Slumber Party: Midnight Edition

[Contributed by Sam #6]

This past weekend, a group of ninjas, or some of the Gnome Vets, ventured north through a blizzard. Slumber Party was held in some soccerplex in Milwaukee, and team PJ's and BJ's pretty much owned. With games not starting till midnight, it was one of those tournaments.

Game 1:

Our first game was against NOISE, a team from Milwaukee and Madison, a pretty competitive mixed team that qualified for regionals this past club season. They came out ready to play, and we didn't. I blame Doug. It was pretty much just his fault we lost this game. Everyone else was perfect. Might have been a closer game, if not for some goal thievery at the end of the first half. Them 10 Us 7

Game 2:

This game was against sLumber Jacks. This game involved great play from everyone, even Doug. Smarter decisions were made, and we had our biggest win of the night (morning). Guest Kevin "Almost as good as Jeff Afryl" Kelly kinda sucked.

Game 3:

Against Dream Team. AKA the Hodags. AKA actual NBA players. A team of college players from around Wisconsin, including some standouts from UWMadison and UWMil. We started slow, even going down 6 to 4 at half after some great play by Andrew Bogut, LBJ, J Rich, and Chuck, but some tightening screws and general awesomeness allowed for a bitchin comeback, P/Bj's 10 dags 7. Second half highlights include numerous skies by T stain and Willtastic, Sam and Steve bitchin up hodag rook Steve Nash, and lisa decking sam into the boards on a layout block. J's FTW

Game 4:

Having trouble remembering anything, got really tired by this point. We played a game here, and I think we lost. Thats all I can come up with. Doug played well this game. I think this team had a fast girl that scored 95% of their goals. If only we had Jeff Afryl, we might have won. Oh yea, and Doug had a stupid layout block, that popped up into a girls hands.

Game 5: Postseason

This was our closest game, against a bunch of Madison Club players. By this time it was 5 or 6 in the morning, and everyone was ass-tired. This game was a battle the whole way, Madison was ahead the whole time, but never by more than two points. This close game was mostly atributed to AssButt being redonk, with a couple of great plays, including a sick layout bid. We got it to 8-7 as the buzzer sounded, but couldn't get the D on the last point of the game, so Madison Club etched out a 9-7 win over team J's. So we missed a chance to play for the finals, and went home to Momma Fish's homemade breakfast.

End result Tie for 3rd and lots of fun.

PS. Kevin Jumped over Dwight Howard.

You are Invited to Chicago in 1 Month

[Contributed by Sam #6]

Yo Gnomes, the spring tournament season starts in exactly one month!!!!

Go to practice so we can get in shape (DOUG)!!! Also Doug needs to do dishes!!!

Shane you also missed a sweet hockey game. We watched in your room.

Steve: Doug wants to rail your hot ass; also go to Leadership 101 so you can behave similarly to a captain this season, for a change (more like this guy).

And Steph Curry looks like Elian Gonzalez.

Sam, you really need to take care of that zazu problem.

Spring '09:

The Season is right around the corner, so everyone really needs to be taking care of business and be getting in killin shape. Conditioning workouts are great, but everyone needs to be sure that they are putting in the extra work on their own.

High tide 20ten is right around the corner, that should be a hella good time. Everybody who isn't coming is a sucker.

Tournaments for this spring, so everybody has them on your calendar:

Chicago Invite, Naperville Polo Grounds, March 20-21

Huck Finn, somewhere in St. Louis, April 3-4

Central Plains Sectionals, Naperville Polo Grounds, April 17-18

And when we qualify:

Great Lakes Regional, Bloomington, IN, May 1-2

Also have the Spring Fever 5k on your calendar, April 10. Everyone who has done it in the past is very awesome.

And in other news... Some predictions for this coming season.

Steph Huizenga: Crack his kneecap, keep playing, get a layout calahan to win a game at Huck Finn. Will fail to fill RSK's giant footsteps, yet will still be our best captain. Looses his voice singing sabotage at live band karaoke in Georgia.

Doug Dob: Will not play at sectionals, hasn't actually attended a class at ISU in five semesters. Hates Al Bowman cuz he is...... whack. Will only catch 15% of the passes thrown to him.

Will Fantastic: Probably will not return from Georgia. Gonna try to shotgun a beer underwater and drowns.

Shane Crap: Leads the B/D team all season with his motto "Get your Effing heads in the G.D. game!!!!"

Dave Johnson: Gets confused at sectionals and plays most of Saturday with Illinois, not Illinois State, and can't figure out why his blue doesn't match theirs. Slaps Muffin's face with a rulebook.

Sam Pooch: Knee injury. Gets in a fight over a travel call. Makes nationals cuz he's better then everyone else.

Jeff Afryl: The only one better than Sam. Invented nationals. No one wakes him up for High Tide and he stays home and cries.

Cole Lucas: Shitbrick

Brett, KT, Tom and Venus: quit the team, because of excessive sophomoreitis. Manage to complain about it still.

Pat Lott: Breaks his other collar bone on a reckless layout (playing Madden). Comes to practice now and then to sky Trevor. Finds a duffel bag for his stuff, and still skips a tournament.

Crack: UPA implements random drug testing, fails to show up for sectionals after failing to find someone else's clean urine.

Trevor: brings beautiful life into the world, willy and steve fight over godfather status, and trevor throws a and gives it to... DOUG?!?!?!

Rob Gross: Gets asked to stop playing ultimate after injuring Loyola's entire roster.

Brian Earhart: Is a teddy bear?

Knox Recap

[Contributed by Sam #6]

Great job at Knox this past weekend Gnomes!!!!

Game 1: Knox A

We came out running a vert in this game, and we never really got it going. While we took half, we never built a substantial lead, and knox had a couple of athletes that really kept them in the game. They got out and got some easy points on hucks, and easy points are the key to indoor ultimate. But in the end of the game we played solid D and kept them in check, ISU 9 Knox 7.

Game 2: Bradley

This game we kept with vert, and our offense remained a little stagnant. We gutted through the first half, and took half, but our play remained pretty sloppy. The second half was more of the same, our offense just wasn't clicking, but we played good enough defense to make up for it. ISU 10 Bradley 9

Game 3: Knox Old people

We came out this game and switched things up, running with a Ho we really got the disk moving and came into our comfort zone on offense. Our D kept up and we took half pretty easily for a change. Our progress kept up through the end of the game, and we continued to move the disc and make the right plays. ISU 11 Knox Alum 8

Game 4: Western ILL

This was our big game for the day, and we started it out with great intensity, just like we needed to. Our disc movement kept up, and we kept Western's offense on their toes with great pressure from our D, we took half with a few point lead, 7 - 3 (or 4, or some variation of scores, depending who you ask). Our play stayed consistent through the second half, largely in part to Jeff Afryl being a super hero. ISU 11 Western 8

Lesson for the day: Intensity is the key for our team. We need to get fired up for the start of games, and keep it going. When we play intense and aggressive we are a great team, but when we don't we play down to a lesser level and allow ourselves to get beat. So lets remember this going into tournaments this spring; Intensity will win us games!!!!!

Sunday

Game 1: Peoria Parrots

Our first Elimination game pitted us against the Parrots, after we got to sleep in. They played a clammy sorta zone, which gave us some trouble in the first half, as we tried to force throws against it and got in some trouble. As a result our D lost a little of its edge and we got discouraged. Parrots take half 7 - 6. Huddle at half, Mega-Captain Stuart Huizinger gets the troops fired up and ready to reek havoc with a zone. We come out of half excited and playing hot, tear up the zone and play great D. Huge turnaround after half. ISU 12 Parrots 8.

Game 2: Semis vs. Eastern ILL

The game starts with a couple of traded points, both teams lookin pretty good. ISU then makes a couple of mistakes and the intensity is gone, poor D is played, and turnovers en masse follow. Reaper takes half 7 - 2. Second half is just more of the same, ISU only improves a little. We stopped playing to our strengths and let the game get away from us. Eastern 13 ISU 7

Weekend lesson: We need to play excited and energetic if we are gonna win. This can't stop with a couple of bad points. For fear of sounding like a broken record - INTENSITY WILL WIN US GAMES!!!!!!!! Great weekend Gnomes, lookin forward to a ballin spring.

* All scores are arbitrary and mean nothing. *

Knoxxx Winter Whiteout: ULTIMATE!!!!!!!

[Contributed by Sam #6]

Its Super Bowl weekend, and that can only mean one thing: Indoor Ultimate at Knox, and some early season domination for Gnomes. This year should be no different, except, knock on wood, no injuries, sorry Hollywood. We are going into it this year with the disappointment of finishing second last year, and hope to put this tournament win under our belts and get this spring off to a good start. This should be a good chance for us to start out with some good fun, and a great opportunity to get some early wins. Not to mention we have put in some great work already this winter, and this will really let us see how our legs are coming.

The schedule at Knox kind of drags by, as they only have one game running at a time, but we still get a full day on saturday with four games.

Game 1: vs. Knox A

This game should be a great chance for us to get going against a pretty decent team that we can beat. Knox has some very solid players, with very good fundamentals, but we should really be able to out run them, and get a lot of easy scores with our athleticism and legs. This should allow us to start out our season on a good note.

Game 2: vs. Bradley

This is another game we should be able to control pretty easily, not to mention I would still like to avenge a sectionals loss to Bradley from last spring. With a combination of smart play and athleticism, we should be able to handle this game too.

Game 3: vs. Knox Alum

The host's alumni are going to be like the Knox A, but with better fundamentals, albeit a little bit older and slower. To have success in this game, we have to get after the disc, and want it more. They will be able to control the game, but we have to use our legs to create opportunities, and really play up our advantages.

Game 4: vs. Western IL

This game is fittingly last, against a team that ISU has played hotly contested matches against since.... I guess the dawn of time. The epic battle of Robots and Gnomes has never failed to disappoint, with countless games coming down to nail-biting finishes. For this game it is super important that we come out intense with our game faces on, and play at a high level from the start. With such short rounds, it is important to get out to a good start in every game, but this one for sure.

With some success on Saturday, we will get to sleep in on Sunday, and get ready for some more domination through the tournament, and a repeat appearance in the finals. Who needs the Super Bowl when the Gnomes are out Bustin' Nuts.