Big Ultimate on Campus

Strength, like the line between 2 cones, is a relative term that is not truly defined. One's frisbee may be another's collegiate Ultimate frisbee.  

Colleges with Strength in Ultimate Frisbee [insidecollege.com]
Sure, at most colleges you'll see kids tossing a Frisbee in the quad. But at these schools, the athletes take Frisbee to an "ultimate" level.

In total, 67 schools in 25 US states. Top states with Ultimate "strength" at their college: California (8), Georgia (7), Florida & Ohio (6 each). NOTE: Gray states on map = 0.

O'Captain Sludgeman

Sludge's name has been exploited used in cards and comic books. Brian unearthed the Sludgeman character & pondered: New mascot? Or Charlie's (principled) alter ego?

O'Captain Sludgeman stands aside Hordak

Ore Captain Sludgeman was last seen in He-Man's "Search for the Past" episode (from season two). In that episode this creature was a Mud Monster, but now was being used as one of Hordak's captains in She-Ra's "Day Of The Flowers" episode.

Watch Sludgeman in "Day Of The Flowers" [HULU]

In-Decision: Spring 2012

CH announced:
I just submitted the official web-click for Sludge to join the WAFC 2012 spring league for yet another season...Pay $25.

Your registration will not be considered complete until you have filled out this form and completed the payment.
Start Date: Saturday, March 17th
Games: 8-9 regular season games + the tournament
Game Dates: Saturdays
Game Locations: DC-metro area, mostly at Anacostia, Montgomery County, MD, & Fairfax, VA.

Ultimate's Oregon Trail

As we wait until 'The Invisible String' to make an appearance, here's another historical frisbee documentary - this one on how NJ-based Ultimate spread to the west.

Expected in spring 2012, a documentary 'Birth of West Coast Ultimate' tracing the birth and early years of Ultimate...
...Seeds planted in 1975... Buds sprouted in 1976... Full bloom in 1977...

AUDL Game Seating

A few more weeks until the opening pull of the American Ultimate Disc League! The AUDL field will be as wide as a football field at 53 1/3 yards with an 80 yard field + 20 yard endzones.

AUDL field example

Following football seating advice, the best place to sit is at least 15 rows up from field level within 10 yards of the middle of the field [40 yard line for AUDL field]. These between-the-30-yard-lines seats will give the ticket buyer both a feeling of intimacy & perspective. You will be nearer to the action if you are closer to field-level, but your view may be obscured by crowds along the sidelines. You may also have a difficult time seeing the spacing between offensive and defensive players, the formations and seeing the play develop. Being a little higher up gives the viewer a better angle to watch the play unfold.

--> Buy AUDL tickets. ($5 - $12)

EPIC Ultimate Frisbee RAP

Before Ultimate one-liners, there was this music video of solid verbals with a rap backdrop.

... You don't know what ultimate is...
120 yards.
Call your own foul!
... Frisbee in my hand...
175 gram...

Ultimate Kit and Caboodle

Since their store still doesn't offer discs, buying this kit may be the only way to buy a USA Ultimate frisbee.

College Team Development Kit [USA Ultimate]

Info: Designed to help you get a new college team started, or support an existing team at the college level. The kit includes:

• 8 cones
• 10 DISCRAFT discs
• 2 USA Ultimate pocket-sized rule books
• Full-color posters
• Skills & Drills manual
• Instructional manual  
• DVDs: 101 Instructional, Ultimate Fitness, 2004-05 College Championships

Price: $55-75

Ultimate promotional poster

In the Flow Zone

You want flow on the Ultimate field? Get your individual fill of flow. 

Scientists zap brains to see if it will help trigger 'flow' [WP . 2.13.12]

I am in... in pursuit of an elusive mental state known as "flow" - that feeling of effortless concentration that characterizes outstanding performance in all kinds of skills.

Flow has been maddeningly difficult to pin down, let alone harness, but a wealth of new technologies could soon allow us all to conjure up this state. The plan is to provide a shortcut to virtuosity, slashing the amount of time it takes to master a new skill.

That will be welcome news to anyone embarking on the tortuous road to expertise. ...it normally takes 10,000 hours of practice to become expert in any discipline. Over that time, your brain knits together a wealth of new circuits that eventually allow you to execute the skill automatically, without consciously considering each action.

Flow typically accompanies these actions. It involves a Zenlike feeling of intense concentration, with time seeming to stop as you focus completely on the activity in hand. The experience crops up repeatedly when experts describe what it feels like to be at the top of their game, and with years of practice it becomes second nature to enter that state.

In one groundbreaking study, he interviewed a few hundred talented people, including athletes, artists, chess players, rock climbers and surgeons, enabling him to pin down four key features that characterize flow.

Non-fat Non-wedding News

Sans a formal Press Release, Patti does a self check-in.

All is good for me. I'm keeping busy with work and trying not to get fat.
And... 
I actually got engaged to Chris a few weeks ago. My deal was that we don't set a wedding date. Baby steps.

Mazel Tov!

Master Frisbees 1975, 1976

Master Frisbee used at first Intercollegiate Ultimate Frisbee Championships (April, 1975 - Yale)

A championship Master Frisbee G Series for National Ultimate Frisbee Championships (April, 1976 - played at U. Mass., Amherst College, & Hampshire College)

PRESidENT

 

[SOURCE: boncha dot discs]

COrNEr

[SOURCE: Ultimate Lifestyle]

Comparison: Club Division Map - 2012 vs. 1990

USA Ultimate announced updates to the Club Division, starting with the 2012 season, addressing the regular season format, rankings & bid allocations. Below is a comparison of the revamped layout of the regions.

Eight North American regions [2012]:
• Great Lakes
• Mid-Atlantic
• North Central
• Northeast
• Northwest
• South Central
• Southeast
• Southwest
*NOTE: The last regional map had 6 regions (Central, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, Northwest, South, Southwest)

[UPA Newsletter / Dec 1990]

Five geographic regions within the US [1990]:
• Central
• Mid-Atlantic
• Northeast
• South
• Western

Brown Fat & Happy

Being (brown) "fat" can be environmentally conscious /or/  metabolically warming.

Brown Fat, Triggered by Cold or Exercise, May Yield a Key to Weight Control [NYT - 1.25.12]

It is brown fat, actually brown in color, and its great appeal is that it burns calories like a furnace. A new study finds that one form of it, which is turned on when people get cold, sucks fat out of the rest of the body to fuel itself. Another new study finds that a second form of brown fat can be created from ordinary white fat by exercise.

Of course, researchers say, they are not blind to the implications of their work. If they could turn on brown fat in people without putting them in cold rooms or making them exercise night and day, they might have a terrific weight loss treatment. And companies are getting to work.

Brown fat helps to maintain body temperature by burning up chemical energy to create heat. It's found in small mammals like rodents throughout their lives. Human infants have it when they're born, but we lose brown fat as we age. By adulthood, researchers thought, our brown fat was essentially nonexistent. However, it's been difficult to actually measure brown fat.

Brown fat, Dr. Carpentier and Jan Nedergaard, wrote in an accompanying editorial, “is on fire.” ...

HOLY SCH*&!

The Holy School of TriniT recently announced the appointment of Sir Charles to be its principal effective July 1, 2012.

Fr. Mark adds:

Charlie has been a fixture at HT for more than 30 years. In addition to serving as a teacher all those years, Charlie was the Upper Skool Coordinator for several years, and he has served as Assistant Principal.

He is highly respected and well-loved, and he knows the skool and its culture. He has demonstrated his understanding of & commitment to the mission of the parish. Given Charlie's long service in both teaching and administrative capacities..., we can expect a smooth transition.

Ultimate Love

USSA: Forehand vs. Backhand

Another Ultimate Science project studies whether "Force flick" is on target.

Throwing Techniques for Ultimate Frisbee [The Sport Journal / United States Sports Academy]


Abstract: The goal of this study was to determine if certain throwing techniques for the sport of Ultimate Frisbee were advantageous relative to other techniques. The defense can attempt to force a thrower to utilize a specific throw; knowing the advantages of different throws can influence a defender’s decision to force the thrower to use a certain throw.

Motion capture was used to monitor the flight of a disc (Discraft Ultrastar 175g) for 3 throwing techniques. The two main groups of throws were backhand (BH) and forehand (FH) throws, with the forehand throws divided into a closed forehand grip (CF) and a split forehand grip (SF). Sixteen participants were recruited with experience ranging from 3 years to 8 years based on survey. Throws were analyzed with regards to linear velocity, angular velocity, precession, and accuracy. Players threw a total of 45 throws: five throws for all combinations of the three throwing techniques combined with three objectives: accuracy, maximum spin, and maximum velocity.

There was a very strong linear correlation between linear velocity and angular velocity. There was no difference in linear velocity between backhand and forehand throws, although the closed grip forehand had a higher linear velocity than the split grip forehand. Backhand throws had higher angular velocities than forehand throws for a given speed; there was no difference in angular velocity between closed grip and split grip forehand throws. Backhand throws had less precession than forehand throws, and there was no difference in precession between closed grip and split grip forehand throws. There were no statistically significant differences in accuracy between any of the throws.

These results show that backhand throws tend to have more spin and wobble less making the backhand a superior throw. Throws with less spin have greater instability; as a defender, forcing the thrower to utilize a forehand throw would result in a throw with less stability than a backhand throw. Forehand throws did not perform better than backhand throws for any category tested. Additionally, new players are often taught that the split-grip forehand is a bad throw, and that the closed-grip forehand should be used instead. The results show that the split-grip forehand performs on par with the closed-grip forehand with the exception of maximum velocity. New players should not be discouraged from using a split-grip forehand while learning the mechanics of the forehand, as the only disadvantage is a slight decrease in maximum velocity.

VOA: Sport of ultimate Frisbee

Players from DCPickup, and Dan "The Stork" Roddick are interviewed in this radio piece.

Why the Stork and His Friends Play Ultimate [VOA - 1.31.12]

Today, we talk about a game that many people love, but few have heard of. It is the sport of ultimate Frisbee...
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Ultimate players run several kilometers in a single game. And they can play three games back to back in a competition. That easily adds up to twenty or twenty-five kilometers. But Shana, at least, thinks running to catch a disc almost does not seem like exercise at all.

SHANA WALLACE: “I used to run miles and miles a day, and I didn’t look forward to it. And this I look forward to every day, and it’s, it’s great.”

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: The game of ultimate may not be as popular as American football. But “The Stork” says ultimate teams can now be found in many high schools and almost all colleges in the United States. And the game is played around the world.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Ultimate is also an event at the twenty thirteen World Games in Cali, Colombia. But as the sport becomes more competitive, it can be harder for people to remember the Spirit of the Game.

THE STORK: “There have been people who’ve played and have been jerks. And it’s required observers to come in and essentially take over the game and that’s a disappointment to everybody.”

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: But bringing in observers is the exception. Most players seem to trust each other. And players say that trust, and the culture that it creates, turns ultimate into more than just a sport.

THE STORK: “Someone said that ultimate doesn’t build character, it reveals it.”

SHANA WALLACE: “It’s just a lot of fun, it’s really good exercise, and the Spirit of the Game aspect of it teaches good character traits at the same time, and so it’s just a win-win.”

[via Brian]

LA Beaches & Frisbees

LA County's beach regs incorrectly think a frisbee is a ball. Or is it?

Frisbee throwing on the beach seems to be targeted under the recently amended Los Angeles (California) County Code beach operations.

SECTION 49. Section 17.12.430 Ball-playing restrictions (pg 28)

A. General Prohibition. It is unlawful to cast, toss, throw, kick or roll any ball, tube, or any light object other than beach ball or beach volleyball upon or over any beach, except any of the following:
...

4. When using any other object over or in the Pacific Ocean opposite such beach, the person first obtains previous authorization from the Fire Chief or ocean lifeguard to conduct such activity.

B. Exception for off-season. The ball-playing restrictions set forth in subsection A shall not be applicable during the period between Labor Day and Memorial Day, provided the involved ball-playing activity is carried out in such a manner so as not to endanger any person or property on or near the beach. In no event shall any structure or improvement used for ball-playing purposes be placed on the beach without the previous authorization of the Director.

Per Frisbees Are OK on LA Beaches:

As it turns out, Frisbees and footballs already were outlawed “to prohibit some knucklehead from acting like an idiot on the beach," explains the county beach chief. The new rules actually spelled out that Frisbees and footballs would be allowed under certain situations, "basically, in the off-season, or with a permit or permission from the lifeguard," writes Yaroslavsky. But it boils down to this: Nobody's going to get a fine for tossing a Frisbee or a ball among friends, at any time. People who repeatedly chuck them into summer crowds or disobey a lifeguard's direct orders to stop might get fined—but it would be $100, not $1,000.

Sh*t Ultimate Players Say

Definitely said/heard many of these sayings by Ultimate (frisbee/disc) players. The next edition of this commercial video should consider adding "Check feet!".
[via SKYD]

This is the Ultimate Game

A young Jared Kass

As an an Amherst College student in the late 60's, Jared Kass would frequently play a team game with a Frisbee on campus. Kass was also a camp counselor at Mount Hermon Summer School (MHSS) in 1968 where they offered "Recreational Activities". Included were touch frisbee, tackle frisbee, water frisbee, one-handed frisbee, one-legged frisbee, three-legged frisbee, frisbee basketball, frisbee roulette, and strip frisbee - obviously many experimental games with the Frisbee. One notable MHSS camper was a Columbia (NJ) High School student -- Joel Silver.

Per Kass "I remember one time running for a pass and leaping up in the air and feeling the Frisbee making it into my hand and feeling the perfect synchrony and the joy of the moment, and as I landed I uttered to myself, 'This is the ultimate game. This is the ultimate game.'"

SOURCE: "Ultimate: The First Four Decades"

Updated Photo via UPA Newsletter, winter 2003:

Ultimate Participation

Source: ALUPA Creative for Lawrence (Kansas) Ultimate Summer League.

Stay Classy, Ultimate

PE Class Ultimate Frisbee

Super Odds

Final results of your bold Super Bowl predictions are in:

Predicted Winning Team --- Qty

Giants --- 7
Patriots -- 4

New York won 21-17 over New England. Ammon, Anna, Daniel, Gayle, Michael, Rachel & Steve (7 out of 11 predictors) chose correctly by selecting the underdog. Anna (21-19) was most on-point with the actual score, as was Steve (24-17); while Ammon (27-24) and Rachel (27-21) were closest to the +4 point margin of victory.

Congratulations! Thanks for playing.

Super Plate

Speaking of a Super Bowl, a Frisbee makes a super plate.

Flow Demo

Albeit in a different sport than Ultimate; the execution of flow remains the same -- Controlled Excitement plus balancing Challenge & Skill. 

Watch Shaun White's perfect 100 run in SuperPipe at Winter X Games 2012:

Brown It

Brownwashing: Why Green Consumers Buy Brown Things [good 1.28.12]

Manufacturers have found a new way to appeal to eco-friendly consumers: Brown it. The Wall Street Journal lays out the trend: Dunkin' Donuts, Cinnabon, and Target are swapping their white napkins for brown ones. Seventh Generation dyes its translucent diapers brown. Cascade has introduced a new, fiber-heavy beige toilet paper it's dubbed "Moka."

When asked why they went brown, companies are transparent: The color "symbolizes" eco-friendliness. Brown paper products have been shown to make people "feel like they were doing something good for the environment." Consumers need "visual differentiation" to know which products are environmentally sound. It's not even so important that a product be brown, just "that it's not white."

 The Journal points out the obvious: Brown doesn't necessarily mean green. Today, "white paper can be made from 100% recycled fibers and whitened without chemical chlorine, traditionally the primary complaint against it." Seventh Generation actually adds a step to the production process—brown pigmentation—to make its diapers appear eco.

It's not clear whether Target, Dunkin', and Cinnabon's new napkins are any better for the environment than the old ones were, they're just browner. And at this point, it doesn't really matter: Brown is firmly linked to green in the consumer's mind. Eco-minded consumers now reach for brown, flecked products because they assume less environmentally conscious paper companies would take pains to dye them white. In fact, they may be rushing to tint everything beige.
##

PrediXLVI

The matchup of NFL's Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday, February 5th, 2012 in Indianapolis, IN is a rematch of SB42 featuring: New England Patriots vs New York Giants.

Let the PREDICTIONS begin...(Enter your picks in Comments)
1. Who wins the game - Patriots /or/ Giants?
2. What's the final score??
+ NOTE: Include some sort of ID in your prediction /or/ comment +


History of Predictions: 2007 . 2008 . 2009 . 2010 . 2011

Do Over: January 2012

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

Word with Friends

Board Game: Ultimate

Climate change? No, constant "Frisbee weather"

Inve$ting in UltimaTV