Kleinman Eruption

It had been a month since I played “competitive” ultimate. The July 4th Potlatch Tournament always brings out the best in the group from Tacoma (wow, their website sucks! hah). I usually only get to play with the group once a year, but the team is getting more organized and invited me to play in this weekend’s ultimate tournament in Portland. Seeing as how I like to play Frisbee, live in Portland, and love the group—how could I resist?!

My groin said, “I know of a reason,” this morning, but unfortunately for it, I don’t speak groin.

The two days of Frisbee were well worth the $35 entry fee. I biked to the fields the first morning and ended up losing half of the vision in my right eye about half-way through the first game (of four). It wasn’t overly hot out, but I think the constant exposure to the sun just zapped me. I wasn’t playing well, nor was I feeling well. Luckily for me we had a bye our third game, which allowed me to rest in the shade for an hour and a half filling up on sugar and fruit.

The 4th game I felt good as new, and we jumped out to a big lead over a team we thought we had no chance of beating. We took the half 8-4, but eventually lost 13-15 when they started clicking. We then find out Sunday morning that we are the bottom seed in the B pool (out of A,B,C) for the bracket play.

Of course, this means we get to play the #1 seed in the first round. We assumed we’d be in the top half of the C pool, but here we are warming up to play the top team in the B pool. I actually felt pretty good about the day, because if we lost our first game, we’d be put in the consolation bracket with teams more our level.

Then a funny thing happened. We just completely crushed the #1 seed. We came out hot like the game against the top seed on Saturday, but unlike our collapse on Saturday, we pushed it even harder in the 2nd half and rolled to a 15-6 victory.

Unlike Saturday, Sunday I was feeling great and playing great. I had a couple of risky throws that drifted just over the hands of defenders into the receiver’s hands for scores. Probably 50% of the time those throws will get D’d and I will look like an idiot for throwing it, but everything was clicking and the throws found their way home. I had a couple D’s myself, laying out for one and ripping down a disc in flight. It felt great to play up to a level I have in the past.

We then got crushed in the next round. Oh well, we had our moment of brilliance! As one of our players said, "If you had told me yesterday that we would finish tied for 3rd in the B pool, I would have thought you were nuts!"

Other than the ultimate, it was great to see friends from Tacoma. It is fun to be part of a group that spans about 20 years in age difference, but still feels like a close-knit group of friends. In a way, it is similar to what I think the poker blogging community might be if I attended some of the Blogger get-togethers. Just lots of genuinely good people with one common bond, completely different histories--add alcohol, and you have yourselves a good time!