Go Throw Off a Bridge!

OBX will never be the same.

Frisbee thrown by Brodie from Narrows Bridge in Perth, Australia. One-handed layout catch off a speeding boat by Derek Herron. Seriously?! [Spotted by Brian]

Universe Points

Physics for Dogs: A Crash Course in Catching Cats, Frisbees, and Cars

Info: Old dogs may have trouble with new tricks, but now canine brainiacs can use the laws of physics to master their corner of the universe. Complete with technical illustrations, graphs, and formulas, this 192-page paperback book shows DOGS how to:

• Bring down the mailman with the correct ratio of stealth & brute force 
• Poop strategically--indoors & out--by understanding variable-mass systems 
• Play fetch by calculating velocity & maximum range 

Price: $10.36

Eat More Ultimate

Already a proponent of a healthy diet of Ultimate, here's a new slogan...

Inspired by Vermont artist Bo Muller-Moore [Eat More Kale] who is victim of a frivolous lawsuit by Chik-Fil-A.

H2intheKNOW

From 'Where The Sewers End': Looking at the grim beauty of the DC Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant [Spotted by Sarah]

Of course, purification comes with consequences—or, at least, byproducts. What happens to all the gook the plant has taken out of the 350-some million gallons of sewage that flows through it every day? The stuff from the earlier stages is garbage, and has to be dumped in landfills. But the later sludge is reusable. To make it light enough to be trucked away, it gets processed in that giant boxy building with the centrifuges. Like the guides say, don’t go in.

Raging against Aging

A whole lot more playing time is ahead of Sludge!

Reaching Age 90 Is More Likely Than Ever, Census Finds [11.17.11]

The rolls of America's oldest old are surging: Nearly 2 million now are 90 or over, nearly triple their numbers of just three decades ago.

It's not all good news. They're more likely than the merely elderly to live in poverty and to have disabilities, creating a new challenge to already strained retiree income and health care programs.

First-ever census data on the 90-plus population highlight America's ever-increasing life spans, which are redefining what it means to be old. Joined by graying baby boomers, the oldest old are projected to increase from 1.9 million to 8.7 million by midcentury – making up 2 percent of the total U.S. population and one in 10 older Americans. That's a big change from over a century ago, when fewer than 100,000 people reached 90.

Demographers attribute the increases mostly to better nutrition and advances in medical care. Still, the longer life spans present additional risks for disabilities and chronic conditions such as arthritis, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. An Associated Press-LifeGoesStrong.com poll in June found that more than one in four adults expect to live to at least 90, including nearly half of those currently 65 or older.

A majority of adults also said they expected people in their generation to live longer than those in their parents' generation, with about 46 percent saying they expected a better quality of life in later years as well.

Drag On

So many Thanksgiving leftovers will induce dragging more than just a toe.

What A Drag Disc [FiveUltimate]

Info: For those of ya'll who need a little bit of inspiration to toe the line. Metallic Copper (brown) and Black. Discraft Ultistar. 175g.

Price: $10

TRYptophan PLAYING Ultimate

Gobble up plenty of playing time for those looking to play Ultimate in DC...

> Friday, Nov 25th @ 10am @ The Polo Fields
[WAFC's Annual Turkey Digestive]

> Saturday, Nov 26th - 10 am @ The Polo Fields

Liquidating

Ultimate R.F.C.

From "Flat Flip Flies Straight, True Origins of the Frisbee" (2006):
Fred Morrison changed the name of the first disc from "Rotary Fingernail Clipper" to "Pluto Platter." Rotary Fingernail Clipper was Fred and Warren’s pet name for the 1948 Flyin-Saucer but it was NEVER advertised as such. The 1955 Pluto Platter was a completely new disc.

Do Over: Fall 2011

A recap of Sludge's twenty-seventh Ultimate season:

Week 1: Bye

Week 2: Win 15-6 + Win 15-8 (2-0)

Week 3: Cancelled (2-0)

Week 4: Loss 10-15 (2-1)

Week 5: OBX

Week 6: Win 15-3 (3-1)

Week 7: Loss 7-15 + Loss 8-15 (3-3)

Week 8: Canceled (3-3)

Pool Play: Win 13-5 + Win 12-8 + Loss 6-12 + Loss 2-13 (5-5)

Fetching

 In this clip, Elijah Wood's Dog (Wilfred) jumps really high to make an amazing Frisbee catch!


Elijah: What kind of dog are you? [Throws disc]

Wilfred [after amazing catch]: You said beer & frisbees. We're done with frisbees. Let's go grab that beer, eh?

Call for Nominations

Call for Nominations - SLUDGEYS 2011

Submit your nominations (anecdotes/fabrications) within calendar year 2011, factoring in the spring season + fall season, to the Awards Committee in these possible areas:

Best OBX Moment Award
Criteria: A memorable time at our happy, sandy place.

Biggest Best Brown Movement Award
Criteria: No criterion. Go with your gut.

Best/Most Offensive Play on Offense (Individual)
Criteria: Scoring is a big part of offense, but that’s not the only criterion for receipt of this award. In any particular game or period of a game, did someone exhibit mad throwing skills? Or incredible catching talent?? Or great cutting proficiencies? Overall common sense on offense?

Best/Most Offensive Play on Offense (Group)
Criteria: Which Sludge group play best put up the numbers en route to Sludge’s total score in a particularly impressive game?

Best/Most Defensive Play on Defense (Individual)Criteria: “Our best defense is a good offense,” does not justify America’s military, so that pre-emptive crap doesn’t have a place here. The best play by an individual, which was most responsible for Sludge’s defensive success in a particular game.

Best/Most Defensive Play on Defense (Group)
Criteria: The best group play that was most responsible for keeping the opponent from scoring.

Most Entertaining Point/Moment (on the field or sidelines)Criteria: A moment or point, in or near the game, that resulted in laughing, crying, blushing, delirium, and/or throwing up.

Spirit of the Game Award (on the field)
Criteria: By the book, “Ultimate has traditionally relied upon a spirit of sportsmanship.… In Ultimate, the honor system works…” blah, blah, blah.

Best Spirit of the Game Award (off the field)
Criteria: Karma; following the Golden Rule; by the Law, not getting arrested.

Best World Peace Award
Criteria: Best moment of someone walking away to avoid confrontation.

Most Improved/Worsened Award
Criteria: Did someone nicely recover from an injury? Basically, did someone smartly slow down the worsening process?

Best Fashion Award (on the field)
Criteria: Best fashion statement that displayed stunning presentation, style, attitude, and wonderful overall appearance to supplement the standard issue brown t-shirt. Otherwise known as the Chris ‘wolfie’ Wolfson Award in honor of Wolfie's furry winter hat.

Best Food Offering AwardCriteria: Best edible offering based on taste, creativity, and appearance at either a game, Sludgefest, OBX, or pickup. Otherwise known as the ‘Bruce’ Award in honor of his delicious oatmeal cookies.

Best Story About ‘the Bestest’ Play Award (Fiction)
Criteria: Awarded to the author of the best work of fiction about ultimate, injury, family or whatever.

Best Excuse for Missing a Game Award (Fiction or Non-fiction)
Criteria: Quality of research and writing are major considerations in the judging of this award, as are insight and originality.

#1 Fan Award
Criteria: Any one, any one, at all that attends Sludge game(s) without stealing playing time from us. Cheering is not necessarily required.

Best Sludge Addition AwardCriteria: Open to purchases, offspring, significant others &/or pickups added in the calendar year.

Best Captain Award
Criteria: Best bearded person with the initials CH who reminds us that following is a lot easier than leading.

Oregon U Pay

The Same, For Less? [Sports Illustrated - 11.7.11]

It costs exponentially more to field a varsity team than it does a club, but the camaraderie and competition are similar—and in some ways club athletes are better off.

In 2009, Oregon spent $1,116,214 on its 16-member varsity women's volleyball team. It also shelled out $1,022,859 for the varsity men's tennis and golf programs, which had 21 players between them. Those amounts are mind-boggling to Katie Weatherhead, captain of the school's women's ultimate Frisbee team. Her 20-member club receives about $4,500 annually from the university, then must come up with approximately another $18,000 to cover travel, uniforms and other expenses.

Not that she's complaining. "I know athletes who play varsity sports, and there isn't much difference," Weatherhead says. "We work hard and we play hard, and there is that same sense of teamwork and camaraderie."

SI's pay-to-play plan hinges on the belief that the benefit students get from nonrevenue varsity sports like volleyball and tennis can be had at a fraction of the cost by fielding only club teams in those sports. It is a notion likely to rankle many current and former varsity athletes, but a conversation with Weatherhead—or with one of the 65 players on the men's ultimate Frisbee team—would surely placate some of them. A senior geography major from Chicago, Weatherhead came to Oregon because of its ultimate program, which won the college women's national title in 2010. "It's a different experience, but I don't know that I'd change anything," she says. "We have gained a lot more life skills having had to work for everything, by not having anything handed to us. And isn't that what college is all about?"

After the team is selected, every player must come up with $500. The additional $8,000 they raise as a group by selling Frisbees, holding car washes and bake sales, and hitting up schoolmates on well-trafficked parts of campus. Occasionally the university pays the squad up to $300 to clean up the stands after varsity volleyball, soccer and basketball games.

The men's ultimate team receives about the same amount from the university and must raise $30,000 annually. Both clubs do everything they can to keep expenses down: Their coaches are unpaid volunteers, and the teams often pass up tournaments because of the travel costs. At away games the athletes crash with former team members or at the homes of players from the host school. "Couches, the floor, whatever is available," says Ian Campbell, the sophomore coordinator of the men's team, which finished tied for fifth nationally a year ago.

How much more does Oregon get for all the money it spends on nonrevenue sports compared to its club teams? Says Campbell, "Let me put it this way: I see more people around campus throwing Frisbees than hitting tennis and golf balls."
##

Occupy Wall St Journal

Brian occupied the Online Wall Street Journal last week. 

LiftOff Teaches Clients to Fish in the Cloud [WSJ - 11.10.11]
Case Study: LiftOff

It has been said that "If you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you have fed him for a lifetime." LiftOff, LLC, a Mid-Atlantic-based professional services firm, is taking that philosophy to the IT world with great effect. By deploying cloud-based systems with an educational approach, LiftOff is teaching clients a brand-new way to tackle technology altogether...

"The role of the IT Professional is changing. No longer does a company need to employ IT people to manage and watch servers. The days of monitoring blinking lights will soon be behind us all," said Brian Reilly, senior consultant at LiftOff. "The good news is that the role of the IT Professional is now elevated. IT pros know how systems work and can focus on deploying workflows that have a greater impact on operations. These workers are becoming more visible in the workplace and contributing to the bottom line."...

"It is all about empowering the customer," Reilly said. "We want them to understand what they have, how to deploy it and how to use it. The model doesn’t mean we are onsite doing all of the work. We have trained them and then we've gotten out of their way so that they can do it themselves with the confidence that they are going to do it right."

All organizations have a need for some level of security, scalability and reliability. Mobile connectivity is a critical component for many as well. "Office 365 is great for users that travel," Reilly said. "Not only can can they check their e-mails, but they also can access documents and collaborate with colleagues through SharePoint."

LiftOff has realized incredible success in the cloud and anticipates that businesses will continue to migrate away from self-hosted and self-managed systems.

Moat-er Skills

Knight 1: "Look at the cool stuff I found in the moat."

Knight 2: (thinking) Pie tin! Frisbee!!

Really

Ultimate is real. Frisbee is fun. Ultimate frisbee is really fun!

Ultimate Priorities

Pre-arrival to Ultimate league games changes over time, especially after the regular season.

6 x 1's = Ultimate field

Todays' date - 11.11.11 - reminds me of the linear simplicity of ONE Ultimate frisbee field. The 11's being the end zones & each one of the horizontal sidelines represented by a longer  "1".

Ultimate Pickup (Saturdays)

Time for Saturday morning pickup, Ultimate players! Your attendance is always welcomed!!
Where: Polo Fields, or FDR outfields.
When: 10am EST

Celebrity Status

From the Match Game - one of the most popular television game shows in the '70s & early '80s- where contestants try to match the stars: "Frank said, 'At the picnic, the Tartaglia brothers were a real mess, because they took the pizzas and used them as __________s .'"

Read answers from all 6 celebrity panelists...

Toying

A video showing FLYING toys...

[spotted by Jen]

AUDL Rules

AUDL will be playing Ultimate; just not the Ultimate game you know.

Most notable differences per AUDL 101:
The AUDL field is the size of a football field - wider, longer field with a shorter end zone. (53 1/3 yards wide + 80 yards long with 20 yard end zones.)
The AUDL games are timed, not dictated by points.
(Four quarters of 20 minutes each; Halftime = 15 minutes.)

More:
Substitutions: Can be done after a timeout is called; not just after a score.
Pivot: If the pivot foot is lifted, possession is lost; not a violation.
Stalling: Seven seconds to throw the disc to a teammate; not 10 seconds.
Travelling: 10-yard penalty against the offense; not a violation.
Overtime: 5 extra minutes of game time.

painFULL

CAUSE: Ultimate Tournament on Saturday.

Hair-say

I was just thinking...

Having a moustache is like...

catching a Frisbee.

...Yes, exactly! 

Pool Play 11.05.11

:Game 1:
The day started on the shady side of the two fields. The chill in the air didn't stop Sludge from a red hot start, 1-0. The slight wind and tight D didn't hurt either. Jen had a knockdown against SAIS Matters which led to a Sarah score, 4-2.

Sludge benefited from converting defensive turnovers into scores. Christy caught many scores, with a memorable one up the line from a sliding forehand from Chris, 6-2. 7-2 half.

Russ played in his first game of the fall 2011 season.

Sludge stayed hot like Jen's hot chocolate in the second half as Andrew hammered to Mike, 11-3. Win 13-5.

:Game 2:
Sludge continued their D-ominance with a 2-0 lead. Brown's zone dictated the game pace early on the sunny field, and resulted in Disc Toast changing from blue to white. After a very short pull, the game shifted to 2-1, 2-3.

At 4's, brown found their momentum with a Sarah-to-MicHael-to-Russ connection; Charlie-to-Joe-to-Christy score; & Nigel-to-Andrew-to-Jen. A luckier-than-good phase kicked in as Sludge took half 7-4.

At 8's, Matthew wound up his forehand for consecutive scores - once to Chris; another to Steve. The game ended with a beautiful dump to Christy and swing to Andrew for a score by Sarah. Win 12-8.

:Game 3:
After playing 38 points in the morning (2-0), Sludge had 2 more games. The bye was not kind to Sludge bodies.

Against the #1 seed, Sludge jumped to an early (and prideful) lead. During this energized first point, Dance Cafe was pushed back to their end zone and could not move the disc against the mighty Sludge zone that has been perfected for 27 seasons. Nigel caught the turnover and flipped a score to Brian, 1-0.

At 1-4, Sludge struggled to convert limited turnovers by the (much) younger team. Brown's offense stayed fueled by Sludge women - Sarah, Jen & Christy, 3-7.

First or second throw turnovers were prevalent by Sludge, while the opponents flowed with underneath passing, 5-10. Not even a handblock by Mike could help Sludge playing from behind. Loss 6-12.

:Game 4:
Sludge returned to the dark side field for their last game vs This Is Why I'm Hot.

Cut were slow to form; rather, there were no cuts. 0-1.
The sun was in Sludge's eyes in both directions. 1-5.
Fatigue /fəˈtig/ [fuh-teeg] {from French, from fatiguer to tire, from Latin fatīgāre} 1-7.

At 1-9, it felt like 0-9.
1-10.
The shade makes it colder; so does not valuing the disc. 1-12.

Sludge could only score once in each half. Loss 2-13.

Mi Rancho therapy ...

E-fficiency

Be efficient on offense...scorE!

Do

"Try not.  Do.  Or do not.  There is no try."

-- Yoda [Star Wars]

Now Picture This

Instant reply, plus play-by-play & color commenting made watching live Ultimate games very professional. Wearing suits doesn't hurt either.

Commentators at USA Ultimate's 2011 Championships [NexGen Live Stream]

(from left to right) Mario O’Brien, Lou Burruss, Kyle Weisbrod

Quick Fling

Be Careful, Nina... I've known guys like him, and all they ever want is a quick fling...

Pool Play

When: Saturday, November 5th @ Montgomery Hills

FOUR games at: 10am (field #2); 11:30am (field #1); BYE @ 1:00pm; 2:30pm (field #1); 4:00pm (field #2). Games to 15 if possible 13.

Playoff Date (in case of advancement): Saturday, November 19th
--------------------------------------------
10 am - Montgomery Hills #2 - Sludge vs. SAIS Matters
11:30 am - Montgomery Hills #1 - Disc Toast vs. Sludge
1 pm - BYE
2:30 pm - Montgomery Hills #1 - Dance Cafe vs. Sludge
4 pm - Montgomery Hills #2 - Sludge vs. This is Why I'm Hot

California Leaning

USA Ultimate's 2011 Club Championships are over! Congratulations to the winners:
Masters: Surly (Minneapolis, MN)
Mixed [Co-Ed]: Blackbird (San Francisco, CA)
Open [Men]: Revolver (San Francisco, CA)
Women: Fury (San Francisco, CA)

Of note:

• Three (3) #1 seeds won their division - Women, Open, Masters 
• Of all qualifying teams, nine (9) teams were from California (15%); Massachusetts (5, 8.33%); Pennsylvania (4, 6.67%) - see map above
• Three (3) teams from the Northwest Region won their division - Women, Open, Mixed; Masters champion was from Minnesota (Central) 
•  Three (3) teams from California won their division - Women, Open, Mixed 
• Three (3) teams from the San Fran area won their division - Women, Open, Mixed

Do Over: October 2011

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

Value? the Frisbe [Disc]

OCCUPY Ultimate Frisbee

CHART: Who are the 99% of Frisbee (R)

aUdLTIMATE - professional Ultimate league in 2012!