Nothing really important happened in the week between Marist and Sectionals. I ate plenty of beans, watched a practice that Brian and Kerry showed up to, and was chosen to call subs.
The night before Sectionals was somewhat eventful, as Thomas and myself decided to have a slumber party in order to make sure we got our requisite 8-hours. After watching Tom level up his characters in FF13, we popped 4 nyquil jel-cap-things each and I passed out roughly 30 minutes later.
There was a giant party across the hall which woke me up a few times and I had a trippy dream involving playing a virtual-reality esque video game that actually atrophied your body. Aside from that, not a bad sleep.
I woke up and played mommy and made Bacon, Egg, and Cheese for me, Mitch, and Tom. That's about it.
I got driven to behind-Bouton by Mitch, and switched into Stiggles' car. Ride was uneventful, stopped as a Petroleum Establishment and picked up some 5-hours. After crossing a bridge that we heard was out, we got there.
Game 1 was against Princeton. I think this was the best game we have ever played. We started out getting a Break and going up 1-0, and stayed with them I believe all the way to 3-3, with half I believe at 8-4. This game was another case of "we don't have an offense" as our defense regularly gave us at least 1 turn per point and we could not convert. As a result, we lost 15-8.
Then we put the orange jerseys on.
Game 2 was against the Army. We went up 2-0 and I personally got a bit complacent and started to pull our starters earlier than I would normally. Two points and tied later I put the heroes back in but we just could not pull away, and even went down one or two points late in the second half. Despite their coach not knowing the rules and losing his voice about ten minutes in, it was 14-14 at hard cap. I forget how we win, but we win. We lose RA David in the process however, as his little feetsies just couldn't take it.
Our third game was against our Arch-Rivals, Bard. Again, I think we just did not take them seriously. We ended up losing 15-7 and just play poorly in every sense of the word. Our offense was a bit worse than our defense, and nothing really worked.
We got back to school, went to a lackluster hasbrouck, and then got really drunk. I don't really remember after that. I know Berg showed up to convince me to play on Sunday, to which I agreed, and then proceeded to be a bitch and not play on Sunday. I did party again though.
I found it difficult to play and call subs, as I have a tough time deciding when I should put myself in while having a ton of people to get in. I also had to spend a lot more time seeing if people were tired rather than watching the game and making adjustments. Because I was watching people run and not how they play, I had a tough time figuring out who played well and therefore poorly assigned playing time in many positions, as well as having a difficult time process how the weekend went.
We often play to our competition, as our best games come against teams that are better than us (Princeton, Marist) and when we expect less of our opponent we put it on cruise-control. This can be anything from just not pushing hard enough or playing mentally lazy.
Our mental game needs some serious work, and some talking with Stiggles last night has me questioning my policy of "Play your best player regardless of practice attendance". Our team has gotten to the point where we have enough talent that we can afford to not play people that are marginal upgrades in order to send a message about practice. One thing keeping us back is our mental fortitude, and while I am not saying that I will play people according to the number of practices they attend, I will certainly make it a larger factor for playtime if I continue to call subs.
We used to not be able to get up for our first game, but now that we can, we don't have the legs to carry us through the day. I hope to see conditioning be a major part of the program next year.
I had planned to get back into the swing on things on Sunday, but between being drunk and the holidays it'll have to wait until tomorrow to start the gym again. I'm excited for next year, as this is by far the best version of Gunx yet and we have a lot of room to grow.
I am going to try to play the moderation game and still be in college while trying to improve my game rather than trying to go all out for a year.
Props --
Hasbrouk after a tournament
Only raining a little
3 Photographers
Cheap discs
Mama Campbell bringing the eats
Slops --
God those fields were the worst
Losing to Bard
Bad hasbrouk after
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