Mixed nationals was a blast.
The first thing that struck me was how much had changed in a year. This year, for better or for worse, heralded the demise of the 'party team'. While there were social teams who did not intend to win (Hills) and teams who partied all night (D-Rex, YOUUU) there was a genuine sense of competition, even in the play-offs for 17th, 19th and 23rd. Is this a good thing? Maybe. In future it's going to be harder and harder for inexperienced players (especially men) who get into ultimate in the lead up to uni games (second semester, after the open/womens nationals season) to continue their passion at mixed nationals. Or, translated into terms relative to my life, the me from one year ago (or any other archetypal 'no-skills-except-enthusiasm' player) would not have been able to find a spot on a team that qualified.
Club loyalty was a big thing, too. Yes, Booty were missing and spread variously through Victorian, South Australian and Queensland teams, but I predict them back next year anyway. LOG!, Lounge Lizards, Hills, MUCUS, FAF, sCAPEgoats, Spider-Pig, Pie Wagon and Special Sauce and Flycathers all returned (or got knocked out at Regionals). I am even informed that Vintage was pretty much a resurrection of 2005's Point of Entry (which I'd know nothing about because I was studying for my year 10 school certificate and didn't even play ultimate then) and are planning on playing World Clubs in 2010. Moreso, UQ Lovers and RuBi were extensions of pre-existing mixed clubs (formed, in this case, from university). Even more swellegant, the way their development is going, Kaboom looks to be the Fakulti of mixed ultimate, bringing three (count them! three!) clubs to mixed nats. Howdy doody. Mixed ultimate isn't quite at the standard of club ultimate, but it's sure getting there.
I would like to know what happened with the trial runs of commentaries from last year. Did we decide that they were not popular enough? I thoroughly enjoyed that service, and I think it would have been useful, both for the people not in Brisbane and even for some of the people that were: on FAF's first day of the tournament all of our games were on the same field, right next to frisbee central. However, the stretched-out satellite arrangement of the fields means that I didn't find out how some other teams had gone until after the final on the third day.
The party was excellent. A lot of people complained about being denied entry or being kicked out but common sense should generally prevail in this situation: have you ever been to a club, anywhere, for any party, that allows severely incapacitated drunks to get in and stay in? Just because it's a frisbee party doesn't mean that it's not a licenced venue. The venue was pretty accessible, played a good selection of music, the alcohol wasn't too expensive, the party theme was broad enough to be enjoyable and there was a lot of space to sit down and talk relatively quietly. I'm going to chalk it down as a big plus - I could get drunk, hit on women, talk to guys and crank that like Soul-ja boy all night and really what more does one need?
Final Standings:
1. Vintage
2. FAF
3. Kaboom 1
4. Spider Pig
What is there to say? The final was pretty uninteresting, and I felt bad for the crowd who were watching. FAF were pretty shagged, so were Vintage. Gak was rooted but still outperforming FAF's defensive attempts to lure him into making any massive mistakes. Kaboom were such an impressive team the whole weekend long, with Keah and Holmes clocking in outstanding performances in both games we played them in. So did Ash, and Maddog. Chumpy was solid and as much as I love Tom Watson, he needs to reel in some of his options which resulted in advantageous turnovers to the opposition. A slightly depleted Spider-Pig managed to play well up until the point where it mattered - their semi and play-off, as far as I have been able to gather, was an exercise in not living up to your potential as a team.
5. Smurf
6. Sugoi
7. Tribe of Miniature Horses
8. YOUUUU
I ended up watching a lot of Smurf's play (games against Vintage, I think against Flycatchers? Possibly New Zealand and then against YOUUU) and the addition of Pottsy to the male line-up of Alec, Brett Middleton and Joel Pillar clearly helped. Their girls were a key part of their offence, which I really liked. Erin Wallis is quite a nice person although I think she thinks I'm a dickhead. Sugoi! What a surprise. Show's what Owen's firing up can do. Tribe performed outstandingly for a team with nobody over 6", special shout out to David Knight who always plays very well but nobody seems to notice. YOUUU. The big challenge for them was always going to be what would happen when they lost a game, which they did and judging by the results couldn't get back from. Much more infighting, frayed nerves and injuries than I expected.
9. Pie Wagon
10. Newcastle WD
11. Black Sheep
12. Flycatchers
Pie Wagon and WD eked out a Newcastle Ninal, which was good of them. Strong performances from Pie Wagon's imports, as well as the Lavis brothers (both of them) on WD. Rhys Clenton is rough around the edges but should be a massive asset to Thunder '10, whereas the lack of any solid handlers on the Flycatchers line (I'm sure Sean Lace tried, but he is still a massive gay) definitely would have hurt them throughout the tourney as winds picked up and junk defenses got rolled out. Black Sheep played pretty one-dimensional offence, but if it ain't broke don't fix it and clearly they didn't fix it. Er, or something.
13. Hills
14. Kaboom 2
15. Scapegoats
16. Mind the Gap
I'm running out of things to say because I hardly saw any of these teams after day one but Hills pulled out a strong run for a social touring team, Kaboom 2 fit neatly where I expected and Mind the Gap were really hurting throughout the tournament (first, no Nield factor on day one, then no team on day 3). Calan Spielman seems to be the hottest thing to come out of Sydney Uni thus far in 08, and sCAPEgoats benefited from having him on the team.
17. RuBi
18. UQ
19. D-Rex
20. Hand of God
RuBi lost half of their go-to's on offence for the 3rd day, but still had some legs to beat UQ in a very windy, scrappy game. D-Rex went well for a team that partied as hard as they did. I know absolutely nothing about Hand of God, but well done to you sirs and madams.
21. Lounge Lizards OR LOG!
22. Lounge Lizards OR LOG!
23. Gong
24. Kaboom 3
There was only so much Nans and that other dude (American? Tall? You know who I'm talking about) could do for Gong. Not a bad team at all, but a fitting result given the rise in standard between 07-08. Kaboom 3, spirit winners, ensuring that Canberra gets a showing in nearly every bracket and well done to them, whereas I didn't even know Lounge Lizards were at this tournament. LOG! were missing Buttons, Mike Baker and Ash Martens, and this is where that gets you.
That's about it. More of these '08 in Review' to come.
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9 comments:
Yo Tiger,
I think a big problem with the bouncer was his attitude. One of our team members (aged about 30, looks about 40) couldn't get in as his ID wasn't accepted.
Yet another girl on the team with no i.d. who looks about 16 got carded, but still let in.
Other than that, the venue itself was pretty good, although a bit far away from most other places.
Stafa
"he needs to reel in some of his options which resulted in advantageous turnovers to the opposition."
What the hellla? I threw one huck against you guys and the receiver got a fat hand to it and dropped it. (Team mates words not mine) Tiger drags my name through the mud once more...
Nup, just Nans and Soph, no tall American anywhere in sight for Gong, just a short,slow sri lankan :/
Nice write up!
Security at the party were very inconsistent in their interpretaion of drunk. I was staggering around (in character, of course) and never got a second glance, while other Rexxers were booted after just a couple of drinks and no particularly outlandish behaviour. It was a common theme too by all accounts. I reckon they just kicked people out randomly to thin the herd.
A bouncer let in a girl but not a guy? Bullshit. That would never happen. But seriously folks, Tiger is spot on. Any licensed venue still has laws to uphold. I got knocked back from the Melb Hat party last year because of "inappropriate dress" but the real reason was that I was arguing with and showing my ID to a brick wall. Premptive strike, and it was probably for the better.
American guy from the 'Gong = Steve Antonopoulos.
Lizards beat LOG for 21st spot.
And finally, is someone bold enough to say that SUUFA cutting Calan cost them the gold medal?
hasnt it already been implied simmo...like heaps. With the way we played in the final, having calan wouldnt have made a difference. We could win that game, id say that we would win that game more than we would lose it, but not good enough on the day by a long shot.
Anyway, enough has been said about uni games final...aside from the little dig at SUUFA, great write up Tiger, glad that something got out there.
As someone who was not there...the almost complete absence of any updates during the weekend was abit perplexing and dissapointing...i know TD's have alot of work to do, but why didnt results get updated on the score reporter like all other major tournaments? Would have been nice...as it was there was noithing on AFDA and only one update on the tournmnt website
Maple,
Have you ever written an update for a tournament during the tournament? What do you feel like doing when you have finished playing for the day? Going and finding an internet connection and a computer and spending an hour writing up a report? Or going and having a shower, having a beer and chilling?
Maybe the demand for reporting during a tournament is greater than it was a couple of years ago but I'd argue that the vast majority of people who are interested in the results are
- either at the tournament
- quite happy to just read about the final results once it is over.
It would be interesting to know how many hits the AMUC website got from the time the tournament started through to the end of the event. Particularly on the Sat night through to Mon morning.
I do think that events should publish results as soon as possible after the event. The fact that I ended up compiling the results based on ultitalk posts, facebook statuses and varying blogs and there is still no official update on the AMUC website is not great.
Simmo - Stephen Antonopoulus wasn't at Mixed Nats (he has apparently retired...) and he's also not American - just has been living there for the past few years.
Rach - I know that now. I'd completely misread that bit of the article :$
With regards to score updates, we had them running for AUG with Olly's SMS/online score reporter. I'm not sure how effective it was for those not at AUG, but the automatic "here's your draw for today" SMS was a godsend of a lot of teams who were playing at fields a couple of hundred metres away from Disc Central.
With more teams now missing out on Nats/Mixed Nats than previous years, I daresay interest in the scores and updates from non-players is only going to increase.
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