Nationals recap?
Nice teaser, eh? First, let me begin by conceding the blogwars to Parinella. His Q&A idea is pure genius, and he is getting the hits to prove it. Even better for him, it gives him a ready-made source of future posts. Of course, that doesn't mean I can't crib some topics from him, but I figure I'll start with something he actually can't talk about (see shortly). Similar to my worlds meanderings, I think I'll do some lead in to this year's National Championships by doing a little recalling of prior attendance at the 'champies' (alright, the last time I'll use that term).
The year was 1985...
And yes, this was before some of this year's attendees were even born, including two of my current teammates, Darden Pitts, 18, and Colin Mahoney, 20. I was a callow freshman at Princeton. I had entertained thoughts of playing on the tennis team, but quickly realized that I wasn't even going to make the JV team, and I'm way to competitive to play cheese level. During freshman week, I happened to notice a poster up on a wall talking about ultimate frisbee practices out at Poe field (now covered by dorms, naturally). Based on my experience in high school, which consisted of playing maybe four or five times, roughly 10 on 10, no stall count, and me sitting back and hucking backhands to the tall guy, I figured I was a shoe-in. Well, it took hold, and I made every practice that week and didn't miss a practice or tournament until I injured my heel senior year. But that is a topic for another post. That fall, we had our first week off in November (back when Nationals was in November), and the junior captain and his buddy, a sophomore, and a fellow freshman all made plans to attend Nationals in DC, one of the rare times it was close to the northeast. I don't remember the exact details, but we ended up going in my parent's car.
I couldn't get enough of the ultimate. Here, I had just started my 'career' (and of course knew nothing of what was to come) and here I was, awed by watching the best the game had to offer. I suppose I could say something lame like 'This trip made me what I am today,' but it's not true. Still it was a great time, and great introduction to the sport.
Things that still stick out in my mind.
Watching the semis (I think) Kaboom against Windy City or the Tunas, Kenny Dobyns was already clearly the man. Built like a fire hydrant, he was dominating the game like only he knows how. But at one point, after a tremendous play, his knee got crushed. He was literally on the field for 15-20 minutes, before he was finally taken off. And I'm still foggy on the details, and I can't remember whether he came back out that game, or in the finals, but he screwed up his knee something fierce, got this knee brace on, a cortisone shot, and then came back out and played like a stud. That was truly amazing.
And another side note on the Dobyns thing. I ended up playing NYC summer league the summer of '87, and a lot of the NYNY players played in the league. I was on a team with, yes, Johnny Gewirtz, Teens, Pete McCabe and others. I specifically remember when we were playing Kenny's team one night, they were playing zone, I was playing a deep wing, and somebody threw me a hammer. Naturally Kenny was playing wing, and he bore down on me and skied for the defense, just missing it. Amazingly enough I caught it, and he immediately said nice catch. Now maybe THAT was the play that made me the man I am today...
The year was 1985...
And yes, this was before some of this year's attendees were even born, including two of my current teammates, Darden Pitts, 18, and Colin Mahoney, 20. I was a callow freshman at Princeton. I had entertained thoughts of playing on the tennis team, but quickly realized that I wasn't even going to make the JV team, and I'm way to competitive to play cheese level. During freshman week, I happened to notice a poster up on a wall talking about ultimate frisbee practices out at Poe field (now covered by dorms, naturally). Based on my experience in high school, which consisted of playing maybe four or five times, roughly 10 on 10, no stall count, and me sitting back and hucking backhands to the tall guy, I figured I was a shoe-in. Well, it took hold, and I made every practice that week and didn't miss a practice or tournament until I injured my heel senior year. But that is a topic for another post. That fall, we had our first week off in November (back when Nationals was in November), and the junior captain and his buddy, a sophomore, and a fellow freshman all made plans to attend Nationals in DC, one of the rare times it was close to the northeast. I don't remember the exact details, but we ended up going in my parent's car.
I couldn't get enough of the ultimate. Here, I had just started my 'career' (and of course knew nothing of what was to come) and here I was, awed by watching the best the game had to offer. I suppose I could say something lame like 'This trip made me what I am today,' but it's not true. Still it was a great time, and great introduction to the sport.
Things that still stick out in my mind.
Watching the semis (I think) Kaboom against Windy City or the Tunas, Kenny Dobyns was already clearly the man. Built like a fire hydrant, he was dominating the game like only he knows how. But at one point, after a tremendous play, his knee got crushed. He was literally on the field for 15-20 minutes, before he was finally taken off. And I'm still foggy on the details, and I can't remember whether he came back out that game, or in the finals, but he screwed up his knee something fierce, got this knee brace on, a cortisone shot, and then came back out and played like a stud. That was truly amazing.
And another side note on the Dobyns thing. I ended up playing NYC summer league the summer of '87, and a lot of the NYNY players played in the league. I was on a team with, yes, Johnny Gewirtz, Teens, Pete McCabe and others. I specifically remember when we were playing Kenny's team one night, they were playing zone, I was playing a deep wing, and somebody threw me a hammer. Naturally Kenny was playing wing, and he bore down on me and skied for the defense, just missing it. Amazingly enough I caught it, and he immediately said nice catch. Now maybe THAT was the play that made me the man I am today...
posted by Alex de Frondeville at 8:07 PM
5 Comments:
Re: Kenny D screwing his knee
You will get your answer whether or not he returned to the game or later in the tournament, if you have ordered The Ultimate History Book. The DVD companion includes some footage from '85 Nationals. Now, if I could just remember did he return or not...
This post brings back memories of my college days(starting in 1983). Windy City was the dominant force, and Joey was the man. He was all over the field and his throws were smooth as silk. Although you didnt hear a lot of "nice catch" from that team, we always looked forward to playing the best of the Central(don't remember if it was even called that back then). Even though they whipped us almost every time out, I remember some of those games even today. As I continue to play in the Masters division and have made plenty of plays since, the D I had on Joey at Regionals still stands out. I guess that is either really sad, or just a real good memory!
I definitely ordered the book. Hell, I'm in the appendices under special accomplishments in a couple of places. Why wouldn't I want to see my name in print? But seriously, I know he came back just not sure whether it was the same game or the next one. I feel like it was the same game.
As for Joey Giampino, I had the 'pleasure' of playing with him in '93, and I have to admit, I'm still not sure I have seen a more pure athlete in the sport, especially for such a big guy. The man was a tremendous specimen.
I have two favorite memories of Joey. One is from Sectionals in 1992 or 1993. There was a floaty pass to high guy in the end zone, and Joey drifted over to sky him, and began saying, "I don't think so!" but slipped as he said "think" and his man caught the goal. If not for that, we would have won 13-0 without committing a turnover.
In 1994, after Joey had just retired, telling Mooney, "At least I'll always have more championships than you," we played them in the summer league final. My plan was to get a layout D on him, call timeout in mid-air and spike the disc. The opportunity arose and as I bore down to make the play, I found that I was actually too close to lay out and just caught the damn disc and played on.
I remember that Nationals in 1986 was Thanksgiving weekend (it caused a minor ruckus when I told my parents that I would have played there had we qualified (lost game to go) instead of going home). Would it also have been that weekend in 1985?
If I recall correctly, my first 'play' at club nationals was against this joey guy on boston (prossable?). Which i thought was in san antonio, but was according to the UPA site, in Selma, TX. Of course I had no idea who he was, but I got a 'd' on some guy and Stu Downs told me that i should be impressed w/ myself... we (chain) then proceeded to lose that game, and, uh, many more...
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