Night 1 consisted of Tom walking in and breaking Rob's previously-broken-but-was-fixed-until-Tom couch. We then ordered pizza and Rob's mommy (best mom evar, btw) went and got it. We ate a lot and had a lot left over. Tom I think ate an entire pizza by himself. We then watched Quantum of Solace, or everyone else watched while I played FF5. We dabbled in American Beauty at some point and some other movie for a bit I think too.
BJC claimed the good couch and I was relegated to the broken one. I ended up staying awake with Rob waiting for Ninja Steve, but attempted to sleep just before I got here. I tried thinking of random trivia (QBs, RBs, DB's for every NFL Team) to fall asleep, but I couldn't remember the 4th team in the AFC South (Tennessee Titans) for literally 30 minutes and that kept me up forever. I think I fell asleep around 3.
Someone got a text or phone call around 615, which everyone thought was the alarm to wake up fo' reals. Except me. I ain't no fool. The real party started at 630, when everyone got suited up and climbed upstairs to find Rob's Mom (Best mom evar, btw) to have gotten us cookies, tea, and coffee. This was a morale booster and a tummy filler. We stepped outside to find it raining, which pretty much confirms the notion that I am the team's little raincloud. Such is life.
We got bagels on the way. They were warm and were primarily used as a warming device. The ride was about an hour long and we somehow did not get lost. We got there and JO'd for a while. Some people went potty, some people put cleats on. Regardless, not much happened. I concluded that with plastic bags coming out of my feet and a survivor doo-rag on I was literally uncoverable. If you(the reader) are well-versed in literature, that would be foreshadowing.
Our first round was against some team. I think it was Middletown, but I don't know. They had white jerseys. They were legitimately a bad team. Unfortunately, our team was worse. Alex was the only player who had any game. Ihop was closed for most members of the team (No pancake catches, get it!?) and throws were swilly or rushed. It was like 3-5 them and it ended up being 4-12.
Our excellent national ranking got us a 2nd round bye. We piled into Rob's car and some of us napped. Most of us ate bagels. The car got very smelly. I got lost going to the bathroom before the next game.
Our 2nd game was against St. Joes. They had really nice Jerseys. Again, Ihop was closed for most of the team and we couldn't get anything going. We held out ground and I think the score was 3-3 (They were not pleased to be tied with a team that has T-Shirts for jerseys) and ended up losing 4-12, or something similar to that. I also heckled a lot this game. Some Ultimate girl on the sideline either wanted me or wanted to Heckle me. I couldn't quite tell. This team would go on to be re-seeded for Day 2 as the #1 seed.
The previous two games don't have much about them because it is difficult to say whether or not our offense worked or if we just didn't catch.
Game three was against UNH. They had collared jerseys, presumably to intimidate a team without them. They looked surprisingly classy. Despite them being a very similar team to us (Slow) they were up 7-2 at half. The first half looked a lot like our previous two games. For some reason after half, however, we stepped out game up. Ihop reopened for business, making our Vert Stacks actually work. The other team was probably in awe of such actions and we took five straight points to even it at 7-7. We continued to play a solid game, with Stephen Nachriner playing professionally and I believe getting some bookends. Mitch I think got a layout D in this game, but it might have been earlier in the tournament, like game 1. The game was tied at 10's at the 15 minutes-to-go mark, and it went to 11's eventually. Unfortunately, due to roughly their entire team becoming open at once, they scored about thirty seconds before hard cap, winning 12-11. Although we won the second half 10-4, it wasn't quite enough. At the end of the game Brad had to leave, although not before realizing that he left his Les Claypool ticket in New Paltz. He said he could print it out and I'm assuming he did because we haven't seen him since.
Our final game of the day was against Goucher. In a similar position to us, Goucher had 4 subs (7 guys 4 girls) and was tired. We agreed to a shorted game (9 points). To decide pull we took two freshman on each team and balanced a waterbottle on their back while they kneeled down and then whichever team to knock of the bottle from 10 yards away with a disc, alternating possessions, got to decide pull. Of course we win. We decide to play D first. Tom O' Malley decided that it was his turn to be the Freshman superstar and play professionally. I believe we took half 5-3. Again, people were making their pancakes. I think our lack of subs (two for the last game, three all day) finally caught up to us, and they eventually tied the game at 8. Despite a courageous effort by BJC to not throw the game away we would, and they won it 8-9, putting us at 0-4 for the day, making my tournament record this year to 1-9.
I slept on the car ride home, got into Rob's house and immediately started to drink. I didn't drink that much, probably because my body subconsciously told me how stupid it was. Rob's mom (best mom evar, btw) made us a literal feast of hot dogs, cheeseburgers, chili, and pasta for dinner, along with of course cookies/brownies/CUPCAKES. So good. We ate, returned to drink more beer and watched The Incredible Hulk. It wasn't all that incredible, but definitely better than the first one. Then everyone went to sleep and here I am.
We alternated between Ho and Vert most of the day, dabbling with the German Offense very early. In my opinion we didn't give the Germans enough time, especially because we weren't running it correctly. Regardless, Ho and Vert were probably equally productive. Vert, when executed properly, was much more effective than Ho executed properly. However, Vert was much more prone to turning into the Clusterfuck offense than Ho was. This made Ho more consistent, but Vert more explosive. We had many points of 1-2-3's on Verts.
I personally played very poorly, and I think that is because I am in some of the worst physical shape of my life. I could not get open, my throws that went more than 20 yards were often swilly, and I only had one layout grab (I layed out for two more that were catchable but I didn't get a hand on them).
Alex was easily the MVP of Day 1 with very few turnovers and solid fundamentals throughout the day. Stephen Nachriner and Tom split MVP honors for the games we didn't suck in, but Alex played solid then as well. Tom had chances for a bunch of bookends and I believe in Game 3 the Freshman Duo had nearly 1 million D's in a row.
Our day two chances rest on a few things:
Firstly, is the injury status of Stephen Nachriner, who is currently out/limited with a Groin/Hernia-area injury. He played through it later in the day but was definitely hindered and was in severe pain. Ninja Steve likewise had injury problems with cramps in both calves but still saved my swilly throws from the ground. I have a blister.
BJC and Alex went to bed early, so we should have some decent legs for tomorrow. We'll see how I feel, but I am not exactly a speedster regardless of my sleeping pattern. (despite what my cleats say).
How well we pancake. Our last two games were games because we figured out how. Hopefully it doesn't take us 2.5 games to figure it out again.
I probably forgot a ton, I probably got a ton wrong. I only spellchecked it and didn't read it over It's 2am. S my D.
P.S. My NCAA bracket is garbage.
See you tomorrow for part 2. Or the next day.
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