Interlude: NY combine part 1

Rolled out with a full car. Got there with little trouble, only a few dicey streets and people before we figured out where the fields were. The combine was pretty sweet. Great experience, lots of good players, saw a lot of friends. Good stuff.

Plus/minus

+No turns

+No drops

+Caught a goal against a returner

+Got one poach d in the air

+In general I was effective at stopping my man from touching the disc

-Got scored on three times

-Oops actually I dropped a hammer from a wacky backwards layout position that would have been a goal. Shitty.

-Got broken a few times

-Set the wrong force once which arguably led to a goal

-No layout d's

-Missed a deep grab due to getting tackled by a teammate, should have just caught it earlier

-Did not get active enough on offense

Gotta go harder next week and we'll see what happens.

Great day.

Ain't no party like a Wolfpack party

Sectionals still has not sunk in, probably due to post sectionals festivities. Played intramural today, lots of fun but not satisfying.

Here talking points of the sectionals post I want to write:

-Why the game against Princeton was one of our best games ever

-Oh no it is the army

-Why the game against Bard was the worst

-Rider? I hardly knew her

-Lessons from playing Rutgers b

-Mistakes I made

-Defining season factors

-The team, then now and the future

-swagger

-Gunx love

Gotta go play beer pong, tune in soon!

Post sectionals

I have a lot to write about but it ain't ready yet.
Could use a break from ultimate, maybe a couple of days.
Too bad, intramural today.
Boom.

You got one more chance to do right

And its tonight.

Anyway.

Today was today. I'll write about it after some time has elapsed. Three more games. Three more games tomorrow, and then done. In the meantime I will take the road less travelled, and pass the path of least resistance by for one more night.

Boom.

Faith and Fairy Tales

'First and foremost, attitude is everything. If you don't actually have 7 players who believe you can actually win, then...your game isn't worth playing.'
-Brett Matzuka

Sectionals. This weekend. Nothing else motivates quite like that knowledge. It is go time, crunch time, time to put our skills to the test and see where our team-wide improvement has got us.

Just putting it out there, for us to achieve anything of significance we have to believe in each other and ourselves. That's simple but it goes a long way. If we don't have faith in this team our play will reflect that. If we do - if we dedicate ourselves to the Gunx, for one weekend, with 100% physical and mental intensity, damn the torpedoes full speed ahead - then we will be able to reach much higher.

Our shot at sectionals success may be a shot in the dark but it is a shot worth taking. As a team and as individuals we have a choice to make. We can give up on being good, and go down in flames at sectionals. Or we can put our faith in each other and the team, fight hard, and get as far as we can.

Remember that part in Half Blood Prince where they talk about the difference between being dragged to a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high? Its like that. Let's prove we have the mental fortitude to make it a good fight, whatever the outcome.

Heart on fire.

Well well

So that's the season. Sectionals to come this weekend. In the meantime we have to figure out how we're going to do sub calling, that will be a big help if we have it figured out.

We have to get our heads in the right place.

The board is set.

The pieces are moving.

Something like that.

Gunx love.

W

Accidentally posted the letter W. As it happens, a very significant letter. Better than L, anyway.

This by-accident post is a perfect place to link an excellent article I came across: http://theshubbard.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-03-03T16%3A24%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=7

Have a good day!

Who's gonna run this town tonight

I am raging. I can barely wait for practice today. Its on.

Just sayin'.

Two Face

Light side

We played some of our best team ultimate ever. Even better than some of the highlights from New Haven. A lot of people stepped into new roles or refined old ones. A few of our newer players played some of their best ultimate ever (here's looking at you Stiggles, your defensive performance in the first two games was my inspiration to play all day, let alone your sick throws and catches on o). We won three games, we took third place, our best ever tournament finish. We held serve as the third best team in the Hudson Valley.

We played six games in one day, the most we ever have as a team. About half our roster was still playing solid until the last game, and six games in a day is a lot.

Dark side

Are you kidding? Our first game barely even counts. Bard had eight players, and only one of their starters. They were missing V and Will. They had no legs. Anyone who was tired after that game either had to run hard to compensate for weaker defenders, or is not in good enough shape. Marist took half against us 8 - 2. Our defense just could not deal with a team that did not regularly hand us the disc on a silver fucking platter. Our ability to switch from a zone mindset to playing hard nosed man defense was still not enough, despite the multiple points in a row they sent out lines that did not feature their top end studs. (Speaking of their top end studs, we had answers for every one of them except Robbie and yet again he proved to be the difference maker. It is great that we can throw solid defenders to stop Nick, Slip, Pat, Miller, etc etc etc but we need to stop wonderboy if we are ever going to beat them)

We did not push hard on d against Ramapo and we did not grit out the universe win against Marist the second time. Why not? Lack of mental focus in the first half. They were just as tired as us, making just as many mistakes and in the first half we did not bring it. Second half, we very much brought it, despite being much more tired. We can do it.

We don't.

Fuck that.

Po Town Throwdown

Next time I'm bringin' sunblock.

RAWR

Practice today was pretty sick. Key people are stepping up to make the final push. On a personal note, ran pretty hard, like 85% hard, like it'll work but she might not be satisfied hard.

I can push harder.

We can push harder if we get each other's backs. Competed with APinn in races from the gym to capen, from capen to has, etc. If we push each other we can gain a lot more in the last two weeks.

On that note, marking Tom is awesome. If I don't try, he makes me eat it. No complacency.

Running tomorrow. It has been decreed. Working on my running form. Gotta get those potato chips out of my pocket and eat em. Potatoes can be used to teach almost any frisbee concept. Straight up and down. Karate chops instead of fists. Superman layout pose.

Form is everything.

I cannot even comprehend how I threw without knowing how to get low and use the core and the hips.

Big shoulders help too.

Look the point is

it was a good fucking day.

let me stand next to your

Today was the first match of the intramural ultimate season, and boy was it swell. Gunx X rolled up to face some team of dudes who thought they had swagger. They got meatballed.

So?

The cliche goes, champions play hard whenever they step onto the field. If we don't go hard at intramural it is almost a waste of time. Whatever.

I had more to write about the game. That does not matter now. So there I was, sitting out on the quad writing this week's to do list. And it hit me.

I have no fire.

It is like I forgot that sectionals is in TWO WEEKS.

I started this semester with blood like ice and the grim resolve to do what must be done. But the spring weather has melted that ice blood and turned my motivation towards things like laying in the sun doing fuck all knows what. Bottom line: I have no work ethic and have made decisions that lack mental focus and testicular fortitude.

Enough of that. It is time to kindle the fire and fan the flames into a mighty blaze. Mediocrity is a slow death.

I'm done with it.

And when I'm gone

I am going to practice.

It is amazingly gorgeous out.

This weekend is going to be righteous. I will become a better man.

Starting now.

Just carry on.

Hiatus?

I can't write about ultimate right now.

What's there to say? I'm in decent shape. Throwing the best I ever have. Don't want it enough right now. Made the most unspirited play of my career at RPI.

Team is looking good when we want it and don't drop it. Best squad we've ever had. Being on the team this semester has been amazing. We need to translate our camaraderie into yet unexplored levels of on-field cohesion, and moreover we need to continue it throughout next year.

Look.

I'm going to bed.