Winter league 2024 recaps

Blooper Reel vs After Party

Title: Gone With the Pull

Release date: January 17, 2024

Stars: Blooper Reel, After Party

Genre: Suspense, Coming of Age Story

Plot: When two teams meet at the beginning of the season, there is no lack of excitement for what potential lies ahead. When After Party goes up at half 8-6 with some great defensive stops and solid handler movement, it looks like Blooper Reels is out of options. However, when down 14-11, Blooper Reels realizes that defensive runthroughs and hucks were the real friends they made along the way.  Blooper Reels came back to tie the game at 14s, trading with After Party on heavily contested points until After Party got a skyscraper D in the end zone and quick progression for a score, resulting in a final score of 17-15 After Party. 

Easter Egg: It is difficult for people above 5’10” to grab frisbees underneath the bleachers at Culver City High School. 

Final Review: 6/7. The lack of pulls inbounds at the beginning of the game took away from the initial plot, but strong recurring character development in the second half brought the game to a thrilling conclusion.

Screenwriter: Clay Moore

Marshall vs Ninja Squirtles

Marshall’s first year in winter league was 25 years ago. 

And in that first year, there was a posted schedule on the web, but everyone who played knew if it rained games were cancelled. 

Everyone except Marshall. 

It was a light drizzle, we were the only ones at balboa, and we all decided to go down the street to Hjelte to play against ourselves. 

But that was young us.  Back in the days when one might lick a cleat, play naked ultimate in the dark, or accidentally use your mom’s vibrator as a massage tool. 

Throw in a Leiout weekend, short notice and covid- there weren’t a lot of Ninja Squitles available for Wednesdays game against Marshall.  Word was they had 1 1/2 women and 2 men.  Thankfully I got emails & texts there wasn’t numbers for a game. But (shockingly to me) that didn’t stop us from showing up at the fields and playing some frisbee against ourselves.  Special shoutouts to Toph and Pat for rounding out the numbers as we played a little make it take it, and then a savage game to 7, win by 2.  Marshall & friend beat Marshall & friend 11-9.  Gotta say, still as joyous as I remember from all those years ago. Must be doing something right. 

Also huge props to the free agent team and the Santa Clarita team playing opposite us.  Their attitude was stellar, the free agent team coped with a zone much better than I expected and it looked from afar like a good time all around.  Gotta love having two new teams in the league.  Only thing missing was seeing them at the Robin Hood post game. 

Two shots of the foggy field. 

Literally couldn’t see if the other side had their hand up to pull.

-Seath Gillum

Boost It! vs Deez Nuts

The season has begun! Boost It! vs Deez Nauts Post Naut Clarity was a rematch of last year’s semi-game. Our pull got off a mere 10 minutes past the hour so we were off to a fast start.

Boost It! in our classic pink vs Nauts blue.

Both teams were looking very good for the first game of the season. Our first score came on a big huck from Royce to Josh, both Boost It rookies.The game stayed close at 3(Boost)-4(Nauts). Then Prestige(Nauts) got a huge run through D into a score for the bookends and I called a time out to regroup and stop the momentum.

<– (Prestige reenactment)

In the timeout we talked about important things like our favorite cheeses and whether we should get a bookend D of our own.

We got back out there and Josh was eager to put what we talked about to work.  Getting a pressure D, into the huck reception, into the score as seen below, getting bookends of his own.

Nauts took half 8-5 but we were very excited to see what we could do in the second half. Early in the second half Charity had an incredible grab off a point blank deflection from Mike Hayden(Nauts).

Karla(Nauts captain) should have been taking notes from Charity because soon after she dropped an incredible would be callahan.

But don’t feel too bad for her because they punched the goal in a few throws later.

To cap off our night Boost It! Captain Lauren had an amazing sky in the back of the endzone in a rare downfield sighting. 

Both teams made some amazing plays and Louis bakes some amazing croissants.

-Roper

Boba vs Retro

Ah another season of winter league. The year feels long and dark without it.

I’d rather forget most of the year, but playing with boba always feels nice like Pretzel day for Stanley. 

I’ve been in kind of a weird mood and was under the weather for the last few days so I definitely needed boba in my life.

(I also watched Meet Joe Black and that film had me full on sobbing, ugly crying: 

I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I’ve been feeling things. I’ve never been this emotive before. Is that normal? Did my heart grow two sizes in the last few years like the grinch?)

Anyway, back to the game at hand. Always love playing retro, good people and good vibes. This year they had a lot of new players which is awesome. 

Boba was a bit low on numbers, but we huddled together and just played with great spirit and heart.

It was a little chaotic and off the wall. Passes were dropped and we cut each other off while slipping on a slick turf.

But we managed to hold and take half 8-0.

However, Retro came back with a roar and it turns out sometimes you can turn back time.

Their handlers made some awesome throws that were literally unguardable and their receivers were showing great hands. I think we basically traded points after half and ended 15-8.

A highlight was Megan/Webster getting a Callahan for Boba.

Superhero stuff, going super saiyan as usual:

Thanks to both teams for a great game and great spirit. Thanks to our ladies for running hard with low numbers:

And thanks to our sub Buster who played a half with us and a half for retro:

Too many other shoutouts to go through, but it was a great night for frisbee.

Thanks to the winter league people for getting it going. We appreciate your work!

– Chain

Boba vs Deez Nuts

(Based on a car convo with Anna, I’m trying to do this in an old timey way, let’s see how that goes)

Here’s a little rundown of the barnburner of a game last night. Last year’s champions Boba against the previous champions Deez Nauts.

A real prize fight. Brought to you by Lucky Strike, the cigarette for the modern man.

Boba brought their A squad and golly was it good to see them in action again.

Their new additions Sammy boy and killer Karissa made a good impression and fit seamlessly with the rest of the squad. But make no mistake, Deez Nauts was ready to bring them down a notch.

This team has built an institution here in sunny Southern California. Now to highlight the action.

Boba went up early with some solid defensive actions. They played hard and fast, giving them the old one two.

 But when Boba seemed to have them on the ropes early, Deez Nauts came back, getting some nice licks in response and swinging momentum to them. 

The Chef was cooking tonight just like my wife with the pot roast. Carla was dealing like those dealers at Atlantic City. Not that I know anything about that.

Deez Nauts were in the lead at halftime 8-6. 

Boba came out looking to get back in the game, but just like the great Joe Louis, Deez Nauts did not allow them back in.

 Boba could not land any big punches and showed signs of some rust from a long offseason.

The match ended 15-9. It was thrilling end to end and hats off to both teams for a great game full of spirit. I’m sure we’ll see these two again in the big game.

Good night folks. 

-Chain

Marshall vs Dumbledore

First off, let’s talk Gilbert Lindsay rec field.  That place was lit, and I’m not just talking about late night lights.  There were cars triple parked, a danger dog vendor, people drinking and partying just outside of the field.  And the field is fenced in, so it’s got a cage match kinda vibe.  The field itself is like the one year we played at Van Nuys.  Nothing you’d want to dive on.  And it’s pretty slippery in cleats.  But… And this is a bit of a dirty secret… Marshall probably has more players in trail running shoes than the rest of the league combined.  And the Lindsay field…. AMAZING for trail running shoes.  I’m only saddened that we were missing so many trail running shoe wearing Marshall players. 

Both teams came in low on numbers.  And there were some adjustments to the sliding around.  Marshall took an early 5-2 lead, Dumbledore switched up from man D to a couple different looks (maybe woman zone?  Definitely regular 3 person cup zone) and took half 8-7.  In the second half, both teams dialed it in, with only one turnover each for the rest of the game.  Maybe it was getting used to the field, maybe offense finally realized that people were sliding around, maybe we are just pretty good at frisbee…. Who knows…. Whatever it was, it made for a great game.  Dumbledore’s takes it 15-12. 

Marshall vs Children of the Corn

I think a lot about games before we play.  And I check in as best I can.  I know some of the children, but compared to the other teams in our bracket, I don’t know the players as well.  Sure, we know some stuff… Cory O wants to break around low.  Duh.  But really- it’s a mystery.  All I knew was they got smoked by Dump-lings, so I thought we might be in for an easier night.  And while the first two points felt that way, the rest of the game sure didn’t.  We started off on O, and walked in an easy goal, then the children dropped the pull, giving Marshall a 2-0 lead  (We’ve all been there, shit I threw a Callahan to Landesman in a tight game- And this was not so long ago that it was younger faster Jeff.  This was older “savvy” Jeff.  Boy did he celebrate)    But after that, the children settled in and played some really nice offense.  We tried a few sneaky looks- and they blew right through them.  Which was frustrating for us.  Also, can I mention this is a FAST team.  Maybe it felt like that because we are a “veteran” or “savvy” or whatever is the choice euphemism for older these days.  And they used that speed to play some really tight D and break deep for a lot of hucks.  So while the score at half was 8-5 Marshall, it felt like a much tighter game.

But you know how it goes- they go fast… We go Marshall wall!  And they blew through that as well.  With someone cheering “it’s so easy” as they worked their way up the field a little too easily for my liking.  Put together a combo of really tight D and only a 2-3 points difference in score- and a game can slip away from you.  But on offense we grinded it out, despite some long points and tight moments.  On D- Marshall was forced to dig even deeper into its bag of tricks- was able to pull out something that finally caused a few extra turnovers.  Final Score Marshall 15-10.  The Children played a great game- they connected on almost every huck, worked the disc when they needed to, and I’ve got to assume that dump-lines game was an anomaly. 

Boba vs Boost It!

February 14 2024 Boba vs Boost It 15-7 (or was it 6?). Valentine’s Day Special.  

 I have been single most of my life for reasons that are myriad and hard to explain without a lengthy life history which I will spare all of you. 

Valentine’s Day was always a meh day for me generally. However, playing a sport I love with people I love always makes me feel the Valentine’s Day spirit so it was nice to be out playing with lovers on both teams. (Also in honor of Valentine’s Day, I will be using Meg Ryan gifs, my favorite actress in any romantic or romcom movie).

A game for lovers. A friendly lovers spat between two burgeoning rivals of the B division in winter league: Boost It vs Boba.

Boost it showed up in their pink themed jerseys, fitting for a Valentine’s Day game. Both teams were missing players due to the holiday (understandable I guess, but what is more in the spirit of love than playing ultimate?). Boba has had several players out due to Covid, the disease that just won’t quit. But we were bolstered by subs like Buster who is essentially an honorary Boba player as she has subbed every game with us haha and Kinling, a well known and great player. 

Boba came out the first half, clearly lovestruck with Boost It’s charm.

 A lively first half ensued with playful banter and back and forth with no side really gaining much advantage. 

I have to compliment Boost it’s silky smooth give and gos and fight through the half. Clay got me turning on my heels literally head over heels sometimes.

But Boba snapped out of our lovestruck gaze and after a timeout came out determined to fight back despite our infatuation with the players in pink to take half 8-5. 

    We were determined to not fall in love with them again in the second half and worked to punish them despite their good looks.

Boba players were flying all over the field showing off their skills like a glow up in a romance tale. We were the pretty princess at the ball and we danced the night away with our lovely partners from Boost It. 

Great game and great spirit. Ended 15-7 or 6. Hugged it out and made up despite our battle and ended up lovers again as a true romance should. 

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