RecapSummer 2018Nyan Cat vs Puss N Boots

Nyan Cat.  What a good story.  This is Scott Bergen’s first time captaining.  He didn’t have a co-captain to help him draft. And only came back to LA recently after a long time away from the city.  Those who remember Scott and wife Nicole were key players on the really fun Winter League team Slow Children at Play.  That was sort of the pre-cursor team to what is now Sky Life.  Scott moved to the Bay Area and was a member of the initial version of the club team American Barbecue who would later go on to be a perennial Nationals contender.

Scott was initially concerned about drafting a Summer League team, cause he’s been away from LA for so long, but it was awesome that there were people to help him at the draft.  And he’s now got a 5-1 record and Nyan Cat currently sits in 3rd place.  I’m not entirely certain why they show up in 2nd place on the standings.  I can’t seem to do those manually.  Still learning Ultimate Central honestly.  The standings algorithm claims it’s:

1. Head-to-head record among tied teams.
2. Point differential among tied teams.
3. Point differential across all games.

But I don’t see that playing out in reality.

Here’s Scott with the first of two recaps for this game:

This was by far our best game of the season. Not necessarily that we played our best but it was just a really fun, really fast, really good quality game. Puss N Boots’ record is a complete illusion.

We scored an up-wind-ish opening point and then traded points the entire first half. At no point did either team score two in-a-row. We led 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, etc. all the way up to 8-7 at half.

And I know this because Bobby brought a fancy scoreboard and a scorekeeper to man (or woman) the board!

I don’t recall anything specifically noteworthy besides Mercury living up to his name and generally a lot of really good hucks for both teams.

The first break of the game came when Puss went up 13-12. We kinda roared back with more Mercury broke them back to get back to 14-13.

At that point, an irate neighbor stormed onto the sidleline to tell us that we were being too loud and I’m not sure what happened, but we traded pointed to 15-14 us and then I returned to the field triumphantly to watch from 40 yards away as we forced a turn, Scout caught a short huck and threw a soft lob to Mercury for the game-winner.

Both teams played nearly error-free and really hard. Spirit score for Puss n Boots is a perfect 5/7 for sure. This was a really fun game although we will always remember it as the game that took Bobby’s cleats from us. Good night, sweet prince.

That’s a sight familiar to all of us.  It would be interesting to have a breakdown of Average Lifespan of cleats by company and type of cleat.  Meaning do soccer cleats last longer than football cleats.  I almost exclusively wear baseball cleats, but very few people wear those.  Has any company like 5 Ultimate come out with specifically Ultimate cleats?  Or is it enough to just wear soccer cleats?

Back-to-back 16-14 wins for Nyan Cat.  This is three two-point wins now for them.  They’ve played two overtime games, and that’s only half of the record of 4 which three teams have accomplished.  The record for overtime victories is also 4, achieved by Turquoise in 2003 and Blue Meanie’s in Men’s League in 2008.  Those teams finished 8-1 and 9-2 respectively.  So winning games in OT seems to be a sign of a very strong team.

Here’s the second recap from Nate Warden of Puss N Boots:

To those of you who read the last Puss recap: Currently two-beers-in Nate is telling a damn story so lend me your ears and let’s jump back into the legend of Il gatto con gli stivali. Our kickass and now-booted Cat is hitting up the King and his beautiful daughter with free game to win favor for his master. Our Booted Cat, however, is a clever devil and presents each gift not from a bum-ass miller’s son, but from “The Marquis of Carrabas.” Now lying about your master’s wealth and status always works out right? I mean it worked for Aladdin, right?

Well in our game against Nyan Cat tonight at Lincoln, the exaggeration of our wealth did not work out. How cliché! We started on D going down wind and failed to get a break. Haha in fact most of the first half was trading. Nyan Cat is a team that is very well drafted. They may not have big names, but they have depth and pieces that fit great together. Frankie and Devin grinding and shooting to Vivian and Suraj was damn effective. Nyan succeeded on deep plays and iffy decisions over the whole night. Turned out not to be so iffy after all! All the same, each team got a break or two, and then Puss got a big break to take half at 8-7. So Olé baby lets go.

Could this symbolically mean that the Booted Cat is no liar after all! Maybe that wealth was on the way? Well in the story the Booted Cat had a multi-pronged plan. Step one is gifts for the king, step two is dealing with a cruel, giant, and powerful Ogre whom was known to eat children. Our Booted Cat went to call on the Ogre and it received the cat civilly, as he did not eat cats…. and they got to talking. The Cat said, “I hear great Ogre, that you can turn yourself into any creature you please…” “Of course, I can!” said the Ogre. So, the Booted Cat challenged the Ogre to display his incredible talents. He obliged of course, turning into a mighty Lion, and with a trembling roar terrified our dear Booted Cat. And I will tell you that there were some fun transformations tonight for both teams. Dr. Carl Boone was putting on a goal scoring clinic on the men’s side for Puss. Constantly in the right space at the right time. And Marlee Ackerson, only a teenager, is the smallest person I have every seen unleash a 50-yard backhand bomb. I mean this girl is tiny. And she fired off and completed three of them to Ed. Dope.  During the game itself though, Nyan struck early out of half and got a couple breaks to take the lead at some point (maybe 11-10?). This dude Suraj for Nyan can transform too… into a beast. But then Puss swings back again! Erick got another clutch D point blocking a monster huck from Frankie. Back to back weeks of clutch plays for Erick. Puss regains the lead and is receiving 14-14. On the brink of Victory!

So, let’s get back to the story. The Ogre has transformed into a lion, but the Booted Cat is brave, and asks “Can your Ogreship turn into something small as well as large?” And the Ogre, in his vanity, said “But of course” and changed into a mouse…. And that is when the Booted Cat pounced and slayed the great and powerful Ogre in his own castle. One step closer to making master’s fortune….

Ah but sadly real life is not always fairy tales… As Nyan Cat put on a fantastic run to sweep the back end and win the game 16-14. Winning our fortune will have to wait until another week. Or maybe two, because I’m out of town all next week. So tune in! The good news is, Puss had a damn good showing at the bar. And at the end of the day to two-beers-in Nate, is that not the true meaning of Summer league?

Nate, wearing his Vector jersey from two years ago.  Nice.

Interesting that they changed that part in the Shrek 2 movie.  But it makes sense as I don’t remember Shrek having the power to change forms.