AUDL Championship Weekend 8 (2019)

The final 3 games of the American Ultimate Disc League 2019 season will take place this weekend at the AUDL Championship Weekend. AUDL's 8th season began in early April.

The final four teams out of 21 AUDL teams advanced to the AUDL Championship Weekend. New York Empire (12-0; 1-0) returns for the 2nd consecutive trip, Dallas Roughnecks (8-4; 1-0) return for their 4th time in a row, Indianapolis AlleyCats (8-4; 1-0) return for the first time since 2012, and San Diego Growlers (10-2; 1-0) advance for the first time in franchise history.

Three division champions advance to AUDL Championship Weekend along with perennial South Division champion Dallas Roughnecks, who won over the top seed in the South Division Championship game - the only upset by seeding in the AUDL playoffs.

The Championship Weekend returns to California. This time, though, it's not at the 18,000-seat Avaya Stadium (like in 2015); the championship games will be played at the football stadium of Foothill Community College, with ~5500 capacity -- the home field of the San Jose Spiders.

Jonathan "Goose" Helton Joins San Diego Growlers

San Diego welcomed Jonathan "Goose" Helton to the Growlers 2019 roster earlier this year. 

This will be Goose's 5th AUDL team in 8 AUDL seasons. At this rate, Goose will have played for every AUDL team by the year 2059.

Also, this won't be the first time Goose plays in the Western Division; he played for Indianapolis AlleyCats in 2012, which at the time was considered the "Western" Division of the AUDL.

San Diego Growlers Apologize

After a few days, the San Diego Growlers organization posted an apology for Saturday's halftime show on Twitter. The halftime entertainment was provided by the "women of the fitness studio," which is called Sexy Beast Fitness.

ABC10 covered the story for the local newscast without mentioning the outcome of the AUDL game.

Pro Ultimate Costume Ideas

What started as a finding the perfect Halloween costumes for Casey (the mascot of Seattle Cascades) turned into project involving a few more AUDL West teams.

Costume ideas from other West Division teams:

 L.A. Aviator minion! Putting those goggles to good use.

San Diego Growlers? San Diego gr-OWL-ers.

Cowabunga, San Jose!

Quirky Products from AUDL Teams

Any pro ultimate team can sell a flying disc or hat. These products stand out from the typical AUDL team merchandise:

Nashville NightWatch Watch [$35]
SOOOOO meta!

San Diego Growlers Growler [$20-$25]
Purposely meta! GLUG

Toronto Rush Sunglasses with a Red Mustache (Rushstache) - $15
A specially-designed product targeted to the Rush fanbase.

San Jose Spiders Itsy Bitsy Kid's T-shirt [$15]
Meta with a side of cutesy!

Review: San Diego Growlers (AUDL)

Part of the series critiquing professional ultimate team logos and nicknames.

Team: San Diego Growlers

Web: http://www.sdgrowlers.com // twitter: @SDGrowlers

Representation: City // League: AUDL

Disc within logo?: No. // Ultimate element in team name?: No.

Background: "The Growlers want to instill fear in their opponents, and a growling grey coyote (native to the region) represents this feeling perfectly. San Diego has also been called the craft beer capital of America, so the name is also a subtle nod to the nearly 100 breweries that exist currently." [via]

First impression(s) from SLUDGE: 1) Do coyotes growl? Listen. 2) The zig-zag lines on the coyote and in its mouth look like writing. See.

Eli's Eval: With the intentional double entendre with breweries, I think they left some great design opportunities on the table by going only with the coyote. The coyote itself is a very nice silhouette but the details seem to be missing a professional bite. The line quality, the anatomy of the mouth and the inconsistent shading and proportion all leave the impression that this is artwork leftover from Snoop Dogg's first album liner notes. (Just because that is an iconic album doesn't mean the artwork is top quality or should be emulated.)

The type is clean and clear and looks a lot like the Gatorade font. The good thing is it is familiar, it is legible, and the kerning is good. The extra pointy serif on the E in Growlers is a nice way of filling the gap that the L leaves and also giving more movement and action to the type. I do not like the odd highlight on the left of each letter. In design if you don't have a reason for including something you should leave it out, and there is no reason for this. No other aspect of the design has a highlight (save the top of the Coyote's forehead) and there is no other dimensionality to any of the type. It is so small as to be more of a distraction and since there is no larger dimensional context for it to fit into it is merely visually confusing.

:Eli's Grades:
Grade: B
On Logo: C
On Typography: B+

Co-Owner of San Diego Growlers Talks AUDL Team Costs

One of the owners of San Diego Growlers talked about the process for owning an American Ultimate Disc League franchise, including the cost for a team.

Below are excerpts from 'Putting the Ultimate in Frisbee 10 Disc-throwing for fun and profit' [San Diego Reader; 04/29/2015]

Justin Goodman (Growler's co-owner): "There was lots of meetings after that, discussions with the league, but it was relatively simple. The league needed papers signed and a territory agreement. We made out a check and provided proof we'd set up a small business."

"What was the buy-in? What does a franchise cost?"

Goodman: "Last year it was $15,000, but that has gone up to $25K. So, it's doable for most people. A normal person could get up the money and buy a franchise."


Read the full article.

[Photo via SDG website; quotation added to image by SLUDGE]

San Dieg0-4 Growlers

After 3 weeks of the 2015 AUDL season, the biggest surprise might be the winless San Diego Growlers. The Growlers are sitting in the West Division basement at (0-4), losing by an average of 6 goals. In San Diego's 4 losses, they average just over 21.25 goals per game, while giving up 27.25 goals.

Pre-season rankings placed San Diego in the top-10 of the entire American Ultimate Disc League and in the middle of the West pack. Ten games remain in their regular season. Their May 2015 schedule is against San Jose, Seattle,  Vancouver, San Francisco (2). In the last 5 games, San Diego plays L.A. four times.

Updated Logo for S.D. Growlers

The Growlers (AUDL) just signed Jimmy Mickle, which calls for an update to the San Diego logo. Look closely and see the word "Jimmy" on the side & "Mickle" within the mouth of the San Diego Growler.

RELATED: A previously modified Growlers logo in honor of San Diego known as craft beer capital of America.