To all the country music fans in attendance, Eric Church's new ballad titled:
Springsteen, talks simply of the use of music to remember your good times. He wants you to remember the first loves, the best friends, and all the loose ends. His lines go like this:
"It's funny how a melody sounds like a memory, like the soundtrack to a July Saturday night."
And I ask you, fellow Ultimate Friends: If that is the case and songs can allow us to remember our good times, can blogs not do the same. Are the words you read not the lyrics to your life. I say play on, sing on, and rock on!
So let's get to this week's review of Frisbee. I can tell you that the first few weeks meant nothing as the points have switched, the rankings have switched, but the chatter and gibber jabber has increased exponentially.
Lascivious Ladyfingers vs.
Spastic SpunkLady-B's peel out the victory 13-1
As you can see, the Ladyfingers have now entered into a snowballing effect of winning ways. When playing the Zone there are a few key elements in perfecting you team’s ability to win: persistence and instinct. Yellow showed both in a fine display of Ultimate action, which can be seen on the scoreboard above. They also made sure not to give the Spunk any easy shots at goal, and the first half was an example of this. With a lack of short movement due to the LF's zone defense envelopment, there wasn't much difficulty in shutting down the Spunk’s zone offense. When possession was changed, a number of hammers found weaknesses in the Spunk’s zone, which gave way to a few quick points. The half ended at 7-0. In reality, the Spunk just ended up with some unlucky turnovers, and that’s what causes the losses of many teams. Whoever makes the least amount of mistakes, wins. The start of the second half saw one of the first long points of the game and it looked like the Spunk were dominating and going to score an upwind gem. But the Ladyfingers got lucky on a couple of close calls when panic set in, and they eventually abandoned their successful zone D for the first time in the game. This breakdown of structure came close to giving the Spunk their first point but a lucky turn of events saw Ladyfingers hold course for a pants’ing of their opposition.
Intensity on D increased from the Spunk and a bit of an assassination zone D was played. There seems to be a new star on the rise in the form of Khaled Osmani, swatting down what he sees and playing his heart out. This drive on defense allowed for the offense to pick up, eventually leading to the conversion of their first point. How did this occur you ask? They began to play smart, stretching out the field and offering great targets on the wing in Becca and Quint, with occasional support from other players. Deep hucks from Chris never quite found their range flying too low at rocket pace and being uncatchable or floating too long and getting cleaned up by the deep, all of which allowed Hugh a bit of work on his fitness at the back while admittedly baiting the throws (You do Parkfit bro, you should be in shape already lol). However, one memorable disc did get through and landed safely in Becca’s hands. Due to the hard work of the wings, the field in the middle opened up for the Spunk a lot more in the second half. Hugh’s sexy bananas battled this with their strong cup typically consisting of Marinda, Shreya and a willing male. With a bit more movement in the short area and timing from poppers the Spunk could do some damage in a zone.
Though the score shows a stomping, the Spunk fought hard with what they had, especially in the second half, and gave everyone a tough game. Both teams set their own personal goals: Ladyfingers to show Townsville what a pants’ing looks like, and the Spunk's ability to overcome this huge adversity and get the point they wanted. I think the intensity shown by both teams over the whole game is a better indication of the quality of each team than the scoreline. Great match! I’ll leave you with this leadership moment from one of the Spunk’s own:
“Those last couple of points, our zone was really coming together, and even though everyone was absolutely dying, we ran ourselves into the ground. Thanks for playing hard until the end everyone! Next week we are gonna kick some serious ass!”
I believe her.
Dye Fast Tie Furious vs.
Dark MatterMulti-coloured Maniacs 13-10
You want action? Oi, I’ll show you action. Or you can read the action, I think it makes more sense that way unless someone videotaped this endurance match. DFTF started strongly and got up 4-0 with a really well executed cup thanks in part to the girls. They kept the pressure on for the whole first half, but nothing scares the Darkness away; only You Are Afraid of the Dark (North American 90s generation? Can I get some love for this reference?) Air David and A-O Suv fought back and ended up going to half down 7-5. After the second half, Dark Matter got the first point with quick movement from Lady D and her swingin’ disc tactics. This allowed them to crawl within one and make it 7-6, but Zano took charge and basically broke down the electron deficient defense with his killer backhands and ever improving flicks. With nearly no time to gather some momentum, the Matter found themselves down 12-6. As he watched from the sidelines due to a tweaked knee, Luke “Rebel” McClellan saw yet another example of teams getting behind from increased turnovers. Ashley tried his very best to stop Zane, but this was his and Finny’s game. Dark Matter never gave up hope and got 4 or so in a row at the end but it was already too late as the game was gone. And it was toooooooooo fucking long. I mean really, 10:25pm? Lock it up guys. Many sat on the sidelines watching as the turnovers mounted from DFTF’s inability to get that 13th and final point in a 12-10 score. The Dark Matter just needs to work on their execution, having heaps of fun but just missing that vital finishing touch. I am still expecting big things from them. DFTF played solid as a team and simply outplayed them. It was a really high quality game! Props to Rohanna for making the grab to end this sluggfest.
Redballs vs.
The BirdsBalls of Red 13-10
I personally love a good Cinderella Story, and this game was close to fulfilling it for me. Storming into the first half, the Balls were able to cruise, thus leaving the Birds to fly low on 3 points. After this, the Birds did what seemed to be a sign to use a team bonding montage. They recovered with strict and patient passing, pulling in as close as 10-9. Everything was set for a glorious comeback and the finding of that elusive second crystal slipper; a loss on Redballs’ record. A halftime speech from Cody found its way to the heart of his team
and managed to inspire them for the second half. "Sucks losing doesn't it...Well don't lose". And that was what The Birds tried to do. Unfortunately for Franich and Dane’s birdies, the Redballs hadn't read the script for this story, and managed to dig deep and push their way to win 13-10. Big moments in this game that deserve special mention include Rebecca Rosendale's two big double D's. Matthew, don’t you mean “Dashing D’s, as in defense? Sorry for the misunderstanding bud, I fixed your review for you. But it’s clear that she seems to just pluck those disks right out of the sky. Let us not forget traditionary tales of Bevo's ability to bloody himself every game. His layout defense caused this to happen yet again.
“It’s Shit losing eh” Yes, it is, but that’s not why we play.
Green Lanterns vs.
Clockwork OrangeLanterns 13-10
Now that we are sure of Captain Christine’s forceable absence with the kissing disease (mono/glandular ‘aussie slang’), the Lanterns were bestowed with the honour of Mr. Mike Larson to help with the young inexperienced Lantern Corp. A quick recap of how to play in a Zone proved vital for further matches but was not used in this game. The wind caused both teams to run the Force on defense, pinning all hopes to a handler’s skills and the luck of Mother Nature. Through a series of excellent passing and stack movement up the field, Green was able to run 3 quick points in less than ten minutes. Timmy’s Time Pieces were able to use speed and concentration from Josh Fuller and TJ Kelly, as well as the speed of their girls to crawl back in the game. The battle raged on but the Lanterns had discovered their true identities and eventually took half 7-4. With a few shifts off, Larson put his coaching skills to the test and gave some tidbits of wisdom to Gabe and Zach as they handled up the field nearly finding the endzone. With Captain Timmy relying on one good hand, and Josh’s lungs beginning to fail, it looked as if the Lanterns would take this game quite handedly with the score at 9-5. This was not the case, and like it has been proven before, you never light a lantern unless your power is in excess. Green’s energy source, their will power, was apparently turned off and the Orange team made them pay dearly for it, racking up 3 points in succession. There was a good effort by Sandra from Orange, who continued her offensive valour in the stack. Some chilly mentalities with the disc allowed Jaime to get open off the cut into the corner endzone for an amazing layout point, which then turned into a tuck and roll situation and maybe a black eye.
Sanne vs. Jaime...
The Great Dane vs. The Crafty Canuck...
Who will win Female Rookie of the Year? Only time will tell.
Endurance won this game, and even with both teams representing the leading attendance in Ryan Miller’s Parkfit workouts, the numbers don’t lie. Green has a tough time with female players showing up (CATHERINE, SOPHIE! I’m talking about you lol), but the guys can field two teams and they ran the opposition into submission.
Now before the semester ends and all of the fun and games are over I would first like to say that I may be MIA for the month of October. Seeing as my final teaching placement will be for an entire month and graduation is on the horizon, I will be focusing on my studies as opposed to Frisbee. I have yet to meet many of the new players this semester and I know that very soon, you will all fly back to home countries for the holidays as I may be doing the same. MAYBE lol. I love Australia too much. Secondly, this may cause someone else to take the reigns of the game reviews.
If this is my last entry may I say this:
It has been an honour and a privilege to remind you all of how great you are playing and how you are enjoying your time in Oz. When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile. And no matter what happens, don't cry because it's over but be happy because it happened. Now I am sure many will not go as far to shed some tears but we all know that bonds forged in one semester abroad (especially in Australia) last a lifetime. So when that flight is looming closer on your calendar I ask that you remember what I have been telling you all since the beginning. Live in the present, take risks, be extroverted, and grab life by the disc.
We are playing in an International plethora of students. There are hundreds of languages in the world, but a smile speaks them all. Even if I don't have the pleasure of seeing or talking to you all again, I will know that I have so many reasons to smile, thousands upon thousands. And of those reasons, a good 100 of them are close by. I have you, I have Ultimate Frisbee, I think life is pretty fucking awesome right now. Don't you?
Your Ultimate Friend,
The Man with The Dragon Tattoo
