Not egoism, I hope

My voice is hoarse today. Yesterday Bard came to scrimmage the Gunx and some Magic Rollers stopped by to hang out. The Gunx started slow with mistakes by both offense and defense lines, but pulled it together a little; at halftime the score stood eight to seven in Bard's favor after a four point streak by the Gunx to tie the game at sevens. Bard came out strong after half, bringing the game to 12 - 8. New Paltz struck back to make it a close game at 12 10. After a few traded points and a few unanswered scores by Bard, the score stood at 14 - something in Bard's favor at game point. Knowing we needed to score, the Gunx got amped up and brought it to 14s. Bard scored again, leading me to think the game was over. The sideline reminded that it was win-by-two and I was astounded, not realizing that we had tied the score.

The O line stuffed it in to tie the game at 15s. D line took the field, and got fired up. The pull went up and we sprinted all out to set up d on the end line by the time Bard had picked up the disc. Unfortunately, Meghan injured her knee running down the pull. Play stopped for a while as campus police and an ambulance were called. When play resumed we elected to restart the point, still fired up and inspired by Meghan's positive attitude despite her injury. D line ran down the pull and scored, and then repeated the feat to end the game 17 to 15, giving the Gunx our first win of the year.

After a short break, Magic Roll took the field against Bard for our first game together since Ow My Knee and summer pickup. It is relevant to note that we have not practiced since school started and were playing fielding a nine player roster missing a good deal of players. Also, four of us had played on the Gunx in the previous scrimmage. Bard being likewise fatigued from the grueling long points and respectable length of the scrimmage, we agreed on a short scrimmage to seven. We had a quick pre game amp session complete with a cheer, during which I may or may not have accidentally implied that Leah was a guy. Our starting lineup was strong, but unable to score the first point against tired Bard. The first point was a marathon, and after Magic answered right back.

We traded again to make it twos, and then landed the pull deep in Bard's end zone. We ran it down, and I caught my first ever Callahan off a two foot dump pass. At that point, Magic got even more amped (or at least I did) and Bard seemed to lose their moral, ceding the game with no further scores, 7- 2 in Magic's favor. Magic won the game in no small part thanks to our ability to adapt our offense.

Like John McCain, we played a maverick game and Bard could not anticipate who would throw the disc and who would catch it. Cutters became handlers, handlers became deeps, and every point the offense changed.

Surely our style is a reflection of our roots as a pickup group where wacky plays were the norm and no one really knew about how a competitive game works. Although we are all (well mostly) now playing in college and everyone is well versed in basic strategy, we have maintained a pick-up aesthetic that I think will serve us well as long as we ground it with fundamental strategy and skill. Some highlights: we ran battalion successfully for one point, forcing a turnover fairly early on despite some good cup crashes by Bard cutters. Steve had huge d's all over the field, and Charlie earned his spot on the team by playing hard on both sides of the disc. On a personal note, I had a few poach d's in addition to the Callahan, and not all of my hucks were terrible.

Also, I bellowed myself hoarse cheering from the sideline and on the field. Everyone had fun, and Bard proved to be a spirited opponent as well as a chill bunch of folks. The Gunx will be seeing more of them in the future for sure.

Shout outs to all the Rollers who could not be there. A certain Hooligan should be proud to know that we did the civic cheer with great success.