August 30, 2008

Ultimate Status

Friday August 29, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
Mitre Fields, Burlington, MA
Weather: 83 F, Mostly Sunny
Field: dry
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

Good game yesterday. I also found out that I was put on a BUDA fall hat league team with the schedule I requested (Sunday mornings at 10:00AM) starting next weekend!

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 92
Total Hours Played: 107

Ultimate Mob

Wednesday August 27, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
Mitre Fields, Burlington, MA
Weather: 77 F, Sunny
Field: dry
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

It was a mob scene on Wednesday with 18 people showing up for the game in perfect weather.

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 91
Total Hours Played: 106

August 26, 2008

Ultimate Ultimate

Monday August 25, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
Mitre Fields, Burlington, MA
Weather: 82 F, Mostly Sunny
Field: dry
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

Full 7v7 game yesterday.

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 90
Total Hours Played: 105

Ultimate Throws

Friday August 22, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
Mitre Fields, Burlington, MA
Weather: 85 F, Sunny
Field: dry
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

Good game on Friday. My throws were working well.

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 89
Total Hours Played: 104

August 22, 2008

Olympic Rant

Tyson Gay drops the baton
So those who know me know that track and field is my sport. I do tend to play a lot of ultimate these days, but I didn't play ultimate in college because track consumed my time even more so than ultimate does now. So naturally whenever the sport takes center stage (and actually gets some TV coverage), it's always exciting to watch. The 2007 World Championships in Osaka had surprisingly impressive television coverage. Even with the tape delay, a week long blitz of world class track performances on TV was awesome. The 2008 Olympic Trials? Nicely done with a lot of live action (although I was a bit annoyed that the parallel swimming trials took more of the TV spots with Phelps-mania).

So how about the 2008 Olympic Games? I'm sorry, but NBC totally dropped the ball (baton?) on this one. Where do I begin?
  • It was clear that Phelps dominated the headlines for these Olympics. The hype was so strong, that the IOC scheduled all of the swimming finals for the morning in Beijing so that they could get live primetime slots in the United States. I must admit, that they hit a home run on this one, and if you're a real swimming fan, then you got a great show. What about track and field though? No morning finals: zero. That meant no live primetime coverage for any of the track events.
  • So maybe asking for live primetime coverage for events that are occurring on the other side of the world is a bit too much to ask. Ok, it is too much to ask. This meant that most of the track and field finals were scheduled between 7pm and 10pm in Beijing which translates to between 7am and 10am on the east coast in the United States. I can live with that, I'll just get up in the morning and catch the events I want to watch live right? Right? Wrong. Because NBC wanted all of the track and field coverage to be in primetime, they tape delayed it. Arg!
  • Ok NBC, so you want your primetime coverage? I suppose I can understand that. This is 2008, though, which means you'll have live streaming coverage of any event that I want to watch on the internet. I'll just watch what I'm interested in there; no big deal. What? I can't do that either? Nope. NBC is only making live event streaming available for events that they're not covering on TV (or events that nobody watches anyways). Even better, they're not making any replay coverage available for track events that have already occurred until after the primetime, tape-delayed TV spots have aired.
  • Ok well fine; maybe this isn't so bad. The world championships in Osaka were tape delayed and I loved them. I'll give in and watch your primetime TV coverage. But wait? When are you showing the track events? You're sprinkling them all throughout your four hour nightly coverage?! So you mean if I want to watch all of the track and field action from the night before I need to sit through four hours of gymnastics, beach volleyball, diving, water polo, and everything else so that every half an hour you'll show me one or two track events?! You've got to be kidding.
Ah well, I guess it wouldn't be the Olympics without poorly executed television coverage. With regards to the actual action on the track, though, it has been something else to watch Usain Bolt annihilate the sprinting competition and take down a 200m world record that some thought would stand up for 50+ years. I remember seeing him live and in person in 2005 when I went to the Reebok Grand Prix track meet in NYC. He smoked the competition then and he was only 18 years old. He also looks even bigger in person.

I've been reading rumblings of him possibly running in the 4x400m for Jamaica in tomorrow's final. Now that would be something, but there's no way Jamaica stands a chance against the United States juggernaut of basically all of the best 400m flat runners and 400m hurdlers in the world led by Merritt and Wariner. The 4x400m is such a high intensity and high drama event in the high school and college versions of the sport (loved it!). On the world stage, though, it is disappointingly anti-climactic. A rant for another day though.
Looking forward to Berlin 2009.

Ultimate Cool

Wednesday August 20, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
Mitre Fields, Burlington, MA
Weather: 66 F, Sunny
Field: dry
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

Great game on Wednesday. We're finally starting to get some cooler weather. It is without a doubt that the best weather around here always happens in the fall: cool, dry, and several months long. Speaking of fall, I've signed up once again for the BUDA fall hat league on Sunday mornings. Last year my fall hat team went 7-0 during the season and 3-0 during pool play in the tournament before losing in the semifinals! Hopefully this year's team fairs just a little bit better.

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 88
Total Hours Played: 103

Ultimate Monday

Monday August 18, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
Mitre Fields, Burlington, MA
Weather: 70 F, Sunny
Field: dry
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

Another Monday, another day of ultimate.

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 87
Total Hours Played: 102

August 18, 2008

Ultimate Fours

Friday August 15, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
TRW Field, Burlington, MA
Weather: 83 F, Sunny
Field: dry
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

Low numbers for some reason on Friday but still a good 4v4 game.

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 86
Total Hours Played: 101

August 14, 2008

Ultimate Hours

Wednesday August 13, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
Mitre Fields, Burlington, MA
Weather: 79 F, Sunny
Field: dry
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

Yesterday was my 100th hour of ultimate since starting to keep track with this blog back in January!

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 85
Total Hours Played: 100

Ultimate Junkie

Monday August 11, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
Mitre Fields, Burlington, MA
Weather: 68 F, Rain
Field: wet
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

On Monday, a day after the all day BUDA tournament, I was back out on the field again for regularly scheduled pickup (and in the rain no less). I was really sore Monday morning but playing did help me loosen up. Proof that there is a cure for playing too much ultimate: play more ultimate.

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 84
Total Hours Played: 99

August 11, 2008

Ultimate Tournament

Sunday August 10, 2008
9AM BUDA Summer Hat League Tournament
Moakley Park, South Boston, MA
Weather: 75 F, Partly Sunny
Field: soft and wet
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

Yesterday I played in BUDA's end of season summer hat league tournament. Despite not actually being on a summer hat team this year, I went out to the tournament to pickup with any team that was low on numbers. I joined up with a team that had only three women and five men so we were in for a long, grinding day with few subs to help us out.

Our first game we were a bit disorganized and got beaten pretty handily. However, we got it together after that and won our next two games, putting us into the semifinals. With the score tied 8-8, and the hard cap time limit less than a minute away, our opponent scored to go one up in the semifinal game. We failed to tie it up and fell one point short of making it to the finals. Nevertheless, the tournament was great fun and I'm glad I went. I'm feeling a bit sore and bruised today though!

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 83
Total Hours Played: 98

August 8, 2008

Ultimate Standard

Friday August 8, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
TRW Field, Burlington, MA
Weather: 75 F, Partly Sunny
Field: dry
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

Standard 7v7 game today. I'm looking forward to this weekend as I'll be picking up in the BUDA summer hat league tournament. I didn't sign up for a summer team this year but I contacted the league commish and as usual, they're looking for pickup players for teams that are low on numbers. These tournaments are always a blast and I'm read for a marathon day of frisbee on Sunday!

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 79
Total Hours Played: 91

Ultimate Damp

Wednesday August 6, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
Mitre Fields, Burlington, MA
Weather: 70 F, Showers
Field: damp
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

Showers on Wednesday but still good numbers (5v5).

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 78
Total Hours Played: 90

Ultimate Return

Monday August 4, 2008
12PM Pick-up game
Mitre Fields, Burlington, MA
Weather: 75 F, Cloudy
Field: dry
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

Back to Burlington Ultimate this past Monday!

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 77
Total Hours Played: 89

August 3, 2008

Ultimate Newcomer

Saturday August 2, 2008
2PM Pick-up game
Hastings Field, Lexington, MA
Weather: 79 F, Showers, Humid
Field: damp
Perfect conditions for Ultimate.

On Friday I returned from my always relaxing annual vacation with my family at Lake Winnepesaukee in New Hampshire. The one downside though? Yes. No Ultimate games to be found. Even though I don't typically play in a Saturday game, yesterday I found myself with not much to do, and itching to play (or at least get outside and do something). I took a quick look at BUDA's pickup game listings, and noticed the weekly Saturday Lexington game. I had never played in it before, but it appeared to still be active, so I took a ride down to the field and yes! there was a game.

It was a pretty laid back game. We played 5v5 for a couple hours until rumbles of thunder chased us off the field. It also gave me an opportunity to break in my new cleats (which arrived almost a month after I ordered them. It turns out that Eastbay accidentally sent them to themselves on their first attempt. Nice.)

Ultimate Statistics (since January 2008):
Total Games Played: 76
Total Hours Played: 88