Bloggers gonna Blog

While the rest of the state was busily sandbagging their homes and all other sports in Cairns were cancelled due to extreme sissyness, last Tuesday saw the launch of the sophomore season of Cairns Ultimate Disc.

How do you follow up Dark Side of the Moon? with Wish You were Here (look it up Gen Yers) and we followed up perhaps the greatest season of Ultimate disc ever played with 4 exciting new teams and some new faces.

On field 1 'I am Number Four' met the as yet unnamed Team #2. Possibly distracted by the plethora of rad names to choose from Team #2 started a bit shaky. While discussing what would be better than Team #2...Obstruction workers, Shrivel engineering or Yellow Discharge...'I am Number four' took an early lead easily taking the half 8 to 2. However like a poorly scripted adolescent novel, the rights for which have been sold before the book has even been finished so the hollywood refuse machine can churn out some trite garbage to cash in on the trite garbage that is Twilight, 'The Obstruction Workers' made a comeback. Switching to something resembling a horizontal stack, or maybe Feldrunner 'Shrivel Engineering' got to within 3 points of 'IAN4'. Unfortunately Yellow Discharge lost two of their most experienced players to wardrobe malfunction and oldman injury. One feels, however, that this was just the first installment, where the battlers have lost the first round but will come back and knock out Apollo Creed, get married to the vampire and kill He who shall not be named.

On field 2 we had the upset of the season. The mighty undefeated 'f-bomb' met those disease ridden 'Osama Disc Laden's'. Word is 'Osama' upset 'f-bomb's' game plan with the use of some rain and a clever little puppy/fence dealio. It will be interesting to see these two teams meet again as both will have undergone some major 'plastic' surgery (get it Plastic! like a frisbee!!!) Whatever the case, don't be surprised if Obstruction Discharge aren't busily working out their puppy/fence right now in anticipation of their next game against f-bomb. Osama's honorary females, William, Bailey and Liam did their adopted gender proud, with Bailey and Liam contributing plenty of layouts and William wearing his sister's shirt.

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With all the new faces it is time to talk about something referred to as 'Spirit of the Game' There are a bunch of descriptions one can find on the internet and this happy blogger would suggest you go do that. However, I am going to take this opportunity to give my take on it.

Spirit is not something one can place rules on. As soon as rules are added then it will exclude a vital aspect.

For me, being perhaps the most experienced player this season, it means not exploiting rules to my advantage...at the same time, having one of the most inexperienced teams, it also means other teams not exploiting my team mates.

Spirit will mean remembering that we are playing in a beginner's league, that the result means little in the grand scheme of things and the most important thing is that everyone on the field enjoys themselves.

It will be keeping in mind that it is very difficult to watch things objectively and you may need to defer to a team mates view of things as they may be less invested than yourself.

You see what looks like really good spirit in games where one team is much better than the other...it is easy to be nice and not argue things when you are destroying the other team. To judge a team's spirit is when the points are close.

Most issues and arguments happen, especially at our level, when people don't know the rules. It will behoove everyone to keep up to date on the rules and read them as often as they can.

http://www.wfdf.org/

(you can also read about the anti-doping rules, Gene Pool)

The Sequel is Never as Good as the Original

The second season of the Cairns Ultimate League starts Tuesday the 24th of January. With the first game on the horizon it has brought much excitement and anticipation to the Dakota household. Of course I am reminded of what my dear old mother, Granny Dakota used to say: 'Expectation is the mother of disappointment...but you can just call me mum.'

The 24th brings us 4 new teams and many more questions. So far none have revealed their names, deciding, perhaps, to unveil their sobriquets at a time designed for maximum impact and thrill. We have all experienced the lethal blow an opposition's decidedly snappy appellation can deliver, especially when one has spent little thought or time on one's own.

Without any formal monikers the teams shall be designated a random number and for the extent of this piece shall be referred to as such.

On Field Two we have the aptly entitled Team #1 competing against those Y chromosoners Team #3. Team #1 will need some time to determine who is the chief chef, with a team with too many cooks. An obvious strategy would be for little Alecha 'Deena' Piva to throw long to Liam, the clear choice for a team without any other noticeable deep players. However, will Bailey, Kim, Will, Michelle and the lovely Mrs Dakota stand for this hoggery? One must say, it is easy to imagine the women's rights movement taking control and simply ignoring the chaps. We have seen evidence when the ladies,like an angry suffragette, decide to teach the boys a lesson before. Whatever the case, with a small roster of players and a need to field 7, we at least know there won't be anyone sidelined for the game in the opener of this beginner's season. Team #1s opposition, the formidable Team #3 are the early favourites for this season. The team has picked up Doug from the wilderness of Aurukun, who will bring to the team the Noel Pearson, direct instruction model of ultimate disc. If his team don't play well, at least they'll be literate. One imagines, this very tall, very strong team should have little trouble accounting for any opposition, particularly in the beginning of the season. With Jacob, Jamie and Stuart H reigning in the air as Doug, Corey and Jeff Cotter provide them with semi accurate long throws, ably backed up by those young up and comers Brent and Adam this team are the expected winners and have everything to lose.

The spotlight now moves to the main event of the evening, over on Field One, as the perfectly balanced Team #2 take on the testosterone sodden Team #4. Where Team #1 has too many cooks, the question for Team #4 is who will lead? With ranks filled with quiet, serious men, who prefer to get the job done, will Team #4 suffer from a lack of organisation? Will the quiet, serious men be able to communicate with one another. Will Anthony have a monumental meltdown on the field (again)? Opposing Team #4 is, at the very least, the best looking team to grace the fields of Cairns ultimate. Team #2 enter the league with a solid game plan, knowing initially they'll be on the receiving end of some drubbings, content that at the business end of the season they'll all have learnt plenty and will be savoring the frustration of the opposition. Working on a strategy of intelligence, Team #2 has almost exclusively sought female players. However, while on paper it may appear the team has an excess of estrogen it is soon lucidly clarified when one sees the double Y, ubermenschness of Murray, Stuart C, De Vechi and Dakota. This all results in a perfectly balanced team , one half right brain lefties, the other left brain right handers, an even spread of Goldman's 8 multiple intelligences, equalized melancholic, Cholerics, phlegmatics and bloody sanguines, the sexy Team #2 may just end up being the perfect ultimate disc killing machine. Thus Spake Zarathustra!!

Whatever the case, breath is bated in anticipation of the premiere social event in Cairns' busy entertainment calendar this year, and this season will only be topped by the next season and Gordonvale SHS' speech night.

Sorry this was so big, but that is the way Mrs Dakota likes it.

Make sure you register on the AFDA website and see you Tuesday Heathens!