Worlds 95 and a lesson learned
So, when I last spoke, we had just finished getting drunk at 93 worlds. Well, after that debacle, and the subsequent loss to NY in the semis that fall, Boston ultimate blew up. And springing from the ashes of that loss like a phoenix was Death and Glory (DaG!?!?!?), which thankfully switched to DoG (or) after a few tournaments. As has been rehashed ad nauseum by both Jim Parinella (parinella.blogspot.com) and the forthcoming Ultimate History Book (highly recommended and can be found at www.ultimatehistory.com) and those of us who care, DoG was a sea change from the previous Boston incarnations. Moving past its blue collar upbringing, DoG was the new face of Boston Ultimate, favoring a precision and no turnover offense over the 'get it back' philosophy of the previous years. DoG threw a panoply of junk/high-risk defenses that either resulted in a quick turnover or a quick goal, thereby preserving the team legs for the more important offense. In the spring of 94, DoG never had more the 13 people at any tournament, including the season ending Easterns, and swept aside all comers, only losing to the latest NY incarnation, aptly name We Smoke Weed in pool play once, the Cornell Buds (?!?!) in pool play at Mother's Day, and Amherst (!??!?!???!) in pool play at Turkey Swamp. Those ended up being the only 3 losses for DoG the entire year, with the team sporting a gaudy 60-3 record, winning all 10 tournaments it entered, and finally winning Nationals.
As you can imagine, that winter was a high time in Boston, as we celebrated pretty much everywhere, carting the trophy to all of our hangouts, similar to Lord Stanley's trophy. This included partying into the wee hours at the Beacon Hill Pub with Boston sportscaster Bob Lobel Sr., father of teammate Bob Lobel, Jr. (you thought Bob junior, was big, now you understood where he got it from). That spring, the wheels started coming off a little bit. NY, sticking with their new guise as Cojones, starting taking it to us, and we didn't beat them spring Regionals and then Easterns, setting up an exciting Worlds in Millfield England.
6. 1995 - Club World Championships - Millfield, England - Death or Glory (DoG)
Admittedly, I don't have tremendous memories of this tournament, at least the game play and competition. The lodgings were just OK, as we were a good distance from the fields, having to take buses to get there, and the rooms were just OK. Perhaps it was just the alcoholic haze for the week. We ended up playing Double Happiness in the finals and losing 20-18 or so. The lesson here was that if we didn't take the game seriously, we could lose to anybody. To add a little more background to that, Jim Parinella and I ended up getting WASTED the night before, and were exceedingly hung over for the finals. We were both essential cogs to the offense and combined for a solid 7 turnovers between the 2 of us. And despite all of this, we were possibly one (un)-contested call away from victory, or at least staying alive in the game. T-man Parinella ended up not contesting a foul call (I think it was defensive) in the endzone that gave them the goal and effectively the game, or something like that. All I know is that it became easy to point the finger at Jim...:) Not really, but it was better than taking the blame for being hungover. What was scary was how badly we played, and yet we were right there to win it at the end of the game. Perhaps this was a foreshadowing of our impending dominance.
Although it didn't appear that we immediately learned our lesson, because when we returned for the fall, we proceeded to lose every game against Cojones, culminating in an unbelievable pasting of 17-6 at Regionals. Yes, 17-6. The three weeks between Regionals and Nationals were VERY quiet at practice, as we were just hoping to get Nationals and not embarrass ourselves. Well, fortunately once Nationals started in Birmingham, Alabama that fall, we survived our first game against Chain, and when we beat Double Happiness in the next game (this included 12 straight points without a turnover between the two teams to end the game), we knew we were back on track. And after a game against Cojones in the semifinals that is definitely a candidate for Best Game Ever, we spanked Seattle Sockeye in the finals 21-10 to set a Nationals record for biggest margin of victory and fewest turnovers (3).
But back to Worlds in Millfield, to review the usual memorabilia...
It seems like a lot of it revolved around the Glastonbury Tor, the reputed resting spot of King Arthur's remains. This was a ruin at the top of a rather tall and narrow hill. What seemed like the whole tournament descended on it one evening. Key scenes:
* Hucking contest to see who could throw the furthest off the Tor. I think Ken Gayley threw a very impressive throw. Even weirder were the people who ran all the way down to retrieve the discs. And let me tell you, it was a LONG way down.
* Josh Faust naked layouts/sledding down the side of the Tor.
* Fields that they had actually painted the grass green, so that the pitch (nice English reference, eh?) stood out from the sere grass.
* Not remembering how I got back to my room the night before the finals.
* Hanging out with the Princeton alumni squad one night (they got a bid!). While definitely nowhere near the top xx of athletes to come out of Princeton, at least I have the distinction of being the most successful, or at least finding the right wagon to hitch up to.
As you can imagine, that winter was a high time in Boston, as we celebrated pretty much everywhere, carting the trophy to all of our hangouts, similar to Lord Stanley's trophy. This included partying into the wee hours at the Beacon Hill Pub with Boston sportscaster Bob Lobel Sr., father of teammate Bob Lobel, Jr. (you thought Bob junior, was big, now you understood where he got it from). That spring, the wheels started coming off a little bit. NY, sticking with their new guise as Cojones, starting taking it to us, and we didn't beat them spring Regionals and then Easterns, setting up an exciting Worlds in Millfield England.
6. 1995 - Club World Championships - Millfield, England - Death or Glory (DoG)
Admittedly, I don't have tremendous memories of this tournament, at least the game play and competition. The lodgings were just OK, as we were a good distance from the fields, having to take buses to get there, and the rooms were just OK. Perhaps it was just the alcoholic haze for the week. We ended up playing Double Happiness in the finals and losing 20-18 or so. The lesson here was that if we didn't take the game seriously, we could lose to anybody. To add a little more background to that, Jim Parinella and I ended up getting WASTED the night before, and were exceedingly hung over for the finals. We were both essential cogs to the offense and combined for a solid 7 turnovers between the 2 of us. And despite all of this, we were possibly one (un)-contested call away from victory, or at least staying alive in the game. T-man Parinella ended up not contesting a foul call (I think it was defensive) in the endzone that gave them the goal and effectively the game, or something like that. All I know is that it became easy to point the finger at Jim...:) Not really, but it was better than taking the blame for being hungover. What was scary was how badly we played, and yet we were right there to win it at the end of the game. Perhaps this was a foreshadowing of our impending dominance.
Although it didn't appear that we immediately learned our lesson, because when we returned for the fall, we proceeded to lose every game against Cojones, culminating in an unbelievable pasting of 17-6 at Regionals. Yes, 17-6. The three weeks between Regionals and Nationals were VERY quiet at practice, as we were just hoping to get Nationals and not embarrass ourselves. Well, fortunately once Nationals started in Birmingham, Alabama that fall, we survived our first game against Chain, and when we beat Double Happiness in the next game (this included 12 straight points without a turnover between the two teams to end the game), we knew we were back on track. And after a game against Cojones in the semifinals that is definitely a candidate for Best Game Ever, we spanked Seattle Sockeye in the finals 21-10 to set a Nationals record for biggest margin of victory and fewest turnovers (3).
But back to Worlds in Millfield, to review the usual memorabilia...
It seems like a lot of it revolved around the Glastonbury Tor, the reputed resting spot of King Arthur's remains. This was a ruin at the top of a rather tall and narrow hill. What seemed like the whole tournament descended on it one evening. Key scenes:
* Hucking contest to see who could throw the furthest off the Tor. I think Ken Gayley threw a very impressive throw. Even weirder were the people who ran all the way down to retrieve the discs. And let me tell you, it was a LONG way down.
* Josh Faust naked layouts/sledding down the side of the Tor.
* Fields that they had actually painted the grass green, so that the pitch (nice English reference, eh?) stood out from the sere grass.
* Not remembering how I got back to my room the night before the finals.
* Hanging out with the Princeton alumni squad one night (they got a bid!). While definitely nowhere near the top xx of athletes to come out of Princeton, at least I have the distinction of being the most successful, or at least finding the right wagon to hitch up to.
posted by Alex de Frondeville at 2:02 AM
5 Comments:
And please consider a post w/details of that 95 semis game
WAS THIS THE BEST GAME EVER???? (scroll to the bottom)
Here are some criteria for determining BGE.
1. Well played game.
2. Big plays.
3. Close game.
4. Emotional game (helps if there is history between the teams).
5. Heroes/goats.
6. Significant game.
7. Some back and forth nature.
8. Uniqueness or memorability.
1. True. There were some mistakes, of course, but both teams scored on over half their possessions (well, NY on half, us on 21/35).
2. Yes, yes, yes. We completed a huge number of hucks (9?). One in particular stands out to me, and you may have heard this one. Just before Nationals, Mooney declared that he needed to take the pulls instead of Alex, so he took every one all tournament. At about 13-13, Mooney gets sent out of the game with a concussion, so Al starts taking the pull. At about 16-15, Cribber blades a pull that five-holes Alex and rolls out the back corner, much to the delight of the increasingly large crowd. I'm the Man, and as he walks it up, it looks like they're going to be forcing his backhand to the middle. A very fast Tully Beatty is covering me. I line up about 15-20 yards away, fake in, and then break deep and get a good jump on Tully. Al launches it, but the pass is more crossfield than upfield, and the disc crosses the opposite sideline maybe 30 yards from where he threw it. However, it doesn't go much further than that, and I continue running downfield. Despite my head start, Tully has as good of an angle on it because of the trajectory, and the two of us are running as fast as any two ultimate players have ever run (really, since no one gets to top speed until about 40 yards, and it's rare that you have a 40 yard sprint). The frisbee continues going upfield while hugging the line. Finally, at about two yards outside the endzone, the two of us arrive. I get there a little sooner, and toe the line as I reach OB to grab the disc while Tully flies by the disc trying to block it. I stagger back inbounds, wobble off a forehand to Cork for the goal, and then become suddenly aware of the huge crowd noise.
3. 21-17, half 11-8, one point game as late as 16-15.
4. Very much so. I had trouble speaking afterwards. In addition to the 10 years of matchups, that year was particularly notable. DoG won 1994, looked washup up going into 1995, while NY again had an attitude. They beat us most of the year, including a 17-6 win at Regionals, and went into Nationals seeded 1st.
5. Yessir. In addition to all the big throws and catches from us, NY had their share. Dick also made Bob Deman have a terrible game.
6. Semis at Nats.
7. NY went up 1-0, DoG 4-1, up to 10-6, then 11-8 at half. Tied at 11 and 12, NY (Cojones) takes lead 13-12. DoG has only two turnovers the rest of the game. 14-13 DoG, 16-15, 17-15, trade until a turnover at game point. Coop takes an injury sub after running into Bob on a block in the endzone. Mooney comes back in for the final possession.
8. The matchup wasn't unique, as NY and Boston had faced off at Nats in an elimination match in 1989, 1990, 1992-1994 (1991 they met in pool play). But only the previous year was the game close at the end. And both teams had new looks from the NY dynasty years. And DoG was the defending champ who had been beaten throughout the year, as NY had been in 1992-1993.
I don't believe that Cojones was in England, but Jim will probably remember a little better than I. That's why I'm trying to get this stuff out before alcohol and age kills even more brain cells. These 80 hour work weeks aren't helping either.
I'll add a semis recap to my draft list. However, keep in mind that it is somewhat foggy for me also.
Corrections:
The loss to Cornell happened in the fall at Philly.
We beat Chain 19-11 in our first game at Nationals, so "survived" is technically true but misleading. My recollection is that _this_ game showed we were back on track, with the Double game just a confirmation of that.
Also:
NY played at Worlds but lost to Double in the semis. The competition at Worlds was a little disappointing, as we really only had the one close game. Miami in pool play was a bit tight, maybe 8-8 at one point, but no other game was close.
The Foul call was a bit more complicated than contest/no contest. I was covering KK, and he cut to the line. I made a desparate layout bid. Mooney poached and also laid out. At some point, there was body contact by somebody. I have never before or since laid out into a cutter's back, but it's possible I did so there, although I didn't think I did. After some discussion, it went to the Observer, who said, "No foul. Clean block." The Double guy responded, "But he never blocked it!" and I had to admit that was true. I don't recall exactly what happened next, but they got the disc back (either through an upheld foul or a do-over) and scored two passes later to win.
As for the drinking part, yes, I did get drunk the night before, but I didn't feel hungover at all for the game, which was at 2 pm or so. Besides, we were young back then and used to that kind of abuse.
Whoops. Didn't see Jim's comment. Guess that covers that. Some personal notes on that game. As Rob mentioned, the crowd was at least 2-3 deep around the ENTIRE field. So Cribbers blady pull gives me a vicious five-hole and goes out the back of the endzone about 2 yards in the from the right sideline. Fortunately, back then the rules allowed the thrower to walk the disc up to the line even if you had touched it (which I think I did). I had Andy Sheeman marking me, he of the enormous wingspan, and forcing me middle. Jim was about 10 yards upfield of me just bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. We clearly knew that I was going to throw to him deep. He takes off, I take a second or two to make sure there are no poachers, and then uncork the backhand. Well, because of Sheeman, I had to push the throw out to the left, and it went MUCH further left than I expected. Well out of bounds maybe 20 yards upfield, etc. Had to the be the longest distance travelled from scrimmage without being a goal that I have ever seen. They were stride for stride the entire 70+ yards before Jim caught it on that left corner. And then he throws this little wobbling forehand quail for a goal. If he had turned that over, I would have killed him.
Also, I remember at game point, we had to score 3 times to win. We were right near their goal line, we score, and I rushed the field. No goal becuase of a call. Big argument, and then while they were getting ready to check the disc in, i realized I couldn't watch. I went outside the crowd on the sideline and crouched down. When everyone screamed, I broke through and rushed the field again, only to realize yet another game winner called back. Back outside the crowd. Finally, anti-climactically, we scored on the third try, and rushed the field a little slower.
And Jim, you sured seemed to refer to not feeling great prior to the finals. In better shape than myself, but still...
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