I can't be held responsible for the things I say or write...

10.29.2007

And we're back

the season is finally over. i would say that a good percentage of the team was really looking forward to the season ending going into nationals. i think some of that is due to aches and pains, some due to have time to have a life and others just to get away from each other for a while. who knew that all it would take is finishing in 5th place at club nationals to change all of that. in the end, everyone seemed very happy with the season. there were some ups and downs through out the year, but i think that most people on the team would now agree it was all worth it.

so let's get to the blow by blow recap:

Wednesday evening:

The trip started at 20th and L streets in DC where i was riding up to BWI with Joe Lott, Joe Cuneo, Jack and Danimal. The plan was to drop the car off in columbia, md and get a ride from the UMD guys friend. Due to the rain, it took nearly 2 hours to get to BWI so we had to scrap that plan. Fortunately, we got to listen to the song "I'm the one that wants to be with you" by Mr. Big on the ride up to the airport...on repeat...for nearly 2 hours. The Joes find this kind of shit funny. I find it funny that they find it funny. I also find it drives me to nearly kill any and everything around me. It was fun at first and torture for the next hour and 25 minutes. We arrive in the airport in Tampa and almost the rest of our entire team is there. We get our vans and take off for the villas.

Thursday:

First day of games and we get to play last years runner up Furious George in round 1. Most of the players on our team had never played them before and we had no idea what we were getting into...but neither did Furious. We went up a break or 2 really early on and never looked back. They broke our offense I think only 1 time the entire game and that was on a dropped disc right near our end zone. We didn't play great (we had some drops and poor throws) but they matched us with those and just looked unprepared in general. We ended up winning 15-10. We had about an hour in between games and as we walked around the fields, we heard a lot of congratulations from various people on the big upset. It felt pretty awesome to win the first game of the tournament, especially since it took until the last round of day 2 to get a win last year.

Next round we played Sub Zero, the 5th ranked team. We got beat pretty bad. They just outplayed us. We didn't play much better than than Furious game, but Sub was prepared and played very well. It was never really all that close.

Last round of the day we played Chain Lightening from Atlanta. We lost that one too and this one was also not that close. Not much else to say.

At the end of day one, we were 1-2, going into the next days pool play with a 1-0 record because our win against Furious carried over. Chain and Sub finished 1 and 2 respectively in our pool and moved up to power pools. Furious and us went down to a lower pool with Rhino and Pike.

That night was pretty low key. We had a few beers at the beer garden, went back to the villas to shower and then out to dinner. On the way back from dinner, I climbed out of the sliding door of the minivan and pulled myself up to the roof of the car...all while moving. That was fun for me. People were curious why I had so much energy but the answer was pretty simple: I didn't play that much on day 1. About 9 or 10 points.

Friday:

Friday started against Pike. Last time we played them, we beat the life out of them in the 2/3 game at regionals. This would be different for a few reasons. First off, it was the first game of the day and Pike was fully rested. Secondly, this was probably the game they felt most confident they could win because we have played a lot of close games over the past 2 seasons. Lastly, they had some more of their top players healthy, so this was the first time we would see them at what I guess was 100%. They took half on us 8-6. All year, we have not responded well to adversity. Not because we felt we were out of games, but because we would get down on each other so quickly. This was the story going into halftime, but we refocused and started supporting each other on and off the field and rolled in the second half. I think we won 15-11 or 12. It was nice to see the team come together so well and be generally excited about winning a game we knew we should win. We really seemed to be enjoying being a team.

It was this game where I knew I would pretty much not play again for the rest of the weekend. I played 2 points in the first half and we got broken on both of them. I wasn't running well and was chasing my man around on D, which was obvious. It made me kind of miserable to play that poorly and I was not too pleased with it. I figured that if I played like shit in the little opportunity I had, that would be it...and it kind of was. On my points the day before, I felt I did fine and contributed as best as I could. This resulted in a few points a game. Starting Friday as slow as I did, there was no reason to expect more PT that what I had.

After Pike, we played Rhino. Going into the game, we knew that as long as we scored 11 points, we would be going to pre quarters. The game was close but Rhino took half I think 8-6. This game also featured a Stout v. Stout matchup as our team has Brian Stout and Rhino has Kevin Stout, Brian's older brother. They are both gargantuan human beings so it was a lot of fun to try to encourage both teams to huck it to which ever Stout when one was guarding the other. The only time this happened was when one of our D guys threw a floaty flick into the end zone from about 30 yards out. Both Stouts went up but Kevin somehow got the D. Oh well. As the game progressed, we were down 9-6 and I started to get nervous we would fold and not get 11. However, our D line got us some breaks and brought it to either 9-8 or 9-9. As the game moved on, we got it to 13-11...and then I got called in. I really didn't expect it and people started yelling at me for not paying attention. I was on the far sideline playing stupid sideline games with a few other guys when I heard I was in. I was happy to play but was pretty cold from standing around for over 30 straight points. Obviously, we got broken because that's what we do best when I'm on the field. I got to play the next one and we scored. 14-12. I think we broke them on the next point to make it 14-13 but on the next pull, they just jacked it to Kevin Stout who outran one of our fastest guys for the score. 15-13 final.

Due to the point differential we moved on to the pre quarters, which was pretty damn awesome. We played the Condors from Santa Barbara. We had played them in Colorado but both teams appeared to have different personnel going into this game. It featured a lot of point swings where we would break a few points and they would come right back. It was a fun game because there were only 4 games going on at the time, so plenty of people were watching us play...it's also fun to cheer "Truck Stop" on one sideline and "Glory Hole" on the other because it's fun to scream Truck Stop Glory Hole loud enough for the entire tournament to hear.

So I think they took half but we were all on serve. We came out and made some plays but they took over a little early in the second half. We regrouped and went on a run. It also started to rain pretty heavily and some thunder came out as well. During this, we went on a little run and as the first strikes of lightening came, we scored to make it 12-11. The game was then suspended 30 or 45 minutes for the storm to pass. We went off to shelter and did out best to stay focused. When we came out, we had 15 minutes to warm up. From there, we took off and scored 2 in a row to make it 14-11. Then the Condors scored to make it 14-12 and Truck Stop O was coming on the field. We usually don't close games out on the O line and it looked a little dicey early in the point. They had us pinned down near our own end zone for the first couple of throws but then we broke threw and moved the disc upfield. Eventually, Jammin threw an inside out backhand to the far end zone corner that Stout ran down and caught uncontested. TRUCK STOP IS GOING TO QUARTERS.

At that point, we were all ecstatic. We had done something that no one had expected us to do. I think it was the first time since 2001 that a team from the DC area made Quarters. It was a great feeling. It was also at that point that we knew we finished ahead of our regional nemesis, Ring of Fire...and that made us feel even better.

That night we tried to be smart and not drink that much. Last year, 85% of the team got black out drunk on Friday night but this year we were smart. We ate dinner and got to sleep pretty early.

Saturday:

We earned the right to play Sockeye in quarters. They are the defending champs. We lost to them on double game point in Santa Clara over Labor Day weekend, so we felt we had an outside shot...but we also knew it was a long shot. Well....it was 5-1 pretty damn fast. I think they took half 8-1 and then won 15-7. We were not happy with our first half performance but were pleased with our second half performance. We also had a very tight rotation in the game, so I definitely was not getting in. I wanted to play because it was quarters but I was being realistic...I guess.

So after we lost, we had a placement game against Sub Zero. Rematch time. Neither team warmed up and neither team truly cared about the outcome. I wanted to win because if we did, we could finish 5th. I was also told I was going to get to play a bunch in this game since we were eliminated. This made me happy but I was nervous because I was so cold from having warmed up and not played for over 2 hours. It didn't mater as we scored pretty quickly and I was able to warm up by playing consecutive O points. I was happy to play and felt fine...and I even got to throw a backhand huck for a score.

That's right. A backhand huck, upwind for a score. I was very pleased because it was a throw I had worked on all year and never felt I would be confident enough to throw it. However, the space was wide open, I truly didn't care if it worked or not because I had watched so many points all weekend and it was the first time I got to throw a challenging throw all weekend. I was doing it no matter what and it worked. It was a very good feeling.

We ended up winning that game by 1 or 2 and thought we might have another. Boston had beaten Chain in their consolation game and we were to play for the 5/6 game. By the time our captain got over to them to see if they wanted to play, most of their cleats were off and they were done. We accepted that and started to decleat. We also claimed they forfeited and said 5th place was ours. Also, we claim we are the unofficial 5th place team because Keven from our team beat Danny from Boston in a rock paper scissor battle.

So it was a great end to the season. I was kind of bitter because I thought I should have played more at Nationals. However, we finished 5th and it's hard to argue with that kind of success. My problem is that we played in very windy conditions all weekend and saw a bunch of zones. I didn't get to go into any of those situations and it frustrated the hell out of me. In the Sockeye game, they trapped us near our own end zone a bunch and we couldn't get throws over their D. I felt I could have dropped hammers all over the place all weekend and that game was no different. Oh well. If I play again next year, my goal will be to improve my foot speed and defense so that I am not considered a liability on a turn. I think that's the best way to get on the field...and possibly the only way on this team.

Then there was Saturday post game.

Immediately, we hit the beer garden. As we watched the semi finals, we had bought 5 cases of beer and got drunk at the fields. Then we went to the famous nationals bar Mr. Bigs where we took carbomb after carbomb. I was there for 2 or 3 hours and walked away an obliterated man. At the end of my time there, Damon bought 2 rounds of shots that I just didn't need. George and I walked to get some food and then called Nick to come pick us up as I pleaded with him to please please please come get me and take me away from the bar.

When I returned to my villa, my place was full of people. Worst case scenario. Why? Because in this situation, I was like a dog in a brand new environment that must run into everything in the room. I'm pretty sure I punched George and then ran away from him and hid outside on top of the car. I then came back in, hit him again and ran and tried to lock myself in the bedroom. George stormed in, threw me onto the bed, where I tumbled in between the bed and the closet, legs up. As he proceeded to pummel me as I was on the floor, Danimal tickled my feet to make it even more miserable. Then george put the mattress over my head and I called out for Jack for about 1 or 2 minutes until he finally helped me up.

From there, we hung out at our place for a while and then went to a party on the beach. I left that pretty quickly, went back to the villa and passed out of the night.

Sunday:

On Sunday, unless you are in the finals, you go back to the fields and watch the finals. As we were cleaning up, this guy asked me if I wanted his left over beers. The guy was heading to the airport and was going to throw them out. Obviously we want those. Then he came back and gave me a cooler full of beers (and the cooler) because his friends had left them when they went to the airport. sweet.

So we hit up Waffle House, then to the fields where we drank for a few hours. After that, we went to dinner on the way to the airport and eventually got home around 12:30 early monday morning.

The season is finally over. I'm sitting in my place right now pretty tired, with no voice and somewhat saddened that I won't have anything to keep me in tip top shape until next year. I don't even know if I'll play again next year. This season was a lot more fun than last year and I'd like to believe that I will play with Truck Stop again, but it's a very long season. If I was a top player who played half of every game, it would be no doubt that I'd be playing again. But I don't play that much. I put in the same time, effort and money that others do but I don't get as much out of it. I love my team and my teammate but it takes a toll on each and every player. I feel as if the team would not be affected with or without me, so really it will come down to do I want to do it all again. If I had to bet, I would bet on being there...but we'll see. i haven't had free time since March, so I'm pretty pumped about it right now.

Novel over. Season over. Truck Stop 5th place.

I could retire happy having that.

But what happens if we do even better next year?

10.24.2007

Off we go

I leave for nationals in about an hour. I can't tell if I'm calm, excited, nervous or what. Basically, I just want to get out there and play. We've been practicing for almost a month straight and I'm ready for some actual game time.

I went running yesterday and tried to focus on what to do in various situations on the field. Sometimes, I'm able to run extremely well and able to flow around the field. Other times, I am battling to keep my legs moving. In the latter situation, I usually find myself talking a lot in my head. Basically, I think it comes down to total focus vs. partial focus. While running, I was really trying to think about being on the field for the entire run. I was hoping this would carry me through me run. It didn't work so well for the first 2/3rds of the run. However, as I was on my way back, some of the college kids rode by me on their bikes on the way back from practice. This made me feel pretty good for a few reasons. For one, I really like getting seen out on runs by people that I know. It makes me feel good to know that people see me putting in the work to improve myself. The other reason was it reminded me about my roots in the sport.

I've been playing ultimate since the fall of 1999. Ever since high school, I knew that when I went to college, I wanted to play this sport. As the years have gone on and some of the fun has been taken out of the sport, it feels good to look back on the early years of my playing career. From when I was a D line player, or when my college team had a 21 man deep roster, to making our first nationals, to taking a group of over achievers that fell one point short of nationals in my senior year and watching them qualify the next year for nationals. To see the strength that the program has had over the years motivates me. Add to that that the kids I saw yesterday are 4-5 years younger than me and the only reason why we know each other is g-Dub ultimate.

That was what I really needed at the end of my run to get me ready for this weekend. I'm in the best shape I can be in at this point, I've had a couple of good weeks at practice and we're going to fucking nationals. I can't find myself in a better position than I am right now.

So onto the show:

We start tomorrow with Furious George who I have never played before. After that we play Sub-Zero and then Chain. We lost to Sub earlier in the year by a couple and we beat Chain on double game point. We have our work cut out for us, but that is why it is nationals. Every team is good. Every game should be close. In a close game, it comes down to who make the big play at the end of the game. We're definitely in a better position this year than we were last year to win some games. We have a better, deeper team and we've played a much stronger regular season than last year. Add to that, we're healthy. We got all of our top players who were out at regionals back, though we did lose our all world thrower to a badly sprained ankle.

So I think the Hole is ready to go. We're tired of beating each other up at practice. We're ready for any and all battles that will come before us.

In other news, I will be missing kickball on Thursday night, so there will be no angry kickball tirade before the end of the day tomorrow. Sorry to disappoint everyone...but get your costumes ready, Halloween is next week. I have a pretty good idea for a costume that could hang with papa smurf, but I don't know if I will be able to put it together in time.

10.18.2007

The Meaning of it all?

The subject line goes more towards the kickball portion of this post. But first:

And that era is over.

Breaking news across the Yankees world: Joe Torre will not return as the Yankees manager. It's sad because it's the end of an era but it was done the right way. He was offered a contract and declined. He was not fired. He was not not asked back (double negative = MONEY). He simply turned down the job and now we can all move forward.

Big questions remain, like will Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada return now that Torre is gone? A-Rod? Pettitte?

This is probably my favorite part of the baseball season. I love all the off season chatter about free agents going here or there, big signing, no signings, all the rumors and the eventual blockbuster moves. All that drama is a lot of fun.

From the end of an era to the rise of another:

Tonight, the force that is QP Live takes on a team new to kickball. They will not win. I say this confidently, but I cannot guarantee it. Why? Because my plan is to be absolutely hammered going into this game. The game is at 8. Free happy hour sponsored by my work starts at 5. QP Live = very excited. I haven't been able to go out on the firm tab in a true happy hour setting in a little while and I missed it dearly. I'm not going to make up for it all at once, but I am going to get my adult beverage in both hands on. Cause that's how I roll (son).

So there is a high probability that I will fall over on the mound tonight. There is also a decent probability that I will get hit by a bus or car as I ride my bike to the game from happy hour. I'm assuming that should this happen, I'll be good and liquored up and not really feel any of that, so I'm not sweating it too much.

In other kickball developments, after out 8-0 victory of Scoregasm last week, it appears that we are starting to get more recognition around the league. I guess that's pretty cool..but it also adds a lot of pressure. Basically, as this recognition grows, our level of play must also grow...at least that's how I think. I don't want to be like g-Dub basketball in the 2005-06 season that went undefeated all year and got ranked as high as #3 in the country because when they lost, they plummeted in the polls because people knew they didn't deserve it.

With our kickball team, we've never balled with the top dogs, so what is required to pull this off? I'm just assuming that if we lose any game at all, we will get the tag that we were overrated and then I'll flip the fuck out and no one needs that...especially because it's kickball. Another result of the current recognition is that other players from other good teams want to play with us. This is great because it will only make us better, but at what point have we gone too far? Basically, with the talent we currently have and the talent we're debating adding I think our goal becomes winning the national tournament in Vegas rather than showing up and playing well. While that would be excellent, at what point have we gone too far? Will our team be nothing more than a collection of players without any true allegiance to each other? Or will our team still resemble the original team that played the first season we played back when we were QP Live and Me: The Untold Story.

Perhaps The Untold Story was the story yet written and that is what is unfolding before us. Perhaps The Untold Story is the journey before us on our quest to achieve kickball greatness while preserving our internal being at the same time. I guess I didn't know then, but that team name was perhaps the smartest thing I ever did...well that and not eating what I thought was a chocolate on the floor when I was 12 that turned out to be a bloated tick. That has to be pretty high on the smart list. I mean, it looked a lot like a chocolate and I picked it up and debated it but it looked a little shady. Then I tossed it back on the ground and it started walking...so good decision overall.

True story. Told Story.

10.16.2007

Free the evironment!!!

Well DAMN! If it's blog on for the environment day, I should probably get in on the action. For too long the environment has been held captive by all these pests with their aerosol spray cans and Styrofoam. No longer will the oppressive tyranny of the ground walkers be tolerated for today is blog for the environment...or something ridiculously fucking stupid like that. But, in the words of Toad, "Here I go!"

So I generally use the bathroom in the basement of my office building...almost 100% because the one on my floor is the most nasty place ever and is usually dominated by the 40 or so temps that sit right across from it...and the other 65 men who sit on my floor. It's just a terrible experience. I've walked in before, stepped one foot in and turned right back around. I think if someone saw me walking with a hand over my butt and I informed them that I was in fact walking like that because I had just merc-ed my pants because I couldn't take the odor coming from the bathroom, they would actually understand it and not even harass me about the fact that my pant leg was changing to a bit of a darker shade right before our eyes.

Anyway, so I go to this bathroom and almost every time I do, someone has filled up one of the toilets with toilet paper. This also happens to be the toilet that barely flushes in the first place, so I find this act very immature...somewhere below writing about pooing your pants instead of using a smelly bathroom and above dining on once passed corn. So I think that's pretty bad for the environment to waste the amount of water it takes for the requisite flushes to empty that.

Let's change course because I'm getting upset just thinking about it.

So if today really is blog on for the environment, I would also like to announce that today is the day that I jump the shark and actually post about that or something.

Nope. I can't. Problem is, I'm not entirely sure what I have to say is the intention of the blog on plan, so I'm just going to go ahead and do what I want.

In the last week, the lack of recycling in my apartment building has started to get to me. In my place, we go through a lot of recyclable materials....be they beer cans/bottles, aluminum cans that store beans or the like or even just newspapers. Growing up, my dad instituted a recycling program on the campus of the school we grew up at. Our house always had two or three garbage cans outside specifically broken up by type of material: can, glass or cardboard. Simply put, it makes sense to recycle. It doesn't cost you anything extra and it's not like it's hard to do. The problem comes when your city doesn't offer recycling. We just don't have it or at least no one has ever done anything about it in my building. I guess now is the time someone says, "hey, you can make a difference" and to that i would reply, "I can also make a paper airplane but it never flies right and gets me totally depressed. What would happen if I try and get recycling in my building and fail? Won't that kill a baby dolphin or something?" And now I have to ask you, do you want the blood of a baby dolphin on my hands? What about your hands? I don't think that's very good for the environment...do you?

So it's upsetting to have to tell people, "no we don't recycle, just throw it away."

There you go Willis.

Onto other things. We're approaching 6 months from the day where I officially tell the doctor SUCKER and she says yes. Can't wait. But this also means we're only a few months away from the first of its kind bachelors party. I know a few of the college lads have gotten married in the past few months and there is one in 3 weeks, but this is a little different. Take what usual debauchery happens at my birthday parties, add final hours of freedom pressure/willingness to break any and all laws and you have the first bachelor party for a collection of kids who spent their high school years high, drunk, stealing cars, crashing cars, crashing stolen cars and other general nonsense that any teen gets involved with. Now, combine that with the same kids only 8 years older...now add money to the equation and also take into account that though we have gotten older we have also gotten dumber and more brazen to pretty much the point where there truly is no line.

And then we have the start of the party. Only problem is, we don't have a place of yet. Shouldn't be that big of a deal though, right? It's not about location. It's about going to a location only to find out you don't know where you are, who you came with and definitely no idea of how you're going to get home. I guess that's the point.

This weekend is the first bachelor party I will attend. I guess I can take some notes from it or something, but it should be a good time. A college lad of mine is getting married to a college gal of mine. Lads and gals, coming together as one. The ladies are all heading up to NYC for "massages" and the guys are heading down to Ocean City, MD for "drunken acts" and "fat, whory strippers" who "hopefully won't put an attachment on my friends head" only I secretly hope the fat stripper straps an attachment to his head but loses her balance and does some sort of damage that we will have to explain to all wedding guests.

Just imagine it:

"Yes, that's right. The reason the groom can't feel the left side of his body is that the head strapped dildo he was using to anal penetrate the fat, yeasty stripper slipped a disc in his neck when the aforementioned stripper fell off the sex swing she was riding during the bachelor party."

That would be sweet.

10.11.2007

we all just can't get along

Usually, I'd have a rant filled post for you and the day of kickball. Especially today, as we match up against the force that is team Scoregasm. But that cannot be provided for today.

Our team is hurting due to internal rifts that are threatening the entire existence that is the team representing the Faygo nation. 1 player has quit, 1 is contemplating quitting, and many feelings are hurt.

There are rumors circulating that certain members have taken kickball too seriously and therefore taken all the fun out of kickball. There has been rampant speculation that players have not gotten to play in games at all. The league is apparantly bringing in the big guns to observe our game tonight to ensure we follow the rules after the player who quit went all deep throat on us and complained to the league.

So we are not without our drama. The questions is, will we be like the patriots and not be affected by the off field drama that was cameragate? Or will we be like the Falcons who got crushed in the super bowl the day after there defensive leader got busted for trial to pick up a prostitute the night before the big game?

I don't know which team we are. Originally, we thought it was the new players who were frustrated and we kept throwing them in the field every chance we got (once the game was clearly in our hands) to keep everyone happy. We forgot to keep playing the guys who have been with us for all 3 seasons and those are the ones who appear to be most upset. The was a big "oh man, we really blew that one" and it might be too late. I think a pow wow, hug it out bitch session might be in order.

Regardless, one of our players is not coming back. What's hilarious about this is that he is really, really really really really pissed off and most of it is directly squared at me. It's funny because this guy was so upset that not only did he call me a liar, say I assume people on our team are not good enough to play kickball (yeah, read that again...an armless midget is good enough to play kickball) but he also asked me to pay him his money back that he "wasted". Then he wrote an email to the kickball gods asking for his money back and saying he was quitting because he didn't get to play.

Things like this make me laugh. I'm not a huge fan of being called a liar but asking me to refund you is pretty bitch. What is unbecoming of a man, though, is to email the league rep and turn in your team for something like that.

Basically, we have yet to break any rules. The league rule is that everyone must kick. There are no field requirements. In the big games, we've kept a tight field rotation. In the easy games, we've opened it up, but left a few people out by accident. Some took it personal and let it stew. Others took it personal and when the captains sent out an email trying to explain the plan going forward, others wrote incredibly whiney emails and then cried to the league reps. Man up son, mommy's not gonna hold you as you cry and suck your thumb anymore...

Anyway, what the biggest complaint has been appears to be that we're taking kickball so seriously that we've taken all the fun out of it. I can understand that and I guess I believe it too. What I think is hilarious is that some of those complaining do not acknowledge that they take it seriously too. After all, if you didn't take it seriously, why are you so upset?

I'm told kickball is about socializing and beer. OK, see you at the bar. People pay $60 to play kickball. You get a t-shirt and beer specials. The permits likely only cost around $100 a night...so that's 8-10 weeks and roughly $1000. OK, there are 26 people per team...26 x 60 = 1560. So 1 teams dues go to the permits. The rest goes to beer specials at the bar...where the socializing and beer happen, right?

Essentially, it comes down to getting your nasties all wet and disease infested. It doesn't come down to whether you get to stand in left field as I strike out the kickers.

10.09.2007

I'm sorry?

I guess I should apologize for Beef Supreme for posting annoying comments about the success of the Patriots should Romo throw 6 ints. I know you don't care and I definitely don't care.

That being said, thanks for reading and commenting...

Now, I bet a bunch of you out there are thinking I'm bitter because the Yankees are out of the playoffs. In fact, the opposite is true. I've gotten quite used to these kinds of exits and I move on. Traditionally, I get frustrated during the playoff series and stress out a little. Once it's over, it's over. I stay mad for about 10 seconds and then I feel a little sorrow that I won't get to watch my favorite team a couple of nights a week. I watch the remainder of the playoffs and root for the feel good stories. This year, Cleveland and Colorado. And props to Cleveland. Absolutely amazing what they did with 2 outs and runners in scoring position (12 for 27). It was an amazing performance. How can you beat a team that is that consistent/clutch?

I read this article on espn.com today: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=pearlman/071009&sportCat=mlb&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos2

It talks about how it's no fun anymore to be a yankee fan because of the win at all costs mentality. I guess that's true for most people, but I don't feel that way. I used to until the Red Sox broke the curse. Then I decided it wasn't any fun rooting for my team and against another. Instead, now I just care about my team and take the good with the bad. Yeah, they lost...but they have 3 of the most talented young pitchers all starting for them next year. It could be a total disaster relying on that much youth...but it could also be the start of another dynasty formed in the same way that the successful franchises of today have formed...like Cleveland, Anahiem, Colorado and Arizona. They developed their teams over the past years and will be successful due to their young talent for years to come. This is also what the Yankees are doing too, only they have the payroll to keep the players once they qualify for their monster contracts.

This is their advantage to being in a huge market with shit tons of money. With their new youth, they can cut payroll. It will still be the most in the league and an absurd number, but at least they are starting to get fiscally responsible...and I think that's what people around baseball want from them anyway. The Yankees will always be hated for being the Yankees, but taking away one of the arguing points (payroll) would be sweet...at least from my perspective.

As for Beefies comment about Roger Clemens and the yankees paying him around $1 million per start...I felt fine about it then and I still do now. Nope, he didn't come through. Turns out he's 45 years old and it didn't work out for the Yankees...oh well. If they didn't have him, the yankees would have been starting guys who give up 4 home runs in a row for the entire season and ruin their confidence and make them useless in the future. Also, it gave me another season to root for one of the greatest pitchers of all time...it made me able to cheer on Roger Clemens. That was like rooting for Michael Jordan when he was in DC. It's just fun to do that.

I don't give a damn that they through all that money at him because it's not my money. I don't like dealing with the haters that complain about the amount of money they throw around, but if they make the playoffs every year and win the world series during my lifetime, well then that's just wonderful. Plenty of teams don't make the playoffs every year. The yankees were the only team to be in them last year and this year....that makes me happy...it would make you happy too if it was your team.

As for the future, here are some of my thoughts:

Torre will be gone. It's sad because it's the end of an era, but I think the time has come.

Rivera/Posada/Pettitte will be back

Clemens is gone.

Abreu is back

A-Rod signs a ridiculous contract but ultimately stays.

Damon gets traded.

That's what I'm thinking/like to see. We'll see how terribly off I am.

Sorry to bother you with another Yankees post, but it's the end of a wild season and I just wanted to let everyone know I feel no need to jump off a building.

Also, I think Jeter needs to be moved into the outfield and away from shortstop...just saying.

10.04.2007

I'm not mad

I'm just incredibly fucking pissed off right now. If you don't know what was going down today, please read the below post first.




Seriously...if you don't know, scroll bitch.


SCROLL BITCH.




Thank you. Fucking 2 runs scored. 4-2 final. 2 fucking runs. fuck. I'm not pointing blame, I'm just pissed. Goal number 3 is lost....gone. peace out goal number 3, i'll forever think of you after my arm falls off and all i can think about is how fucked you are. To catch you up: Goal 1: Win regular season title and earn Vegas bid Goal 2: Win league Goal 3: Shutout every fucking team. We gave up two runs against a team that struck out 4 times. IN KICKBALL. It's not hard to make contact with a big fucking red ball...yet some players felt the need to stroke my ego by literally swinging and missing. Here's a tip: Kick the big reg object coming directly at your feet (son). So the game started all money. First person up got out. Second struck out. 3rd made a sarcastic comment about how he was going to own me and then he got caught looking at strike 3. He was joking and just having a good time, but at least swing mofuka. Oh well. Congrat to Turn Your Head and Cough. It's the first time in 3 seasons that we played you and you got your 2 runs. Y'all played hard, had a fun time, didn't throw any bags full of hobo parts at anyone and I'm glad our paths crossed. I'm not happy you scored. I hope to play you in the playoffs or next season and throw at all of your heads for ruining the shutout streak. Oh the shutout streak. I miss you already. I'm not sure I'm hydrated enough to cry all the tears I want to cry tonight. After all, 3 shots of Jaeger, a bunch of beers and a doctors order to not drink this week later, how can one actually expect oneself to handle onself properly without using onself in a sentence 3-17 time? really, if you expect more, go fuck yourself.

Kickball quickie...


Today is battle day. Not in nearly the same as last week, no trash talk going back and forth between teams, no rad videos in foreign languages with subtitles...none of that kind of stuff. However, every time we step on the kickball field, it is a challenge to keep the other team off the scoreboard. This week we are missing one of our best women and 2 of our free agent pickups. I don't like it when our main people miss games because it makes me nervous. The leader of Faygo nation claims that I have some kind of imbalance due to my neurotic kickball ways. I agree entirely with him, but with good reason: it's really stressful being on QP Live. Shit, it's stressful being QP Live, let alone with an entire nation bearing your name all in the fight to destroy every kickball team before you. This is serious shit.

The bar has been set pretty high this season. No runs allowed. If we win the regular season, we get an automatic invite to next years kickball tournament in Vegas. I've never been to Vegas before...not that I really feel an urge to go or anything, but it would be f-ing sweet to go and play kickball over Labor Day weekend. Going along with all of that, we are currently ranked 11th on the kickball365 rankings. This is only our 3rd season and we've been given the gift of notoriety...that means people don't look past us...rather, people look forward to playing us and trying to beat us. It's a lot of pressure knowing that every team you play is gunning for you and trying to take you down. I hate this only because on the 1% chance that a team not named Scoregasm actually beats us, people are going to be really excited to hear that QP Live went down.

I can't have that. The team can't have that. It's like shielding your children from all that is bad in the world. You don't want them exposed to that and I'm not trying to be the guy who causes this to happen. It's not for me. I don't want to see the message boards light up with glee that a powerhouse went down. I don't want to see the haters say shit like we are not for real. I don't want to see people say that we were prematurely put on the rankings...because I'm not done moving up that bitch yet.

I'm pretty sure I won't be happy with our ranking until we hit the top 5....and then, I want to see us in the top spot.

As for next week, well that will be an entire week of anticipation, build up and roughly 300 team emails (not exaggerating). Next week we play Scoregasm. They are currently ranked behind us because we beat them twice in the fall. They added some new players, just like us, and this is surely to be an incredibly intense game. But that's a week from now and I'm sure I'll bring it up plenty next week.

So for tonight it's on vs. Turn Your Head and Cough. They're an experienced team, though a few of their players may no longer be on the team after last weeks "hey, f u head ref, i'm throwing hobo on you now" altercation that went on between a husband, wife and guy with a visor. Truly tragic. Either way, they know how to play and are a threat to the shut out streak. Can't let that happen.

10.03.2007

Fond memories

There is no agony like watching a Yankees/Red Sox playoff series. There is no hatred to match it that I can fall back upon. Every shot of the Red Sox bench, every Red Sox fan, every Joe Buck comment about something positive about the Red Sox. Every Manny being Manny, every Cowboy Up, every stupid fucking word that comes out of every one of those fucking fans is brutal this time of year. Every time they show the clip of A-rod smacking the ball out of Bronson Arroyo's glove, every clip of tough guy Jason Varitek keeping his mask on when A-rod tried to break his face, every drip of Soul-Glo on Ortiz's jersey. All of it makes me sick during the playoffs. None of it bothers me before then.

So when you ask if I can stand another 60 hours of agony this year, I would say no, but I just feel so damn confident against the Red Sox this year. Maybe it's the fact that the Yankees finished in second in the division and therefore are not the favorites. Maybe it's that all of Boston's pitchers have gotten shelled by the Yankees hitters this year. I am getting way ahead of myself in that the Yankees and Sox both need to defeat very tough first round opponents, but should that happen, I'm actually looking forward to the series this year...that is, until it starts. Then the first paragraph comes back and makes me want to kill every Sully, every Fitzy, every Faust I see.

Well, not totally true. It makes we want to kill the girls I know who are Red Sox fans but don't know who actually plays for the team. One told me Mo Vaughn plays first base for them. That was literally 7 years ago.

I have this problem where this is my most favorite time of the year. It's a problem because I love it when the Yankees are in the playoffs and love it when it's over. If they win, it feels incredible. If they lose, it feels awful...but either way, it's over and I can relax for a few months. This year has been easier than others with the stress of leading a division off my back due to a slow start, but usually the season is a stress filled six month experience. It's easier to trail in the division. You don't have to constantly expect your team to fail. Ask a Red Sox fan which is easier. Up until this year, I'd bet they'd tell you that being in first is so much easier because you're in first and on top. I would always say how stressful it is to see your team lost and then have to watch over your shoulder as the second place team might have won and how everyone is claiming you will blow the lead. It's such a pain in the ass.

When you're in second, everyone rallies behind you because who doesn't root for the underdog? People are saying your team has a shot to catch up. Fans talk to each other about catching a few breaks and being on top. When you're on top, all you worry about is losing the lead. Fans talk to each other about how close you are to disaster. Rarely does it actually happen where the first place teams blows the lead (let's go mets) but until that final day, there is usually a lot of trauma associated with rooting for that first place team.

So am I looking forward to a possible 7 games series against the Red Sox? Sort of. Will I be happy when it's over? Hell yes. Will I break a chair, my laundry basket and tear a pair of work pants off that I am currently wearing in frustration? Likely not.

I was going to wrap this one up, but I guess I can't until I tell that story, right?

So in 2003, the Yankees beat the Red Sox on an Aaron Boone walk off home run in game 7 of the ALCS. Earlier in that game, the Sox had taken a big lead and I was convinced it was over, no matter how early in the game. I even got a call from the Junkyard Dog himself that said nothing more than, "Cowboy Up". I've never wanted to kill more than then. When Boone hit that homer, I called him back with the same words...he doesn't remember because he was blacked out.

In 2004, the Yankees and Red Sox met in the same series, but this time, the Yankees won the first 3 games. Then the Sox won the next 2 and it just felt like they weren't going to look back. Sure enough, they win game 6 also. At this point, the entire world is rooting for the Red Sox and therefore everyone is giving me shit as a Yankees fan. Urge to kill was even higher. Post game 6, I walk down into my room and am steaming mad. I'm also living with 2 Red Sox fans at the time, one of which who has converted his girlfriend into a Red Sox fan because she is happy when he is happy (even though she is from NJ) - F U Faust. Anyway, I walk, pissed beyond pissed off, into my room and try to sit down. That won't do it, so I pick up my laundry basket and heave it into my closet door. Closet door never recovers from the shock of being domestically beaten and therefore refuses to ever go back on its track again. Laundry basket never quite recovers.

Rage still burning. Must do more to calm down. So I walk into the basement living room and turn on the tv...I'm pretty sure it was cued up to espn, meaning it was all about the collapse...so I pick up the nice lay-z-boy in front of me and spike the shit out of that. A few pieces fall to the floor and the chair sits there with a slight limp. Oh so sad.

The next morning I get driven into the city by Saint Balog and stop off at the doctors for breakfast. As I sit down, the pocket of my pants gets caught on the edge of the chair as I go to sit down and the slightest of slight tears happens on the seam of the pocket. Fed up and still incredibly heated, I proceed to rip open the seam and tears the pants completely off. The doctor was likely taken aback by this burst of rage, but to this day continues to laugh about this outburst.

The yankees went on to lose that series and the Red Sox are still gay.

10.02.2007

Tickets are booked

Truck Stop is going to nationals.

So we had a fun filled frisbee weekend. Friday night we drove down to beautiful Fredericksburg, Va. in order to maximize sleep so we would be fully prepared for Saturday morning. Prepared for what? Prepared to give up 8 points to a team of kids who just graduated from high school and then a weaker club team that didn't even play their best players because they wanted to rest up for games they thought they could win.

I have a major problem with this...as I do with any strategy that doesn't rely on the talent of a team. On my team, there is no throwing in the towel, no matter how miserable you are playing or how badly you are being beaten. I don't always agree with this, as in the finals this past weekend we got our asses kicked but played most of our top players the entire game. I thought we should have conceded around 12-5, but we kept throwing out the big guns for the majority of the final points. Perhaps this is selfish of me, because I felt I could get some quality PT in this game as a result of the score, but that's not the way we played it. I don't disagree with out mentality that we felt we could come back no matter how good Ring was playing and how bad we were playing. However, when a team intentionally doesn't play its top 3 players, I have a problem with that. I don't look at it as good strategy. It may be and it may have worked out for that team, but come on. You train all spring and summer long, giving up countless hours of time you could spend with friends, family, traveling, etc and then you get the biggest game of the year and concede it before it's even begun? Pathetic in my mind. So what if you play your big dogs and come up short...what if you don't? They scored 11 on us...imagine what may have been with their best on the field. We were not at our best at all this weekend and were down key players to injuries...we were extremely vulnerable. Oh well.

So we finished our Saturday against Pike, who we consider a team we should crush. I was slightly nervous because we were down our top D line guy. I was also slightly nervous because I got to start the game and turned it on the goal line on the first point, leading to a Pike break. Not a great start. Usually, this would mean I'm done for the game...both mentally and that I won't get to go back in. All of my teammates came over to me and told me to shake it off and one of the captains told me I was getting back in. This helped me stay positive. Later in the game, I got another shot and even scored. That's right, QP Live doing the damn score dance. Actually, no dance happened, but I did get hooked up from former g-Dub teammate Jack with a monster flick that I ran down in the back of the end zone...that's right, deep cut. My guy went to poach on a throw to Jack and I took off deep. No one picked me up and Jack just put it out in front of me for the score. I then threw a scoober as a spike, which was probably the best scoober of my life. I could feel it come out perfect. It's awesome to score in big games like that because running around after you catch it makes you feel like you are floating. I am not a goal scorer and definitely not a deep cutter (anymore) so it feels great to score on a huck for the first time in a club game, likely since I left Metal.

We ended up beating Pike in a 15-12 game. They battled pretty hard but only have about 16 guys they rely on, so we eventually just out ran them.

Sunday started with the finals against Ring and was over pretty quickly. They just owned us. We didn't force a turn on their O team until the end of the second half. They got turn after turn on our O line. Not much else to say. They were pretty pumped up...we couldn't match it.

The next game was the 2/3 game vs. Pike again. Last year at sectionals, we played Potomac for the first time in the semis. We beat them 15-14 or something like that in a close battle. Then we played them at regionals and beat the merc out of them.

We beat the merc out of Pike. They maybe scored 6 or 7. We got the first 3 points of the game. It was then 3-1, later it was 5-2 and then all of a sudden, it was 10-3. Pike then took their top dogs out and let the kids who watched most of the weekend get on the field. It was a much different experience. They were turning the disc over on dump throws and dropping easy competitions. I guess there is a large gap between their bench and their starters. I guess a lot of their bench is young, or maybe just cold from not playing all weekend. I know all about that.

This game was fun because we crushed a team while qualifying for nationals and that was excellent. I also caught a callahan, which was sweet because the guy who caught the callahan against me in my last college game was on Pike. Problem was, it was on a blatant foul and didn't count. On the off chance it did, I did a little jump slide action to make sure I was in the end zone and caught the frisbee. Jack saw me do this and started laughing at me. I realized too late I should have run around like it counted and gone crazy but I just threw it back to the thrower quickly. I'm so slow.

Later in that point, which had a bunch of turns, 1 that I was responsible for, one of the Pike players got injured and took a sub. We're up 12-5 and their subs are in. I've played more this weekend than I thought and played in the big games too, but surely I'll get to stay on the field because what does it matter at this point anyway, right? Sure enough, the guy calling subs sees me, puts a big smile on his face and calls me off. I was fucking pissed. I look at him and say, "Really?" totally dejected and slowly walk off the field. Mind you, I've been running pretty hard, had been on my man and was feeling fine. Oh, and there was a 42 year old on the field too who got to stay on. So not only was I pretty pissed, but I was also laughing on the inside about it. The guy who doesn't come to practice who is actually slower than me gets to stay on...In case you're wondering, this guy plays all the time, so it's not like he's a scrub or anything.

So I get subbed off. Kind of hilarious. As I got drunker and drunker on Sunday night, I laughed more and more about it. It didn't really matter. We qualified for nationals for a second straight season and that is excellent. We have literally nothing to lose going into nationals. Last year we finished 14th, which wasn't all that great. This year, our goal is to win nationals. That might be a little lofty, but I'd be happy not having to play on the shitbox fields at any point during the weekend. All the fields are wonderful, but there are a few way the fuck on the edge of the land where the games are played and I'd rather not have to be there again. So I'd love to make it to quarters. Top 8. That'd be a great way to go out.