Good afternoon everyone and welcome to issue 2 of the Green Thumb. We at Green Thumb Inc. always strive to bring you the latest happenings of GNV League Ultimate. Well, the happenings of one team mainly, we haven’t scaled up enough here at GTI to cover more than one team at the moment, so you’ll have to visit our sister networks to get coverage of other League teams. Luckily for the low low cost of $0.00 a month you can get instant access to coverage of all GNV Ulty teams on our shared platform, gnvulty.com. Maybe someday we’ll break out, but until then, the Week 3 Green vs Blue game!
This week was the first week of the Green team having an actual team name. The newly christened “Gang Green”, arrived on a blustery Wednesday afternoon ready to take care of business. With a stiff but unpredictable wind and facing a team run by none other than the Floyd Ultimate Dynasty (informally called FUD by myself as of an hour ago), we knew we’d likely be facing a strong and tightly run zone defense. To make matters worse, we were Tomless, really putting the pressure on our remaining handlers to stay frosty.
On the whole, Gang Green played with a controlled chaos that definitely matched the weather of the day. We began downwind on offense (no pressure right?), and after a quick turn and round of defense, we were able to punch it in. From there, we traded with Blue, never being ahead for long before the Zach to Bhagya (or really the Zach to anyone) connection payed its dividends. Green lost some momentum, getting broken not once but twice and going down 6-4. At that point, clearly the thought of losing half and then starting off on defense (booo) was not popular with the Gang, so after scoring, we scratched out two breaks of our own before taking half 8-7.
The second half made true the adage “If there’s trouble, better make it double” (if you know you know). Most of the points this half happened in twos. Some might say that point pairs pervasively peppered this portion of our play. This half, Green really stepped up the person defense, and stayed extra chilly on O. The wind combined with just general mistakes plagued both sides, turning several points into endless slogs up and down the field. At the end, a crucial run-through D from Ani set us up for a final drive, and after a weird floater from Bailey to myself, a swift continuation flick sent it to Logan for the game winner, putting the final score at 15-13. And with that, Green’s fears of a winless regular season were assuaged.
In general, Green played some of the best lockdown person defense we’ve played yet, with a total of 10 Ds across the team. In particular, both Ani and Bailey managed to get two Ds in the same point! And Ani’s final D set us up beautifully for our game point.
As much as I try to avoid self-aggrandization within this news operation (cuz this isn’t a tech bro life hacks talk show…yet), it is difficult to report on this game without mentioning myself due to the direct hand I had in over two thirds of our points (and because my team told me that I had to talk about it). For whatever reason that day, the Ben, Bailey, Ani, and Kay hucks all had my name on it, even with the wind as an X factor (or maybe…because of the wind as an X factor…who knows). As most people know, I rarely pass up a chance to hit the dirt if it means keeping the disc and the ground separated (although I could do without the splinters). Akin to the Capulet and Montague families of old, I cannot approve of this union between them and must therefore work tirelessly to keep them apart. This willingness of mine to take on the cosmic, never-ending responsibility of crushing that always budding romance and bringing balance to the universe did end up providing Green with some tertiary benefits for this game, such as 8 points.
But no cutter is complete without their handlers, or their fellow cutters. And it was these Ben, Bailey, Kay, Ani, Caroline, and Ryan who stayed so so chilly on O, patiently creeping up the field inch by inch until they could find a cutter to continue to. And thank freaking goodness too, since the one time I decided to handle, all I could manage was a poor 30 yard pass into the wind (that’s vertical distance, not horizontal) that landed 5 yards away. And it was all other cutters, Matthew, Judah, Reagan, Hunter, and Logan who took such good advantage of space and time to keep the drives driving and the points pointing.
It would be remiss of me to not highlight the members of Royal Pain for their exemplary effort and performance. First, David Cromer had several absolutely beautiful bids during the game, one for a D in the handler space, leaving Chris Bailey wondering what happened, and the other for a catch in our RedZone, which was such a powerful, full body catch that the disc needed to call injury and wait out the rest of the game on the sidelines.
Nevin and Ayden had several strong connections over several points (It’s almost as if they can read each other’s minds). Definitely a package deal there. Also, props to Nevin for a sneaky scoober that went right over my head, which I’m not ashamed to say caught me completely off guard.
The Royal Pain ladies really were making it a pain for us to try to cut towards the disc, with Elizabeth really locking down the right wing of the RP zone, Michelle playing her strong handler game, and Abbie and Amelia playing strong middle cutter and cup games, with consistent catches and dumps and regular space filling to foul up our handler line.
Bhagya, true to form, was a force to be reckoned with in the Five position, luring the Green Gang in with temptations of continuation throws and then Mr. Fantastic-style extending his arms to slap the disc out of the air, crushing those budding hopes of completion.
In all, throws were thrown, effort was efforted, and glory was gloried. Thank you Royal Pain for a great game, can’t wait to see you again in the championship!
Well, that’s all for this issue of the Green Thumb. Our programming schedule is usually a little up in the air, due to the various other endeavors of our founder and CEO, but I’m confident our loyal GT readers will be watching out for when the next issue drops in a couple of weeks. As always, huck ’em good!