Clambake
What happens at Clambake, stays at Clambake. That was the mantra of this years tournament, and after attending the party, I understand why. In the spirit of the tournament, I started my weekend early by heading up to New Hampshire Friday night to hang out with Dennis "kinesthesia" McCarthy. We partied in Portsmouth until 3AM and then I had to get up at 8AM the next morning. Best part of the tournament so far? The first-round bye giving us our first game at 10:45.
First game was against JMU Hellfish, apparently a reunion team from James Madison. They were interestingly dressed, and had maybe 10 dudes. The game wasn't particularly exciting, we played sloppily, and they scored less than 10. Game 2 was against Jerk Factory, a team from Canada that had beaten the #2 seed in our pool the first round. They proved to be pretty scrappy, keeping it close through the first half, before we finally pulled away for a 3-5 point victor in the second half. The last game was against Bowdoin Stoned Clown who we had beaten handily the prior week at Sectionals on Saturday. More of the same, although the game was closer because they played better and we continued some sloppy play.
We were definitely a different team from the previous week in terms of personnel. At one point I had looked at the roster of people going, and had told Jim that basically we were leaving the defense at home. This proved mostly true as we put together a hodge-podge of man and zone lines on throughout the weekend. I think we only subbed a line once, on the first point of the second half in the semifinals. Otherwise it was free subbing all weekend.
After malingering after our last game for awhile watching some chick games because the weather was GORGEOUS, I finally get on the road to Simon Verghese's Econolodge hotel to shower up. There were four of us in 4 cars, Simon, Dennis, myself, and Dan Fassina from Canada. Naturally, Dan got lost while following us and ended up just getting on 295 south and going straight to the party after he missed the U-turn. I jumped in the shower while Dennis went to the Mobil to buy some nasty fruit flavored beer. Hung out a little longer, then I headed down to the party. The party site was in the middle of nowhere, maybe 20 minutes off the highway off a lonely road.
And now the party... I had brought a tent and thermarest and requested teammates to bring up a sleeping bag because I fully intended to sleep at the campsite instead of even contemplating driving to a hotel from the party. In the back of my mind, I was also assuming that I was just going to end up in my car as it was going to be too much labor to set up the tent, find it in the middle of the night, put it away in the morning, etc. I had the foresight to put my passenger seat down prior to going into the party.
This was hands down the biggest and best tournament party I have ever been to. No question, no competition, no nothing. About the only issue was that the party site was the distance from the fields. When I pulled in, there was a line of about 4 cars, and they were guiding traffic (and had torches lining the field for directions). They asked whether you were staying overnight (go left), or leaving early (go straight). I went left, around the party site, and then pulled in next to a bunch of cars. After a quick primp and getting my warm clothes on, into the party. There were huge barns and outdoor pavilions set up. Basically, there was a large pavilion of about 20 round tables, a much smaller tent that served the beer, including one area with 4 different taps, and another area serving beer directly from kegs/pitchers. They were very strict with the bracelets, which made sense considering the number of under aged people at the tournament. Then you entered the barn where there was a large open space with a DJ. Walk through that barn into another barn that had a bunch of long tables set up for food. To the left from there was an outdoor covered site where they had a band setup that played for hours (different bands I believe but not positive). To the right outside was the grill where they were serving burgers, dogs, chicken, etc with all the fixings, salad, late night ice cream, firepit lobsters for those who had pre-ordered them. Basically it was a food extravaganza.
A lot of tournament bids involved party favors. For instance, for the second straight year Lady Godiva offered in the bid to do a 'party' shotgun. In the large outdoor pavilion, they spent a half hour preparing bud cans for a mass shotgun, at least 7-8 cases, just lining them up one after another. This happened around 10:30PM. While they were getting ready, Tony Leonardo started blah blahing about me being a good gunner, me mentioning that I hadn't lost in maybe 15 years. He wanted to see how fast, I was a little nervous about doing a pregun gun, but finally talked me into it. I went a little too fast, put the can down early, watched him still drinking, put the can back up and finished the beer, then spiked it a couple of seconds ahead of him. A little embarrassing for him. Then it was Ryan Scribner's turn. He had said that Saturday night at Nationals last year, when I was 8 sheets to the wind at the outdoor beach party at our condo that he had beaten, or at worst tied me. Naturally I remember nothing of the sort (well, nothing really at all). He acknowledged that I could barely move, and wanted to race me. I had just finished with Tony, and all of a sudden everyone was about to do the mass gun. So we raced each other as part of the mass gun and I destroyed him. Probably my fastest ever. Unfortunately I had selected a can that had lost a little beer, and he said that it was impossible for me to finish that fast. I finally acknowledged that my can had been a little short, so then I offered to do a third gun unassisted and he could let me know if it was fast enough. So I do a third gun, literally almost as fast as the emptier one (<2.5 seconds) and he acknowledged that he would not have a chance. So, got that out of the way. Now back to the party.
Meanwhile I was feeling really full with all the beer and food, so I went off to the cars to take care of that, and then I was ready for the rest of the party. Bounced around from beer tent to band to DJ to food tent to beer to band to food to DJ to beer to DJ to beer to DJ. Ended up the night dancing to the DJ for close to 2 hours with Melissa, another woman whose name I can't remember, some other guys, etc. Finally roll into my car at around 4AM, all this without coffee.
Oh yeah, and we didn't play until noon Sunday morning also, which ended up being key. I woke up in the car at 9:45 (I had brought the eye Bucky covers, which were KEY to staying dark and asleep late). I poked my head up, and there were maybe 10 cars left out of the 300 that had been there the night before. And I had heard almost nothing. Breakfast was over of course, so I got on the road to the field. Get to the field to find out that we aren't playing until 1PM because the first round started too late. Ugh. So now I have to dick around for 1.5 hours. Watch 'ding' frisbee for awhile with some teammates before we finally head over to our field and try and start the game early. We end up starting maybe 12:45, against yEUTH-ANd-ASIA the Amherst/Boston team headlined by the Pitts (James and Darden). Closer than it should be although we finally put it away.
This sets up the semi against Harvard Red Line, and everything has held to seed so far. We end up receiving the pull and quickly drop to 0-3. The turnovers are ugly, we are out of sync, and we aren't really stopping them, letting them score deep at will. We finally tighten it up although they take half 8-6. They score out of half to make it 9-6 before we finally struggle back and tie it at 10s and 11s. They score again to make it 12-11 and the wheels come off. 3 stupid turnovers and lame D later and Harvard wins the semi 15-11. They definitely played well, we did not play so well, and we would have beaten them handily with our full squad, but you play with what brung ya. The other semi was a barn-burner between Chuckwagon and Red Tide, with Red Tide eeking it out at the end. Harvard then beat Red Tide in the finals, 'validating' our loss (not really). Kudos to them for bringing it this weekend. The side benefit to losing in the semis was that I was able to get home at a reasonable hour around 6:30 to actually see my kids before they went to sleep.
Regionals tomorrow, and I have no idea how we are going to do. On the one hand I can see us winning the region handily, on the other hand I can see us losing it handily. Should be an exciting weekend, and I can't remember the last time there was any doubt about making nationals. Hopefully I won't tighten up as a result, but play in the moment (Peaceful Warrior for those of you who have seen it, GREAT movie).
First game was against JMU Hellfish, apparently a reunion team from James Madison. They were interestingly dressed, and had maybe 10 dudes. The game wasn't particularly exciting, we played sloppily, and they scored less than 10. Game 2 was against Jerk Factory, a team from Canada that had beaten the #2 seed in our pool the first round. They proved to be pretty scrappy, keeping it close through the first half, before we finally pulled away for a 3-5 point victor in the second half. The last game was against Bowdoin Stoned Clown who we had beaten handily the prior week at Sectionals on Saturday. More of the same, although the game was closer because they played better and we continued some sloppy play.
We were definitely a different team from the previous week in terms of personnel. At one point I had looked at the roster of people going, and had told Jim that basically we were leaving the defense at home. This proved mostly true as we put together a hodge-podge of man and zone lines on throughout the weekend. I think we only subbed a line once, on the first point of the second half in the semifinals. Otherwise it was free subbing all weekend.
After malingering after our last game for awhile watching some chick games because the weather was GORGEOUS, I finally get on the road to Simon Verghese's Econolodge hotel to shower up. There were four of us in 4 cars, Simon, Dennis, myself, and Dan Fassina from Canada. Naturally, Dan got lost while following us and ended up just getting on 295 south and going straight to the party after he missed the U-turn. I jumped in the shower while Dennis went to the Mobil to buy some nasty fruit flavored beer. Hung out a little longer, then I headed down to the party. The party site was in the middle of nowhere, maybe 20 minutes off the highway off a lonely road.
And now the party... I had brought a tent and thermarest and requested teammates to bring up a sleeping bag because I fully intended to sleep at the campsite instead of even contemplating driving to a hotel from the party. In the back of my mind, I was also assuming that I was just going to end up in my car as it was going to be too much labor to set up the tent, find it in the middle of the night, put it away in the morning, etc. I had the foresight to put my passenger seat down prior to going into the party.
This was hands down the biggest and best tournament party I have ever been to. No question, no competition, no nothing. About the only issue was that the party site was the distance from the fields. When I pulled in, there was a line of about 4 cars, and they were guiding traffic (and had torches lining the field for directions). They asked whether you were staying overnight (go left), or leaving early (go straight). I went left, around the party site, and then pulled in next to a bunch of cars. After a quick primp and getting my warm clothes on, into the party. There were huge barns and outdoor pavilions set up. Basically, there was a large pavilion of about 20 round tables, a much smaller tent that served the beer, including one area with 4 different taps, and another area serving beer directly from kegs/pitchers. They were very strict with the bracelets, which made sense considering the number of under aged people at the tournament. Then you entered the barn where there was a large open space with a DJ. Walk through that barn into another barn that had a bunch of long tables set up for food. To the left from there was an outdoor covered site where they had a band setup that played for hours (different bands I believe but not positive). To the right outside was the grill where they were serving burgers, dogs, chicken, etc with all the fixings, salad, late night ice cream, firepit lobsters for those who had pre-ordered them. Basically it was a food extravaganza.
A lot of tournament bids involved party favors. For instance, for the second straight year Lady Godiva offered in the bid to do a 'party' shotgun. In the large outdoor pavilion, they spent a half hour preparing bud cans for a mass shotgun, at least 7-8 cases, just lining them up one after another. This happened around 10:30PM. While they were getting ready, Tony Leonardo started blah blahing about me being a good gunner, me mentioning that I hadn't lost in maybe 15 years. He wanted to see how fast, I was a little nervous about doing a pregun gun, but finally talked me into it. I went a little too fast, put the can down early, watched him still drinking, put the can back up and finished the beer, then spiked it a couple of seconds ahead of him. A little embarrassing for him. Then it was Ryan Scribner's turn. He had said that Saturday night at Nationals last year, when I was 8 sheets to the wind at the outdoor beach party at our condo that he had beaten, or at worst tied me. Naturally I remember nothing of the sort (well, nothing really at all). He acknowledged that I could barely move, and wanted to race me. I had just finished with Tony, and all of a sudden everyone was about to do the mass gun. So we raced each other as part of the mass gun and I destroyed him. Probably my fastest ever. Unfortunately I had selected a can that had lost a little beer, and he said that it was impossible for me to finish that fast. I finally acknowledged that my can had been a little short, so then I offered to do a third gun unassisted and he could let me know if it was fast enough. So I do a third gun, literally almost as fast as the emptier one (<2.5 seconds) and he acknowledged that he would not have a chance. So, got that out of the way. Now back to the party.
Meanwhile I was feeling really full with all the beer and food, so I went off to the cars to take care of that, and then I was ready for the rest of the party. Bounced around from beer tent to band to DJ to food tent to beer to band to food to DJ to beer to DJ to beer to DJ. Ended up the night dancing to the DJ for close to 2 hours with Melissa, another woman whose name I can't remember, some other guys, etc. Finally roll into my car at around 4AM, all this without coffee.
Oh yeah, and we didn't play until noon Sunday morning also, which ended up being key. I woke up in the car at 9:45 (I had brought the eye Bucky covers, which were KEY to staying dark and asleep late). I poked my head up, and there were maybe 10 cars left out of the 300 that had been there the night before. And I had heard almost nothing. Breakfast was over of course, so I got on the road to the field. Get to the field to find out that we aren't playing until 1PM because the first round started too late. Ugh. So now I have to dick around for 1.5 hours. Watch 'ding' frisbee for awhile with some teammates before we finally head over to our field and try and start the game early. We end up starting maybe 12:45, against yEUTH-ANd-ASIA the Amherst/Boston team headlined by the Pitts (James and Darden). Closer than it should be although we finally put it away.
This sets up the semi against Harvard Red Line, and everything has held to seed so far. We end up receiving the pull and quickly drop to 0-3. The turnovers are ugly, we are out of sync, and we aren't really stopping them, letting them score deep at will. We finally tighten it up although they take half 8-6. They score out of half to make it 9-6 before we finally struggle back and tie it at 10s and 11s. They score again to make it 12-11 and the wheels come off. 3 stupid turnovers and lame D later and Harvard wins the semi 15-11. They definitely played well, we did not play so well, and we would have beaten them handily with our full squad, but you play with what brung ya. The other semi was a barn-burner between Chuckwagon and Red Tide, with Red Tide eeking it out at the end. Harvard then beat Red Tide in the finals, 'validating' our loss (not really). Kudos to them for bringing it this weekend. The side benefit to losing in the semis was that I was able to get home at a reasonable hour around 6:30 to actually see my kids before they went to sleep.
Regionals tomorrow, and I have no idea how we are going to do. On the one hand I can see us winning the region handily, on the other hand I can see us losing it handily. Should be an exciting weekend, and I can't remember the last time there was any doubt about making nationals. Hopefully I won't tighten up as a result, but play in the moment (Peaceful Warrior for those of you who have seen it, GREAT movie).
posted by Alex de Frondeville at 9:47 AM
2 Comments:
Geez, 300 visits today and no one commented. Fine, I will.
and I can't remember the last time there was any doubt about making nationals.
That would be 2005. To quote one of your teammates after Nationals, "A month ago, I wasn't sure we would make it out of Regionals."
"This was hands down the biggest and best tournament party I have ever been to."
That should have been your lead. Jim also wrote:
"So, the breadth and depth of the party was like nothing I�ve seen at a Frisbee party. No matter where you wandered to, there was something going on, not just a bunch of dudes hanging around a keg swapping stories (although there was that, too)."
The word you two are looking for is -- Bacchanalian. But I do agree. This was in the top three frisbee parties I have ever been to -- the other two being other Clambakes. One year they had a dunk tank -- and you had to hit the lever with a disc in order to dunk the person in the water -- who was often a co-ed wearing just underwear, teasingly insulting you.
[Ahem, IIRC, on my first try, I became the first person of the night to dunk someone.]
Often they have underwear jello wrestling, usually turning into naked jello wrestling. And of course the sharking needs not be described.
The parties are so great because of all the creative and semi-erotic/alcoholic events that surround you. This is by design. Usually so many teams want to get in to clambake that you have to bid for it -- and the bid usually involves what you are going to bring to the party (and it better not be just potato salad.) So ice luges, beer pong, lap dances, creatively offered shots, live mulleting, occur all around you simultaneously. The party is decadent --without being too raunchy. Great dancing too.
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