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Centex 2010
Centex 2010: A running diary
Friday, 630am EST
First carload of magnUM players leaves for Detroit Metro airport. Brandon Beeler is already off to an adventurous start, having remembered to remove a lighter from his carry-on just before the security line, then getting in the longest possible line for breakfast and being the very last person on his flight. Weather in Ann Arbor is around 50 degrees and cloudy.
Noon CST
First arrival, by bus, and the Egg Man’s place. magnUM alumni Gordon Siegfriedt, in his unending dedication to the program, has offered to put up the entire team at his place for Centex, which just happens to be 2 blocks from the fields. Weather in Austin: 65 and Sunny. For now.
8pm
Centex just got 64.78% more Funn. Andy Dunn and Maggie arrive.
10:30pm
Last of team arrives on SuperShuttle from airport. Driver reportedly used to work as a male exotic dancer. Apparently the prospects in Austin are good.
Saturday 6:30am
Alarms go off at the Egg Man’s place. Shortly thereafter a major line of Thunderstorms moves through. Uh oh. The tournament fields are pretty sweet. And there was just too much rain. Once again, weather becomes a major factor at another mangUM2k10 tournament. Sure enough, a delay is almost immediately announced on cultimate’s twitter feed.
~9am
The rain lifts, prompting magnUM to head over to the fields. After paddling our way over to the tournament site, we find out that the primary fields are closed and the cultimate folks are working on a backup. In San Antonio. Also, the temperature is around 50 degrees, and a NW wind is starting to pick up.
~9:30am
Back at the Egg Man’s place, we learn the backup fields are closed. Cultimate later posts an announcement of a third set of fields, to be inspected in 45 minutes. Amusing comments from various teams flood the twitter-verse.
~10:30am
No update from cultimate. magnUM is beginning to suspect no ultimate will be played on Saturday.
~11am
Things happen very quickly. The Texas State coach stops over to report that Texas State, Kansas and maybe Pitt are going to play a round robin in a local park. magnUM quickly gets ready to join. Not far from leaving, cultimate announces on their twitter feed that the second backup sites are good to go, and that teams should immediately being driving south on I-35 towards San Antonio.
12:30pm
On I-35 S to the fields. Since we procured only 1 rental car, magnUM is dispersed in 5 vehicles. The rental, Gordon’s Car, Andy’s Carr, the Texas State coach’s car, Tom Hayne’s dad’s car, and a cultimate car. That all players made it to and from the fields successfully should be considered a major logistical coup. In the rental car, a Toyota, it gets scary quiet every time the car changes gears to go up a hill while on cruise control. Looking at the flags, it seems pretty windy out. Also, Jeff Pape is obsessed with how much warmer it is going to get during the 90 minute drive south. The verdict: 1 degree from 48 to 49.
Later, we also learn that Kansas chose not to drive to San Antonio. And we learned that Arkansas drove despite having their rookies do discs when they felt we wouldn’t be playing.
1:30pm
First magnUM cars arrive at the backup-to-the-backup fields. Wind is absolutely howling, steady above 25mph gusts in excess of 40. The temperature is dropping. First game against Iowa is in 60 minutes.
2:45pm
First game against IHUC begins. Wind is coming from the right of the North goal and racing to the left of the south goal, making for both and upwind and crosswind game. IHUC scores their first downwind O.
2:50pm
IHUC manages to connect 5 straight unbelievably lucky upwind flicks, the last for a goal. At least two of the catches are the second attempt to catch the disc. After getting the downwind break to follow, IHUC has a steady lead for the first half. While teams generally can move the disc upwind, it takes extraordinary amounts of effort and a little luck. As we learn later, several games are decided on the flip, even among elite teams.
Second half
magnUM regroups and runs off two upwind breaks to take the game 11-9. Pat Collins enters ‘the zone’ catching upwind hucks, a place he won’t leave while in Texas. So many amazing catches there’s no room to describe them all.
4:30pm
magnUM loses the flip, and eventually the game against Texas State. While many a valiant upwind try was undertaken, including a magnUM timeout with the disc 10 yards out, the North end zone was a no-go for everyone. magnUM’s upwind efforts could best be summarized by an early attempt. A big huck wend upwind, a little floaty. Jeff Pape and Yoni Rafael converged on it, so intent on getting the discs they knocked each other down in the process.
6:20pm
magnUM starts its third game against pool favorite Colorado. The sun is getting low in the sky and temperatures have fallen from the mid 40s to the high 30s. Teams all over site 2 (two different field sites for the day) are unashamedly huddling to conserve body heat between games. Also, while the field we played on for the first two games was pretty nice, the field against Colorado is unquestionably a mud pit. magnUM wins the flip.
~7pm
Mamabird, through a series of impressive backhand around breaks, gets the first upwind break. magnUM answers on the very next point upwind, keeping the game on serve. The game stays upwind downwind, despite some fine efforts. Ollie Honderd in particular played very well, including a massive layout bid in the deepest of the mud.
8pm
Unaware the cap has gone off long ago, magnUM finally closes the game out on a downwind universe point. We’ve taken first in the pool, with the sun setting and a group of very cold bodies.
Sunday, 8am
Most magnUM heads to the Austin fields. In a tease from mother nature, it is near freezing, but not yet windy. Conditions seem downright pleasant relative to yesterday. Still, we can’t help but be reminded of the conditions with two players staying behind because they’re sick.
9am
Pre-quarters game against Iowa State. For the first few points, the wind is relatively mild, and closer to a crosswind than yesterday. By 930 however, the wind is as strong as yesterday. But our big throwers including Chris Vandervoort, Ollie, PC, and Tom can get enough rips through the wind to manage several upwind scores. We ease past Iowa State.
10:45am
Quarterfinals versus UNC Darkside. Our third meeting in three tournaments, having split the last two in close games. Darkside, off a high having just beaten CUT, takes the first upwind break. magnUM answers strongly, including two straight from Yoni Rafael. But the win just isn’t in the cards this time around. Darkside uses a strong second half to win.
12:45pm
5-8th place bracket semis versus UCLA. One of our stronger moments of the weekend was rebounding immediately from the loss to Darkside with this strong showing against Smaug. We controlled throughout. Jeff Pape had some ferocious catches of throws gobbled up by the wind. His best was probably a crosswind flick from Beaker that went straight up like a rocket, and Jeff brought it in cower-style.
2:45pm
5th place game versus Harvard. Basically, we lost this game because Alex Fegert left at 3:30 for the airport to catch his flight. Just kidding Alex. We played Redline neck and neck throughout, and typical of the still ridiculously windy conditions, neither team established a big lead. PC scored an early upwind goal, then made a hilariously un-sportsmanlike “OOOOOOooooooohhhhhhh” right in a Harvard player’s face. He later apologized. The game was decided late. The cap sounded as magnUM made it 9-9, making it a game to 11. magnUM appeared to be the team fit to score the 10th, as Jeff Pape was in line for another huge catch. But the wind clearly made the disc air bounce several inches, and the disc escaped him. Harvard would work the disc back upwind for the score, then took the downwind score. A deflating finish to our play on the weekend to be sure.
8pm
Fully cleaned up, magnUM invaded Mandiola’s Italian Market for dinner. Credit to PC for a clutch dinner selection.
Sunday night
With 7 guys looking to fly out at 6am (leaving for the airport at 4:30am), the team elected to keep the social festivities at Gordon’s place, rather than invade downtown Austin (scene of Gordon’s famous quote: “this has nothing to do with me!”). After another good night at Hotel-de-Egg-Man, magnUM all made it back to Ann Arbor in generally good shape. Up next: Huck Finn April 3-4. After snow at CCC and QCTU, cold at Ultimax and a gale at Centex, we’re really in the mood for good weather at Huck Finn.
QCTU 2010
A disturbing trend is developing for the magnUM 2k10 season. Drive over 10 hours south … and play in the snow. As our team traveled into Charlotte, NC for this year’s Queen City Tune-Up, we encountered approximately 4 inches of fresh snow throughout North Carolina. The tournament had some interesting changes, including a noon Saturday start because of the snow. As if 4 inches of snow was going to melt.
Separately, this was the weekend magnUM unveiled our new 5 Ultimate jerseys, having won a competition for 5 sponsorship last fall. I don’t have any pictures of us in them, but rest assured we look pretty sweet.
The fields Saturday morning – believe it or not there’s a cone out there marking the back corner of the end zone.
Appalachian State
Yes Michigan fans, you read that right. Someone out there had a sense of humor, seeking to remind us of past football infamy. That’s fine, we’ll play along. Since Saturday group play was compressed to meet the noon start, all games would happen in the space of 60-70 minutes, meaning the pressure was on from the start. Since we had practiced in the snow, we were ready right from the start. After the O-line converted to open the game, the D-line converted a couple breaks and magnUM never looked back. Chris Li earned a couple layout D’s early in the game as part of his big weekend. The only blemish to the 6-2 win was that when the O-liners played D-line points, the Mountaineers scored goals.
Clemson
After a bye, magnUM moved to Clemson, who had just finished a tough double-game point loss to Ohio. At this time the snow was quickly getting trampled away, so traction had improved markedly. Not that this helped our pulling over the course of the weekend. Shank left, shank right, and so on. While there were individual exceptions, several of us are not pullers. Anyways, we eased past Clemson without too much adventure.
Ohio
Having just beaten North Carolina, Ohio was pumped and ready to play. Indeed, they went up a couple of breaks early as magnUM struggled to match their energy early. But in due time our legs, skill and drive of the rookies would prevail. Zubin Shetty had a big weekend and will clearly be a high energy player for magnUM for years to come. And through Zubin’s and similar efforts including a stellar deep D by Jason Guan, magnUM got the breaks back and took care of business against Ohio. Jason however should be mocked for managing to get into my van despite the lack of a driver’s license. Fail. I guess it’s some sort of NYC thing, but how can you not have a driver’s license? What a rookie.
North Carolina
Darkside represented a step up in class, and intensity. They play bring a very aggressive mark, something magnUM has struggled with in the past. This team responded nicely. Patiently calling fouls and disc space where they should be called, magnUM managed to effectively move the disc, and the O-line was cruising early. The D-line however, had lost its success from earlier in the day. The step up in competitive class was not answered by better play, and the D-line would not break UNC the entire game. The O-line played brilliantly, and only suffered late breaks while playing ferocious D, particularly so in the case of Pat Collins. But magnUM conceded the pool in the defeat, meaning an earlier start Sunday morning … sort of.
Saturday Night
MagnUM2k9 alumni, we have an important piece of news for you. We finally found a role for Seth that everyone like him as: team mom. As the snow turned to slush and the fields to mud, magnUM was a pile of wet, stinking apparel Saturday evening, more so than usual. Seth, unable to play due to injury, stepped up, raided a Laundromat and made everyone’s evening with fresh, dry clothes. After a scrumptious dinner with Flywheel, magnUM returned to the Hotel.
NC State
A funny thing has happened to magnUM the last couple of years Sunday at Queen City. We haven’t brought the intensity in the first game. Maybe it was the two-hour delay to let the fields train, or the mountains of pulled pork we consumed, or the atypically clean uniforms, but we weren’t ready to play. NC State got the first break, and generally controlled throughout. magnUM rallied, as we often do. But one point seemed to drive home the destiny of the game. Ollie Honderd, playing in the cup, got a piece of a floaty pass, further floating it in the air. He then skied the crowd again but could only hit the disc, then watch as it happened to fall into an opposing player’s arms. With the loss, magnUM fell out of the Championship bracket far earlier than was remotely acceptable.
Georgia Tech
Confidence is a funny thing. Sky high after our 3-0 start to the weekend, magnUM was now way down on itself. En route to our consolation bracket game against Georgia Tech, we huddled and did our best to respond, since the consolation bracket still had quality competition and the chance to get better. Given the chance for a better warmup, the D-line got pumped and ready to play. After the O-line conceded an early break, the D-line got it back on their first try. But confidence is a funny thing. Despite showing flashes of our potential, we could never pull away. The game was not sealed until the waning moments of hard cap when Mike DeRubeis followed nicely on a deep huck to PC for the winning score.
Pitt
magnUM finished play on the weekend with a tightly contested match with Pitt. Pitt’s place in the consolation bracket with us was a tip of the hat to our regional competition. Despite their first overall seed in the tournament, Pitt lost their group to Michigan State. And they were knocked out of the championship bracket by Ohio State. The game was a high quality affair with the intensity normally reserved for the championship bracket. One stellar played not mentioned yet was Carson Mailler, who had an amazing weekend on the O-line and a really sweet monster deep shot in this game. Tom Haynes showed that he’s the best in shape on magnUM with a series of deep cuts for goals in the game, including one from Pat Collins where the Pitt sideline saw PC with the disc and called “not a thrower” before PC ripped a 65 yard backhand bomb. But despite the improvement in play and intensity, magnUM could not respond. The D-line just didn’t have it together when they did get the turnovers, and Pitt ended the weekend on a sour note. To be sure we learned a lot, and in certain places we saw great leaps in cohesiveness. But there is a lot of work to do. magnUM’s next chance to do work is Ultimax on Feb 27-28. The blog will return with a write-up about Centex, March 20-21.
Magnum going to QCTU
We’re on the road to Charlotte, NC for Queen City Tune Up. You can follow on Score Reporter or check back here next week for full details.
CCC 2010
magnUM travelled a solid 9 hours south to Chattanooga, TN to close up our fall season. Friday morning the vans started cruising out of Ann Arbor, with the last pulling in around 1am Saturday. Before rolling into the illustrious Knights Inn of Chattanooga, the first van dined on some of the finest Italian food we could find.
And then we woke up Saturday morning.
We weren’t warming up and sunrise was imminent. Fumo would be ashamed.
Being hardy gentlemen from a variety of northern climates, we managed just fine. But since Ollie is on our team, we couldn’t get started without a mishap. Apparently there is a difference between field C9, where the women played, and field 9, a quarter mile away, where we played. Who knew? (We love you Ollie).
Auburn
Anyways, we played Auburn in the first game. When one of the guys on the sideline tells you “most of the guys on our team are seeing snow for the third time in their lives,” and you’re from Michigan, you feel you have a compelling climatic advantage. Accordingly magnUM jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Auburn went on a mini-run to make it close near half, but the snow and the talent were on our side. We won 13-6.
Emory
Emory offered Michigan a significant change of pace, and the danger of playing what was in some respects a one-man team. Not ready for the pass-dump, pass-dump, pass-dump, huck offense, we fell down a pair of breaks 2-0. But in ultimate, like most sports, one man can carry the team only for so long. magnUM responded and controlled the rest of the game, including the “get outta here!” bookends from our newest rookie, Zubin Shetty. Final score 13-4.
Delaware
We were a little surprised to be facing a 2-0 Delaware team, fresh off a pair of universe point wins over Georgia Southern and Georgia. But despite the life karma penalty of stealing our football helmets, they showed remarkable grit and stuck around through a game that we seemed to be controlling throughout. Alex Fegert got one of his two “incut layout D so massive he may be actually trying a mac-to-Callahan” plays that keyed a magnUM run. But universe point was in the cards. In the end, Afay flipped a quick smart pass off a dead disc to Seth Collins, and magnUM moved to 3-0.
Georgia Southern
Since this is the place in the entry for playing the sixth seed, this feels like an appropriate place to mention our fans on the weekend, who braved snow, cold and wind to watch nearly all of our games and supply us with mountains of phenomenal snacks. Thanks much to Ollie’s parents!
We beat Georgia Southern 11-8 in something of a lackluster effort.
Jojah
A year removed from the Ben DeLand bookends, magnUM met Jojah in a rematch of our most thrilling game in group play at CCC.
This game represented just how powerful emotion and energy are in college ultimate. Georgia broke us twice to start 2-0, and controlled for some time. And magnUM, returners and rookies, seemed to be content. Then, on a Dan DeTone D (he would get our first two D’s in the game), we went on a stellar run out of the half to turn a 4-8 deficit into a 8-8 tie game. But just as quickly, the even fickle “mo” went back to the other side, and we meekly fell 13-9.
Tired, cold and furious at our play at the end of the day, we retired to the Knights Inn for the night. At Olive Garden we ate the breadsticks faster than their oven could bake them and Jeff Pape ate not one, not two, but three lasagnas. We settled in for the night, and no one fell out of bed in their sleep in a fortuitously timed manner to catch the semi-exciting end to the Big 12 title game. By then of course, we learned we’d open play Sunday against Texas.
Texas
magnUM ended up, unfortunately, in the “B” bracket at CCC because of the 4-point loss to Georgia and the other games between the three-way pool winners were played to universe point. But we were quite pleased to be playing Texas, a friendly rival and a national semifinalist from 2009.
There was no snow left from the day before, but the cold had descended in, turning the muddy quagmire from the day ago into a frozen mushy surface. But for the first 20 minutes of the game, essentially the only time all weekend, we could make full speed cuts. A strong D-line opened the game with a break. Texas would rally on the strength of smart hammers and great break throws, taking half. But the game was very evenly matched. magnUM made a run to take a two-point lead as the D began to figure out the Texas O. The O-line held serve, including a fantastic layout D by Tom Haynes. This is not a typo and merits repeating so that alumni believe this: a fantastic layout D by Tom Haynes.
As cap approached, the game had all the makings of universe point. Smooth O-line play (at this point in the weekend, Beaker, PC and RL Stein were essentially unguardable downfield) saw magnUM hold serve to take a 14-13 lead. The D-line took the field, and one of those seminal moments in a season occurred. After a Texas turn in our own end zone, we took our time and called Golden with DMo out and DD in. Chris Vandervoort, a lefty facing a righty-flick mark, launched an on-the-money 70-yard backhand bomb, which DMo reeled in for the game winner, 15-13.
Tennessee
Following the emotional win over Texas, magnUM advanced to the semifinals against Tennessee. If the Texas field degraded into a muddy quagmire, this field was just a plain mud pit.
Like the Georgia game, a slow start in a big game again bedeviled us. We battled the mud, our own silly turns, mental mistakes and Tennessee, and stumbled badly to a 4-8 halftime deficit. Having played man all half, we decided to mix it up and throw some Z.
Tennessee was flummoxed and then some. magnUM reeled off not 1, not 2, but (count ‘em) 7 straight points to take an 11-8 lead. Among the highlights during this run included the “battle of the Collins’ “ as Pat wrecked Seth’s head… and caught the goal. Another moment featuring Seth and great play by someone else came when Ricky got the D. Seth, playing wing in the zone, listened obediently as Ricky smelled a hammer over the top told him to move. Just in time, Seth got Ricky’s nice layout D.
magnUM would see the lead erode late, but won on universe 16-15.
MSU
Couch, facing a longer drive than we were, wasn’t in the mood to play out the weekend. Our heads were in the mood, but our legs weren’t. The compromise, a game to 7, yielded the painful result of 7-2, putting a very humbling set of bookends on the fall season, losses to your in-state rival.
In the end, we saw the potential and the challenges in this magnUM roster. We could, when we chose to, beat the best. And we could, when we chose to, play very meekly. We need the toughness, and the conditioning. And that’s what January in the Oost is all about. Happy Holidays to all our blog fans, including the blog’s favorite artist, Andy Funn. Until January, see you later.
magnUM Coach and Alumni at UPA Club Nationals
This weekend’s 2009 UPA Club Nationals will feature a strong magnUM presence this year.
Participants include head coach Richard Eikstadt (Machine) and alumni: Matt Wilken (‘02; Machine), Jason Zhang (‘06; Jam), Tyler Kinley (‘07; Sockeye), Ryan Purcell (‘08; Ironside) and Will Neff (‘09 Callahan Winner; Ironside). Ricky and Matt will meet Tyler in pool play on Thursday at 12:15pm EST. In addition to these outstanding players, Colin McIntyre (‘06) will receive the Observer of the Year award.
Be sure to follow the results at http://club2009.upa.org/. Live streaming video of some games will be featured, and hopefully this year won’t see Will get a concussion in the final.
Update! I also learned that Tim Murray is playing with Flycoons in the mixed division and that Paul Callaway (‘99) is on Real Huck, who just upset the #1 seed in the master’s division.
Final roster
After two early fall tournaments, the final Magnum roster has been decided. Graduating 10 veterans will be a challenge, but one that can be overcome. 6 fresh rookies and 5 Reserve returners will help fill the void, along with continued improvement and leadership from veterans. Added spring season help will only make our roster stronger. Look for the roster page to be updated soon, but here it is, Magnum 2009-2010:
Adam van Staveren
Alex Fegert
Ben Lee
Brandon Beeler
Carson Mailler
Chris Li
Chris Vandervoort
Dan Detone
Derek Moen
Derek Towster
Derrick Wolbert
Jason Guan
Jeff Pape
Jesse Brauner
Josh Morrow
Kevin Yien
Mike DeRubies
Ollie Honderd
Pat Collins
Robbie Steinbock
Seth Collins
Spencer Jolly
Tom Haynes
Yoni Rafael
Glory Days 2009
Valparaiso
Three Dodge caravans crept through the local corn maize in Lowell, Indiana to find a tournament. Of course they weren’t the six magnUM and reserve reserved, but we won’t get into that here. Anyways, the cool and breezy weather from Fall Brawl followed us to Lowell, IN as we kicked off Glory Days 2009 against the de facto home squad of Valparaiso.
Valpo felt it best to use the breeze to their advantage, and threw zone on every single point. A new magnUM squad featuring only two-thirds of the team struggled to work through the zone. Not because of the wind, but uncountable silly turnovers. magnUM turns outnumbered fresh leaves on the ground.
We played just enough D and scored just enough quick shots to build a suitable lead. The horn sounded and the game concluded when magnUM conceded their first Callahan of the season. Fortunately, we won 10-5.
Ball State B
“Switching to Ball State men’s tennis,” Ball State B did magnUM a big favor and played man D. The turn count improved, and the D was impregnable as Ball State managed only 1 score. Just for the record, yours truly guarded the guy who caught their only goal.
Loyola-Chicago X
After a nice little lunch break, magnUM resumed afternoon play against Loyola-Chicago’s split squad. Loyola-Chicago, meet Yoni Rafael. Yoni led a magnUM charge with a bookends punctuating 3 goals in 4 points. When Derek Towster found Tom Haynes deep for a non-spiked score, the rout was confirmed as magnUM won 13-2.
Chicago
The Chicago game is best described as follows: Derek Moen threw a disc in the river in warm-ups. Then he went swimming or nearly so to get it.
Fortunately, DMo was just getting the bad throws out of his system (or something like that). He had two goals and a nice assist. magnUM controlled this game throughout, playing far and away its best ultimate of the day. At the end, all rookie line was given the chance to secure the win. FAIL. So the seven present returners, Pape, Ollie, Beaker, PC, DMo, AVS and Dtow showed the n00bs how to do it. Final score, 13-4. A nice 4-0 start for the weekend. We wrapped up the day when PC faked out about six Chicago guys before actually giving away the final spirit disc (a nice feature of Glory Days) to the most deserving Chicago player.
Saturday night some guys got Culverized. I don’t know/understand/care what it is, but they strongly insisted I mention it.
Rookie Report
Now is as good a time as any to mention some of the rookies on magnUM, and how they’ve done the last couple of weeks. You’ve read about Yoni, who’s also annoying, enough said. Carson isn’t nearly as annoying, but again you’ve read about him. Next is Dan “the next Beaker” DeTone. Dan, we really hope you can upgrade from that unfortunate moniker. For now though you’re stuck with it. And then there’s Jason Guan. Typically for rookies, the ultimate compliment is when something is compared to you. This was not the case for Jason. Thanks to the wind and a case of rookie nerves, Jason was the inspiration for coining a new term: the guan. A guan a point with three turns (also note the double-guan: four turns). Now, we love Jason and think he’s going to be a star for magnUM for a long time. But for now he’s a rookie we like to make fun of. If you have a three turnover point, you’ve just had a guan. (In related news, my money is on Afay leading the team in guans this year.)
Illinois-Chicago
magnUM returned from the fields well-rested from the night before, even the guys in the quarantine room. Swine flu is taking its toll. We managed to bring a team, but Indiana’s two squads stayed home due to the pig bug. We opened Sunday against UIC and after conceding two early hucks for scores, controlled throughout. Once again, an all-rookie line was given the chance to finish the game. Under threat of ‘unending grief,’ the rookies did manage to pull out the win, though not without some turns. Building on our Ohio dominance from last weekend, magnUM won 15-2 and finished 3-0 against the city of Chicago this weekend.
Wheaton
Late in the UIC game the great leveler joined us. Wind. A steady breeze out of the south built up and by the time this quarterfinal started, magnUM realized they were facing a long day of upwind/downwind play. Wheaton seemed a little more prepared for the wind, and after an even game for the first 7 points, they took the first break upwind. This turned out to be all the inspiration magnUM needed. The ensuing O-line marched right down the field and answered upwind. Then magnUM took the next two breaks and the game was effectively finished. The 10-8 final was progress, in this case to the semifinals.
Purdue
Returning junior captain Ollie Honderd huddled the team together for the semifinal matchup against 6th seeded undue. In addition to some tactical moves, we inspired to learn that Ollie was honey, Tom was vinegar and PC was salad. I’m confused too. Anyways, we played Purdue in the semis. A most intriguing matchup was the Haynes versus Haynes game within the game. Tom’s little brother, aka Little Beaker, represented Purdue. Now while I was told by some Purdue players that they couldn’t appear more different, we at magnUM couldn’t help but imagine an epic Battle of The Nerds. After all, Tom talked warm-ups and strategy over the weekend in terms of step functions, coefficients of friction, sin curves and binary. Sadly, they either kept the battle to themselves or Little Beaker is actually far cooler than Beaker. We suspect the latter.
But anyway, back to the game. The wind would peak during this game, but a higher level of ultimate saw more upwind breaks. magnUM managed three to undue’s one, and that was the difference in the game. As with any rather windy day, there were quite a few hucks beyond the downwind endzone, and more turns and Ds that we care to admit. But we also managed a few nice plays including Callahans by Chris Li (vs Purdue) and PC (vs Missouri S&T).
Purdue gave us our toughest test to this point, but holding the upwind breaks we again prevailed and held to cap. Final score 10-8.
Missouri S&T
And so magnUM took a young squad of rookies into their first final. Miner threat, featuring neon yellow jerseys, figured to present a solid test, having themselves advanced through the windy day.
Unfortunately, miner threat had two factors working against them that, ahem, made them a minor threat to a magnUM championship. The first was some relief from the wind. The second was miner threat’s decision to play a fair amount of 2-3-2 zone against magnUM in both directions of play. The zone at first appeared to be a challenge, but it was the reverse. The zone forced disciplined short tosses, it was the perfect antidote to fighting the wind. Unlike the previous two games, the breaks came early and often and by halftime the conclusion was predictable, if not already decided. The first and most decisive break was courtesy of the aforementioned Derek ‘in the river’ Moen. DMo showed off his full game, catching and moving the disc several times, then roasting his mark and punctuating the score with a massive windmill spike.
The second half was a different half, but the same story. magnUM controlled throughout. Up 14-7, the rookies were given a third try to close out the game, this time under threat of playing until they actually did do so. Again they had plural turns. But again the disc found itself in the hands of a rookie wearing blue in the proper endzone. And with that magnUM became champions of Glory Days 2009.
Respect is due to the team, as winning a tournament is not an accomplishment to be ignored. But as the top seed this was expected. And anyone present will tell you there’s plenty of work to do. See you in December for the story behind CCC.
Fall Brawl 2009
Bowling Green
magnUM2k10 headed south to kick off its 2009-2010 campaign not far from where the last one ended in Columbus, Ohio. The first of two tournaments in two weeks, Fall Brawl was a chance to test out the 2/3 of the new roster, measure who’s hot and who’s not, and the first tourney for a big crop of new rookies.
Saturday morning saw us open play in near freezing weather against Bowling Green. Apparently mother nature forgot summer in the Midwest in 2009, as players were bundled in layers for most of the day Saturday. Whether from nerves, the cold or just a new roster getting together, it was one of the most low-key 13-9 victories a team can have. We won, and that was that.
Pitt “Y”
Pitt’s split squad teams offered the chance for magnUM returners to test their mettle against a fellow 2009 Nationals quarterfinalist. The game was very evenly matched, occasionally chippy but relatively well played. Rookies also were exposed to their first zone of the season, but that zone quickly went away when it was broken down a couple of times. The game ended when Pitt broke an 8-all tie not long after the hard cap horn sounded.
Cincinnati
Part 2 of a four part tour of Ohio schools saw magnUM match up against Cincinnati. After two games where the ghost of captain no fun seemed to rule the play and the sidelines, magnUM woke up, and by golly there were even a few smiles on the sidelines. Rookies with memorable moments included Yoni “haiku” Rafael going deep and getting one of his already patented ‘screaming skies’ and Carson ‘one of my Amherst buddies is on their team so I better play well’ Mailler.
Ohio State Y
When your highlight of the game is the pregame cheer, you know you didn’t do well. magnUM vs Ohio State Y was not another great installment of the rivalry nor a fitting continuation to last season’s epic Regionals conclusion. That said, most of us greatly enjoyed Derek Moen DEREK MOEN DEREK MOEN! That is of course, except Derek Moen, who two points into the game told OSU Y where their cheer could go while getting a nice layout score off a huck. Unfortunately, the rest of the game was not nearly as interesting. Whether it was the strict 3 line rotation, or the fact that Purdue absolutely owned Tyrell Pryor on the football field, OSU Y seemed content as we cruised to a 13-5 win and a 3-0 start vs Ohio.
Virginia Tech T
Ohio State wasn’t the only school whose concerns split was between the grass of Columbus and a faraway football game. Va Tech T said as much before the game. FACT: worrying about your football game means you will lose and then your football team will lose. Anyways, Alex Fegert had a really nice incut layout D during this game as magnUM closed Saturday play 4-1 in pool play to take second in the pool. The sun finally shone during our cooldown stretch, and the guns game out.
We then proceed back to the hotel for much needed warmth. Dinner at a local pizza establishment proved entertaining as Ohio State waitresses have not yet realized that the invention of pen and paper can greatly reduce the mental strain involved in memorizing orders. That or they don’t know how to read or write yet in Columbus.
SUNY-Buffalo
Sunday morning opened colder, with abundant frost on the grass. Summer 2009, seriously, where were you? But magnUM spirits were up 100%. The pregame warmup feature plenty of laughter, including bursts such as “it’s never sunny in Buffalo.” We were also treated to the list of funny jokes by Tom Haynes and sage advice from Alex Fegert (combined length = 0).
Oh, and the game. SUNY Buffalo was not ready for magnUM, and we cruised to a 13-3 win, advancing to the quarterfinals.
Pitt “X”
We say Pitt “X” rather than Pitt X because a handful of the faces seemed mighty familiar from Saturday. That said, this really isn’t a big deal to us. It’s a fall tourney and we relished the added strength they provided. And certainly they may have been juggling their squads to find the best team for their program. Their Ultimate, or at least their desire was greater. We struggled more than most of the weekend getting the dump off, and had no answer for their deep game. After a tight first half that saw Pitt take half 7-6, they pulled away from us in the second and advanced to the semifinals.
Virginia Tech V
In the 5/6th semifinals, magnUM matched up against the other half of Virginia Tech. The start of the game seemed to be a repeat of Saturday afternoon, as magnUM got a Brandon Beeler Callahan early and stormed out to a three break lead. But with their football loss behind them, Virginia Tech stormed back to play a tight game late. After a huge goalline stand, magnUM won their first universe point of the season when Tom Haynes found Spencer Jolly in the back of the endzone with a hammer.
Miami (OH)
The boogiemen seemed only marginally interested in playing this game. magnUM, seeing a strong need for reps and a short drive home, insisted on playing the full game. It was however, not a very long game. The boogiemen, as if trying to expedite their near interminable drive home, managed only 3 points as magnUM took 5th place overall. With a 4-0 finish over teams from the host state, the following was proven: Michigan > Ohio. See you next week in Merrillville, IN for Glory Days Aught’9.
What's new
Magnum is sending A team and Reserve squads to both Fall Brawl (Columbus, OH) and Glory Days (Naperville, IL). These tournaments will show us what we need to know to make final roster decisions. Then we buckle down and prepare for CCC (Atlanta, Dec. 4-5).
Calendar update
Quick update to our fall calendar:
Rec Sports Expo Sep. 6, 11am to 2pm at Palmer Field
Throwing clinic Sep. 13, 11am to 1pm, Mitchell Field
Festifall Sep. 10 on the Diag
Showcase game Sep. 10, 6pm vs. Michigan State at Palmer Field
Tryouts are Mondays from 7-10, starting September 14th, at Mitchell Field. Bring cleats, light and dark jerseys, and water.
