Captain's Log: 73106

Captain's Log: 73106

Big Ass Truck hosted the Motown Throwdown in Detroit, Michigan last weekend. The weather was hot, humid, and for the most part, shadeless. But that's okay because we only had five games to 13 with no byes, barely any time between games, switch fields after almost every game, and play good to great to elite competition every game (no gimmies). But that's okay beacuse ten players backed out of attending the tournament, including seven on Wednesday night or later, most of them being potential handlers. So we had 14 players...until Dan injured himself five points or so into the first game. Okay 13. But it wasn't like it was 95 degrees or anything.

So how did we do? Very well given the circumstances.

Saturday's schedule showed us playing GOAT, Chicago2, Skeet Shooters, Machine, and Jawbone, in that order. A rather favorable schedule, I think.

v. GOAT. They turn early on and I catch a huck for the first point. They turn early again and another huck...I drop. We get it back and score, 2-0. We trade points and it's 3-1. Then 4-2. We're tied at 5s and 6s, receiving to take half with a break. First throw turn that doesn't even pass the endzone line. They take half and feel a little more secure. We tie it at 7s, 8s, and 9s. They are not enjoying it. The second half because a call/argument fest as they are clearly not intending to lose to a team of coed/summer leaguers/high schooler. They do the dirty work, though and take the game 13-9.

v. Chicago2. We come out flat and uninspired. I think they take a 3-1 lead, which is a common thread through most of the rest of our games. We start to zone instead of man, which is also a common thread through the rest of the games. We eventually take half 7-6. I think we end up winning 13-10? maybe 11. Both six seeds from pools A and B were good teams that didn't happen to win any games. These guys were no pushovers.

v. Skeet Shooters. I don't especially care for these guys. Stupid pregame cheers. Agro-college/no fun attitudes/aren't even that great of college players type people. We take half 7-5, win 13-9?

v. Machine. After losing to GOAT, we wanted this second chance to prove ourselves. We quickly fall behind 3-1. It felt like CLX v. Moe at Aquatennial where we'd turn it and turn around and somehow they're scoring already. Fall behind 1-6. Take two points back before half 7-3. We actually have them at a decent spot at half...no longer afraid of being upset by a team of coed/summer league/high school people. We come back in the second half, but the deficit is too large and we can't finish off some crucial points. We come within two points a couple of times, but can't score to close the gap any further. We end up losing 13-9 after fighting a lot harder in the second half.

v. Jawbone. Good news, they pick up two players right before the game that help them out a lot. We know this game is for third place, giving us a shot at semis the next day. We fall behind (surprise!) 3-1. I don't remember who takes half, but the game is a brutal dogfight. Not a lot of calls, but lots of turnovers, big d's, full-field hucks, etc. They are playing very tight at the beginning, but fall into our style and give up the disc a lot more as the game wears on. I also can't remember the final score, but I want to say 13-11.

Sunday play:

v. Burgh. I did not enjoy this game. Already hot (90?) at the start of the game at 9:00AM. These guys are not fun to play and we start by arguing and trading calls. We fall behind 3-1 and they don't turn the disc over until 4-2, I think. We zone and end that, taking half 7-5. They tie at 7s. We score and zone, lead 10-7. They tie it back up at 11s. We are able to score and get the next defensive point to win 13-11. This game should never have been that hard, but we had various levels of soreness, various levels of defense being played, and that casual attitude we get against the occassional team we think will be a cakewalk.

v. Madcow. Quarters and a chance to make semis in a fairly tough, central region filled field of teams. We fall behind 3-1...again, before zoning, which they sometimes have a problem with and sometimes don't. I honestly don't remember how we won this game because they didn't seem to turn it over very often. I think we played great when it was necessary. I think we were down 7-5 at half. Took a two point lead at 10-8. Tied at 10s. Took a 12-10 lead. Tied at 12s. Scored the last one to make it 13-12 and a berth into the semis. I played all but one point of this game, which was facilitated for the most part by our tendency towards zone defense. I think our rotation was also down to about 11 people at this point.

v. GOAT. Rematch. They score first. We score second. They take the rest until half, I think. The third point was a bear of a point, that we had a couple chances to score and just couldn't. We are losing 10-3 when a massive front moves in a brings with it scattered lightning, high winds, and rain. We make a quick decision to leave and not wait to continue and forfeit the rest of the game to GOAT. As far as I have been able to gather, the tournament was left unfinished.

Notes:

-I would give myself a B/B- for this tournament. My defense was porous at best when marking and trying to guard faster cutters, but good against handlers who don't run me around as much. I felt I played an effective wing spot in our zone. I was able to come up with two big Ds in the Madcow game, including my first big layout D of the season. Lame that it should come so late and I should be so happy about it. Here's to many more to come.

Offensively, I didn't have the best confidence as a thrower and when I got tired I was not making good decisions, but on Sunday, I played back as a handler more and didn't try to push anything and felt like I was doing well. As a deep, I called more fouls than usual and dropped two easy scores, but felt like I did as well as I could have and usually do. Nothing spectacular, but nothing to be ashamed of, either.

-Our marks were...not good. We seemed to have better luck with man defense after throwing the zone for a couple of points. That usually produced turnovers and points, and then maybe when in man D again, they were too desperate to score again?

-Drew from Madison played very well for us, provided a great team-minded positive attitude, and I'm glad he chose to pick up with us. Bennett was a good pickup and all-around fun guy to have on the sidelines. Michael Brisbois played well for us, stepping out of the high-school ranks to play teams like GOAT and Machine and not fairing too poorly, either. As the tournament progressed, it seemed like Michael progressed as well and had an extremely fast learning curve. It was great to play with Brad "The Machine" Eugune Caruth again. He was the same old Brad I enjoyed playing with during my ISUC days. It was also enjoyable playing with Paul. The guy can throw the disc a long ways, which is great, because I like to run and go get it.

-Wes played better than I've seen him all summer. He still has a tendency towards the occassional misread disc or mistimed jump, but he caught a lot of crucial hucks when we needed a bigtime score. He also got a big D in the Madcow game that I think put us ahead for the first time.

-All in all, a good tournament. A long drive, but offset by shenanigans and fun games. Hot weather, but offset by much Gatorade.

-A very special thanks to team manager Lana Meyer. Without her support on the sidelines, her endless supply of water and Gatorade, her defense of the Gatorade Cooler, and her endless supply of heartwarming smiles, I couldn't have made it through the weekend.

Next tournament: Five days. Madison. Coed. Possible 2nd CLX-Moe installment. We'll see what Mr. Briefcase has to say about it.