No Pancakes - Eating Crow

There is always a delicate balance between frustration and fun when playing rec sports; I've always been of the opinion that win or lose, at the end of the day the most important thing was the exercise and the fresh air and the promise of a weekday beer buzz. Like Hal Johnson says, "stay fit, and have fun". That said, screw you Hal, goddammit did I want to win last night. And I tried really hard, to the point of nearly breaking my back on the ground and needlessly punishing my leg muscles such that they (and I) were virtually useless for most of our second game. I also injured Mark. And I accept full responsibility for any demerits to our spirit score from my swearing and spitting and blowing snot rockets, plus any other general embarrassing behavior stemming from my excessive expenditure of effort (alliteration!) for a co-ed recreational Frisbee game. Oh, and I punched a baby in the face and ate a kitten.

But to revisit my first sentence - this morning I wasn't bitter about the losses, or upset about my missed defensive cues, or kicking myself over all my wonky throws and dropped passes, rather I was chuckling over Derek's Rocky II impressions... and Michelle and Ivan's Lost quotes... and my planting the Frisbee under Ivan's chin as he blew past me at mach 5 (and his subsequent glowering)... and Adam's default resting position pre-huck (i.e.) crawling around on all fours. So yeah, we win some, we lose some, we are still obviously the third best team in the third tier of HURL.

Not to take away from Tim's pending post-game, but my Freeman's Overpriced Stella Draught Players of the Night were Becky, who saved many an errant pass, and Aimee, who never seems to drop anything, and Ryan, for being our heroic scorekeeper. Also noteworthy, Cruddick's now-standard 100-yard dashes and Tim's laying out on D. All positives. Playoffs should be fun, all.

Note that the above was typed to a soundtrack of Cat Stevens, so I apologize for any hippy whimsy contained herein.

EDIT: Also, unrelated - http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.channel&ChannelID=144084911 (Things start getting good around the 1:00-mark)

Jesus Christ pose

Another night, another pair of losses. But that's OK.

I take blame for the first one, giving Random Fling carte blanche to play a 5-2 guy-girl ratio all game. The rules say they should have gone 4-2, but being the softie that I am... Then that intense motherfucker with the gloves goes and mocks my first foul call in eight summers by immediately calling a foul of his own when Aaron happened to run within two yards of his airspace. Nice.

Asshole.

The second game was the most fun I've had all summer playing, even though we lost. My apologies to everyone I overthrew, underthrew and just plain missed. Whether it was the disc, my sweaty hands or a bad case of the yips, my throwing was arse. So I guess I'll take the blame for the second loss, too.

But we apparently have a chance for redemption before the playoffs: the convenor asked me for my choice of field for this upcoming Thursday, seeing as we're (once again) among the top three spirit-pointed teams. That's not bad in a league of 23 teams. Some might say we're playing too nice to win. All I know is I get to pick a field within a 5-minute walk of my house, so I always feel like a winner.

Until next time - I love you all.

Tim

Sunny, 25 degrees, with a threat of violence.

What a beautiful night for frisbee Wednesday was. Too bad we had to start the game.

The final score of 15-8 doesn't sound too bad, especially when one considers the lightning-quick 6-0 deficit in which we found ourselves.

But the unpleasant part had naught to do with the score and everything to do with sportsmanship, or the lack thereof, displayed by the other side. Maintaining a tight 4-man cup on a newbie who they recognized as playing her first game of ultimate just isn't cool, no matter the score. And when it's a lopsided score, well, fuck off, shitdick.

In the end, the offence was fine, our defence picked up, but the other guys were stacked with comp league players who didn't believe in dropping the disc. So there you go.

I like to think the main reason the latter half of the game was close was due to the other team's (very real) fear that Ivan and/or Derek could revert to curb-stomping mode at any moment. So I guess that makes them co-players of the game.

Many thanks to all who showed up on an irregular night, and more thanks to those who recruited ladies for the game. All things considered, I had a decent time on a beautiful Wednesday night. Even though that Stu guy was such a dick.

Upon reflection...

I'm not really sure why that team has consistently drained me of any sense of sportsmanship in our every meeting over the last seven years, nor precisely how it invariably leaves me uninterested in ever playing again. I'm struggling to decide if my lingering feeling of regret from last night is founded in my having let them get to me yet again, or having given our new draftees such an inaccurate impression of me.

Either way, I expect I'll likely attend tonight, but the countdown to retirement has surely begun.

xo.

The Most Depressing Thing You'll Ever See

Yay Hammers! I feel no shame whatsoever re: my relief and satisfaction last night after crushing Disc Array - who, as Tim pointed out, are a third tier team with but a single sub (and she had three fingers on each hand, wore an eyepatch and walked with a pronounced limp). But Hammers, we are also a third tier team... the best damn third tier team in the HURL! This win was massive for our confidence. Savour it, but know that our success atop the third tier will eventually lead to our promotion to the bottom of the second tier. Reality sucketh my friends.

And now, the most depressing thing you will ever see:

Please Hammers, don't hurt 'em!

That was... awesome. Was it good for you too?

Wow. I need a cigarette.

A beautiful, wind-free night under the lights... an opponent with only one sub... and a Bag of Hammers doing everything right. It all adds up to victory, sweet, delicious victory.

No use nominating the Propeller Bitter Player of the Game, as everyone kicked arse. There were more sharp cuts, short throws and timely runs last night than we'd put together in the previous month. And tenacious 'D' abounded, leaving them nothing but a long game. Word!

Let's keep it going into next week - three games in two nights. Think of how the standings will look once we win all three! I'm gonna be fat from all the Victory burgers...

Hugs and kisses, love and rockets.

Scheduling things...

A brief Hammers August schedule (subject to change):

Thursday, Aug. 6 - 9:25, Wanderer's Ground

Wednesday, Aug. 12 - TBD makeup game with Airwolf

Thursday, Aug. 13 - DOUBLEHEADER at The Pit, 7:45 and 9:25

Thursday, Aug. 20 - TBD

Saturday, Aug. 22 - Playoffs (bulk of the morning/afternoon)