DoG 2001

DoG 2001: The Year without a classification

Month		Tournament	Finish	Notable Wins/Losses
	Comments
April		Turkey Swamp	7-0, 1^st	Please
	Alex does not attend. For the second straight year, DoG goes undefeated at this tournament for the first time ever. Melvin and Josh Fincke play with the team as tryouts. Fincke shows Wicks-like qualities, as it is rumored that he has already decided not to play with DoG. Tom and I are sitting on the sidelines when a NY Masters yells over "Hey, John Bar." We both chuckle at Tom's expense until after the game when we realize the guy was referring to me. DoG lifetime at Turkey Swamp: 37-12, 4 titles, 4 non-titles.
June		Easterns	8-0, 1st	Thermonuke, Sockeye
	First Easterns victory for the young guys, unfortunately. Heavy rain for a little while on Saturday, I feel I might have a hamstring injury. Sun comes out, hamstring feels better. Greff children watch approximately 14 seconds then leave. DoG lifetime at Easterns: 51-2, 5 titles, 2 non-titles.
June		Purchase	7-0, 1st	Blackjack, NY
	Zak is made official treasurer when Motorboat threatens to not let us come back the second day unless someone pays the entry fee, really. Innovative schedule gives us first round bye on Sunday, then another bye in the pre-semis. We turn up at around 1 to watch the end of the Toronto-New Blackjack game, one of those epic battles where it is too bad that one of the teams has to win. We then beat Blackjack 15-1. NY's full squad then takes us to the limit before losing 18-16 in the final, prompting Tony Leonardo to think they have a shot at us. DoG lifetime at Purchase: 13-0, 2 titles.
August		Emerald City Classic	2-5, 7^th	1 point wins over Furious and Sub Zero, 1 point losses to Sockeye and Johnny Bravo.
	Our first appearance at ECC as "BooBoo Kitty Fuck" (unofficially). As of Thursday, we had 15, but Nathan gets an ear problem and blows us off. Forch, Billy, and Justin fly back from Japan just in time for the tournament looking not so good from their travels. Several get hurt. Begin day by giving up 8-1 run to Johnny Bravo, rally back, only to lose at cap. We lose a legitimate one to Condors, then another one pointer to Sockeye (although we come closer to winning as we had the disc that point). In final game Saturday against Jam, we're up 9-8 when they throw it away going downwind in their own end zone. Alex sprints to the disc, picks it up and gives a quick head fake, then doesn't move again until after the marker says "ten." We don't score again. However, he makes up for up by winning the Elite division of the party. Sunday we pick up Shecky and Frankus. We edge out Subzero, enabling them to keep their title of "the Phil Mickelson of Ultimate." At game point against Furious, Al throws me a hammer, only to have Frankus lay out for the grab, stand up, and zing a flick huck to Shiring for the game-winner. At Nationals, Frankus admits that he knew I was there and that he deserved an opportunity for greatness. We also lose to Portland. Towards the end of that game, I am trying to avoid going in the game due to impending cramps, but notice that we only have 4 players on the line. Read the full report below, minus the Spermometer reference.
September		Tuneup	7-1, 1st	L to Sockeye, beat CBASS and Subzero
	Heavy rain- and windstorm on Sunday almost cause finals to be cancelled. We lost a seeding game on Sunday morning to Sockeye, then play in high winds against Subzero. D goes almost a game and a half without a break before SZ guy drops an upwind pull, then the floodgates open and we pull it out, keeping "Phil Mickelson" alive. Finals are uneventful win. Alex and I learn that "St. Groovius" was a finalist in the Boss Hogg team naming contest. DoG lifetime at Tuneup: 49-12, 3 titles, 5 non-titles.
		Sectionals	3-0, 1st
	Another non-sanctioned format, although this time at least we didn't automatically qualify for Regionals without having to win a game. BH and Red Tide have a great heckle-fest. After messing up, DoG players are given choice of taking exile in the far-away penalty box or else going into the shooting gallery. DoG lifetime at Sectionals: 25-0, 8 titles.
October		Regionals	4-0, 1st	NY
	Win 15-3, 15-5, 15-6, and 17-6 or so. NY almost loses to Cornell in 2nd round. Canadian conglomerate makes it to game to go. Only two teams qualify for Nationals for the first time since 1985, which is coincidentally the last time Boston didn't make semis at Nationals. DoG lifetime at Regionals: 40-1, 7 titles, 1 non-title.
November		Nationals	5-2, semis	Beat Jam by 5, L to Subzero in pool play, L to Condors 15-10 in semis
	First pool play loss for Boston since 1990. Windy the whole time. Might finally have to admit that a win is not guaranteed just by showing up. DoG lifetime at Nationals: 57-3, 6 titles, 2 non-titles.
43-8, 6 victories, 1 semis loss, 1 other New players: Dylan Boyd, Alex "Dutchie" Ghesquierre, Ville Nevalainen, Justin Hughes, Zak. Lost Jeff Brown, Coop, Bim, Paul, Mooney, Brian, Bob. Lifetime: 426-55, 47 titles, 14 2nd, 7 semis losses, 6 other.

Email to Nathan post-ECC:

Johnny Bravo: We began the day with 14 players, having lost Ear-boy the day before. However, that 14 was really 11, as the WG guys were late in showing up and later in being ready to play. Additionally, they were slow. Nonetheless, I sparked us to a 5 -2 lead, and it was beginning to look Tuneupish. Error followed error soon after, unluckily, and we found ourselves down 10-6 and 11-7. The offense (it isn't right to call it the O) wasn't clicking. We ran off three in a row to close within 1, then got another break to tie it up at game point, but we couldn't turn them and lost. I pointed out that if we won the rest of our games, we were almost certainly in the finals.

SB was next. Our offense played a little better. Forch started showing some signs of life, something his travel buddies never really did. We stayed close, but there was a general feeling that we were overmatched in the game, as they had their full squad at that point. 15-11. I pointed out that if we won the rest of our games and the Condors won theirs, we were still almost certainly in the finals.

Sockeye was next to grace us. The losses are sorta running together, but in keeping with the general theme of the weekend, we were in it for a long time and were leading I think 10-8 (or was that some other game?), then had a bad stretch to put us down. This one-pointer was a step closer to victory than the last game, as we forced a turnover but then Dylan overthrew Forch on a swing pass. I pointed out that we were actually still in the tournament, since with all these upsets and close games that we could back in with a 4-3 record, especially since potential big wins against Jam and FG awaited us.

Jam was the final course for us that dreadful day. There weren't many breaks for most of the game. We were leading 9-8 when they threw it away in their own end zone going downwind. Al ran to pick it up, made a slight head fake, then Greffed probably 6.2 seconds later. We didn't score again, 14-9. Before the game, Lyn asked me whether there were any telltale signs that a hamstring was about to go. Later, when his hamstring went, I said, "Whatever it was that you felt before." Justin Safdie got knocked out with a knee injury, perhaps a bad one. It was very stiff the next day, bad enough to keep him from competing for TG. Dutchie hurt his ankle also, and played only a scant amount on Sunday. Dylan had a bump on his knee, but it could be worse. Lou later said that other than these two injuries, he's not known Dylan to be hurt.

This was as tired as I've been after a day of ultimate since perhaps the pre-Tech summer league days.

Alex and I won the Elite Division of the party. Al lost a rocham with me, the Kid, and 8 Atlanta women and had to do dirty dancing with a ponytailed guy.

Perhaps only 5 people were warmed up for the SubZero game, with the WG guys late. We received and went down 3-0, called time, then tied it up. We picked up Shecky at halftime, and he immediately threw a long goal. We got a lead, traded back and forth, then received going downwind for the game. Shecky to Jim on a longish pass for the victory.

FG was next. They appeared to be as tired as we were. It was a back and forth game, neither team ever up by much, and again, we received going down wind for the game. Al threw me a hammer, but Frankus (picked up prior to this game) ignored my call off and laid out for it, got up, and threw a long pass to Shecky, who laid out for the game-winner.

Portland was last. We received at 7-7 but turned it over, then got broken a couple times more in the 2nd half. We eventually closed it to 12-11 (game to 13) and had the disc, but Frankus tripped and missed the disc and they scored to win. I don't think we have to worry about losing to them at Nationals if we play them. My legs felt shot in the 2nd half, so I was content to sit out the last few points of the game, but at 12-10, as we were starting to line up, I realized that we still needed four, so I went in and caught some passes to spite Alex.

The finals featured a lot of running. It's amazing how much more other teams run on offense than we do. While of course I know that they run too much, it's possible that we run too little, especially when the disc is trapped. With our creeping stack, we all end up near the line and have no room for in cuts and 45 breaks, and even dumps are really crowded.