Where in the World?

Continuing "Where in the World" paying homage to the worldly mobility of Sludge.

Today's Feature: Andrew.
Q: Where in the World was Andrew?
A: Andrew was in Transylvanian Alps of Romania with Kelly.

Spirit of the Game

Happy Halloween! Do you believe in the Spirit of the Game?

Be afraid; be very afraid.

Disc-Space Explained

XIV. The Marker [11th Edition]
B. Marking Violations
3. Disc-space:  If a line between any two points on the marker touches the thrower  or is less than one disc diameter away from the torso or pivot of the thrower, it is a disc space violation. However, if this situation is caused solely by movement of the thrower, it is not a violation.

Week 8: cancelled

Game cancelled due to precipitation (rain &/or snow).

Role Model

Sludge is already accustomed to CHaptaining leadership - Do as I SAY; not as I DO.

Best of luck to CHarlie in his inaugural role as coach of the Ultimate team at Holy Trinity School [Georgetown] on Saturday.

OBXpenses

MattHew completed his math homework, based on received receipts, and figured out the Sludge OBX debt. IOUs have been assigned - pay up or pay out (please). 

In 2011, Sludge spent almost $3K during our annual vacation, and nearly 3 times as much on food than alcoholic beverages.

Pretty Cool

The plate = frisbee joke never gets old!

Get More: MTV Shows

MTV is re-launching Beavis & Butt-Head, the animated series from Mike Judge, nearly two decades after its original debut. In this episode, an antique plate is thrown around like a flying disc.

ultimaTV 2011

Club Ultimate sounds like the awesomest bar name ever, but it's currently the top level Ultimate around.

USA Ultimate's 2011 Club Championships, in Sarasota, Florida, spans  October 27 - 31 to determine the best in the Masters, Mixed, Open [Men's], & Women's Divisions. Grab a comfy seat, power up your favorite Internet-ready device(s) & follow the Ultimate action!

Live Stream Schedule:

THURSDAY, Oct 27

9:30am Mixed Pool Play

12:15pm Men's Pool Play

4pm Women's Pool Play

FRIDAY, Oct 28

9:30am Women's Power Pools

12:15pm Men's Power Pools

3:30pm Mixed Pre-Quarters

SATURDAY, Oct 30

9:30am Open Quarters

1:15pm Women's Semis

3:45pm Masters Finals

SUNDAY, Oct 31

9am Men's Finals

11:45am Mixed Finals

2:30pm Women's Finals

Follow #usauchamps via Twitter.

Slightly abUSED Frisbe

Would you pay $26 for this frisbe [sic]? DID you pay $26 for this disc??


FRISBE SLIGHTLY USED [ebay]

Item specifics: Condition: Used: An item that has been used previously. The item may have some signs of cosmetic wear, but is fully operational and functions as intended...

Signature Trophy

The winner between the annual Ultimate game between Seton Hall vs Columbia High School received an autographed disc by Ultimate Frisbee's founding father (& Hollywood movie producer) Joel Silver.

Oh, BX

[A passage from "Vacation Memories"] This year at OBX was awesome! All mom talks about is the beer, but I personally liked the house, beach, friends, games and FRISBEE!

Week 7: Unemployment

Lemme call you back. Sludge needs help.

:Game 1:
The Sludge offense took a dive on Saturday, and players struggled to reverse the loss of defense-created scoring opportunities. After a first point with teams trading turnovers, no brown program could prevent a tally deficit. 1-2, 2-5.

The younger Dr Von Rhino was fluid as if playing on ice; while brown was languid, like running in very, very, very deep sand. Even playing with an 8th person (MicHael) was not successful. 4-8.

Sludge played tighter in the second half, trying the play catch-up. Andrew and Brian each threw a deep score (5-7); Chris caught a score from Nigel (6-10); Joe tossed one to Christy (7-12); David was fouled & overtly tackled (he's didn't play the rest of the day [-1]).

The zone D was continually beat in the middle, and especially deep during transition off of Sludge throwaways. Loss 7-15.

Was Sludge half as good as DvR; or was DvR two times better as brown? 

:Game 2:
Sludge began strong(er) in the second game. Rachel caught the 1st point, and then Sarah connected with Nigel. 2-0. Once O'Face got their O'Legs, brown was stymied; cuts were slow to flow and D was good being D-etermined, not so much in D-eterrence. 4-5, 6-7, 6-8.

At 6-9, Sludge offense was broken repeatedly. All throws were challenged while being forced into tight windows. Converting redzone opportunities could have been better. 7-12. Back-&-forth points tended away from brown, as scores against were hammered in. Loss 8-15.

Was Sludge half as good as O'F; or was O'F two times better as brown?

Sludge watches as Brian's arm bends backwards.

Andrew catch-&-release

Breakfast menu: Pancake!

CHris nails his timing to catch  the hammer throw.

The 99 Percent 'frisbee'

Because of the WHAM-O trademark, frisbee is supposed to be written as Frisbee®; it's almost always not - like 99% of the time.

Second Best

WAFC [Ultimate], was voted as "2nd best Amateur Sports League" in WaPo's EXPRESS Best of 2011.

1st) Happy Hour Kickball. 2nd) Washington Area Frisbee Club. 3rd) DC Social Sports Club

Reel-y 2010

A whole lotta contact (ground + body) in this Highlight Reel from the 2010 Club Championships.

Read it & Eat

Skinny Dish in a Disc

As previously announced, Jen's delicious cookbook Skinny Dish is ready to be served! Buy the cookbook & grab a plate!

Cooking with Trader Joe's Cookbook - Skinny Dish! [Amazon]

Info: Tired of spending hours counting calories and fat grams just to shave 1 measly ounce off your derrière? Have you lost weight in the past but then rebounded like a killer whale? Well enough is enough! Famed dietitian, nutrition blogger & Ultimate frisbee player Jennifer K. Reilly is here to set you free with easy-to-follow weight control tips and mouth-watering Trader Joe's inspired recipes. Reilly's practical, non-diet diet plan will help you shed pounds, feel bionic, and never have to resort to fat pants again. 

The plan is simple: learn top-secret, quick tricks for making veggies, fruits, whole grains, and other powerfoods overwhelmingly delicious, and then load up on them the majority of the time. No calorie counting, no food scale, just healthy grub that tastes incredible, boosts your metabolism, and leaves you feeling like a demigod. Embrace the Five Rules of Skinny, and skyrocket your metabolism while enjoying the heavenly likes of: No Fat Pants Nachos, Blink-of-An-Eye Green Salad, Sesame Greens, Pesto Pasta, Lazy Lasagna, Stuffed Peppers, Pizza Burgers, Orange Chocolate Cake, Xtreme Apple Muffins, Zeus Mousse, French Toast for Gods and Goddesses, and many more!

Pages: 264 (hardcover)

Price: $16.30

borrowinG

Inspired by the disappearance of the letter 'G' at the Scrabble World Championships.

Occupy Ultimate Frisbee

Here are the 'occupy' rules in the self-officiating game of Ultimate. 

XVII. Positioning [USAU 11th Ed.]
A. Each player is entitled to OCCUPY any position on the field not occupied by an opposing player, unless specifically overridden elsewhere, provided that no personal contact is caused in taking such a position.
B. A player who jumps is entitled to land at the take-off spot without hindrance by opponents. That player also is entitled to land at another spot, provided that the landing spot, and the direct path between the take-off and landing spots, were not already occupied at the time of take-off* 
*This does not trump a player’s responsibility to make reasonable efforts to avoid contact and to not commit a blocking foul. If you commit a blocking foul, the fact that you jumped to the spot instead of running does not negate the foul.

Throwdown

What's better - the throws or their reactions? Either way, looks like slinging a basketball is harder than throwing a frisbee.

Week 6: B(each)-Game Out, A-Game In

If you needed any more reasons to miss the OBXeach Ultimate… Re-location? bah! Driving to game? bah!! No post-game water outlets? bah!!! Truth is: Sludge deserved this game. After the wind infested beach play, our Ultimate sensibilities deserved a reversal of fortunes.

Before the shadows had a chance to creep onto the lower altitude field, Sludge was up 4-0. RacHel showed off for her fans with multiple knockdowns and scores. Brian skyD to prevent a deep score, then threw a layout special to MicHael for a 2-yard gain.

Sludge easily won the first 10 points with offONfense. It was as if brown had faded and gone to the Oprah Winfrey Show…“YOU get an open cut! YOU get to D the disc!” 

Back and forth points went the way of Sludge as Jen & Christy (who also had a great forehand) cut to open space on the flat, solid field. Joe & CHarlie kept the O flow in the middle of the green field. For points 11 + 12 (11), David, then MattHew found Nigel on deep cuts. 11-3, 13-3. Win 15-3.

Quadruple team on CHarlie

Brown-panted Jake directs SLUDGE while CHaptain is busy

Presidential Party

Clinton's party-throwing prowess for his Foundation may be as good as his frisbee-throwing skills.

(July 11, 1993) President Bill Clinton winds up to fling a frisbee as a pair of unidentified children do underwater handstands nearby during a relaxing dip in the ocean off the Kahala Hilton Hotel in Honolulu.

First Inter-Collegiate Ultimate Game

On this day in sports history...the first college-level Ultimate Frisbee Game between two schools was scheduled to be played between Princeton & Rutgers. The match was rescheduled to November 6, which Rutgers won 29-27.

A typed letter, dated 10/5/72, from the game organizer to WHAM-O reads:

Dear Mr. Landers [WHAM-O],
I finally graduated Columbia High School and am now going to Rutgers University.

Now for the exciting news. History is about to be made. The first inter-collegiate Ultimate Frisbee Game, between Rutgers and Princeton (shades of the first football game). The game will take place on Sunday, October 15, 1972, on the Dillon Gym Field at Princeton at 2:00 p.m. Huge crowds are expected. We’re doing all we can to get publicity, anything you could do would be greatly appreciated.

Keep ‘em flyin
(Irv Kalb)

[SOURCE: Midwest Disc Sports Collection]

DISCination

With the recent American Ultimate Disc League announcement, your initial reaction might have been: Why did AUDL pick those specific northeast-ish & midwestern-y cities? As the map (above) shows, there's correlation to being a Southwest destination.

:EAST:
Buffalo, NY (Buffalo Hunters)
Hartford, CT (Connecticut Constitution)
Philadelphia, PA (Philadelphia Spinners)
Providence, RI (Rhode Island Rampage)

:WEST:
Columbus, OH (Columbus Cranes)
Detroit, MI ( Detroit Mechanix)
Indianapolis, IN ( Indianapolis AlleyCats)
Louisville, KY (River City Revolution)

ShoenTell

Congrats to Sarah for developing a 19-hole urban frisbee golf course 19-stop Neighborhood Heritage Trail in DC!

Cultural Tourism DC opens Lift Every Voice: Georgia Ave./Pleasant Plains Heritage Trail on Saturday, October 15. The trail pays homage to the musicians and impresarios, Jewish shop-keepers and African American barbers, intellectuals and activists, and all who built a thriving community along this stretch of one of Washington’s oldest thoroughfares.

The first sign on the trail is located outside the Shaw-Howard University Metrorail station 7th and S streets exit. The final sign is located at the Georgia Ave-Petworth Metrorail station at the Georgia Avenue, southbound exit. This 1.9-mile walk offers about two hours of gentle exercise. Participants may begin their journey at any sign.

The creation of the Heritage Trail was a community endeavor. Cultural Tourism DC began working with the Working Group in 2007 to collect stories and images. Then professional historians (Sarah) deepened the research and shaped the finished product into 19 poster-sized signs that combine historical photographs and maps to trace the neighborhood from its start as rural farmland to the lively community it is today.

AUDLtimate

Did you enjoy spectating the high-level Ultimate during the summer? Well, good news for random U.S. cities!

The American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL) to Begin in 2012

Eight teams will compete in the inaugural season of the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL). The AUDL is structured as a national professional men’s ultimate disc league set to begin play in 2012. The eight teams competing in the first season are:
Buffalo Hunters (Buffalo, NY)
Columbus Cranes (Columbus, OH)
Connecticut Constitution (Hartford, CT)
Detroit Mechanix (Detroit, MI)
Indianapolis AlleyCats (Indianapolis, IN)
Philadelphia Spinners (Philadelphia, PA)
River City Revolution (Louisville, KY)
Rhode Island Rampage (Providence, RI)

“The AUDL is structured as a national professional men’s ultimate disc league set to begin play in 2012.”

Ultimate has been one of the fastest growing sports since its invention in 1968. Today, almost 5 million Americans play the sport annually. The AUDL will showcase the sport at a spectator level and will help foster the continued growth and popularity of ultimate.

“Everybody involved with the league is very excited to bring this great sport to the next level,” AUDL founder Josh Moore said. “This has been one of the fastest growing sports for participants in America. With the introduction of this new professional league, everybody involved with the AUDL is particularly excited to bring the game mainstream for the average person to experience ultimate played at its highest level. We are creating tremendous value for our fans, sponsors and owners.”

The establishment of the AUDL fills a need for affordable sporting entertainment. The AUDL is scheduled to commence play in April 2012 in a two division format with each team playing eight home and eight road games. Division championships will be played on July 28th and July 29th, 2012 and will culminate with the championship game to be played August 11, 2012 at the Silverdome of Pontiac, Michigan.

“The time has come for high-intensity live sports entertainment without the premium price tag. Our athletes showcase the strength, speed, talent, and passion required to be professional performers yet maintain their dedication to a sport that has a universal appeal. The thrill of competition again will be the subject of dinner tables across America!” AUDL V.P. of Marketing, Brent Steepe said.

A local press release will be conducted at a later date for each team to announce the team name, logo, ownership, ticket pricing, players and more.

For more information about the American Ultimate Disc League visit www.theaudl.com or call (855)AUDLULT.

[spotted by gwenambler]

Sandsational

Though your feet and your liver may dispute this, Sludge's 11th annual Occupation of OBX was another sandy success!

Thanks to everyone who made it possible, probable, edible, drinkable, dessertible, nap-enabled, youthful, sharable and memorable!

Frisbees Allowed

But Sam doesn't even KNOW he's a dog! He's one of the family!

Occupy S. Old Oregon Inlet Road

Honor System

NBC again references Ultimate Frisbee.

On Thursday's 10/6 episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Jack Black, Owen Wilson & Steve Martin discussed "birding". Around 4:09 mark...
JAY: Birders work on the honor system. Is that a realistic concept?

OWEN: I think so...how many things work on the honor system?

JACK BLACK: Ultimate Frisbee...Ultimate Frisbee, you know. They don't have referees. It's self-regulated; that's it - birding & Ultimate Frisbee.

Sandy Advice

Hey you tourists, a starfish is not a Frisbee [roanokeTimes]

According to an Associated Press report, tourism officials on the Caribbean island of Grenada are concerned about dog owners taking starfish out of the ocean and “throwing them like flying discs for their dogs to catch.”

Russ Fielden, president of the local hotel and tourism association, said officials have received several reports of the practice and are launching an education campaign to put an end to the flying of fish.

Fielden said hurling a starfish is “cruel and should be strongly discouraged” (not to mention more than a little weird and gross.)

He said the sea creatures are being left to die on the island’s popular Grand Anse beach and also are creating a foul smell.

So, remember on your next Caribbean vacation with your pooch, pack his Frisbee® and leave the starfish in the ocean. You will be glad you did.

##

fOrBXcast

You can better prepare knowing the forecast in OBX!

What to OBringX

Blogger weatherstained, who later gained inspiration from a SLOG posting, shares "What to Pack for an Ultimate Beach Tournament".

My short list:

• Frisbee
• Swim Gear: Towel, Swimsuit, Beach shoes
• Clothing: Pants, Socks, T-shirt(s), hoodie
• Sun Protection: Hat, Umbrella, Sunglasses
• Bail money
• Rain jacket
• Toiletries
• Beer bottle opener
• Offspring

Other Reminders: Hold Mail, Water your plants, Care for your pets, Handle any perishables.

Dear Rachel (Rd 2)

RacHel successfully survived Round 1 in WaPo's @Work Advice Contest. For Round 2, WaPo asked: Identify the biggest problem in today’s workplace, & offer a solution.

VOTE now (before Oct 8 ET).

Soil Frysical Properties

Sludge can expect a relatively hefty portion of frisbee particles in their OBX sand.

Soil texture is determined by the relative proportions of soil particles of different sizes less than 2 mm in diameter. This is sometimes called the fine earth fraction of the soil. Particles greater than 2mm in diameter are referred to as coarse fragments, & generally do not have an important functional impact on the soil. Relative sizes of the 3 fine earth fractions are indicated on a familiar scale by the beachball-frisbee-dime illustration (above).

Fine Earth Fraction (Texture)
Sand: 2 - .05 mm (200 - 50 microns)
Silt: 0.05 - .002 mm (50 - 2 microns)
Clay: < .002 mm

Footprints on the Sands of Time

Anna Luna playing Beach Ultimate [OBX 10/2010]

Is This Happening?

...All because I happened to read a book on Ultimate Frisbee!
[Man. I gotta read a book sometime.]

Changed my life, Man!

Ready full Doonesbury comic strip...[via UltimateRob]

Week 4: Cooler than Usual

There was a chill in the air on this first day of October. The weather was indicative of
Sludge’s in-the-game pace that never really warmed up.

Sludge’s O was repeatedly trapped on the sidelines. Down the entire game (1-2, 3-4, 3-6), brown showed little signs of flow minus Nigel, CHris, Brian & Bucci who consistently made great cuts.

CHarlie, Andrew & Matthew played support roles moving the disc downfield. Throws into & near the endzone were not connecting, except for when Mike hurled a hammer for a welcomed score. 5-8; 6-9; 7-10.

Sludge’s gritty defense slowed Absinthe Minded to extreme patience rather than to excessive turnovers. Of note, Christy had a an excellent rundown D to prevent a score while Jen had a (cold)handblock that setup a score.

RacHel made what some labeled as the catch of the season/year between a gaggle of green at the endzone line, then simultaneously threw to and cheered for MicHael to catch the score. 10-13.

Outpaced, Sludge was out of chase. Loss 10-15.

Do Over: September 2011

Catch up on last month's noteworthy posts you may have missed...

AWE2teri7y

Search Warrant

CHART: Disc Reliance

Forward thinking