WEEK IN REVIEW: Faces of summer league

God we're all still hung over. Wait, what day is it? Not Sunday? Okay, nevermind. I'm okay. Alex is okay. Ginny is (maybe) okay. We're all okay.

PICTURES OF THE WEEK:

Can you guess which of the following people is hung over? (From summer league finals on Saturday.)

A year ago, if I told you Matt Mueller would not be one of the answers to the above question, would you believe me?

And what if I told you Ivan, making a special Beijing appearance, would be, having nearly died the day before drinking baijiu with Alex and Ginny?

Change is a strange beast.

GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK:

Tao, 8/19: Subj: Fantasy football:

Who's in?

Gonna start a standard-setting yahoo league with a live online draft, for fun. Let me know ...

p.s. Only join if you enjoy fantasy sports and don't mind losing to me.

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: Hat tournament success

We had about 60 players at the hat tournament on Saturday, which means everyone got way too much playing time than they wanted.

Results:

Jim's team: 3-0

Tao's team, 1-2

Peter's team, 1-2

Zack's team, 1-2

Congratulations to Jim's team!

Here are some photos, courtesy of Yao (also see her Facebook album):

Mike Shyu and Tao

Jim and Wang Bin

Peter Tzeng and Zack (captains)

Lauren Reed

Kris Pickett over Guy Sivan

WEEK IN REVIEW: The countdown to China Nationals 2011 is on

Jim came back! From Paganello/Europe with Nina. I can't believe I neglected to mention this earlier, but they played at the world-famous Paganello beach tournament in Italy a few weeks back with Doc and HHH. I'm sure it was fun. Will post pictures when I get them.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK:

Yesterday was International Nurse Day, and at Kro's Nest trivia the servers dressed up as sluts nurses.

Oh, nurses.

A shout-out to Joe, by the way, for guest-hosting trivia last Thursday while Jim was gone.

EMAIL OF THE WEEK:

Jeff Orcutt makes an appearance on the Big Brother listserv, 5/10. Judging by this email, there's no way anyone can tell he's been working on a political campaign.

Hey y'all,

I have not talked to the TDs about sending this email but wanted to make a personal appeal from afar.

As most of you know, China Nationals is a wonderful tournament that helps BB get ready for Shanghai. But at the same time, it represents the largest gathering of ultimate folks in China. This includes many students and Chinese professionals that are visiting their first tournament. It also represents the only tournament that many of them can attend.

As Tao already said the budget is very tight. After the sponsorships that make it possible for many of these students to attend are factored into the budget, the situation starts to affect Tao and Alicia's sleep.

If any of you can give donations to the tournament, in any amount, I know that they would be not only be greatly appreciated, but they would also give a chance for another Chinese student to have help with tourney fees, or transportation, or lodging.

Together, i hope we can all continue to show the Chinese Ultimate community how we roll and how we support this great group of folks.

Thanks!

Jeff

P.S. Tell your friends!

WEEK IN REVIEW: The most incredible game of roto caps ever

Monday was Qingming (Tomb-sweeping) Festival, which meant we all had the day off and spent it at Chaoyang Park playing some beer frizz before getting Sultan for dinner and going to Kevin's new apartment for roto caps. Then this happened:

We were down to our last game of roto for the night, and it was Jim and Andy (7 individual wins) vs. Sam and myself (6 individual wins). The cross-game featured Kevin and Alicia and a couple others, but for the purposes of this story, they don't matter.

Andy and Jim go up 1-0, and Jim counters one of my shots. Fair enough. They go up 2-1 when I counter one of Andy's shots, only to have Jim double-rebut me. Fair enough.

We tie it at 2, and that's when things get silly. I proceed to hit THREE CAPS with the game tied at 2. Jim counters ALL THREE SHOTS. After the fifth rebuttal of the game -- TO THREE POINTS, mind you -- everyone goes nuts. The other game practically stops to watch. Jim can't stop laughing. I'm incredulous. Moments later, Andy hits, and my rebuttal goes off the rim.

CAPS MADE THAT GAME:
Sam, 2
Andy, 4
Jim, 5
Tao, 5
POINTS THAT GAME:
Sam, 2
Andy, 3
Jim, 0
Tao, 0

Un-fucking-real. 16 total caps made in a game to 3. Put this one in the Hall of Fame.

(For the record, Kevin and Alicia were up 2-1 over Angela and Nina that game when it ended. Somehow they made 3, during which span we made 16.)

Oh, and that win gave Andy the overall night win over me, 8 points to 6.

PICTURES OF THE WEEK:

Well, we haven't done this in a while ...






EMAIL OF THE WEEK:

Tao, to Stuart Ralston's comment about Rebecca Black (to Rob Hogg's YouTube link (to Mike Shyu's email asking for English teachers)), 4/7:

I've been thinking a bit about Rebecca Black in all the wrong sexual ways recently and I've come to the conclusion that she raises a very pertinent eschatological question: what happens if Saturday does not come after Friday, and yesterday was not Thursday when today is Friday? What if these "days" are all arbitrary tags masterminded by the Great Blogger Above to keep us from realizing our free will to "make up [our] mind[s] / [over] which seat [we can] take"? Would Rebecca Black's eyes then be sunken coals wherein demons of the planet Anareta lurk as antipodes to all our earthly creation?

I am reminded of the poem by Linda Pastan, "In a Northern Country," in which "yesterday in a northern country / my last aunt died," and "the litany / of months, September ... October ..." drags on, tiring the writer to "the way the seasons / keep changing." I can't help thinking that Rebecca Black too is tired of the way our days merge into the next day, Friday to Saturday, and before Friday, Thursday; how nights become a sort of purgatory where our sun -- which is not really the sun, you understand, but a symbol of individual ego in a universe hurtling toward destruction -- may decide, one day, "to hell with it, I'll stay here." Would we then thumb our desktop calendars to the next page? What is "next day"? What is anything.

WEEK IN REVIEW: St. Patrick's Day shenanigans

Before we mention what happened after trivia on St. Patty's Day, here's Global Times' piece on Jim as part of its ongoing "Who questions the quizmasters" series:

Name: Jim (aka "Jimmy Neutron") Kirchhoff

Age: Would you still believe 16?

Quiz: Souk [editors' note: currently defunct - for now at least - Jim has found temporary refuge under Kro's wing]

Amount of years in Beijing: Eight

Strengths: The gift of gab.

Weaknesses: Kryptonite.

I'm running a quiz in Beijing because: I crave the spotlight.

Specialty?subject: Girls.?Who am I kidding? I run a quiz....

How come no girls run quizzes? Because the guys would never stop hitting on them.?It would be like wolves stampeding toward an injured rabbit.

How do you rate the competition? In answering questions, I give them the edge. In entertaining a crowd, get in line, boys.

How do you rate your chances? Terrible. I'm just here for the free beer.??

Our odds: Worryingly, Jim is under the impression that his weekly "banter" as compere of a local quiz ranks as entertainment. For that alone, we're worried whether he might have a touch of Charlie Sheen Syndrome and start talking about "earthworms entering his immortal octagon" or some such. That said, we quite like Charlie Sheen - but we still feel the need to punish Jim for his unfailingly US-centric quizzing. 14-3

After the quiz we hit up Great Leap Brewery, met up with Zach at Stumble Inn and played pool at Cheers.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK:



And a video!

The first-place team chose to do a chug off to determine the champion. And for the second straight week, that team lost.

GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK:

Jim, 3/17: St. Patrick's Day Party Tonight!

Hey guys!

Come celebrate the fantastic Irish holiday of drinking and brawling known as St. Patrick's Day tonight with a PARTY at KRO'S NEST, hosted by our own jim and tao! We will be passing out some free Jamesons and beer during our Irish-themed trivia night and trying to convince Ginny to boat race another team by himself with car bombs!

The Theme is GREEN and St. Patrick's Day. Wear a costume, win some free stuff!!! Woot woot!

Doors are open all night, we'll be swinging the party into gear starting at 8pm. Trivia and prizes will be happening as well starting at 8:30.

Venue: Kro's Nest. No. 35 Xiao Yun Lu, Chaoyang District across from the Renaissance Hotel, near Bellagio restaurant
Bring friends!

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: This is what happens when you give us free booze

From a swanky hotel lounge, no less.






Renaissance Hotel's R Lounge grand opening party, Saturday night (photos by Sam Dreiman)

The other photos are a bit inappropriate.

WEEK IN REVIEW: "Who quizzes the quizmasters?

Tao and Jim are being quizzed by some folk over at Global Times. See below for Tao's responses in Part 1 of this ongoing feature.

Meanwhile, Kro's Nest Trivia has officially UPGRADED. We're now in the spacious back dining room, where yesterday the team that always wins LOST the chug-off.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK:


GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK:

On the Big Brother listserv, Ellen's subject line:

[Big Brother] Tao's dark, blank, sexy eyes?

...with simply a link to this article in Global Times.

Excerpt:

Name: Anthony Tao

Age: 26

Quiz: Kro's Nest

Amount of years in Beijing: This is the start of year four, though the answer is 10 if you count the time I spent in Beijing for the first 5.5 years of my life and subsequent summer visits.

Strengths: Ultimate Frisbee

Weaknesses: Approaching women sitting by themselves at cafes

I'm running a quiz in Beijing because: It's fun

How come no girls run quizzes? I'm sure they do in the privacy of their double-x-chromosoned coteries, along with plotting to outlive men and take over the world.

How do you rate the competition? My only competition is myself, so...depends on how much I've been drinking.

How do you rate your chances? 100, if you're talking about with your mom. Unless she's at a cafe right now.

Specialty subject: Baseball

Our odds: They call him "Tao." But that's his name. It begs more questions about the man than it answers, and we were already baffled by his ability to consume table-sized discs of pizza on a weekly basis while still remaining so streamlined. Is there a potential dark horse lurking behind those dark, blank, sexy eyes? We think there might be. 8-1

WEEK IN REVIEW: First Trivia at Kro's Nest

We'll have a video up of this later, perhaps, but yesterday the team of Joe, Gareth, Mike Shyu, et al. won the first-ever edition of The Kro's Nest trivia, hosted by Jim and Tao. The team of Kevin, Baby Girl, Leigh, Nina, Therese and Alex won a couple rounds but was unable to maintain its strong start.

A reminder that trivia will happen every Thursday from now. See you there!

PICTURES OF THE WEEK:






GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK:

Tao, 1/26: Three Items: Pickup, Trivia and Slideshow Preview:

Hey everyone,

1. A quick reminder that pickup TONIGHT will be the last one until after Chinese New Year, i.e. we'll be off till Wednesday, February 9. Come out to play!

2. I don't want to sound like a shill, but TRIVIA hosted by Jim and I is tomorrow starting at 8 pm at The Kro's Nest (35 Xiao Yun Lu). I only say this here because the Beijing Ultimate Committee is in the process of getting sponsorship from Kro for China Nationals and Beijing Ultimate, so it'd be great if we could get a big turnout and "represent" (pretend I just said that in a super-gangsta way). Teams up to six ... if you show up before 8, I'm sure you can organize yourself into teams.

3. I will be sending out a slideshow PREVIEW this week. Tentative slideshow viewing PARTY date: Saturday, February 19, i.e. the first non-work-adjusted weekend after Spring Festival.

MORE CAPS,

Tao

Weekly Newsletter (week of Jan 24) / 北京飞盘每周新闻

Newsletters are written by Alicia

**Pick-Up**

Pick-Up per usual on Wednesday night at BCIS, 7 - 9pm! This is the last pick-up in the Year of the Tiger!

There is NO pick-up on Saturday 29 January. For those of you who have paid RMB150 for 6 sessions in January or RMB120 for 4 sessions, we'll make up for that session (either Wednesday or Saturday) in February.

Pick-up will resume on Wednesday Feb 9 at BCIS, 7-9pm.

For details, visit www.beijingultimate.com.

1月26日是虎年最后一次的飞盘活动, 春节其间没有pick-up, 2月9日在乐城国际学校再开始.

**Events and Happenings**

This week:

The long-waited-for Trivia Night will be starting on Thursday 27 Jan, 8pm onwards! Join Jim and Tao at Kro's Nest on 35 Xiao Yun Lu near San Yuan Qiao. Special drink deal: five bottles of imports for 100 kuai! Teams of up to six, free to play, prizes every round. For more, see http://www.thebeijinger.com/events/2011/Jan/Double-Trouble-PUB-QUIZ-and-BUCKET-NIGHT-at-The-Kros-Nest. China Daily and Global Times reviews of their previous quiz night: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/metro/2011-01/04/content_11790169.htm and http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/metro-beijing/lifestyle/health&food/2010-10/584685.html

Next week: Chinese New Year! There will probably be something going on ... stay tuned for celebration details!

**Farewell and Welcome**

Welcome Kristopher Pickett!

**Tournaments**

1) Phnom Penh: March 5 - 6

2) Shenzhen: March 19 - 20

3) First annual India Hat Tournament will be hosted by AV Ultimate Feb. 4th-6th. The event will take place in the cozy community of Auroville and the closest airport to fly in to is Chennai, so look to Tiger Airways, Malaysia Airlines, or Indian Air for the lowest international fares. Air Asia also flies to Tiruchirappalli. As well, MakeMyTrip.com or Yatra.com can be used to find the best flight within India. Consult the website (http://www.auroville.org/society/ultimate.htm) for more information and please submit the registration form (on the left side of the website) on or before January 16th so all those interested can be accommodated. And any questions can be directed to AVultimate@scott.ms

4) The Boracay Open is set for this April 1st to April 3rd! There will be an Open tourney on the 1st, and a Mixed tournament the 2nd and 3rd. More details to follow; for now just save the date!

5) 12th Annual Bali Nusantara Cup is planned for next April 22/23, 2011. They say they have sweet grass fields and you know the beaches are awesome… Check the website (www.ultimateindonesia.com) for details and email elodieselves@hotmail.com with any comments or requests.

6) Jeju Dirty Dozens 2011 will be held on the island April 23/24.

For more about happenings around China, check http://chinaultimate.wordpress.com.

**Beijing Ultimate Blog Update** (updates from Tao)

This newsletter was selected the "Google Groups Post of the Week" in http://beijingultimate.blogspot.com. And last week, a boozy trivia party apparently ended with someone getting blown to bits by a grenade: http://beijingultimate.blogspot.com/2011/01/weekend-roundup-boozy-trivia-party-at.html

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: Hsing-hui vs. Brian in a death match next weekend

On Friday Maggie, Robb and I went to a Beijing Ducks game to watch Stephen Marbury lead Foshan to a huge loss. Seriously, they got blown out. (Ducks won -- sorry for any conclusion). But the highlight of the game was, definitely, Sun Mingming, the Ducks' seven-foot-eight-inch (or something) giant who came on in the fourth quarter and saw a 37-some point lead get reduced to about 15 (take these numbers with a grain of salt ... I was drunk and only remember that the Ducks had 99 points after three quarters but finished the game with about 105, yet still won handily).

Ellen's birthday was Saturday, which is why a group of us went to Jazz-ya. Jim, Nina and Ellen continued their night at renovated Bar Blue, while Kirby went to the Den to watch football until the early morning.

Sunday night / Monday at 2 a.m., Kirby and I watched the Chiefs lose to Baltimore from the Den. We will probably be there again tomorrow for the college football championship game.

The Ravens (HHH) now face the Steelers (Brian Marterer's team) in what promises to be a game to the death. Start taking your bets now. A tale of the tape:

Brian: Male
HHH: Female
Advantage: Brian

Brian: Head of steel
HHH: Heart of gold
Advantage: Brian

Brian: Older
HHH: Younger
Advantage: HHH

Brian: Likes to laugh
HHH: Takes pleasure in ripping hearts out of chests
Advantage: HHH

Brian: Savvy
HHH: Reckless
Advantage: Brian

Brian: Breath of glory
HHH: Glare of death
Advantage: HHH

Brian: Beef jerky
HHH: Rawhide
Advantage: Even

Brian
HHH
Advantage: Even

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.

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....

WEEK IN REVIEW: A busy weekend ahead

First, happy belated birthday to Joe, who turned 26 on Tuesday. We celebrated at Souk trivia night, where it was 60 rmb-all-you-can-drink but not nearly as messy as the first time.

Tonight's Big Brother's post-Hong Kong team dinner, to be held at the normal Boozy Chinese Dinner place at 7:30. Afterwards we'll head to Jiangjinjiu Bar near Gulou (Drum and Bell Towers) to hear Autobots, Deploy! play for perhaps their last time. (Rumor has it that Jeff Orcutt is leaving us forever. Details to come as they become available.)

Tomorrow, a bunch of us will be going to Jehan's improv show while wearing our Halloween costumes. Others of us will be going to a party at Josh's place, guaranteed to be awesome because he's in the process of obtaining an ice luge.

A very, very busy weekend culminates with practice on Sunday at BCIS. Yes, we've officially moved indoors for the winter ... or have we?

In other news, China's central heating system -- namely how it's NOT ON -- can go fuck itself.

Oh, and Alicia's back from Shenzhen for the weekend. Welcome back, Alicia!

PICTURES OF THE WEEK:





From Jim and Tao's final ever trivia at Souk Lounge (bar is moving places, and we may be moving our quiz... stay tuned).

In lieu of GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK, we have...

EMAIL OF THE WEEK:

Chirona, 10/23:

Dear Friends and Family,

In memory of my friend Paige who passed away this summer, we have established an endowment fund through Brown. The fund has two main goals: one, to provide money for travel, tournament fees, etc... for those students who cannot afford them to still be able to play Ultimate, and two, to honor Paige's commitment to community service by donating money from the fund each year to a community service organization of the Ultimate team's choosing.

Attached is a more detailed description of the fund, and further information and donation instructions can be found on the fund's website: www.PVHfund.org.

Additionally, I am currently working on getting Paige V. Hicks memorial discs created, which we will be mailing out as a thank you for donations as well as selling to raise further funds.

I encourage all of you to donate even just a few dollars because every little bit counts.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you in advance for your support in helping all of us to honor Paige's life.

With Love,
Chirona

WEEK IN REVIEW: Did trivia happen if no one remembers the fuck happened?

Last October, we had a three-day party at Ellen's apartment to celebrate New China's 60th birthday. That's a long time to be idle with friends, no matter how much you enjoy their company. This year, the party on National Day eve lasted just a few hours, but major props to Alex Ornik (new from Tufts) for hosting.

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK:

I've asked several people now, and only one of them -- Jim -- actually remembers what the face-off category was.

Kirby, who was on the winning team, mis-remembered the category.

Baby Girl, whose goons friends nearly got into a fight, does not remember.

Ingrid and Peach -- forget it.

Nina does not remember.

Boehner does not remember.

Jeff does not remember.

Was Joe even still around?

But it was finally decided, more or less, by this email by Jim:

The team that won trivia sat in the middle. (wasn't that the team baby girl and boehner were on?) They went head to head w/ Nina and Kirby's team I thought. Final category was... web comics? drink off? Kirby lost. I think.

We did classics (i think), web comics, and a drink off during the night. I have the sheet at home w/ the scores if you want me to look it up when I get back.

So there you have it. Open-bar nights are brutal.

Trivia's off for the next two weeks, but will resume Oct. 19.

Without further ado:



Video coming soon.

GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK:

Tao and Jim, back to back on 9/28:

Many of you already know, but for those who need the details for tonight's party:

*What: Jim and Tao's 20th week anniversary trivia *What, part deux: 60 rmb all-you-can-drink Tsingtao drafts and well drinks
*What, part tres: Teams up to 6, we'll put you on a team if you can't bring your own; takeaway prizes every round, including a bottle of Skyy for final winner.

*Where: Souk Lounge, located at the west gate of Chaoyang Park next to Annie's Pizza and The World of Suzie Wong's. Between Liangmaqiao and Tuanjiehu subway stops on line 10.
*When: 8:30 pm. Though we'll be there early, probably drinking.
*Why: You ever see Jim drunk? Because it's happening tonight.

AND

Tao neglected to mention that I am supposed to be on a flight at 6:55am the following morning, so there is no excuse not to come out. Help me try to be the latest Beijing Ultimate player to miss a flight due to partying!

Booyah!

- Hide quoted text -

WEEK IN REVIEW: People are headed to Manila

Big Brother is preparing as we speak to train down to Dalian tonight to participate in this weekend's Dalian tournament. Rumor has it that the final is pre-determined as Shanghai vs. Beijing, a rematch of last year's final that saw Shanghai pull off an incredible and impressive upset victory.

The party theme is "glasses." Should we even try?

PICTURES OF THE WEEK:

Souk Trivia every Tuesday night. Jim and I host! Please come. The prizes are amazing, as you can see:



Pictures by Liz Lin

GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK:

Jehan caused a few people to re-book their flights when he posted the following on Sept. 5, titled, "1000 RMB round trip Manila Flights - Today only":

Cebu Pacific is having a ridiculous deal, 50% off international flights. Currently a round trip ticket Beijing-Manila is just over 1000 RMB all inclusive. This is also for other locations in Asia, so I think I'll be off to Japan afterwards for all of $70. Flights 10/1- 11/30, must book today, so go do it right now!

www.cebupacificair.com/

Yay for Hong Kong folks boycotting the Philippines!