Poll Thursday - Boo

I just watched the ECC finals with the Buzz Bullets and Sockeye. I think the most exciting part of the game was the crowd's repeated "Boo" for player 6 that happened after a Buzz Bullet player had to jump the crowd on a run down out the back of the endzone and Sockeye 6 quickly grabbed the disc and ran the disc into play. It's one of those nothing is in the rules, but it seemed like a cheap move (at least that's how the crowd saw it). The player sensed the crowds boos and sort of waited to make a small simple throw. He got booed 4 or 5 more times throughout the point and more throughout the game, and the crowd really got into supporting the Bullets.

Similarly, at Motown Throwdown in the Goat vs. BAT finals, Grand Trunk became a biased Toronto crowd and sent the boo out on a few calls that BAT made. The two teams made a game of it and the crowd was really into the action. In general, I think the crowd in both games gave the game some more excitement.

The poll this week (to the right) is simple. Should Ultimate crowds stick with the "Boo" or move to the tennis and football disapproval preference of the whistle.

PJ

Jump balls and late throws - Foul?

To each their own is my general feeling about fouls. When I play, I like to grind a little like a basketball player, and I won't call anything along those lines. In general, though it's a personal opinion if you think you're fouled or not.

The two situations I find the hardest foul calls to watch are when a poor throw is made that results in a jump ball and a late throw is thrown.

Pictured Above: A jump ball from CUC'07 (photo courtesy of Marc Hodges).

In the first situation, a bunch of people go up for a disc, nobody catches the disc, and one person yells out, "foul". Personally, I just don't think you should call a foul in this situation. The throw is essentially a turnover from the throw and you should go to try and catch the disc, but unless there's a flagrant foul (not incidental contact) then let it go.

The second call is made when you're fouled, you then throw, and you call foul. This is a turnover since the foul was not on the throw. I think this call is made because people are trying to do their team's strategy and take advantage of fouls on the throw. This is fine, but the above sequence is not fine, and it's a turn.

Both situations happen frequently in Ultimate. I think most people know what happened when it is explained, but have too much pride to change their call. I have more respect for people who think about the situation and admit when a turns a turn, but to each their own.

PJ

Season Switch - Time to evaluate and set the pace

The Canadian ultimate club season is split into two. We have the summer series leading up to Canadian nationals and the fall season run to UPAs. This transition point is a perfect time to evaluate the season so far. If you don't have an official break (our opponents to the south) like this make one at half way through the season. It's a good time to reflect and recoup.

As much as you think you evaluate your season unless your pro actively working on a review your just passively thinking. You actually need to spend about ten minutes and (re)write what you were hoping to do (goals), and how close you were to achieving your goals during the first half. Write down what improved in your game, your teams game, and what got worse and needs improving.

Pictured Above: Tombstone and Glum guys in the air at the finals at CUC'07. Tombstone takes the win to represent Canada at Worlds (photo courtesy of Marc Hodges).

For my review I satisfied 1 short term goal and missed out on 2 other short term goals (one due to injury). My coaching goals were for the most part satisfied. The trick now is resetting the goals or making new ones for the rest of the season. The same is true for team goals.

The other thing to do at the halfway point is to look at your life and make sure everything is in place (as much as possible) to make the busy aspect of the remainder season more calm. Check how burnt out you are and do what you have to be ready for the big push.

The good news for me is after a weekend off I'm bored and ready to hit the touring circuit.

PJ

Old East vs West - a new debate

Sockeye pulls a 17-16 win over Buzz Bullets at ECC (RRI). Is it time to change the debate from East vs West to the Pacific rim vs North America. As much as we would love to dominate a sport forever, I think we are going to need to work to keep our strength in the sport.

Furious and Sockeye were the only two teams that beat Buzz Bullets over the tournament, and Japan's top team beat the likes of Jam, Bravo, Sub Zero, and Chain Lightning. In my books that's impressive, and there's no doubt that these guys are ramping up for Worlds next year.

Pictured Above: Fiesty vs. Team Alberta at CUC'07 (photo courtesy of Jaleel).

I've also heard good things about the Aussies. Their sports funding goes as deep as Ultimate. Canadian funding goes as deep as...well the hockey teams are pretty good.

Will next years worlds be a four or five horse race instead of the traditional 2 horse North American race? Also, over the next year, how can we make sure the tide back is in our favour like it has been in the past.

First off, the U.S. has an impressive college system that will fuel the club teams for years to come. Luckily, with lack of money their will be very little international participation to the likes of NCAA basketball or the CHL's hockey. In Canada, we're trying to be as much a part of the college spring series to experience the quality of competition.

Also, the high school system and summer training camps are just starting to really flourish. Over the next few years their will be a constant influx of new talent.

In one year, however, this will not significantly effect the 2008 Worlds. I think a few deciding factors to consider are personnel, competition, and preparation.

Personnel is tricky. I'm still for the winner gets to go, qualification style, and that might be fine this time. I'm not sure it will be sufficient in the long term. The pickups are key, but they need to be playing with the world teams for at least a month or more. Chemistry is so important when you're facing a team that for the most part works together.

Competition is all about weekends like ECC, Colorado Cup, and Chesepeake. I think, however, you've got to go a step further with a World prequel exhibition tournament where all star teams (NE, NW, SE, and SW) all meet up to play the U.S. and Canadian world teams for one weekend (maybe something similar to the MLU). Consider inviting Japan, Australia, and the U.K. with the risk that they'll benefit.

Preparation is about scouting. You need to look at the tapes on these opponents and look at them hard. If you want to win it all this year, it is time to get a scouting team on your side and have a game plan and a strategic study during the game.

PJ

Bathurst Odds - The post analysis

Overall, my picks for Nationals were dead on at the top, I misplaced the Prairie teams, and were pretty close at the bottom other than a few of the pickup teams making big moves. Pretty good for having only a little information.

It's clear that 1 and 2 (Furious and Goat) are 1 and 2 with 3 is nipping at their heels. Invictus, however, needs to commit to improving if they ever want in on the finals. With Nationals moving to Calgary next year and Furious, probably, back to not showing, I would guess they might have a shot to get in the finals.

Rankings 4 through 12 (and an invitation to Red Circus) are all fighting with each other in every game they play. Mephisto and Strike definitely lead the pack, but I would argue any team in this range will give the other teams a good battle. The nice thing is good competition pushes all these teams to be better.

I think the best thing about the summer season is that rivalries and back and forth games were the name of the season. For example, Roy and Firebird continued their season to season struggle with Roy coming our on top this year (as I predicted). As some teams move into the fall season and the University season starts up, all these teams will be looking to improve and make next season as good.

1. Furious (picked 1st) - it was a finals that Furious jumped ahead on after taking advantage of errors and didn't stop rolling. Only a few would have bet against these guys.
   
2. Goat (picked 2nd) - had a scare against Invictus, but made it to the finals with very few other challenges. The finals was what it was. Hopefully, this will leave the team hungry for more.
   
3. Invictus (picked 3rd) - these guys were good, but not good enough to break into the top 2. They're still clearly in the top echelon.
4. Mephisto (picked 4th) - not their best tournament of the year, but they did what they had to to get into the quarters.
   
5. General Strike (picked 11) - sure these guys made it to 5th, but boy did they complain about me picking them so low (in banter that is completely for fun). I just called it as I saw it, and I didn't see much from them over the season.
   
6. Blackfish (picked 7th) - A great tournament for these guys. They only lost by 1 in the quarters. Vancouver number 2 is showing well for their second season of existence. I expect a fall series run will show how they fit in the West.
   
7. Mangina (picked 14th) - These guys could have been 7th (results aren't up yet). I picked them low on the basis of no info. I met one of these guys on the bus ride to the field and really enjoyed hearing about Ultimate in Saskatchewan and the challenges they face in getting to tournaments.
8. Nads (picked 6th) - The number 2 team in Ontario after this tournament. I just wish they would play more during the regular season or see them in a fall UPA run.
9. Phoenix (picked 5th) - Nads and Blackfish pushed these guys into the lower pool where they showed they're on the rebuild, but still strong enough to take the bracket. The lowest finish for Phoenix, but still a positive season with signs of a return to the top.
   
10. Grand Trunk (picked 10th) - I thought we might be here unless we had a breakout tournament. It turns out our breakout was late on Saturday by beating some teams who had our number this year.
    
11. Q (picked 12th) - Q finishes the tournament strong with a win over Magma. This hasn't been Q's best year, and I hear their veteran handler is retiring. Hopefully, number 7 stays on the team to help rebuild.
12. Magma (picked 8th) - It looked like their breakout year would continue with a win over Mephisto in power pools, but point differential and a 1-2 record on Saturday drops them down. Still, if they don't lose too many players they'll be a team to reckon with next year.
    
13. Seven (picked 19 or 20) - They changed their name and had a strong Volleyball receiver and a good ex-Nads handler. Their athleticism pushed them much higher than I ever expected.
14. STR (picked 19 or 20) - Same situation. A little surprising. Great choice on the name change.
    
15. Red Circus (picked 9th) - They started off firing on all cylinders and had a run against Furious. Unfortunately, they left the tank empty for Saturday and fell down the ladder. Still, I think this was one of their best seasons ever riding on the back of two great players.
16. Too Bad (picked 13th) - The boys in blue stayed in the second bracket, but couldn't make a significant run to push higher in the seedings. No shock here.
    
17. Roy (picked 17th) - After beating Firebird on Friday they came out wrong against Seven. On Saturday, they at least got their revenge against SWASS.
18. Sherbrooke (picked 15th) - I thought these guys would finish higher, but it seems all the best in Sherbrooke played on Gecko (3rd place mixed).
19. Firebird (picked 16th) - Unfortunately, the wheels fell off for Nationals. The Roy loss was the mental breaking point that couldn't be recovered from. I expect the bird will be back on track next year with another season of experience.
20. SWASS (picked 18th) - They had a few ups, but mostly downs.

PJ

Posting Vacuum

Hey Folks,

I'm just returning from trying to mix Canadian Nationals and a thesis defense together. Let's just say I'm not sure where I am.

The tournament was up and down for Grand Trunk, but we finished strong beating some teams who had wins in their columns on previous meetings.

I think I've updated all the scores on the RRI and apologize for our poor efforts in keeping people updated on the tournament. If you had a chance to listen to our live feeds of the finals over the internet I hope you enjoyed our first attempt at broadcasting. Norm will eventually pass on the commentary and I'll post them for all to listen to. At our peak we had 59 listeners for the Women's game.

Now we're into the fall season and almost the University season. I, fortunately, just squeak in for one more year of CUUC action and we'll be heading out to Vancouver. I'll also be following the UPA club championships in some form.

So, I'll be back to regular posts tomorrow starting with a look back to Bathurst odds and how off I was.

PJ

Nationals Buzz on the Eve

On the eve of Canadian Nationals in a qualifying year for Worlds, I sit at my desk feeling the buzz. Every division has legitimate contenders to qualify for worlds, and there are all sorts of interesting match ups all through the rankings.

Some of the buzz:

• This morning some of us appeared on Canada AM (http://www.ctv.ca/canadaam). It took 3 takes for me to drop the disc just as John mentioned turnover. Right ;)
  
• Event details have appeared in most the minor newspapers in Toronto. Here's a sample from the Metro; go to page 12 to see Inian Moorthy.
• The open division speculators have made their predictions and analysis:
• www.canadaultimate.blogspot.com
• My final Bathurst Odds
• The mixed division speculators:
• TUC thread by Rob Camp
• General predictions:
• rec.sport.disc - Polite Canadians
  
• VUL thread
• ultivillage coverage of the tournament
  
• The tournament will have a trade night on Saturday.
• There's plans to have commentary (live on Sunday) for all five (three or less if we're playing) of the finals done by Norm Farb and Myself (details to come).
• Sunday finals for coed (10:00), women's (12:00), and men (2:00) will be held in University of Toronto's new Varsity Stadium - 5$ tickets for all three games.
  
• The forecast is looking good - the air conditions - light smog.
  

In other words, this should be a great weekend in Toronto. Have a safe trip for all players coming, and I'll keep everyone else posted on the event as best I can.

PJ

Ultimate Camp - Lesson 1 - Emergin from the cocoon

I had a great week. It was one of those weeks where I didn't have to write and a bell ruled my day telling me when to wakeup, when to eat, and when to coach Ultimate. The campers were great, and the weather was perfect. All in all, a good week.

Pictured Above: An interesting picture from No Borders (photo courtesy of Marc Hodges).

The thing I find so refreshing with teaching Ultimate to younger new players is that I find it renews my enjoyment for the sport. In the past, I've had posts about if Juniors should play Ultimate or not. I watch the kids at camp play their nightly games, where the age ranges from 12 to 17 and everyone is throwing to everyone and having fun, and I realize that Ultimate is one of those games that is fun to play for a range of ages and abilities.

I, personally, loved basketball growing up, but as I matured I found the game lacking creativity and lacking drama. Sure March Madness has a little bit of drama, but the game got boring to play. I played ball for 6 years. I've played Ultimate for 8 years and I still love playing the game. With the kids, I saw a similar enjoyment that maintained a competitive atmosphere, but was inclusive.

My favourite part at the camp is during the nightly games, all the other coaches in football and basketball become referees for their games. We just grab a chair and watch the kids play shouting out encouragement. Every once in a while an infraction will happen on the field. The kids look over at the coaches for a call; we shrug our shoulders looking back at them, and then they work it out on their own.

It's quite a remarkable game.

PJ

Gone Fishing

I'm off to Detroit for the Motown Throwdown. Then after the tournament I get to head up to direct the Ultimate camp at Olympia. That means I'll be gone from cyberspace for the next week. I'll try and get a quick post in Sunday night to reset my odds for the CUC07 open division, but otherwise, I'll be living the good life.

Pictured Above: The Olympia team I coached in 2005.

PJ

Poll Thursday - Canadian Nationals picks - The Finalists

Last weeks polls didn't workout as planned. I'm guessing that having five of them was too much for the poll server. This week I've put them into the sidebar on the right, and I'm using bloggers new built in polls. I couldn't figure out how to get them in the main blog, so we'll have to live with this setup.

Using the very limited results from last week, I've assembled the potential finalists. Pick 2 teams who you think will make the CUC'07 finals.

PJ

Bathurst Odds part VI - And you thought nothing happened this weekend

General Strike made an appearance this weekend at the Minneapolis Ultimate Disc Invitational. It looks like they were put in a low pool, and proceeded to go 3-0 on day 1. Their first game on Sunday was a quarterfinal win over DingWop (who we'll see at Detroit this weekend), and then their run ended with a 13-7 loss to Sub Zero. That's a respectable loss to a UPA finalist.

The big look will be at Detroit Mowtown Throwdown and Log Jam this weekend. Goat, GT, Roy, and Too Bad are spread out over four pools in Detroit, and I expect to see Mephisto at Log Jam.

In the odds, I've moved Winnipeg up for the time being.

1. Furious George - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 2-3
No change

2. Goat - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 4-1
No change

3. Invictus - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 10-1
No change

4. Mephisto - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 10-1
No change

5. Phoenix - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 25-1
No change

6. Nads - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 35-1
No change

7. Blackfish - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 40-1
No change

8. Magma - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 45-1
No change

9. Red Circus - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 50-1
No change

10. Grand Trunk - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 50-1
No change

11. Winnipeg General Strike - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 55-1
With a reasonable tournament the experience will prepare them for Nationals. The game against Sub Zero will really help them find out what they'll need to work on. I'm still concerned with such a small schedule, but we'll see in a few weeks.

12. Q - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 60-1
No change

13. Too Bad - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 75-1
No change

14. Mangina - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 100-1
No change

15. Sherbrooke Open - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 110-1
No change

16. Firebird - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 130-1
No change

17. Roy - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 150-1
No change

18. SWASS - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 250-1
No change

19. Hootenanni Pussywillows
Bathurst Odds - 1000-1

20. BID - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 1001-1

PJ

Cottage Weekend 1 - Lesson 1 - The layout is not impressive

I spent the weekend sitting by a fire or staring out on the lake in Quebec. No ultimate, but I did bring some of the UltiVillage footage of Flowerbowl'07. My family was willing to watch some of the footage because few of them had ever seen me play, and they wanted to see what I spent most of my weekends doing.

As expected the crowd of ten or so dwindled down to about four including myself. These remaining fans were all males who watch different types of sports from English Premier League to golf to hockey (NHL and Junior). As they watched the game, which had lots of drama because of the tight game, they never really became enthralled with the action.

Pictured Above: Firebird and Roy air action (photo courtesy of Jaleel).

I've talked about this before in posts such as this one and I've thought of some ideas on how to make the sport more spectator friendly. What really surprised me the most was how my three viewers reacted to layouts.

The layout, I thought, is our slam dunk. Well, apparently not. I don't know if they were desensitized by the number of layouts there were in this game, but actions that a fellow ultimate player view as spectacular plays were treated as actions that were almost expected. To some degree the fans were right and they expected that a player would always layout for a disc, but that means our slam dunk is really just a common action on the field. Do we need to install trampolines on the field?

In the end, they enjoyed watching the Furious vs. Goat game and catching a view of what I do. They were impressed with the amount of running we did and they really enjoyed the pull - Mike Grant's in particular. Maybe the pull is where it's at and we should have field goal attempts along the lines of Rugby and Australian Rule's Football.

After my first experiment, of those 30% viewers I captured for 20 minutes, I think Ultimate could hold onto one of them for the entire game with a better presentation and commentators.

PJ

221st Post - One Year Anniversary

Hey Folks,

This is non-ultimate related, but I've made it. I've completed one year of blogging on the Cultimate Opinion.

Pictured Above: I'm relaxing at Cleveland No Surf (Photo by Marc Hodges).

I'd like to thank all the suggestions for posts, the photos people have let me use, the teams that I post about, and most importantly, the general Ultimate community who reads the Cultimate Opinion. I enjoy meeting people from all over the continent who come up and say they enjoy reading my blog.

Pictured Above: I'm in my Gender Blender look here with Thai Boxing shorts (underarmour) and a nice golfing hat (photo courtesy of Kevin Brown)

What's in store in the future? Well, I won't lie. My goal was to make it this far and then reevaluate if I would continue. So, I'm not sure. In the interim, I will continue to post, but I can't tell you for how long. I have 30 or 40 posts in draft form, so that will keep me going for a few months. I'm off to run Ultimate Camp up at Olympia a week from now, and I'll use that time to think about the blog.

Pictured Above: This is as Flowerbowl 07 finals. I still don't think I fouled Lugsden on the throw - maybe after (photo courtesy of Jamie Bishop)

Just some stats of interest with the blog:

• 75,852 page views
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Pictured Above: Inian Moorthy telling me what many of you probably think about the Cultimate Opinion (photo courtesy of Blue)

Peter

Poll Thursday - Canadian Nationals picks - The Semis

Last week we had a chance to pick who we would expect to see in the quarters. Based on our picks:

• Open
• Furious, Goat, Mephisto, Invictus, Phoenix, Grand Trunk, Nads, Black Fish
• Women
• Capitals, Team Alberta, Storm, Diggers, Scarlett, Crush, Salty, Traffic (number one BC team)
  
• Mixed
• TFP, Bytown Flatball Club, Bronco (Alberta 1), Monster, Snipe, Vancouver Mixed, Gecko, MHUC

This week we'll bring in the five categories and pick our semi-finalists.

Note the poles below are experiencing some difficulties for some users...

In open, pick 4 semifinalists.

In women, pick 4 semifinalists:

In Mixed, pick 4 semifinalists:

In masters, pick 4 semifinalist:

In juniors, pick 4 semifinalists:

PJ

Tournament 8 - Lesson 2 - The big debate with trust and the game plan

In our quarters against Mephisto, we went in with a huck and pin game plan. I'm sure most teams did this under the conditions we were playing at on Sunday at No Borders.

We kept to our plan and were right in the game until we dropped a throw on a downwind situation close to our end zone. Mephisto capitalized and scored one of two upwind points. The second coming from a similar scenario.

Pictured Above: Eric Sheid of Wormtown making a spectacular D against GT at No Borders. This D was off a throw by yours truly to what I thought was an open poach (photo courtesy of Darren Mace).

The question at hand for our team was should the thrower have just hucked to nobody but moved the disc deep, or do you trust your teammate on the obviously open in cut?

This debate really comes down to what the word trust means. We use it in many sports discussions and it's obviously one of the pillars of building a healthy team. Trust means that you believe someone will perform to an expected result. But what if the previous track record proves otherwise or you have no previous record to go on. In this case, you would be using blind trust, where you expect a result based on no previous or poor previous results.

Being the Cultimate Opinion my take on our game situation was that we were in a state of blind trust (based on previous up and down results). I think it was too big a gamble on the in cut, and we should have hucked the disc to nobody.

It should be understood that those two breaks alone were not the only reason we lost, but they were the most significant factor. Each time Mephisto scored upwind they got to pull to our upwind line meaning we didn't have a chance of getting a similar D close to the upwind endzone, which made it even harder. Alas, another hard lesson learned.

PJ

Tournament 8 - Lesson 1 - Solving zone troubles

This weekend at No Borders we were playing our last game against a team that was ready to lose. They, however, came out with a zone and 4 points later were up 4-0 and getting more confident by the point.

I was impressed with our team. No one was panicking yet, but you could sense the tension building. We decided to put a line of handlers out (one guy is normally a cutter but could be a handler). I've used this strategy in heavy up wind situations before, but this was a downwind situation. I feel that handlers are better decision makers for the most part, and with a line of handlers instead of 3 or 4 handlers feeling a huge pressure on their shoulders a line allows you to look around and see that everyone is in the same boat. Very calming, and in this case, very successful.

Pictured Above: More from Blender 2007. Deanna Langer gets off a high release backhand (photo courtesy of Kevin Brown)

We broke the zone and then went on a run for the rest of the game. The funny thing about a line of handlers is the guys who played poppers or cutters fond themselves in a strange position.

On Sunday, the morning wind was pretty strong. Most teams were playing huck and pin style of games. The cup we were facing was determined to not allow anything through it. This meant we had to attack from the sidelines. With four handlers we essentially worked with little resets and somewhat random movement to push the cup to their limit. We never broke the zone, but we did accomplish one thing. We tired out the defense to the point that they stopped playing zone and went to man on a few occasions. Against man our flow was good, but like the zone we approached the end zone, but made key errors when it counted.

Zones are fascinating. You play a certain zone against one team and it can stifle them completely. Against another and it's crushed almost instantly. Of course factors like personnel, team quality, and conditions are all huge factors in that equation. They're still fascinating.

PJ

Bathurst Odds part V - Bording Time

No Borders was a good weekend in Ottawa with sprinkles of rain and a collection of teams from around the area. The ladies division was dominated by the Capitals with Storm coming in second after beating the Diggers in a tight semis.

In the Open division, we saw some of the key match ups I was hoping for.

• Tombstone beats GLUM in a tightly fought game on the Saturday.
• Firebird pulls out a universe point on Roy.
• Mephisto takes the tournament championship with a 14-10 win over Phoenix.

How does that change the odds?

1. Furious George - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 2-3
No change

2. Goat - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 4-1
No change

3. Invictus - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 10-1
No change

4. Mephisto - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 10-1
Even with the tournament win Mephisto didn't strike me as dominant. They were missing Shaggy, but their core looked a little shaky in the wind. They, however, got the job done and with one tournament left (Log Jam) they'll be ramping up for Nationals. Eric was quite dominant in all the games I saw him play in.

5. Phoenix - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 25-1
Phoenix made the finals at Borders with a Universe quarters win over Nads and a 4 or 5 point semifinals game against Magma. They ran with Mephisto for a while relying on their veteran O-line that include a strong number 10 (who I sense might be the next star from Ottawa). Now that I've finally watched them play I have a tough time figuring out who they can beat out to make semis at Nationals. I think they match up well against Invictus and historically have had good Nationals.

6. Nads - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 35-1
Nads weren't strictly representative of who they would have at Nationals, but they've got players. I expect they'll have to fight their way into quarters, but if they stay healthy and in the right mind frame they have the talent to make quarters. a bunch of stars will need to align to make semis.

7. Blackfish - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 40-1
Didn't play this weekend, but with the loss of Derek Baxter I think this team will be hard pressed to finish 7th. No results as of late means they're probably practicing hard and getting some time against Furious.

8. Magma - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 45-1
The big mover this weekend. They beat GT in pool play 7-5 in a shortened game, Maddington Bears (a solid Queen's Alumni team) in the quarters, and they loss to Phoenix by only a few in the semis. When you look at them nobody pops out as a superstar, but they play a good team game with lots of breaks and constant pressure. I'm not convinced they'll make quarters, but this season they've been playing well.

9. Red Circus - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 50-1
Didn't make the top 8 and didn't come 9th. I didn't see these guys play anybody, and I don't know who came from their roster. They're out of the top 8 to make room for Magma.

11. Grand Trunk - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 50-1
A loss to Magma on day one and a loss in the quarters to the eventual winners on day two, but Borders was the best tournament yet for GT this season. Magma gets to move up the ladder, but I don't expect them to beat GT again. I wouldn't rule out a win against Mephisto either.

10. Q - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 60-1
Not in the top 8 and another loss to GLUM. Q does have their veteran handler back and he told me he had just come back from France. I'm guessing once he gets back into disc shape this team will have the personnel to make a move in the standings and maybe surprise one of the lower teams for an appearance in Quarters.

12. Too Bad - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 75-1
Too Bad picked up a number of coed players for this weekend. I can't talk about chemistry or the validity of any of their wins so no change.

13. Winnipeg General Strike - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 90-1
No change

14. Mangina - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 100-1
No change

15. Sherbrooke Open - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 110-1
No change

16. Firebird - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 130-1
Firebird gets a win against Roy to stay in the top 16. I think they can get higher than this at Nationals, but I'll leave them here for now since 13,14,15 are wildcards. The GT vs. Bird comment made on my last odds post should be laid to some rest after GT wins 15-5 in pool play. That won't be the score next time, but they've still got a gap to close on GT.

17. Roy - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 150-1
Roy keeps on coming. They had a fabulous game against Mephisto in pool play and a tough loss to Firebird. The next tournament in Detroit will give these guys even more time to click and prepare to make a move at Nationals.

18. SWASS - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 250-1
No change

19. Hootenanni Pussywillows
Bathurst Odds - 1000-1

20. BID - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 1001-1

PJ

That elusive obtainable energy?

Hey Folks,

I found this fascinating blog on energy drinks. On this blog the guy reviews a range of energy drinks with the intention of getting a buzz or a kick, but not sport. He'll tell you about flavour, colour, ingredients, and rank the drinks in all sorts of different categories.

The energy drink and Ultimate is a fascinating relationship. Note that Gatorade and Poweraide are sports drinks.

Pictured Above: Peyton Leung releasing a throw at Gender Blender 07 (Photo courtesy of Kevin Brown)

The energy drink is like a halfway step to ephedrines without associated high risk of heart problems. These energy drinks usually contain caffeine and taurine, and I see this usage throughout the Ultimate community. They offer the potential of an energy burst (caffeine), improved focus (caffeine) and delaying muscle fatigue (taurine).

My first experience with the energy drink was a disaster. I drank a full can of brand X (can't remember) an hour before the tournament had even started and by the start of the game I was suffering from anxiety and nervousness. That coupled with the pressure on me resulted in a multiple throw aways. At that time I would barely drink anything with caffeine in it. I would call this situation an overdose, and that's obviously not beneficial to performance.

Nowadays I've seen Red Bull promoters come to tournaments and hand out cans of Red Bull. I've used the sugar-free Red Bull (diabetic factors) late in a tournament (sipping it slowly mind you) and suspected that I was staying energized, but I have no proof. I've drank two of the imported Red Bulls from Thailand in the bottle without the carbonation and they've kept me up for an all night tournament without any trouble. So, focus wise and energy wise the energy drink seems to work.

I know a number of players who live by the energy drink at tournaments. The associated buzz brings them into a place where they're ready to play Ultimate. It's just part of their game.

What type of risks are we taking when we use these products. Health Canada's view on the topic is use a drink like Red Bull as the label describes (2 cans per day) as it is classed a health product. With physical activity, make sure that you are hydrating well. Finally, the classic statement - don't mix with alcohol. From what I've read there doesn't seem to be any high risk of heart attack like ephedrine if used properly (of course I don't have all the information).

I think a greater risk is falling into a situation like I did with my first experience on an energy drink. Nervous energy has little place on the field when you need to make sound decisions and proper execution in the heat of a game. Even on defense you need to be moving fast, but eventually you will have the disc in your hands.

I prefer a coffee with my breakfast and a diet coke during the day with lots of water. I guess, like in most situations with your health, proceed with caution. Use as directed, be aware of your body, and ride the placebo and psychological effect when possible.

PJ

Poll Thursday - Canadian Nationals picks - The Quarters

Last week we polled who would make it in the Mixed division to Nationals. Other than a few outliers we picked correctly for Ontario and sent Snipe, Monster, Liquid, Bytown Flatball Club, Mayhem, and Big Hammers to Nationals. Picked well with Quebec. The Albertan Regionals hasn't happened yet.

Since Canadian Nationals is only 4 weeks, we might as well start picking our favourites. This week will be picking your favourite teams to make the quarters.

Open (Pick 8 teams to go to the quarters):

Women (Pick 8 teams to go to the quarters):

Mixed (Pick 8 teams to go to the quarters):

PJ

Bathurst Odds part IV - The Odds Must be Crazy

This weekend is a big one in the East for the Open and Master division. No Borders will be held in Ottawa (on bad fields mind you). You can read some of the banter in Ottawa and less so in Toronto. There are some matchups that could happen that will be exciting to watch.

• Glum vs Tombstone - Ontario's top two Masters teams will go at it. Some of these guys played together on the Canada's world silver medalist team in 2004. Now they meet in battle with both teams shoring up to be the team with the World picking power. Glum brings Peter Knowles and his legendary cutting ability and some good handlers backed by Chris Sullivan to a cast of talented guys. Tombstone counters Peter with their own cutting stars, Geoff Simonett and Andrew Edgell, and a handler core with names like List, Agius, and Smolak. The difference here will be the two young studs on Tombstone - McArton and Stockdale. I don't think this game will happen on Day 1, but we'll see.
  
• Tombstone Wins 13-9 if it's early in the day, 13-7 if it's later in the tournament
• Phoenix vs Red Circus - Circus surprised Grand Trunk at the Boston Invite. Is Phoenix ready for the Circus. A win for either team puts them in the upper echelon of Open teams. A loss could mean a steady roll down the hill of doom.
  
• Phoenix Wins 13-7
• Phoenix vs Mephisto - Phoenix meets a team that I think is just starting to peak. Mephisto will be gunning to win No Borders and be the new other big city in Canada to hold the Borders trophy.
  
• Mephisto Wins 13-10
• Nads vs Anybody - I just want to get a read on who Nads are and what they're bringing to the Canadian Nationals table. There's rumors of key pickups so this won't exactly be the team we'll see in August.
• Firebird vs Roy - This is the one I'm really excited about. It's the two tiered club system of Ottawa versus the three tiered club system in Toronto. Roy's mixed up their team jersey colors and they've put a cast of players together who want to compete and can. Firebird is rumored to have the most grueling fitness preparation of any team in the continent. Unfortunately, you can't run with the disc.
• Firebird Wins 13-11 with an early jump and lots of screaming. Roy can't recover but makes a run that'll prove the difference at Nationals
  
• Firebird/Roy vs Too Bad - Too Bad will be a little stripped down by Nads and Maddington Bears (other team name suggestions: Bragiddy Anne or Killthee-the-Pooh or Furious George ... oh wait). Is this an opening for Firebird/Roy to get that win against Harry's pickup elite?
  

Also, I'll go into the odds this week on Nationals since a few people have convinced me that they should be adjusted. The best argument to changing them was - would you actually back that bet with those odds. I'll also change the format to horse betting odds (see details here).

1. Furious George - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 2-3

2. Goat - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 4-1

3. Invictus - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 10-1

4. Mephisto - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 11-1

5. Phoenix - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 20-1

6. Blackfish - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 30-1

7. Nads - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 30-1

8. Red Circus - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 30-1

9. Grand Trunk - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 35-1

10. Q - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 40-1

11. Magma - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 50-1

12. Too Bad - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 75-1

13. Winnipeg General Strike - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 90-1

14. Mangina - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 100-1

15. Sherbrooke Open - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 110-1

16. Firebird - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 150-1

17. Roy - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 180-1

18. SWASS - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 250-1

19. Hootenanni Pussywillows
Bathurst Odds - 1000-1

20. BID - RRI
Bathurst Odds - 1001-1

I miss the million dollar chance.

PJ