Ten More Random Thoughts

11. Small Packages, the men's ultimate team from Ames will be travelling to the Motown Throwdown in Detroit on the 29th and 30th of July. The competition will be like none other than most of us have seen before with BAT, Machine, PBR Streetgang, GOAT, Mephisto, Madison, and Dingwop in attendance. I'm looking forward to it.

12. I'm going to Tennessee this 4th of July weekend, should be a good time. Maybe some camping in the Smoky Mountains, maybe a day of white-water rafting, some disc golf, possible mountain biking. I'm excited, but not about 24 more hours of driving.

13. My summer league team made it through the first round of round robin 4-5. I can't tell if our team is better than our 4-5 record shows. I think so, probably should be 6-3. We have a lot of high school players and newbies, though, so it's hard to run offense at times. We'll get it by the tournament at the end of the season, though.

14. Crazy Kevins and the Flying Kevins may be making a comeback. Still no practices, but watch out for gigs. Who knows what kind of acoustic hilarity will ensue. Maybe a version of your favorite AC/DC song or Peter Frampton's talking guitar classic Do you Feel or whatever it's called.

15. Flax. Yeah. Apparently, it's the best cancer fighting food there is. It's high in protein, dietary fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, and lignens. You might not know what that means, I don't. It's good to throw in the cereal in the morning, though. You can get a pound of it like I did for only three bucks, it's in the organic food section. Don't let Savage know I was there.

16. Lana and I were passing through Iowa Falls today and we came across a restaraunt called Wang's Buffet. Funny.

17. What's my favorite euphonym for going to the bathroom? Takin' the Cleveland Browns to the Super Bowl. I haven't really heard any new ones for awhile. How about this? "Hey guys, I'm going to go Will & Grace."

18. I miss going to connection group on Sundays. Connection group is the Bible study type thing that I'm in through the church with Lana and Jake and my brother Andy, his wife Autumn, our great leaders, and others. We haven't had it this summer and won't until September, I think. I'm missing its positive influence on my life.

19. Hearts is the greatest card game ever created, or at least the one I like to play the most. I can't shoot the moon anymore, though, because nobody passes dangerous cards to me anymore. In fact, the last time I shot a hand was about two months ago on a keeper. Nobody shoots the keeper...or do they? Even better? Team hearts. Joe, you know what I'm talking about.

20. I always sing along with George Harrison's song "My Sweet Lord." It's a catchy song and sounds really cool, but the song is basically a Hare Krishna prayer. I feel a little dirty after both singing and enjoying it. Should I?

Buffet's works

When starting up the internet yesterday, my eye was caught by a story on msn.com about Warren Buffet giving the bulk of his life earnings to Bill and Melinda Gate's charity. Reading the article, I found that he was donating 37 billion dollars and 1.6 a year to the charity with the catch that it had to be spent within the year of receiving it, ensuring the money would be distributed quickly, instead of reinvested for future distribution. It sounded great. I was feeling good until I read a quote, and then was saddened and confused. I tried to find the article today for the exact quote, but couldn't so I'll give you the gist of it. Warren Buffet said of giving his money to charities: "There are many ways to make it into heaven, but this way is the greatest of them all."

Now...I don't know what Warren Buffet's spiritual and religious beliefs are. I don't know the context of the quote, and I don't know if the quote was some sort of typo, but...this line of thinking and the idea this quote portrays is dangerous.

No amount of works done to help the needy and poor will ever solidify a person's place in heaven. No amount of money donated to charity will ever buy a person's way into heaven. God has all He needs, He does not accept our time and money in exchange for what He gives. The only currency to trade with God is Jesus. Jesus said: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).

Entrance into heaven is sealed through God's grace, not by our works. Jesus was once asked what are the works that God requires? He responded: "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent" (John 6:28). Belief that Jesus Christ died for our sins and an acceptance of God's grace is the only way to enter heaven. Paul writes: "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:22-24).

He later writes: "Just as the result of one trespass (Adam's sin; see Genesis 3) was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness (Christ's sacrificial death; see Matthew 27 or John 19) was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man (Adam) the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man (Christ) the many will be made righteous" (Romans 5:18-19). This passage shows that the work is not ours to do, it is Christ's. Not only that, the work has already been done! All we now have to do is believe and accept that grace.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).

"He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy" (Titus 3:5).

So, we are not saved by works or by good deeds or generosity, but through the grace of God. What then becomes of our works, good deeds, and generosity? Are they unnecessary? By no means! These things we now choose to do not because we believe they can save us, but because of the outpouring of love we feel after accepting the gift of grace God has freely provided us. Our good deeds become the outward expression of the faith we have in Jesus Christ. James writes: "I will show you my faith by what I do" (James 2:18).

God has already done all the work necessary for us to enter heaven, but it is still up to us to accept the gift He has generously placed before us. His grace is enough for us and it is the only thing you'll really ever need to make it through this world. I'm not sure what Warren Buffet was attempting to say in the quote I opened this post with, but I know it is wrong. Multiple ways into heaven do not exist and one's works and generosity do not ensure them a place in heaven. Only through Jesus Christ can we know the Father and enter heaven and that only by the grace of God.

Captain's Log: 62606

Captain's Log: 62606

Men's and women's teams travelled down to Tulsa, Oklahoma for the annual Solstice tournament hosted each year in some of the hottest temperatures around. The first thing that most people think of when they think about Solstice is...it's hot.

Men's teams that I've travelled with down to Solstice have not performed particularly well. I can't even remember how many years I've travelled down there, but I think this was my fifth. The first year we were savage and lost in quarters, I think, it was too hot to remember. The year after that I think I picked up with the KU guys and we might have made semis, but played a team that just rocked us, I think I actually passed out for a couple of points in the semis, but it was too hot to remember exactly. The third year, we had a decent roster of people until all of them backed out and then we had 10 players, I think. I'm pretty sure we lost in quarters and I injured my feet and ankles. Last year, due to pretournament festivities, I was unable to attend most of Saturday's games. Our team was knocked out of the A division on Saturday, but came back to win the B-division the next day.

This year was different than most. We had a full roster of able bodied gentlemen ready to bring home some black trophy discs. I can't tell if the competition was as hard as it has been in the past, I think it is comparable to most years, but can't say for sure. It seemed rather clear that only four or five teams had a shot at winning the tournament, those being KU, Oklahoma alumni, Illinois alumni, Texas alumni, and Small Packages.

We came out a little flat in our first game, but managed to win 13-8. Our next two games went 13-3 and 13-3. We were repooled into brackets that should have given us tougher games. The opponents we played were better, but the scores don't really show that, as we won our next three pool play games 13-3, 13-1, and 13-4. With the best point differential, we were given the #1 seed for bracket play. Our quarters game was against a Dallas team that won the tournament last year, I believe. They were not the same team as last year, though, and although they were decent at hucking, they couldn't really move the disc short. We took the game 13-3. Semis were against Oklahoma alumni, a tough team with good role players. We were able to shut down each player's role fairly well, though, and we cruised to a 13-4 victory.

Finals were against the KU/Arkansas team, almost all Kansas and then Karl and Ajax. This team probably should have won the tournament last year and wanted to win this year. We traded points to start the game, and like almost all of our games in the tournament, we turned a 2-2 tie into a 7-2 halftime lead. We can't convert after half and it's 7-3. Then 8-4, 8-5, 9-5, and 10-5. We've built a huge lead, get a D, and then can't score on a huck. They rattle off 5 points in a row to tie it at 10s. Confidence and momentum is in their favor. We get a full field huck to make it 11-10. They turn it over again and we make it 12-10. They score for 12-11. We move it down the field and after a pick call, I have a little upline shot to Dave for the game. The pass was very similar to the one I threw to Luke Voytas in the 2004 finals game against Shazam. Again, I sail the disc past the player, and Dave gets a hand on it, but drops it at contact. I felt instantly sick like the game was over and it was my fault. I can't remember what happened, but we get the disc back, throw a couple of passes and Dave throws me a cross field 40 yarder for the win.

I can't say that Solstice was a tournament that I've really wanted to win, but it felt great to be victorious and was one of the more satisfying tournament wins that I've experienced. It kind of made the last four years experiences forgettable and now when I hear Solstice mentioned, instead of thinking, it's hot, I'll think, yeah, we've won that one before. Sweet.

Notes:
-I felt the best I ever have this season at Solstice. I tried to get about a quarter to a half mile of running in before each game coupled with other warmups and stretching. Instead of downing a botttle of Gatorade after each game like usual, I tried to sip on water all day. I think it payed off. While I wasn't getting a lot of D's, I felt like I was at least denying a lot of passes from being thrown to my player. On offense, I probably had my usual number of cuts and catches. I tried to be more focused on constant offensive movement at this tournament and getting the disc short more as well as long. I was displeased with my confidence in my throwing ability. I threw a lot of dumps, which doesn't bother me, but what did was my sometimes refusal to throw upline when marked. I like to be able to catch, turn, and throw, in one motion, before the mark is on, but the follow-up cuts just aren't usually there. At Solstice, marks were really getting to me for some reason and I just usually dumped it at that point. I think I need to start attempting riskier throws in practice to see if I can make them and see if my lack of confidence is justified or not.

-The team defense we played was great over the weekend. Our marks aren't the best, but KU was really the only team that took advantage of that. Our "middle defense" of guarding the incuts from the longs and middles was our strong point, I'd say. Both OU and KU in the semis and finals had trouble getting throws upfield and we scored some sweet layout D's from guys like Jacob, BJ, Joe, and an amazing one from Ben in the finals. The zone defense we played in the quarters and semis was also very effective. There wasn't a whole lot of wind, but other teams' offenses rarely moved it more than twenty yards out of their endzone.

-It was good to play with Brian again. Brian and I seem to be on the same page most of the time and he puts up throws to me that most others don't. Brian just seems to know when I'll make a move, and I know where Brian's going to put it. Even though the defender may be right there, he just doesn't really have a shot at getting the D because Brian throws into space and I box my guy out.

-If I had to give a grade on the handling I'd give it either an A- or B+. It was good. It was comforting to have Mike, Jon, and Brian out there at the same time, they work well together. Dave and Misra were good at cutting and participating in give-and-goes. BJ really stood out as a cutter and it was great to see him finally starting to be a factor on offense. Jake and Ben played well as vertical mid cutters while mixing in some deep cuts.

-Do we try to go to Motown Throwdown now? I wasn't too eager to before this tournament, but now I'd like to see how we'd do when all of the games are at that semis-finals level and harder.

-The women played well all weekend too, and I don't think they were challenged except by Truman State in pool play. Hopefully, we'll combine the success of both teams into domination at the MUDI, formerly the Aquatennial.

I guess I don't get it

Soccer's world cup is happening right now and it's sort of a big deal on American television. It seems like every four years, America tries to care about soccer, but for the most part, nobody does. I can't recall a single time in the past four years where somebody I know was watching a soccer game.

I have to admit that I've seen some good matches, but they are mostly the underdog/miracle type matches. For instance, I enjoyed watching England vs. Trinidad & Tobago, even though England eventually won. I also watched the last 20 minutes of Mexico vs. Angola today. Angola was a man down for the last 10 minutes and was still able to keep a 0-0 tie, which the announcers said was possibly the largest upset of the tournament, except maybe Sweden vs. T&T, which was also a tie. Maybe that's the first thing wrong with soccer, 0-0 ties are exciting.

As far as the American team is concerned, I don't think I know any of the players and I don't mind if they do well or not. If I watch much more of the World Cup on television, I just hope to see more good soccer.

Watching these players play soccer, I've been trying to find similarities to ultimate. Possession is a little different in ultimate and soccer, because in soccer, possession seems to switch a lot. Maybe that isn't too different from ultimate, though. Teams have great offense all the way up the field and then just turn it over close to the goal or to the endzone. I have noticed the way that passing occurs in soccer and the way that good offenses utilize the whole field and keep possession until a good shot can be taken. In ultimate, poorer offenses just jam the disc up the sideline pass after pass after pass. Maybe they score, usually they don't, but when they score, they think that nothing is broke, so why fix it? A crazy ultimate player once said that ultimate closely resembles a good chess match and you want to position your players and the disc well on the field at all times, which means getting the disc in the center of the field at almost any cost. This means looking off the line cuts once in awhile to center the disc. It also means that disc movement against the force is just as good as disc movement up the field with the force. Most of the people who heard this laughed at him and didn't listen. Well, I think we just kept moving the disc up the sideline over and over again and lost a game to a beatable team.

Hmm...not sure what I'm saying. I'd kind of like to go play some soccer, though.

I blew it!

I played a round of disc golf last night with Lana and Chad at dusk. The round started off fairly normal. I parred one, missed birdies on two and three, parred four and by then didn't really care about the rest of the round. If I don't birdie two and three, it really bums me out because those holes are so easy. Well, I birdie five and par the rest of the holes on the front nine.

Then, I birdie 10, put it right next to the basket on 11 and birdie, hit a 20 footer for birdie on 12, put it right next to the basket and tap-in for birdie on 13, hit a 15 footer for birdie on 14, tap-in for birdie on 15, hit a 25 footer for birdie on 16, throw a great drive on 17 and pick up a rare birdie, throw a decent drive on the uphill 18 to within 15 feet of the hole and DOINK! miss the putt. Not sure why I used doink there, but it felt appropriate. My putter landed spread across the lip of the basket, I think it could have fallen in or out of the basket. It fell out.

So I had a season best 9 under par, but just missed out on shooting 9 under on the back 9.

Captain's Log: 61206

Captain's Log: 61206

Played at Poultry Days in Versailles, Ohio on Saturday and Sunday. The past two years The Chad Larson Experience has gone 4-0 on Saturday to make the A-division bracket on Sunday. We've also always lost our first game on Sunday. I'll spare you the drama and just say that we did the exact same thing again.

Our Saturday games seemed harder than usual. Twice we were losing 4-1 or so, but both times we went on 8-1 or 9-0 scoring runs to take a commanding lead and win the game. Our closest game on Saturday was 13-8, I believe, against an Indiana alumni team. Saturday's weather included rain showers, cold temperatures, on and off breezes, and by the end of the day just before the sun set, the clouds cleared and it was beautiful if only for about fifteen minutes. Our play ranged from nationals level coed team, mostly during our 9-0 runs in those two games, down to sectional level play. Sometimes it is hard to play hard when you know you are going to beat your opponent. On the same note, though, you shouldn't sometimes turn it over 9 or 10 times a point against that same opponent. My favorite point to watch on Saturday was a short one: Joe runs the length of the field, lays out and D's the first throw by the offense, then Amy picks it up and throws it to him for the score. Total time to get the D and score the point, including the hangtime on the pull: maybe 15 seconds.

On Sunday we played Team USDA in the pre-quarters. I'm not sure how similar they were to last year's Slim Chickens who we lost to in the pre-quarters. I think they had some of the same players, but the only one I can say for sure is Pat Hard, who some consider the best male coed player in the country. We start off on defense and Xtina gets an incredible layout D. Then we have a first throw turn. They score. We tie the game at 1's, 2's, 3's, 4's, and 5's. No defensive breaks in the first 11 points and they lead 6-5. I don't think we have any other huge D's in the first half and there are very few turnovers. We got broken on the last point of the half on a dump miscommunication and they take half 7-5. Well, there are no more defensive breaks in the second half and we lose 13-11. Both offenses played fairly stingy. I'd say they had a much easier time breaking our marks and getting open hucks, while we were a little more frantic and had to work a little harder for our scores. We had some golden break opportunites that just didn't come through. Had the disc twice to tie it at 12's and force double-game point, but they played great long defense.

Overall, it felt like neither team was doing enough to win the game outright, but both teams were playing well enough to win. It came down to which team would make that extra turnover, which happened to be us. There is always that "we should have/could have won that game feeling", but they were the better team and it's hard to say that we should have/could have won when we didn't get any defensive scores.

On the up side, Team USDA made finals and one of their players wrote this on RSD: "Tremendous competition all weekend from lots of great teams who were all having a lot of fun. As a tip of the hat to coed club teams, our prequarter matchup against CLX was our toughest win, which came on double-game point."

Hmmm...some thoughts

-Julian is a vital guy in our offense and it would hurt not to have him this year. While Jon and Mike are good handlers, Julian has a very calm demeanor while playing and is not easily distracted.

-The offense was kind of like it always is, which is not very good when it has to start from a standstill, but very good when it's off to the races after a turnover or off the pull. I really like the little Stanford O play to get the disc off the line from a standstill, maybe someday we'll have to (gasp!) talk strategy. For the most part, I think a lot of our offensive woes could be cleared up by more well-timed dumps and swings. We still have a tendency to jam it up the strong-side line and only look for dumps and swings when we get into trouble.

-Joe was out of shape after being in Europe for a month and his hand was messed up and his knee was swollen, yet he was still bating Pat Hard on defense and got one incredible layout D on him and a couple others on him and other players. Joe, and Christina too, play the defense that CLX used to and I hope they can provide a spark to the team to remember our defensive roots. Besides some great runs on Saturday, I would say our defense was just average. Sunday, USDA made us look a little silly by breaking us at will and always seeming to be open deep, but it is early season. A lot of our players didn't have the college season in the spring and are just warming back up to ultimate.

-Needed: handlers? We have some recruits in the works, but to make another run at nationals CLX needs to fill the handler spots with some clutch throwers and decision makers. I feel like we've got 3-5 total male and females that fill that spot, but for a title shot I think we need more like 6-8. We'll have to see if Julian can play, if Ross decides to play again, if we can recruit another Kansas dude. I'm eager to see how Sarah Solarz plays with us at Aquatennial. I'm also eager to see how Stu fits in with the team as the season rolls on.

The next CLX tournament isn't until the MUDI (Minneapolis Ultimate Disc Invitation or something) in the middle of July. The competition should be good. There is a rumor of two SubZero/Bait coed teams playing in the tournament. Flaming Moe will be there. Madhaus may be there if they are still together. I don't know if Mr. Briefcase or Ice (Method) will be there, hopefully they will. Also, Winnipeg's Chaos might be there. I can't imagine how good the tournament could be if all those teams showed up. Imagine 4 of the eight of those teams mentioned NOT making semis.

Practice in an hour. I needs to run me some sprints. Oh, and somehow strengthen my back muscles, they hurt too much almost all the time.

United 93

The past few years the rage in Hollywood has been to produce superhero movie after superhero movie. I just got back from a movie that had real heroes, real men and women who risked their lives for the good of others.

I'm not sure how successful United 93 was on opening weekend or how it has done since. I'm not concerned about what the critics had to say. Contrary to what some of my friends think, I do not think that United 93 was made to turn a profit, or to be some blockbuster.

The movie was real. It showed an honest portrayal of all involved, from the airline crew, to ground control, to the passengers on the plane, to the terrorists themselves. There was nothing cheesy or cliche about this movie. There were no big speeches, no dramatic music, no evil personas for the terrorists. The dialogue heard at the beggining of the movie could be heard at any airport and aboard any plane. The stewardesses go through their routines, the passengers are talking about business and vacations with others, and when the air traffic controllers are warned of hijackings, the first reactions are always a laugh with "you're joking, right?" One comments by laughing, "there hasn't been a hijacking in 20 years, who's joking?".

I read some posts about the movie that claimed the people aboard the plane were not heroes. I agree that there was some sort of life preservation instinct kicking in, after all, human beings will fight to keep their life. The buildup of information from phone calls aboard the plane leads the passengers to realize their plane is not a "typical" hijacking, but a suicide mission. What occurs after that is a concentrated, heroic dash to get control of the plane. The leaders, with no type of training to fall back on, step up and lead the mission. The stewardesses gather any type of "weapons" for them to use like plastic knives, wine bottles, and fire extinguishers. The men do not stand up valiantly and rally the troops, instead they are filled with fear, tears welling in their eyes, with a real sense of danger and death ahead. Instead of faltering under pressure, though, they make their stand. Though scared and mentally drained, they rise and become reluctant heroes. I don't think reluctant in this case is a bad word to use. I think a hero's greatest battle is the internal struggle with fear and possible failure. A hero stands, though, and these men did that.

The last five minutes of the movie are the most intense shots I've ever seen. Men gather internal courage to charge the terrorists guarding the cockpit, they charge, break down the cockpit door, and the plane crashes. I was physically shaking in my seat. I felt like burying my head and crying and all I had to do was watch, not live this movie.

I'm not sure what else to say on this topic. Watch this movie. I'm not sure how suitable this movie is for children, it would definitely be one to talk about with the kids before and after if you were to watch it.

I wish I could say more.

Captain's Log: 60306

Captain's Log: 60306

The Chad Larson Experience begins a new season just about a week from this very hour, depending on how late games start. The team will be travelling over to Versailles (pronounced ver-SAY-elles), Ohio for some poultimate. Poultry Days is the name of the tournament, which is held during the small town's summer festival. This year's tournament will be the 25th anniversary for this well-loved ultimate classic. When ultimate players were polled about their favorite tournaments, the top 3 were Paganello (beach tournament in Italy), Potlatch (100+ team coed tournament in Seattle over July 4th weekend), and Poultry Days (65+ team tournament coupled with small town festival in rural Ohio). I've been to Potlatch twice now and this will be my fourth Poultry Days. I'd have to say Poultry Days is my favorite tournament.

CLX has twice now won-out on Saturday to be placed in the A-division on Sunday, but we've yet to win on Sunday. Two years ago we lost 11-3 or something to the Smerfs. Last year we went down to a San Fran Brass Monkey/Beer Run/ex-Stanford team 6-1, but battled back to universe point, I think, only to lose. If we had won, we would have played Team USA, the all-star team sent to win gold at the 2005 World Games.

This year's Poultry Days team is the best CLX has yet to put together. A team that has the potential to make semis/finals, I believe, but expectations are one thing and results are another. We have about 14 guys and 10 girls going, I think, with a mix of non-returning CLXers, curent CLXers, and brand-new additions to the team. I believe our roster includes Mike, Jon, Jason, Julian, Ross, Shawn, Karl Doege, Stu Jack, Seth, Rubenstein, Jimi, Joe Brisbois, Brian Lucido, and myself for guys and Rachel D, Rachel S, Amy, Lana, Christina, Abby, Amanda, Taiwo, Natalie Meyer, and Savage for ladies. It's possible I've left people off, with a roster of 20+ I usually do that.

This team has an excellent group of male/female everything from handlers to cutters to deeps to great defensive players. I'm excited to play with this team and see how we do.

I still need to post about many things I've been thinking about, many other non-ultimate related topics, some serious, some antiserious. Watch out.