Word

For the first time in GUNX history, I drove to a tournament. This is my story.

I was armed with a powerful car -- Matt "Makes out with Girls" Conti, Tall Tom, and Mitch the Scott. Mitch graciously provided music for the car since my normal vehicle is out for 2-4 weeks with a Constant Idle Motor injury and I am therefore unable to use my USB drive for said music. He basically just brought a lot of Led Zeppelin and then some other randos.

I was originally driving 2x4, meaning I would have to leave around 3 when he got out of class. GUNX being GUNX, I didn't have to drive him, but we left around 3 anyway. Mostly because Ben wanted to pregame the car-ride in my apartment. Plus make one for the road. Rob and Charles played some cross-apartment beer pong. You know the drill.

After being angry at Tom for being late he brought me a has bagel, so I was happy with him again. Got gas, a 5 hour energy, dodged some truck that tried to destroy my car, and we were on our way.

Car ride was fine, 1 stop, and 5-hour-energy kept me more alert than an exaggerated metaphor. We didn't even get lost.

After waiting about 30 minutes for the peoples to be ready, we entered the apartment, which was more like a palace. Giant TV, surround sound, Rush concert on, you know the deal. We ended up going out for beer and I got some red-dog. Then we went out to get fast food hoping there were more than Drive-Thrus open. There was not. MC tried to use his Charm skill to get us some Baconators, but the old lady resisted. We opted for chips and some sandwiches.

I got a bed in the captains quarters, where Ben, MC, Tom, and I all stayed. I had originally commandeered the bed all to myself, and then MC said he would share with me. Upon seeing the size of it, I kicked him out, only to have Ben take it. It worked out fine until the middle of the night where he was mostly ontop of me and I was overheating.

Wakeup time was at 730 (I think) in order to leave by 8 so we could get to the fields by 9 so we could be warmed up by 10. Didn't happen. Pretty sure we lost all our time at Tim Hortons, but in retrospect that was worth every penny. I got a Bacon Egg and Cheese sandwich, which was delicious.

We got to the fields a bit later than we wanted, I think like 915 or something. People took a really long time to poop and ready themselves, which is another reason why we didn't get to warm up too well. We ended up getting moved because the Alumni team had a keg and they didn't want it close to the road.

First game was against Albany/Buffalo Alumni, I think we just flipped for pull. Who knows. Exact scoring details are unknown, but they ended up playing a bunch of points with beers in their right hand and throwing lefty, or upside down points, or upsidedown lefty points. I got angry because no one wanted to change their playing style on offense to try to take advantage of their lack of defense but whatever. We lost something like 15-10, but the last 5 or so points were them just chugging beers on the field. At least we made them play long enough so we could stay warm for the next game.

Next up was SCAM, who is looking pretty good these days. We got bageled in the first half. I'm not sure if this had any strategy behind it, but they put their best players (Sonny, Brown) on our handlers (Myself and Ben) and just shutdown our offense. That coupled with poor play from everyone resulted in a 13-2 loss. Having to play and try to get open against Sonny for 7ish points was quite a learning experience.

Since we got beat so bad we had about 45 minutes to cool down before our next game, which was against Ithaca, a team that narrowly beat us in Sectionals last year. We started down 0-2 and then went 3-0 on our way to a 7-4 half. We then pulled a typical GUNX, turned it over on our end line a few times, and before you know it they were up 9-8. I think we tied it up once or twice, got soft-capped at 13, and then won 15-13. We don't often grit out wins like that, and it was sure nice for it to happen.

The last game didn't really happen. No one wanted to play and we lost. Nice to see Poonani, though.

We drove back, had a feast at Wendy's, and most people went to the party. They came back, we got some wings, they were delicious, and then we went to bed very late.

We didn't play day 2 -- Mitch was out, E.Herbst was likely out, and I had played far too many points day 1 for my own good.

The drive home was an issue but we made back it so its a boring story in retrospect.

The only game really worth commenting on is Ithaca -- the others either no one played or no one played well, so I'd just be repeated my ten thousand other angry blag posts.

The cup played extremely well and for a lot of points. Big props to Mitch, Alex, Brad, and Chich for doing work, especially at the end of that game. Alex in particular leveled up and played very well, especially for barely having played Zone or cup ever.

Ben played well in his new role, which was to get open to jack backhands, and if it wasn't open, to dump it and try again later.

Chich, MC, and Tom all stepped up and handled a bit which, especially so on D points where I played perhaps 3 all day.

Brad made a sweet toe-dragger to end the Ithaca game. Wouldn't have made that grab last year.

I thought I played pretty well. I played a lot more points than I normally do and touched the disc a lot more than I normally do. I also turned it more than I usually do, with several being completely my fault on botched throws. I had two or three layout grabs and one that is on my lifetime highlight reel. I also played at least one sweet point in zone on defense where I skullfucked their force-side wing.

I'm bored of blagging. Comment if you want something I missed.

PS -- This is what Sonny said in his blag about the game we played against him and SCAM

"SCAM 13 – New Paltz 2

This is a team we should have doughnut-ed as well, but Chip played some very poor defense on points. He has had some rough tournaments recently. He was responsible for both points. Got to see Doobs from summer league in this game, he played a good game, good conservative handling. They have one stand out player, who looks inexperienced but a solid player."

PPS

"Have you ever sat a stoplight and watched the light for the other direction turn from green to yellow to red? When your light finally turns green, it's just a confirmation of what you already knew was about to happen. How much quicker are you off that line if you're peeking at the other light versus waiting for yours to change? That's the difference between reacting and anticipating on D. When I hear that "up" call, I want to already know what throw is coming and already be poised to jump on it."