Number Two

I'm about to head off to watch central college regionals in Iowa City. Travelling over to Iowa City made me think about my second favorite ultimate game of my career.

Let me set the stage: Never in my life had I beat a team composed of players from the University of Iowa. Five years in a row Iowa State lost to them at college sectionals, once at regionals (the last game of my college career), and at every other time we met whether club sectionals, Fool's Fest, etc. Never.

Now, Meth didn't have some of the very best Iowa players at that time like Mike Francis, Elijah Edwards, and Dan West, but they still had some good ones like Andrew Edwards, Kevin Kampfe, Kresowick #2, and Mark Groteluschen. Contrary to what some believe, I don't really dislike anyone from Iowa, well, maybe one, but I do get riled up very quickly whenever I play against them.

Let me further set this stage: It is 2005 coed club sectionals and The Chad Larson Experience is set to play Meth(od) for the sectional championship. The winner of the game gets the number #1 seed at regionals. Meth beat us the day before by three or four points and seemed fairly confident about their chances of winning the title.

The game starts off well enough, but I can't remember any of the early scores. There proceeds to be a couple of foul calls that garner argument, but nothing too serious yet. Then, I kind of do something I shouldn't have. I'm running long for a disc and a guy from Meth that I don't know the name of is chasing. Let me set this one up: Earlier in the season at Cooler, I felt that this guy was a little out of control on some of his defensive attempts, and there was some of what I considered to be blatant foul attempts to prevent catches. I don't really say anything about it at the time. Fast forward to Saturday at sectionals. Same kid twice in a row lays out into the knees of Julian, on bids he clearly didn't have. Julian wears two knee braces and has torn both of his ACLs. I felt he was way out of line. Now fast forward to Sunday, I'm running long, he's chasing, I jump up for disc, grab it, then feel his hand close around my arm and pull it down. To me, that signals nothing but a blatant foul attempt. I land, turn around, and show him the disc as he gets up, placing it right in front of his face. Hilarity ensues.

The rest of the game I'm fired up like I haven't been all season and I'm playing defense like I'm 20 again, instead of 26. I think I get some fairly shady foul calls made against me the rest of the game, but I was expecting it and was able to keep my cool. Here's some photos, you make the call.

http://massiveimageworks.com/ultimate/displayimage.php?album=21&pos=102 --Strip called on this one. Strip? If you had your hands firmly grasped around the disc, why is the disc flying to the back fence? Okay, I didn't keep my cool, I punched his head off: http://massiveimageworks.com/ultimate/displayimage.php?album=21&pos=101

http://massiveimageworks.com/ultimate/displayimage.php?album=21&pos=114
http://massiveimageworks.com/ultimate/displayimage.php?album=21&pos=115 --Foul called, claiming body and arm contact. What?

The game presses on and features some great plays. Julian skying Zach comes to mind. Christina plays some great defense on Mac. All in all, a great game. I think I played my best game of the season here, without a doubt. And got to grab the winning score at 15-13.
http://massiveimageworks.com/ultimate/displayimage.php?album=21&pos=139

It was the first time I had played on a team where I had beaten some of those Iowa guys. It was a great experience, especially for the sectional championship, and I played a sweet game in the process. One that I'll never forget.

So, that game with Meth wasn't too cool, spirit-wise. Spirit-wise, it was a lot better at regionals, where we played a sweet half of ultimate, then they crushed us in the second half. At nationals, we played them to move up from the lower brackets into the top 8 and a chance to still make worlds. We beat them fairly easily in a game that they seemed to never really get into. It might have been a great game, but they didn't seem very excited and spent a lot of time bickering among themselves.

I'm looking forward to some great games against them again this year.

Only one more left...

Are you thirsty?

"What is happiness to you, David?"

That's a line creepily delivered by Cameron Diaz's character to Tom Cruise's character in the movie Vanilla sky, right before she commits suicide. It's a good question. Her character finds all of her happiness in the relationship she has with him. This is not an uncommon thing.

The pursuit of happiness is an important thing in our country and much of the Western world. In America, the pursuit of happiness is listed as one of our inalienable rights. Just what kind of happiness are we searching for?

The happiness we have come to prize is fleeting and transitory. It quickly stimulates and brings with it a pleasant emotional experience, but vanishes as it came, leaving us wanting more. Like a drug works on an addict, we are left feeling empty, yearning for more.

Our happiness has become dependent on external sources and stimuli. We spend our time trying to find out what to do next, what will entertain us, what will bring us immediate stimulation. We spend our money on the latest accessories, the newest gear, and the shiniest trinkets. We are led to believe that our happiness is in jeopardy if we don't keep up with the status quo.

We spend so much time, energy, and money on making ourselves happy, yet there seems to be a melancholy surrounding most of our lives, like we are wanting something more. In a land of overwhelming abundance, we have a general feeling of disappointment, like we've yet to truly "make it in the world", like we aren't having enough "fun".

A great example of the resulting emptiness from the pursuit of this transitory happiness is through the use of drugs. I've had my fair share of alcohol and other drugs in my life. The expectations beforehand are always based on "how much fun is this going to be", then a brief feeling of stimulation and false happiness, followed by emptiness the next morning, a feeling of having done something stupid, a feeling of regret, a feeling like more of that stimulant would make me happy again. This is emptiness.

Here is a short story (see John 4): Jesus and his disciples are passing through a Samaritan town called Sychar. As the disciples leave Jesus to go buy food, Jesus comes across a Samaritan woman at a well. He begins to talk with her, astonishing her, as Jews did not commonly converse with Samaritans. Jesus asks the woman for a drink of water and she wonders how he could ask such a thing. Jesus responds that if the woman knew who he was, she would ask him for water, and he would give her living water. She asks what this living water is and his response is:

"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:13-14)."

Later Jesus states: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink (John 7:37)."

When we try to manufacture happiness out of possessions, drugs, love of others, or our activities we become thirsty again, that is, happiness wanes and we must have someting more to be happy. Not only that, but we require greater amounts of happiness (things, drugs, love) to quench the thirst we have. There is an invitation, though, to end the thirst.

Jesus does not offer a "get-rich quick" scheme happiness where one finds themselves suddenly quenched of thirst. The process of satiation can be fast or slow, but always moving forward. Through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we can come to know God. As we come to know God, we place our trust in Him to provide. Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we stop thinking about worldly desires and begin to focus our attention on the eternal kingdom of God. Our desire for external happiness dissipates and is replaced by a permanent and stable joy that springs from within, liberating us from the cycle of searching for empty, transient happiness. Happiness can still come from external sources but they are realized for what they are and our overall joy is not at all dependent upon them.

Are you thirsty?

What's with this thing?

bi*fur*cate--to divide into two branches or parts

What is going on when you get that bifurcated stream? What stream, you're asking. It's that stream that occurs when you have to go to the bathroom and you stand there and your stream bifurcates, with part flowing into the toilet and the other part landing:

a) all over the floor
b) all over the toilet
c) (and this one is the best) all over your pants

What makes the urine stream split? Some sort of blockage? It also seems to happen at the most inopportune times (as if there is a best time to urinate all over your pants).

"Kevin are you ready to go disc golfing?"
"Yeah, just a second"
(60 seconds later)
"Woah, what happened?"
"Um, the water splashed out of the sink really weird."
"Loser."

Or

"Kevin are you ready for church yet?"
"Yeah, just a second, mom.......Dang it!"
(60 seconds later)
"Ummm"
"Yeah, I was washing my hands and put my finger up against the water faucet part and it built up the pressure really hard and shot water in a perfect stream over the sink and all over the side of my pants here as it is kind of obvious to see. What luck, huh?"
"Loser."

Does anybody have an answer?

Stay high and dry out there, kids.

Top 10 Continued

For all of you who were on the edge of your seat to find out the games I considered the top 5 ultimate games I've been a part of, here are 3 more.

5. The Chad Larson Experience vs. Drive Through Liquor @ 2004 Club Nationals Quarters
Kind of like how the Beatles had 5 or 6 albums in top 20 of the top 100 all-time, so 2004 Club Nationals has a number of games in my top 5 of the top 10. Our game against DTL was not epic by any means, but it was a great hard fought battle between two very similar teams. To this day, I think CLX has a 2-6 record against DTL and the win in quarters was the first victory over them. I remember Friday afternoon when Saturday's brackets were posted and some DTL guys looked at the schedule, saw they were playing CLX, rejoiced, then ran to tell their teammates the good news. Well, a whole group of CLXers were standing right there and noticed their enthusiasm at what they considered a free pass into semis. We started quick, like we had to going up 5-2 or 5-3, taking half 8-5 or 8-6. Our whole game plan was to tire out Brian Rupert, the best player on DTL. I don't know if it worked or not, but whoever was guarded by him simply ran all over the field when we had the disc, keeping him away from getting D's and trying to tire him out at the same time. I can't remember many extraordinary plays from this game, but CLX played the 2004 style layout defense and eventually won 15-11, rolling our way into the semis, man.

4. The Chad Larson Experience vs. Blah @ 2003 Cooler Classic Finals
This game was a lot of fun. There were about 100 people watching the entire finals and there was a fair amount of drama. CLX had beaten Blah in pool play the day before, but Blah had a roster of 45 or something and 10 of them were showing up on Sunday. Blah had a great group of guys that made huge plays like Mike D, Nick F, Dirk D, along with a great group of handlers and some Notre Dame college kids that could huck. Their women, while not as athletic as ours played fairly solid. We start the game by taking an 11-2 lead. Yes, 11-2. We score two Callahans with Darren grabbing one and Rachel S stealing one to take half. Then, the meltdown occurs. Blah fights back to 11-10. We make a couple of bad mistakes, but aren't too worried. We keep playing incredible defense and rally back to win 15-12. This game is up high on the list because it marked a turning point for CLX. It was our first big tournament and we beat all the central region had to offer. Our goal was to make nationals in our first year and by beating Blah twice at this tournament, we proved to ourselves that we had what it took to get there.

3. The Chad Larson Experience vs. Bad Larry @ 2004 Club Nationals Thursday Pool Play
CLX went into nationals feeling a little easy, a little nervous, and it showed in our first game against B+. We lost a close one 17-16. If we lost to Bad Larry, we'd have win out on Friday to make quarters and finish in the top 8. Basically, if we lose, we're probably going to finish in the 9-16 range. Bad Larry, like DTL, matched up very well against us. They had Mike D from Blah, a number of athletic dudes, and some great female handlers. We tried a number of defenses and marks and zones to stop them, but we just kept trading points with them. I think we were tied at almost every score from 1-1 to 16-16. Once or twice a team had a 2-point lead. This game was great for me because I felt like I could catch anything, and almost did. I caught 10 of the 17 goals in this game and felt that it was my best performance of nationals and one of the best of my ultimate career. We ended up winning 17-16 and gaining a lot of confidence about what we could do at nationals. Bad Larry was another team that CLX had never beat before and to beat them at nationals on double game point was amazing.

Discin' for D.P.

I played in a two-person best shot disc golf tournament today with my friend Jake. We kind of practiced for this tournament all week from the pro tees, but then arrived at registration to find it would be played from the regular tees. I figured 9 to 12 under would be a score needed to win, but was wrong. The champs finished at 13 under par. Was it us? Read to find out.

Hole 10: Due to a back-up on hole one, we started on hole ten. This is a hole that goes about 75 downhill and is relatively easy. A must birdie for this tournament. We both have poor shots at the basket, but Jake hits his birdie putt and we start off -1.

Hole 11: I shoot a great drive 12-15 feet past the basket on another relatively easy hole. It is about 275 feet long and a fairly wide open fairway, just some trouble if you go too far right. The worst possible outcome happens. I miss and then Jake misses. We walk away with a confidence killing par. Still at -1.

Hole 12: This hole again is very straightforward with a wide open fairway. The basket is not visible from the teebox, but at the bottom of a dropoff at the end of the 250 foot hole. I pinball my drive into the trees and it stays up on top. Jake shoots too far left. Putting from 35 feet with a 15 foot drop is difficult and we only par the hole. Still at -1.

Hole 13: Jake drives first on another wide open relatively easy 300 foot hole. He goes too far left, but this is normally a good hole for me. But, I don't get enough air under my disc and although the line is right, I leave it about 50-60 feet short. Par again. Still at -1.

Hole 14: A short 250 foot hole that requires a shot that curves left. A really easy hole that had to be birdied. We both throw within 10 feet of the basket. Birdie. Move to 2 under par.

Hole 15: Another short hole, only about 250 feet but with a upward slope of about 75 feet. Some trees on the upward slant of the hill make the hole somewhat tricky. Jake throws first and does not really throw a good looking drive but it skids off the dirt hard and flies up again all the way to the hole. We'll take it! Jake sinks his 10 foot birdie putt. Moving down! 3 under!

Hole 16: This hole tees from the top of the hill climbed on 15 and is a 325 foot long hole with about 100 of downward elavation change. No real tree dangers, though, just send the drive out to the right and let it fall towards the hole. We both put it about 30-35 feet too far on opposite sides of the basket, and decide on Jake's. He misses the putt, but I step up and send it home. Now we're 4 under and gaining confidence.

Hole 17: This hole requires a shot that can move to the right, because some trees block the hole. That is not easy to do with a backhand throw, but neither Jake nor I have good forehands. We have to try to muscle the disc against it's natural flight pattern to end up to the right. I throw my best drive ever on this hole and leave it 15 feet from the basket. I sink the putt to pick up an unexpected birdie to move to 5 under par.

Hole 18: This is a hard hole to birdie because it is a 275 foot hole that goes about 100-125 feet uphill. The basket is nestled between two trees and very hard to reach in one throw. I was thinking Wraith, but I step off the teebox to switch to the Valkyrie. I rip a backhand up on top of the hill 15-20 feet short of the basket, probably my best drive ever on this hole. Jake misses the putt, but I finish out the birdie. We get another unexpected birdie and sit at 6 under after nine holes.

Hole 1: We're pretty confident, birdied five in a row, but know we can't give anymore holes away. We should have birdied 11, while 12 and 13 were definitely within our range. Hole 1 tees off a hill and the hole is about 350 feet away at the bottom of the hill and to the right. It is a hard hole, like 17, for those who throw backhand. I get it to the bottom of the hill, but about 60-70 feet away. Too far away to birdie. We par and stay at 6 under.

Hole 2: This is a hole we should birdie. The basket is only 250-270 feet away and while a creek runs to the right of the hole and the basket hugs the creek, we should be able to put a drive within 30 feet of the hole. We don't...I leave my drive about 50 feet to the left of the hole and Jake's is further left. We only par. 6 under.

Hole 3: Another hole that we almost have to birdie. Just 180 feet long, but requires some tree navigation and a little left hook. We Jake puts it about 25 feet past the hole. I throw a drive that never turns left. We play Jake's but don't birdie. That hurts. Still at 6 under.

Hole 4: This hole sucks. No defined path to the hole. It's only about 200 feet away, but there are dozens of trees in the way. You kind of throw it and hope you get lucky. We only par. 6 under.

Hole 5: This hole goes slightly uphill and it only 150 long, but turns a lot to the left and a straightahead shot is impossible because of trees. One must launch their shot very high to the right to avoid trees and then have it fade towards the hole. Somewhat difficult, but birdies are common. I throw O.B. almost onto Highway 30, while Jake throws into the trees on the right. We have about 50 feet for birdie and have to throw past some branches. I manage to hit the rim of the basket, but not sink the putt. Still 6 under.

Hole 6: Hole six flies far downhill and requires a very straight shot. The fairway drops down the entire length of the 275 foot hole and the fairway is tree-lined and only about 10-15 yards wide. We both throw decent shots. Mine is still on the hill but far from the hole. Jake is at the bottom of the hill but the basket is obstructed. We take Jake's and both put out terrible putts. We keep mine and I miss from about 15 feet. Jake hits his, though, to save par. Still 6 under.

Hole 7: The basket sits about 275 feet away and to the right in a grove of trees. I never used to birdie this hole, but now can do it quite frequently. I throw a drive through the trees that skids to a stop under the basket. Birdie. 7 under.

Hole 8: A wide open fairway, but the end of the hole ends up under a tree canopy and partway uphill. Definitely driveable, but not entirely easy. Jake throws about 35 feet past with an incredible drive. Mine sucks. We have no real shot at birdie, plus an shot that goes too far rolls back down the hill. Jake lays up right under the basket, giving me freedom to try to make it. The shot is occluded by trees so I scoober up and over from 35 feet and just miss, leaving it about six inches short. Nuts. 7 under.

Hole 9: A very hard birdie hole. We are tied with the other group we are playing with at 7 under. They put decent drives out, but this hole is about 300 feet long, but plays like 350-370 because it requires an uphill teeshot to start. Jake throws a decent drive and I decide to throw Valkyrie again. I throw a very respectable drive out to about 60 feet from the hole. Jake misses, but par is wrapped up. I know we have to hit it to at least beat them. I step up and drain it. Front and center. 8 under.

The leaders were at 13 under. Another group shot 10 under and a number of groups shot 9 under, so our 8 under wasn't terrible, but we could have shot a lot better. We managed to birdie some of the toughest holes (17, 18, 9), but we couldn't birdie some of the easiest holes on the course (2, 3, 5, 12). And missed putts (11). But, I don't know if 13 under is something we could have scored unless we were playing our very best. So, I was pleased with 8 under.

As a side note, my girlfriend Lana and I went and played in the tournament later in the day. They had open registration all day and couples could play anytime between 11am and 4pm. We shot a 9 under with birdies on 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Still didn't birdie 2 or 3 or 12. The way it was going, I felt like we could have had 12 under or so, but not all the cards fell correctly.

Good night faithful readers. (Note: I don't think anyone has read my blog yet.)

Mirror, Mirror

Okay, there's going to be some audience participation on this one. First I need you to go look at yourself in the mirror. Get a good look at your own face from near angles, far angles, etc. Study the color and consistency of the color in your eyes for instance. Notice the hair on your head, the shape of your nose and ears, etc. Then come back. Really...you should do it.

Now ponder this: You were made in God's image.
Genesis 1:26-Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." (NIV)
Genesis 1:27-So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (NIV)

Now go look at yourself again if you wish. No matter what you look like you are the handiwork of the divine Creator, a living work of art.

God created us in his image.
He did not create us to die. He did not create us to toil and slave. He did not create us to suffer.
All of these are the result of the free will of man and choices man has made (see Genesis 3).
He created us to be in relationship with Him.
Do you have that relationship?

What's in a Name?

Well, not much. I'm not entirely happy with my blog name, "Talking 'Bout Orange Shoes Blues", but then again, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. For those who need to know the title comes from a Bob Dylan song Talking 'Bout "X" Blues, where x stands for some word that I can't remember. I included orange shoes because I play ultimate frisbee and have a pair of Nike Mercurial orange cleats that I wear. I wanted to name it something clever without having it be lame or esoteric. Yes, esoteric.

I hope that this blog can provide entertainment to those who read, but even if nobody ever reads it, I'll still have fun putting some words down. I want to have every post be clever and witty and funny and stuff, but don't hold out much hope for that happening.

Here's some posts to look forward to: The rest of my top 10 ultimate games, a recap of the disc golf tournament Jake and I play this weekend, favorite CDs, a park by park recap of last summer's national park tour, the posting of the final roster for CLX2006, a post of how I am twice adopted, and various other posts about my days, random though, jokes I make up, etc.

Chadence!

Small Packa-what?

And now without any further ado, my top 10 favorite ultimate frisbee games:

10. Iowa State Ultimate Club (ISUC) v. Massachusetts @ Spring 2005 Quarters of High Tide
This game cracks the top ten because ISUC had no business winning this game. Eight players, four rookies, Jon is injured again and in street clothes, we're heavily outmatched in skills and athleticism, but we somehow manage to beat them so bad some of their players are tearing up and others just quit playing with a couple of points left. You know you've beaten a team you aren't supposed to beat when most of the team doesn't shake hands after the game because they are too stunned.

9. ISUC v. Kansas @ Fall 2001 Sectionals in Kansas City
We lose to Kansas on double game point to end the day Saturday. Sunday, the game is much the same and I belive it comes down to double game point again. We have the disc to score 20 yards out, but there are no cuts. I call time-out on stall 9. Draw out play where Walding cuts to the back opposite corner for a hammer. I drop it in there for the W. This game also featured Brad Caruth and Shawn Walding running full speed for a disc discussing which one of them would layout and make the grab.

8. Party Truck v. Kansas? @ Mason Dixon
I can't honestly remember who we played in the semis and finals of Mason Dixon, but I remember how fun it was and certain players on the team. Eric "Maddog" LeBlanc, Jon Staron, Brad Caruth, Terrell Hoagland, Austin Gangel, Matt from Tennessee, Jos, Eon, Vivek from WashU. It was a great group of guys who played hard and partied hard. We won B-division finals, taking ninth out of 40 some teams after an original seeding of 27 or something. Then we drove by the A-finals shouting Party Truck slogans and the like, receiving mixed applause, some people cheering, some throwing beer, some saluting us with simply one finger. But you knew everybody there was sad that there weren't a part of something so mythical as Party Truck.

7. ISUC v. IHUC @ Spring 2000 Sectionals in Nebraska
The only loss on the list, we lose this game 15-16. An ISUCer drops the score that would have made it 15-14 good guys and two passes later IHUC is scoring to make it 15-14 them and we still have to go upwind to win. This was the last game of the day, though, and there were a good 100+ people on the sidelines watching the game, mostly cheering for the underdog ISUC. It was my first, but not last experience playing before a large crowd.

6. ISUC v. UNC-Wilmington @ 2002 Beasterns Final
Remember green hat, you can't do that. Okay, it's only Beasterns, but it was the first tournamen ISUC had ever taken first place in and we beat rival Minnesota in the semis and former national powerhouse Wilmington in the finals. Wilmington had never lost at Beasterns, either. The sidelines are definitely split with many alumni and friends on the home side and a number of teams cheering for ISUC on the away side. We take a quick 6-2 lead in a very clean game. Then, Mike Gerics returns. The game quickly turns very ugly. We still take half, but not by much. UNCW storms back and we only lead 12-11. The game is so ugly that I call a timeout to ask the team if we should finish the game or not. It was the first time that I was just ready to walk away from a game and not care. I suppose it would have been an even bigger slap in the face than what we ended up doing, which was win 15-11. Owan caught a tipped pass and threw a 10 yarder to me for the winning score. I remember trying to spike the disc so hard it would break and was a little disappointed that it didn't vaporize or something, but quickly forgot. Riding back to the hotel singing to the Flaming Lips "Yoshimi vs. the Pink Robots" was an experience I will never forget. And I believe I was sitting next to The Chad Larson. Oh yeah, and UNCW tailspins into the dark ages of ultimate. They haven't been the same since they lost. Look it up.

Okay, the top five later, this is taking too long.