of D's for the amount of swill they put up, we took half 7-2. The second half was better as we became more comfortable running around and our legs loosened up from the long car ride. Final 13-2.
Game 2: Next up was Georgia B, another B team from a nationally competitive program. We don't lose to other B teams though. This was a close game, and like the Pimpdags, they had some throwers and some good athletes, and quite a few points were multi-turn battles. We always seemed to win the long points though, and slowly the D line managed to accumulate a few breaks and we won under the hard cap 12-8.
Game 3: After a bye filled with shouted references to power thirst (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrPIRYhdnqs), we had our first chance of the weekend against an A team in playing Ole Miss. I'd like to think we were a deeper and more athletic team (we certainly had a larger roster), but it was obvious Ole Miss' best players had been playing together for a few years as they knew exactly what they wanted and how to get it on offense and very often threw a poachy match up zone D on us. Unprepared for zone O, we spotted them two breaks to start the game. We paused to breathe a little bit and after that we usually shredded their zone in a few throws. Though we were able to accumulate a few Defensive scores the offense wasn't running on high efficiency yet, possibly looking for the deep ball a little too much, and we weren't able to come back from the initial brain fart as we lost 13-10.
Game 4 v. Geogria D: Our last game of the day was a cross over against UGA's 3rd team (long story for why it's not the 'C' team). We started out subbing normally and experimenting with our newly installed 'sponge' D and took a 4-1 lead. It was obvious we would win at this point, and we started messing around and playing way down to them as a few starters chose to sit the rest of the game out. We ended up winning 13-7 in a game that took much longer than it should've. Still, I'll generally take 3-1 for a record on Saturday.
Sunday: Our loss to Ole Miss meant we missed out on a first round bye and had to play a pre-quarters game.
Pre-Quarters: By some weird combo of point differential and cross-over upsets our opponent would again be Georgia B. I think it obvious that UGA-B was more pumped up to play us than visa versa, and as a result we traded breaks and excruciatingly long points during the first half, but we managed to go into half clinging to a 7-6 lead. Then, starting a theme for the day, we realized we could play much better, sacked up, and took it to Georgia B in the second half. The O-line was striking quickly, slowly demoralizing their D in their inability to stop us, and the D-line was making UGA-B fight for every throw, showing no mercy whenever they got the disc. Final score 11-7.
Quarters v. LSU: LSU got a bye and this would be their first game, we were pumped up and in a groove, but they had fresh legs. In the first half fresh legs had the advantage and they opened up their deep game on us and flustered our Offense with smart play. Obviously this team practices outside all year doesn't have another team robbing them of their best players every year. Our heads were down as LSU was up 7-4 at half. But then, without really saying it, every person on our roster decided that this would not be their last game of the day, that they would not lose like this, that they would not be asking themselves "what if I played harder" on the long ride back to Madison. The O line was a model of efficiency, rarely turning the disc over and not getting broken at all in the 2nd half. The D-line was simply rabid, forcing LSU to play long points and jack low percentage hucks. Then we'd get the disc and work it up the field like we were an O-line or something. Huge skys, layout D's, and gorgeous hucks abounded for the pimpdags this game as the D-line carried us to victory and birth in the semifinals, 13-11.
Semi-Finals vs. Auburn: You never want to say it, or admit it to yourself, but after 6 hard fought games 13 hours from home with a near zero conditioning base, we were tired, possibly exhausted, and it showed this game. Auburn had played one less game and it definitely helped them, as they were consistently able to beat us deep. Still, the O-line continued to be money, giving up only a few breaks. Half found us down multiple breaks again, and again we forced ourselves to play harder, making sure we left everything on the field. The D-line got the breaks back, tying the game, but then Auburn's rested D got to our O and our D continued to have problems stopping Auburn's deep game. We had a chance to take this to universe, but an unfortunate turnover (my bad) on our last O point allowed Auburn to punch in the break for the win, 13-11.
All-in-all nothing to be disappointed about, especially for the first tournament of the year. I'm excited for what we can do next weekend at Mardi Gras and in future tournaments. Specific commentary on our play to follow in a later post.
Monday, January 21, 2008
It Begins
Spring Semester classes start tomorrow. I'm taking Mechanics of Materials and Seismology along with continuing research for my adviser. We'll see how it goes, as always, things will probably be pretty busy. I'm a little nervous about my first ever engineering course, hopefully I can adapt to the teaching style quickly.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Ski Wisconsin
Straight Skis?.... Check
Jeans? .... Check
Rear-entry boots? ..... Check
Jeans tucked into rear-entry boots?.... Check
Apparently Wisconsin is the land ski technology forgot. I haven't seen that many people on straight skis, anywhere, in this decade. My only thought is that for some reason Wisconsin has a lot of people who ski only in Wisconsin and never travel elsewhere, which would eliminate the need to have good gear.
With that thought in mind I can begin to understand the advertising angle of the mountain I went to on Wednesday, Granite Peak. Granite Peak is Wisconsin's largest ski area, with nearly 500 skiable acres, 72 trails, and an astounding (for the midwest) 700 vertical feet. Their website was full of pitches such as "why ski out west when Granite Peak is just a short drive away?" and promised everything one would find out east or out west: groomed cruisers, a terrain park, challenging mogul slopes, and super steep expert chutes. It was enough to make me wear a hat as opposed to my helmet with the thought Granite Peak might be interesting enough without me having to attempt stupid tricks in the terrain park to entertain myself. I have admit to Granite Peak did deliver what it advertised, but yet I still felt somewhere cheated.
Never before had I seen a ski area try so hard to be something it's not and fail so miserably at it. Granted I was there at a bad time, warm weather over the holiday had ruined the good snowpack that was around when I skiied back in December, but it was cold and the area had reported 7 inches of new a few days earlier, so I felt conditions would be alright. In any case, there was no reason for this place to blanket its slopes (including its glades) with 3 feet of man made snow, which then promptly froze solid before they could groom it, leaving the trails a mix of frozen corderoy and truck-sized mounds of man made ice. The mogul slopes (there were 2, consisting of about the left 20 feet of two trails) were the same, man made ice mounds scattered randomly about with sheets of ice between them.
The super steep expert chutes were super steep and were cutes, but still, weren't really worth advertising as they were so short it took a monumental effort to complete one turn on the slope before you were onto the flats below them. As far as I can tell, they were created by spraying man made snow onto a cliff face until it froze solid and created a surface one could slide down.
On my first chair of the day I was riding with a local who explained to me "today isn't all they great... couple days ago they were running the snow guns and things were great, everything was covered with a nice powder snow...." Argh! It's man made! It's not powder! I know I'm spoiled because I just skied 9 great days in Colorado but still, you're the polar opposite of spoiled, you don't know what good skiing is, and I feel sorry for you.
In an attempt to find a middle ground, Granite Peak and other areas in Wisconsin accomplish three things:
1) With the flat slopes and everything groomed, these areas are a great place to teach someone to ski. The mountains are small, the slopes unintimidating, and it's easy to build confidence by taking someone down a black trail (about as steep as an easy blue in Colorado) on their 2nd or 3rd day. Just don't think that since you skied a double black in Wisconsin that you can ski even a blue trail anywhere else.
2) Satiate a ski fix. More or less it sucks, but it's still skiing, I can still carve some good turns, and it ever snows a ton, powder is always enjoyable. It's also 45 minutes away and cheap, and so can do the job when I have neither the time or money to go someplace better
3) Terrain Parks. Terrain parks are a great ski area equalizer, as ironically you don't need good terrain to have a good terrain park. I can practice tricks and jumps in Wisconsin just as well as I could in Colorado, which is what I'll probably spend my time doing any future times I go skiing here.
I can't wait to get back to Colorado in February. And in the meantime here ultimate season will be picking up hardcore in just a couple days, as will class and that whole grad school thing, so I'll have plenty of things to keep me occupied.
Jeans? .... Check
Rear-entry boots? ..... Check
Jeans tucked into rear-entry boots?.... Check
Apparently Wisconsin is the land ski technology forgot. I haven't seen that many people on straight skis, anywhere, in this decade. My only thought is that for some reason Wisconsin has a lot of people who ski only in Wisconsin and never travel elsewhere, which would eliminate the need to have good gear.
With that thought in mind I can begin to understand the advertising angle of the mountain I went to on Wednesday, Granite Peak. Granite Peak is Wisconsin's largest ski area, with nearly 500 skiable acres, 72 trails, and an astounding (for the midwest) 700 vertical feet. Their website was full of pitches such as "why ski out west when Granite Peak is just a short drive away?" and promised everything one would find out east or out west: groomed cruisers, a terrain park, challenging mogul slopes, and super steep expert chutes. It was enough to make me wear a hat as opposed to my helmet with the thought Granite Peak might be interesting enough without me having to attempt stupid tricks in the terrain park to entertain myself. I have admit to Granite Peak did deliver what it advertised, but yet I still felt somewhere cheated.
Never before had I seen a ski area try so hard to be something it's not and fail so miserably at it. Granted I was there at a bad time, warm weather over the holiday had ruined the good snowpack that was around when I skiied back in December, but it was cold and the area had reported 7 inches of new a few days earlier, so I felt conditions would be alright. In any case, there was no reason for this place to blanket its slopes (including its glades) with 3 feet of man made snow, which then promptly froze solid before they could groom it, leaving the trails a mix of frozen corderoy and truck-sized mounds of man made ice. The mogul slopes (there were 2, consisting of about the left 20 feet of two trails) were the same, man made ice mounds scattered randomly about with sheets of ice between them.
The super steep expert chutes were super steep and were cutes, but still, weren't really worth advertising as they were so short it took a monumental effort to complete one turn on the slope before you were onto the flats below them. As far as I can tell, they were created by spraying man made snow onto a cliff face until it froze solid and created a surface one could slide down.
On my first chair of the day I was riding with a local who explained to me "today isn't all they great... couple days ago they were running the snow guns and things were great, everything was covered with a nice powder snow...." Argh! It's man made! It's not powder! I know I'm spoiled because I just skied 9 great days in Colorado but still, you're the polar opposite of spoiled, you don't know what good skiing is, and I feel sorry for you.
In an attempt to find a middle ground, Granite Peak and other areas in Wisconsin accomplish three things:
1) With the flat slopes and everything groomed, these areas are a great place to teach someone to ski. The mountains are small, the slopes unintimidating, and it's easy to build confidence by taking someone down a black trail (about as steep as an easy blue in Colorado) on their 2nd or 3rd day. Just don't think that since you skied a double black in Wisconsin that you can ski even a blue trail anywhere else.
2) Satiate a ski fix. More or less it sucks, but it's still skiing, I can still carve some good turns, and it ever snows a ton, powder is always enjoyable. It's also 45 minutes away and cheap, and so can do the job when I have neither the time or money to go someplace better
3) Terrain Parks. Terrain parks are a great ski area equalizer, as ironically you don't need good terrain to have a good terrain park. I can practice tricks and jumps in Wisconsin just as well as I could in Colorado, which is what I'll probably spend my time doing any future times I go skiing here.
I can't wait to get back to Colorado in February. And in the meantime here ultimate season will be picking up hardcore in just a couple days, as will class and that whole grad school thing, so I'll have plenty of things to keep me occupied.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Sooners
Despite being on vacation I was able to watch most of OU's Fiesta Bowl game against West Virginia at a local brewery/bar/pizzeria (there are a lot of those in Colorado, and they're all good). I kind of wish I hadn't. Offense was decent enough, but the defense, man, done in by a mobile quarterback... again. I really hope after all these years Bob Stoops comes up with a way to deal with duel option quarterbacks like Pat White, Chase Daniel, Vince Young, Brad Smith, and Eric Crouch. They've been killing us for years. That second half was just depressing, every time OU started to give me hope, WV would run for 70 yards on the next play. Nothing like having faint glimmers of hope crushed with regularity every 15 minutes for an hour.
I did get some sympathy from fellow bar goers during the game, as I lay in my bar stool (yes, laying in a bar stool is possible), my head hanging limply over the backrest. One guy was from Illinois, and so had seen USC crush his team the day before. Another guy was from Washington State and had been at the OU/WSU Rose Bowl game in 2003 that I also got to attend. So there was a brief moment of happiness as I recalled that game and reminded myself that while OU was down 48-28 or something, at least I wasn't a Washington State fan. I had even got to watch Wisconsin beat up on them way back in early September.
Things are looking up for OU next though. Pretty much all the stars are back, including Lofton, DeMarco Murray, Bradford, English, etc, hopefully Reggie Smith and Malcolm Kelly decide to stay and increase their draft stock with a good senior year. West Virginia gets to keep White, Devine, and maybe Slaton for next year too. If their defense can keep it together, look for an Oklahoma-West Virginia National Championship next year. You heard it hear first.
Along the line of unsupported factual assertions, look for the Big 12 to surpass the SEC in overall strength next year. Baylor and Iowa State will still probably really suck, but OU will be a championship contender, Texas still has Colt McCoy, Missouri still has Maclin and Daniel, Kansas will have Reesing and probably not be as good, but won't be a push-over either, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and Texas A&M are decent, Colorado is improving, Nebraska will possibly return to its old ways starting on defense under Pellini, and Texas Tech is always good and will still have Harrell and Crabtree. If they learn how to play defense at least as good as a high school team they'll make a lot of noise too.
I did get some sympathy from fellow bar goers during the game, as I lay in my bar stool (yes, laying in a bar stool is possible), my head hanging limply over the backrest. One guy was from Illinois, and so had seen USC crush his team the day before. Another guy was from Washington State and had been at the OU/WSU Rose Bowl game in 2003 that I also got to attend. So there was a brief moment of happiness as I recalled that game and reminded myself that while OU was down 48-28 or something, at least I wasn't a Washington State fan. I had even got to watch Wisconsin beat up on them way back in early September.
Things are looking up for OU next though. Pretty much all the stars are back, including Lofton, DeMarco Murray, Bradford, English, etc, hopefully Reggie Smith and Malcolm Kelly decide to stay and increase their draft stock with a good senior year. West Virginia gets to keep White, Devine, and maybe Slaton for next year too. If their defense can keep it together, look for an Oklahoma-West Virginia National Championship next year. You heard it hear first.
Along the line of unsupported factual assertions, look for the Big 12 to surpass the SEC in overall strength next year. Baylor and Iowa State will still probably really suck, but OU will be a championship contender, Texas still has Colt McCoy, Missouri still has Maclin and Daniel, Kansas will have Reesing and probably not be as good, but won't be a push-over either, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and Texas A&M are decent, Colorado is improving, Nebraska will possibly return to its old ways starting on defense under Pellini, and Texas Tech is always good and will still have Harrell and Crabtree. If they learn how to play defense at least as good as a high school team they'll make a lot of noise too.
The Jeep
On my recent ski trip the Jeep hit 161,000 miles. Damn. Never did I imagine when I was 8 and helping my mom pick out a car to replace our Subaru wagon that not only would I one day drive that car, but have it be effectively mine for a good 6 years and counting. Hopefully it has another couple years in it.
I am more attached to that car than ever now after probably my scariest driving moment last week in Colorado. The Jeep probably saved my life by being badass. I was driving down I-70, leaving Colorado, near Minturn when a firetruck pulling away from an accident around a blind curve forced me to slow down and try to change lanes. Unfortunately there a truck in the left lane, and it also slowed down, but started to fishtail as it braked. With the fishtailing truck right next to me, I had to put on the brakes, and I started to fishtail. Apparently we (and the flipped truck in a ditch ahead of us which the fire truck was attending to) had found some black ice. Then the truck spun out, and spun across my lane directly in front of me. Though I was still in control of the Jeep, I had to no choice but to swerve out of the way, either towards the median guardrail or a snowbank. I chose the snowbank. The Jeep plowed into it obliquely going at least 30, the front right wheel probably got about 4 feet up the side, I could feel the Jeep starting towards rolling over, but I was able to steer the Jeep out of the snowbank with my remaining momentum. I came to a stop parallel to the road with the right side of the Jeep about 2-3 feet higher the left up the snowbank. The truck had also hit the snowbank and was 10 feet in front of me facing in my direction. The driver and I exchanged "holy shit!" looks. About 10 feet beyond the truck was an ambulance still helping the truck which had flipped over earlier and was off the road. We were lucky.
Now for the most impressive part: After a brief moment to collect myself, I punched the accelerator down and the Jeep drove out of the snowbank. Just like that. Powered through the thing. I walked about the Jeep and found nothing wrong. I was able to drive home to Wisconsin like nothing happened. The other truck had to get towed. Damn.
I love that car.
I am more attached to that car than ever now after probably my scariest driving moment last week in Colorado. The Jeep probably saved my life by being badass. I was driving down I-70, leaving Colorado, near Minturn when a firetruck pulling away from an accident around a blind curve forced me to slow down and try to change lanes. Unfortunately there a truck in the left lane, and it also slowed down, but started to fishtail as it braked. With the fishtailing truck right next to me, I had to put on the brakes, and I started to fishtail. Apparently we (and the flipped truck in a ditch ahead of us which the fire truck was attending to) had found some black ice. Then the truck spun out, and spun across my lane directly in front of me. Though I was still in control of the Jeep, I had to no choice but to swerve out of the way, either towards the median guardrail or a snowbank. I chose the snowbank. The Jeep plowed into it obliquely going at least 30, the front right wheel probably got about 4 feet up the side, I could feel the Jeep starting towards rolling over, but I was able to steer the Jeep out of the snowbank with my remaining momentum. I came to a stop parallel to the road with the right side of the Jeep about 2-3 feet higher the left up the snowbank. The truck had also hit the snowbank and was 10 feet in front of me facing in my direction. The driver and I exchanged "holy shit!" looks. About 10 feet beyond the truck was an ambulance still helping the truck which had flipped over earlier and was off the road. We were lucky.
Now for the most impressive part: After a brief moment to collect myself, I punched the accelerator down and the Jeep drove out of the snowbank. Just like that. Powered through the thing. I walked about the Jeep and found nothing wrong. I was able to drive home to Wisconsin like nothing happened. The other truck had to get towed. Damn.
I love that car.
Skiing
I got back to Madison from Colorado a couple days ago. I am currently going through mountain withdrawal. I think at some point in my life I need to pull a Mar and just up and move to Colorado. Maybe after that I'll be able to move on, or I might just end up never leaving. Who knows.
Skiing was great, and on top of that I got to hang out with Dartmouth people for the first time since this summer. You just don't find people that cool in outside of the small college environment. We skied A-Basin, Keystone, Copper, Breckenridge, Beaver Creek, and Vail. I set a record for 9 days of skiing in a row. The last 6 it snowed at least a little every day, leading to near-epic conditions at Vail with my dad, Copper, and Beaver Creek, and a top 5 powder day of my life with Mar at Vail on my last day. Photos and video are viewable on Facebook (I'm too lazy at this time to figure out that whole embedding video/photo thing in blogs).
The only downside to the whole trip was that with the storms, visibility in open bowls was crap so I am still waiting to experience the Imperial Bowl at Breckenridge and a truly great day in the back bowls. I settled for Blue Sky Basin at Vail though, which isn't a step down at all. I also discovered all but the most secluded powder stashes at Beaver Creek as I was there the two days after 16 inches fell. The Larkspur lift, the glades on Grouse Mountain, and the new glades near the Rose Bowl lift proved to be money; I was making fresh tracks at 2 in the afternoon.
With the lack of parental supervision I also attempted to increase my repetroir of tricks and cliff jumps. I managed to land a 180 for the first time, though it deserves an asterisk since I was attempting a 360 at the time. I also set 7-8 feet as my current max hight for cliff/cornice jumps. I attempted 4, landed 1, and have yet to ski away from any. The highest jump I skied away from was probably 5 feet. Mar and I were having fun launching small cliffs in the soft snow during our powder day.
I'm looking forward to going back in February for the All Boys trip, which will be crashed by Mar. I'm sure the boys will make an allowance for girls who rip.
Skiing was great, and on top of that I got to hang out with Dartmouth people for the first time since this summer. You just don't find people that cool in outside of the small college environment. We skied A-Basin, Keystone, Copper, Breckenridge, Beaver Creek, and Vail. I set a record for 9 days of skiing in a row. The last 6 it snowed at least a little every day, leading to near-epic conditions at Vail with my dad, Copper, and Beaver Creek, and a top 5 powder day of my life with Mar at Vail on my last day. Photos and video are viewable on Facebook (I'm too lazy at this time to figure out that whole embedding video/photo thing in blogs).
The only downside to the whole trip was that with the storms, visibility in open bowls was crap so I am still waiting to experience the Imperial Bowl at Breckenridge and a truly great day in the back bowls. I settled for Blue Sky Basin at Vail though, which isn't a step down at all. I also discovered all but the most secluded powder stashes at Beaver Creek as I was there the two days after 16 inches fell. The Larkspur lift, the glades on Grouse Mountain, and the new glades near the Rose Bowl lift proved to be money; I was making fresh tracks at 2 in the afternoon.
With the lack of parental supervision I also attempted to increase my repetroir of tricks and cliff jumps. I managed to land a 180 for the first time, though it deserves an asterisk since I was attempting a 360 at the time. I also set 7-8 feet as my current max hight for cliff/cornice jumps. I attempted 4, landed 1, and have yet to ski away from any. The highest jump I skied away from was probably 5 feet. Mar and I were having fun launching small cliffs in the soft snow during our powder day.
I'm looking forward to going back in February for the All Boys trip, which will be crashed by Mar. I'm sure the boys will make an allowance for girls who rip.
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