Club Sectionals Recap: Oh My User!

Last weekend, at the Eastern Plains Club sectionals, the goby-heavy team of "Oh, my user!" competed for a shot at the Division II sectionals title. Led by goby greats Mark Richardson and Andy Coleman, Oh my user brought some much needed swagger to Versailles OH. This is their story.

Day 1:
Oh, my User! 13: ON-YON 6
Giddy with anxious excitement (especially after having found out they woke up an hour and a half early due to scheduling errors) the team, whom we'll refer to as the gobies for convenience's sake took the field with nearly four full lines. Many of the gobies were rookies who had never played a point of competitive ultimate in their lives. That being said, they certainly didn't disappoint. Veteran Nayyir Qutubuddin started things off with a clutch layout D that set the tone for the game. Many rookies stepped up to the plate and made an impact in lines with very few veterans. Joe Koors gets a layout D.

Oh, my User!: 9: RAMJAM: 11
The next game proved far more difficult than the first. Wooster brought an experienced team that was ready to ball (disc?). The Gobies kept it close, but failed to put the disc in the endzone when they needed to. We tried a bit of zone defense, and the rookies stepped up to the challenge once again. Reports of Mike Saylor getting sick D's are most likely true. Kevin Pochatila did his best Dikembe Mutumbo impression and wagged his finger "no no no" as he defended three Wooster hucks from the deep-deep position to help the gobies win a thrilling break

Oh, my User! 14: GUINS:13
Veteran Gobies went into this game with nightmares of last years college sectionals still ripe in their minds. Bowling Green laid a thrashing on the gobies in a critical game on saturday of sectionals in Granville. We let the rookies know how much the game meant to us, and yet again, they proved ready to thrash. Mental mistakes and throwaways, along with poor execution on the goal line led to the GUINS taking half at 7-3. Points were traded back and forth, and the score stood at 12-8, game point bowling green. That was when Oh, my User! decided to wake up. A few hucks to rookie Jared VanLandingham (with his defender left in his vapor trail), along with spirited play, and probably another Joe Koors layout, and the gobies had all of the sudden evened the score at 12-12. The sideline was bristling with excitement. This was the kind of Goby Ultimate that we've been thrashing all summer for. This was the kind of comeback we hadn't seen in years. Feeding off of Keith Lupton's overwhelming sideline energy, Mark Richardson called out an all veteran "U-Point" Line which soon scored its 5th break in a row after a clutch D by Owen Mayer. After letting up a point to bowling green, and narrowly escaping defeat with the help of an Evan Frasz D, Oh, my User! marched down the field and scored on an admitedley unorthodox ricochet to complete one of the most epic comebacks in recent memory

Oh, My User! :15 Denison: 7
Still riding high off of the BG game, Oh my user had some strong preformances, especially by the rookies, who got to see some more PT for the final game of the day. Colin Warlock toed the line while pulling down a huck, along with some gratuitous layouts by Keith lupton (on O), and another layout D by Joe Koors.

Day 2:
Oh, My User! 5: Savage: 15.
Toledo showed up with a team that was ready to play, while Oh my User! did not. Plagued by early turnovers and failure to knock down goal line swill, the gobies were handed a tough loss. Bright spots included a layour score on offense by Andy Coleman. While chasing down a disc that was trailing away, Andy sacrificed his body and made the kind of play that reminded everyone why hes a captain: because he's a stud.

Oh, My User! 10: OU 15
Another game where the rookies got to see extended playing time. The mood was notably lighter, as evidenced by The return of Steve Knab and his much loved hammers. Still once again the rookies amped it up, and managed to take 2 breaks in a row against a more experienced OU team. Every once in a while the gobies threw in a stacked vet line and marched down the field just to keep the defense honest. Joe Koors gets yet another layout d. This time almost a Callahan.

Denison decided not to stick around, and Oh my user! called it a tournament.

Highlights of the Weekend:
-New cheer: The Clint Mansell "Party" cheer: videos to come
-Trent taunting Brady down the field while running down a pull
-The "Jason and Q" handler show against OU
-Chip Dean unintentionally leveling a Dension player
-Dan Kwass & co. scamming Culver's into 5+ free frozen custards using the same 5" fry.
-Intense game of "contact" in which Luke correctly guessed "Drank" with the guess "is it purple"



Everyone is currently on pump up alert for fall brawl. More intensity at practice until then

-Kevin

Parallels between Super Smash Bros. and Goby Ultimate

One of the many sources of bro-ing out for the Bloggers is a videogame. It's called Super Smash Bros. Perhaps you have heard of it.

Super Smash is not your usual, feeble, mindless videogame, meant to corrupt the mind. No, it's actually been proven to strengthen ones reflexes, and exercise the mind, increase resourcefulness, and develop killer instinct.

I'll give you a few examples of how we use this seemingly recreational event to train for Regionals. Be advised, this is not for the faint, and some experience in "Smashing" is recommended.

1) Match-ups. In the world of elite Smashing, your choice of a character with respect to your opponents' may decide the game before it is played. For example, King Dedede has an infinite chain grab on characters like Ness. If you get locked into it, you're done. What does this mean? You have to counterpick your characters properly, especially when starting on offense. On the ultimate field this translates to O/D lines. You cant put a chump O player out there to play against the best defenders on the other team. You'll get rocked ever time.

2) Mind games. There is a game within the game of Smash to be played, a sort of virtual chess match during a battle that you need to monitor at all times. This is known as the "metagame" among avid gamers. For example, you dont always attack from the same spot on the stage, you change up your timing, approaches, and vary your attack combos. This has profound effects on the Ultimate field, especially for me as a handler. We're always playing mindgames on the field. The simplest of these are obviously fakes, but it's deeper than that. For example, sometimes I like to go deep, sometimes I like to cut instead of handle, sometimes I play D in the cup, sometimes I play short deep. I try and always change up my play style, so they cant "camp" me. Right now I'm working on an even more advanced metagame...hoping to have it ready by Northcoast...more on that later...

3) Strong Fundamentals - You cant overlook fundamentals in Smash. You gotta know how to shield grab, jump with x/y, L-cancel, power shield, etc. Everyone knows how to "smash buttons" (analogy: throw a disc as hard as you can). What makes a good player is strong fundamentals, doing the simple things consistently, and never messing the easy things up. In Smash, Andy reminds me of this all the time when he looks at me with his quirky face and says "Q, that was preettttyyy standard", when he shield grabs me, or edgehogs me. You bet he says that on the field too when he breaks people, or gets me on an in cut.

Former Goby Evan is looking over my shoulder telling me to wrap up the post, I could go on about the parallels between the two games, but you get the point. We treat Smashing as a form of cross-training. Feel free to challenge any of us at anytime, before or after practice, of course.

- Q

Mind games

"Weak minds lead to weak actions. A strong, disciplined mind, which anyone can cultivate through daily practice, can achieve miracles." ~ Robin Sharma

As we progress through week after week of Ultimate practice, we have all learned the importance of training and strengthening our bodies for the upcoming season. Our hope is that through enough physical conditioning we will be able to out-maneuver and outlast our opponents on the frisbee field. Even though this physical sculpting is of utmost importance, we must not forget to strengthen our minds and sharpen our wit.

As quoted above, "Weak minds lead to weak actions." What good is it to have a body like the Gods without the discipline to control it? What good would it be to have great hucks but not restraint to know when to hold back? And, what good would is it to be as nimble rabbit but not have the understanding of when and where to cut? Thus, the man who only concentrates on strengthening his body is no greater than the brute.

For this reason, it is my suggestion that in addition to our scheduled practice regimen, we take time to focus solely on the building of the mind. How might we do this? Board games.

Most board games focus on quick thinking, strategic planning, and outsmarting the opposition. Sound familiar? It should, because these are the traits every great Ultimate player must possess in order to achieve success on the field. There are many traits that can be learned from common board games and applied to frisbee. For example, chess focuses on making good decisions, spacing, and patience. Backgammon relies on taking risks, playing aggressive offense, and setting up a strong defense. The variant of mancala known as Kalah practices planning ahead, predicting your opponents moves, and minimizing their effectiveness. These are all traits that can and should be applied in a game of Ultimate.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you ever want to play some board games feel free to stop by the fortress. But beware, when we play chess it gets as ruthless as the game seen in the picture above.

-Andy "The Titan" Coleman

3 Spoons, 1 Bowl, 1 Goal

Two nights ago, Andy, Kevin, and I cooked up three boxes of Food Club Mac & Cheese (join the Club!). These little treasures can be found at Dave's Market for 59 cents each.

What's most important is that we ate this heap of food from the same bowl, huddled around it with Tahitian Treat (aka T Treat) to wash it down. We could've split up the Mac & Cheese into separate bowls and eaten it in our own rooms in comfort and solitude. But will solitude get us to Regionals? We think not. Every little step you take with the team, or just one other teammate, gets us one step closer to the paramount goal: Regionals 2010. Get to know your teammates; bro-out with them, listen to tunes (i.e. chill-tense) with them, eat with them, do homework with them, party with them, do whatever you can to get closer to your teammates. Because if we can't get along off the field, how will we unite as one team on the field when it matters?

So next time you are devouring a plate of pasta or guzzling down some gatorade to fuel your body for practice, offer a teammate a fork to join in or a sip of your drink.

We can't make it to Regionals as individuals; we can make it as a team.

- Mark

P.S. We will continue to eat massive bowls of Mac & Cheese at the Fortress, so stop by if you want to join in at any time. You are always welcome. At 59 cents a box, how can we afford NOT to eat this stuff as a team?!

We're doin' it real big, bigger than we ever done it.

Yeah, it's been awhile since we posted. You might get the idea that we've been slackin', mackin', hot doggin'. Naw man, we've been keeping it real, especially at practice. We've been busy man, real talk. In the words of my man Ice T, pimpin' aint easy, but someone's gotta do it. We're reppin the rookies pretty hard right now. When we're not guarding each other, we're refining their flicks trying to make them get sick. We have an agenda out there.

Anyway, I'll get the other bloggers to step their internet game up at prx tonight.

Meanwhile, just wanted to let you know that I'm gonna start videotaping select portions or practices and tournaments with my new mini HD video recorder thing. It's pretty slick, nothing too fancy, just something to get a couple layout D's, chair alerts, and Goby love. It's all set to go. The plan is to maybe put together a little documentary thing together. The blog will have to satisfy your insatiable knowledge of Goby-happenings. Though I intend to edit the documentary as I go along, I dont want to release anything till...after the College Series of 2010. Maybe during winter break I'll post a little teaser trailer. Till then, we're gonna be doin' work harder than Kobe.

-Q