Re: Northwest Open Regionals Pseudo Write-Up

I guess people didn't read the title... empasis on "pseudo".

"I'm pretty sure that Idris would not be on the mark (or even on the
field) if it were an OB pull. "

True that. :)

The facts (although this is going to make the story much less
exciting):

-It was a huck to me (our first mistake?) in the end zone that was
long (err.. I was slow), so I ended up defending/marking the
subsequent thrower (Kirk).

-The disc came in at the goal line.

-The disc was never checked (ground or otherwise) before being thrown.

-I called the violation right away... but nobody was listening and
with the disc being caught 45 yards down field and everyone running
towards the end zone... it took a while for them to realize I hadn't
moved off the goal line.

-No observer ever made a ruling on the violation call (because I think
as has been established here... if they had, the disc would have gone
back to Kirk).

-After much screaming by Furious that it was b.s., etc... in my
(lame?) attempt to smooth over what had been a contentious game to
that point, I took back the call. It's true, it was an open side
throw, while I was expecting a check, the reality was it likely would
not have changed my mark.

-The only ruling an observer made was that the disc had to return to
the receiver who made the catch, because over turned/over ruled/taken
back or not, there was a call made prior to the catch.

Sometimes it sucks knowing the rules and playing by them... because as
we all know, sometimes you can look like a douche bag in the eyes of
the spectators.

I suppose they need to add a new preface to the rules... "A call
should be made if and only if it is 100% clear an advantage has been
gained by the violation. If the result of the play shows that... come
on... there really was no extra advantage there, you will labeled an
unspirited cheater." [fyi, this was the basis for much of the
antagonism from FG over some of our calls... if you re-read the quotes
from the original poster, you'll see what I mean]

Anyway... Furious scored 4 passes later.

They scored AND were fired up... I'd say they got the better end of
that one.



On Oct 8, 2:23 pm, Nirvana <jzisk...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The Jam vs. Furious George match-up for 3rd place to Nationals was
definitely a clash of psychological approaches to the game. Furious
knew that their backs were up against the wall for this one, and while
both teams started the game a bit lackadaisical Furious really amped
up the aggression and fire as the game wore on.

Hardly any of the big names that I remember from Furious' championship
teams were playing, and they were relying on guys I had simply never
seen before. I watched Team Canada as they played through Worlds up in
Vancouver, and this team and Furious bore little resemblance. Team
Canada relied heavily on their handlers, above all Derek Alexander, to
get open for quick upfield gains and resets, while Furious at
Regionals often seemed to need bailing out by their downfield cutters
(Nick Menzies was all over the field for them). It was clear to me
that the success of Team Canada was to a large extent a product of
Derek Alexander and John Hassell teaming up with Mike Grant and Mauro
Ortiz.

From the high of Worlds to this bitter Regionals defeat, I hate to say
it but it really felt like this was the end of Furious as we know it.
Andrew Lugsdin couldn't quite seem to will his team to victory. He
wasn't playing nearly as much as I was used to, and Mike Grant and
Kirk Savage blinked at just the wrong times right at the end to turn
the tide towards a Jam victory.

That being said, I really really thought Furious was going to pull
this one out. I have never seen anyone fired up more than Kirk Savage
in this game. Anyone who has seen him play knows that he has the best
voice of anyone, and he was absolutely fucking losing his ***.

The key turning point in this game was a three point Furious run near
the end that had a bunch of ticky-tack calls. Mike Grant was
elucidating to a Jam player on the sidelines how he gets really fired
up to play against defenders that body him up, but that it crosses the
line when defenders attempt to impede his progress using their hands
and arms to not-so-subtlely direct where he cuts. Grant yelled at
Kevin Buchanan several times about what he perceived as awful travel
calls ("He's just pivoting!" / "Why can't you respect any call that's
made on the field?" / "It's because they're stupid calls!") while
Brian Bogle of Jam taunted him repeatedly from the sidelines ("Whiny
whiny Mike! Mike's whining again!"). I can only imagine Bogle is still
upset over being torched repeatedly by Grant during the 2003 Furious/
Condors final, as well as for a few scores in this game.

It was during this three point run that I witnessed possibly one of
the most blatant displays of cheating I have ever seen. Kirk Savage
has the disc on a stoppage of play with Idris Nolan forcing him
forehand. The disc is tapped in and Kirk puts up a forehand huck to
Lugsdin who skies the balls out of two Jam defenders. 2-3 more throws
and it's a score. Except wait! Nolan claims that Savage didn't really
show him the disc to tap it in and therefore the play never really
started. The only problem with this claim is that he started to stall
Savage, which meant that he acknowledged that the play had started. So
Savage flips his *** and starts screaming at everyone, to the pure
delight of the crowd. To everyone's dismay, the observers convene and
decide to send the disc back, which Furious punches in anyway (and
Savage, for about the third different time during the point screams
"They don't want it! They don't want it!").

And honestly, it looked like Jam didn't want it. I guess you could
call this confidence or level-headed cerebral play, but I was shocked
at how disinterested Jam seemed during play and even in timeouts.
Luckily for them however, they have some excellent athletes such as
Bart Watson and Brandon Steets to T-bag defenders after a hospital
pass. They needed every one of these amazing plays to stem the tide of
Furious' momentum. The game ended appropriately on an awful mid-range
universe point throw from Gabe Saunkeah to a laying-out Bart Watson
that caused the Jam players to celebrate with tepid enthusiasm and
Furious to hang their heads like a team that perhaps thought this
might be coming all along.

.