Ten More Thoughts

Here's some more thoughts and musings, maybe not so random.

31. CLX Worlds update! We received our schedule finally! We will be playing the Thundering Herd of the UK, Gert Johnny's Band of Italy, and The Bombing Madd Fatties of Canada, the 36, 25, and 16 seeds of the tournament. CLX is the 5 seed. But...there is bad news on the homefront. A key player on CLX world's team may have injured himself beyond repair at nationals this year. I'm a little worried.

32. Nationals is over. My predictions were fairly accurate with the exceptions of Bad Larry and Deliverance. If I switch those two teams in my final standings, I would have done exceptional. As it is, I predicted the Brass Monkey loss, albeit to the wrong team, but I had a hunch they'd lose in semis. I also predicted 3 of the 4 semis teams, both finals teams, and the finals winner. Not so hard you say? Well, I didn't see you predict anything...

33. Once again, the central region had a poor showing across all divisions. Were there any teams in the top 8? I can't remember any. Well, after the success of SubZero and CLX last year, it appears that the central region is bottom feeding again.

34. I was really bummed that CLX didn't play this year's nationals. I wouldn't have wanted to pull a Bad Larry, but it is disappointing to not know how we would have performed. Bil Elsinger had high praise for us, nearly locking us in for a semis berth and commenting that he was pretty sure we could have beaten two or three of the semifinalists, without even ever seeing us play! Well, thanks Bil. Where's this newfound respect coming from? I feel like some people were cheated out of a nationals appearance this year, especially those who joined the team this year, but have never been to nationals before. All I can do now is ponder what could have been.

35. Off of ultimate now. My favorite candy bar is 3 Musketeers. Once in awhile, I think Mars will be better because it's a 3 Musketeers with caramel, but after eating the occassional Mars bar, I always wish I would have opted for the 3 Musketeers. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are excellent, too. Those two are certainly in a class of their own.

36. I think on the 100+ hours I'll be in the air and in airports over the next 3.5 weeks, I'll try to study the Psalms very closely. They represent my least studied area of the Bible. I've never read all the way through them, and never taken any notes while reading them. I have a journal/notebook I got from my brother last Christmas that is small and has about 100 sheets of paper in it. Perfect for such a task as writing down notes from each individual Psalm. I'm excited to finally get through them.

37. Here's a list of things I don't own. A cell phone, a regular phone, a working computer, an IPod, a working CD player unless you count my car which only works 1/4 of the time, or a DVD player, unless you count the one I gave to Lana, which was a Playstation Two. Well, I'm not a technology hater and I do certainly count on the generosity of friends to use phones and computers every once in awhile or more!, but I don't feel the need to own those things. Well, it would be nice to have my own computer and I'm sure my parents (and Lana) would like it if I got my own cell phone. Then I could have the record on Race 21!

38. I recently read The Godfather and thoroughly enjoyed it. There were parts here and there that I didn't care for and I'm not sure how they advanced the story or how they were relevant or necessary, but for the most part, the book was excellent. I am looking forward to seeing the movie, which is usually not as good as the book, because you can't as good of a feel for the characters in a movie using just spoken dialogue. Hey, that word has all 5 vowels and it's only 8 letters long. Do you know a word shorter than that that uses all five vowels? I do.

39. One time in church when I was younger, one of my brothers spilled a cup of hot coffee into my lap. It stung. The water was near boiling; I still don't understand how people can drink liquids that are that hot, I enjoy my tastebuds too much for that. I jumped around like crazy, pushing the table back and knocking over my chair, drawing attention from everybody around. My dad took me into the bathroom and when I took my pants off, my skin was extremely burnt and some of the flesh was all wrinkled and falling off. I don't remember much about the recovery time from that, but just so you all know, hot coffee in the groin is not pleasant.

40. You know what else isn't pleasant to have hit your groin? Baseballs. As a kid I really sucked at baseball, which was disappointing to me because my dad invested a lot of time trying to make me and my brothers better. I was always afraid of getting hit by the ball whether I was up to bat or trying to field a grounder. My best positions were centerfield (where I only had to field slow rollers or pop flies) and first base (where there weren't too many grounders and I mostly just had to make sure I caught the ball from the other infielders). One year I was allowed to pitch. I just threw the ball as hard as I could, which sometimes was fast and sometimes was not. I had little control, though, and frequently threw at the batters on accident. No, there was no Pedro Martinez stuff going on. Once I remember involuntarily yelling "Lookout" on a particularly bad pitch headed right for the helmet of an unlucky kid. It just popped out when my brain must have realized that it was going to be a bad pitch. I turned fairly red after that one.

Well, that's all for today.

I'll be leaving for Australia on Friday, just two more days. Maybe I'll post here about the tournament as it progresses, but I'm not sure what kind of computer access I'll have. We'll see. Thanks for reading.

Feelin' Fine

Well, I spent about a week last week feeling a little down about turning 27, about my general stasis in life, about my perceived deficits in areas of my life, and my feeling of separation from the God I choose to love and want to obey.

I did have some non-ultimate posts lined up last week, but worked on some all the way to completion before deciding not to post them. I was unhappy with the way I wrote some of them, some were hurried, and some were just too depressing. One of my better posts dealt with the songs lyrics to Pink Floyd's "Time" and how I felt the lyrics were applying to my life.

On turning 27, I've just felt like I'm reaching physical limitations in the things I am able to do. Instead of being encouraged to try to maximize my potential, I've kind of been slacking and sulking that my body won't do at 27 the things I could do at 22. But, I went to work out today and found that things aren't so bad. I don't have a high top-sprint speed or the ability to jump as high as I would like, but I was still able to run a sub-6:00 mile and then bike after that.

I've felt stranded and forgotten by God lately, but it stems only from my own doings. Guilt and shame coming through from some choices I have made and things I have neglected to do over the past couple of months. I was beginning to feel like I was a lost cause in God's eyes before church on Sunday. The pastor shared a story of someone similar to me who felt distanced and distressed. She experienced an awakening a couple of weekends ago. I prayed during church to receive the same hope from God and just minutes later during communion the band on stage was playing a song and tears welled up in my eyes and became so choked up that I couldn't sing and I was overcome by an inexpressable joy. A feeling like nothing else in the world mattered except that relationship that I have with Jesus Christ. A relationship that needs mending, but Christ is ever-willing to forgive and forget.

Life is going to be just fine. Though I foolishly thought it may happen, I have not been abandoned and I am cared for. I may have failed to do some things right in the past, but I've been given new hope and opportunites. And I going to Australia soon! A possible last hurrah with some of my favorite friends and ultimate players. While I may be losing strength physically, I think I'm learning to play smarter all the time. Oh, and getting lucky sometimes too.

Talk to you soon.

Nationals Predictions

Here's some nationals predictions for you.

Pool A: Brass Monkey, Mr. Briefcase, Flaming Moe, Deliverance

Brass wins, Moe takes second beating Briefcase, Briefcase takes third, and Deliverance fourth. The only thing that makes me think I might be wrong is that Moe could have a close game against Brass Monkey, and then have to turn around and play Briefcase, and could start 0-2. But, I'll say they beat Briefcase, as they were able to do it when it counted at regionals. Why did George Cooke go ahead and screw the central region here? Put the top two qualifying teams from a region in the same pool, yet divide up all the other regions nicely? Switch Puppet and Moe and there is no problem. Just nearly assuring the central regions best teams can't both make quarters unless they both happen to beat the defending champion. Can't really stand by GC on this one at all, the fix is right there.

Pool B: Mischief, AMP, Puppet Regime, Salsa Police

Mischief wins. Puppet Regime takes second, AMP third, Salsa Police fourth. Again, I fear that I could be wrong with the 2/3 positions again. Playing AMP last year, though, leads me to believe that they are not going to be very good. Puppet didn't play well at Tune-Ups, but they only had about half their team. How much does that gloved guy play? If too much, they could be in trouble.

Pool C: Bad Larry, Whoreshack, Hooray, Tandem

Can one of the two lower teams knock off one of the higher seeded teams, who may have weaker rosters this year? It seems like this pool, with Larry and Whoreshack is ripe for upsets, but I'm just not sure Hooray and Tandem can do it, looking at their season's results. If Rival or Puppet or Moe are here, maybe, but not these teams. I'll say this pool goes Larry, Whore, Tandem, Hooray.

Pool D: Gendors, Slow White, Rival, Flycoons

Slow White looks good and had a great run last year until they lost to Larry. They were the only team to beat Brass Monkey, but Brass Monkey has losses in them. They seem to lose about once a tournament, except NW regionals. I don't know much about the Gendors, they won Labor Day, but looking at their scores, they play a lot of close games against weaker teams. I'll say Slow White takes the pool, Gendors second, Flycoons third, and Rival fourth. There is some RSD talk about Rival, but I saw a group of Rival players at Shawn Adams over the 4th weekend in Tennessee and they looked terrible. Probably not their whole team, but they had a lot of people there. I don't see the south rising this year.

Power pool E: Brass Monkey, Flaming Moe, Bad Larry, Whoreshack
Power pool F: Mischief, Puppet Regime, Slow White, Gendors
Pool G: Mr. Briefcase, Deliverance, Tandem, Hooray
Pool H: AMP, Salsa Police, Flycoons, Rival

Pool E: I'll take Brass going 3-0. They have handled Whoreshack over the past two years, and Larry shouldn't be in the same class as them. Larry and Whoreshack both beat Flaming Moe, giving a Brass Monkey, Bad Larry, Whoreshack, Flaming Moe finish.

Pool F: I'll take Mischief winning the pool just barely over Slow White, but the Gendors beating Mischief. Now the point differential. Slow White, Mischief second, Gendors third. Puppet doesn't win and finishes fourth.

F4 plays G1--Puppet Regime vs. Mr. Briefcase. Show me Mr. Briefcase.
E4 plays H1--Flaming Moe vs. AMP. Could be a good game. Give me Flaming Moe. Maybe both central region teams can make quarters after all, but it shouldn't have to be this way.

E1 vs. G1 quarters-Brass Monkey vs. Mr. Briefcase. Come on.
F2 vs. E3 quarters-Mischief vs. Whoreshack. Mischief comes out with it.

F1 vs. E4 quarters-Interesting here. Slow White vs. Flaming Moe. This could be an incredible game. I have to go with Slow White because they've been here and know how to win, but if this game occurs, it could be almost too close to call. Plus, last year, both E1 and F1 were upset in quarters.
E2 vs. F3 quarters-Bad Larry vs. Gendors. Another interesting battle, for they are both SW region teams who know each other well. Bad Larry has tradionally beat Gendors when it counts, so I'll continue to back Bad Larry, although is Bad Larry really semis good? Didn't seem like it last year but I guess they make it again.

E1 v. F2 semis-Brass Monkey vs. Mischief. Man, these games keep getting better. Another big rivalry game. So far, I realized my predictions are following a 2004 pattern. Brass-Mischief is similar to Brass-Shazam. If I have Moe beating Slow White, they only have to play Bad Larry in semis, a team they can beat, similar to CLX avoiding Shazam in semis and playing Six Trained Monkeys in 04. The three way tie, may prove fatal to Brass Monkey again. I should just be throwing multiple predictions out there. I'll say this, IF Moe plays Slow White I'm not so sure it is Slow White who will win, but I have to take that surer bet in the predictions. IF Moe wins, they'll make finals. There. As for this game, I'll go out on a limb and say Mischief wins it. Here's why. Mischief CAN beat Brass Monkey. I don't think it will be Mischief's play that wins them the game, but Brass Monkey's play that loses them the game. Brass Monkey has losses in them, and unfortunately for them, for the second time in three years, that loss comes in semis. Mischief is the one team here that knows how to beat them.

F1 vs. E2 Slow White v. Bad Larry. Give me Slow White. They aren't going to lose to Bad Larry in consecutive years. Last year, Slow White was undeafeated and Bad Larry knocked them out in quarters. Slow White remembers and takes care of business.

F1 vs. F2 Slow White v. Mischief. Okay, do I really believe this will be finals? I guess I have to now. Slow White and Mischief are two of the four or five teams that I think have a really good shot at making finals. Hmm. Can you really bet against the northwest? I can't. Give me Mischief winning it all.

Final standings:
1. Mischief
2. Slow White
T3. Brass Monkey
T3. Bad Larry
5. Gendors
6. Whoreshack
7. Flaming Moe
8. Mr. Briefcase
9. AMP
10. Flycoons
11. Puppet Regime
12. Tandem
13. Rival
14. Hooray
15. Salsa Police
16. Deliverance

Captain's Log: 100906

Captain's Log: 100906

Regionals were last weekend in Chicago, Illinois. Past history has shown that Chicago is not really our town to play in. While performing well at all the Tune-Ups and CHCs tournaments, we have only won that tournament once, with a 2nd, T3rd, and 6th. In addition, we played central regionals in Chicago in 2003 and that was the worst tournament experience I believe I've ever had.

The format was tweaked a little to accomodate The Chad Larson Experience. We kind of needed to finish in the top three to make sure the coordinators were right about selecting the four-advance format. We played a 16-team bracket with a 2nd/3rd bracket and a 4th place bracket.

In our first game, we played Ignition out of Michigan. We took half 8-0, had a 10-0 lead before somebody (ahem....Brisbois) got scored on, and then ended up winning 15-2. We wore our CLX greys for the first time. They are okay, I kind of like the way the color looks, but wish our jersies were black after seeing the longsleeve blacks jersies.

I think we waited around for almost an hour and a half before the next game started. The Soy Nuts-Third Coast game went long and Soy Nuts pulled off what many people considered to be an upset. I don't know about that but good job Soy Nuts. Well, we played them and took an early lead and never looked back. I believe the final score was 15-4. This game was over very fast, in fact, the Ice-Salsa game was only at 6-3, and the Moe-Happy and Briefcase-Kids games were barely past halftime. I got to watch some good games. A lot of teams weren't looking too good. The Briefcase game was 15-10, I think the Moe game was 15-10, and the Ice-Salsa game was 15-13 Ice.

So, in the thrid round, we played Ice and won handily again. We took a 6-1 lead and never looked back. Took halftime 8-4 and kept that similar lead through the rest of the game, winning 15-11. While the final score looked kind of close, I don't feel we were ever in danger of losing the game. I don't remember too many things about this game other than Mike was doing a great job of throwing hammers over their zone and Jon and Solarz were handling well. Moe won 15-8, kind of surprising, but like I predicted, a CLX-Moe final.

Saturday night was a lot of fun. We found a bowling/karaoke place. The bowling was a little expensive, but we still played two games and the Kevin-Seth team destroyed the Brisbois-Mike Lun team twice. I rolled a 159 in the first game and something around 110 or 120 in the second. Several pitchers of beer were consumed and it was good.

Karaoke was a blast. Few players braved the stage, but those that did put on great performances. First, Shawn jumped up there and rocked a "Interstate Love Song", followed by James McKenzie crooning out The Band's "The Weight". Seth touched our hearts with a "Wish You Were Here". I followed with Elvis's "In the Ghetto", my karaoke stand-by. Joe had been standing outside to avoid singing his song, but when he showed up, he was called and we tore the house down with Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy", complete with a loss of shirt at the line "I'm too sexy for my shirt."

Second round was just as good. Shawn and Abby had a duet to "When I'm Sixty-Four" by the Beatles. Seth showed his grunge side with Pearl Jam's "Alive." Just about all the guys were singing, the girls somewhat silent. Then James gets up and does the Nirvana unplugged classic "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" Possibly the best performance of the night. Again, all the guys were singing along, the girls not so much. Tai jumps on stage and does a rendition of "I'm Going Down", I think she said it was a Mary J. Blige song. Correction, Tai's song was the best of the night. I had to follow her at with a "What a Wonderful World", which I'm told sounded like Cookie Monster. Finally, to end the night, James, Seth, Joe, Shawn, and I performed "Bye, Bye, Bye" by NSync.

A great night.

Finals next day weren't until 1:40. We played Flaming Moe as said before. They weren't playing some of their players due to injuries and some seemed to be playing more than they had against us at other times. At the same time, though, we were missing the Sheldahls and Gibbs, who are among the best women defenders and cutters.

The game starts off like usual, with the teams trading points until 3-3. Moe has a little miscommunication that ends up in my hands and I toss a score to BJ to make it 4-3. I think we make it 5-3, also. I don't remember many other specifics from the first half other than our offensive teams scored every time, I believe. We take half 8-5. We pull, but get the disc back and make it 9-5. Tai makes a great layout catch on a pass I tried my best to turf. Thank you Tai. We get the disc back, but make a short field turn and they make it 9-6. Again, I don't remember much now, but I think it was 10-9 us at the closest point, but we go on to win 15-12, on a great layout score by Abby Doriani that Jon tried his best to turf. In the second half, our offense had a lot of trouble moving the disc, but we found ways to score, notably, on the "huck to Joe and Wes" plays. It was kind of a 2003 throwback there, just hucking to Wes when in trouble. We played a good game, it wasn't always pretty, but to win you have to find ways to score.

Notes:

-I felt the CLX-Moe game was a little more tense than usual. There wasn't controversy exactly, but the game wasn't free of calls, either. Moe had three calls in the game that I thought were particularly bad. All three were on misreads that CLX got D's on, but the Moe player called foul, twice on second attempts. I don't think at all that they were trying to be dishonest, but just felt the extra pressure to have to make a play since it was a regional final. I have no doubt that all three would have been nullified by an observer, even though one was uncontested by us. On the same note, Moe did score upwind twice in one point and once it was taken back by an ambiguous line call, and the second by a pick call. We ended up scoring that point. Other than that there were a couple of other calls by either team, always getting some sort of protest by the other team, whether it be short and controlled or the dreaded long discussion. Paul Norgaard told me he was telling Moe before the game that we had requested observers. He was only messing with them, and as team captain, I have no reason to request observers against Moe. I want to make that clear.

-The defense was good this weekend. Some layout D's making their way into the fray. Rachel Derscheid had one early in the Ignition game. Christina also had a good one. Jon layed out early in the Ignition game, too. Stu had a great bid in the Moe game that I had a good look at. Joe had his normal scattering of layout D's, and had a great one against him by Pat of Moe. I had a good look there, too, as I threw the disc. Tai was playing great defense all weekend and was really a force on defense all year. She will be missed in Australia, as will Christina and all the players who can't make it there.

-We tried some different strategy against Moe in the second half that wasn't as successful as I thought it would be. They traditionally aren't as good against a straight-up force, but I tried to mix in a force sideline on swing throws, intending to keep them from getting the big yardage gainers in the middle of the field. Well, they just hucked it downfield instead of putting up throws to the middle and it didn't really have the effect I intended. Oh well.

-If I had to choose an MVP for CLX I'm pretty sure I'd have to go with Mike Lun. When Mike is in the offense, we have the chance to throw the disc all the way down the field and score in one throw. In fact, my favorite thing to do is line out outside the stack on a brickmark pull and just run deep on the first offensive throw from Mike. He opens up the field a lot more with his breaks and hammers, too. I'd have to say he has the best hammer of anybody I know right now, including Karsten. Luckily, I get to play with both of them. While other players on the team can huck, none can do it with the consistency and confidence that Mike does. When he isn't in, the offense is not usually run as well and the play is more horizontal and less vertical. That's not to say our other handlers are deficient in any way, in fact Jon, Stu, and Solarz are very important parts of the offense, but Mike just has the throws that CLX needs so bad. His defense isn't too shabby either and once a tournament he skies for a disc that I thought he had no chance at getting. Against Moe, I threw him a huck that I thought he jumped a step too early on, but just kept elevated and almost floating in the air until the disc was in his hand. I'd also have Joe up there for MVP. He consistently guards the other team's best player, picks up D's, scores long, and as the season went on, contributed some clutch throws.

-I think I played an average tournament. I wasn't playing poorly, but I wasn't bringing the house down, either. I think I contributed some solid play and while some of my enzone throws weren't perfect, they were all completed! My best game was probably the Ice game. I thought I was fairly helpful in the zone offense, got to run the disc up the field with Jon, which seems to happen about once a tournament, and played some good defense.

That's about it.

I'll be posting a worlds team writeup soon. I need to write down my #1 favorite ultimate game. I might throw out some nationals predicitions, etc. We'll see.

Regionals Predictions

I started writing a blog directed to Flaming Moe, but I got halfway done and ran out of steam. Here's the gist of it: Look, you're good enough to win the whole thing...do it. If you don't, you need to remember that you don't have to win regionals to make nationals. All you have to do at regionals is qualify. If you lose, which is likely, only one team wins after all, you need to play like you still want to go. The last two years you have followed up losses at regionals with half-hearted losses in your next game. Make this year different. It's up to everybody on the team, not just your captains to prepare you after a loss. Keep a positive attitude and believe in yourselves. Florida in late October is very nice. Saturday morning quarters at nationals is even better.

Regionals predictions:

Pool A: The Chad Larson Experience takes the pool
Pool B: Mr. Briefcase takes the pool
Pool C: Flaming Moe takes the pool
Pool D: Ice takes the pool over Salsa Police. Will it be close, I don't know.

Flaming Moe beats Mr. Briefcase in the B/C pool matchup. I don't care what everybody is saying about Briefcase and how everybody thinks they'll be champions. Briefcase won't finish higher than third. They are not scary, they are good, but not scary. Look, how many times has Kaze/Disco Demolition/Mr. Briefcase ever won Cooler/CHCs/regionals? Zero! How many times have they even made finals of a big tournament? Once! Just because it happened to be recently doesn't mean Mr. Briefcase is going to clean up at regionals. Moe wins a good one.

The Chad Larson Experience v. Ice in the A/D pool matchup will be a tough one. I'm going to say one of two things happen. Either Ice cleans our clock, our CLX wins a close one. It's unknown who Ice will even have, but they potentially have the best players from their U of Iowa nationals runs including Elijah Edwards, Dan West, Mike Francis, Colleen Roarty, Sara Hill, Mackenzie, Mary, Mark G., in addition to Zach, Kresowicks, Matt Klemm, and others. Of course, who knows who will be there. This game will have the feel of a quarters game at nationals. Who wins? Can I really say my own team loses? Let's put it this way...the winner of this game wins regionals. I'd bet the house on it. What the heck...CLX wins.

Front door: Moe v. CLX. Well, I kind of have to lean towards CLX here.

Back door: I don't care how any of the other teams do, its between Ice and Mr. Briefcase to play Moe in the back door finals. Ice wins. Mr. Briefcase falls to the fourth place bracket.

Back door finals. Redo of the front door finals, since CLX will turn down their nationals bid. Ice wins. Moe takes the second bid.

Double back door finals. Mr. Briefcase plays Salsa Police and Briefcase takes the 3rd spot to nationals.

Wow. That's probably really wrong. There are four teams that can win this tournament, maybe five if Carleton is strong, but I feel like this isn't their year (or do I just want it to not be their year?). How those four will end up is a mystery. That would be neat if I was right. Then CLX would have won regionals, Moe would have made it, and Mr. Briefcase would have finished third, maybe even fourth, I'd accept a Carleton 3rd bid just to see Briefcase stay at home again.

Prove me wrong children, prove me wrong.

Fantasy Finals

Well everybody, here it is at last, the finals write up. For those of you who missed it, the game was well worth watching. These teams have a history and know each other well, so there was no early game "feeling the opponent out" phase that some games have. It was down to business from the first pull.

As each team warmed up, it looked like Flaming Moe 2004 was taking it a little more seriously. The CLX players were just throwing all kinds of useless throws and actually cheering when there were drops. Is this the state of competitive coed ultimate? Well, they paid for it. Flaming Moe won the flip and chose to pull to CLX, and their offense was not ready. Maybe I don't understand their game plan, but they might want to warm up a little more. They have an uncontested turnover and Moe quickly scores to make it 1-0. Moe rips a pull deep into CLX territory, and it takes them nearly 10 passes to get it out of Callahan range. The Moe defense is tight and layout abound. CLX throws a pass just out of reach of Savage and Moe picks it up to make it 2-0. CLX responds with a big huck to #99 Van Maanen. I guess when all else fails, put it to the mountain. Now on the board, CLX breathes easy, sends in a D line, and Versteeg gets a great poach D. Without wasting time, he picks up and throws a hammer/blade to Van Maanen. Now 2-2. Moe tries a huck, but CLX is there, and some great handling by #69 Cunningham gets the disc into the red zone and #21 Sheldahl scores for CLX, now on a three point run.

A lot of members from Hot Action 2004 and CLX 2005 are hanging out on the sidelines, beer in hand. They are a little hungover/drunk from last night. They start an impromptu chant "Monkeyfist. Monkeyfist. Monkeyfist." Their heckle has a profound impact on Moe and they rattle off three of their own. CLX is on their heels and looking unfocused. They are able to get back on track with a score, but Moe answers to make it 6-4. Chad moves it downfield again and put up a hospital pass. Luckily for CLX, they've been there before and make the grab. Another D by Voytas over Klink gives CLX the disc and a shot at tying the game. They take that opportunity and complete a #2 Karsten huck to #16 Meyer. Game tied 6-6. The teams trade points and Moe takes half 9-8, game to 17.

Moe receives to start the half, but #15 Walding gets a layout D on Moe's Moss. Staron tosses a score to Seiler to tie it at 9-9. Norgaard comes out hucking, though and Klink grabs a score over #1 Seiler, who's beggining to look like he's played too many points. The next point is a dogfight as many long turns occur for each team. Some layout D bids, unsuccessful O bids, and many overthrows. Moe finally connects, though and takes an 11-9 lead. CLX calmly answers with great offense from their "feminator" Derscheid/Savage duo. Why haven't they been using this before? CLX knows they need a big defense, but are unable to get it, as Moe takes a 12-10 lead. CLX runs the "feminator" again and again Moe's women just can't stop it. They do a great job of working the disc upfield before an endzone strike. 12-11. Norgaard tosses a 65-yard huck to Klink, though, as Moe has a good think working, too. 13-11. CLX suffers from a drop near midfield, and Moe puts one away to make it 14-11. On the CLX sideline, Bartel holds an orange Gatorade in one hand and a fruit punch Gatorade in the other, yet it is unknown what he is thinking about.

The Chad Larson Experience gets the disc and scores on a #2 Karsten huck to #1 Seiler. The D line plays harder than ever and switch to a straight up force to prevent the huck. It works, although Moe gets a huck off, it is not long and flat, but high and curving to avoid the mark. Gangel intercepts yet another pass intended for Klink. CLX works it upfield and scores to come within one at 13-14. A wave of confidence seems to be flowing through CLX 2004 now. Moe doesn't look sluggish though, and responds with deadly accuracy. A long throw for a score makes it 13-15. CLX scores quickly, using the lady duo again, with Camille Yu added in as a third handler. On the next point, Voytas gets an incredible layout defense, and Versteeg does what he does best, putting the disc in the endzone to Karsten. Tied at 15-15. Moe works with the calm demeanor they always have, but #12 Sheldahl blocks her lady and burns her for the score. "Double burn!" erupts from the sidelines. 16-15. To avoid overtime, CLX needs a score here. Moe again works the disc upfield but turns. CLX gives it back, but the D is too much and Moe tosses a disc out of bounds. #2 Karsten picks up a bends a forehand way out of bounds but it comes back in to a streaking #23 Gangel who leaps, catches, falls, toes the line, and is called in by the observer. CLX 2004 storms the field to congratulate each other on their 17-15 victory.

Post game interviews went like this:

CLX's Seiler: "Well, we were just living the dream out here. We're just a bunch of old Iowa Staters and randomly collected friends who weren't supposed to amount to anything as an ultimate team, but we never stopped believing in ourselves and were able to do it our way. I can't imagine a better way to win than with the players and friends you've played with all along."

Moe's Norgaard: Reporter asks whether the 2nd place finish is meaningful. "Second? Second! Any team out there can get second. What's the big deal about second? Look, me and six trained monkeys could get second. I wonder if they need a pickup anywhere? Well, we crapped the bed and now we have to sleep in it. We had that game, but instead we just squatted and crapped right there in our own bed."

CLX's Walding: "Wow, man. Like pops said, it's circular. It all comes around and goes around. Life is like the rim of the frisbee and we just grabbed it today. Look at these uniforms, too. I don't want to play in anything different."

CLX's Hill: "I guess it was fun and all, but I think I'm just going to go get hooked on Meth."

CLX's Savage: "The way we came back reminded me of playing in the '89 women's finals back when...wait, maybe that was '93 finals...no...was it '94 Worlds in Madison...well I can't remember. I do now have the ultimate "grand slam" with four different national and world titles, so I think I'll go pound some grand slams at Denny's. Whose with me?"

Hot Action 2004's Cram: "I should play with those guys. I can run around and huck to the endzone. In fact, I wonder if I can get people to say "cramming" instead of "hucking"."

Versteeg, Karsten, and Staron were unreachable for comment as they were apparently playing a game of hotbox somewhere.

CLX's Voytas: "I know we won, of course we were going to win. Did you guys have any doubt? C'mon man. Let's talk about something of importance, like Busch Light. You guys want to roll on some Busch Light tonight?"

Random Spectator: "Yeah, they were good, but did you see how Small those Packages were?"

Well, that about wraps it up. It was a great extended fantasy weekend here in fantasy world and fantasy finals are over. Who knows what kind of fantasy tournaments may take place in the future, but for now, CLX 2004 will remain fantasy champions.

Fantasy Bracket Play

All pool play is over and from here on out, every game is going to count and each team is in danger of elimination. One wrong move late in a game could usher in the end of a team's season. This is where the true test of strength and will begins.

Quarters Game One: Flaming Moe 2004 v. Kaze 2003

Flaming Moe ended up winning the highly contested A power pool and this game should be one of the least contested games of the day, but anything can happen from this point on. Kaze 2003 had to play an extra game yesterday and it is unclear what effect that will have on them. At the same time, Moe had some tough games to play yesterday, but has to feel confident as the one seed right now. Moe receives and through a series of six or seven uncontested passes, scores. Kaze gets the disc and puts up a poor huck. Moe moves down the field uncontested again. Moe gets the disc back right away off a short turnover and a strike to Moss makes it 3-0 Moe. Kaze seems unprepared for this game. Moe extends the lead to 5-0 before Kaze scores. The rest of the game is a casual trading of points until Moe wins 15-9. Kaze never even shows signs of wanting to win the game. They make some plays and throw some hucks, but the drive to win never really appears.

Quarters Game Two: The Chad Larson Experience 2005 v. Meth 2005

On the same side of the bracket is a same-year rematch between CLX and Meth. When the two teams were at full strength, they split the season series 2-2, alternating victories over sectionals, regionals, and nationals. Both teams have good offenses and while Meth's is more one or two-dimensional, they are a little more disciplined. If CLX can connect on their hucks, Meth will be in trouble, but if they can't, this should be a great game. Meth receives and CLX 2005 comes out in a zone, but Meth works it upfield well, almost scoring, but turning. CLX gives it right back though, and Meth runs an isolation play to strike first, 1-0. Meth pulls and comes out in a zone of their own. CLX 2005 doesn't waste time swinging the disc too much and focuses on upfield throws and overhead throws. There isn't a lot of wind, so CLX tries a number of hammers. They are working until one throw is a little too lazy. Meth gets the D and a quick transition huck score. They come out in a zone again, but CLX scores. The teams start playing man defense and trade points to 6-4. Meth scores again and zones again. They throw CLX off-guard a little and they turn early, giving Meth a short field. They are very good at isolation plays and score again. Meth takes half 8-4. This is a very hard team to back against, but CLX is a team that could do it, although when they fall behind, they usually have a hard team getting the lead back. CLX receives and scores, but Meth does the same on a great grab by Edwards over Gangel. CLX is subbing a lot of players in and out of the game, and they aren't finding a good rhythm. Chad gets a break when #15 Walding gets a D and #16 Meyer scores off a huck. Meth is relaxed and focused on winning and respond with two more. I assumed this game was nearly over and left to watch others. Meth won 15-11.

Quarters Game Three: Blah 2003 v. Flaming Moe 2006

Flaming Moe 2006 was able to stay in the quarters bracket, but probably won't have the athleticism or superstars to stay with some of Blah's better cutters. They play good team defense, but don't seem to shut down individual offensive players. In the first half, Blah's hucks are on target and they rush to an 8-3 off throws to Shiel and a player they call Jeebus. In the second half, Moe scores on some longer throws and complete a decent amount of hucks, but five points are a lot to come back from and indeed, they are unable. Blah takes the game 15-10. Moe 2006 played one of the toughest schedules of the entire tournament and only went 2-5, but managed to make the top eight and played very competitively.

Quarters Game Four: The Chad Larson Experience 2004 v. The Chad Larson Experience 2006

CLX 2006 receives and scores on a long huck to Brisbois over Gangel. CLX 2004 responds with a huck to #23 Gangel over Brisbois. A battle is brewing here that could be good. CLX 2006 gets the disc again and moves the disc well, scoring on a midfield huck to Anjonrin-Ohu from #24 Lun. CLX 2004 attempts a huck and #2 skies over Kasuga. CLX 2006 has a few great long defenders, but as a team, they are rather short and CLX 2004 should take advantage of this. The game progresses and CLX 2004 goes on a short run with scores by Costello, Voytas and #9 Derscheid off some #69 Cunningham and #2 Karsten hucks. CLX 2004 is feeling good on the sidelines and looking good in their non-mainstream uniforms...really good! CLX 2006 tries to go 3/4, but 2004 stops them and the handling team Sarah Savage and Sara Hill are able to work the disc upfield. 2004 takes halftime 8-5. CLX 2006 is not subbing as often as CLX 2004, and could pay for it later. CLX 2004 receives and hucks to #23 Gangel over Brisbois again. Brisbois isn't liking it and stays in another point. Lun puts up a floating huck to Brisois and a foul is called, arguments ensue. Disc goes back, goes back up, and Brisbois makes the grab. Disc shown, tempers flare, but all is cooled down soon enough. That was the spark that CLX 2004 needed to put the game away and as the two teams are at each other a little, a call game is avoided. CLX 2004 plays well enough to win during the rest of the game and wins 15-11 to advance to semis.

Overall, quarters were not as exciting as they could have been. Usually, games are closer in quarters than this, but none of the games went down to the wire.

Semifinal Game One: Flaming Moe 2004 v. Meth 2005

This game could be as epic as any game. Moe starts with the disc and scores. Meth scores. Teams trade to 4-4 with no breaks and only one turnover per team. Moe receives again, but Norgaard can't complete a huck to Klink, as Kresowick jumps in for a D. Meth scores to take a 5-4 lead. Flaming Moe gets the disc again, but again a long huck is defended. Meth scores with supreme patience. Their spread offense is working well and the handlers are not forcing throws. The Kampfes are playing great. Moe scores, but Meth answers and a Moe drop gives Meth half 8-5. Meth gets the disc and works it upfield, but can't complete and Norgaard picks it up and bombs it downfield to Moravec, who runs it down. The Moe sideline gets louder and they storm down on defense. A Meth miscue gives them the disc back and they score again. Meth's Francis throws a long throw to Eastland, who doesn't make it in the endzone, but a dump and a throw away, Oppold is scoring for them. Moe takes care of offense and scores. They come out in a rarely used zone that catches Meth a little offguard. They get the disc and score...thrice. They lead 11-9. What ensues can not be put into words well. Each team refuses to lose and the defensive efforts are incredible. Bodies fly all over the field and hucks are abundant. Meth ties the game at 13s. Moe makes it 14-13. Meth scores on a Groteluschen grab from Peterson. Moe keeps their cool and makes it 15-14. Meth has college nationals experience and is not worried. They score uncontested for 15s. They come out in a zone, but a deep miscue leads to a massive Moe huck to an unguarded lady. Moe leads 16-15. Moe comes out in a zone, but Meth takes them time and what the defense gives them and scores in twenty to thirty passes. 16-16, game to 17. Moe gets the disc and calmly works it upfield. They swing back and forth a lot and Solarz is throwing I/Os like she was born to do it. They turn far upfield, but Meth has a major miscue on offense, throwing to a receiver who was clearing as the throw goes up. It is intercepted and the Moe marker runs to the endzone and scores. An incredible 17-16 victory and a spot in the finals.

Semifinal Game Two: Blah 2003 v. The Chad Larson Experience 2004

The Chad Larson Experience 2004 is pumped up and looking good after their victory, while Blah 2003 didn't have too much trouble putting Moe 2006 away. This game promises to be a good one as both teams are very athletic, continually huck, and play aggressive defense, both short and long. The game starts off with great D, as both teams fight to get the upper hand. CLX 2004 connects on some hucks off big skies by #99 Van Maanen and #23 Gangel. Gangel is playing great today and is all over the field. Blah is calm enough to score themselves and brings the game to a 4-3 deficit. CLX pulls and traps Blah in their own endzone. Four passes later, a floating disc is thrown and Staron outjumps the Blah handler to get a Callahan goal. He is visible excited, throwing out high fives and is heard on the sideline exclaiming "I've never D'd that ****ing guy!" CLX 2004 is on a tear now and scores two more, leading 7-3. Blah isn't going to go away that easy and brings it to 8-6 before halftime. After halftime, Blah is playing inspired, they get some great layout D's by Jeebus and others and their women are playing very solid on offense. They grab a 10-9 lead. CLX 2004 calls a timeout and regroups. The women come out fired up and #9 Derscheid gets a D, as does #12 Sheldahl. CLX 2004 connects on some hucks to regain the lead 11-10. Blah ties it at 11s and the game is tied at 12s and 13s. CLX 2004 scores easily to make it 14-13 and gets the D to win, but turns. Blah gets another chance and turns, but CLX gives it back and Blah makes sure to score. 14s, game to 16. CLX 2004 turns, but a great long D by Van Maanen gets them the disc back. They score to make it 15-14. Blah turns it over short and CLX 2004 has a short field. #2 Karsten picks up the disc and throws a crossfield hammer to Voytas who reels it in for the win. Bear hugs ensue and the team pulls out their trademark candy ciggarettes.

So, the finals matchup is set: Flaming Moe 2004 v. The Chad Larson Experience 2004

These teams split their season series 4-3 in favor of CLX. Will Moe tie it at 4s? Will The Chad Larson Experience prevail? Stay tuned.