Chow-Dair

Prior to Easterns, my fellow blogger, Graeme, used the magic of Google to scout out opposing teams. Based on their UPA RRI and their Web sites, he predicted a 2-1 finish in pool play. This wouldn't be too shocking if we weren't seeded last in our pool and 31st out of 32 total teams. Still, we appreciated his confidence in us. Unfortunately, Big Red Death Machine did not respond well to this opening salvo, and their riposte was swift and decisive. In old school terms, "It was on, bitches!" The fact that they were our first game of pool play provided a lot of talk for the trip down.

Split Squad

16 Monsters made their way down to Boston on Friday, five of whom chose to drive to Buffalo then fly to Boston. The drive down was uneventful, with the exception of the standard stop at the border. We got to Devens around 1 (after Sonia predicted 11), and crammed ourselves into a special access room with a giant bathroom. For some odd reason, the air conditioning wasn't on so we left the hotel door wedged open and decided that a random murder was less likely than asphyxiation.

The next morning, we were woken up by Hilary telling us we had to get up at that point if we wanted to eat. As a non-tournament breakfast person, I just watched The Weather Channel talk about record temperature highs and to avoid being outdoors at all possible costs for the next few days. Ultimate players may be the stupidest smart people on the planet. Monster consists of lawyers, teachers, accountants and other professionals...and yet we torture ourselves in these conditions. It builds character or something like that.

Big Red Death Machine (Washington, D.C./Maryland)
aka "Our Machine Was Built For Death"

We arrived at the fields for our 10:30 game with enough time to run a few laps as a warm-up and get into our throwing drills to get ready for the game. Big Red Death Machine was already there, and I went over to find out who posted on our site. They pointed Aaron out, and we talked for a bit and laughed about the posts. We wished each other luck and went to our huddles before the game started.

We came out fast against BRDM and used our flow and quickness to capitalize on their turnovers. It took them a few points to settle down, and we started trading points. We had a solid lead at half time, and started slowing down. This let them get back into the game and if the game did not end in the soft-cap, they looked like they had a shot to take the lead.

They complimented us on our quickness and decisiveness in play, and we were glad that our practices started to pay off. Our tendency to start fast and end slow almost bit us, but thankfully we held on.

Final Score: 14-11

Puppet Regime (New York City)

The top-seeded team in our pool. The Puppet Regime at this tournament was only a try-out team as half of their full squad didn't show. They came out intense and fast, and out-ran us physically. They broke us once, and we started trading points with them. They took the half, by a couple of points, but once soft cap hit, they closed us out quickly.

They finished in the Top Eight overall, but Monster definitely has a long way to go before competing at the top Co-Ed level. It was encouraging to be able to play with them, but we practice and travel to compete with good teams, not just for the "honor" of playing them.

Final Score: 8-12

Levitation Holmes (Brooklyn, NY)

The third-seeded team in our pool, they were 0-2 against the Machine and the Regime so far. We were assured that our style of game would do well against their's as we had athleticism and experience, whereas they were more of an athleticism-based team. When we went down 0-3, we called a time out and had to shorten the lines a bit to get back in the game. They threw a zone on us, but the turnovers were more our fault than their's.

We came back slowly, but the extra effort and discipline needed took its toll in the heat. Several Monsters had cramping and dehydration issues, and several people had to stay in the shade to recover. Pat's calves were spasming so badly that Joe said it looked like, "Live animals were running around in them". We managed to pull the game out to finish 2-1 in pool play, but the day so far had taken its toll and we were loathe to play our crossover game.

Final Score: 11-5

Muff'N'Men (Pittsburgh, PA) - Crossover Game

Universe point in a game between Gecko and Chinstrap decided that Muff'N'Men would be our crossover game opponents. We asked if they wanted to play and they were very eager to get the game started. We came out very slow and Muff'N'Men pulled out to a big lead. This game was a serious gutcheck, and it was only in the middle stages that we found our legs and started scoring against them. For the most part, they dominated the game based on long hucks and stifling defense. A small run (including some crazy defense by Jim) helped us make the score respectable, but they pulled away at the end, dooming us to the bottom 16.

Final Score: 6-13

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT
(Featuring Team Big Ideas)

We arrived back at the motel and decided what we'd do for the night. In between catching potato chips from people on the second floor balcony, a small contingent (Daphne, Graeme, Joe, Steve and myself) decided to go to Boston. We set midnight as the time we'd come, and halfway through the 45-minute car ride, we managed to convince ourselves that we could stretch that out. It was Boston and Monster came to party!

We went to Legal Seafood, where we had the nicest server of all time and Joe attempted to eat as many different sea creatures as possible (lobster, mussels, oysters, clam chowder). The rest of us respected the planet's biodiversity and had smaller, more civilized meals.
Two beers into the meal, I felt the need to put my head down on the table as the day's heatstroke took effect. Midnight seemed like an eternity away and suddenly the realization that while we had large goals, our bodies wouldn't hold up. Thus, Team Big Ideas was born.

We soldiered through our meal and managed to walk around Boston. We managed to see the "fun part of town", then mercifully we went back to our van and drove back to Leominster. Plans to drink in the motel parking lot went unfulfilled.

Sunday Morning
a.k.a. "We Miss Dave"

Waking up at 6:30 on a weekend is hard to do. Especially knowing that more record/near-record temperatures are facing you outside the comfort of your air-conditioned motel room. Joe and Sonia tried to convince the rest of the room to just nap for the rest of the day and drive home. Their arguments were compelling, but eventually we all woke up. It was about 8:10 by the time we all left our rooms and we knew our warm-up wasn't going to be sufficient. Sure, we were in the bottom 16, but we still wanted the best result we could muster. We all psyched ourselves up for our game and hoped that mental preparedness would make-up for the physical.

Fortunately for us, we had two hours to get ready as our game started at 10:30 and we had based our 8:30 start time on rumors and hearsay. Throughout that two hours, we all missed Dave and his willingness to always check the schedule. Unfortunately, he was at his "graduation" or something.

Full Service (Somehwere in New Jersey)

This team ran very hard and had some crazy quick handlers. They loved the long game and sought to bomb it to their tall deep strikes as quickly as possible. Most of their players had long throws, so it was difficult to shut one down. Monster's women dominated the game and opened up a lot of things as they cut quickly and scored several times in the opening part of the game.

Final Score: 15-11

Mako (Hartford, Connecticut)

"Holy crap, how many players do they have?"
"Jesus, that Seattle drill seems pretty useless as people stand still for 5-10 minutes at a time."

This and many more complaints about Mako's 25 (!!!) player roster came from Monster while we sat in the shade in an attempt to avoid passing out from the heat. When game time came, we were lethargic and a bit intimidated by the sheer number of people we would have to run against. We found out it was a tryout tournament, so quantity didn't necessarily translate to quality. Still, they like most sharks, looked hungry.

Mako scored the first two points, but we switched to zone and countered with four. They scored two more, and again we switched to zone with faster man switches to score another four to take the half. At this point, we were starting to feel stronger and started the second half with a 7-0 run. This, coincidentally, ended the half as well.

Final Score: 15-4

Learning About Your Teammates

After that game, we decided as a team to end the tournament there since we did so well and had a long drive back to Toronto. Mako agreed to play our other games for us and we found a hose to wash ourselves down. (During the hosing, half of the guys giggled like little girls because the water was too cold. You know who you are. You're lucky Hilary wasn't filming this.)

After a quick stop at a Chili's, we went into our separate cars and made our way home. During said car ride, Pam imparted a very important lesson to me: "You're taking a serious chance any time you put something very hot between your legs." Words to live by, Pam. Words to live by.

Summary

Every game we played on Saturday required us to play hard if we wanted to win. Whenever we relaxed for a bit, the other team took advantage. This has always been part of our problem, and we need to maintain a killer instinct for all games all the time.

To compete at a high level, you need practice against good teams. Montreal's closeness to Boston shows in the strength of their Co-Ed teams, and the drive down was definitely worth it. The longer games in the difficult weather hammered home our need to always be improving conditioning.

While we didn't finish in the Top 16 like we'd hoped, there were highlights all around. All of the new players added to the roster this tournament shined and showed they fit in well, both on and off the field.

Overall, it was a solid weekend for Monster and hopefully this will be another step forward in our quest to become one of the high level teams.