Roll Call 2008 - Day 1 Recap

With the frost still remnant on early morning grass, Ghetto Force arrived at the Poolesville Polo Club before 7:30 am on Saturday morning. Saturday would be filled with intense (understatement) pool play, with the pool winner earning a spot in the Championship bracket. With Ratatat being pounded out of the 5Ultimate speakers, Skip driving recklessly around in a golf cart, and endless boxes of bagels being eaten, Dayton approached the fields ready to begin.

After being well rested from the oxymornonic Sleep Inn, it seemed as though Ghetto's focus was initially lacking during the early warm up. On top of that, many Ghetto players decided to Noob Stamp themselves by not bringing discs to the tournament....ah buh? I'm sorry, how long have most of us been playing? The lacking supply of discs was a poor way to begin the day, as all of a sudden guys were warming up in groups of three and four. This less than stellar warm up quickly translated to on field play in the first game of the day.

With Columbia High School, the pool's 3rd seed, providing the first day's competition, Ghetto started slow out of the gates. CHS, the home of the creators of Ultimate, came ready to rock, and with a slew of quick, smart, and aggressive young talent. Giving up the early break, Ghetto immediately felt the pressure to get it together, and quickly. With any loss during the day being unacceptable, Ghetto quickly regrouped, earned a handful of breaks, and took the lead. However, the momentum was short lived, as the 2nd half showcased a fired up CHS run, bringing the game back to serve. A Ghetto break gave the team a one point lead. Points would trade, and CHS would continue to work the disc and exploit speed match ups (they were a well coached, and strong program, to say the least). Ghetto scored downwind, to take it to the score to 12-11, game to 13. The hot D line was established, guys got pumped, thriving for the break. Roughly 20 seconds later, CHS had efficiently punched it in.....universe point. Ghetto was getting pulled to, going downwind with the game on the line. The Hitman, Boo Radley, and Corbotronic would work the disc from the handler positions, emphasizing patience with cutters. As the upwind pull was thrown, the disc was stopped by Double D's just past the half way mark of the field. Hoover, approaching the disc with steadiness and patience running threw his mind, picked up the disc, and said to hell with it. With The Name Brand cutting deep, the opportunity to close the door and end this circus was mouthwatering. H-to-the-Vizzer unleashed a full field backhand, that when it was all said and done, was just a bit too easily reeled in by Jolt'n Joel. Dayton wins 13-12.

It was an atrocious start with far too many drops, way to many breaks given, and just sloppy play. It wasn't pretty, but the victory was confirmed and game two would be next on the plate.

The next game would be against Swarthmore, a team with plenty of games under their belts, and solid wins against Yale, Edinboro, and Wheaton. Unfortunately for Swarthmore, Dayton was pissed and ready to hand out some punishments....and for awhile, it appeared as though things were going to be that way. Ghetto started up and built a 4-0 lead to begin the game. Taking half at 7-3, it looked like Dayton was going to utilize their new life for pummeling the competition. Unfortunately, as historians will tell you, Dayton hadn't learned it's lesson, and decided to repeat the past....letting a lead slip, bringing a capped game to 11-11. As if a heartpounder against some high school kids wasn't enough, Ghetto Force was now being faced back-to-back universe point games. Dayton put out the Universe-O line, and emphasized making it happen again. With major defenders Gieseapalooza and Mr. Snuffalupagus playing with the O-line, the squad talked defensive strategy in case of offensive collapse. This, would prove worthwhile. As Dayton worked the disc all the way to the Swarthmore endzone, an untimely turn would force UD to bust out Universe-D....this turned into the most intense and perfectly calculated Zone-D....with Swarthmore picking up the disc, the Universe-O-turned-D line had swiftly forced a turnover by Swarth's third throw. Regaining the disc and being on the endzone, with the game on the line, Dayton was ready to punch it in. Hoover, somehow ended up cornered in the left hand side, pinched right at the goal line. Luckily, from this position, everyone knew who the disc was going to....The Show. Mark Anderson, clearly having the sickest cuts known to man, was the immediate ISO. The Show and Hoover, playing the role of The Side Show, immediately eye-balled the breakside endzone line, which was hit easily for the score. Oh wait, there was an awful pick call.....disc goes back to Hoover. Same thing? The Addi-Ander-son ESP was in full motion, and the same cut seemed automatic. Anderson, breaking ankles for a living, literally told his defender the cut was going to be the same, and proceeded to get open on the breakside, again. Addison, releasing the exact same high-release backhand, was blatantly fouled while getting the throw off (to which the foul was called). Luckily, the throw was just good enough....and The Show put the full extension, toe dragging, special on air....again, sealing the deal with some Anderson Beautification.....OH WAIT! The marker, who enjoyed rocking some serious hand choppage, somehow matrixed best perspective on the play, calling Anderson out.....erroneously so, considering A) There's no way he could even see him and B) Addison was standing on the line looking the whole time at Mark, violently saying he KNEW he was in!

So, by this point, Swarthmore was playing the major deuche card, to which Hoover responded, "I think we're up 13-11 now". With the crap parade of calls rolling through town, the disc, AGAIN, was brought back to Hoover, forcing Ghetto again to regroup and attempt to punch it in. The irony here was that the hardest part of punching it in, wasn't so much scoring, but finding some way to score without Swarthmore having an opportunity for a call. With Anderson and Hoover livid by this point, it was obvious that again, The Show would be iso'ed to the same corner, for the same backhand high-release, just to rub the impending victory in everyone's face. As the disc was checked in, and the same (for the 3rd time in a row) play unfolded, however, Hoover withheld letting the high-release backhand go. The Show left the breakside and the cuts and flow continued. As the count reached 7, Addison looked to swing, when eye contact with Erik Krissek was made. Krispy Krissek, knowing the backhand break was always there, sprinted to the same spot Anderson had gone to each time, and to finally finish the game, Krissek took Mark Anderson's spot and reeled in the final score of the game, 12-11.

Ghetto Force had a bye, and during the post game huddle, emphasized chilling out and relaxing. We'd been forced to the brink twice in our first two games, and now we needed to just settle down before our 3rd and 4th games. Most players walked the polo grounds, checked out the 5Ultimate tent, and made necessary phone calls. One of which was to Capitan Corc, who was unable to arrive in D.C. till Sunday. Sparing the details, Papa Corc quickly voiced his displeasure with out things appeared to be going. It was time to take care of business, and more sloppy play would not be allowed.

After an hour and a half of downtime, Ghetto took a nice long warm up, and prepared to take on SUNY-Oneonta. We'd already met Classy Ryan, to flip for the disc, and his potent smell of PBR implied that SUNY had already succumbed to their fate. The game was fairly unexciting....Dayton played more consistently, taking the game 13-9. Closer than it probably should have been, but Dayton took the time to rest some legs and play new lines. Ghetto was now 3-0, with the toughest test of the day coming next.

Edinboro, a team that Ghetto had hoped to play at the OWU EMR Memorial, was finally matched up against UD. As a team nearly attending the 2007 National Championships, Dayton knew they'd be a test. Exposing our defensive weaknesses, and doing everything to perfection in the first half, Edinboro laid a pounding down in the first half, taking it 7-2. Dayton, exhausted and down, regrouped and began utilizing a wall/trap/man defense to stop allowing the ever-present Edinboro deep looks. Though it worked well, it didn't come quite early enough. The second half of the game was scored 6-6, but with the early first half meltdown, the second half run wouldn't prove to be enough, allowing Edinboro to take the pool on a 13-8 victory.

Though disappointed, the group's most promising moments came in the last half of the day. When the group buckled down, made some plays, and in losing, showed far more character and skill than in any of the three earlier wins. It was tough to take a loss to end the day, but Edinboro earned it. Dayton would cool down, eat some free pizza, and settle in to watch the Harvard v. Western Washington Showcase game. Day 1 was complete, and sights would be set on Sunday.