Terminus 2009 - The Tornado Part II

Wow - what are the odds? Atlanta, not really known for consistently having crap weather throughout March, ends up being the biggest craphole two years in a row for College Terminus.

Last year we listened to Fudge and Mastro tell us the horror stories. A single game. That was it. After that it was thunderstorms, lightning, and yes, a tornado on a Rawberry overdose roaming through the city. What are the odds it could happen again? Would Mother Nature really slap Terminus with the ugly stick AGAIN?!?!

Making pitstops at the Bayers and Andersons en route to the Peach State, Ghetto kept hearing the news that weather looked bad. Like, real bad. Unavoidably bad. For those of you that didn't happen to catch the weather channel, the southeaster U.S. looked like it had a big green flubber thrown against it, stretching from South Carolina to southern Texas. It was unstoppable and Atlanta looked to be falling smack dab in the middle of the warpath. Ugh.

After arriving in Cumming (doesn't that sound weird), the crew shacked up in six rooms as a result of some quirky planning on the hotel's part. Little did the men realize the additional showers would be so valuable 24 hours later.

Starting Saturday, the Dayton men suited up and arrived at the fields accompanied by the expected early rains. With it around 45, the rain must have been close to freezing, making every warm up catch sting like we were practicing at NCR back in Dayton. So much for the toasty warmth of the south! Even with DVDA resonating in everyone's heads, manliness seemed to be sparse amongst all players in the rough elements.

Opening at 8:30, it felt as though the battle against Tufts started promptly at sunrise. Unfortunately Ghetto took a page from the '05 playbook and gifted Tufts a nice 3 point start to open the game. Not the way anyone wanted to get things going. Was Ghetto outmatched in a tournament like this? Questions of this sort were in the back of many minds. Ghetto had never been invited to Terminus, or any tournament of this kind of calliber - was Ghetto strong enough to compete? It still resulted in a loss, but to the would-be Pool D winner, Dayton battled back and produced enough defensive runs to make the game heated and competitive, eventually relinquishing at 9-13. Had Ghetto made some adjustments sooner, and come to the fields with a crisper start, this was one of those games that could have easily gone the other way.

Next up was Pitt, a team that mentally had Ghetto's number. Everyone knew the Pitt track record, and it showed. From the get go, Ghetto (minus perhaps Goose, CorcJuice, and the Killa) seemed to believe it was outmanned. Giving up break after break, Ghetto Force just didn't seem to have much pep in the step. Hoove only furthered the cause when he decided to do his best Bayer impression and drop a pull. Clearly the muff got in the way. Things were struggling to click. Although some nice deep puts connected and Ghetto rallied a solid zone-d break, Pitt stormed quickly to a 13-6 victory. More than ever, it was great timing to get out of the rain, listen to some DVDA, eat some animal crackers, and loosen things up. Ghetto needed a deep breath.

With Georgia Tech coming up after the bye, everyone relaxed in the warm vehicles and got some much needed dethawing in. Hard to say what was going on in Bayer's Landscape, but the van pretty much just listened to "Now You're a Man" for 2 hours - yelling lyrics, different articulations of MAanouhohgh, and adding in coordinated claps. Everyone utilized the song to realize one diffinitive conclusion - the gooder they crush, the better you want them. Which, in Jake Bayer lingo roughly translates into, "Ghetto is going to beat GaTech."

With this thought firmly in place, Ghetto got an awesome post-bye warm up in. Including some discs over private fences, double-plyo action, and some Asian-on-Asian hating, Ghetto circle-danced while waiting for Truman State and Minnesota to wrap up their 20+ turnover Universe Point game (catch your d's anybody?).

Tribe, as we all discussed, was solid. This was like their 15th tournament of 2009, and they were ready to squash the Pool's bottom seed. Unfortunately, the pre-game two step wasn't enough to change the tides. Ghetto, as the squad had done in the prior two games, started off behind, giving up the first two points of the game. Trailing 6-3, Ghetto was facing halftime when the o-line punched in a Co-Pilot to Main-Pilot huck, which ignited the missing puzzle piece - NASCAR! With the team shouting and yelling, Ghetto had lit a match and began to light the fire (finally). With the NASCAR chant officially unveiled in Georgia, Dayton began to steamroll. Co-Pilot Corc even helped himself to a full extension OB layout grab for no score. It was the best zero point layout of the day. Storming back, Ghetto's d-line began clicking and managed to battle all the way back to take half 7-6.

With another o-line score after half, the cap was already on (thanks to the long game prior) meaning the teams were playing to 10. After giving up the first offensive score to Tribe in over an hour, the Ghetto O-line retook the field with an 8-7 lead and the finish line firmly in place. The Show, wanting to give the love back to his Co-Pilot blasted a flick huck from half-field and Corcfest reeled it in to put the victory within one. With the NASCAR chant still titalating Mr. T, the d-line ran a swift box formation, got the turnover, and in a matter of swings, The Show went for the jugular, putting a wrapping flick to the Kansas in the endzone. Beating his man to the disc, Ghetto capped an outstanding 7-1 run to finish off Georgia Tech on their home terf. It was an awesome win that finally showed Ghetto gelling and coming together.

After another healthy bye and serious dose of DVDA, Ghetto took to showcase field #5 right in front of the main tent to play Florida State, a team that had upset both Weaton and Penn State in Pool C. Where to begin on this one. Awesome game on the whole. Back and forth from the start. With Ghetto getting breaks to begin, FSU battled back, eventually taking the lead. With a number of questionable calls (understatement) being made, the game proceeded to get more and more intense. With the game tied at 11s, Ghetto pulled, got a deep field turnover, and marched it into the endzone for a 12-11 lead, one point from victory. Florida State wasn't quick to roll over. With a tight zone-d pressing them on their goalline, FSU worked the disc, and without even a hint of a turnover methodically marched up field and tied the game at 12s.

With an errant pull, a bricked disc was in Ghetto's possesion for about a 4-count before a missed J4/Show connection left FSU with field position and the disc. Ghetto, knowing it was Universe point, clamped down on D. With FSU struggling to progress, everyone was in sync, knowing it was only a matter of time. As a shifty flickside lateral cut was made, Mother Goose saw the opportunity and took off like he worked for NASA. Horizontal, at what was likely 3'-4' off the ground, Jeff Giese dropped one of the nastiest full extension d's of the tournaments. Did anyone mention it was clean? Crystal clean. Giese might as well have had a shaved head and ear piercings, this shiz was a-ok Mr. Clean. And like clockwork, the most egregious strip/foul call is made (footage confirms its blatant horror). The unbiased onlookers, now readily focused and enjoying the game, collectively lost control of their bowel movements as they heard the call. It was obnoxious. Equally obnoxious (although way more justified in this scenario) was Goose's already legendary reaction. Yes, it's on film. Make some calls, send some money, kiss some ass, maybe you too will get to see it. It's the most out of control 3 minutes of Ultimate ever. In short, no one on FSU was willing to concede the bad call and as rules dictate, the "violently" contested disc was put back in the hands of FSU. After a number of passes, a break side disc worked its way into the endzone. It sucked. Dayton, with two leads at the beginning and ending of the game, lost a game on universe that left a pretty bad taste in everyone's mouths.

It's not the way you want to end a day, but crap happens. Winning isn't a product, it's a process. Lesson learned. We get the breaks before the game ever gets to 11-11 and we don't face the situation we ended up dealing with.

After being drenched in mud/wet-field camo, everyone worked their way back to the 6 showers in Ghetto's possession. Oh man those showers were good. Hot, and strong, they were about as good as the 2 hour meal the team feasted on at Golden Corral. After ButtRex used his A/V skills to get some needed Best Buy hardware, Ghetto enjoyed some team bonding rewatching the FSU game footage amidst Phil Broadcaster's commentary.

As fate would have it, the FSU game would be the last of Ghetto's 2009 Terminus trip. The rain didn't quit (not that any expected it) and the fields were just pounded without mercy. As the team arrived to the fields Sunday, it was quickly apparent that the jig was up. Ghetto grabbed a change of clothes and enjoyed some McDonald's over some lively debates over the number of syllables in the word "fire" (check into it, it's a stimulating topic). After some windy Deliverance roads through Georgia/Tennessee, the team was back in CovCath (WHAT!) territory to find UD as an 11 seed in the NCAA tournament. Whfew! College tuitions have again been justified for the class graduating in 2009!

It was a great Saturday against some serious Ultimate, and the team really began to come together late in the day. It's going to be an exciting couple of weeks leading up to Easterns!

BONUS FOR READING TO THE BOTTOM: As legend has it, as an argument raged on during the FSU game, an anonymous sidelined Florida State player told an anonymous Ghetto Forcer that their team had never read the rule book. Well ladies and gents, we have found the Weapon of Mass Distraction! It makes so much sense! How can your team have any time to read the rule book when you're so busy ghostriding the whip? If only this was made up. Classic.

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