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.

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