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Some of these are quite large, so I'd only try and download them with a high-speed connection.
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Ommegang Weekend!
Well I'm sure by now you can't stand the waiting to find out how we did up in heart of nowhere New York at the first annual Ommegang Brewery Ultimate tournament. So, here's a long, wordy recap of the weekend's activities.
I arrived on site around 2:30 AM Friday night/Saturday morning, found the appropriate parking spot that confounded tournament organizers, and proceeded to wake up the entire team. What better way to prepare for Ultimate the next day by getting to sleep at the early hour of 4? The brewery grounds were nice enough and provided ample space to camp, and a small fire for people to gather round and awkwardly flirt with one another. This fire happened to be no further than 25 feet from where we set up camp, so we got to hear all the juicy details of a guy and girl using all of their highschool prowess to attempt to hook up. And yet they still couldn't.
Game 1
Our first game was at 9:00 am Saturday morning, against the Adirondack Barkeaters.
The rest of our squad pulled up right as our game was about to start, and we
were off and running. To say the field we were playing on was a little rough
was an understatement. I wished a couple of times I had mountain climbing shoes
to get over the rocks that sprung up throughout the field.
The Barkeaters were no match for the vise-like zone we slapped on, and we forced a number of turnovers on their goal line and capitalized. Every game had an hour time cap but that wasn't an issue in this contest, as we took the game 13-3.
Game 2
Our spirits soaring, we now had to board a trolley and go to some auxiliary
fields (which were in much better shape than the brewery fields) and face what
is rapidly becoming our ultimate nemesis – Vitamin I. Drunk on the win
just a few minutes ago, and whatever else we were imbibing, we felt confident
we could take it to Vitamin I and stop our losing streak against them.
It was not meant to be.
In a windy first half, we traded turnovers a number of times, unfortunately Vitamin I always seemed to get the extra one and then score. The wind frustrated our offense (a theme throughout the weekend) and by the second half we couldn't do anything. They took the game 11-2. A Positive was our defense maintained intensity throughout the first half. I know it's cliché but the game was closer than the score indicates.
Game 3
Our third game came against another one of our rivals – 7 Express. Surely
the sting of our upset win against them in Henlopen fueled their intensity and
desire to beat us. Rivals going back for over 2 months, we played a spotty,
up and down game, with the score going back and forth. As is the norm for us,
we got down early when they took the half 8-5, but we clawed back to tie it
at 8s, before what can only be considered the absolute worst call in the history
of Ultimate was made by one of 7 Express' female players, that seemed to turn
the momentum back toward their favor. I won't go into any more detail other
than to say I was unaware of the rule change that allows a player to call a
disc that bounces several times on the ground before grabbing it a catch. We
went on to lose 13-8.
Game 4
A lengthy bye ensued, giving us roughly 14 hours before our next game,
or at least what felt to be 14 hours. This certainly could have had something
to do with our performance in the last game of the day. Playing against Fluffy
Puffs, a brash young team from Albany, we just couldn't put it together in the
beginning and they jumped out to a large lead in the first half. Because of
the time cap, our comeback was stalled, and we lost 8-7. Cline did however,
swoon after one of their tourette afflicted females, so it was certainly worth
it just to watch that.
Our Ultimate may have been done for the weekend, but our weekend wasn't over. We headed back to the brewery where pigs were being roasted and the beer was flowing. The air was festive and the underground party from Matrix II was recreated as a percussion band played through the night, while some guy twirled fire and nearly charred himself several times. No description of mine would do him justice, but that by no means is to sell him short. Branded a "fire dancer" he did not disappoint.
By midnight a huge bonfire was lit and the partying went on through the wee hours. Aside from the next day being the worst day of Paul Egan's life, the tournament was good. Sure, there were a number of problems and a distinct lack of organization, but these are things I'm sure they will look to fix in the future. Sadly, the other Philly team, captained by Big Rick lost in the finals, to some Washington D.C. team.
That pretty much sums up the weekend. If you visit http://www.ommegang.com, you will notice some pictures of the weekend, including a number from Germ Circus. The Philly teams were represented well on the web site.
--Goose