WEEK IN REVIEW: Well, this is it

The end of 2010. There's really not much more to say than what's already been said. This is the end...

But wait... look! This is my desktop...



No, look closer, fool:


We live on. See you on the other side, happy campers.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK:

(Technically last week, but close enough)

GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK:

Ingrid, 12/31, 8:27 am:

(More) ultimate unrelated emails for the month long hiatus,

As I might have mentioned in an early-December chain email, I´m not going to another part of China after New Year, but returning to Beijing. More Beijing Frisbee!

I haven´t found my housing yet for that roughly six month January to August stretch. If anybody knows of somebody who would like another roommate, or has other leads, please let me know. Ideally it would be near Dongzhimen (which to some of you means I´ve come to my senses regarding where to live...)

Thanks a bunch,

Ingrid

RETROSPECTIVE: Top photos of 2010?

Well, that's what I would be doing if I didn't already post this. Ah, fuck planning.

Best photos of 2010*, sorted chronologically:










Picture credit: Kevin Reitz, Steph Kwan, Aurora Yao

*May or may not be the best ... probably not.

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: Christmas casualties

Triple H cooked at Marc's place on Saturday night for a group of us. We did a white elephant gift exchange that proved, as these things always do, confrontational, then combative. Nina and Jim mutilated Doc. YJ channeled her inner ninja. Three people died. Beijing Ultimate will never be the same.

WEEK IN REVIEW: It's Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve, and while Christmas is a fake holiday, we'll take this opportunity to rest our over-used typing fingers. Enjoy the holidays, people. We'll be back after the weekend.

GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK:

Ellen Wong, 12/22:

sorry for the non-ulti stuff, but since it's quiet xmas season and there's no "witty" repartee by some of the more talkative (less busy??) folks, i'm sending out two workish things.

a colleague's chinese friend is looking for a native english speaker to have conversational english sessions with her 16 and 3 year old children (as my colleague put it, "you know younger westerners who [hand gesture frisbee], right?") please contact ma jie if interested - her email is jie...@trade.gov - she said please also include your hourly rate.

on a different note, for those interested in the us foreign service, you can sign up to take the exam in beijing - information follows:

Register NOW to take the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT): Embassy Beijing will host the next FSOT on the following two sessions:

 Saturday, February 12, 2011 from 9:00am-12:30pm
 Saturday, February 12, 2011 from 1:30pm-5:00pm

To register for the test please go to: http://careers.state.gov/officer/register.html.

The deadline to submit completed Registration is January 24, 2011.

You MUST register to take the FSOT through ACT, the test administrators.
Please note that the Human Resources Office at Post is unable to schedule you for the FSOT.

Important Registration links and information:

 Register for the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT). Please note that this link will take you to the ACT registration website.
 Technical problems/questions regarding the Registration Process? Please email ACT, Inc. at f...@ACT.org or call (800) 205-6358.
 Download the Guide to the Foreign Service Officer Selection Process (756kb, PDF).
 Order the Foreign Service Officer Test Study Guide. Please note that this link will take you to the ACT website.
 View schedule of FSOT and Oral Assessment Dates.

RETROSPECTIVE: Big Brother at Manila

Just realized I haven't put the Big Brother team picture online yet:


Facebook albums here, here and here.

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: Aaron, that fucking tourist

First, let me just say that this weekend was pretty successful, all things considered. Yesterday Ellen held a game night / afternoon. On Saturday, we ate at Sultan after the last pickup of 2010, then went to Second Floor in Sanlitun. On Friday Alicia hosted some friends at her place and we played epic ("surreal," as Alex put it) Kings. And Aaron Leung was not here to ruin any of it.

You remember Aaron, I'm sure -- That Fucking Tourist. He flew in on Tuesday from Canada on a white unicorn like fucking Fabio just off a masturbatory binge, then left on Friday like the fucking tourist he is with a roll of FUCKING PICTURES. And where was your yellow hat and tour guide flag, you fucking tourist douche? Next time you grace Beijing, leave the point-and-click at home and just enjoy the company, okay? Ah, who am I kidding... go back to France!

Disclaimer: Or Aaron took no pictures at all. That fucking guy.

WEEK IN REVIEW: Last pickup of the year

After this Saturday, pickup is OFF until after the holidays. We will resume back up at BCIS on Wednesday, January 12, at 7 pm per usual.

We were graced by the presence of Aaron Leung for a few days this week. We'll write about it in the upcoming Weekend Roundup [update: here].

On Thursday, Ken Dry invited us to his apartment to drink his liquor (and help him clean some things). It was a good time.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK:
See yesterday's post.

And this (explained below):


GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK, pt 1:

Candice Lee and her bowling league (titled "BOWLING 2011 (almost)"), 12/15:

Hello Bowallers,

I hope everyone is doing well and getting ready for the new year/new bowling season!

In January we will commencing next bowling league, so get out your shoes, your balls, and game face.

This coming *Monday, Dec Thursday, Dec 20* will be a *WARM UP BOWL at Gongti 100 at 9pm. *

It's going to be a real casual bowling session, but it's just a good opportunity to massage our egos and shine our balls. I know this is a bit last minute, but come on out if you have time! We can just rent lane by lane and sip on some cocktails（tiger beer?). btw, byo.

Also,* if you're interested in signing up for bowling league next year, send me an email before January 10 so that I can set up the brackets*. I'm thinking Thursday nights at 9pm, similar to last year. The *start date will be January 13.* This year I will really send out the final scores and be more organized. It will probably be about 45 rmb per person per league game.

Each team can have from 4-5 players (4 main players, 1 alternate). Try to have teams co-ed, but I understand otherwise. * Send me team names!*

Please forward this out to anyone who would be interested in joining! I can put them on the mailing list (I'm sure I've forgotten bunches of people). Otherwise, if you want off, just let me know and you will no longer receive fun emails from me. ( for bowling at least, not guaranteed for kickball)

There will also be an* impromtu pre-pre bowl tomorrow night, Thurs Dec 16, at 9pm.
*
Let's get em rolling,

Candice
[number redacted]

GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK, pt 2:

Betsy! 12/15:

frisbee adobo,

betsy is back after basking in the philippines and getting her fill of beaches, sunshine, and chiseled, tropical, testosterone-filled men (read: lincoln) before returning to freezing beijing to hibernate for the winter. she knows you (read: tao) were going through betsy withdrawal, but betsy wouldn't abandon you (read: baby girl) and
deprive you (read: still baby girl) of her scintillating seasonal sauciness. because she loves you (read: oh crap, maybe was that andy?). yes she does.

WEEKLY ITEM #1: Schedule

Pickup Wednesdays 7-9pm and Saturdays 2-4pm at BCIS

no practice until gareth deems it warm enough to cut off that awful facial hair.

_________

WEEKLY ITEM #2: Upcoming Tournaments

Vietnam Hat tournament, December 18-19th, 2010
Bangkok Hat tournament, February 12-13 or 19-20, 2011
Phnom Penh Big Phat Hat tournament, March 5-6, 2011
Boracay Beach tournament, March 20-21
PAGANELLO! Beach tournament, April 21-25, 2011

_________

WEEKLY ITEM #3: Lunch time Poll

1. matching: who asked for what for christmas?

A. gareth 1. an iphone
B. sandy 2. an iphone
C. ken dry 3. a new boyfriend, or at least his abs back
D. kevin 4. a new boyfriend, and possibly new shorts
E. leigh 5. a green man
F. chaitkin 6. a new roommate
H. Ingrid 7. a few more inches on his "vertical"
G. doc 8. what's christmas?

2. which of the following couples are so hot right now?

a. chaik-fil-a
b. destijimmer
c. drewleigh mobloomfat-young
d. muelin mattgrid
e. garcraft
_________

now is the time in the weekly email when betsy gives her weekly shout outs and call outs. remember, you want to get shouted out, but you do not want to get called out.

--special manila edition--

a shout out to zahlen. sure, you are fatter and slower, getting older, and not as sharp-witted as you once were. but something something thanks for playing with big brother in manila. it was pretty great.

a call out to ellen. next time baby girl invents a game that directly involves embarrassing and upsetting you, try harder not to be embarrassed and upset. it ruins all the fun.

a shout out to rob. betsy doesn’t care what everyone else says about you, she still thinks you are fun.

a call out to subic. possibly more parking attendants would improve the experience. beijing did not feel like all their parking needs were being met. just a suggestion.

a shout out to chaitkin. yay chaitkin.

a call out to kevin. more botched jeepny rentals, please. what does a girl have to do to get completely lost and ripped off in the philippines nowadays? go home with a green man, perhaps?

a shout out to nina. nina played an entire tournament without injuring anyone. jim’s feelings do not count.

a call out to green man. betsy knows what happened on the golf course, and she’s never going to be able to think of “hole 10” on the “back nine” the same way again.

a shout out to femtight. gareth can tell you why.

a call out to penifresh. betsy is allergic to tutti-fruiti and now she has a rash. on her feet. joe can tell you why.

a shout out to hhh, nicki, baby girl, gareth, and jim. seriously, you all deserved the awards given to you. no joking. for reals yo. also tao and zach for the greatest. seriously everyone.

________

and finally, your moment of zen…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GS6gKxG_jo

catch you on the field,
betsy
xxxooo

And Tao, a mere 25 minutes later:

Oh, great, Betsy is back whoring up the town. Are you using protection this time at least, you skank?

But Alex Ornik is REALLY excited. No, seriously.

Calling all people with photos: the slideshow needs you

A message from Tao:

Beijing Ultimate,

It's that time again, where I go into hiding for a month to work on the Year-in-Review Slideshow.

To review, this is what I mean:

2009:

Part 1: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTQzMDY0ODMy.html
Part 2: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTQ3OTkwNTI0.html
Part 3: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTQ3OTkxODQ4.html

Or those with VPN: http://beijingultimate.blogspot.com/2010/01/weekend-roundup-slideshow-2009.html

2008:

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTIyMDM0NzI0.html
VPN: http://beijingultimate.blogspot.com/2009/09/greatest-year-in-review-slideshow.html

The list of people that appear in the 2009 slideshow is in a postscript. If you were in Beijing in 2009 and participated in Ultimate-related activities but are NOT on the list, it's because you failed to answer my call last year. Don't make the same mistake...

I am now accepting photos (and videos) for submission into this year's slideshow.

No guarantees that what you send will make the final product, but it will definitely be considered. Examples of good pictures are at the bottom.

I'd like this to be as comprehensive as possible, so Yan, Andy, Ken Su, etc., please pass this request to the relevant Hangtime and Bang people.

Obviously some people will be over-represented (Jim ... last year he led everyone with TK appearances) and some under, but I'll try my best to distribute according to some algorithm or other.

Feel free to point me to Facebook/Renren albums, etc. Steph and Ken, I've seen yours already, and I will be pulling photos from it (with source credit, of course). Mike Shyu, you sitting on another treasure trove?

I am also taking song recommendations.

Send away.

2009, in order of appearance:

PART 1

Jeff Orcutt
Mark Scott
Doc Tobin
Kevin Reitz
Joe Pellicano
Michelle Tang
Sandy Wang
Anthony Tao
Lincoln Cheung
Big Brother
Perkin Chai
Ken Su
Amy Gardner
Casey Guo
Andrew Shen
Case of Tsingdao
Therese Mendez
Alicia Lui
Mike Shyu
Helen Shyu
Helen Lu
(Zoey Lee)
Jim Kirchhoff
Wang Bin
Happy Rat
Air Kazak
Beijing Bang
Larke Williams
Lassi Kokko
(Richie Liu)
(Edward Wang)
Qi Zhenjia
Steven Zhang
Yin Kong
Zhao Yu (Apple)
Feng Qi
(Candice Tse)
Candice Lee
Jehan Azad
Nick Liu
Kelly Yang
(Milan Alex)
Gareth Marshall
Yan Hao
Andy Young
Chris Boehner
Brian Marterer
Hsing-hui Hsu
Francis Chan
Aaron Leung
Tina "Pnut" Yen
Michael Chaitkin
Ellen Wong
Andrew "Baby Girl" Moffat
Lauren Reed
(Sara Udow)
Doozers
Beijing Ultimate

PART 2

Tina Xue
(Barbara Simeles)
Ryan Perez
(Mike "Nads" Narodovich)
Belem
Chee-Nar
Lin Lin
Kang Haiyan
Guy Sivan
Nicki Fung
Yao Guai (Nick Cheng)
(David "Blondie" Bergmark)
Jason Bergman
(Jon Greenberg)
(Nick Hatt)

Pat Li
Char Lam
Missy Rock
Duff Douglas
Laurene Desclaux
(Ebru Tekinturhan)
Mitch Moxley
Xie Yuhui
Chen Yunyun
Roger Liu
Zhi Jian (Xiaozhi)
Zhao Zhenming (Laozhao)
Heihei
Zhang Huizi (Tracy)
Xiao Pang
Russell Young
Zahlen Titcomb
(Kat Velayo)
(Andrea Shaw)
Joel Rosen
Steph Kwan
Hao Yifan (Zhengzheng)

Ken Dry
Tory Hislop
Charlotte Chang
Margaret Sietsema
Sara Miller
(Andrea Chang)
(Rie Kimura)
(Miles Schneider)
(Caitlin McKimmy)
Adie
Marc Zeiger-Guerra
Veronica Lee
Talia Tay
(Phil Chien)
Liz Lin

PART 3

Jesse Day
Wang Yao (Aurora)
John Wang
Cheris Chiu
Wang Yucheng
Helen Zhao
Luo Zhaoyuan
Fang Zhang
(NIC Alpert)
Greg Ericksen
(Ivan Xu)
(Carmen Tong)
(Kyndra Turner)
(Joei Calixto)
(Kristin Franke)
(Angela Bauer)
(Ness Fajardo)
(Panoy Delos Santos)
(Raquel Grape-Flores)
(Aya Larsen Su)
(Martin Butler)

(Dennell Reynolds)
Tom Rippe
(Warren Pottrill)
Nora Sluzas
(Emma Shyu)
Marshall Wang
(Angel Hsu)
(Reid Barrett)
(Julia Filip)
Donald De Bona

RETROSPECTIVE: That time when we still didn't know each other

From Rec.Sport.Disc, May 4, 2008:

On May 3, 10:25 pm, chirona.silverst...@gmail.com wrote:

> Hey all,

> I play college level Ultimate at Brown, and I'm going to be in Beijing
> for nine weeks this summer. I've searched online and haven't found
> anything about a league there. Does anyone know of one? Or at least
> someone to throw with?

> Thanks,
> ~Chirona

Shen's reply:
There's plenty of ultimate in Beijing right now, both local and expat groups.
There should be an international tournament or two during the summer. We will probably havea summer league too, I recommend you join the Beijing Ultimate google group to find out the latest details: http://groups.google.com/group/beijing-ultimate
Hope to see you around in the summer.

Announcing: Phnom Penh hat tourney

From the TD:

Registration is now open for the second annual International Women’s Day Phnom Penh Big Phat Hat tournament, on 5-6 March 2011.
That’s right, we’ve decided to do one last hat before (probably) switching to a team format next year. The basics:

Theme: Les Aventures de Tintin
Cost: $65
Inclusions: Jersey, hat, lotsa free food & beer, disc, transport to the field, and other stuff
Other costs: Visa (free for ASEAN members; $20 for others – visas can be secured upon entry)
Other benefits: Cheap lodging and quite possibly the time of your life; good excuse for a 4-day weekend in Cambodia if you get March 8 (Tuesday) off.

Last year was a raging success, highlighted by:
- a crackin’ party
- gourmet lunches (informally voted the best tourney food in Asia)
- cattle trucks
- happy pizza
- bottomless beer
- various fun rules, including all-female universal points
- a full slate of halftime contests (including a rare chicken-wing
contest), and
- a very special appearance by the Gimp

This year promises more of the same, only bigger and badder.

You got questions? We got answers. Email Greg (gbloom88@gmail.com) or Craig
(craigdgerard@gmail.com)

Keep ‘em flyin’.

Greg

Websites

Tourney page and registration: http://phnompenhultimae.com/BFPP_HAT.html

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38943791964#!/event.php?eid=171725432858356

Photos from last year’s tourney:
http://www.facebook.com/photo_search.php?oid=38943791964&view=user#!/media/set/?o.38943791964

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: Congratulations to Alicia, winner of Guangzhou Jumble Jumble

Beijing's Alicia Lui single-handedly led her "jumble" team to victory at the third Guangzhou Jumble Jumble Tournament. She is pictured on the far right, doing something with her hands.

Peach (aka Eileen), who has now lost in three straight finals in China Ultimate, including with Big Brother in Hong Kong, won finals MVP (in a losing effort, of course).

A jumble tournament is one in which several "mini-teams" play one another with other mini-teams. That doesn't make sense. There are eight "mini-teams," and each of the eight takes turns pairing up with other "mini-teams" to take on "teams." You get the idea? If not, it's your own damn fault. It's so delightfully complicated that we just may do such a thing here in Beijing in the spring.

The weekend also saw the return of Julia, for 24 hours only, give or take. A gang (Kevin, Ace, Cdice, Joe, Nestor...) partied it up with her on Saturday night at Yugongyishan in an 80s-themed event. Apparently it was a really decent time.

Contacted for comment, Kevin Reitz said, "It was pretty fun, I just wanted to hang out with Julia really."

WEEK IN REVIEW: Guess who's back!

The more things change, the more they stay the same. It's getting very cold in Beijing, but we're still playing disc (indoors, BCIS -- see side panel). The yuan is appreciating, yet the currency of love and shame remains, and we spend accordingly. New people come, and new bars open, yet Beijing Ultimate continues its reign as the best community in the city. And potsticker demand in the northwestern part of the United States, from what I hear, increases every day, but Julia Filip is here, in our city, celebrating with friends she made way, way back, during times we may have forgotten. Life is pretty great, isn't it?

PICTURE OF THE WEEK: Digging way back in the archives (2008)...


ULTIMATE BLOG OF THE WEEK: disc thoughts

GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK:

Jehan, 12/7:

Hey Potential Santas,

This Saturday afternoon there will be a pub crawl around beijing while dressed up as Santa Claus. It's called Santacon, it's been going on in the states for over 15 years (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SantaCon) and for the last few years here in Beijing.

Any info you may need (including where to get costumes) can be found at www.bjsantacon.com. The start time and location will be announced Friday night on the website, if you plan on coming later you can call me to catch us en-route.

-Jehan

I, personally, have little interest in dressing up as a potbellied child molester, but to each his own, I guess.

Come back Wednesday for a special text retrospective.

RETROSPECTIVE: The Manila Spirits Saturday night party portrait

Guess who the green man is...

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: Pink Party, Jump, Jive, and Super Quiz, Oh My!

On Friday select members of the Beijing Ultimate community went to this bar and bought pints and then growlers and got drunk ... off beer! For the first time in a long time. Then it was off to Zahlen's for the Pink Party, which proved horrendously fun as always, and someone may or may not have closed Chocolate.

On Saturday, after pickup, Mike and Helen (and Emma!) Shyu (but mostly Mike and Helen) hosted their annual Jump, Jive and hey someone kill the Turkey Already Thanksgiving dinner (their seventh time doing it, actually). Mike gave a heartfelt speech about the meaning of family and then we dug into the meal, which was so big everyone had leftovers. (A few days later the Shyus hosted another mini-feast to get rid of their leftovers). Pictures below provided by the estimable Kevin Reitz:





And finally, to top off a wild weekend, Jim and I hosted the Image round at the Beijinger's Super Quiz at Hard Rock Cafe. The Beijinger's write-up of the event is here, and this is a live blog from Beijing Boyce. Here's Jim during the first round:


Picture from tbj

This is more or less how our round ended (at the 51-second mark, you'll recognize a certain clip that appeared last Halloween; answer at the bottom):



And because we were up first, we spent the rest of the quiz night getting drunk on Tiger (then Stella) beer. Here we were at the end (yes, Jim is wearing that):



Picture from tbj

Answer: Remember this?

WEEK IN REVIEW: Manila Spirits and ... a pink party!

As we collectively recover from the weekend in Manila (feel free to read about the preparation for the weekend in Manila as well), we look ahead to a party. Zahlen's upteenth goodbye party is a... well, I'll just let him explain it:

Subject: PSF - A little hang out session
Date: December 2, 2010
Body:

Any guesses what PSF stands for?

I'm taking off on Saturday morning, so I'm hoping to catch up with a few peeps for a drink or two on Friday night. Swing by after dinner to the dojo for some good times, and maybe if we decide to fight the cold, we'll head out somewhere afterwards.

*PINK

Bring something to share, and we'll make merry!

I live at Concordia, Jia he li yuan (嘉和丽园) complex, near nv ren jie, near the flower market, near the new US embassy, on xiao yun lu and tian ze lu.

*SHIRT

Building A - 1905 嘉和丽园 北京
This one:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=beijing+c...

*FRIDAY

Z

PS. people not wearing a pink shirts will not be easily admitted.

Sweet.

Jia from Ninja Cowboy Bear is also in town, so this is our big chance to show an outsider what Beijing Ultimate's all about. Hopefully no one dies.

PICTURES OF THE WEEK:
This is what we left:



Pictures taken on a drive from our villas in Clarke to Subic Bay on Monday (before heading back to the Ninoy Aquino Airport in Manila the next day).

The Google Groups Post of the Week is an email this week, from Jim, captain of Big Brother, sent on Wednesday, 12/1.

(Disclaimer: all scores probably made up.)

Subject: Spirits Recap

HOOOOO HAAAAA!!!!

What a weekend! Big Brother rolled into the Philippines boisterously (but with class) and left a T-Rex-size footprint behind. Everywhere we went, people had a great time and learned to party. Whether it be seedy clubs in seaside Subic, pre-tourney house parties hosted by Circus, street parties at the Bora house with lots of "shoulder injuries" and "shirtings" it was an awesome weekend!

I had a blast playing with everyone, so thank you to everyone who came and made the weekend so much fun. Let's keep building, we've got a great foundation leading into 2011.

And now, the business of recapping on field shenanigans. For party recaps and more specifics talk to each other or respond to this email with some stories.


Friday: Open and Women's

The weekend started for most of us with a day of open and women's games. For those of you who didn't hear, Mike Chaitkin flew in form the US to start the weekend with the welcome (and surprising) return of one of our own and Beijing's long lost son, Zahlen, played with both the open and mixed team.

The men's team was CUUP (China United Ultimate Party) featuring almost all of BB's men plus the following cast of characters: Ken Su, Wil Turner, Jia Xie, Jon Greenberg, Uli Burke, Will Chen, Yoshio Leeper, Sam Axelrod, and Zahlen. A very strong team on paper who had no trouble rolling through pool play and quarters. Semis brought on Hong Kong (and friends) who looked to be the first real test for the team. It was a much harder fought game, however the score never left any doubt as CUUP coasted into Finals to face Singapore.

Meanwhile, the women's team called Hong Kong but with many friends including, Alicia, HHH, Nicki, and Cdice in prominent roles, had a tougher road. I didn't get to see pool play action due to conflicting schedules, but the ladies won their pool and faced Bebots, the Filipina team and 1 seed entering the tournament in semis who had lost a game in pool play to force the tough match up. After going down 7-5? (i'm hazy on score and will make them up from here on out) the HK women came charging back, scoring 3 or 4 in a row to take the lead. Not to be outdone, Bebots remembered how to score again and kept it neck and neck to the end. Finally HK pulled through winning on universe? or by 2? Regardless, an awesome game.

In finals, the brought HK up against the Singaporean women. HK came out strong and took a 3-4 point lead going into half time. The game had no time cap however and people began to get tired in the second round as the singaporean ladies came back to tie it up in the second half. Someone needs to fill in play by play here as the men's final had already started (poor scheduling from the TD) but from what i understand HK managed to hold on and trade points again winning on universe? Apparently an awesome game.

Men's finals pitted CUUP against the Singaporean men. (both finals were china v. singapore - could it be there are the centers of quality ultimate in asia?) Okay, I'm getting tired of typing so, both teams basically traded point the entire game (again a race to 15 with no time limit). CUUP went up by 2, only to have the score brought back even. We then traded points until 10s or 11s when CUUP was finally able to pull away. Final score was 15-11? 15-12? with the game lasting a full 2 hours. Everyone was exhausted, but with both the men and women taking home championships, there was much rejoicing. =)


Saturday: Day 1 of Mixed

Let me preface the outcome of this day by saying that we had what was the strongest pool of the tournament by far. And the tourney format had no crossovers. To quantify that statement, our 3 seed took 3rd place in the tournament (winning the 3 v 4 game), and defeating our 1 seed in quarters on universe point. Our 4 seed ended up the 10 over all in the tournament (which was the original rank of our 3 seed).

Day one started inauspiciously when our first game against the one seed in our pool, Shiok, was delayed nearly 15 minutes while their captains argued to play the game 3 men 4 women when the tourney was a 4 men 3 women format. The TD finally ruled that they could only go 3:4 if we agreed (which with 6 women we did not). That time would have helped greatly as BB started a little flat and immediately dug ourselves into a hole. Shiok also had a remarkable amount of luck completing at least 4 passes that went over the head of or were tipped by the intended receivers only to be caught by a teammate.

Shiok took half easily at 6-2? before BB finally started to click. Again, we had little time and the time cap went off at 7-4, ensuring our loss before the start of the final point. Shiok wins 8-4. This game also reduced our women from 6 to 5 as Nina jacked her back and was unable to play the rest of the weekend.

In game two we faced the "3 seed" Sexual Chocolate. A very strong team of Filipinos augmented by Fei Fei from Taiwan and Mark from Team Canada. The game was an intense battle but Sexual Chocolate took an early lead on our errors and never gave it back. Final score was 11-8?

In our third pool play game we faced a local team from one of the islands in the Philippines named Extreme. This was one of the more fun teams of the tournament. The average male player was maybe 5'6" 120 pounds. They were tiny and SUPER quick. Every throw was a low release and these guys loved to break the mark. Using our height and experience advantage (they had only been playing for two years) we went up early and took half 6-4. In the second half however, they elevated their game and earned some Ds with their quickness to tie the score at 8s. We then traded a pair of points before breaking them to take the game 11-9.

This is where the tournament got frustrating as the crossover games were not crossovers. Due to the format of the tournament, our crossover game to enter the A Pool was against Sexual Chocolate, with the winner to play Shiok in Quarters on Sunday. BOOOOO tournament organizers. This also resulted in 20 minutes of discussions between the captians to change the format, which we did. Only to have it changed back again when one of the team captains objected.

Moving on....

This was the game of the weekend. This was a must win for two very good teams who had both already played each other once that day. BB started on D and got a turnover, only to be unable to convert. The next point we allowed ourselves to be broken, leading to a 2-0 hole. From this point on we basically traded long, intense points. The game had no real change at we approached the time cap with Sexual Chocolate leading 10-7 with us pulling to them. I think this was the point where Zahlen pulled out a D, allowing us to break them with about 2 minutes left on the game clock 10-8. We threw out a strong line and got another D. We tried to convert quickly only to turn the disc back. And then get it back again. Tao(?) then puts a blady huck into the back corner of the endzone into traffic which Gareth rips down in a crowd and toes in the back corner making the score 10-9 with seconds to spare. With BB on D, if we score, we will force universe point. If they score, game over.

BB pulls the disc and runs down on D. On the 4th(?) pass of the point, Tao get a ridiculous hand block on the man he's covering and our sidelines go wild. We pick up the disc and center it. With nothing in the middle, the disc swings right. On the return dump pass, Fei Fei layouts out and knocks down the pass. Sexual Chocolate then marches down the field to seal the win 11-9. =( So close. This team would end up the #3 in the tourney beating Ninja Cowboy Bear in the 3-4 game.

For Saturday night party details, gossip with your friends :)


Sunday: Day Two of Mixed - B Pool

1st round saw a very sloppy SProaches team that had a number of uncharacteristic drops and throwaways, which we converted to crush them 11-2. This game was never in doubt despite our late night partying.

2nd round we faced the team from Korea. This proved to be one of the lesser spirited games with lots of snarky comments and contested calls from our opponents. However, as the superior team, BB kept its cool and kept the game in hand, ultimately winning 13-6? or something like that. Gareth owned their big man in the air and our team played a much cleaner game, earning the win.

In B Pool Finals we faced Extreme again. The fast, short little team from the provinces that never gave up. It was at this point that we realized they were playing with only 3 or 4 subs. Yet somehow they still weren't getting tired. This was a race to 15 with no cap so we knew we had to dig deep. Extreme played an offense of give and go between their quick male handlers who would them look to bomb it deep to their women. Our big men had difficultly matching the quickness underneath so it was up to our women to own the air in the endzone, and they did. There were a number of Ds by our ladies in the endzone which kept the game under control though it was tight the whole way.

We got broken once in the first half, but broke them twice to take half by one. We punched in the first point of the second half and proceeded to trade points, with both offenses scoring on their possessions. at 11-9? we got another break, giving us some much needed breathing room as we later gave them one more break. Our final D line closed out the game 15-12 to take B Pool champs.


A few shout outs to people who stepped up and did awesome things (which is everybody):

- Zach, aka Tea Party, playing in probably his first ever open tourney got a sick layout D in the finals on a deep shot to the endzone. He also won an individual party award as Green Man
- Nicki and Gareth made the all-tournament team for the B Pool - congrats on great performances
- Gareth also made tourney team for men (i think - i couldn't hear the announcement, so sorry if I missed someone here. i thought i heard alicia's name at some point too but i was drunk :) )
- HHH got B Pool female MVP despite playing on a rolled ankle and two bad knees. Bad ass!
- Jim (that's me!) got MVP for the open tourney for being the only guy who could fit into the free shoes they gave the winner
- Marc Scott played w/ Beijing again and had a sweet layout goal against Sexual Chocolate in the "crossover" game he also ran hard all weekend and is a super spirited dude
- Baby Girl really stepped up his game and was awarded the Beijing Frisbee as standout player of the weekend
- OUR LADIES played awesome all weekend. With only 5 women after the first game they were huge. A HUGE thank you to Jenn Brown for flying out to join us once again and a TRIUMPHANT return for Ellen to Beijing Ultimate. Thank you ladies!!!
- Ellen, despite being afraid for her life and her health, D-ed a deep throw in the endzone in B Pool finals w/ a guy trying to sky into her space. Booyah!
- Nina, though injured, took a shit ton of pictures on her, Tao's, and Chaitkin's cameras. Everyone make sure to take a peak, some looked pretty sweet.
- Baby Girl and Andy, aka Sticks, were inseparable and led the party charge. Also leading everyone at the tournament to call Andy "Baby Girl" for the rest of the weekend (except for that one girl who still calls you Sticks). Way to go boys and way to rock those mohawks!!!
- Rob proved to be a great wing in our clam that we threw. For those of you who I kept saying were doing it wrong, talk to Rob. He also gave our victory speech to Korea. Suck it Korea!
- Chad proved that proper cutting gets you open. A lot. On both the break and open side. Learn from him, people.
- Chatikin was a rockstar on and off the field. He gets a special shout out not only for surprising us all with his presence and joining the squad, but also for ........(censored content)............. you are the man!
- Kevin, the Bulldog, Reitz was solid as a rock. Man played like he had just been underwater for the last week and saw everything in slow motion while he was moving at regular speeds. hooray for diving. pretty sure his 40 yard up line pass to Zahlen in the B Pool finals was a high release flick (sick!). he also made friends with every filippino we saw, including scoring lots of apple vodka on the beach while singing KTV
- Toni Toni Toni led up the D line once again and brought his fire. No one wants to win more than Tao (except maybe Alicia) Speaking off....
- Alicia once again was a work horse in the middle and on D. In the second Sexual Chocolate game, she adjusted her coverage of their main woman cutter Michelle (?) and basically prevented her from scoring (she had probably 4 goals in the first game). Way to play smarter.
- Zahlen was back with Beijing. Saturday he had sweet throws and that HUGE D in the Sexual Chocolate game. PLUS he was rocking a sweet mustache for Movember. Welcome back buddy.


If I forgot anyone/anything, I apologize. I'm confused by all these letters as this email is already way too long. Let's have an awesome off season and start thinking about next year. We will do a team dinner next week to celebrate and plan for 2011. Keep your calendars open. Tentative date Saturday, December 11. If that doesn't work, give me a shout now so we can move it earlier in the week.

No practices this month, but let's use pick up (now twice a week!) to work on our throws in the off season.

Da Ge....

RETROSPECTIVE: Liz's pictures from Dalian Open

She may be back in the States finishing up college, but her pictures live forever here on the Beijing Ultimate blog.



Big Brother Sexy, runners-up

Big Brother Ugly, champs



Of course, much more coverage of this tournament here and here and here.