Process of Illumination

I'm pretty sure ultimate players lean left, and I know even some Republicans are done with being Republican for the time-being, but I'm curious as to how this poll will break down.

What an incredible weekend; sunny and in the 70's with only a scant trace of wind coming and going during semifinals. I got my tan on, people watching were happy, and teams hucked ruthlessly. I mostly followed the Hodag games, but snuck out from time to time to witness the carnage being visited on other pools. Some quick thoughts I have.

1) Parity, parity, parity: Texas beat Las Positas beat Colorado beat Oregon beat Texas. Santa Barbara beat the pool winners and lost to everyone else. Oregon and Cal, both 2-2 in pool play, were eliminated from contention by Saturday afternoon. These uneven results point to one thing: a lot of the traditionally premier teams are very young right now, and thus inconsistent.

2) ... and then, there are the Hodags: The Hodags, now two tourneys into the season have shown a) an ability to lose any given day to the top 10-12 teams and b) no one comes even close to them in terms of consistency of play. Their tight games against UBC at the Invite and Arizona at Vegas shows that they're not by any means unbeatable, but they've found a way to win those games regardless while other historical powerhouses have dropped games to anyone around. Are they easily the best team out there right now? Yes. Are they vulnerable to a loss at the hands of a red-hot team in elimination in Nationals? Yes.

3) Global warming: This winter has pounded cold-weathered climates. Madison destroyed its old snowfall record this year; at Colorado's last outdoor practice it was 25 degrees out; and the Northeast can't get clear to spring. Those teams still haven't gotten a chance to go outside and begin gelling in actual playing conditions. So, you can attribute some of Colorado's struggles to that (some, but not all, see below) and some of Wisconsin's inconsistencies on offense against UBC to the same; not only have they yet to practice outdoor, an administrative scuffle between them and the Wisco Athletic Dept lost them their last two indoor practice times. I expect those teams frozen in with cabin fever to improve at a much quicker pace than those outdoors year-round.

4) Which makes me ask, has Arizona peaked? I saw them play very well in Vegas, at a moment when most teams hadn't trekked outside and only hours away from their home turf, two things that certainly helped them. And I was incredibly impressed by their ability to make big play after big play. The problem is they were making these plays on the backs of shaky throwing decisions. The top of the College game has begun resembling elite Club in that turns and breaks are at a premium and high-power teams can string together a game with no offensive mistakes, and riskier throwing decisions will unravel a team unless they're converting nearly every one. Kudos to Arizona for converting nearly every one in Vegas, but the play that comes to mind is with them trying to tie at 11-12, throwing a risky hammer to a stationary target, and having Will Lokke fly through the air for a game-changing D. They have the ability to beat anyone because of their athleticism, and they are disciplined enough to not play themselves out of games, but win the championship? Nope. Qualify from their region? That's a different story...

5) The Southwest: I'd like to meet the actuary who has to break down odds in this region. Mamabird is playing like shit but should improve. Question is how much? Black Tide just stared into Tommy Lee Jones' and Will Smith's little red penlight after losing all but one game this weekend. Claremont is beginning to believe after victory over Tide, but how much should we read into it? The team looking most consistent is the one I just called inconsistent in the last paragraph, Arizona. They need to buckle down their offense and hope the other teams don't catch up, and they'll be going to Natties. Mamabird needs to find two consistent handlers that will not turn the disc, can make easy break-throws, and are able to find Jolian and Mack cutting into power positions. Their hucks need to come from those two as cutters to keep their threats dynamic. Otherwise Degs may have a glut of depressed volunteers at Pleasant View Soccer Complex mid-May. Santa Barbara embarrassed themselves this weekend; they need to put it behind them and hit the weights because they're undermanned against the big teams. I don't think Claremont has a chance of qualifying, but they'll likely mortally wound one of the top three teams at Regionals. My early predictions are Arizona winning and Colorado taking the second. Notice how no one mentioned San Diego.

6) The Northwest: another clusterfuck. Oregon, Cal, Stanford, UBC, Las Positas... no one declared themselves the front-runner. I thought UBC played the best as a whole, but they still managed to lose to the one team everyone beat on, Santa Barbara. Stanford, despite sloppy play, found a way to win. Not impressive, but it counts for a lot. Oregon is suffering from Mamabird disease: over-reliance on frustrated superstars. That never bodes well at Regionals. Cal was far, far too turnover-prone to contend with anyone and Las Positas is untested, but from what I saw of their quarters game vs UBC they can beat anyone in the region.

7) Florida dropped out of the Invite after their quiet exit in pre-quarters in Vegas. Why travel to Stanford if you've basically submitted the prize money to the Hodags? In other news, the Hodags don't even have to go to Centex to win the prize money. Here's another $5,000 to add to your Mardi Gras prize money.

Moral of the short story is that the inconsistent play and rookie mistakes all these teams seem prone to make for unpredictable — and thus exciting — watching. The race is too early to call, because the Hodags have been tested to double-game point in elimination games twice now, but as a whole no other team matches up against them for an entire tourney. They'd beat any other team in the country at least 8 of 10 times, but it's for those 2 anomalies that we watch, and they train.

Back in the first week of November, shortly after Club Natties, I made grandiose promises here to post on my reflections of the season and muse, as I often do, on our lot. I began writing a post about the grocery shopping experience and then went home to Madison for Thanksgiving week. I spent some quality time with many of the peeps I love, relaxed, and returned to Boulder.

It was a day after my return that I asked Mitch what the status of our house was. You see, we were living in an updated farmhouse on a gigantic lot in north Boulder, and from the moment we moved in we knew it to be temporary; the owners had designs to tear the structures on the lot down and develop 10 single-family homes. We were told we had until March, April should we be lucky.

Anyway, I asked Mitch, "So, any updates on the situation with the house?" Mitch, always so cavalier in his responses, replied "yeah."

"We gotta be out of the house by New Year's."

A little bit of background quickly. Shortly after regionals, mulling my future, I made a very big decision and decided to lay low with it until the appropriate time. I decided that I was going back to school, and not only that, but I was going to finish at Wisconsin. There are a few wrongs I want to right, school being one of them, my strained relations with my parents another. Being the eldest, and born during a very difficult time in my parents' young lives (20 years old, newlyweds, parents, med school students, strict Mexican upbringing), I cultivated a sense of fear of my parents expectations of me, and closed myself to them in an ill-conceived attempt at gaining some control over my childhood and protecting myself from their (perceived) disappointment in my shortcomings.

Back in October, I felt the luxury of time in telling my friends, and resolved to keep it a secret until January. Mitch's bombshell brought the clock to bear on my plans, and my timeline collapsed. So, rather than spend time writing here I spent it in conversation with my closest friends in Boulder, a bittersweet month-long goodbye.

Now my very existence in this sport, at least by paid UPA dues, is in limbo. As much as I have enjoyed the skills gleaned from a college degree in Ultimate, its applications off the field have been limited to lessons I've learned observing the people in it. The brain inside me says it's time to take a season off, or scale back my commitment and give school the full cup of my attention. The heart inside me continues to keep a few options open: a long-distance relationship with Bravo if they'd have me, a move to Sub-Zero, or a more senior role on Madison Frontline, where I might put to use what I've learned and pass it on to the next generation, and in all likelihood eliminate Machine at regionals and take the final bid from the Central. It's just so hard to walk away from this sport I love after having played my best season to date, had my best natties to date, and played my best game in finals. I am in my prime playing years right now. However, that decision rests a few months from now, and in these months I will tune my body so that I'll be ready for whatever option I choose.

So, where am I now, you ask? I quit my job at the school in Boulder, and gave a moving farewell speech that drew tears from no less than (and this isn't an exaggeration) 150 children sitting in the gym for our winter pep rally. If you know me this goes without saying, but if you don't, yes, I'm the 'cool' teacher that every one in school loved, except for the secretaries. Students and educators fucking love me. I left my high school team in the very capable leadership of Adam Chicken Simon, and gave away all my worldly possessions save what fit into one load of my car. Wardrobe halved, life quartered, friends kissed and embraced, I drove away from the mountains and found my way down to Los Angeles, where I am staying with great friend and current benefactor Bert Kang for the next several weeks. After that, a jaunt up to San Francisco to spend time with Alex, a return to Boulder in time to see the Hodags repeat at College Natties, and one final drive back to Middleton, Wisconsin, Money Magazine's #1 city to live in America, to move back in with my parents and, ironically, grow up.

Hopefully these next few months here in California will allow me the freedom and time to write that I lacked my last few weeks in Boulder, and give me the perspective and insight to not only wax poetic on this blog, but plan the next few years of my life out. For now, I sorely miss my brother, who has bravely chosen to stay behind in Boulder and carve for himself a niche separate from his bohemian older brother. I miss my friends, my Jen, my Degs, Bear, JV, etc, etc, etc... There are a lot of people I've been told to meet and spend time with here in LA, and I look forward to discovering the magic within them, but for what I'm worth I feel a bit lost without my mountain family.

I love the Wednesday before Club Nationals. Most the team arrives Tuesday, but we arrive to our beach houses late and tired and do little other than mill around the rooms and establish pecking order for the best sleep spots in the house.

But we get all Wednesday, and it's all about business. The day is electric, I walk around the whole day with the hair on my neck on end, the feeling I'll static shock anything I touch. Most of that whole day is committed to visualization, trying to control the emotion of the upcoming days, and it's under this lens that I go grocery shopping. The trip to the neighborhood Publix is my favorite part of the day.

Unless you've never been to Club Nationals, you know that the "cool" place to stay while there is Siesta Key. I went with Madison one year, stayed at the tourney hotel inland, and finished in 16th place. Horrible time. But Siesta Key's where it's at—you even play better if you stay there. A few years ago if you were extra-cool, you stayed at the Surf & Racquet Club on the Key. But a hilarious story involving an uncontrollable but illustrious Hodag alum put an end to any chance of ultimate players staying there again.

Anyway, Siesta Key is mostly just residential development with a few bars and breakfast places (The Daiquiri Deck, the it-place to celebrate the victory Sunday or mourn the defeat, but both leading to the same dark pile of vomit you wake up in). As such, it has no major grocery store of its own, forcing Siesta Keyers to drive up the road and stop at the nearest Publix. And on Wednesday, preparation day, that funnels representatives from nearly every team at Nationals to the same spot.

A curious game of people-watching develops. If you're a young rookie on a happy-to-be-here team, sent to do bitch work, you may be awestruck to share the crackers aisle with the best cutter in the game. By the time you're getting eggs you're tweaking about all the players you recognize by picture alone. But if it ain't your first time around the block, you know the game. You know you gotta strut, cuz the other team is watching you and they're sizing you up. Now, I'm not saying you break out the pimpwalk, but your posture is as erect as it's ever been and you look like a motivational speaker about to start his speech. No part of you is sagging; you betray no doubt or weakness.

You can't help but glance into the carts of your competitors. That cart contains everything that will be fueling them for the next four days. Where have they placed their trust? Red Bulls in Sockeye's cart, imitation Rockstar in Boston's. Who's buying up the Slim Fasts, who went with the megaprotein shakes? What are the best using to power their bodies? Who's scooping up vaseline? A deeper level of competitor analysis.

Running into all these people is strangely awkward for everyone because you're running into tomorrow's competition and already chomping at the bit. You're probably great friends with them in the off-season and early season, but fraternizing with them this close to game-time would ruin some of the mental exercises you've been running all day. The anxiety over the next day tweaks some out: they're overly nice, others go silent. A friend I know stares everybody down. Positioning in the mental game at Nationals begins between the dairy and produce sections.

You check out, and the clerk asks you what team you're from and do you think you'll win. They end with a "good luck" and "hope you win," but it sounds hollow. They know the drill: this time every year a mass of hoodlums descends on their piece of picturesque and buys up everything. They nod, feed you the line, smile, and send you on your way. As you leave, others from another team are entering. Their tour is just beginning.

Today the UPA announced that College Nationals '08 would be changed in two significant ways: (1) it will be a week earlier, and (2) it will be held in conjunction with a multi-sport event produced by CSTV, the UPA's broadcast partner for the 6th straight year. Some background, and then some issues. Note: These opinions are mine alone and do not represent an official communication from the UPA or tournament staff.

CSTV's Collegiate Nationals is a championship event for a variety of non-varsity sports. The ultimate competition will take place at the Pleasant View soccer complex in Boulder—home to 1999 College Nationals, 2006 H.S. Westerns, and Colorado Cup since 2006. One thing I was wary of was having multiple events at Pleasant View, but we will be the only sport there.

Nationals will take place May 16–18, the weekend before Memorial Day. I searched RSD for any reference to a past College Nationals that wasn't on Memorial Day weekend but I didn't find anything. Is this a big deal? Maybe, maybe not.

The TDs have worked on Westerns and Colorado Cup, plus we have UPA staff down the street, so I am confident this will be a well-run event. Disclaimer: Yes, I am involved in the tournament (though I am not the TD). I was enthusiastic about the prospect of bringing Nationals to my back yard, so perhaps I was a bit blinded by the detrimental effects of moving the event and incorporating into a larger event. In many ways ultimate is entrenched in various habits, for better or worse, and these two steps are pretty big. Let's have a look.

Issue #1 – Bumping Nationals up a week
This move—to accommodate an event that we have no ownership over—will probably be seen as the less desirable one. There are some unavoidable problems with the move in schedule, but they are problems we will overcome.

There are no plans to move up the start of the College Series (some Sectionals are held in crappy/cold weather anyway), and qualifiers from the second round of Regionals will face a tight window in which to get plane tickets. Will travel costs increase for players? I think not, for a few reasons. As the SW RC I am going to try to have Regionals on the first potential weekend and I will encourage other RCs to follow suit. Perhaps an airline discount can be arranged for players to take a bite out of costs. I also assume that airfares are lower on this weekend than they are on Memorial Day, a holiday and the traditional start to summer vacation season. (I checked some travel web sites. This far out they are the same.)

It's not a three-day weekend, but does that matter? We play on Friday and finish on Sunday in either case. Yes, the buffer travel day is nice, but I know last year Match Diesel had lab on Monday morning. We may hit a few more graduations, but there are some on Memorial Day too.

And the last issue, which has surfaced more recently, is that of competing events. Not with the other CSTV Nationals events, but specifically with lacrosse. The NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championships are always held Memorial Day weekend. If we are to assume that we are actually competing with other, non-football & non-basketball events (i.e., every other sport yearning for coverage) for media exposure and television time, then moving college ultimate's premier tournament makes sense. Turns out the Div II and III lax finals—which take place the same weekend and as part of the same event as Div I—are airing live on CSTV on Memorial Day weekend. Good move moving us.

Issue #2 – Incorporating into a larger event
I think this is another good move. Yes, we lose some autonomy, but we are also exposing ourselves, as it were, to similar athletes (those that have chosen alternative sports) and increasing the size and scope of audiences and sponsors alike. I think the absolute worst case is a neutral effect, but the overlap is likely going to be a net gain.

Take, for example, the fraction of good coming from our internet exposure. How many people last year do you think found information about UPA College Nationals? I'm betting pretty much the people that were looking for it and no one else. But this year we have video highlights and cross-audience exposure on a site that garners over 3 million hits per month. Internet broadcasting is the future of every sport. Sign me up.

Does the sport sacrifice anything by joining forces with other sports? I don't think so. As I said above, the ultimate competition—the gist of the weekend for ultimate players—remains the same. And does the larger event lend any authenticity or credibility to the sport? Yes. Snowboarding, skiing, beach volleyball, weightlifting ... several of the sports at CSTV's Nationals are Olympic sports and those clinging to their coattails (ultimate, wakeboarding, adventure racing) can only benefit. You could think of this as the X-Games for college sports.

This tactic of combining resources also stands to benefit every club sport in the eyes of college administrators. Club sports occupy a gray area on many campuses. More than intramural rec, but clearly inferior to varsity athletics in terms of administrative & financial support. If X University previously had three unrelated club sports teams going to their respective championships in three different places, but now has three teams going to one huge championship event, shouldn't the admin sit up and take notice? I hope so.

The college nationals "social event," which has understandably* been handcuffed, ridiculed, and demoted from "party" to "event" in the last three or four years could be part of something half-way interesting. Go watch another sport? Have an awards ceremony with other sports? Have split parties (over- and under-21) with a thousand other athletes? I don't know, but it might be cool.

*Liability is a bitch.

Normal gripes
People will complain about the location because it is far away from them, or that airfare to [fill in the blank—DEN this year] is high, but the only legitimate gripe is that we are at altitude. Yep, Pleasant View is about 5,300 feet above sea level. Sorry about that, but every 7–8 years (Ft. Collins 1992, Boulder 1999 & 2007) is not that often for great fields, a great ultimate community, and the UPA's back yard. Plus Denver/Boulder is more central than many locations.