Fools Fest Recap - Part 4 of 4
Sunday morning I awoke feeling refreshed from a good night’s sleep. No, definitely hadn’t won the party from the night before. Checked my watch – 7 am. Still two hours before gametime – whose alarm is going off? No one needs that much prep time. Must be someone's first tourney... Anyway, back to sleep.
Woke again at 8 am. Plenty of time to get ready, games never start on time, certainly not those early Sunday morning. A leisurely breakfast, get my game gear ready, and off to the fields in good order.
Suddenly though, a few of the guys on the other team appear looking rushed, scrambling to gather their gear together – “We leave in five minutes!” What? Why? Games would be starting then, apparently. That can’t be right – we didn’t start until 9, the women not until 10:30, it was clearly written on the playoff schedules at the party. Quickly it became clear though that I had in fact failed to set my watch ahead, something I was certain I would remember to do. Games were scheduled to start in five minutes, so I got some shorts on, grabbed my gear, and headed out with the other guys.
Despite the apparent rush, we still had time to grab breakfast to go – greasy fast food breakfast, a touring staple – and headed to the fields. The campus fields we were supposed to play on had been rained out, so it was back to the crappy state park fields. At least the detour would mean we were less late, relatively speaking.
Getting to the fields it looked like some of the college games were already on. We had to find where we were playing quickly. Tracked down the new disc central and one of the tournament directors to find the details. As it turned out, not only had the games been moved but the fields reconfigured and renumbered, and those lovely well-considered brackets from the night before? Left at the party. We found our new matchups and headed to our respective games.
I got to the game just before it started, and rushed to get ready. Did the pregame cheer wearing one cleat and one shoe. Game on.
Game 5: Arkansas
Though we were playing mostly against other club teams, a few of the top college teams had been selected to advance to the club bracket, and Arkansas was one of these. Might’ve been a relatively easy matchup in regular conditions, but the wind had really picked up on Sunday and was pretty much straight upfield/downfield, making this one of those games when the downwind strategy was huck and zone and upwind points would be crucial. We lost the toss and were at a disdvantage going upwind to start. For the first several points neither team was able to score upwind, though we got close a few times. After a few close calls for us barely scoring with the tailwind, one of the captains called a timeout, and stressed the importance of getting the hucks downfield to make sure the other team had a long field to work off if there was a turnover. Perhaps that jinxed us; on the next point the same captain had a huck attempt point blocked and the other team quickly capitalized to get the game’s only upwind point. We couldn’t match and lost by that single break (something like 11-8). I played about four downwind points, but as a secondary target to the main huck-and-hope receiver, and never touched the disc. Notably, the game featured both a Callahan (ours) and a greatest (theirs).
Game 6: Colorado State
The loss put us into the consolation bracket. I think many teams were simply forfeiting their conslation games but we wanted redemption. We were matched against Colorado State, a moderately highly ranked college team. We played on another field, slightly better aligned to the wind (now diagonally upfield/downfield) but with an even greater slant than out field from the first day. The game started out well enough and we held a small lead early. Colorado State scored an upwind point, but we refused to buckle and scored one to match. Eventually, though, they figured out our zone and started methodically working against it with a disciplined four handler set, taking a few more upwinders. I played a single point, had a turnover on my only huck attempt (still hadn’t figured out the wind) but followed that up with a layout D. To no avail, however, they took the point on the next possession and the game a few points later. That would be it for us for the weekend.
I lingered around for a short time thereafter. The DingWop guys were clearly disappointed with the finish but that was tempered somewhat by the fact that this was to be a ‘fun’ tourney for them from the get go. Anyway I exchanged farewells with the captains and a few other players – really appreciate being able to play with you guys… no it was great to have you, thanks for picking up… etc. – and headed off to join the women. They had just finished up the tourney with a win over a KU Betty reunion squad, but forfeited the result so they could leave early. Due to the rescheduling, their final, should they make it, would not be ‘till 5 pm instead of 1:30 as planned, so staying was not an option. We headed back to the car, attempted to sponge off the mud from our arms and legs with wet socks, and packed up. One last stop, then outta Lawrence ‘till next year.
The last stop, of course, was Chipotle for another round of giant burritos. A few of the other women were there already. We got our food and sat down with them. Slowly the rest of the women’s team trickled in until pretty much everyone was there. Kind of a neat symmetry to the weekend. We all finished up and headed out. Another long stretch on the road. With minimal stops, we made it back in just over 12 hours, getting in by 2:30 am. And with that, the first ultimate road trip of the year had come to a close.
Woke again at 8 am. Plenty of time to get ready, games never start on time, certainly not those early Sunday morning. A leisurely breakfast, get my game gear ready, and off to the fields in good order.
Suddenly though, a few of the guys on the other team appear looking rushed, scrambling to gather their gear together – “We leave in five minutes!” What? Why? Games would be starting then, apparently. That can’t be right – we didn’t start until 9, the women not until 10:30, it was clearly written on the playoff schedules at the party. Quickly it became clear though that I had in fact failed to set my watch ahead, something I was certain I would remember to do. Games were scheduled to start in five minutes, so I got some shorts on, grabbed my gear, and headed out with the other guys.
Despite the apparent rush, we still had time to grab breakfast to go – greasy fast food breakfast, a touring staple – and headed to the fields. The campus fields we were supposed to play on had been rained out, so it was back to the crappy state park fields. At least the detour would mean we were less late, relatively speaking.
Getting to the fields it looked like some of the college games were already on. We had to find where we were playing quickly. Tracked down the new disc central and one of the tournament directors to find the details. As it turned out, not only had the games been moved but the fields reconfigured and renumbered, and those lovely well-considered brackets from the night before? Left at the party. We found our new matchups and headed to our respective games.
I got to the game just before it started, and rushed to get ready. Did the pregame cheer wearing one cleat and one shoe. Game on.
Game 5: Arkansas
Though we were playing mostly against other club teams, a few of the top college teams had been selected to advance to the club bracket, and Arkansas was one of these. Might’ve been a relatively easy matchup in regular conditions, but the wind had really picked up on Sunday and was pretty much straight upfield/downfield, making this one of those games when the downwind strategy was huck and zone and upwind points would be crucial. We lost the toss and were at a disdvantage going upwind to start. For the first several points neither team was able to score upwind, though we got close a few times. After a few close calls for us barely scoring with the tailwind, one of the captains called a timeout, and stressed the importance of getting the hucks downfield to make sure the other team had a long field to work off if there was a turnover. Perhaps that jinxed us; on the next point the same captain had a huck attempt point blocked and the other team quickly capitalized to get the game’s only upwind point. We couldn’t match and lost by that single break (something like 11-8). I played about four downwind points, but as a secondary target to the main huck-and-hope receiver, and never touched the disc. Notably, the game featured both a Callahan (ours) and a greatest (theirs).
Game 6: Colorado State
The loss put us into the consolation bracket. I think many teams were simply forfeiting their conslation games but we wanted redemption. We were matched against Colorado State, a moderately highly ranked college team. We played on another field, slightly better aligned to the wind (now diagonally upfield/downfield) but with an even greater slant than out field from the first day. The game started out well enough and we held a small lead early. Colorado State scored an upwind point, but we refused to buckle and scored one to match. Eventually, though, they figured out our zone and started methodically working against it with a disciplined four handler set, taking a few more upwinders. I played a single point, had a turnover on my only huck attempt (still hadn’t figured out the wind) but followed that up with a layout D. To no avail, however, they took the point on the next possession and the game a few points later. That would be it for us for the weekend.
I lingered around for a short time thereafter. The DingWop guys were clearly disappointed with the finish but that was tempered somewhat by the fact that this was to be a ‘fun’ tourney for them from the get go. Anyway I exchanged farewells with the captains and a few other players – really appreciate being able to play with you guys… no it was great to have you, thanks for picking up… etc. – and headed off to join the women. They had just finished up the tourney with a win over a KU Betty reunion squad, but forfeited the result so they could leave early. Due to the rescheduling, their final, should they make it, would not be ‘till 5 pm instead of 1:30 as planned, so staying was not an option. We headed back to the car, attempted to sponge off the mud from our arms and legs with wet socks, and packed up. One last stop, then outta Lawrence ‘till next year.
The last stop, of course, was Chipotle for another round of giant burritos. A few of the other women were there already. We got our food and sat down with them. Slowly the rest of the women’s team trickled in until pretty much everyone was there. Kind of a neat symmetry to the weekend. We all finished up and headed out. Another long stretch on the road. With minimal stops, we made it back in just over 12 hours, getting in by 2:30 am. And with that, the first ultimate road trip of the year had come to a close.
posted by Druski at 10:44 p.m.
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