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?