BBQ on Saturday, October 2!

I hope everyone can make it to my place for Oct. 2. In honour of the Hammers' extremely successful* season, I'm honoured to play host. The details:

Who - Hammers & friends. Also, please feel free to bring your cat if s/he's an aggressive mouser.

What - End-of-year team BBQ. I'll have burgers, toppings, side salad, snacks, etc. on the ready. If you're vegan, lemme know and I'll pick up veggie burgers. Feel free to bring something else to toss on the grill. There'll be beer in the fridge but please BYOB if you plan on making a full evening of it (rest assured I'll be doing just that).

When - Any time after 4pm if you're up for socializing / a pre-drink or two / college football (Alabama / Florida! Texas / Oklahoma! Yee-haw!). I figure it's getting late in the year so we may as well take advantage of whatever daylight's available. But as noted above, I hope folks feel comfortable staying late into the evening.

Where - 2585 Maynard St., aka "The 'hood". I'm almost on the corner of North & Maynard, but Maynard's a one-way and you won't be able to turn off North in my house's direction. Parking on the street. I'm in the red house.

Why - 'Cause I love you silly geese.

Please lemme know if you have any questions... 405.9259.

Peace!

* Hot sun, good folks, loads of post-game outings and a handful of wins... "success" by anyone's definition, no?

Fin.

The Hammers' 2010 season ended on Saturday with the playoffs analogous to the summer as a whole. Consider:

• The arrival at a damp, windy field in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere to face the Discs of Fury to kick things off (season opener at Cowie Hill vs. tourney opener in Mordor);
• The non-serious manner in which the Hammers treated all things frisbee (compare the season-long decision to avoid practice to the decision to hit Timmy Ho's and the NSLC between Games 1 and 2);
• The sensation of growing fonder of the experience as the day/season wore on.

But key (Ha! I said "buttkey"...) distinctions render it an imperfect comparison. While we all would have liked a season extension for a few more weeks, I sensed we were all happy to call it a day after three games on Saturday.

A more important distinction was found on the scoreboard after Game 1 on Saturday, leading the captain of the defeated Furious Discs to congratulate us for our progress from June through September. Whereas his early-season cigarettes were mocking, his Saturday morning cigarette was an act of resignation following defeat by a long-time rival. Pupil bests teacher and all that. His humility was more delicious than the "Everything bagel" w. herb & garlic cream cheese I savoured shortly thereafter. Barely.

Games 2 and 3 were great, other than the brief hiccup of anger caused by the other team's visor-sporting wanker on the first point of Game 3 but nothing could have brought me down after the opening-game win. The Hammers brought tenacious D all day long, unforgivingly so against the (once again) shorthanded Sloppy Joes. A few calls, a touch of fatigue (and perhaps a drunk captain) prevented the Hammers from completing a 3-0 day but kudos to Kate for coining the halftime cheer as we faced a halftime deficit - "Ain't no thang." Big props to our formerly Fredericton duo of Dan and Marcie for patient handling all day long (and also to Dan for the best layout of the year).

Thanks to everyone who came out on Saturday or at any point this season. Derek, we missed you like the deserts miss the rain this weekend. Bryan (and possibly Kate) may follow the lead of Heather in looking for new teams in new cities next summer. God speed, you wonderful people. I hope everyone else can make it to next summer's roster.

As always, I love you all.

LOVELY DAY

Hey team - hope you're all recuperating nicely. Myself - I am laying in my bed, too sore to move, too exhausted to even crack the beer that is in my fridge, which would be tragic if it weren't so pitiful.

It was a long, fun day. And here, below, are the pics. I'll leave the detailed tourney breakdown to someone else - I have some self-nursing to take care of (not as dirty as it sounds)...

Slideshow (chronological, so the new stuff is at the end, but a nice trip down memory lane regardless):

Or direct link to all pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/muiseam/sets/72157620568162050/with/3847056222/

Great year folks! Let get on planning that year-end BBQ.

An Open Letter To The League Convenors

Dear HURL,

Let's assume it was an honest mistake that you had scheduled for us to play last night on a field that does not exist anymore - as it has been fenced off and excavated, looking more like a motocross track than a woman's field hockey pitch or speed skating oval or patch of usable public space. Yes, let's assume you had entered the wrong field code into the schedule, or misspelled "Wanderer's Grounds", or were distracted by the annual parade of dead-eyed Shinerama participants, or something similarly careless. Know, however, that you robbed us of our chance at redemption against the universally loathed Dirty Discs, aka the only team that baited our Captain into a shouting match, and embarrassed us in the hushed presence of Hammer Royalty, King Dr. Wiggy.

Know this, and feel shame.

But know also that your failure to function competently gave us our first second near-full-team practice of the season, and just before the playoffs at that. It was also our introduction to new ringer Marcie "H-Mac" Balch - who gives us renewed hope in our season-long quest to destroy the short, bearded and relentless Discs Of Fury - our arch nemeses. The immediate future looks bright for the Hammers - a spike in confidence the result of your idiocy.

I will forgive you this time, HURL, but know that behind my professional smile and courteous handshake lies a frothing ocean of suppressed anger and disappointment - a tempest that can only be quelled with ample amount of free alcohol, hand delivered in gaudy neon cooler bags this Saturday afternoon.

Know this also, and consider thyself forewarned. Ball is in your court, or more aptly, disc is in yr hands.

Sincerely,
AA

PS: Playoff field location is below:

Here's What You Missed

At some point during our surgical disembowelment of the undermanned and (frankly) outclassed Sloppy Joes squad last night, I turned to McKim and asked if we should be feeling guilty about the lopsided score, to which he replied "maybe a little". Some time later, maybe at Freeman's, I asked the same question to Derek, whose response was as far from McKim's as Crocodile Dundee is from being able to pay off his tax debts (confusing AND topical!) - "ab-so-lute-ly not".

It is 11 hours later, and I'm still not sure which side of the fence I sit on. While the final score was truly horrific (15-1), our play, albeit virtually untested, was a thing of beauty. Last night, team, we were an army of hammer-wielding swans - pounding the aptly-named Sloppy Joes into even finer ground hamburger, splattering bloody, spicy sauce all over our majestic white plumage, which we happily shucked clean over delicious beers and pizza, and also their gamey corpses (too much?). More specifically, save for a few early dropsies, we caught everything: Tim, Derek, Sarah, and Matt all made ridiculous catches. Derek's Pete Townsend-esque windmill grab to snag a long hammer from Tim for the score was particularly noteworthy, as was Sarah's highlight grab to score her first point of the season.

Accordingly, the Sloppy Joes - in an impressive bit of post-game spirit - awarded their Big Rock Grasshopper Wheat Ale Players Of The Game to Derek and Sarah. No argument here.