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: Barbie tribute video

Lots of departures this year, but I only had time to make one video. This one from Barbie's pink party on December 12:

[ Download ]

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: A bittersweet party for Beijing Ultimate

Barbie Reed

We'll have a tribute video up in the coming days, but for now these pictures of Barbie's going-away party will have to suffice. Also, Kevin's got a post up on his blog, and if you don't believe he and Therese were the most impressively dressed on the night (though Sandy and Baby Girl were impressive in their own way), go read what he had to do get ready

Pink Party 2009!









It was also Liz's last night in Beijing.





Lots of debauchery we can't write about in this space.

RETROSPECTIVE: Preview to a pink party, part deux

We looked back on the 2008 pink party here, but Mike Shyu and Donald felt so bad about being left out that we're gonna make it up to them:



Lauren's going-away party this Saturday will be 2009's pink party. Last year it was to honor Reid and Julia, and this time it will be for someone who's been in Beijing even longer. It's gonna be a bittersweet night.

RETROSPECTIVE: Pink party 2008

Readers of yesterday's post may be asking themselves, What is a pink party? This is a pink party (from Reid and Julia's goodbye outing last winter):

Pink party 2009!

Hey everyone,
So I know everyone loves pink... everyone loves drinking... everyone loves charity (and this is a good one)... and not everyone is in HK (okay, most people are, but if you're one of the lame ones like me who has to work)... come on out!

So for those of you who are still around, come on out in your classy pink ultimate gear. Information is below. If you're interested, shoot me an email or just come out, i should be out there with friends. Information is below.

Love from the westside
Andy

p.s. jeff, can i get that wig?
p.p.s. if you are going to email about my improper use of elipssseessss... *cough* tao *cough* please make it a private response...

**
*PINK Party- Friday Oct 23 at Xiu*

This year United Family Hospital launched the United PINK Campaign to raise awareness for breast cancer prevention in China. With the slogan "Show You Care", come drop by Xiu on Friday night with your best pink attire for a drink and dance to show your support for breast cancer awareness and prevention!

All proceeds will be given to the China Breast Cancer Foundation.
**
*Why*: To drink, dance, and raise money for underprivileged women who need to receive breast cancer treatment

*Where*: Xiu, Park Hyatt

*When*: Friday, Oct 23 from 10pm-2am

*What*: Wear pink and donate a drink to charity (20 RMB donation to charity)!

For more info about the campaign, check out: http://pink.ufh.com.cn

Xiu Club:
http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/beijing/listings/nightlife/bars/has/xiu/

<http://pink.ufh.com.cn/>

*About the United PINK Campaign*

**

*“Show You Care”*

The United PINK Campaign was initiated by United Family Hospitals (UFH) to help raise awareness and educate the women of China about the rapidly rising cases of breast cancer. We hope other organizations can also get involved to help us spread the word about the importance of prevention. We know that actions speak louder than words, so let’s all work together to *show you care*.

*Mission Statement*

To educate women about the importance of prevention and to energize our community to help us raise awareness about breast cancer in China.

*UFH Pink Project Goal*

Provide 100 underserved women with free digital mammograms in Beijing United Family Hospital.

Website: http://pink.ufh.com.cn