PLU BBQ: The Nalgene Ninjas

The PLU BBQ is an annual college frisbee tournament, put on by Pacific Lutheran University, in Tacoma, WA. I went to the University of Puget Sound, also in Tacoma, and fierce rivals with the PLU Lutes. Up until my senior year, I didn't really like PLU--I'm not sure why, other than everyone else around me at UPS seemed not to like PLU. Then my senior year at UPS, I started playing in a pickup frisbee game at PLU, and met some really cool men and women.

Both PLU and UPS were not any good at frisbee when I attended UPS, and the guys I got to know from PLU my senior year started up the tourney in 2003 to add a fun tournament for teams who weren't in the top tier of ultimate frisbee colleges on the west coast. In 2003, there couldn't have been more than 6-8 teams. This year, we were the 24th seed... out of 24 teams.

The Tacoma pickup team, under the guise of UPS Alumni, grabbed the last spot in the tournament, and we were placed in the final spot of the C pool. Captain Josh thought this might have been an under-seed, and when we went 5-0 on Saturday, I finally had to agree with him. The second point of our tournament was another Callahan. Two in two weeks! I didn't score the Callahan this time, but it was off of my pull, and Anders intercepted the first pass for the defensive score. In our third game of the day, I jumped out of the end zone and Greatest'd a disc to Sean for a score. Two weeks in a row with a Greatest... that's a little silly, especially because Sean threw the greatest to me last week.

We made quite the run from seeded dead last to eventually succumbing to the University of Washington team in the semi-finals, tying for 3rd in the entire tournament. The Tacoma team had ten old guys playing, and we had won three games earlier in the day, making our weekend record 8-1. UW had 3 byes and had about 15 young guns that quite simply ran us into the ground.

Sean was coaching the UPS team, and they had a bye in the 4th round, so he played with us and made the most amazing lay-out D, without actually getting the D. The guy he was guarding scored, but Sean flew through the air and landed face-first into a 2'x5' perfectly placed puddle. It was the funniest thing any of us saw all day. He got up and was completely soaked. I gave him a big hug and I'm pretty sure Will got the lay out on video.

Jerry was up to his old shenanigans. We had a nice D, and I was trying to slow us down a bit (commonly, when your team gets a D in ultimate frisbee, the instinctual thing to do is pick up the disc right away and throw it--which leads to rushed throws and usually turnovers). I hollered for Tom pick up the disc, since he was the furthest from it, giving us time to set up. Tom starts walking to the disc, and the rest of us set up in a stack.

All of a sudden, Will starts cutting to the back corner of the end zone. I don't know why he is cutting, because Tom is a good 20ft from the disc still. Then I see Jerry running up to the disc and he steals it before Tom can get to it--and promptly hits a leaping Will for the score. It was hilarious because I don't think anybody besides Will saw Jerry sneaking in to steal the disc from Tom, and it worked perfectly, because the other team was just as confused as we were. Tom sulked off the field, silently cursing out Jerry--which made the moment that much better.

Somehow I lost not one, but two of Josh's nalgene water-bottles this weekend. He offered me one Saturday morning, and I gladly accepted it, only to leave it at the fields Saturday night. Sunday morning rolls around and Josh has a third Nalgene for me to use, and once we lost our game to UW, I couldn't find my Nalgene for the life of me. I searched up and down the sideline for the water bottle, with no luck. Must have been ninja'd. Sorry Josh, I'll get you two Nalgenes next weekend.

The weekend was a blast, and I had a bunch of fun playing on a team that I still believe was out-matched physically in almost every game we played. Our strategy and experience played a HUGE role in our success, and it was fun to be a part of the "old men" team... even if I'm only 25...