A History of Boston Ultimate 
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I've come to believe that the way things have happened in
Boston Ultimate is a natural chain of events that is almost
inescapable.  In olden days, before I can remember, there was
the Hostages and the Rude Boys, although they may or may not
have overlapped.  The Rudies definitely lasted longer, though,
and they became Titanic.  I think the change was similar to
the Big Brother of 1993/DOG of '94 change.  Titanic ruled
Boston for a number of years, and there was usually one or two
decent B teams here, teams who could give Titanic a game on a
good day, maybe beat them every other year, who would be a
strong contender for #3 in the Northeast.  These teams
included Mr. Bubble, the Boneheads, the Mary Jane Girls, Z,
the early version of Earth Atomizer, and probably several
others.  In 1989, I moved to town, Z was absorbed by Earth
Atomizer (about 5 Z guys joined Earth and the rest found other
teams), and Earth made Nationals for the first time, going
1-4.  Father Throws Best would usually beat Earth then, as
would many other teams, and before Regionals there was no
clear cut B team here.  In 1990, Titanic had a youth movement
and became First Time Gary, Earth continued to improve, and no
other team did very well.  Earth beat out FTG for second place
in Fall Regionals and went 3-2 at Nationals while Titanic lost
in the semis.  In 1991, Earth and Big Brother finished 1-2 in
their pool at Worlds (Earth beat BB 14-11 in a must-win game)
to advance to the semis.  At the time, NY would beat BB almost
all the time in a close game, NY would beat Earth all the time
by about 17-10 (although Worlds' semis was 21-7), and BB would
lose to Earth almost half the time but to no one else.  That
fall, Earth tried to institute lots of changes so we could
beat NY, had a couple key injuries, and didn't even make
Nationals.  That winter, Big Brother absorbed 8 players from
Earth (3 key players, 5 good but not stars) in order to defeat
the Evil Empire.  Earth became King Tut or Area B or something
and fell to 4th or 5th in NE.  Big Brother stepped up a
half-notch, now beating NY about half the time but not in
Cuervo or Nationals, even winning the Region two years in a
row.  In 1992, we would have had to play a good game the whole
way to win (we played well up to 10-8 us), but 1993 we just
had to avoid playing a bad game to win (we played ok up to
4-4, then self-destructed).  This spring, we decided to return
to the Earth Atomizer over-achieving style of play, lots of
dumps and poaches, efficient use of resources, no brain-dead
playing allowed, and have had tremendous results, and now
we're in charge.  In a couple years, the whole cycle will
start again.  As for the second team in Boston, I think it's
impossible to "somehow get everybody together and divide up
into two teams in a reasonable way", given how things work
around here.

And here is Paul Dixon's opinion.  Paul was captain of Earth Atomizer
during its heyday (1989-1991) and a former (college) Nationals
Champion with Zoo Disc (UMass) in 1986 ish.

	
What's happened to Boston Ultimate?  The same thing could probably be
said about NY Ultimate as their 2,3,4 teams have gotten progressively
weaker.  I think back to Fall 88 when Earth Atomizer finished fifth in
Sectionals behind Titanic, Father Throws Best, Z, and Bete Noire.  I
think all of these teams would beat the present #2 team.  Or do I say
that because at the time my view of competitive Ultimate was different
in that Earth was still the best team I had played on to date.  All of
the above teams had a distinct personality.  It wasn't like people cut
from one team would just move down the line to the next although we
did cut Jordan and Huggett (stupid Troy and Jamie).  FTB was the ex
Rude Boys and Titanic players that didn't want to practice anymore.  A
good analogy would be last year's Masters team. Bete noire was just
Mighty Tired without the drinking.  Earth was the stoners and Z was
Chris Phillips getting pissed off at Mooney and forming a splinter
team.  Kind of like as if Lenny or whoever split off from DoG.  All
these people (or the same types) are still around.  I think what might
hurt is the third spot at Nationals.  Before then teams knew they
weren't going to make Nationals so they played more for fun or with
their friends.  Also there was a big influx of college grads from
84-89.  Northeast college ultimate was very strong during that period.
It's been very weak since.  The bad economy in the early 90's didn't
help.  It's also very difficult for players to drop a level.  In the
period from 85-92 probably 60 or 70 players played for some Boston
team at Nationals.  After reaching that level the swill tolerance
drops rapidly so good players don't want to waste their time playing
for a team that doesn't have a legitimate shot.  More people than ever
are playing this sport but they don't seem to be trickling up to the
club level.  Maybe the growth of summer league and particularly
corporate league have enabled people to get their Ultimate fix without
travelling so much.  It used to be if you wanted to play you had to
play on a club team. 

Anyway thats my 2c

dix       

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And here is Steve Mooney's view:


Winning Ultimate came to Boston in 1979 & 1980, with an influx of Cornell and
Hampshire graduates who formed Boston Aerodisc. In 1980, Aerodisc lost to The
Boro (Timba's team) in a timed game that came down to a dropped disc in the
end zone that would have tied the score. Essentially, that loss propelled
future successes as a new team, the Rude Boys, was formed out of the Aerodisc
wreckage in the summer of 1981. 

For years to come, the Rude Boys (Mooney/Adams) and Hostages
(Barkan/Gufstasen) battled for supremacy in Boston with the knowledge that
the winner could/would win at Nationals. As far as I'm concerned, these were
the glory years where teams played in twelve tournaments between September
and November, all of them hotly contested (ZooDisc, Cornell, Heifers,
Knights of Nee all were very competitive). The Rude Boys' devastating loss to
the Hostages in the finals of 1981 Regionals (only one team advanced from
each Region), a classic Hostage zone versus Rude Boy man, surprised all but
the Stooges. Pathetic and satiated from this victory, the Hostages took a
skeleton team to Nationals and sputtered, opening the door to a Condor
Championship.

Fueled by that Regional loss, the Rude Boys worked harder (6 am practices)
the following year bringing home the coveted title, beating the Hostages in
the semis and defeating all opponents by the largest margin on record (no
team closer than seven goals). Traveling to Goteburg Sweden for the first
ever Worlds was the crowning glory (Rudies played in a demo game at half-time
of a soccer game: 15,000 fans in attendance). That year, the Rude Boys played
nothing but 'straight-up' man (not a single point of zone) with virtually no
offensive strategy. A few guys could throw an overhead; the inside out didn't
even exist.

In 1983, following a successful world banquet circuit, the Rude Boys attended
Nationals fat and cocky, losing twice (San Diego, Windy City). 1984 would be
the death knell for the Rude Boys as they again failed to show past
resilience (that one crown seemed to be enough). It was at this time that
Titanic was formed (Phillips/Mooney/Seeger) out of a spectacular pool of
talent in Boston. That team, much like the Double Happiness team of 94, was
unstoppable... on paper. Ranked first entering Nationals, we lost early and
often (never gelled). This Titanic team did, finally, advance to the 
championship game at Nationals in 88, defeating arch nemesis Windy City
in the semis, only to run out of gas against South Bay (missed opportunity). 

Big Brother (Seeger/Mooney) grew out of the frustration of this loss (note
the pattern: winning keeps teams together, losing results in change).
Meanwhile another Boston team found satisfaction in playing Big Brother close
in meaningless games (many taking place at Wellesley High School). Titanic,
Big Brother and First Time Gary had begun an impressive string of Boston
semi-final or better finishes at Nationals that still reigns: could be close
to ten years running. Death or Glory resulted from the three or four
consecutive losses in those semis and finals to NY (pattern). Thank the
heavens (and ME) for NY's desire to 'shake things up' in 1994 setting up the
easiest road to victory for any team since the Tuna's in '84 or '85.

The parallels between the Houston Rockets winning after Michael Jordan's
retirement (weaker field of teams?) and DoG's victory after NY's demise are
unmistakable. Don't you think?

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Any one else?