Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Comparison: Beach vs Land Ultimate Fields

Beach vs Land Ultimate
Beyond the surface, the most striking difference between "Land" Ultimate & Beach Ultimate is the field size.

Beach dimensions are 27W x 81L (16 + 49 + 16). Land dimensions are 40W x 120L (25 + 70 + 25). Overall, the Beach field is 50+% smaller & its width (27 yards) is similar to the depth of a Land's end zone (25 yards).

How a Beach field compares to a regular Ultimate field (yards):

Total Length: 81 vs 120 [-33%]
Width: 27 vs 40 [-33%]
End Zones: 16 vs 25 [-36%]
Total Area: 2187 vs 4800 [-54%]

**UPDATED here.**

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Clubbing

Club UltimateClub Ultimate! NOT Seals.
[Inspired by a bumper sticker]

Monday, August 29, 2011

Beach Week

wcbu11The United States medaled in 6 BEACH Ultimate categories; 5 gold, 1 silver. Nice days at the beach for the U.S.!

The World Championship of Beach Ultimate took place last week on Italy beaches (:ignano Sabbiadoro) & featured 73 teams (1,100+ athletes) from 30 countries & 5 continents.

WCBU2011 Results:
Open Finals: United States over Philippines (13 - 9)
Women Finals: United States over Canada (11 - 10)
Mixed Finals: United States over Germany (9 - 8)
Masters Finals: United States over Austria (12 - 5)
Mixed Masters Finals: Great Britain over United States (7 - 11)
Grand Masters Final: United States over Austria (13 - 7)

Friday, August 26, 2011

optiMISTtic

A portion of a whirling hurricane reminds me a spinning frisbee.
Blue = Hurricane; Green = Flying Disc.

hurricane frisbee

hurIRicaENE

Heatdome, DONE; Earthquake, DONE; Next up: Hurricane Irene.

irene frisbee

Via Natl Weather Svc:
.SATURDAY...TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS POSSIBLE. CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. SHOWERS LIKELY...MAINLY IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 80S. NORTHEAST WINDS 20 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 30 MPH...INCREASING TO 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH IN THEAFTERNOON. CHANCE OF RAIN 60 PERCENT.
.SATURDAY NIGHT...TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS EXPECTED. A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS IN THE EVENING. SHOWERS. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALLPOSSIBLE. LOWS AROUND 70. NORTH WINDS 30 TO 40 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO45 MPH. CHANCE OF RAIN 90 PERCENT.
.SUNDAY...SHOWERS...MAINLY IN THE MORNING. WINDY WITH HIGHS IN THELOWER 80S. NORTHWEST WINDS 25 TO 30 MPH...DIMINISHING TO 15 TO 25 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON. GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH...DECREASING TO 35 MPHIN THE AFTERNOON. CHANCE OF RAIN 90 PERCENT.
.SUNDAY NIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS IN THE LOWER 60S
##

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Time for Ultimate


A typical league game never seems to start on schedule, yet players inevitably seek more time to play Ultimate.

FRemInderSBEE

WAFC
The Fall Season isn't quite here, yet the Fall Ultimate Registration is.

Congrats to RacHel & CHris for showing eagerness to play WAFC's 2011 fall clique [B] league! CHarlie didn't want to have to go there (since he personally doesn't care for the term), but he sent out a nagging "friendly reminder".
DEADLINE: Friday, August 26.

Online League Registration.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

All Shook Up

DC earthquake The Earth moved longer than a stall count (10 secs), but shorter than a team time-out (70 secs).

The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 5.9 magnitude earthquake was half a mile (800 meters) deep and centered about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northwest of Richmond and rattled the DC Metro area today before 2pm EDT.

noTs

Monday, August 22, 2011

Memories of Building the MLK Jr. Memorial

Today was the first day visitors could tour the memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr in Washington, DC. The new Martin Luther King Jr Memorial will officially be dedicated on August 28, the 48th anniversary of King Jr's "I have a dream" speech on the Washington Mall.

The memorial to the American civil rights leader is near West Potomac Park ("Polo Fields") & construction has taken a few years which has taken away field space from pickup games of Ultimate Frisbee.

Back in January 2008, there was an original showed area of the MLK memorial that would be along the Tidal Basin side only.

mlkapAn Auxiliary Building, sited on the west side of West Basin Drive, was later added...
Yet, construction encroached heavily* on the west side of West Basin Drive (not depicted in the original schemas).
* = size of an Ultimate field.


Aerial view of the Polo Fields (2013)

Bad News: More tourist foot traffic to possibly disrupt Ultimate pickup game(s).
More competition for parking in West Potomac Park.

Good News: If "Auxiliary Building" = restrooms & water, then these amenities would be closer to remaining field space.
West Basin Drive SW will be re-opened.
Less fencing where frisbees could be flung over & be lost to.
A memorial to an incredibly influential figure is accomplished.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Thursday, August 18, 2011

So You Think You Can Count

stall 10
Practice your stall count. How close to 10 actual seconds did you get?


Per USAU's 11th Edition, under XIV. Marker:
The stall count in Ultimate begins with the announcement "stalling" and counting from one to ten...
If the thrower has not released the disc at the first utterance of the word "ten", it is a turnover.


Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Comparison of Frisbee Designs

Master G frisbeeOriginal Master (left) vs Master “G" (right).
A side-by-side comparison shows the Master G resembles the flying disc used in current Ultimate games. The Master G offered an updated design with a sturdier (less 'ring-y') rim and a much flatter (less feature-y) top.

Monday, August 15, 2011

FA11

brown leafRemember when Sludge won a spring post-season game? So last season!

A new season (fall) starts soon...

Details:

  • Registration closes Friday, August 26th


  • Games start Saturday, September 10th


  • Cost = $25 per player

  • Friday, August 12, 2011

    Milestone: 1500

    1500
    “Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted.”
    -- Albert Einstein

    The SLOG countinues...the 1500th post!

    Thursday, August 11, 2011

    Frisbyterians Unite

    Frisbyterian
    "We used to say that Frisbee is a religion - Frisbyterians we'd call ourselves"
    -- Ed Headrick

    The Frisbyterian [Frisbeeterians] 10 Commandments

    1. Thou shalt love thy Play more than thy disc.

    2. Thou shalt Play with even-mindedness; a balanced spin reaches a target.

    3. Thou shalt love thy frisby Play with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. And above and beyond all, love thy frisby-Playing-neighbor/opponent as thy self.

    4. Thou shalt make thy self, the Play, the disc, the trajectory, and the catch as one--you ARE your Play.

    5. Thou shalt remain open: when a Frisbyterian ready, a disc will appear.

    6. Thou shalt have no other objects before discs (i.e. balls, bricks, bats and boomerangs BE-long away from Playing Frisbyterians).

    7. Thou shalt love, not kill, with a frisby disc.

    8. Thou shalt sacrifice for frisby passover: when a disc spins overhead, offer fresh fruits/juice--never blood-leavened sacrifice.

    9. Thou shalt surrender Frisby desires--cease sorrow about Frisby Play (“I’m sorry”; letting go of attachment about play means letting go of feeling “sorry about that throw/catch.”)

    10. Thou shalt Play for nothing; in playing for nothing a Frisbyterian plays for everything.

    Wednesday, August 10, 2011

    Ulti How-To

    Ultimate techniquesBefore there was "Bro-Tips", books were published on the topic of Ultimate.


    Ultimate Techniques & Tactics (2004)
    A complete guide to playing the coolest game.

    Authors: James Parinella; Eric Zaslow

    Description: Improve your poaches, hone your hucks, and sharpen your cuts. With Ultimate Techniques & Tactics as your guide, you will master all of the offensive and defensive skills and principles critical to excelling in the sport.

    This essential handbook contains more than the mechanics of the game; it presents in-depth instruction on using key skills such as throwing, cutting, and catching in game situations.

    Ultimate Techniques & Tactics is the first and best guide to the sport of Ultimate. Use it to become an Ultimate champion!

    Price: $11.97

    More Ultimate books: TGSEIBM . First 4 Decades.

    Tuesday, August 09, 2011

    Digital Readout

    This graph depicts how much each finger enjoyed the handblock*

    *NOTE: Disc hit squarely on the index finger. Ouch!

    Monday, August 08, 2011

    Made to Play in Madison

    UW ultimate
    Wisconsin Ultimate is all about the Hodags, but Madison has crossover players on the summer scene.

    A surprising secret to Wisconsin’s success: Ultimate Frisbee [Y!sports . 7.20.11]

    The first time Brian Butch heard about Wisconsin's unusual approach to offseason conditioning, the former Badgers big man admits he was baffled.

    "I was happy we didn't have to run sprints, but I remember thinking, 'We must be the only basketball team in the country that plays Ultimate Frisbee," Butch recalled. "I thought everybody was nuts."

    A month-long intrasquad ultimate Frisbee competition may seem like a silly summer ritual to the average wide-eyed freshman, but Wisconsin players who have participated in the July tradition often cite it as a key to their trademark team chemistry.

    Newcomers build instant camaraderie with teammates through the friendly trash talk and banter that has become a staple of the competition. A new set of team leaders naturally emerges based on which players take charge of their respective squads. And every player endures a fun yet surprisingly intense workout sprinting up and down a campus soccer field during the fiercely contested games....

    The annual ultimate Frisbee competition began 16 years ago when Hettenbach concocted it as a way to break up the monotony of the basketball team's daily summer weightlifting and conditioning sessions. Hettenbach chose ultimate Frisbee because he enjoyed the game and he believed it could improve players' hand-eye coordination and test their ability to fight through fatigue....

    What amazes Hettenbach about the competition each year is the correlation he typically sees between ultimate Frisbee and basketball. Hettenbach says he spotted Taylor's natural leadership skills, Gasser's ability to thread passes into tight spaces or Mike Bruesewitz's willingness to sacrifice his body long before any of them displayed those traits on the basketball floor.

    Much like most newcomers to Wisconsin basketball, it took Butch just one summer to appreciate the change of pace Wisconsin's annual ultimate Frisbee competition provides. Butch still recalls the pride and excitement he felt in July 2003 after his teammates mobbed him for making a game-winning diving catch in the end zone as time expired.

    "That was one of the better times my freshman year," Butch recalled. "To have the whole team jump on you like you'd hit a game-winning shot, it was a pretty cool thing for me as a freshman. Every year after that, I always looked at ultimate Frisbee a little differently.

    "Our team chemistry is the reason we've won all these years, and that starts in the summer time. It starts by hanging out and it starts by doing the goofy ultimate Frisbee."
    ##

    Friday, August 05, 2011

    Strong Week

    Unless you work for GOOGLE, the workweek can be a real monster. Thank you, Weekend Ultimate!


    ultimate weekend[click to enlarge]

    Thursday, August 04, 2011

    Getting Ahead

    play ultimate
    What goes on in your head while playing Ultimate is likely to be far more important than anything you can accomplish with sheer muscle.

    Wednesday, August 03, 2011

    Flat Beer Cup

    STBCdiscYou can hide your beer in it!

    Southern Tier Brewing Co. Flying Disc

    Info: STBC from Lakewood, NY, offers a 175-gram Discraft. White with bright orange Southern Tier Brewing Company logo. (Similar to MAGICHAT & BAND of HORSES.)

    Price: $15.00

    Tuesday, August 02, 2011

    International Frisbee Hall of Fame

    IFHOFThere's all sorts of Hall of Fames. (Finally?) There's one for frisbees.

    Sport of Frisbee recognized with new 'Hall of Fame' [UpMichSource . 8.1.11]

    CALUMET, MICHIGAN -- At the Calumet Colosseum, the township supervisor has agreed to house the International Frisbee Hall of Fame.

    The Hall of Fame itself started in 1978 with its first induction only four years later. Now with 34 people inducted, two of them this year from downstate, they're glad to finally have a permanent home for the hall.

    "We've been looking for a home for the Hall of Fame for many years," says curator Dennis Walikainen. "There's just a whole group of people that really worked hard together to bring this to Calumet and have a home forever."

    Also recognized in the Hall of Fame is the sport of Guts Frisbee where teams throw flying discs at members of the opposing team.

    Guts Frisbee was invented by the Healy family and started in Eagle Harbor. They hope that the Hall of Fame will remind people of the sport of Guts Frisbee and its connection to the area.
    ##