Florida Warmup Final Update

We made it about an hour ago to our hotel in northern Atlanta after playing 2 games this morning. Florida is behind us and the cold has caught back up with us. Although even at night it only gets to around 40 in Atlanta. People don't know how good they have it sometimes.

On Day 2 of the tournament we had a packed day of 4 games straight against Florida, Texas A&M, Texas (eventual tournament winners), and Central Florida. Coming off a tough day 1, seeing that lineup of teams can be a little demoralizing. UCF lost to Pittsburgh in the College National Finals last year. But we were determined to see this tournament through and play a lot of good Ultimate.

Game 4 against Florida was the windiest game of the entire tournament. We usually played in low wind games, it probably never gusted to more than 5 miles per hour. Not for this game though in which gusts were swirling and unpredictable up to 25 miles per hour. Even with some great plays being made by Steve Jira (who had a solid 1/3 of our scores on Saturday), Ian Cannon, Mark Fed, and Alan Huels we were run down. Florida, with a full roster, hucked every downwind opportunity to wear out our team. They would beat us 3 - 13.

Florida weather is a little unpredictable

Game 5 was against a relatively new upstart program in Texas A&M. They brought a pretty large team all the way from Texas and seemed unplagued by the travel issues that effected nearly every team at the tournament. We started off the game well, going point for point with A&M up until it was 3-3. After missing a grab on a swing pass, Alan chased down and completed a Greatest Throw to John Bayer across field. It was a pretty amazing moment. A&M with a very loud and active sideline went completely silent. This was probably because they needed a few moments to help each other pick their jaws off the ground. Alan's Greatest (which we would've had on camera if Peaches had been able to make it) definitely was the best individual play of the weekend. A&M would unfortunately pull away and win 5 - 13.

This description of Alan's Greatest is not as good as video, It's just a tribute

Game 6 with The University of Texas was another tough game. Texas also had a large roster which was certainly not to our advantage. We really struggled to hand with Texas. I think it was during this game that the weekend started to catch up with guys who were playing a lot of points. The hustle was there, our guys were playing hard but simple mechanics started to fall apart. There were a lot of bad drops and bad throws. I actually don't remember  the exact final score (as of this post, it appears the USAU has taken down Score Reporter?) but it came out to be something like 2 - 13. Not the game we wanted but because it was over rather quickly we had a lot of time to regroup for our final game of the day.

What playing against Texas felt like (Bonus: Awesome Stache)

Game 7 was definitely our best game of the day and probably the best of the entire tournament for Ghetto Force. UCF is a well coached team that competes hard every year and they have staggering depth. They had lost 2 key games Saturday and did not view us as an easy match despite our record. They played a full squad the entire game, because they had to. The game started off very well, Mark and Alan connected on a few long passes and the handler movement was really good. John Bayer had an immaculate score sheet for this game and caught a lot of bad throws at the expense of his body. In typical fashion for the weekend, we played with UCF close until it was 4 - 4. Even with some more great catches by Steven Moore, Brandon Rush, and Bob Strohmeyer, we could no longer keep competing with UCF's onslaught of players. Orlando is only about 2 hours from Tampa. That's like cheating. UCF would win it 7 - 13.

After Saturday's games we rallied at the hotels and watched a replay of the USA vs. Russia Men's Olympic Hockey game. 3 points for capitalism and only 2 for communism. Suck it Putin.

Game 8 on Sunday morning was a new day and a chance to get a better result for at least 1 of our last 2 games. Starting off against Georgia Tech, the 3 day tournament had taken away most of our edge. Cuts and reaction times felt slow which is really bad when you play a good team like Georgia Tech. Mark Fed had some great hucks that game but really there was little else to speak of. Tech won 3 - 15.

Game 9 was our final game against the first team we played at the tournament, Two-lane (Tulane). In the interest of getting people to their flights in time Alan and the other captain agreed to play only to 11 with open lines. This way we could finally start to rest some of the guys who saw a lot of playing time this weekend which is really important when you consider that this is the first tournament of a long Spring season. In this game we tried out some new stuff and without a doubt the game MVP was SuperTim Willer. Tim was put into the handler spot for what was probably the first time in his life. Using his gargantuan intellect and overall awesomeness, Tim did a great job on offense. Then we went on defense and NBA Jammed a disc on a guy who had probably a whole foot on Tim. Keeping up with his moniker, Dylan "Sticky Bandit" Corwin made fantastic catches on discs that had not business being caught. Upside down, at his face, in a gale wind, or covered in razor blades - Sticky can catch anything. I also remember Brandon Rush jumping higher than I've ever seen him jump to make a D. How he had that much in the tank on our 9th game for it is beyond me. Tulane would win it 8 - 11

Florida was really fun. It was interesting to see other teams and how they operate. Every team does something a little different which was great to see. Although we never won a game, this tournament was an excellent learning experience. If we could accomplish this much with 11 dudes and an old wizard, one wonders what we could do with the rest of the team and those we missed this weekend. Sam, Jordan, Tardio, and Peaches.

Next time, everyone is riding in the van. Even if it's with a Polka band

That tournament didn't get me down, it got me excited. Losses are just an investment in learning. Which is good because I was never one for all that book learnin'.

Let's go Ghetto

J.

**Also, thanks for reading! I don't think the blog has ever reached over 1000 page view in a month. You guys are great.