This Week

I think about ultimate more than many of you probably think about eating or sleeping. I don't really know why, but it is a fixation, an obsession, a disease. I am not going to be a productive student this next week. I am not going to be paying attention in my classes. I will not be focusing on video games when Hupps is playing them in our living room. With sectionals looming on the horizon, that is all I will be thinking about. This is not to say that any of you should have that kind of relationship to the sport we play. The amount that I think about all aspects of ultimate from tournament structure, to throwing form, to watching highlight videos over and over again to the point where I know what is going to happen in every play throughout the video is probably not healthy.

However, I have rarely left a practice feeling as dejected as I did after practice today. I can blame some of my mistakes or fuck-ups on my groin, I guess, but the performance of the O-Line was sloppy, unfocused, and downright pathetic at times. If we come out that way at sectionals, we will not only get walked-over by Illinois, we will get upset by Purdue, and we will not be going to Regionals. There is nothing that I can think of that would make me more dejected about our season than breaking a four year streak of Regionals attendance. I sure as hell don't want to let that happen on our watch, do you?

If there was ever a week to cut classes, to let your work fall to the wayside, to be in attendance at practice, this is the week. Tuesday is the last serious practice we will have before Sectionals, and if we don't have full lines at the very least, how are we supposed to iron out all of the faults and flaws and make ourselves ready to run, play, and win come Saturday. I know people are injured, I know people are stressed, but that is all the more reason we need more people at practice. I can't be playing every point if I want to be as healthy as I can be by sectionals and no one should have to be.

I conclude with my favorite ultimate highlight video. Without fail, when I watch this video, I am awed by the beauty of our sport and reminded of why I play and who I want to become as a player. It is something to aspire to, and a reminder that all of us are capable of playing ultimate and playing it well.

Enjoy, and GET FUCKING PUMPED:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wDvuBTj8Vk&feature=related