STRANGE SMALL WORLD

It's been 2 months since I ran and played disc.
Blame it on hormones and my unpredictable hospital schedule.
I was 70 messages into deleting 500++ messages in my inbox while on duty today and I found this:

STOLEN FROM A SINGAPORE ULTIMATE FORUM HEHE:

Manila Spirits, to me, is one of the very best tourneys of the year. Not only for the legendary Philippine spirit and hospitality, but also for the great fields, the stiff competition, fun atmosphere, and breadth of play.

Freakshow registered into the Spirits a bit late, and perhaps given the recent huge jumps in standards of play, its not surprising that we started as #6 seed. that didn't mean anything in a power-pool tourney as it became clear that any of the top 6-7 teams were serious contenders.

Day one for Fs saw a straightforward win vs an experienced Dharma Bums. Game 2 however, was a different story, as the 'show matched against #2 seed Philippines A. Stacked with a huge amount of athleticism and talent, this was one matchup in which Fs were the underdogs. Phillipinas A is made up as an all-star team from their top Ultimate league. (note that Philippines has 3 divisions of Ultimate leagues, each with 22 teams! (66 teams total)).

It didnt help that Fs stalwart, Jason Lopez (who made it to the Mythical 7 MVP) was recruited early to play for his homeland, and that another key Fs defender (harvard) did not make the trip out. Still it was a point-for-point match to the half (7-6 Phillipinas) . Led by the stellar chase (rabbit) of Columbian Oscar Fletcher, our clam-D was very effective at stalling the Phillipine offense. But the Blue team was able to notch up their lead with time ticking away to 9-7, this despite Fs marching to the front of the Philippine end-zone at least twice. With a strict hard cap of 1 hr, it was a race against time. Up until this point there was tenacious play on both sides, littered with big hucks and huge bids. Risky last minute gambles to catch up by Fs led to late Philippine goal and a 10-7 result against the green.

to survive pool play and get a good cross-over matchup, Fs had to win against the young but much improved Chinese-Taipei team. recall that these guys won their own tourney this year and were hungry for more victory. Stacked with ex-army and phys-ed 21 year olds, the efforts of their (full time) coaches and gov't sponsorship has resulted in a tight, fast, and disciplined team that plays with hard-edged, if not abrasive, intensity.

But they did not know that Fs was packing Dawny "Weapons of mass Dawnstruction" Yeo; and her majestic fury led the green to a glorious one point victory.

Fs's final game Saturday was vs the feared and stacked ringer team (#1 seed), Black Flag (see the Mythical 7 list). As far as i could tell 90% their men and women were elite UPA players, and a couple of very talented Phillipine women. Carried by the extreme intensity of the last two games, it was Fs that stormed ahead. Starting the game on D, Fs had earned two valuable break points and led 2-0, temporarily putting Black Flag at half-mast.

then Black Flag's experience started to take hold, and they methodically clamped down on the green, forcing a series of turnovers with hard marks and smart poaching play. Black Flag took the game by two (?); but what was more important to Fs was that we met the best teams, and we were absolutely, positively able to beat them. We faltered mentally in this game but still it was a decent show. Fs closed Saturday improving to #4 seed.

*In other saturday news among the top seeds, Boracay A scored a huge upset beating Black Flag by a small margin. Black Flag went on to beat the Phillipines in a close match (i think). BeijingShoik stumbled a bit and lost 3/4 of their games mostly due to a small roster. everybody was beating each other up.

Sunday is where everything matters. some say Sunday is "fun"day? ... well a heck of a lot more fun if you play your best. Fs game 1 saw a matchup with a talented Phillipine Weekend Karma, whom despite their great heart and athleticism, succumbed by a large margin (13-2) to the green. yeah we won, but it wasnt fun due to our own (and only) sub-par play of the weekend.

Regardless, his meant a semi-final (re)match with Taiwan. One could say it was quickly established that there was no love lost between these two teams.

Perhaps being from North Jersey, i can surely fault myself in this game for my colorful language in certain moments. mix that with a language/cultural barrier, a couple of really poor calls, and well, this was a grudge match. Again, our pocket-sized WMD Yeo led the 'show with a mushroom cloud of intensity. Points were long and grueling and as time ticked down, we were tied 6-6. Fs scored the next point to take the half 7-6, and we immediately got ready to pull and play D. (there is no break for half, its just an immediate "mirror" with no stoppage).

Fatigue and heat were a huge factor by now and it was only for the alertness of Mark Newton that he realized that we were at the half and should have instead been receiving (we started the game on D). now there was about 4 minutes left. It should have been in the bag.... but...

Taiwan was out for survival, and they took quick advantage of a Fs turnover to score: 7-7. we were in the hard cap. Universe point. Fs' "A" line took the field and as i watched from the sideline, i felt nervous. fortunately, our play did not reflect that: a deep Derek Wong pull, followed up 5-6 sharp cuts. handler, to handler, to Sam Pan mid, to a deep cutting in, to a handler, to a dawny WMD mid, to a handler, to a ..... Cong Pei (MVP) score! Girl power! game over. Fs triumphs but be sure that there is soon to be a new contender in asia: Chinese Taipei.

it was a arduous road, but we made it to the Semi-Finals!

**meanwhile in the other quarters, Black Flag had no problem this time with Boracay and won by 3 or 4 points. But on the other field, Phillipinas A was matched against PULA (i.e. Phillipinas ; PULA proved themselves no secondary fiddle though. they fought hard and lost their Quarter finals only by 2 pts.... 6-8.

and so it was... another Fs v Phillipinas showdown this time in the Semi's

I'd have to emphasize that on almost every metric, Fs was the underdog: height, youth, depth of line, etc..... But any veteran will tell you that winning is as much about heart as it is about ability. Led by ex-Fs player Erik Waldie, Phillipinas was in no mood for settling... but neither was Fs and again it was a tit-for-tat battle.

a crucial turning point was a deep huck to Camillo Pelaez who, despite a hamstring injury was two paces ahead of his blue defender. But the throw carried downwind a step too far, and despite a massive lunge from Camillo, the disc hit the ground. Camillo's weakened hamstring tore and he was out of the tourney. Fs fought to the end, but again was short, this time by two points (11-9?).

Bitter? for some. but for certain we did our best. At this level of play, its NOT about any single episode of great play- great play is standard. Winning here is about consistency over the whole of the team. its about errors in that fabric of the team. when teams have 85-90% conversion rates (i.e. you hold the disc, and you score 85% of the time) errors are huge inflection points. We just had a couple of errors more than they did.

yeah we lost.....but as mentioned time and time again in the huddle, we came to play and to win, and we had one last game to play for 3rd place.

ask anyone in Asia about the Boracay Dragons and you will hear yarns about their ridiculous speed and precision. Honed by the white sand beaches and lashing winds of Boracay these guys are no joke. they were 2nd in the World beach Ulty Championships (and they did that playing savage!). Fit, fast, and fearless (i.e. shoulder high layouts) their mellow island vibe belies a fierce desire to kick your ass.

Fs jumped to the lead on a break service (we pulled on D, and got the disc back and scored), but Boracay stormed back to lead 7-3. One could forgive for giving up. Our sidelines were silent; and it seemed like the threshold of a bad dream. afterall what is the difference between 3rd place and 4th? those four points we were down seemed insurmountable. what did it matter?

It DID matter. a championship team plays every point like the score is 0-0; and after this Boracay run, we got our heads back on. A block here, a grab there, ... if we turned it over... play D and get it back! ....

....and suddenly it was 10-10 with no time left. it was universe point- yet again.

i was asked no less than four times this weekend "who are the people on the Fs roster?.... (i) dont recognize anyone." by various Asian Ulty vets and they implied that it was a 'new' Fs team. But it wasnt. We were down by 4 points in the last game vs Boracay in a most grueling weekend.... and we stormed back to tie them at Universe! we took that game beating Boracay 11-10.

seems like the same ol' Fs to me. i was very pleased to have been part of this team.


Well the finals was no less exciting... i think the crowd, fueled by gin and Colt 45's was alternatively massively entertained either by the game or by their own antics.

The finals was, like the rest of the weekend, a slug fest of bids, huge grabs, and amazing play. At least one blown out knee and a near dislocated shoulder might give you an indication of what was at stake and the effort being shown.

late in the finals, Phillipines led, by one, 14-13, with Black Flag pulling the disc in dim light. a Blue handler bobbled the deep pull and dropped the disc. Black Flag scores.

with the sun down, it stands 14-14, Universe Point.

on the next pull, a huge Phillipinas pass was thrown in the dim light and Peng of the Phillipines came down with the disc in the endzone with a Black Flag defender draped on his shoulder. massive eruption of celebration as the crowd celebrated their home victory but, 5 minutes later, it became clear that there was a travel call on the throw. the field had to clear, and the point replayed. Holy S^%$.

If i am not wrong, in this final point there was at least two more turns on before Phillipines finally scored on a cross field throw, winning the Manila Spirits 08 in the dark side of twilight. Incredible.
*****

I MISS PLAYING ULTIMATE.
SERIOUSLY.
I'M SO PROUD OF THOSE WHO PLAYED AND SO ENVIOUS OF THOSE WHO WATCHED.
(I couldn't even go because I was on duty that weekend)

I'm ok here in the hospital. I'm lucky to be in this training program.
But when I read things like this, I miss the life I had a few months ago.

*sigh*