Author: Non-HP-ChuckH (ChuckH@AMAA.com) at HP-Corvallis,mimegw1 Date: 10/14/98 7:05 PM ------------------------------- Message Contents ------------------------------- Bones and friends. A quick/longwinded version of our weekend. Enjoy. Game 1:The Test 9:30am on cool rain soaked lawns of UBC, the Bones started the tourney against #1 ranked RippIt from the Bay area. The Bones, under ranked, and eager to disprove it, came out hard. With lightning speed, Bones took the first half winning the battles of both field and head, but it was not to last. Lead swaps and emotions swung faster than could be counted and at 9-9 it was still anyone's game! A strategic timeout by RippIt, and the successful lancing of a 10-minute point brought the Bones to its literal knees. Emotionally broken, Bones folded its hand, but not before smiting the mighty RippIt two more wounds as reminders to both teams that this is still anyone's tourney. Final score Bones 11, RippIt 13. Game 2:The Revenge A bitter taste arose again in the Bones with images of cloudy skies and darker games in a more southern region of our homeland. Revenge for ranking would soon be ours as Roadhead, the dubious "hill people" unknowingly stepped into the fires of Bone hell. It was a close game at first with Roadhead almost beating the Bones to the half, but Bones would have no more and laid out the law for Roadhead. A late starting game forced a the cap, but not before back to back hand blocks by Big Martin "Smoothie" Heinemann proving once again that no one can throw around the Big Man. A new understanding of who is "The Best of the Best" in Oregon was beginning to crystallize. Roadhead became Roadkill. Final score Roadhead 7, Bones 12. Game 3:The Un-played Victory Ironically, The Donner Party, heading out through the historically named pass was smitten by an unpredicted early winter storm. Like their predecessors, they would never meet their final destination - an unfortunate event for everyone. The Bones wish them the best. Game goes to the Bones, forfeit. Game 4: Rookie Magic/Fem de-la-creme The sun was setting fast. Fighting off stiffness from an almost 2+hour forced respite, Bones faced our own RXC's team, Chubbery hailing from Bellingham/Seattle. History was again called into play and the revenge card was thrown. Previous melees versus Bellingham's Corduroy Growl were partially avenged as Shiv laid out to stop a veteran Chubster and immediately scored, leaving their fallen leader to burrow in the mud, but Bones rookies nailed the coffin. Kellie "Legs" Barnes and "Rockstar" McKinley led the way with a combined 3 layout D's. (Their first ever.) Karoline "Special K" owned the skies over their hapless women, raking plastic from the air and not only raising the score by 3 but the heat upon soft Chubb feet as well. Quick thinking and always smiling, Ingrid "Dancing Queen" Carlson silenced a late game rebuttal by intercepting a score attempt, bringing the hopes of Chubbery to a blunt but inevitable end. Final score: Chubbery 8, Bones 13. Game 5:The War The Bones woke early to bacon, pancakes, and the annoying sound of their Captain, Chuck "Geeves" Hayward telling them to get a move on and there is no such thing as ultimate time at reigonals. The MoHo rolled up at 8:45am with a scheduled game at 9:00 and (as expected) only one other team in sight. The mission was still clear. Get cleated, warmed up, and be ready to wreak havoc. Sol, the stacked team (which would eventually lead to their demise) sported half a team at 9:20 and was promptly warned to start by 9:30. The task was a delicate one, how to poke a sleepy bear and wake him up to play groggy without making him mad? The plan seemed to be working, as threats of point assessment forced the undefeated giant to show 7. Bones came at them hard, and the battle of the big men began. Throwing the tried and true "Patty Zone" on them seemed to confuse them even more with comments from the sideline like "What the hell are they doing?" and my personal favorite, "What's a cup?" Totally frustrated, Sol handlers were forced to huck long to their 6'-6" Adonis. It did pay, but not to their liking. Winston "The General" Ely answered every move with his own counter move, and eventually their inzone champ grew tired of less than 50% completions. Further frustration caused a series of effortless turnovers close to their own inzone, and the quick footed Bones capitalized, reaching the golden half first. Stunned by the first team to even challenge, the Mighty SOL spawned sideline banter about just how many points they could lose by and still be first pool seed. The Bones were breaking them down and it was looking good. Two points later, Bones captains would make a crucial mistake on their own inzone, giving in to Sol's relentless banter of bad calls and allowing Sol to find their way into striking distance. Now, fully awake, the irritated Sol began to fight back. The remaining points were long and hard fought some lasting up as high as 10 minutes each. Each time, Sol would squeak it in and break yet another Bone. Final score: Bones 8, Sol 12. Game Absurdity: The Captains Meeting: Rumors ran rampant all day Saturday and drug on until the end of pool play Sunday. Whispers of illegal rosters and stacked/condensed teams from Big Sky flowed like water amongst the grass. Was the mighty Sol a legitimate team? It was a well-known fact that rosters were not turned in until a week before Reigonals. No one tried to hide that. Their own sectionals coordinator did not even show up to the Section tourney. Then there were the subtle clues such as frustrated comments by a Sol player after cutting the wrong way on a called play "I don't even play with this team normally." Troubling comments from their own section began to ooze from ear to ear about particular players playing on different teams at sectionals and now all fighting for dominance on the same line. The clincher for me was when, amongst their peers when asked about their roster, three faces grew so heavy with guilt that I thought they would snap at the neck. Twenty-two eyes of the ten captains and our beloved RXC waited to be met by the three Sol representatives. All eyes saw expressions and words grow guarded and shaky. Those gathered would not know the color of six Sol eyes, too ashamed to even meet at half-mast. Now came the excuses. Back-pedaling was so fast and furious, you would have thought a cow had crossed in front of the lead riders at Tour De France. The once mighty and highly spirited Sol had just been pierced and they were not happy. Sol was stripped of the right to play for National contention and requested to step out of the tourney and allow others who have a chance to take their place. Our XRC was forced to make a hard decision, and held firm against a barrage of frustrated Solarians. Guilt was admitted, but the justification still rages on the web. (see rec.sports.disc) An embarrassment to the Northwest Region, the first-ever coed series was rocked by controversy of cheating, witch hunts, and poor decision making by an entire section. The results of this were almost funny had they not been so untimely. With time gone and light dwindling, the tournament had to be finished. Shiv, the true brains behind the Bones solved the problem by calling the championship captains together and asking all teams that knew they could not send a legitimate team to nationals to step down. Game times were reduced, and suddenly, with the removal of Sol and Alaska honorably stepping down, Elves Gone Bad once again found them selves in the hunt for the big show. Round 2: Fight for the show Candy, the only Canadian team at the tourney now faced the Bones. A serious team with a no tomfoolery captain took the field against our heroes in a match to 11. Never more than 1 point ahead either way, the game progressed to 9-9. A game cap was called and agreed to amongst the players. Eleven was the goal. Bones struck first to reach ten, but Candy returned the blow. Sudden death at 11 and it was still a game. Bones worked it all the way to the line, and it looked to be all but over, but to no avail. Possession swapped several more times, amping both player and spectator alike. It was truly a battle of who would lay down first. The game at the end should be a Karma lesson for us all. Candy, with the disc approaching the goal line threw just short of a corner score. Dr. Dave made his last of many layout bids, but, unlike most of the weekend, fell just short. The receiver/captain caught the disc, waggled it, taunted something to along the lines of "Oh yeah, bitch, looking for this?" and threw in the score. Neither team could believe the total lack of team spirit that was shown. It was an awesome game until this point with teams well matched, well spirited and playing hard, and there was no reason for this sort of display. I personally told him that I felt sorry for him and his team for what would happen next. The great Karma gods would have their justice, and they did. Candy lost embarrassingly to RippIt in their next game 3-11. Candy vs. Bones, 11-10 Candy. The Final Event: For the Fans The last game of the tourney was for seeding only of 5th and 6th. It was against our old buddies the Elves. Both teams, exhausted, broken and yearning for warmer weather, colder brew, and less politics, decided to merely Ro-Sham-Bo for the game. Afterwards teams mixed and a light-hearted game of Elf/Bone play would just be for fun. The Servant of the Bones stepped to the line and dealt the poor Elf captain two quick blows with back to back scissors tosses, and the placement was decided. Mascot Kama was finally allowed to use her cleats in a non-sanctioned game with Bones and Elves on both sides. (I must conclude, the team with the most Bones did win a game to 7) The heroes of the weekend were too numerous to count. Our men played out of their heads, our women out of this world! Bones both new and vet, young and old, all played to their potential and at times, beyond. There is tell that the Bones are still playing. Playing not for titles, honors or championship gold, but for the sake of playing. Elves, now gone the way of the dodo have been seen around Stumptown as well, mostly in dark bars and dog-named taverns, but they have been known to still "hawk the B" with the locals. Keep your eyes open on the weekends and I bet you could see some legends yourself playing at their usual field (Benson around 2:00pm in on Saturdays). Feel free to join them, I know they would enjoy the company. You might ask them to tell you a story of how the first Sanctioned coed ultimate came into fruition. How a group of rookies, scrubs, and weekend warriors came together like no other Portland team ever has before, to form one of the best coed teams Oregon has ever seen. You just ask them. I bet. . . I just bet. . you will see a light come on from deep inside, a smile will come to their faces. The Servant of the Bones Keep the night of October 24th open. The Bones will rise again in Celebration! Watch your mailboxes! "Love makes the world go 'round, but laughter keeps us from getting dizzy."