Champagoyles!

The grand concerto of Spring League has finally ended, but not without an exciting last movement of upsets and nail-biters.

The Spring League 2012 Champions are...  

The Chupagoyles!

Our Final Standings went something like:

Champs: Chupagoyles

2.  Guardin' Gnomes

3/4 Nessie

3/4 Stackin' Kraken

5.  Calvinosaurs

6.  Funky Fly Foenixes

7/8 Blue Oxen of Minch

7/8 Lil' Griffins

9/10 Puff the Magic Jackalope

9/10 Man-Bear-Pig

And how the brackets shook out:

Spring League 2012 Playoffs (1)

That Forrest is a pretty excellent photographer..  if you haven't, you should check out his Flickr site, where he's been uploading all kinds of ultimate photos for many leagues. 
http://www.flickr.com/groups/ashevilleultimate/pool/
Here are some other tidbits from the Finals:

The sunset must have been inspiring.

There's a disc up there somewhere.

Bilman rises. 

Ari saves a poor decision. 

Mikey travels: Exhibit A

Kyle leaves his feet for the win. 

Craig's been here before. 

Playoffs Round 1

Announcements:

-Hat tournament this Saturday!  We have the fields reserved from 9am - 5pm, but I believe the hat tournament will not be getting underway until closer to 10am.  A hat tournament is a blast, and the theme is "Bring-A-Friend-To-Ultimate."  There will be Summer League signups available, and Linden Blaisus will be organizing.  Remember to leave your dogs at home.

-Afterwards, there is a Spring League Party held at the Altamont Brewery in West Asheville.  It's across from the Get-Down, and will be from 6-9.  A couple nice kegs and catering from Neo Burrito await.

But in other news, check out how the playoffs went down last night.  Behold, the updated brackets:
Spring League 2012 Playoffs



Here's a recap of the Jackalopes vs. Kraken game:
"Game was actually uplifting - I was late as a muth, found justin there in street clothes encouraging away and Damron was running shit.  DanK showed up at half to play a little O & handle, we still gave up a 8-1 half.  Only one lady too, so we weren't really in it, still it felt great to hit flow and make a run to 11-6 bad guys with a lot of peoples stepping up - John's wicked improved (great marks), Clark cut great, Adrian handled chill with Ben, Garret used his left hand a lot, Scott ran his ass of like always, I turned it over like fucking panckakes.  Everybody wanted it, okish deep cuts, the other team ran zone all the fucking time (EVERYPOINT) so looks were hard to hit." - Saggy
  
As a substitute for other recaps, please enjoy Forrest Samuel's photography.  He took some amazing shots, all available for viewing on his Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/groups/ashevilleultimate/pool/
There are some really good ones there, but here are some of his favorites:

Look at that knee flex.  

Kenny Bear gets the D

From now on, Callahan goals should be called Nosowitzing!

Good Form

"I had nothing to do with it!"

There goes our dream.

Seanboy with a thrilling layout "strip"

Just a snapshot of the action in this game

See you next week, when we'll crown our champions and see who gets the Golden Bucket!  Stay tuned for Summer League info.  

And Then There Were Playoffs

Last week's regular season games secured us the following seeds for playoffs:

1) Nessie (same record as Lil Griffins, won head-to-head match-up)

2) Lil Griffins (same record as Chupagoyles, played each other twice, each team won once, Lil Griffins have better point diff. between those 2 games)

3) Chupagoyles

4) Foenixes

5) Guardin' Gnomes (same record as Calvinosaurs, won head-to-head match-up)

6) Calvinosaurs

7) Blue Oxen

8) Kraken

9) Jackalope

10) ManBearPig

And so, here's our brackets for playoffs.  It's single elimination, so make sure you get to your games on time, and caps and forfeiture rules will be enforced.  

Spring League Playoffs

Week 10: The Happening

Hey All:

We're adding one more week of regular season games in order to make up some lightning-affected games and give a couple teams their quota of double headers.  We tried to be fair about it, tried to avoid too many rematches, that stuff.  After next week we'll have two Wednesdays of a single elimination playoff bracket.  So use this last week of regular season games to hone your stratagems so you'll peak at the right time.  These results will count towards establishing your seed in the playoff bracket!
Here's the schedule for this week's games:
5.30
Field A: Lil' Griffins (4) vs Puff the Magic Jackalope (8)
Field B: Stackin' Kraken (2) vs. Nessie (9)
7.00
Field A: Guardin' Gnomes (7) vs. Blue Oxen of Minch (6)
Field B: Calvinosaurs (1) vs. Man-Bear-Pig (5)
8.30
Field A: Calvinosaurs (1) vs. Funky Fly Foenixes (10)
Field B: Man-Bear-Pig (5) vs. Chupagoyles (3)

Now, last week's Results:

5.30
Stackin' Kraken vs. Blue Oxen of Minch
"A highly spirited game - no calls in the second half I believe.  Blue Oxen win 13-10 - Lexi was en fuego." - Seanboy
Oxen 13 - 10 Kraken

Man-Bear-Pig vs. Guardin' Gnomes
"There might have been a break or two in the first half by each team, but it was on serve at half, 8-7 bad guys. They score another break out of half, we get one back later, they get another to make it 12-10. They pull at 13-11, hard cap comes on during the point, we score, but lose by one at the cap...I remembered something!" - Cosgrove
Gnomes 13 - 12 Man-Bear-Pig

7.00
Guardin' Gnomes vs. Stackin Kraken
"Jason's team is really good.  We both had double headers and they proved fresher and less tired than us. " - Adam Morgan
Gnomes 13 - 9 Kraken

Nessie vs. Funky Fly Foenixes
"We played exceptional defense, but Nessie had a rockstar offense that wore us down. Foenix had some baller layouts, an outstanding showing by our ladies and a promising display of players who stepped into leadership roles as one captain was stuck at work and the other was gimping around the sidelines. We kept creeping back into the game and just when victory was within our grasp, it slipped out of our fingers again like sand through a sieve, or Cheetos into the couch. A competitive, entertaining and high-spirited game with many other awesome details I can't remember. Go team." - Winner
Nessie 14 - 10 Foenixes

8.30
Chupagoyles vs. Lil' Griffins
Chupagoyles 15 - 10 Griffins

Calvinosaurs vs. Puff the Magic Jackalope
"from all accounts a phenomenal game to watch. playing in it was much better. jackalopes closed the gap to two down at half, but the ryans duo (jesus they are fast) and the rest of their ballers came out blazing in the second half. it was damn fun."-Scott Hirons
Calvinosaurs 14 - 10 Jackalope


Leaving us the records:


Calvinosaurs 5 - 6
Stackin' Kraken 4 - 8
Chupagoyles 7 - 4
Lil' Griffins 7 - 4 - 1
ManBearPig 2 - 9
Blue Oxen of Minch 5 - 6
Guardin' Gnomes 6 - 6
Puff the Magic Jackalope 4 - 7 - 1
Nessie 9 - 3
Funky Fly Foenixes 8 - 4


See you Wednesday.

Week 9: Naughty

I wasn't around, but I heard there was lightning.  Here's the skinny results.

5.30

Guardin' Gnomes vs. Puff the Magic Jackalope

"Sorry to everyone playing at 7:00 yesterday - the kinetic energy and electricity from the 5:30 matchup between the Gnomes and Jackalopes must of stirred up a little something in the atmosphere.  Having to make multiple good decisions and consistant chilly throws during zone O created a surplus of unreleased craziness and holstered hucks.  This mixed with hard cutting and great D by both teams, all this energy created a nice little thunderstorm.  Our bad.  

Before we proceeded to truly 'make it rain':

• Jackawhaaaaats started the game holding onto a one break advantage until Gnomes went up 7-5.  
• A strong push from Jackalopes tied the game at 7's before Gnomes took half.  
• Jackalopes would have very likely taken the half had certain players not been strongly influenced to throw turnovers from sideline hecklers.  Seemed a good idea at the time.... the voice from the sideline seemed to only confirm my original intuition of 'Yes,  I DO have that throw'. We were both wrong.  
• After Garret throws ANOTHER awesome left handed cork-screwing hammer for a score, most of the team assumes this equates to a dramatic game-winning throw (refer to last week's write-up).  
• As basking in the glory of left handed hammers and the thrill of victory does not actually help much when the game is not actually over, Jackalopes quickly give up a point and the Gnomes take a 11-8 lead.
• Soft cap goes on sometime around now.
• Some of these points around now are pretty long.
• Jackalopes dig deep and claw back into a 11-9 game.  
• Seth gets a little manic again - accuracy of post-game write-up suffers.
• With a briliant, tow-the-line catch for score from Adrian, Jackalopes score another one!!!  This game is heating up!!!  They could do it!!!!  One more point for the tie!!!!  One more point for another thrilling universe point comeback win from the mighty Jackalopes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Wait, what?  Why are we shaking hands?  Hard cap went on that point... what?  Fuck.  Didn't hear that one.  " - Saggy

Guardin' Gnomes 11 - 10 Jackalope

and

Lil' Griffins vs. Nessie

Nessie 12 - 9 Griffins

7.00 Games Were Lightning-ed Out

8.30

Stackin' Kraken vs. Foenixes

Foenixes 13 - 11 Kraken

and

Calvinosaurs vs. Man-Bear-Pig

"after avoiding certain death by lightning the 8:30 crew got to play a game which was great! lots of running and catching and throwing" - Strazzer

Calvinosaurs 11 - 7 Man-Bear-Pig

And so the records stand:

Calvinosaurs 4 - 6
Stackin' Kraken 4 - 6
Chupagoyles 6 - 4
Lil' Griffins 7 - 3 - 1
ManBearPig 2 - 8
Blue Oxen of Minch 4 - 6
Guardin' Gnomes 4 - 6
Puff the Magic Jackalope 4 - 6 - 1
Nessie 8 - 3
Funky Fly Foenixes 8 - 3

See you tomorrow night.  Stay tuned for playoff info.

Week Ocho: Loco!

Some spectacular games and nail-biting upsets this week, folks.  First a couple announcements:

1)  Only two more weeks of regular season play.  Then, we'll have 3 weeks of playoffs, schedule TBA.  Stay tuned to this blog, where we'll put up the brackets.  All playoffs and finals will be on Wednesday nights; finals will be on May 23rd.  

2)  Clear your calendars for May 19th.  AUC will be hosting a one day hat tourament, which will also serve as a pre-party for the end of season League Party.  Also, we'll be having signup sheets for Summer League at this shindig, so it's highly encouraged that you bring a friend to sign up for this crazy sport.  

And now...........................RESULTS!

5.30

Man-Bear-Pig vs. Funky Fly Foenixes

"Having arrived fashionably late, I missed the first 7 or so points of the game against Man-Bear-Pig. But word on the street is that it started out as a very sloppy match up with far more turnovers than points. The FFFs struggled to coordinate our short game but had some pretty sexy defense and a baller deep game that wound up shutting the Men-Bears-Pigs down." Rachel Winner 

Foenixes 12 - 9 Man-Bear-Pig

Calvinosaurs vs. Puff the Magic Jackalope

"In a night punctuated with amazing comebacks and thrilling universe points; what better way to start off than showing up late and getting soundly thumped?  I can think of many... however, at the time it was pretty damn enjoyable as Adrian got open like a birthday present and Clark went long like a something that is long.  I will treasure always the lessons I learned from this game:  

• Ryan Sitler is fast. 
• So is Ryan Bell.  
• Ann Araps is faster than both of them. 
• I have no earthly idea how to handle a 'Stall' call conflicting with a 'Foul' on the throw that would have negated the stall.  Except for it was Strazzer, so I figured he traveled anyway and deserved a good arguing with to boot.  " - Saggy

Calvinosaurs 12 - 10 Jackalope

7.00

Puff the Magic Jackalope vs. Funky Fly Foenixes

"(before this rambling starts: what about Birdo's crazy catch on DanMan in the endzone!!!!  How did he catch that?!)

In a night originating with surprised time checks, frantic gathering of ultimate gear, and late arrivals, Dan 'Mother[edit]er' Kenny shows up to join said huddle.  The addition of another handler gave us the thrilling edge we needed to run Ho stack and slowly fall behind 5 points.  

Sparked by a flurry of incomplete deep throws from Dan the Man 'I'm-pretty-sure-the-7th-huck-will-be-a-completion' Manget and loud noises from Saggy:

1. Puff rallies back to tie the game at 10's! (Seth is pretty manic at this point, not sure how accurate the synopsis is)
2. Puff goes up 11-10!
3. Foenixes tie the game at 11's!
4. Soft cap sounds!  Game to 13! 
5. Puff goes up 12-11!
6. Unable to hear Seth's pre-pull pump up speech: "This is our point! Let's make it the last point of the game" - Foenixes score the tying goal!  (sneaky breakmark high release backhand from Birdo)
7. Fulfilling Puff's 'make every throw 100%' universe point vow:  Garret 'right-hand-submissive' Earhart throws a left handed cork-screwing hammer to Dan 'every-throw-to-me-is-100%' Kenny to win the game - Thrilling! - YAY!" - Ibid.  

Jackalope 13 - 12 Foenixes

Stackin' Kraken vs. Nessie

"Perfect weather for two spectacular and totally real creatures in the Kraken and LochNess.  In "The Battle of Ocean Lure" the Krakens took a fast lead and then got really happy and then forgot how to play and then lost the lead and consequentially lost half 8-6.  2nd half didn't go the Krakens way either at the beginning, but when the score got to 11-8 in favor of the Nessies, Kraken hunkered down and brought it to a 11-11 tie and to universe point.  The point was a bit testy as most universe points can be.  But after a few "contests" and "no-contests" the Krakens pulled it out with a scary throw and catch to the side of the end zone that was disputed.  Fortunately the ladies and gentlemen of Nessie are honest and great sports and called Kraken in bounds without any doubt." - Adam Morgan

Kraken 12 - 11 Nessie

8.30

Lil' Griffins vs. Blue Oxen of Minch

"The Blue Oxen of Minch decided this week that it would be cool to score in the 2nd half.  After going down 8-4, then 14-7, the UNCA lead Minch pulled off their second epic comeback of the week, finishing on a 7-0 run to win 15-14.  A wonderfully high spirited game with lots of exciting plays, FOR THE FANS!!!" - Seanboy

Blue Oxen 15 - 14 Griffins

Chupagoyles vs. Guardin' Gnomes
"Wednesday morning was cold, and the Chupagoyles awoke knowing it was going to be a game of chilly offence against the Gaurdin' Gnomes that night.  And so it was; the the Gnomes threw some very effective man and zone defenses that kept the points close, with many opportunities to score for both team. Chupagoyles ended up pulling out a win after briefly forgetting how to score and letting the gnomes go on a 4 point streak late in the game." - Amy Allen
Chupagoyles 15 - 10 Guardin' Gnomes


So here's our records:

Calvinosaurs 3 - 6
Stackin' Kraken 4 - 5
Chupagoyles 6 - 4
Lil' Griffins 7 - 2 - 1
ManBearPig 2 - 7
Blue Oxen of Minch 4 - 6
Guardin' Gnomes 3 - 6
Puff the Magic Jackalope 4 - 5 - 1
Nessie 7 - 3
Funky Fly Foenixes 7 - 3

Week 7: Oh, Cold Snap!

 A little nip in the air didn't stop the ultimate.  Week 7 Results, Ahoy!

5.30

Blue Oxen of Minch vs. Funky Fly Foenixes
"It was a blustery Spring afternoon this past Wednesday. That whole in-like-a-lion-and-out-like-a-lamb bit seems to be a crock. And it certainly made for a silly game of ultimate with lots of diving blades, high spirits, incompletions and a full game of zone. Both teams seemed to have butter fingers as we traded drops and points until Foenix took half at 8-7 or 8-6. Then we clamped down on our defense and continued to pull away on the scoreboard. Shortly after soft cap the final score was determined." - Rachel Winner
Foenixes 13 - 6 Blue Oxen

Chupagoyles vs. Stackin Kraken
"The Chupagoyles came out ready for some great games on Wednesday.  Starting with a small crew and big winds it felt like a zoney kind of night.  The short game had been working well, so after testing the winds a little bit, the chupas decided to stick with it.  Blue Oxen of Minch worked the disc smoothly down the middle of the field and even got some great shots off between gusts.  It was a hard battle but as the first game came to a close (and capped) Chupas squeaked out with a W for the night final score of 12-11."-Amy Allen
Chupagoyles 12 - 11 Kraken

7.00

Chupagoyles vs. Blue Oxen of Minch

"After tying the game 7-7, Blue decided scoring in the 2nd half isn't cool." - Seanboy

Chupagoyles 12 - 7 Blue Oxen

Puff the Magic Jackalope vs. ManBearPig

"A game of tsunamis." -Saggy

Jackalope 11 - 8 ManBearPig

8.30

Nessie vs. Guardin' Gnomes

"In defiance of all physical properties known and unknown, Guardin’ Gnomes ended a winning streak coming up just one point shy to the One Eyed Monsters known collectively as Nessie.  One sideline reporter observed that Nessie had, “more speed than a trucker’s convention,” and the Gnomes “had more turns than the Daytona 500.”  That might have been Evan, can’t say for certain." - Jason Rector

Nessie 12 - 11 Gnomes

Calvinosaurs vs. Lil' Griffins

"In a much anticipated match up between league directors, the Calvinosaurs came out swinging and took at 7 - 3 lead.  Then their gears began to jam up as their offense began to throw into the Griffins' talon-y zone.  We mustered half 8-7 after a couple tediously lengthy points but lost in the end, 10-8." - Me 

Griffins 10 - 8 Calvinosaurs

Which leaves us with the records: 

Calvinosaurs    2 - 6
Stackin' Kraken    3 - 5
Chupagoyles    5 - 4
Lil' Griffins    7 - 1 - 1
ManBearPig    2 - 6
Blue Oxen of Minch    3 - 6
Guardin' Gnomes    3 - 5
Puff the Magic Jackalope    3 - 4 - 1
Nessie    7 - 2
Funky Fly Foenixes    6 - 2

By the way, if you didn't know, there is a hat tournament taking place this weekend in Greenville, just 45 minutes south of Asheville.  If you're free, it's highly recommended!  Hat tournaments are a blast; you simply show up and put a whole league's worth of fun into one day.  Here's a link with info: http://greenvilleultimate.org/blog/2012/03/21/jester-jam-2012-registration-open/

See you next week, friends.