...to a new era for HomeSpun, with new editors and TFDA sponsorship.
We'd like to begin by thanking former editor Kelly Ferguson for all her valiant efforts on this newsletter's behalf, despite being "thrown to the wolves," as she described this initial foray into journalism, and a complete and utter lack of support from the many possible contributors (she is, in fact, still in recovery from the trauma of receiving an unsolicited article last Winter - get well soon!). In spite of the orgasmic relief she expressed upon being relieved of this mammoth burden, she magnanimously agreed to be one of our first contributors (see "Grits Reunion"). All of you can thank her by supporting her band, Poor Valentino.
How did we get here? David volunteered, not having enough to do with just a Frisbee to toss and a dissertation to write. (Sez Sherry: God bless American volunteerism!) Sherry got drafted in the traditional manner: she missed the meeting at which assignments were handed out. She foolishly agreed to accept this mission. Apparently, we are as crazy as Kelly. Unfortunately for the rest of you, we're not like Kelly in many other ways. We don't have a band, we don't have a drum set, or even - truth be told - much sense of rhythm. Given these liabilities, HomeSpun will be something of a different critter and we'll need your help.
First, let us know what you think: what would you like to see more of, less of? We'll be playing around with the format, expanding the scope of information, and looking for ways to economically introduce color, at least into the masthead. Talk to us!
Second, we'd like to point out that this is actually your newsletter - about your teams, your community, and your favorite sport (perhaps a stretch, but who would deny it while laying on their belly in the endzone with the disc in hand?!?). This means that we want - nay, expect - articles. TFDA board members will of course have a responsibility to the constituency to keep us all informed. And typically someone is hotheaded or opinionated enough to send an editorial. But we'd also like to hear from our local teams. We tend to switch teams, after all, we mix and match players in various venues, we travel together, and we even - ooh, maybe we should stop there. (Dare we point out there are more than a few Ultimate babies???) So, we the editors will be developing a contact list and assume that, publicity hounds that you all are, you'll be able to twist at least one writing arm per team per quarter (caution: do not harm the throwing arms of your handlers).
The penalties for failure to contribute? We'll just make up stuff about you. The two of us have a whole lot of graduate work in the Humanities under our belts, including a Master's in fiction writing, and since there are no jobs in these fields we have to exorcise our demons somewhere! For example: "Harvey, a team of large, invisible female rabbits, got slaughtered on the fields at Tournament X. They fared
somewhat better at the tournament party, where they procreated like the bunnies they are with Road Kill, another Triangle team. Fortunately for Harvey, their side of things was invisible; unfortunately for Road Kill, they got some mighty strange looks and were asked not to return next year." Ugly, isn't it?
Presumably we won't have to go there. We know that many of you are as excited about TFDA as we are, and hope that everyone will actively participate. It's rather embarrassing to drive to tournament after tournament, traveling many miles, just to play against half a dozen Triangle teams that you couldn't play at home because there simply weren't enough fields. It's time that we - gasp - hosted something! It's also time that we spread the word better about Ultimate. Other than the cable TV coverage of Winter League several years ago by one of our own, Rob Reinhardt, the recent paragraph in Newsweek was the first major mention of our sport we're aware of since Penthouse covered it ten years ago. We debate referees and paid seating but, the truth is, we need to expand our following before we can legitimately call these real issues.
So, onward. Again, talk to us. And welcome to the era of TFDA!
David Silbey and Sherry Kappel Knecht
(You can reach David at 563-3925 or dsilbey@acpub. duke.edu; Sherry's at 217-0162 or sherryk@tesi.com.)
The path to Worlds was littered with a few obstacles. Would we even get invited? It didn't look good despite all of our lobbying; did we piss someone important off to not get invited yet? Was the blacklisting of the Wilmington Slickers spreading to the rest of North Carolina? The UPA seemed to be making some hard choices. But, at last, on June 27, after the Houston Houndz turned down the last spot, Ring of Fire officially squeaked into Worlds.
I wasn't calm when the news came in an e-mail message: "You guys are in if you want it." Did we want it? I sent the following message to my on-line teammates: "Hot diggity dog!! Yippeeee!!! Hurray!!! Oh my god, oh my god!!!! Look at that!!!! Patience pays off, Shit patience. Yes! Yes! Yes! Vancouver, look the f--- out; Here we come!!! We are in! We are in! We are in! I just got the news. Man, we are gonna have a quick ass practice tomorrow. Yeahh!! Hurray!!
We were on our way. Committed to improving our 31st seed, practice intensity picked up. The first day started with battles against the original top two seeds in our pool, #10 Netherlands and #11 Philly Rage. Day one would certainly be a test. We started out nervously against Netherlands and fell behind, but fought back and gutted out a 15 to 14 victory.
Whew!! Next, we took Philly Rage down handily 19 to 12. Tim Brooks was awarded the game M.V.P. award by the Philly team for his stellar all-around play. Over the next five days, the highlights included losing to #2 overall finisher Double Happiness and #5 Condors (Santa Barbara), and beating #11 Yokohama Pelpiew (Japan), #13 Red Lights (Netherlands), #15 Altar Boys (Canada), and #17 Nomads (Canada).
Carnegie Sweden, seeded 10th, was Ring's last game of the tournament, a battle for 9th or 10th place in the World. We were up a few goals towards the end of the game when Sweden called a time out. At our huddle, Tim Brooks spoke of how "proud" he was of our character, of our playing this last game of the tournament so hard and so well. We felt good and proud of ourselves also. Naturally, Sweden immediately bounced back to tie the game at 16 all, next goal wins. We pulled to them. Sweden marched the disc down the field and threw a shot into the goal to their main man. Justin Hughes made up two yards in his last step and smacked the disc out of bounds. Ring proceeded to march the disc the other way and scored on a hammer from Mike Soo to Brian Snyder. A fitting end. I too am proud of our whole team and would like to acknowledge each member of Ring for the character and effort and heart we showed at Worlds. We won ten games and lost two over six full days of Ultimate and ended up improving 22 places on our seeding. Our record was better than two years ago at Worlds in England when we lost three games and finished number four in the World.
Another highlight of Worlds was the international flavor. The Japanese play differently than we do. They tend to show up very early for games - and not just a few stragglers but early and all at once. They dress well, also. On registration day, there were more than a few suits worn. This clashed with everyone else's tie-dyes, but I thought it was a pretty cool mix. The Venezuelan Yanomanis played with a lot of musical passion. I caught the tail end of one game in which they were down 17 to 11; they came back to tie the game before finally losing 18 to 17. You can only forge a comeback like that with fire and spirit. I got goose pimply just watching.
I learned a lot from watching other countries' styles. I heard comments from teammates that if we were as disciplined as the Japanese or threw area passes as well as the Swedes or Germans, we would be that much better.
There is another great tradition at Worlds. International teams give gifts to each other at the end of the game. The Japanese gave us some traditional candies, which I immediately opened to share with everyone. They gave me a discouraging hiss, which I took to mean I should not eat the candy right then. I'm still not sure when was an appropriate time. Brian Snyder, one of our NC State boys, turned out to be a hit with the Japanese women. They flocked to him after our game for a couple of dozen exclusive pictures. Was it how well he played, his goofy smile, or that he is twice as tall as them?
Ring now looks to the Fall season with a commitment to drink at least a couple of more rookie cases, to sell the rest of those 500 Ring of Fire shirts Gary ordered (only $10 each for the light and $12 for the beautiful dark), and not to roll over to those dang California teams. Oh yeah, and to win Nationals, damnit!
Frisbee related or not? Run it in HomeSpun; you'll reach an audience of people with enough surplus cash to buy silly frisbee equipment. TFDA members get discounts. Talk to David
or Sherry about our very reasonable rates.
contest contest contest contest contest
We're having an Identity Crisis!
Please send Logos...
Who: Anybody can enter
What: A TFDA logo; send as many entries as you'd like - some larger
(e.g., t-shirt size), some smaller (e.g., decal size)
When: ASAP - no later than September 19, 1997
Where: To appear on HomeSpun, membership cards, bumper stickers,
vinyl window decals and much more!
Why: For the Glory of God and Country? To see your design
everywhere you look? Blind adoration? Okay, so there
are no material prizes, but you can look smug and
self-righteous when your captain asks someone to write
a HomeSpun article!
How: Mail to TFDA Art Submittal, c/o Beth Cates,
2705 Kilgore Ave., Raleigh NC 27607
Oh, and Thank You!
Oh, and Thanks!
Ring Ninth in the World
By Augie Kreivenas
...lizaug@mindspring.com
"This,
my child,
is a disc."
"More, master, tell me more."
(Oh, All right... That's Kate O'Brien
playing for Zen at Fools Fest '97)
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