Road Trip: College Nationals 2006

[This is a long one, so click the "Continue reading" link below to read the whole thing.]

Friday night at around 11pm - I had just gotten off a 6 hour shift at a local movie theatre where i work, after a brief stop at home to grab my bags a friend picked me up and we drove to pick up a third friend who would be going with us to Columbus, Ohio.

After a slight detour we were on the PA turnpike and on our way to the Ohio capital, which was - for this weekend - the capital of college ultimate in the USA...

7 Hours later, with only 2 brief stops for gas and stretches we stopped for food at a Denny's in Ohio near the West Virginia border. It being around 5:15 at this point, we were relatively alone in the fine eating establishment which provided me with some wonderful pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, and toast all for less than 6 bucks.

Roughly 2 hours later we pulled into the parking lot at Spindler Fields and got out of the car, even though I hadnt slept in 22 hours at that point i didnt feel tired in the slightest bit.

The grass was beautiful and green, the former soccer fields were now blanketed with ultimate fields and players. Most visibly the UCSB squad was seen jogging around the fields to warm up in their somewhat legendary Black Tide jerseys.

Along the side of the parking lot before the fields were around 5 tents set up with food provided by a local pizza shop, merchandise from VC Ultimate, Gaia, 5 Ultimate as well as the "tournament headquarters".

A large buletin board was set up next to HQ, boasting the accomplishments and shortcomings of the teams thus far at the tournament.

In open pool play everyone had held seed, somewhat of a rarity in recent years.

We walked around a little bit taking in the sights and sounds of my first experience with college nationals. Everything looked professionally done, organized and ready to go off with out a hitch.

There were TDs zooming around the fields with golf carts refilling water jugs by every sideline. There were scoreboards along each field and little markers denoting which field number you were looking at.

I was definitely impressed and excited to see the games start.

We walked over to where Pittsburgh's En Sabah Nur would be playing Harvard's Redline at the start of the 10th place bracket? (i think) And the next field over was Delware's Sideshow vs. Brown's Brownian Motion.

Both games were hard fought but at the end both Metro-East teams reigned.

On the other side of the field complex UC Santa Barbara was playing Georgia in prequarters. We walked over just in time to see UCSB making a run late in the game against Jojah. Black Tide had a strong squad but was unable to hang with Dylan Tunnel and the rest of Jojah's O-line, the Tide seemed somewhat less athletic on average than portrayed in the semifinal team featured in I Bleed Black.

This sent Georgia into the semifinals where they would face Colorado and Beau Kittredge, and UCSB was relinquished to the consolation brackets - now facing Pitt.

Tensions were high going into the UCSB/Pitt game. Pitt had something to prove and UCSB seemed intent on proving that their program was on the rise again.

Points were traded early with both teams testing the deep game. The overall game mood led to a hotly contested point early in the game that lasted for easily 10 minutes. After numerous contested and some questionable calls observers handed both teams the equivelant of technical fouls.

The game remained close until the end with the Black Tide squeezing out two in a row to win.

After that game i moved to see the second half of Georgia vs. Colorado.

Jojah vs. Mamabird - Southwest vs. Atlantic Coast - Dylan Tunnel vs. Beau Kittredge - phew baby, ultimate fans need not ask for more. And they were not disappointed. The crowd of roughly 200 gathered on a hill next to the away sideline to watch the contest, with total fan presence probably weighing in at around 300.

When i got there i believe Georgia was down a break, and the first goal i saw was Beau Kittredge coming down with the disc out of 3 Jojah red shirts. Very nice.

On the Colorado offensive side of things Beau seemed to be handling the disc more than i had watched in the CSTV games, more of a resigned cutter role than a constant deep threat.

Somewhere in there Georgia regained that break, and things were tied up. Points were traded back and forth, featuring huge layout d's on both sides of the disc. A few big grabs as well led the game to 12-12.

Universe point.

I wish i could recall more individual details but it was one of those points/moments that only leaves you with an impression - i cant even remember who started on o or d, i just remember Georgia eventually scoring at the far end zone red jerseys storming the field. A few Colorado players making pleas to a nearby observer, him upholding the play and then watching the Colorado players realize that having been in the finals for the past 3 years (or more?) they have now been eliminated in the quarterfinals.

But thus is nationals, and the whole UPA series for that matter - any team from anywhere in the country can come together and win a national championship, all it takes is a team with the drive, determination and work ethic to make it happen.

You could see that the Georgia players wanted it more, and in the eyes of the Mamabird athletes all you could see is this look of "i cant believe this is happening, dont worry about it will end up winning this game, oh crap i really cant believe this is happening"

So that game kicked ass. Definitely one of the highlights of my weekend.

Next up was Florida vs. Stanford on the same field.

Florida is a very good team, let me just say that. The way they played was incredibly disciplined, their cuts were beautifully timed, it was a set of athletes all on the same page grooving like clockwork. This is the sort of program one who aspires to build a team should look to.

Yes they absolutely have their stars - Tim Gehret earned his stripes as callahan every time i saw him play. But he was a cog in an extremely well greased wheel.

Stanford also looked like a strong disciplined team. There are always teams at tournaments who are just kind of (to borrow an expression) "happy to be here", and then there are those who know they belong there.

Stanford looked like a team who knew they belonged there. This was also a team that sought to work smoothly within their set of offense.

The plain and simple fact of this game is that Florida was smoother, more calm collected and sheer out wanted it more.

Having a tad more athleticism didnt hurt either.

My only complaint was in their mindset of making everything is certain Florida landed a few endzone layouts (right by the cameras) that at least from the looks of it could have easily been run down, but alas thats life and now they are some pretty sweet pics.

Florida wins 15-7 - Did i mention they are good?

So that was it for saturday bracket play. We head back to the car - now around 5:30ish and drive to Ohio State to visit a friend and grab some much needed shower and food.

Around 9pm we leave OSU to drive to Athens, Ohio - about 1.5 hours from Columbus - where we are staying the night with another friend. We get there at around 11pm making total time without sleep at the moment around 38-39 hours. Finally fall asleep around 12:30 after a little Top Gun, and ro-sham-bo for the futon.

7:30 AM the next morning - its go time. National championship awaits, Wisconsin vs. Florida - the two undisputed best teams in the country. Both leading incredible seasons: Wisconsin 48-3, Florida 49-1

Wisconsin has lost to Florida twice, Florida has lost to Wisconsin once: finals at Centex.

The boys in baby blue from Madison, Wisconsin vs. the CollegeUlti kids from the retirement capital of the world.

As a fan you cant dream of a better game than this. The whole season when people talked of championship these two names came up, and now im taking my seat among 900ish of my closest ultimate fan family members to watch and see who will be crowned king of 2006.

There is no possible way i can encapsulate the game in a single rundown, like i mentioned before this as well was more of a game that just left an impression. But i can tell you this, there is something inspiring - as someone who works to promote and grow the sport - about sitting in a stadium with that many people who came to watch this game. Yes - many were players, some were family members, but there were also fans. There were people there who had no connection with those guys on the field other than that they played ultimate. That they knew what the game was.

I ended up driving a total of 1,200 miles that weekend in less than 48 hours, i was awake for more than 40 of those hours and ya know what i wouldnt trade one sleep deprived second of it.

Florida ended up winning the national championship, capping off a very near perfect season (only missing it by one point at centex), but who won barely even mattered to me. On that 9 hour drive home all that mattered is that we had made the trip.

I invite you to watch the national championships when they air on CSTV on July 19th. And every once in a while take a glance up at the blurry crowd in the background and realize what the sport you play has become. Its no longer only a game for barefooted kids just looking for a good time in a park, or varsity sport rejects in a New Jersey parking lot - this is real, ultimate is a sport with the capacity to fill a stadium with spectators and fans.

The trip was a ton of fun, and i hope that in the future each of you has the opportunity to not only play at college nationals but watch.

Pictures from nationals...
discraft
freeheel
ultimatefris.be

UPA Rundowns
open final
womens final
other rundowns
final standings