The van Buren Boys

There will be a new ultimate team in town this year celebrating the life of the "meanest president" there ever was Martin van Buren. Did you know that he was the first president born on American soil, so technically, our first American president? Did you know that even though he was the first American president, his first language was Dutch? Did you know those scornful Whigs gave him the nickname Martin van Ruin? Whigs can be so cruel.

The new open team consists thus far of few commitments plus a lot of maybes and no responses. Not "no" responses, mind you, but no responses. As with CLX, I get to play general manager of the team and am currently trying to build a roster of players. Having sent out all but a few of the initial invitations, I'm a little worried that people aren't as excited as the already committed players are. I know it's just February, but with CLX, people usually responded within a day or two almost always confirming a desire to play on the team. Some of the van Buren Boys invites were sent out over two weeks ago with no response as of yet. At this point, I'd take a refusal or two, just to know that emails made it out to the players.

It's kind of looking more and more likely that the van Buren Boys will have to run tryouts, but I've been trying to think of a good time to hold them. Originally, I thought post-regionals, when the college kids would be done with their seasons. That's when most teams have tryouts. But, should we wait until other teams make their cuts first? Do we make people decide between our tryouts and another team's tryouts and risk losing those players altogether? A number of players the van Buren boys are interested in have expressed interest in trying out for Subzero. Some may accept the invitation, others may decline if they are accepted. Does that mean we wait until Zero is done? Now we're talking tryouts in June, after Poultry Days? I'd rather be practicing and strengthening a team by that point, not trying to decide who to keep and who to ditch. So maybe there could be two tryout sessions, one in April for non-college players and then one later in the season for college players who didn't have time to attend tryouts. I'm sure I'll decide upon some brilliant scheme.

Of the seven players we already have committed, the stock is very good. We've got Jon Staron, Dave Karsten, Joe Brisbois, Brian Lucido, William Kasuga (although I haven't actually talked to him yet!), Ross Cram, and myself. I feel there are a couple of other players who will commit as soon as they are assured of other talent on the team. Some potential players just need to figure out where they'll be this coming season.

It will be interesting forming a team made up of players ranging from "highly technical conservative player" to "huck it early and often". We should be able to find a happy medium somewhere in there, but play may depend on the given players on the field. We'll develop an offense (what! my CLX ears can't take this!) and some offensive strategies, but as I've said before, I'd rather react to what the defense is doing than become set in the ways of a system. Offense hasn't really been my thing, at least strategy-wise. Offense is definitely my thing, though, don't get me wrong. I'd like to add somebody to the team that has an interest in developing the offensive side of game. Myself, I'll be coordinating the defensive side of the disc.

Do we run offensive/defensive teams? I'm kind of torn here. Part of me says yes, part says no. What I imagine will happen is that about 2/3 of the team will be relegated to either offense or defense, with the remaining 1/3 playing on both sides of the disc. Maybe it will be more of a 75/25 split, I don't know.

What do we need right now? Huckers and handlers, preferably one who does both. We have a fair amount of deep players and cutters interested in the team right now, but lack depth in the thrower department, especially the hucker spot. With Dave, Brian, and Ross playing, it's a great start, but three or four more huckers would be nice. I'm not so worried at the handler position because we have a number of players interested who I wouldn't say are huckers, but are handlers that are well-versed at taking care of the disc.

Well, it's only early February, so I'm not too worried yet, just a little impatient. I'd like to start knowing who wants to play on this team, but it will take time. I want the strongest roster possible with this team, so it will take some time and patience to make that happen.

I think the most important question is who will get to wear the number 8?