dopio

Grog

Wenceslas square

Prague Metronome

Autoretrato

Prague Coffee

Thursday is done. I picked one of the power pools (Sock, Iron, Jam, Goat) and botched the other with only %50 right, which in frisbee is pathetic. It is (Bravo, Revolver, Chain, Ring). Today should be interesting, hopefully Sub has an easy day and is able to bring the noise in the playingame, where it seems obvious they will be playing Goat. I am eating my words about DW, you should check out the highlight videos, Ledes, Sambob, Pbob, Christian, Kanner, Grant all make guest appearances.

Prague park

St. Wenceslas Square

It started raining, so I broke for Pastry & Coffee

Looking back, Prague was sweet.

I'm sitting in the library hitting refresh. After going down big (5-1) Machine is back within reach of Revolver (7-5), Fuck yeah LEDES! Bodhi is losing to JAM (10-5) as was expected, SAMboob needs to throw more hammers. Sockeye is losing to DW (5-6). Subzero is starting slow against PoNY. Possibly olive picking Saturday, I wish I was playing frisbee.

My Vacation (click picture for larger version)

I found twenty euro on the ground, that's like $30

All bikes go to heaven

Coffeeshop in Maastricht

Our first night in Ams, cramped hostel, Noah is a ghost

I'm trying to find a spot to watch nationals on Sat/Sun, Ultivillage is streaming live footage. DJ'd at the JoshuaTree pub last night, free drinks, listened to my music, so ok.

You know you are in Eastern Europe when...

Babies

Huge TV tower, see the babies?

XC Ski store

wha?

Today, class at the Bargello and Uffizi, beats the hell out of lectures in Bolio. We may be going olive picking this weekend, don't really know what that entails. Still warm here, fris practice tonight, i'll pwn.

Chingali

View from the Charles bridge

Enjoying Mickeyds

Friday we went to Prato (45 min. by bus) to look at some paintings/churches/relics etc. Spent the rest of the day catching up on much needed sleep. Saturday afternoon, Max drove me up to this sweet house from the 18th century owned by one of the players for our celebratory (Beach Italian National Champions!) dinner. A beautiful old house with brick oven and attached small chapel dating from the 17th century. I had a really great time, got to play poker, spent about 30min trying to organize a boat race, etc etc. The real world this week, I'm excited for Halloween and Nationals, somebody on RSD put out "going as FrankhugensguardNOSPAM" but nobody would get that here...

ice sculptors

BIG, like your momma's butt

Modo

View from a tower

Charles Bridge

Seedings are up! lets take a look

Pool A: (Sockeye 3-0, Goat 2-1, DW 1-2, Diablo 0-3)

Sockeye: Too good, too much big game experience to lose. While an upset may have been probable if Goat was the first game of the day (2004 1st game loss to pike), facing Goat last, Sockeye will be on a roll. With the easiest day 1, Sockeye will be a force come sat/sun when other teams will have already battled.

Goat: Loses to Sockeye. Either this game is close, or a blow out, Goat is the kind of team that has the patience/experience but not the firepower to match up with Sockeye. Also, not having seen Sock this season and the recent memory of a Semis stomping (2007) has Goat going 2nd in the pool. People might argue a close game against DW but with Goats confidence/experience from the past few years, I don't see anxious DW winning. Goat's 8th seed turns out to be a blessing, avoiding games against, Condors/Chain

DW: New kids on the block s a lot of d. Will easily take care of El Diablo for the 3rd seed. Sock/Goat have a championship attitude that DW can't match.

El Diablo: dead last, won't win a game this year.

POOL B: Chain 2-1, JB 2-1, SZ 2-1, Pony 0-3

Chain: Benefits hugely from the 10th seed. Gets to face a cold, overly confident JB first round and will upset. Chain has the athletes to line up with JB and plays better when it counts. I see Chain getting some breaks early and then patiently holding on. Unfortuantley after a grinding game agaisnt JB, Subzero will prove too much. Easy last game against Pony

JB: After being suprised by Chain early, JB will get things back on track, taking Pony for a ride. The last game of the day agaisnt SZ will prove difficult but JB will secure the victory, finding their stride late in the day.

SubZero: A tough break with Chain in their pool yet again. A good warm up game and confidence booster, as they easily defeat Pony, setting up the game of the day in my mind. Chain vs. Sub has seen Chain come out on top the past few years, but with the enlightment of little Lindsley, Subzero wins. With a few years of experience under their belt, and the type of season that has left Sub hungry for more, the CUT/Hodag combo will prove too much as Subzero begins its climb to national dominance in the coming years. With the additions of Hector's vetran leadership (never seen him play, he seems to have a sound mental game/crush on Grant), the maturing of the current/recently ex hodags, and Kanner's big ol balls, Subzero has become a team with few weak links. Unfortuanelty a last round match up with JB who has trounced Sub already this year, I just cant see the boys from the MW getting this one.

Pony: Nope

POOL C: Ironside 3-0, Jam 2-1, Bodhi 1-2, Condors 0-3

Ironside: Easily dispatches Bodhi and the Condors to set up the 2nd highlight of the day vs. Jam. Ironside has shed it's "oldman" reputation with the additions of some hip ex-college studs. While normally Kurt would kill a team with his arrogance/stupidity, the smarts of Boston led by Rosenthal/Goldstein have confounded Kurt into a role player. These guys seem good this year and with quite an all-star roster ( Zlisk, Neff, Mueller, Stein, Gibson, Graham, Stubbs, Clark, Mahoney) they will have lots of untouchable lines. I dont see their 13-11 win over Jam at Labor day meaning much, but in the end, I think the younger Ironside roster will win out.

Jam: One of my favorite teams for the past couple years, Jam finds ways to win. Also with a great roster (Steets, Eastham, Nolan, Hodges, Saunkeah, Remucal, Cissna, Watson, Namkung, Scott) that has a ton of big game experience. Easily wins the first two games always looking toward their battle with Ironside. I see the IronJam game being close, but the deciding factor, Boston is able to break near the end of the game.

Bodhi: With many friends on this roster I hope these guys the best. What a great experience playing at nationals. I hope they are undiscouraged by their huge losses early in the day and can rally to beat the Condors.

Condors: bleck, might be Bodhi, I dont really care.

POOL D: Revolver 3-0, Truck Stop 1-2, Ring 1-2, Machine 1-2

Revolver: Appears to be peaking at the right time. With lots of early season losses to good teams (Jam, JB, Sock) Revolver has gotten it's shit together. Behind the obvious leadership of Adam Fagin, Revolver takes the 2nd easiest pool. Lowest seed for a NW2 in a while.

Ring: In my mind this team is notoriously overseeded every year. I can't remember the last time these guys suprised me at nationals. I see them losing their first game agasint TS, getting back on track against Machine but unable to muster the strenght to beat a more confident Revolver

TS: With an early win against Ring these guys are pumped. Revolver quickly shuts them up and TS can't seem to recover against Machine.

Machine: Behind the stellar play of Ledes, Machine upends rival TS but is still moved into the unpower pool.

Power Pools

E: Sockeye, Ironside, Goat, Jam (yikes)
F: Chain, Revolver, Truck, Subzero

I see Bravo and Condors moving up, Goat, TS moving down

So Quarterfinals:
Sockeye, Ironside, Jam, Chain, Revolver, Subzero, Bravo, Condors

Mobius Strip - tanks and bulldozers

Inside the Royal Palace - Prague

Looking south from one of the islands

Church at the mouth of St. Charles Bridge, Prague TV tower visible behind.

Double post today, technical dif yesterday. Opera tonight, here is Muffin's write up of Wisconsequences. Still just want to play frisbee. More panoramas from Prague, so many photos.

I Love Mail

Two nude models in figure drawing this week, Carleton work study students just don't compare. I talked with a guy from SDSU about Conf1 he hated the idea, I thought smaller schools would be more for it. Everybody thinks CUT takes frisbee too seriously, outsiders see it as a great way to be silly and emphasize "fun". The hatters are up in arms now that we are "letting them have their fun"...too many posers.

Flying Buttresses

Woha, CUT= WINNER of Nowisconsequences, i cant remember the first place prize, oh well. Lots of work this week, still ferociously planning my time after the program ends. More pictures from Prague. The quality of posts is low, I have lots to do, check out this issue of the Huddle, great camera angle to me this is the first video/analysis of this kind. Imagine dissecting this after every game (football) for hours.

Midterms

Guards

View of St. Vitus through the courtyard of the palace

Interior - St. Vitus

Exterior - St. Vitus

It feels good to be home. No word on how Wisconsequences went, though Mammel did send an email refering to the "big W" (Wussout, whimpout, wafflefuck). I hope CUT stomped. This week will be busy, lots of "stressful" midterms etc. Thrusday night we are going out for a nice dinner and then opera, Friday to Prato, and then this weekend some swanky dinner with Sandy and one of our profs.
I busted the UV lens on my camera twice on this trip, so only a limited number of photos, plus I feel like i'm having photosblock. hopefully something will change. Photos above all from Prague.

Frisbee on the brain

I think there are lots of positives to what Cultimate is doing. Frisbee advances slowly. Until the series, most teams are playing in a vacuum, rarely considering the best way to beat their opponents, and slow, if it all adjusting to the tactics of others. I have heard several times, "It's okay we will never have to see those fuckers again (after losing to UNCW, Subzero losing to BBullets, etc.) In my opinion, Sockeye and Furious vaulted themselves to the upper echelon through all their sparing the last 6 years. They force each other to improve, Furious invented the ho, Sockeye perfected it and for the last 4-5 years. both were practically untouchable.

Part of the problem with college is that you see very few teams twice. Never allowing or necessitating the need to adapt, creating a stagnant pool of stoners, who, once in a while, get lucky.

I love winning, I love competition, If C1 could guarantee nationals and allow CUT 30 games against the top 15 teams in the country, why would i say no?

Sometimes, it's just hard to trust.

More pictures from Prague, flying back to Ams early tomorrow, had some grog and flaming absinthe with a 31yr from the US who has spent her life traveling, interesting lady. People keep asking about how everybody else feels about conf1 so, here's what I feel, CUT will be making a decision sometime in the future.

Conf1 has to get its shit together. In my mind, the UPA provides a sure ground for us to win a national championship. While Conf1 does have some great ideas, there are a number of reasons why nationals may be comprimised: eligibility, weather, finances, including funding from Carleton because of the whole ladies exclusion. If this year, we miss our chance, I will get a hodag tattoo on my balls.

I've also been drawing some interesting parallels with the election, it seems as though Cultimates timing is key, lots of people are edgy, humanity is desperatley making rash decisions about everything, why not ultimate ?

Prague is tight

Stielecky Ostrov

Fisherman

Church of St. Nicholas

McDonalds hooked it up with a free muffin, fries taste good here

I spent a great day yesterday exploring the St Vitus Cathedral and 17th century Prague castle on Castle Hill just up from the Charles Bridge. It's beautiful here, fall, feels like home, today I will be exploring downtown.

Lots of interesting developments in the real world (frisbee). Cultimate has launched a program to compete with the UPA college series. I think everything will fall through, frisbee players are too smart for this kind of thing, I also see some weird correlations between this and the election.

Prague

I'm staying at a really quiet, close to downtown hostel, cheap and clean, with a kitchen. Pictures from Amsterdam and a toy shop with Playmobils, actually my favorite toy of all time. They now have a nativity scene, My best piece was the pirate ship, given to me by Santa in 1st grade.

Battery Dying

The Gatekeeper and The Ghost

Far from Home

Fan Favorite

Not much time, CUT list has been great recently, umm Prague tomorrow. Stories on the way, no batterryyyllliiii...f.,,,,e..,

Amsterdam, Maastricht, Brussels

Belgian Waffls in Main Square, Brussels

Lots of fun stuff, Belgian Waffles, Frites, etc. today/tomorrow rijksmusesm/vangogh museums. Northern Europe is much different than Italy, pictures to follow

Boh

Flying at 4:30pm, I'll leave you with some scenes from Firenze. I'm not sure how frequently I will be able to update, but don't worry there will be lots of good stuff!

~ $3,200

Teammates

All the frisbee players hand roll cigarettes, all the time, proof

I leave for Amsterdam/Prague tomorrow afternoon. I was the target of a cunning fb hacker, pretty hilarious I hope you had a chance to see it. I'm running out of photos, here is the last batch from Viareggio, there will be new ones soon. At practice on tuesday I taught one of the players "Thasasup", one point, he skies some dude, spikes it and yells "Thassssaaasup", I died. I was having some problems getting my PFD but that got cleared up, i might celebrate by spending it all. Last night I went to the Joshua Tree to hear some friends DJ (plug in ipod) we ended up at this bar Amedeus, met these girls (wMichigan, uVermont, USC) who are leaving for Amsterdam for the weekend, exchanged numbers, small world. Also met this 29yo mom from Florida, with a 10 yr old kid, her husband, a lawyer (who paid to enlarge her 32as to ds) told her to go have fun in Italy, sounds fishy. She kept taking all these pictures, what's here husband going to say, "wow looks like you had a really good time in a bar with a bunch of college kids whose names you dont remember, how was the Duomo ?" Also, somebody should comment some time, I'm entertaining you for atleast 1 minute a day, pay it back (not forward), the best comment to date:

Anonymous said...

great chris,
moms happy that your partying!!!
NOT

emily

A great mix, just gets better and better as it goes:

Party Allez Time Mix - Cousin Cole & Pocketknife

Sorry mom/family/family friends, These pictures are not what you probably want to see but you'll live. I can't believe I have 2 pictures of Molteni beerbonging, once at alumni weekend the other in 311. I had totally forgot about the face drawing until now, I found it one night on a street corner, we tried to tape it to the ceiling, it stayed in the room all year, great addition. Megan Murray was "dissapointed" after the three 6 concert so a photo from Bill's cabin, dont know who is throwing up the sh0cker. Git'r'done, again, priceless memories. Hope your all living it up

One of my all time favorites

Were gonna have a party

Last night after practice, a teammate, Alle, took me to this "party". It was on the agricultural campus of the Fi university. 3000+ kids, apparently a protest because of increased tuition rates. Alle said this happens about every 2-3 months, I haven't seen any college aged Italians til now, lots of fun, funky music, we should protest. Another set of 5 pictures from way back. For your special prize correctly name all people, event, and date.

FIsh Sticks

Max Vitali, The dude who picks me up, got me hooked up with this team

Flying Bische Ladies

Matteo, Nastiest Player, takes a lot of smoke breaks

Starting farthest away, Cozze (fat handler), Matteo, Dura (tall lazy handler), Lorenzo, Dotessa

I was going to talk about how atrocious dinner has been, but then last night we had, carbonara pasta, whipped potatoes with a herbs and spices and some dankass chicken. I guess that makes up for the fishsticks. Found some great old pictures, for a special prize, name the people, event, and year.

One of my alltime favorites

National Champion!

Firenze Ladies

Team Doctor

That's right, For the next 364 days Iman Italian Beach National Champion. In other news, the state of USA ultimate has gone to shit. Furious fails to qualify for nationals loosing to JAM on double game point, and The Doege and Ludicrous Speed make it to the game-to-go but cant throw enough bladey forehands to win it. This is shaping up to be the weakest field at nationals in quite some time (seeing as the NE has 4 bids).

UPA Champies:

Contenders:

1. Sockeye
2. Jam
3. Johnny Bravo
4. Ironside

Nope:

• Ring of Fire
• Chain Lighting
• Sub Zero
• Goat
• Condors
• Revolver
  

Why are you here?

• Truck Stop
• Double Wide
• El Diabl0 (yikes)
• CE2
• NE3
• NE4

The Hours - "Can You See The Light" (Dekker & Johan Remix)

Evil Nine ft. El-P - "All The Cash" (Mumdance Remix ft. Jammer)

Starfucker - "Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second"

Northern Europe

Newly opened bridge spanning the grand canal in Venice

Campanille in Campo di San Marco

The professor held class in Sta. Croce today, a Franciscan church 10 minutes from the Duomo. Outside, a huge market was setting up in the square. All these northern European countries were represented. I got a foot long bratwurst, german beer, and fress macaroon to top it off. Pleasantly full. Video from this both selling rubberband guns. Brings me back to my youth, going to the Girdwood Forest Fair (closed this past year, tremendous drug use :)) and buying rubberband guns, though the selection is much better now. We had the choice between a one shot riffle and a six shooter pistol.

Self Portrait, 17th century addition to Palazzo Medici

Nothing. We ran off-set lines at practice last night, everybody really liked it. There is this guy Peter from Sweden that is sort of trying to makeover the team. More focus, 110%, etc. It's kind of fun, I think, just to play frisbee where anything can happen, everybody is doing something different, this chaotic nether region that is still frisbee. Like Brazilian soccer, everybody improvises and it melds into this superplay (waste 4 minutes of your life). Beach Nationals this weekend, I'll try and get pictures of the team.