Holy smokes, what a beautiful day for Ultimate. Not Puce AKA Duck Tails squared off against Kelly Green, and this turned into one of those games that, win or lose, was just a blast to play. There was great spirit, great play, and overall it just felt like an affirmation of everything to love about our league and Ultimate Frisbee. Now onto the game and some spirit/player highlights.
Duck Tails came out swinging on offense and went up 3 to 1 out of the gate. We were feeling pretty confident and then, as Shane Falco from The Replacements says (super under-rated Keanu Reeves and Gene Hackman movie if you haven’t seen it), we got into quicksand. Kelly Green adjusted well to our vert stack and we started sinking. 5 unanswered points and several silly/unnecessary turns later and a serendipitous timeout called by Kelly gave us a chance to regroup.
We managed to make our own adjustments, get back on track, take advantage of a few key turns, and took half 8/7. Back on serve! Out of half we were able get a break and then managed to maintain a lead through the rest of the game. Kelly Green kept it close the whole way, and it felt like it was anyone’s game until the very end.
Couple of shoutouts to Kelly Green. Holy crap, I nearly had a heart attack trying to cover Nathaniel AKA “Nasty Nate” which is my new nickname for him (apologies if you don’t like it, I’m open to other suggestions). I believe Nathaniel is new (newer?) to league, but this guy was a force to be reckoned with on D and O. Nice work. Also, Matya and Bonnie absolutely crushed yesterday. We had an extra female matching player but Matya and Bonnie stepped up and played like every dang point so our female matching squad was playing as much (if not more than) they could handle.
Which is a nice segway into my Duck Tails shoutouts! Our female matching squad is friggin’ amazing. Michelle and Jenny are probably some of the best ultimate players in Gainesville (and probably the WHOLE WORLD – no this is not an exaggeration) and Ashley Marie is ascending quickly. M&J are incredible leaders and fonts of knowledge (and positively sick with a disc whether on O or D) and Ashley Marie comes each week with hustle and a thirst to improve her game – and it SHOWS. Get ready to get riggity rekt cause Ashley is going to be unstoppable before we know it.
My MVP of the game is going to Devon Keyt. This guy just NEVER. STOPS. RUNNING. He also, like Ashley, is constantly asking for pointers and advice on how to improve his game (which I dutifully pass off to someone who knows way more than me), but I’m just floored every week at how much hustle this guy puts in, all with incredible spirit and a smile on his face. Also, he helped set up and take down the fields, which is always a HUGE spirit win =)
Speaking of spirit wins, PROPS to Josh Barker for an amazingly spirited “drop” call on himself. Everyone on the field and sideline (I’m pretty sure) thought he caught a disc, but he jumped up and called turn because what we couldn’t see is that he didn’t stop rotation or control the disc before it hit the ground (he was hugging it close as he went to the ground). This is the stuff league is about. We want to play with honesty and integrity and celebrate the successes of both teammates and opponents. Thanks for modeling incredible spirit this week.
And, last but not least, your Commish managed to only make one stupid turn this week. Which was obviously the main reason we won. If Jeffrey (channeling Michelle and talking about myself in the third person) can stay conservative and chilly, Duck Tails AKA Not Puce is going to be a tough team to overcome in the playoffs.Great game Duck Tails, Great game Kelly! You all made my Sunday afternoon positively epic (before going home and working for 5 hours), so thanks a million. See you next week!
Cheers,
Roseman