Monday, December 24, 2007

Looking at snow, thinking about disc.

I'm sitting in the office at my parents house in Idaho, looking out the window at the beautiful snowfall and admiring the children across the street who are hard at work making... well... I can't tell what they're making but they're doing it quite vigorously and with much squealing.

It's time to continue my thoughts on the last season, though that time seems so far removed from this amazing winter scene I'm observing now.

Mucho Gusto is a really interesting combination of people. Let me take a moment and talk a little bit about the teammates themselves, because when you meet us on the field, I don't think you realize how diverse we are, or how interesting everyone is. Of the 18 on the roster, 9 are students at the University of Arizona, and 8 of those play with the college team, Scorch. We have been working hard with these women during the past few college seasons, and we really encouraged them to come out for the Club season, because we knew it would expand their experience tenfold. One of interesting parts of this "youth movement" on our team is that the age range of our players is enormous. We have one player who was 18 during the season, and another who was 41.

More interesting factoids: of the 9 of us who aren't students, 7 work in some sort of service-oriented or non-profit realm. I think that says a lot about how community-oriented Tucsonans really are. One of the students, and (I think) 5 of the non-students, have advanced degrees. Our students are super-smart: a doctoral student in neurobiology, undergrads majoring in biochemistry, veterinary science, physiology, and screenwriting, among other things. They smart, I'm tryin' to say.

Me? I sell polyester pants to little old ladies over the internet. I guess you could call that a service. But really, I am one of the very few money grubbers in the group.

One of my favorite things about Mucho Gusto is that we don't really look like the "typical" women's ultimate team. I mean, look over there at that pic on the side - do we look like the usual ultimate clones? Nah. Even when we're wearing matching uniforms we still look a little rag-tag. And I wouldn't trade that attitude for ten Riots or Rare Airs. We're goofy. And when we're able, we're pleased to beat you!

Oh I keep digressing. I guess I'm not much good at tournament recaps - all I want to talk about is "feelings." I'm thinking that's too touchy-feely, even for me.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Holiday!

Merry Christmas everybody - Happy holidays all round.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Thoughts on a summer devoted solely to ultimate.

I suppose it's about time I write something about the season (and Regionals), considering that it's been over for three months or so. I guess it takes me a long time to recover from emotional experiences and to digest my thoughts.

When we started this season, I was "nominated" to be a captain of the team. There weren't exactly a ton of volunteers. Despite that, I still believed it to be an honor to have been chosen - it reflects a trust that your teammates have that you'll steer the ship as true as you can. What I didn't know was how much anxiety would come along with the honor. I'm a perfectionist - pitfalls discussed here - and a control freak; these are qualities that probably help me be a better ultimate player but may not be especially supportive of my mental health. So as the summer wore on I found myself to be more emotionally exhausted than physically, which is really saying something when you realize that I am 37 years old and no spring chicken.

I found myself doing a lot of reading over the summer of various blogs and sites trying to get insight into how to be a better motivator, and how to cope when not everyone on your team shares the same sense of commitment that you do. But for all the mental strain that this put on me, it turned me into a much better player. Why? Because you can't expect your team to do workouts you won't do, to execute and understand offenses if you don't, or to attend tournaments that you won't. So I freakin' did everything. And doing everything made me better. This is no shock to people who accustomed to that level of commitment in ultimate, but I'VE never done it before. In 13 years of playing.

I'll write a review of regionals in the next couple of weeks. I just wanted to first set the context for the write-up because my perspective on it can't be taken out of context of the rest of Mucho Gusto's season.

And BTW, thanks to Peter Jamieson for the blog link on Cultimate Opinion... I suppose this means someone may actually be reading this once in awhile, so I better get writing!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

I am a gigantic nerd.

This has nothing to do with ultimate. This has nothing to do with beer. This should have nothing to do with my blog, but I am a nerdariffic geekmonster LUPpy.



Thursday, November 15, 2007

I win I win I win!

I win!!!! Click on the little "For Winner" thingy on the right. You must do this. Right now.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

OCD-Lite: collections

So I have this idea for a collection. Meaning something to collect. Like, right now I collect flattened souvenir pennies and $2 bills. But I want to start collecting jerseys of professional athletes who wear the same jersey number I do. A fun but expensive idea. So I could get NFL jerseys from, say, Phillip Rivers or Plaxico Burress.

What are some other famous #17's out there?

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Support the home team.

Not Mucho Gusto... Although we do have sectionals this weekend...

The Mercury. They are fired up. Watch this video and get psyched about professional women's sports. Mucho Gusto dances, the Mercury make videos. Hilarious.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Chicago Heavyweights

Just got back from Chicago last night.... Another whirlwind weekend of ultimate. I am starting to think that the so-called elite ultimate players are trying to kill the sport. Mucho Gusto was placed in the non-elite bracket at this tournament, which seemed a little chinzy given that there weren't any women's teams at this tourney who are in the top 10 of RRI. But the most unfortunate part was that we were not able to play up - our crossover only allowed us to play the teams in the upper division that finished last.

While I like winning, I play the game to get better at it too. And my belief is that unless you get a chance to play against teams that are better than you are, you will not have any models for success. It's not like I can watch professional ultimate on tv where I can learn techniques from the best. And besides, there's no substitute for experience. You need that experience as a team.

My team has traveled out of our region twice now to try to compete with teams that are better than us, but due to the cost of this we often can't travel the entire team to do it. The one tournament in our region is Colorado Cup, and AZ teams have been systematically excluded from that tourney for the past three years.

Because we're not "elite."

We never will be until we have a chance to play with some of those teams. Will we lose those games? Yes. Most of them. But each year that the team grows and has a chance, we'll get better. And eventually, we will compete with those teams. But to not ever have a chance? I frankly think that is counter to "spirit of the game." And I think that it will kill a sport that relies exclusively on grass roots enthusiasm and support for its very life.

Oh yeah. We won our pool. Beat the 5th seeded team to play in the 5/6 game which we lost. To the twelve seed Hayride. Do we get to be "elite" now?

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

If I was a dance, I would be.....

Ridiculous. My favorite sort of quiz. This is about as logical as determining what sort of kitchen appliance I would be. The link is at the bottom, in case you'd like to find out what sort of dance you might be.

You scored as ChaCha

You are Cha Cha! Flirtatious and fun, you are the life of the party. People tend to add syllables to your name and count you incorrectly. You are versatile, approachable, and best when syncopated. For someone so sexy, you are a lot less of a tramp than most.

ChaCha

83%

Quickstep

75%

Jive

67%

Waltz

67%

PasoDolble

58%

Samba

42%

Foxtrot

42%

Viennese Waltz

42%

Tango

17%

Rumba

17%

Which ballroom dance are you?
created with QuizFarm.com


Thursday, August 23, 2007

Why the ads, you money-grubbing ho?

You may wonder why I have ads on my blog. Couple of reasons: first off, I work in ecommerce marketing and I am using the blog in part to experiment with various forms of advertising, to help learn HTML stuff, and to learn more about new media communication. Second, all the money I raise through the site will go to my women's Ultimate team - Mucho Gusto.

So buy stuff off the blog. If you do, Mucho Gusto will earn money to go to tournaments, and eventually we'll get to Nationals. That's right: it's on YOUR shoulders.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Woman's Place is on the Pitch

I just stumbled on this great video depicting the development of women's soccer in Egypt. It makes me thank my lucky stars for the opportunities I have every day, especially when they interview the young men in the video....

Monday, July 30, 2007

Another best song ever.


Bill Withers - Bill Withers: Greatest Hits - Use Me


"Use Me"
Bill Withers

Thursday, July 19, 2007

We've reached the dog days of summer when no one can stand to hang around in Tucson. It's hot, humid from the monsoon, and just generally slow-moving and dull. It's like winter in some other places, I think, although I've never lived in a super-serious winter sort of place.

This is having an impact on our practice regimen. You wouldn't think it possible that w/ 25 people on our extended roster that we'd only have 9 players at practice, but this is exactly what's going on. So many vacations. Including mine! I've certainly been gone plenty of times.

I have to remind myself that it's too soon to panic. We have time to gel as team, still have three playing opportunities between now and sectionals, and so much potential to rock it. But I am a worry wort - as if you couldn't tell by the constantly vexed tone of my blog posts - and am forced to wonder if we've bit off more than we can reasonably chew. Our college students have been under the whip since last October - and are probably burned out. Our older women have children and can only do so much. Ok, stop panicking.

The flip side of this is that everyone is really loving our social time and various entertaining fundraising projects. We hosted a glow-in-the-dark tournament this past weekend and raised serious bucks - it was a very memorable party to boot. We anticipate the next one to be even more crazy and successful. And the group beer-making has been hilarious. Photos to follow.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Best song ever.

Freakin' best song ever.

The The - Mind Bomb - Kingdom of Rain

"Kingdom of Rain" by The The

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

I can't believe it's been a month already since I posted last. Let's see, where have I been?

-Ketchum, ID (family)
-NYC (work)
-Eugene, OR (ultimate)

Where am I going in the next month?
-Detroit, MI (family)
-LA (ultimate)
-Chico, CA (ultimate)

I've cranked out three batches of beer. Including the Brown Ale/Porter I was whining about in my last post.

We went to Solstice in Eugene and got ourselves worked over a little. But it was better than starting at CalStates as we have in the past. Overall I was pleased with our effort, we just didn't have enough bodies to really compete. And our defense was not exactly stellar as a team. We were a little challenged by end zone offense as well. It seemed like we would get the turnovers we needed and then repeat attempts into the end zone and fail. Now that's about the worst thing you can do, it seems to me. So frustrating.

Other than running really static drills for set plays, I am not sure how to drill for end zone offense.

Friday, June 08, 2007

More beer content:
I actually had to write down the specs for a robust porter and an american brown ale and put them next to each other.... Look at the similarity:

Brown Ale
45-60 OG
10-16 FG
20-40+ IBU
18-35 SRM
4.3-6.2% ABV

Robust Porter
45-65 OG
12-16 FG
25-50+ IBU
22-35+ SRM
4.8-6.0% ABV

So if I make something like this:
53 OG
14 FG
35 IBU
25 SRM
5.1% ABV

Is it a brown ale because I say so? Is it a porter because it has black patent malt in it? Is it a porter because it has coffee overtones, or a brown ale because it isn't really dark? I think I need to go to beer school because this confuses me.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Warning - Beer Content Alert

So I made this IPA with an unusual combo of Northern Brewer and Cascade hops. I also (inadvertently) made it really dark. It almost looks like an amber. Third strike - we couldn't control the temperature at all, so it ranged from 65-78 during the time that it was resting in the closet.

All this is to say that I wasn't terribly surprised when I tasted it after 24 days of being bottled, and found it, well, nasty. It whalloped with bitterness right off the bat, and then seemed completely empty in the mid-palate, floated through some weird sweetness that I believed to be off-flavors, and finally settled with a whimper of a tinny aftertaste.

I resisted the temptation to toss the whole batch right there, though. I was reminded that heavy alcohol brews need extra maturation time (this one's about 6.3%). So I waited another two weeks. And I tasted it again yesterday.

Wow, what a difference. I'm still not 100% sure about the sweetness that's in the middle, it seems a little odd to me. But the initial bitterness has mellowed, flavors have arrived to complement in the middle of the timeline, and the tinny-ness is gone. It feels like it has been ripened like a very rich fruit. And it's good. I can't believe it.

Friday, May 18, 2007

I feel like I need to clarify my last post. I am not in any way calling out the heart of the Scorch team - only their relative politeness. I am not calling out their skills (not at all!) - only their tendency to self-doubt. If that self-doubt can be eliminated, then they have the ability, potential, talent, skill, and heart to play with absolutely anyone in the country. Period.

In other notes, Tucson Club Women's tryouts commenced yesterday. It's so great to see 22 women out to play hard and get ready for a summer of serious bizness. I am co-captaining and -coaching this team and am nervously excited for the challenge. I am using this blog to talk up some of the ideas I have.... To help me work them out, and believe in them. And I believe everything I read.

Last thought for the day. I don't know who the original author of this quote is, but I got it from prospective WNBA player Megan Vogel on her blog:

"When you don't practice, know that someone else somewhere is practicing, and when you meet them, they will beat you."

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Just got finished reading the SW Women's All-Region thread on RSD. Everyone did a magnificent job of patting themselves on the back. I am thankful that the Arizona team has been spared a bunch of empty congrats from other teams who, in truth, totally disregard them and consider them a non-factor in the region's development.

They are considered that way because they allow it. They have thusfar been content to be proficient without distinguishing themselves. The only thing missing from this group is a certain kind of "want to," the kind that makes you hate to lose more than you love to win.

I have always struggled with this in my own athletic career; because I have not been on a lot of successful teams I accept losing very willingly. Otherwise I wouldn't enjoy the pursuit. There are so many things in life to get excited and emotional about, and I have not allowed my own sports performance to be one of them. How do you convert yourself from an easygoing take-it-or-leave-it athlete, to a crazy must-win athlete? And how do you do it without losing a sense of fun, or without destroying your commitment to Spirit of the Game?

We'll be working with some of the student athletes during the summer/fall Club season. I am hoping to have some great long discussions about this with them and the rest of the new teammates and try to find the answers to these questions.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

I am still recovering from viewing and volunteering at SW college regionals. The top seven women's teams were in a whole 'nother stratosphere from the rest of the group, but this is actually good news. The region used to only go about 3 deep. And one of this top seven is a freakin' b-team. Be very afraid of UCLA for the next, like, forever.

I also have the Warriors in my mind today. I was a fan when I lived in the Bay Area - this franchise has always displayed a certain amount of spunk on the rare occasions in which they'd actually win a game. But this group is obviously different - it's not the NBA as we know it, but it's also not exactly streetball. FreeDarko is right - the Warriors are breaking off the shackles of the old-guard NBA and finding an entirely new way to win.

That is what I want to do with Ultimate, and women's in particular. I am beyond tired of the old school Right Way to play. It absolutely crushes creativity and spunk and encourages machine-like discipline in order to limit the effect of external variables. I like variables - and I like exciting outcomes. I want to evolve into an offensive style instead of an offensive system. When we speak of making Ultimate more fan friendly and "legit," I think that an increase in dynamic styles of play would be a great start.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

At long last, she speaks again. Did you miss me? For the past many months I have been coaching Ultimate for the first time. Of course, on any team, one does one's share of coaching - especially when you are among the more experienced on the team. But this fall/winter/spring I have been coaching college women. And let me tell you, it has been a blast. It's a B team, and they came to me with a collective year of playing experience (meaning, all 14 of them put together have played a year total). And I have had the honor of teaching them the ropes, from the beginning, with my stamp on how I think it ought to be done. They're aggressive, love to play, and seem to be having a lot of fun, which was my main goal for them this season. I'll talk more about this as I go along, but now that our season is wrapping up, I really need to collect my thoughts about what worked and what didn't during the coaching season, and set out a better plan for next year's group.