Nationals: Day 2

Lots of action today, with there apparently being a near bench-clearing brawl in the GOAT v. Invictus game (near in that it was bench-clearing only...also Simon, why did we go back to the Big Hammers game?), and a "Greatest" for a point for TFP against Snipe. Later that night I confirmed that my sister dated a player on Furious George in high school. Oh, if only I didn't accuse him of cheating on her! *

The biggest story, however, is that Tien and I have magically aged 2 and 4 years and are playing in the Masters Division. Okay, so it's a team of "volunteers" who are taking the place of a team that pulled out at the last minute. What's better than watching ultimate? Playing ultimate. Unfortunately, this means that I don't have a full account of the day's events (doesn't help that the results aren't posted). But on the bright side, I feel like I earned the right to spend $40 on merchandise.


Of course, the real Hound contingent continued on, with the most promising stories being Carla, Lyanne and Nat having made the top 8 in their respective divisions. I believe the Diggers went 2-1 today (losing to powerhouse Capitals). This should put them in 3rd today, meaning they'll play the 2nd place team from the other pool. If the Diggers win their quarterfinal game, they will play Capitals again, so they'll be in tough to advance any further than that. (Fearless prediction: 4th place overall)

Big Hammers went 1-2 today with a win over Mayhem (giving them 3 wins over Ontario teams so far) and losses to TFP and Gecko. This puts Big Hammers in 3rd place in their pool and a tough matchup with Bostrich. A win likely puts them against TFP (uh-oh), with a loss resulting in a fun-looking consolation matchup with Monster. ("I'm putting it on the Internet" prediction: 7th)

Too Bad had a great day going 3-0, including a win over Seek the Righteousness (not sure how STR did). This gives them a shot at 9th, as I think they can win their quarterfinal, but the semis will be tough if they do get there. (No idea predition: 11th place)

As for Feisty, two of their losses (to Capitals and Salty) were somewhat expected (although apparently not allowed to be watched). They then lost a tough one to Catfish, which sets up a very interesting Feisty vs XX quarterfinal. (Promaybely prediction: 11th).


* I didn't really do that.

Day 1 at Nationals

Bonnie, Simon, Tien and I met at Sunnybrook this morning and watched a whole lot of ultimate. The weather wasn't great, but not bad either (cool, little bit of wind, no sun, a few drops of rain). With 79 teams playing, there was definitely a lot to see. The Hounds' teams had an up-and-down day.

The big news of the day was the impressive showing by Big Hammers. Seeded 17th, they easily won their first two games over Crude and Les Bouettes. Their third game had a showdown with the infamous Snipe, seeded 1st out of all the Mixed teams. After a slow start (down 4-1), Big Hammers turned it on and took control, winning an intense and chippy affair14-11. They were definitely the talk of the port-o-potties. They are now seeded 1st on Friday, so we'll see if they can keep it up as the tournament progresses. My prediction (and keep in mind that I predicted them to win one game Thursday) is that they'll win one game on Friday, putting them in 4th in their pool and in the top 8.

On the Open front, Dan L and Too Bad had a tough start, losing to 14-10 to Invictus after the score was tied at 9-9. This was then followed by them being upset by Q, essentially knocking them out of the running for the top 8. Hopefully they can bounce back and have a shot at 9th.

Dan N had a tough day, as expected. Seek the Righteousness had a small squad and was over-matched in their 4 games. The highlight for Dan had to be playing against Furious George and marking their star, Andrew Lugsdin (pictured below...my camera sucks). Hopefully they have a shot at beating Sherbrooke tomorrow, which appears to be their best shot at a victory. There is also a Dan vs Dan matchup at 10:15 to look forward to.


Laura and Carla started their days on opposing sides, and Diggers (Carla) took it to the less-experienced Feisty (Laura). Unfortunately later in the day, Diggers couldn't pull out the upset over Alberta, so they finished 2nd in their pool and are looking at a potential matchup against Storm in the quarterfinals. Feisty did get the win they needed over Amazone, so they are in the running for the top 8, however their chances are slim. I think they have a win in them tomorrow, but I'm not sure if that will be enough to make the quarters.

Not a bad down for the Hounds, as only one out of five teams finished below their seedings. Hopefully there will be more success as the tournament goes on. For the full results, check out the CUC website.

The Hounds take on Canada

The Canadian Ultimate Championships are upon us, and the Hounds are well-represented with 6 players taking part. Here's my quick take on their chances this weekend. Please keep in mind that I don't really know what I'm talking about...for rankings from people who have a clue, please check here .

Nat and Lyanne: playing with Big Hammers in Mixed (seeded 5th out of 5 in their pool, 17th overall)

Even though the top team is in their pool (Snipe) this could be the weakest pool of the four. I expect them to beat Les Bouettes, and a win against Liquid or Crude is possible. But considering the Hammers haven't played in a tournament since Mid-Season, I doubt it. My heart says 3rd (to make the Friday playdowns), by my head says 4th and out of the running. Will end the tourney 15th.

Carla: playing on Diggers in the Women's Division (seeded 2nd out of 4 in their pool, 5th overall)

Ontario's second-ranked team will go 3-0 to win their pool, and finish second on Friday to Capitals. I think they can make the semis, but will be in tough against BC's top team, Traffic. I see them finally beating Storm to take the bronze.

Laura: playing on Feisty in Women's (seeded 4th out of 4 in their pool, 13th overall)

In the same pool as Carla and Diggers. Good shot to make it to Friday playdowns (must beat Amazone from Sherbrooke), but it ends there. An 9th place finish is possible, but I 'm going to say they improve on their seeding and finish 11th.

Dan L: playing with Too Bad in Open (seeded 3rd out of 5 in their pool, 12th overall)

Too Bad is notorious for having an ever-changing roster, so we'll see who's coming out. I like them to finish 3rd on Thursday. They need to upset Blackfish and Nads to make it to Saturday, which is doable. After that they hit the wall, and my guess is they'll finish 8th.

Dan N: joining Seek the Righteousness (seeded 5th out of 5 in their pool, 18th overall)

Don't see much happening with this team...0-4 on Thursday is my guess. A 17th place finish would mean a successful weekend for this squad. Hopefully Dan can lead them to some wins.



It should be a fun weekend, and we'll see how my random projections play out. I'm planning on watching lots of flatball over the next 4 days...see you at Sunnybrook (and hopefully Varsity) supporting the Hounds.

In the morning, laughing happy fish eyes; in the evening, floating in the soup

I actually took this picture on vacation in the Philippines. I knew we'd be playing these jokers someday...

Good win last night Hounds. It got a little tough coming up against their zone, but otherwise we had some very good flow when we were up against a man d. I really like how that has been working the past month and a half. On offense, we've been eating them up...yum.



Defensively we were like Pearl Jam: Better Man. I think we should try to work in some zone before the playoffs, as well as shore up our deep issues. We're still putting lots of pressure on the other teams to make tough plays...we just need to make sure those plays come out in our favour.

Thoughts on how we can improve defensively? How about when we come up against a zone?

Fire = Hot

Allow me to add the dialogue that this commercial was missing:



[Three men tailgating. One of them is cooking steak. I'd guess one is a construction worker, one is a mechanic, and one just came from the set of The Warriors .]

Guy #1 - "How do you want your steak?"

Guy #2 - "Medium."

Guy #1 - "You?"

Guy #3 - "Medium rare."

[One drip of sauce falls onto the barbecue grill. Tense music plays in the background. The men look like they are fishing and just dropped the last beer into the lake.]

[Better be sure to put the "Do not attempt" disclaimer in case someone is actually dumb enough to do what this guy is going to do.]

Guy #2 - "Let it go. Do you see the bottle you are holding? It has much more sauce in it than the tiny amount that fell on the grill. You still have lots of sauce left. Why do you care? For that matter, why did I just stand up?"

Guy #1 - "But it's A1 steak sauce. Not Heinz, not HP, but A1. It comes first in the phone book!"

[Guy #1 takes off hat, and decides to go in. Flash forward as everyone is looking at an ambulance.]

Guy #1 - "Ith my theak okay?"

Guy #2 - "Um, yeah, it's fine. Not that you'll know now. Did you not ever learn how cooking food with heat works? Is this your first barbecue? I hope that drip of sauce on the dirty grill tasted good, because now you aren't going to be tasting anything for a month. Good one."

Guy #3 - "Dude, you're a moron...dibbs on his steak."

God - "A1 steak sauce. Yeah, it's that important."

Only 1 week late...

Alright, I finally saw the Simpsons Movie last night. Michelle and I were joined by a few other Hound-folk (Nat, Tien, Joel, Steph, Laura). And yes, they did Release the Hounds in the movie, so it was well worth it.

I'm not going to go too much into the movie itself since I'd end up giving away the ending (hint: it might involve Homer Simpson, Peter Griffin and Eric Cartman having a fart contest to save the Earth. But it might not.). If you're a Simpsons fan, well then you've probably already seen it. If you're a Simpsons fan and haven't seen it yet, then stop being a cheapskate and give Matt Groening his $12. You've been living off free episodes for years...is that too much to ask?

If you're not a Simpsons fan, then get the hell out of here.

The one thing I will mention was the previews. Not too many, which was a welcome change. Although one was the most disturbing thing I have seen since I saw Se7en and the knife/sex device that John Doe made the guy from Very Bad Things use on a woman.

Let's just say the jokes involve the worst version of Funkytown ever, plus eating crap. Against my better judgement...



Some questions for Jason Lee: Underdog AND Alvin and the Chipmunks? Really? Is Kevin Smith not returning your phone calls anymore?

But who will control the Beer Bong?

This past Monday marked the final game as a Hound for our good friend, Pierre Dufour. As we know, he will be leaving with Natalie for France where he will further his education at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, about 65 kms to the south of Paris. They already have a nice little place ready for their arrival, and I'm sure they will find lots to do while they are working and studying abroad.

Pierre has been a full-fledged member of the Hounds since we started way back in the Spring of 2005. I still remember the halcyon days when Pierre was "Party Guy" organizing all of the Hounds social events; including the infamous Old School movie night, the beer bong and the House Crawl. Although, given the amount of alcohol Pierre made me consume, I am amazed that I actually remember anything at all. I would be remiss (and Michelle would kill me) if I did not also mention the dragonflies at Snowplate.


Unfortunately due to an injury Pierre was only able to play the final point (which happened to be the longest point of the game), and even worse, we lost the game. But a matter such as winning an losing was definitely not the important aspect on Monday night. After the game, we went back to one of our original post-game stomping grounds, St. Louis', to re-live the good times and to give Pierre a proper Hounds send-off, which of course included an Irish Car Bomb.

He has already promised me that he will continue to check the site to keep in touch with our progress, since apparently I'm on his "Top 4" sites to check. He better keep reading, since he's one of about 8 people who actually pay attention here.

So, we say "A Bientot" to Pierre: Hound, Party Guy, Tournament Captain, and most importantly, our friend. Good luck in France, and we hope to see you soon.