Ultimate Week 2

It was a pretty crazy week in Ultimate League action. However, there seemed to be some patterns forming.

Tuesday proved not to be our day again. We fell to the #8 team, Snowmen, by a 11-13 tally. As the score indicated, it was a close game and a hard-fought battle. The snowmen had a young and athletic squad that kept us running, which was difficult considering we had 2-4 subs for most of the game and they had about 6-8. For the first few points, we just had one guy and one girl on the bench.

Another teammate joined us for the second game against a seasoned squad named Frito Banditos who is now ranked #2. It just seemed all night that we made one too many errant throws or one too many drops or had one too many hucks get by us. However, one bright moment for our team and me was on a long throw to one my teammates. He was deep in the endzone and was trying to fight off two defenders for the score off the long pass. However, Frito knocked the disc away, but I happened to be trailing on the play and ran under the disc before it hit the ground and we got a point. It was one of the first points in the second half to start our rally. Alas, our rally was came up a little short as we had dug too deep a hole in the first half and daylight wasn't helping matters either. So we ended up going 0-2 on Tuesday, bringing our season record to 2-4.

However, we appear to be a Thursday team, so last night proved to be a more enjoyable if not crazy night. We faced another team caught in the horse latitudes of summer league, Big Brown Triple Crown. And like their namesake, their most recent contest didn't go that well. We built up a big lead and ran away with an 11-3 win before time was called. Excitement was in the air as two of our first-timers made a splash, I caught 2 scores and we prepared for the Game of the Week contest later that night. As I mentioned, I had 2 scores, one on a long pass from Sergio after I burned my defender and another to end the game as I made an undercut to the pylon and Caroline swung it around the defender to me.

Last night, I was baptized- or the virgin at a sacrifice might be more appropriate- into the tradition of the Game of the Week. Each week there is a game that starts at 9pm when most of the other games are wrapping up. That game is played at a field with lights, which most of the others don't have. Some of the other teams come out to watch and heckle the teams playing in the showcase. But apparently it isn't just a game, there are theatrics and shenanigans involved. We were playing a team called Pervin' whose team logo is a photoshopped picture of Michael Jackson wearing a priest's collar and sporting a cheesy 'stache. We decided to play to their derangement and obliged them by dressing as school girls (and I think we had 1 or 2 little boy outfits too). So the guys were sporting plaid skirts, wigs, tight shirts, long socks and one even had a bra. But one of the best was a guy that looked like a mix between Serena Williams and Ellie Mae Clampett- cut off jean shorts, red gingham tied up shirt and a little blond wig with pigtails all on a body that looked more like a running back than a prepubescent girl (sorry, no photos for "legal" reasons). We had props too: big suckers, Twislers, ring pops, a lemonade stand, etc.

So as the crowd started to build and try to figure us out, we started to play. Despite some really good play by our "all-girl" team, they got 2 deep passes off on us for scores. The second and would-be third points were like sagas and not without controversy; we had a score called back after one of the other team's mouthier players said that our player caught the disc out of bounds. It was a remarkable catch and was close, but they wouldn't yield. We got a turnover and were looking to score when...
the lights unexpectedly went out.
The commissioner was there and he placed a call to Atlanta Parks officials, but like the school kids we were portraying, everyone seemed to have A.D.D. and moved on to socializing and debauchery in the dark. So we will have to replay the game. After 40 minutes or so, I bailed, picked up 2 slices of pizza and headed home.

We are now 3-4 with one game pending.

One player thought I was leading the team in scores, but without accurate stats that is hard to know. And while I can account for 4 scoring receptions, the rest of the team has been playing great.