Huck Finn Postview

The Boomlanders made the trip down to St. Louis last weekend to participate in Huck Finn, our very first Cultimate Tournament. It was a different setup than we were used to, but I'll include my thoughts on that at the end.

Coming into the tournament I felt we had a chance to go 4-2 out of pool play with a chance to do better if we were able to play well and steal a game or even two. For better or worse, I was correct in my prediction and a short recap of each game will sort of tell the story of what happened, or what hasn't been erased from my memory.

Kansas B: 13-12
If there is one team I refuse to, it's Kansas. After their sideline heckling and all around jerkiness at Mardi Gras we all wanted to prove that the first win wasn't a fluke. They came out in their 4 man cup, per usual, and due to the gusty crosswind we had trouble at times getting something going. The handlers struggled with swings and gave up 1 (2?) callahans. The D-Line came to the rescue and bailed their O-line homies out in order to pull out the win.
Fun Fact: Kansas has never lost on universe point...until now. suckers

Missouri State: 5-13
This was one of the games I was worried about. They had a great record coming in against some solid teams and definitely have some experienced players. We had a 3 man cup thrown our way but the handlers were able to more proficiently swing the disc. We lost intensity on both sides of the disc and drops (at least 6 by myself) in this game were the nail in the coffin to any streak we started putting together.
Fun Fact: Missouri State went on to take 4th place for the tournament

Saint Louis B: 13-7
I don't know what to say about SLU. They're a bunch of fun guys to play against, but it might be because they ran man defense and hte handlers found their hucks. The longs made some sweet cuts that may or may not have broken ankles in order to give the handlers someone to throw to also. The wind started to pick up a bit in this game, but was still ranked roughly a .5 on the Rantoul scale of disasters.
Fun Fact: Cozza skys the crap out of some dude, only to have a foul called on him. For photographic proof, ask one Mike Cozza for the evidence.

Demeat Jesuit: 13-5
The final game of Saturday was against a high school team. They had a couple guys who could play, but their minimal bench size was a major factor in how they played. We were able to cycle extra people throught the lines and give some of the higher time players a rest they would prove to need tomorrow.
Fun Fact: We all had to start playing ultimate at some time, let's just hope these kids don't take their 2+ year advantage to some school we hate, cough kansas, when they go to college

Wisconsin B: 13-7
The one B team that we have ever lost to, Wisconsin had the target on their back from the minute we saw the schedule come out. The early 8:30 game time sunday morning was rough, but it would prove to be some of the nicest weather of the day. Although I had to personal opinion of the pimpdags going into the game, they would raise my ire by the end of the game. The first reason would be their 4 man cheat cup. I understand I say cheat to win all the time, but all the furthest I take it is saying it. This was a double teaming, foulrific cluster that surprised even me in its nastiness. That said, we tore it apart. Swinging the disc exposed holes, and their upwind man defense was one of the strangest decisions I've seen especially after proving all the handlers could still get 40 yard hucks off.
Fun Fact: Yelling matches over cheating are most easily settled by yelling louder than the other guy. Provided that doesn't work, shut down the other guy on defense. That said, I believe that I won that little thing we had Turtle, if that is your name

Western Michigan: 11-13
This was the other game I thought we could have some difficulty with. After hearing our own little spy's scouting report, we knew the type of game we would be in for, a huckfest. Normally, I'm completely against this type of thing, or defense was carrying a ton of momentum into the game after Wisconsin and on the other end I was a gunslinger. Hucks to both Pappy Jr. and Chrysler were viable late looks on nearly every possession if nothing opened up. Our loss of fire in the middle of the game was made up for by the end of the game and the fire until the end, but was not quite enough to get the W.
Fun Fact: We would steal WMU's cheer, but we have already stolen a cheer similar to it. Sorry Darkhorse.

Depaul: 12-13
We know most of the guys on DePaul's team, and I'll admit I would have rather played someone we never had before than DePaultimate again, but this game turned into the most competitive of the weekend. The temperature dropped around 15 degrees right before the game and a wicked crosswind made things a little dicey at times. Easy drops would plague both teams and throws lost the accuracy they had shown earlier in the day. Boomland was down 9-12 when softcap went on. The D-line would get a break to bring it to 10-12. Our valiant leader McKinley stacked the next D-line and they brought another break home to get us to 11-12 as hard cap was called. Further stacking of the next line would have 6 vets of 3+ years with our rookie defensive phenom, Kai. We were able to take the break on a huck from McKinley after getting the D. Double universe would see several turnovers on both sides before a break side huck would be thrown by Depaul for the score and the win.
Fun Fact: At the completion of this game, Boomland would break seed finishing in 20th after the initial seeding of 34th.

Despite what the top tier teams are saying about the format of this tournament, I think that it worked really well for our program. We played a team to universe point for the best game of the weekend. Althought Florida drew Saint Louis (we beat them two weeks ago at Music City) for the final, the theory of matching teams for a valid game at the end makes sense. However, I would have to say a 2 tiered pooling system would work better to prevent a national #1 from playing a mid-level team who was also undefeated. As much as it pains me, Kansas A really should have been in the championship game to determine the champ. Brodie would tool KK all over the field, so it'd be ok.

This was our last tournament before the college series kicks off and has cemented the areas we need to improve in order to compete at a high level at sectionals to achieve our goal of making regionals. Keep everything in mind that we've talked about this year Boomlanders and we've got one hell of a shot at crushing some dreams.

Mardi Gras Postview

I'll go through in order and then toss some thoughts in at the end from what I saw

USF-These guys were pretty good and all around good guys from the time we cohabited the field. They definitely had some experienced dudes that knew how to make the throws and catches.
We came out cold against them and it was 2-7 at half due to a ridiculous amount of drops. After a motivation speech of some happy thoughts and other outright threats, Boomland came out harder and played closer to our potential and lost 7-13. Major thought: 0 breaks the entire game

Oklahoma State-Another team out of the same mold as USF, good guys with experience who have been in situations before. We came out slow and again had trouble with drops and keeping our heads in it for the first half and were down 3-7. More yelling would follow and Boomland would begin to exhibit some of the fire the captain's knew was there taking the second half and repeatedly breaking OSU's offense. However there wasn't enough going on and we lost 10-13. Major thought: Too many free throws to the force side and not aggresive enough marking

Texas Christian- This was by far the most disappointing game of the weekend. Boomland came out on fire and took half 7-2. Second half TCU found a fire and we began to fall apart. Some A-team guys came by and helped to pump up the sidelines during their bye and the extra intensity helped Boomland continue to put it in (take it out). But the intensity was not to last throughout the end of the game, despite some sick layouts by the rookies and some physical play against 'red-hat-guy,' my new arch-nemesis who clearly has no idea what the 11th edition of ultimate is, we were broken 6 points in a row to lose 12-13 on universe point. Major thought: We lost intensity from the sidelines when the A-teamers left, we have to have that fire without them

Kansas B- The one game we had to win, we were unable to get Mark on speaker phone but after piecing together what was said last year by the vets a working replacement speech got the team pumped up. Before I go on, I want to say that none of us really had any problem with anyone on Kansas's team. Boomland would finally find the fire and punch their man D in the face, taking half 7-5. After half Kansas switched to a zone and Boomland had some issues breaking their cup, but were able to trade points and break them. Ridiculous heckles from the Kansas sideline and their A team members fired up the vets throughout the second half and after some questionable calls from Kansas (read bullshit), yours truly was pissed. A callahan by Pete fired the team up even further and we took the game 13-9, bringing the years head to head with Kansas (A/B) to 2-0 in favor of the Illini. Kansas also became my least favorite team in ultimate, and you can beat that I will continue to hit the gym so I can spike it on your face the next time you try to strip the disc from me. Major Thoughts: Beating Kansas felt good and we fixed our major problems from earlier in the day for this game

Black Ice- The first game of Sunday was against a Minnesota conglomorate. It was a bunch of high school kids, some college guys, and their coach. An outstanding layout and skying of their coach by Charlie Ma got Boomland moving. Evidently Austin's brother was on that team, the one who cleated Chrysler, the goon trait runs strong in that family. Boomland would take the game 13-11. Major Thoughts: We have to come out firing Sunday morning, take warm ups seriously and really get stretched out prior to playing

Texas B- I personally was looking most forward to this game after hearing that we would be playing them, a rematch of Kansas B would have most likely ended in bloodshed. Due to restrained time, we were forced to play a much shorter game than normal, but Boomland managed to fit a full game's worth of intensity into 12 points. After coming out with 6 breaks to start the half, we took half 7-1. Our zone looked sexy and a monster D by Chris got the team fired up out of our zone. An additional highlight was the Spenser point, affectionately named such after he had 3 hucks thrown to him in order to get that elusive catch in the point box. We would take the game 9-3. This also would mean that both the A and B teams would beat their counterparts on Texas at Mardi Gras. Major Thoughts: Our zone looked ballin' but the switch out of the zone into man and when we didn't have time to set it lead to some iffy situations.

Depaul(timate)- The only team we would play from our section this weekend. Put frankly, DePaul just came out harder than we did and took half 3-7. After letting the game run away from us the score dropped to 6-12. McKinley, Schmid and Sidrys all came out firing hard and each got at least one D. We would go to break DePaul 3 times and bring the score to 10-12 before finally running out of gas. Major Thoughts: This is a team we must beat to make it to regionals, use whatever might have happened you didn't like in that game and come out with the fire we found in the second half right of the bat on Sunday at Sectionals.

Boomland would finish the weekend 3-4 with several close games and not a single blowout. We would find the fire at some point in every game we played, but we only able to maintain it in 2 of those games, Kansas and Texas. We have to keep it going all day, every game; especially if we have 30 guys on the roster, anything less than 100% sprinting is unacceptable with those numbers. We were in every game, now we need to take those first points and ride it from there, we are a good enough team that we shouldn't have to come from behind to go for a win with the other team in position to already win.

Keep coming out to practice and lifting, we've got work to do in the next month so we can screw some people up at Southerns.

-Keenan-

Mardi Gras Preview

So it's Boomland's first spring tournament of the 2009 college ultimate season. We're bringing some serious old and new talent to the board here, thanks to the Illinois A team continue to be ballin'. We're going to have to look to the vets to continue to improve and the rookies to find a play style that suits their abilities.
I don't have the advantage of knowing who we're playing on the same level that Rip does for his blog, but I'll try to make it entertaining and maybe get something right.

University of Southern Florida - The Scallywags. First off, sweet name; second off I really don't know anything about them. They played at Warm Up and managed to beat Florida Tech, UCF-B and two split Florida B teams with losses to Brown, Davidson, and Iowa. The only thing I'm able to determine from this is that they really didn't beat anyone and lost to Jake Bradley. I kid, Iowa is going to make some noise and with 4 bids to nationals in the central region he ought to be leading IHUC to Columbus. But that is neither here nor now.

Oklahoma State - Ultimato. What does that mean? Lame name. The have an entertaining website, but that means they're spending time on that and not practicing. It looks like they've got some serious numbers returning, so expect some sneaky moves. Based on the teams they've played this year, I can say they have an OK win or two, but none of the teams stand out to me based on my brief UPA browsing.

Kansas B - Horrozontals. I would say good name, but I would be lying. And Mark would choke the life out of me. Long story short, if we don't beat them again, I don't know what to say. This is the one game of our pool that it will be unforgiveable to lose. That's all I'm going to say about that.

Texas Christian - PEZ. Lame. Secondly, why isn't it the fighting Ladainian Tomlinsons? Or at least Horned Frogs, either would be better. They appear to have a fairly new program there, so expect most of us older vets to have more experience playing than anyone on their team. Now, I may be completely wrong, but another good website also leads me to this conclusion.

A final thought on Saturday: We have the potential to win this pool, we have the potential to sweep this pool. It's going to come down to us running hard. We practice 4 times a week, we lift at least once a week, both with a top 25 team in the country. Our statement for this season and this program starts on Saturday, be ready to put everything out there then.

Keenan

Do it

How do we know we're a team? Not typically something that we consider when out on the field. But pause for a second and reflect on it.
Being on a team isn't about playing perfectly and being a superstar (although those moments are nice). Being on a team is about motivating everyone around you to hit that superstar status. Whether this is at practice or sunday afternoon at sectionals, the best thing you can do as a teammate isn't to worry about yourself. It's about how well you can get the 6 guys next to you on the field to perform at their peak; it's about motivating those 7 guys on the field while you catch your breath, its about yelling to finish to the 30 other guys doing sprints at the end of the worst practice of the year.
We've all played together for the past 6 months, some of us have played together for the past 3 years. You should know the guys around you well enough by now to feel comfortable to call them out on something they need to work on, and also understand that if you get called out on something its not a personal affront but a chance to make yourself and the team better. These guys you play with now will be around at least for the rest of your time at Illinois and a lot of them beyond then. We won't all be running for the same team then, but we'll always have been on a single unit that was greater than any one of us.
-Keenan

Get excited

Things to be excited for in the spring about boomland ultimate

-Boomland
-Mardi Gras
-CiCi's
-City Museum
-Sectionals
-Regionals (Believe it)
-Workouts in Irwin
-And my personal favorite, calling simeone old

We've got a best looking team since I've been here and if we can play up to our potential we can surprise a lot of teams. Keep with it and we'll start dealing folks in no time.

I Say BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Now let me hear you say WayOh!

Thoughts on the Armory

So we’ve all completed our first two weeks in the Armory, and I must say I’m very impressed by the dedication that the rookies have shown giving it all they can and the vets pushing themselves to the next level.

So what does all this mean from this point on? It means we’ve got another 3 months of the beauty that is running in a circle and pushing your body further than it thought it would in order to chase down a piece of plastic.

I guess the point I’m trying to make through all this is that the best thing you can do in order to get better is to keep coming every day and pushing yourself and everyone around you each time. The single most important thing that we’ll all discover in our time in the Armory is that everyone is in this together and I would be willing to bet that those guys who finish the cross fits first are the same guys who are there next to you urging everyone else to finish.

And the most important thing to remember throughout all this is that not finishing first isn’t like loosing. It’s unrealistic to think that we can all keep up with Kurley and McLain at the running or Lamp and Rip when it comes to the beasting portion. The most important thing to take away is that you should improve each week based on your performance previously not how by how you think you measure up to someone else.

In fact, the thing that has help me the most in my 2+ years of playing has been that I’m not the most gifted physically, or at all, out there because it has forced me to work on becoming a fundamentally sound player. Determining what it is that you can contribute from the team based on where you currently are is worth a lot more than where you’d like to be, because everyone wishes they had hollow bones and could fly but Pavan is the only one so far who has mastered that one.

The Armory is about becoming an Ultimate player that has the physical tools necessary to compete at a high level. But I would argue that this is the second most important thing to come out of the Armory. We all gain a bond from the late nights and hatred of Stupca and his crazy workouts later in the season. Without that bond we’re just a set of 7 guys out on a field looking to win a game of Frisbee.

Take our time in the Armory seriously and we’ll become more than a set of vets and rookies, we’ll be a team with a goal. And like any good team, our goal is to improve on our performance from last year, last year we made quarters at Nationals. Now it's our turn to get ourselves in the shape and mind set necessary to make a run at least that far again this year.

See you guys out there

Keenan