Tuesday, May 31, 2016

D-I College Ultimate Champions - 2016 results

The finals of the 2016 Division I College Ultimate Championships were completed in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Monday May 30. The teams that won a national title:

Women: Stanford Superfly

Stanford Superfly (3) over Whitman Sweets (5) by the score of 12-10 [8-6 half].

Men: Minnesota Grey Duck


Minnesota Grey Duck (4) over Harvard Red Line (10) by the score of 15-12 [8-7 half]. Grey Duck are QUACKions, if you will.

RELATED: Results from 2015

Monday, May 30, 2016

Rebroadcast of 2016 USA Ultimate College Nationals by ESPN

A condensed replay of the 2016 college ultimate championship "GAMES" will be rebroadcast on ESPNU with Evan Lepler and Ian Toner on the mic.
Watch ESPN's category for ultimate continues to be "GAMES
Here's the schedule on ESPN's college sports channel for Wednesday, June 1:
2016 USA Ultimate College Championships Semifinals Highlights Show @ 8pm ET
USAU Women's Championship Show @ 9pm ET
USAU Men's Championship Show @ 10pm ET


Neither the live streams on WatchESPN nor the TV listing include the teams playing. And, once again, the icon used in the show listing is a shirtless guy on the beach tossing a green Frisbee; N O T the sport of ultimate! Especially NOT the sport of championship college ultimate.


Saturday, May 28, 2016

U.S.A. Ultimate National Teams Scrimmage on May 30

Watch and support USA's finest ultimate players as they prepare locally in the DC-area for 2016's World Ultimate (& Guts) Championships.
INFO: On Memorial Day (Monday), the men's, women's, and mixed US National Teams are scheduled to participate in intra-team scrimmages. Support your national teams and watch some of the best players in the world!

WARNING: Road closures are possible due to Rolling Thunder Memorial Day Parade. Metro running on Sunday schedule today.

WHEN: Monday, May 30
Men's Scrimmage @ 10:45am - 11:30am
Women's Scrimmage @ 11:30am - 12:15pm
Mixed Scrimmage @ 12:15pm - 1pm

WHERE: Long Bridge Park (475 Long Bridge Dr, Arlington, Virginia 22202)

TIX: 1 for $3; 2 for $5; 5 for $10


Friday, May 27, 2016

College Ultimate Teams with Anti-HB2 Displays at Nationals

In addition to USA Ultimate's voicing anti-HB2 sentiments, college ultimate teams that have traveled to North Carolina to play in USA Ultimate's College Championships are supporting the fight against HB2 (or pro-LGTBQIA+) in North Carolina in colorful ways.

A few college ultimate teams updated their twitter avatar:

Carleton College CUT

Case Western Reserve University Fighting Gobies

UC Berkeley Pie Queens
Whitman Sweets

Uniforms:




Other ways:

Rainbow hair style by Oregon Fugue

Pie Queens' spirit flag


Pitt Danger's flag, headbands & bracelets

Oregon Ego's stance is simple yet blunt.

Ottawa University's rainbow flag.

Michigan Flywheel coach with rainbow mohawk

A USAU observer sporting a rainbow wristband


 RELATED: Rainbowfied ultimate team logos . Austin Sol's rainbow effect.

NOTE: This is an non-comprehensive list. Happy to update as appropriate.


Game Reporting of Oregon Ego versus Case Western Reserve Fighting

In today's first round of USA Ultimate's College Championship, Oregon Ego played Case Western Reserve Fighting Gobies (18) in Pool B of the Men's Division.

Here's how it started:

The Fighting Gobies played well with a 3-point lead into half (8-5), and continued to lead 12-10 at the soft cap. And, then Oregon Ego took over and scored the next and final 4 points to win the game.

The final was that the favored team won by 2 goals. The game could, rightfully yet simply, be reported as Oregon won 14-12 over Case Western Reserve. But excluding the halftime score - or even the score at the soft cap - would miss out on what was an exciting game that some labelled as an "upset alert."

"Oregon win over Case Western Reserve 14-12 (5-8 half)" is a much better report of the game score by providing context of how Ego overcame a halftime deficit and dominated the 2nd half  outscoring Case with 9 goals to 4 goals.

[Scores via @FightingGobies]


Map Chart: Top D-I College Ultimate Teams (2016)

USA Ultimate's Division-I College Championships start today in Raleigh, North Carolina. College ultimate teams from 19 different states and 2 Canadian province will be represented at USAU 2016 College Nationals. The state of California leads with representation of 5 college ultimate teams - Cal, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, USC, Stanford and UCLA - playing at this year's Nationals, followed by Washington state (4 teams) and Colorado (3 teams). Ten states have representation of 2 college ultimate teams.

There are six (6) D1 schools represented by both the men's and women's ultimate teams.

A map of state/provincial locations for the 40 college ultimate teams competing at 2016 College Nationals:



RELATED: 2015 chart map


Thursday, May 26, 2016

College Ultimate Team Logo Alphabet Quiz (2016)

Can you guess the D1 college ultimate teams from their alphabet logo letter?


HINT: Logos are from one of the 40 teams competing at USA Ultimate Division-I 2016 College Championships.

Yes, some creative liberty was used to complete the alphabet.


Infographic: WFDF Game Advisors

The World Flying Disc Federation published a fact sheet on Game Advisors.
WFDF Game Advisors [via
Game Advisors have whistles whose purpose is to support ultimate players self-officiate as effectively and efficiently as possible. GA can help clarify rules if asked and will mirror calls made by players with visual hand signals to help other players as well as spectators.

The white font on bright green is a poor choice for readability. I updated the coloring to (hopefully) help with legibility.



Anniversary of Frisbee Trademark (1959)

On this day in 1959, Wham-O Manufacturing Company's request to trademark "Frisbee" was officially registered by U.S. Patent Office. Frisbee (trademark #679186) was described as "toy flying saucers for toss games". The plastic flying saucer toy was originally sold to Wham-O in January 1957.


By trademarking the name Frisbee, it can be used only for the flying discs made by Wham-O.


[reposted from original post]


Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Delrico Johnson of D.C. Current Tips Well

Brushing the disc, or "tipping" (as MLU refers to it), is allowed in Major League Ultimate gameplay.

MLU 2016 rules
At the end of the 3rd quarter of DC Current's game versus New York Rumble, Delrico Johnson (#4) smartly tips the spinning disc for a 25-yard interception.



WATCH & listen to the full play. Commentator Glenn Poole referred to the play as "The most exciting defenses in some time." Broadcaster Laura Perkins adds: "Wow! If you didn't see that, you are going to want to see that again."

The D.C. Current won Saturday's game 17-16 (11 -7 half) against New York.

[h/t FTW!]


Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Chart: DC Current in the 4th Quarter

After a 4-game losing streak, the D.C. Current are now (2-4) on the 2016 MLU season. In 6 games, the Current's offense averages 3.5 goals yet gets broken at a rate of 3.2 goals, while DC's defense allows 5.8 goals but only generates <1 (0.7) break goal  per game in the 4th quarter.

DC Current 2016 Offense (6 games) in Q4

DC Current 2016 Defense (6 games) in Q4


[Scores via MLU]

Chart: Division-I Championship College Ultimate Teams

A total of 40 D-I college ultimate teams qualified for USA Ultimate's 2016 College Championships. Of the 20 qualifying men's college teams and 20 qualifying women's college ultimate teams, there are 6 schools that are sending BOTH their men's & women's college ultimate teams.


They are: Colorado, Michigan, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Washington and Wisconsin. The D-III event is scheduled for May 27-30 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

* = Carleton College's DI women's team (Syzygy) did not qualify, but their DIII women's team qualified for (& won) the D-III championship.
^ = Colorado College's men's ultimate team played in the D-III championship.

[updated 10:40am]


Monday, May 23, 2016

D-III College Ultimate Champions - 2016 results

The finals of the 2016 D-III College Ultimate Championships were completed in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on Sunday May 22. The results:

Women: Carleton College Eclipse
Carleton College Eclipse (8) over Rice University Torque (2) by the score of 11-10 [8-4 half].

Men: Georgia College Disconnected
Georgia College Disconnected (9) over Brandeis TRON (7) by the score of 13-11 [6-8 half].


So, two of the 3 schools whose men's AND women's teams qualified won ultimate championships. The other school - Claremont - tied for 7th in Women's & the Men's team tied for 13th.

[Scores via USAU]

RELATED: Results from 2015

Friday, May 20, 2016

Research on Health Benefits of Ultimate Frisbee

The lead story in American Council on Exercise (ACE) June 2016 magazine is: Can you get fit playing ultimate Frisbee?

The study led by Lance C. Dalleck, Ph.D. was conducted by Western State Colorado University researchers to evaluate the health benefits of ultimate.

tldr: Yes. Playing ultimate is exercise.

Study abstract: The athletic skills involved in ultimate, in addition to the endurance and throwing and catching skills, include agility, speed, coordination and rapid transitions from offense to defense and back again. It is undoubtedly a serious sport featuring impressive levels of athleticism, but does participation yield cardiovascular and metabolic responses that would meet current guidelines for improving and maintaining cardiorespiratory fitness? ACE enlisted the help of Lance Dalleck, Ph.D., and his team of researchers in the Recreation, Exercise, and Sport Science Department at Western State Colorado University to find out.

Study population: 16 healthy and physically active young adults between 18 and 25 years of age to play eight ultimate matches lasting 40 minutes each. Researchers equipped participants with a calorimetric measurement system, a heart rate monitor and a GPS unit to record distance travelled while they played. In addition, peak blood pressure was measured in all participants at the end of the match and then every 30 minutes for the 90 minutes post-exercise.

Study results: The study revealed that ultimate burns an average of 477 calories per match and elicits training benefits similar to those observed with moderate- to vigorous-intensity exercise, such as running at five miles per hour. Data showed cardiovascular benefits comparable to traditional interval workouts, as ultimate players regularly switch from full sprints on offense to jogging back to defensive positions. These findings indicate that ultimate, played three times a week, is an excellent tool in meeting the physical activity guidelines recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The published article concludes the following:
One of the most commonly overlooked elements of a fitness program that drives long-term adherence is the fun factor, and ultimate certainly provides more than its fair share of fun. As Dr. Dalleck points out, "participants don't need a high degree of skill to have fun while playing ultimate." Health and fitness professionals and their clients would benefit from the promotion of fitness through play that prevents boredom and elicits meaningful physiological responses in terms of heart rate and energy expenditure—and ultimate Frisbee hits the mark on all counts. Dr. Dalleck reports that the study participants were surprised by the fact that they burned an average of 477 calories during a 40-minute match, which is a great sign that they were enjoying themselves while working hard. And isn't that the ultimate goal?

From the press release:
"We found that playing ultimate offered an effective and natural form of interval training that improved cardiovascular health and lowered post-exercise blood pressure," says American Council on Exercise Chief Science Officer Cedric X. Bryant, Ph.D. "In addition, many participants were surprised to learn how many calories they had burned while simply playing."

Read the full published study.


RELATED: Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research (December 2015)


Thursday, May 19, 2016

HB Woodlawn Girls Varsity Ultimate Team wins Regional Crown

Congratulations to H-B Woodlawn for winning USA Ultimate's 2016 Southern High School Regional Championship in the Girls Division. The girls varsity ultimate team from the Secondary Program based in Arlington, Virginia, goes by the name of Pandamonium.

The HB-Woodlawn girls ultimate team entered the tournament in Atlanta as the 4th seed. HBW Pandas went (3-0) on the first day of the tourney including a 10-8 victory over the 2nd-seeded Carrboro (North Carolina) High School team.

In Sunday's bracket play, HBW faced off with a familiar opponent - Arlington's Yorktown/Washington-Lee YLee Coyotes, which HBW won by 10-9 (6-7 HT). HBW took down East Chapel Hill (N.C.) High School by 4 goals (10-6) in the semifinals, and then faced the #1 seeded team Paideia School from Atlanta, Georgia.

Both teams entered the finals of High School Southern Regional undefeated at (6-0). HB-Woodlawn won the championship against the defending champions by the score of 8-6. Read USA Ultimate's more detailed recap.



HB-Woodlawn Girls ultimate team is coached by Leslie "Baywatch" Keller, and is captained by
its 2 seniors on the team - Maddy Boyle and Agnes Cheng. Congratulations to all Pandamonium players: Miranda Baltaxe, Katie Franz, Nicole Getter, Kaiya Gordon, Ellie Heil, Ava Jones, Ella Juengst, Bryn Kabiri, Caroline Kassir, Kirsten Knisely, Julianne Meany, Maya Nir, Maura Shapiro, Franci Swisher-Gomez, Caroline Tornquist, and Juliana Walker.


The boy's HB-Woodlawn ultimate team were also successful with 3rd place (tie) finish at Southern Regionals.

[Scores via USAU]


Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Joel Silver Explains His Ultimate History

Joel Silver (producer of the new film The Nice Guys)is an alum of Columbia High School where the first rules of ultimate frisbee were developed.

Quotes from the Coming Soon article [5/18/2016; Silas Lesnick]:

Joel Silver on his contribution to the sport of ultimate:
"I like to say we developed it."

Joel Silver on his inspiration:
"I went one year to Mount Hermon...prep school. One summer, there were a couple guys there from Amherst and Amherst was the location of a place called [The Frisbie Pie Company]. They made these metal pie tins, which is what they first started throwing around there in Massachusetts.... There was kind of a game that they played at Amherst since the '50s that had elements of a kind of run and catch game, which I was taught there that summer. Then I brought it back to my high school."


Joel Silver on how he started ultimate at his high school:
"As a joke one day — because it was a kind of counter culture time — I had raised my hand in my student council and I say, 'I'd like to move that we have a committee to investigate the possibility of bringing frisbee into the high school curriculum.'  I mean, it was a joke. I didn't expect to have a committee to investigate playing frisbee, so we kind of started playing this game and they just had built that parking lot, which is down the street. They decided to light it at night, because they didn't want a dark, empty parking lot there. They lit it all night, so we had a place to go and we'd come at the end of our evening and we'd all collect there and play this kind of game that we started playing."

"It was popular. People would come and hang out and play this game. We'd play in the winter. It was fun and, by the end of that school year, we played the student council."

Joel Silver on writing game rules and naming the game:
To show what the committee did, I decided to put the rules on paper and so we wrote up the rules. There was a game then they used to play that Wham-O had put out called 'Guts Frisbee.' It was the dumbest games in the world. You stand there across from each other and throw the frisbee as hard as you can at the other team. It's called 'Guts Frisbee.' Dumbest game. So when my friend who wrote the rules wrote it, he called it ‘Speed Frisbee’. I said, "You can't call it 'Speed Frisbee'! That's as dumb as Guts Frisbee! Let's call it "Ultimate Frisbee." The Ultimate Frisbee, that's what well call it!" So we typed it up, put it in, submitted it, and that was the game."


RELATED: TMZ Sports asks Joel Silver about ultimate Frisbee


Wham-O Frisbees Still Approved by WFDF

Did you know...
Wham-O (the original flying disc for ultimate) is the only approved manufacturer by the World Flying Disc Federation to provide flying disc equipment for these two Frisbee events…

Guts 110-gram Wham-O Guts Frisbee #15 mold with a raised central "cupola"

DDC Wham-O Pro model Frisbee

Guts and Double Disc Court. Also, Wham-O is one of many, many, many WFDF-approved disc golf discs.


Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Chart: Division-III Championship College Ultimate Teams

A total of 32 D-III college ultimate teams qualified for USA Ultimate's 2016 College Championships. Of the 16 qualifying men's college teams and 16 qualifying women's college ultimate teams, there are 3 schools that are sending BOTH their men's & women's college ultimate teams.
They are: Carleton College (Northfield, Minnesota), Claremont (Claremont, California), and Georgia College (Milledgeville, Georgia). The D-III event is scheduled for May 21-22 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.


Monday, May 16, 2016

DC-Area Beach Ultimate Team Wins National Title

Congratulations to Opig for winning the 2016 National Beach Ultimate Championship in the Mixed Division!

Opig from Arlington, Virginia, won its pool with a perfect (4-0) record on May 14th. Opig beat Beachboat 12 - 9, Squirtle Squad 13 - 5, Big Fish 13 - 3 and finished the day with a 3-point win against comic sands in the evening's showcase game. Their success on Saturday gave them a first-round bye into Sunday's bracket play.

In the quarters on May 15th, Opig won a 1-point game versus San Francisco's Fog City. Their next game was against last year's runner-up  No Tsu Oh. Opig topped the Houston team by the score of 13-9.

Then in the USA Ultimate Beach Championship Mixed Division finals, Opig won 13-8 (7-4 HT) versus the #1-seed Los Angeles Break Point. Opig's win avenged their loss to Point Break in last year's semifinal.

Opig finished the beach ultimate tournament with a perfect (7-0) record, was the only underdog (lower seed) to win in their division's finals, and earned a championship trophy.

Opig is captained by Jenny Fey, Ashley Daly, Ryan Morgan.  Congrats to the entire Opig team: David Cranston, Katie Klein Shepley, Colleen Giglia, Nate Castine, Crystal Davis, Adam Simon, Brian Marshall, Andrea Duran, Luke Wolckenhauer, Nicky Spiva, Jeff Wodatch, Hannah Boone, and Kelly Hyland.

A total of 65 beach ultimate teams competed at this annual beach ultimate event hosted by USA Ultimate. Opig beat out 18 other teams within their division to win the Beach Mixed championship.

---------------

Another D.C.-area team also advanced to the finals in another division. Over the Hill, captained by Peter MacArthur and Eric Hartge, placed second in the Masters Mixed Division of the 2016 USA Ultimate Beach Championship.


USA Ultimate Beach Championships 2016 Results

The 2016 USA Beach Ultimate Championships concluded yesterday in Virginia Beach, VA. Of 65 teams, the 5 winning teams in each division of the 2016 event were:

Men's Division
(1) AND THE WARHAWKS over (10) MidRift, 12-9
Back-to-back championships

Grand Masters Division
(2) No Country over (6) Scrapple, 13-6

Mixed Division
(3) Opig over (1) Pointbreak, 13-8

Mixed Masters Division
(1) Swamp Rats over (2) Over The Hill, 10-7
A repeat of last year's finals & back-to-back championships

Women's Division
(2) Rockford Beaches over (3) Filly LAMP 11-5

RELATED: 2015 results

[Scores via USAU Event; photo via Point Break]


Friday, May 13, 2016

On This Day: First Annual College Ultimate Championship (1984)

On this day in ultimate history in 1984, the first-ever College Nationals was played at Tufts University (Medford, Massachusetts). Stanford won the 1st annual Ultimate Frisbee College championship over Glassboro by the score of 21-18.


[POSTER IMAGE SOURCE: Ultimate "encyclopedia" / Dan Ackerstein]
[Reposted from original posting]

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Chart: USA Ultimate Beach Championships 2016

The second annual USA Ultimate Beach Championships Virginia Beach, Virginia, starts this weekend. 
USA Ultimate is hosting 65 teams in 5 divisions - Grand Masters, Men, Mixed, Mixed Masters, Women - hailing from 22 different North American states/province/territory.  North Carolina is represented the most with 9 teams. Massachusetts, New York and Virginia each have 5 teams competing at this year's Beach Championships.

North Carolina is the only state to be represented in all 5 divisions; GM: Alchemy and Grave Error, MEN: Right Coast, MIXED: Donkey Play, MIXED MASTERS: Swamp Rats, Ye Olde Boxcar, WOMEN: First in Flight, Retro, Sharks & Kisses.

There are 10 teams (15% of all beach teams) from west of the Mississippi River that are scheduled to appear; they are from California (3), Iowa (3), Colorado (2), Texas (2). There are 2 teams from outside of the United States - both from Toronto, Ontario - competing at USAU Beach Championships.


Locations based on published locations. It is understood that some teams may roster players from different states.

Compare to 2015's event.

[Data via USAU; charted by SLUDGE]


Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Better Budweiser Label

Below is another concept for Budweiser's renaming promotion. What is more American than playing ultimate?


Morphing USA Ultimate onto a Budweiser Label

Under the influence of Budweiser "beer" renaming summer brews to America, here's a concept if Budweiser were to transform their label to the governing body for the sport of ultimate in the United States.



RELATED: The "ultimate" six pack.


Tuesday, May 10, 2016

D.C. Current Gets Funky

The MLU Shop is now selling a Current shirt that rings true for every D.C. home game.


More Cowbell T-shirt

Info: Designed and made by Canterbury this is the must-have grey, cotton shirt for supporters of the Washington DC Current. See below for the actual cowbell the shirt alludes to and the classic SNL reference. These fan noisemakers were first distributed to D.C. fans starting in 2014.

Price: $19.99

[h/t @TheDCCurrent]

Comparison: 2016 Records of Cities with Two Pro Ultimate Teams

Looking at just the cities with two teams in the pro ultimate leagues, what are those 6 teams' combined records so far?


San Francisco FlameThrowers (6-0; AUDL) and Philadelphia Spinners (5-0; MLU) are the only undefeated teams on this city list. Vancouver Nighthawks (0-6; MLU) and Philadelphia Phoenix (0-3; AUDL) are both winless.

At a combined (7-5) — Rainmakers (3-2; MLU) and Cascades (4-3; AUDL) — Seattle is the only city with both pro ultimate teams with a winning record.


Monday, May 09, 2016

Amherst Invitational 25 Years & Still Playing Ultimate

The Amherst Invitational - an annual high school ultimate tournament in Amherst, Massachusetts - completed its 25th year. Tiina Booth threw out the ceremonial first pull on May 7th, and in honor of AI's 25th year Tiina was also gifted a tribute disc with her likeness:

"In Tiina We Trust" Commemorative Ultimate Disc

She was a teacher at Amherst Regional High School and used to coaching ARHS' varsity boys ultimate team.  For tourney results, visit their Facebook page.


Qualifying Teams for 2016 College Ultimate Championships: Men's Division

A total of 36 men's college ultimate teams have qualified for USA Ultimate College Championships - 20 teams in Division-I and 16 teams in Division-III. USAU College Championships will take place May 21-22 for D-III May 27-30 for D-I.

Below are the D-1 & D-3 lists of men's college ultimate teams that qualified for Nationals by region.
20 Division-I college ultimate teams from 10 regions

16 Division III college ultimate teams from 10 regions
View the list of qualifying women's college ultimate teams.


[Data via USAU, compiled by SLUDGE]

Sunday, May 08, 2016

Friday, May 06, 2016

USAU Announces Indoor Ultimate Competition for 2017

In the spring 2016 issue of USA Ultimate Magazine, the theme of Dr. Tom Crawford's Letter to our Members is unpredictable change and also announces a new surface/competition division for next year.

USAU CEO Crawford writes: "I believe anyone who thinks they know what this sport will look like in five years is full of malarkey."

Crawford also announces USA Ultimate will be adding indoor ultimate as a competition division: "2017 will also be the first year of our indoor championships, as well the shift to youth club regionals. More change!"  (2015 was the first year for USAU's beach championships.)



More details on the new indoor ultimate competition series: "The indoor season will obviously fall in the winter months. We are excited about introducing another new playing opportunity and we are working with WFDF on the planning....the indoor discipline creates an enormous opportunity at the youth level."


Thursday, May 05, 2016

Cinco de Mayo

When you play ultimate,
may O be in synco.



Breakdown of Division-I Women's College Ultimate Regionals

Twenty women's college ultimate teams qualified for USA Ultimate's Division-I Championships. Here's a recap of what happened at last weekend's regional events.

# of D-I Women's Regionals = 10
# of total bids to D-I Championship = 20

 # of Regionals where the #1-Seeded Team...
Won = 7
Advanced = 6

# of D-I women's college ultimate teams that...
Qualified for College Nationals = 20
>Finished below seed = 2
>Broke seed = 5
>Finished according to seed = 13

# of regions...
with only 1 bid = 6
with only 1 bid where the #1 seed won/advanced = 3
with multiple bids = 4

Lowest seed to...
Win their region = Dartmouth (4)
Qualify for D-I Nationals = USC (6)


Wednesday, May 04, 2016

Anniversary of Calvin asking Where's the Frisbee?

Today marks the anniversary - published on this date 29 years ago - of my favorite comic strip of all-time. 



Calvin: Where's the Frisbee?


[Re-post from original finding.]

Tuesday, May 03, 2016

2016 Pro Ultimate Teams

The 26-team American Ultimate Disc League and the 8-team Major League Ultimate share 6 cities giving pro ultimate fans a total of 34 pro ultimate teams in 2016.

The total team list in 2016 is 1 more than last year's eventual total.