Another Ultimate history book signing event
So, after attending the New York event back in December and catching up with a bunch of the New York players (and buying a few copies for family members), clearly I had to attend the local version. After the large turnout in Manhattan, I was expecting the thriving ultimate community in Boston to have a great showing. Boy, was I mistaken.
The event ran from 8-10 at Doyles, a bar located in Jamaica Plain and not really convenient. The weather was pretty miserable (well, at least it was warm, but lots of rain). Regardless, even despite all of these shortcomings, I was very disappointed at the turnout. There couldn't have been more than 20-25 people there the entire night. I was the youngest (!) current DoG player in attendance (with Jim also attending). Paul Greff made an appearance with a couple of his kids in tow to pick up a few copies, and Jeff Brown also made an appearance. That was it for DoG both past and present. There wasn't a single Twisted Metal person that showed (that I know of). Hell, even Pike had a better showing, with Danny Clark and Ryan Todd in attendance. A pretty sad reflection for such a large ultimate community.
One of the highlights for me was having an extended conversation with Jon Cohn, a recent inductee to the Ultimate Hall of Fame. It was pretty cool to actually talk to somebody who had played at Columbia High School with a lot of the names that we have become familiar with, like Joel Silver, Johnny Hines, and Buzzy Hellring. On the UPA website, it refers to Jon having four disc-playing sons. Well, one of his sons won the world long distance throwing championships, throwing the disc a ridiculous 209 meters (which is just INSANE). Apparently the record is 250 meters, but that was with a 35-mile wind. It was funny talking to Jon and getting his perspective on the early years, with Jon going off to Cornell and starting a team there so that he could continue to have fun playing the game, but clearly NEVER anticipating that ultimate would ever hit the big time like it has, especially with the explosive growth at the high school level these days.
It is fun in my dotage to go to events like this and reminisce over times gone past. There was obviously a lot of discussion of DoG's early years, blah, blah, blah. Jim, Jeff, Danny, Ryan, Jon and I talked and stayed well past the event's closing time, leaving around 12:30-1AM. All in all, a fun night.
Oh yeah, and this time I actually was able to get a copy of the book signed by the authors for me this time. Fortunately Adam Zagoria made a surprise appearance after not being expected to show up.
And again, here is a big boo to the Boston ultimate community for such a lame turnout.
The event ran from 8-10 at Doyles, a bar located in Jamaica Plain and not really convenient. The weather was pretty miserable (well, at least it was warm, but lots of rain). Regardless, even despite all of these shortcomings, I was very disappointed at the turnout. There couldn't have been more than 20-25 people there the entire night. I was the youngest (!) current DoG player in attendance (with Jim also attending). Paul Greff made an appearance with a couple of his kids in tow to pick up a few copies, and Jeff Brown also made an appearance. That was it for DoG both past and present. There wasn't a single Twisted Metal person that showed (that I know of). Hell, even Pike had a better showing, with Danny Clark and Ryan Todd in attendance. A pretty sad reflection for such a large ultimate community.
One of the highlights for me was having an extended conversation with Jon Cohn, a recent inductee to the Ultimate Hall of Fame. It was pretty cool to actually talk to somebody who had played at Columbia High School with a lot of the names that we have become familiar with, like Joel Silver, Johnny Hines, and Buzzy Hellring. On the UPA website, it refers to Jon having four disc-playing sons. Well, one of his sons won the world long distance throwing championships, throwing the disc a ridiculous 209 meters (which is just INSANE). Apparently the record is 250 meters, but that was with a 35-mile wind. It was funny talking to Jon and getting his perspective on the early years, with Jon going off to Cornell and starting a team there so that he could continue to have fun playing the game, but clearly NEVER anticipating that ultimate would ever hit the big time like it has, especially with the explosive growth at the high school level these days.
It is fun in my dotage to go to events like this and reminisce over times gone past. There was obviously a lot of discussion of DoG's early years, blah, blah, blah. Jim, Jeff, Danny, Ryan, Jon and I talked and stayed well past the event's closing time, leaving around 12:30-1AM. All in all, a fun night.
Oh yeah, and this time I actually was able to get a copy of the book signed by the authors for me this time. Fortunately Adam Zagoria made a surprise appearance after not being expected to show up.
And again, here is a big boo to the Boston ultimate community for such a lame turnout.
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posted by Alex de Frondeville at 12:56 PM
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