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...