O Captain My Captain

In recent Release the Hounds news: we have a new Social Coordinator

and have created and filled the role of Field Captain

so now it's back to what RTH Ultimate is all about. Having fun and kicking some ass.

As the new FC, I will try to give us the best chance of winning, but I won't go as far as some other captains...

A Very Decent Proposal

Hounds,

We are currently a team in transition, and change brings with it inevitable uncertainties and concerns. I would like to take this opportunity to share my thoughts for the team, and open a team discussion to allow us to reach a common vision quickly.

A Brief Canine History

In the beginning, Chris had no beard. The Hounds came together from multiple social teams in ’05 and entered TUC as one of the only teams that lived for Thursday nights. Games were okay, but socials were awesome. Without fail the entire squad could be found eating Wings and laughing late into the post-game nights. Laura does not exaggerate when she says these were nights to look forward to. Season 2, 2006, and the Hounds became more competitive with an expanded roster and, shock horror, several practices. Where things really took off however was in the social arena – Hounds Bowlerama, Old School Hounds, Hounds Close Sunnybrook, Disc Golf Hounds, Hounds Love Louis…truly the stuff of legends, and this lead implicitly to success on the field, pushing against the highest levels of Thursday TUC. Chris, at this point, probably had a beard. A big one. The 07 season dawned with large roster expansion in terms of quantity and quality, leading to a move into the heady worlds of Mondays. Without being arrogant, the Hounds relished the challenge of putting their newfound roster, energy and restlessness to the test. Hounds were beginning to tour and there was excitement in the air; the Hounds were becoming a real Ultimate team. While clearly still B level, they were at least now in the game and getting minimal BBS airtime… The goal was audaciously outlined as “Become an A level team”. This could mean many things, but was articulated as spending the summer learning team structure, playing against, and learning from, some of TO’s best, and attending a few tournaments with the ability to cause some upsets as the unknown contender. I should mention that at this point Chris’ beard became decidedly well trimmed.

The ’07 season

From that brief history you see that the confluence of Fun and Performance has always been an important consideration. The focus for 2007 though, in order to make the expansion to a higher level, was always going to be on performance. To this end regular training was agreed upon as essential, with the goal being to form a common understanding of the basic A level team structures. Additionally, although not explicitly stated, we could expect to lose just as many games as we won, assuming we really were playing on the edge of our ability and therefore developing. A good plan, methinks.

However, things do not always happen smoothly, and the realities of battle take some adjusting to…multiple commitments sidelined practices, some big losses dampened spirits, a forming squad lost momentum on socials, the goals and aspirations were sometimes questioned. Everything here is normal. In the natural process of evolution, team development is a cyclical process of Expanding and Consolidating.

Well, here is my team proposal for Consolidating, taking stock, refocusing. I think it will make us stronger and really help to align everyone’s needs to the team’s goal, and launch an awesome summer (it is only June!)

The Draft Plan

The most important word here is “draft”. Without your input and endorsement it is nothing, so read away, comment/rant/suggest to your heart’s content, and when the dust settles, we’ll have something legendary.

> Goals
- Finish Top 5 on Monday night (i.e. Tier 1)
- Enjoy RTH summer 07

> Individual performance
- Mandatory pre-game team warm-up and drill
- Commitment to give 110% intensity for 90mins
- assign mentor/benefactor relationships for all players

> Team development
- 1 training session per month with an experienced coach
- Assembly of a team playbook, for pre-game revision
- Attend Canadian Nationals (to watch) as a fun team activity and learn from the best

> Team execution
- Assign a summer Field Captain to execute the game strategy
- Guys & Gals captain to actively manage lines

> Fun Time
- Assign Social Secretary to run 2 events per month
- 1 post game bar, 1 big event (Bowlerama, Disc golf)
- Attend Canadian Nationals as a team and party

Quote of the season

“You’re a tool, can I use you to succeed?”

And now over to you, Hounds. Reactions?

How can we sum up our thoughts on losing?

This is dedicated to Tien, who made his feelings known after the last point.

Turn the volume up to 11, because that's how high we go.

Bad things happen when you play with Ninjastars

Just ask Butters.



Need I say more?

See you tonight at Sunnybrook.

I feel like...shooting my TV

"The Nestle Blue Freezer" commercial: the newest ad that I just don't get. In case you haven't seen it:



To start, what's with casting some 50 year-old, twitchy, Roberto Benigni look-alike as the fairy? If I'm trying to sell ice cream (or anything for that matter) by using a fairy, imp, naiad, nymph, whatever...then I'm starting with this template, and not straying too far:


And what's with the fairy? Does each freezer come with one? Do they work in shifts, or do the live at the store 24/7? If so, he's gotta get into some kind of union, because that would suuuuck. And I'm thinking that having something that can change frozen Nestle products at will; there's gotta be a better use for him than sitting around at the local conveniece store waiting for stoned teenagers to decide what they want to eat.

When the teenagers arrive, was the freezer empty? Was it missing the flavours they desired? NO! When the guy says he feels like a Drumstick, what's the best course of action? Hand him one? Maybe tell him "No problem kid, we have lots of those." Instead he changes all the flavours so there are only Drumsticks. Did he think this kid was going to want to eat a freezer full of Drumsticks? He only needed one.

And then, when girl #1 says she wants a Rolo Chocolate Cone, Mr. Genius Fairy again changes the entire freezer stock to what she wants, knowing full well that the guy wants a Drumstick. Know what I call this? Trouble brewing.

Of course, Token Minority Girl wants something different than the other two, and naturally Benigni-fairy changes the entire freezer AGAIN. (And what's with TMG and how she talks? "I feel like an Aero........Chocolate Cone." Did she forget her line? Was that the best take they could get out of her?) Did Benigni learn nothing from what JUST happened? Is this his first minute on the job? Did no one tell him that sometimes, different people have different tastes and might like different flavours. I don't know what he would do if he worked at Baskin Robbins.

Just to re-iterate: the freezer had all three of those flavours there to start with! That's the point of the Blue Freezer! The fairy (who the teenagers don't appear to see, by the way) serves no actual purpose. And if you need a fairy to keep track of your stock at the corner store, I'm guessing that corner store isn't going to be around for much longer.

Anyways, we go back to spikey-haired dude, who hasn't changed his mind in the past 12 seconds and still wants a Drumstick. Since we know that Twitchy-fairy is a moron, he decides the best course of action is to now turn him INTO a Drumstick. That's for not agreeing on what to eat! Of course, the girls didn't actually want to eat a Drumstick, but that doesn't stop each of them from taking a bite out of their friend. Hell, they don't even look the slightest bit surprised that their friend has turned into a 6-foot-tall frozen snack.

So, the only person who actually wanted to eat a Drumstick is still not able to, because he can't eat himself. And the girls didn't get to eat what they actually wanted. Alright! No one gets what they wanted! The Nestle Blue Freezer...juuuust magic!

And from the way the dude giggles after the girls eat him, it sounds like they did take it easy on his nuts.

I just want some pants

Since our attempt spying on the opposition didn't really help last week, I thought I'd try a more direct approach at scouting the opposition.

Me: "So Rol, how's the team looking for the game on Monday?"
Rol: "Dude, we got the Legion of Doom coming out."
Me: "Crap."

OK, so Mandrew pretty much has everyone coming out, so we're going to be in tough. So, here are some goals for the game:

1) Play our game
2) Work hard
3) Make smart decisions
3) Have fun

We know that the Legion of Doom has been known to bicker, so hopefully they will be worried about things other than ultimate, like their wardrobe.


We already have the kick-ass uniforms.

All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me

This is dedicated to the Canadian National Soccer team, who got ROBBED last night, losing 2-1 to the USA in the semi-finals of the Gold Cup. After falling behind 2-0 in the first half, Canada fought back and had the apparent tying goal called back (in the last minute of play!) on a phantom offside call. Soccer is so frustrating.

A three-on-three soccer tournament, organized by Eric Cantona.

Hidden from the world,
twenty-four elite players hold a secret tournament...
with eight teams,
and only one rule:
first goal wins.



Round 1:
Henry, Totti & Nakata beat Viera, Nistelrooy & Scholes
Davids, Thuram & Wiltord beat Ljungberg, Saviola & Enrique
Figo, Carlos & Ronaldo beat Denilson, Ronandinho & Seol
Lopez, Mendieta & Crespo beat Cannavaro, Rosicky & Ferdinand

Semis:
Henry, Totti & Nakata beat Davids, Thuram and Wiltord
Figo, Carlos & Ronaldo beat Lopez, Mendieta & Crespo

Finals:
Henry, Totti & Nakata beat Figo, Carlos & Ronaldo

All action played to A Little Less Conversation, Elvis vs JXL.

An old Nike commercial, but it's still pretty cool.