Yale Cup 2005:

My head currently feels like it's about twice its normal size and I'm still 
drinking full quarts of OJ at a time, hoping to chase this cold that's been 
dogging me since that fateful 16 hour car ride from Easterns.  I'm actually 
sitting in class right now as this former Harvard undergraduate drones on 
about his own off-topic opinions and then keeps whispering to his 
neighborhood snide comments when the professor responds.  He is a huge 
tool.  Here we go:

Friday Night:

While you all are up in Cambridge, I am sitting in the Silliman Common Room 
watching the Yale Lingerie Show.

Saturday Morning:

The team arrives at the fields early to cleat up and get ready to 
play.  Dave and Phil show up in their Rainbow Coalition tracksuits.  Teddy 
and Phil seem to continually get naked for no particular reason.  Steve is 
nowhere to be found after the rest of the team apparently receives an email 
explaining that he has mysteriously procured a car and will meet us at the 
tournament.  I dont remember too many particulars from these games, so 
please excuse me for leaving out all your spectacular plays.

Our first round opponent, instead of Wesleyan, is Rochester, which is 
late.  Eventually 7 of them manage to arrive.  The game is pretty 
uneventful.  We come out a little flat and Rochester seems pretty 
huck-happy in an upwind-downwind game and they score a few that way.  The D 
line gets a lot of blocks but has some difficulty converting.  We end up 
winning 13-6.

Our second round is against Amherst, which is a vengeance game for us after 
they ended our season last year with a loss at Regionals.  In a game with a 
lot of zone D, we eventually pull it out 10-8.  I seem to recall a lot of 
hard running in the cup by Grant and Lee and Mike George bidding a lot, but 
that pretty much applies to the entire day.

During our third round bye we go to Michelangelo's for subs before our game 
against Middlebury.  Because BJ is taking his practice MCAT, I am not 
forced to buy him a roast beef sandwich with BBQ sauce; instead, I am sent 
to buy Josh a BBQ sandwich and also to find some grape soda to satisfy his 
particular tastes.  (I still owe you $12, Josh).  Many chicken parms are 
enjoyed.

We come back to face the two seed in our pool; Middlebury is not as 
ridiculous as they have been in years past; in fact, none of them are 
wearing any funny or offensive costumes.  The game is close throughout with 
a lot of trading points back and forth as the Pranksters take care of the 
disc pretty well.  I don't remember many particulars from this game for 
some reason.  We end up taking the victory 13-11.

Our last game of the day is against Yale, which my friend Max West on their 
team has described as a doormatall season.  I would have to agree.  After 
they put up the first two points against us, we run off 13 points to their 
2 to end the game 13-4.  Man, I love beating Yale.  Favorite moment and 
moment most reenacted at the party Manoah catching the last point before 
the half and yelling after he comes up with it over Evan, the least 
spirited player from Yale.  Evan starts to walk away but Manoah tries to 
shake his hand and apologize for what might be considered questionable 
spirit.  At this point, Evan instead pushes Manoah on the forehead, which 
Manoah does not take too kindly to.  Peacemaking ensues between Jordan from 
Yale and some members of he Harvard team.

Saturday Night

A large portion of the team leaves to spend the night in Cambridge after 
our 4-0 record earns a first place buy.  Those of us that end up staying 
drive back to campus and once again eat at Yorkside Pizza, a Yale 
tradition.  People have lots of milkshakes.  Willie and I order a tradition 
of my friends from back in the day, the Ladykiller a pizza topped with 
onion, sausage and garlic.  Willie insists on getting the large even after 
I warn him it will be too much; despite Willies typically huge appetite, 
it is.  Milkshakes are consumed at will.

A decent portion of the team crashes in the Batcave (the honest-to-god 
nickname of the room of my friends from before I lived in Silliman) before 
the party starts, leaving Lee and myself to go alone.  Phil and the friend 
he is visiting meet us there, bringing party attendance to a total of 12 
people, consisting of the three of us and a few scattered Yale men and 
womens players in a frat house.

Since Manoah requested it, a personal story:  I finally retrieved the disc 
I was owed by a particular female ultimate player on Ramona.  Lee 
life-coached me on how to be an asshole for most of the party after said 
female player left to change clothes and did not return for about an hour, 
at which point Lee and I were ready to leave.  Said female player and I did 
have a pleasant conversation during the men's finals and she expressed 
disappointment at not getting to see us play.  She assured us that members 
of the Yale men's team thought it would be us and Brown in the finals at 
regionals.

She also said that she would try to catch us playing at sectionals, since 
thanks to the brilliant Metro Boston Sectional coordinators, we are playing 
close to the same place as the Southern New England Section as I understand 
it, though that seems a little off we are in Warwick, RI and they are in 
Kingston, RI.  Whatever that means see the end of the email for the real 
brilliance of our sectional coordinators.

With that done, we head back to Silliman and a full night's rest.

Sunday Morning:

Those of us that stayed at Yale arrive at the fields about an hour early as 
the rest of the team is finishing cleating up for the day after catching 
the first half of an episode of NEXT on MTV.  Lessons:  If a girl brings a 
dog on your date, feel free to call NEXT quickly.  If a girl says she 
thinks you knew each other in a past life, call NEXT quickly.

Our quaterfinal opponent is UMass, Jeff Graham's alma mater.  The first 
half goes smoothly and we cruise to a halftime lead of 7-2 with a steady 
man offense and some strong defensive pressure on the open side.  We all 
remember why we miss BJ when he gets two defensive blocks and a shadow D on 
the UMass player with a mouthguard in the same point.  I manage to jump 
higher than I ever have in my life while skying half the UMass team for and 
errant throw near the end of the half; yea for all those squat jumps we had 
to do over the winter!  In the second half things get a little sloppy as 
our marks stop shutting down the UMass swings and our O line has some 
execution errors against the zone.  UMass pulls within 10-7, but we rally 
off the last two points after the cap goes on to finish of the victory 12-7.

As expected, Dartmouth in the semis.  The offense gives up one break on the 
first point on a Callahan and a second break early in the first half, but 
the defense manages to get both breaks back and but us back on serve; Jack 
shot a long shot to Steve to get back on serve to end the half as Steve cut 
to the endzone from the opposite sideline screaming for the disc.  The 
second half involved trading points back and forth; JKL had a ridiculously 
sweet full-extension layout after chasing down a huck blasted from near our 
endzone from Charles; Chuck throws an almost identical put to Jack on the 
next O point.  Dartmouth goes up a break and Will makes a great defensive 
play on a crossfield hammer to prevent us from going down two breaks.  The 
O line ties the game at 13-13.  Dartmouth goes on a two point run to end 
the game, equalizing the season series at 1-1.

By the way:  tp://www1.upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=18&id=1333

If this is actually how everything goes down, that means five games the 
first day, and that the 1-2 matchup in pool play is pretty much the 
semifinals because there is only a 2-team bracket for the finals.  Get 
ready for this -- it's going to be a battle in endurance.

That's it.  I'm going back to bed.

Mike Stern, SM '07