Anything But Randomly, Fax Reigns Supreme

22 November | MUD Newsdesk

Close games and minor surprises were the theme of Fall 2009's Competitive Final. With three rounds of pool-play to officially determine the top two seeds and send them to the championship, near parity reared its fair face. Cinco de Layout finally gave a good showing and battled tough with the favored Meat Rouf. The Rouf won 10 to 8 but was clearly worn down. Across the pitch, JV Squad squeezed past 2L2Q and escaped elimination, winning 10 to 9. Then the top seeds arrived. In what would prove to be the most exciting games of the day, Meat Rouf took on Random Fax while the JVs battled Three Amigos.

The Rouf seemed to have the game locked up through the first half, (which was called at 6). Though the score was close, Meat Rouf went up an early break and seemed insistent on keeping it. However, about 50 minutes into the game, Drew Jones arrived for the Fax. Though his attendance had been atrocious all season, it was apparent his excuse was related to a secret, athletic re-engineering project he must have been a subject of. He blew the lid off the game and The Rouf simply couldn't contain him. On universe point (game to 9), Jones snatched the winning score deep. Meat Rouf was eliminated.

You could tell the JV Squad was nervous going against Three Amigos. Punzalan Jr., Amigos's captain, had won MUD's summer league and with a late season rush (of mostly forfeit wins, but still) he'd brought his current team into second place. The previous Saturday, Amigos had bested JV Squad 13 to 10, and today they looked fresh. The Squad had momentum on their side. Coming off their tight win against 2L2Q, JV Squad threw the playbook at Three Amigos. Tres Friends hung with and the game lurched to universe point. However, as the Squad marched down the field and Emily Guh's throw was about to connect with Tom Metzger, JV captain John Kim knew he was headed to his 5th finals (this season will be MUD's 6th).

The Fax made quick work of a depleted Cinco, winning 13 to 8. And Three Amigos played 2L2Q in a lethargic game that would only determine who would play Meat Rouf for third place. It was 2L2Q, 13 to 10 over the "what happened" Three Amigos. The Rouf won third place, 13 to 11 over 2L2Q.

The intensity from JV Squad continued for the first half of the finals against Random Fax. Though after half time, it seemed clear that only one team had really expected to be playing for the championship. Like the varsity team against a bunch of underclassmen, Random Fax broke the Squad twice and rolled out a 13-11 victory. Drafted by Rich Previdi and captained by Fred Merkel, the team that had the best record of actual games played this dreadful season, Random Fax are your MUD Fall 2009 Champs.

Seeding Is Shaken for Some as Finals Loom

15 November | MUD Newsdesk

This past Saturday, JV Squad and 2L2Q both defeated the two 1st places Random Fax and Meat Rouf, 11-10 and 9-8, correspondingly. Fax and Rouf went on to win their next games against 2Legit and Cinco de Layout, in that order. However, with the losses, Three Amigos had a chance to enter the fight for top seed and they succeeded. Beating Cinco by forfeit (you're kidding!) and then going 13 to 10 over JV Squad, the Amigos move up to a 9-7 record which three-way ties them for MUD fall 09's best. Looks like point differentials will determine the top spots at this point and it will most likely be Fax 1st, Amigos 2nd, and Rouf 3rd. But come finals this Sunday, all teams will likely have to prove their legitimacy before a bracket contest.

It truly was mud league on Saturday as the middle of both Inwood fields got soupier and slipperier and sloppier with every step. By the day's end everyone was wearing brown, particularly Fax's Steve Carpenter and 2L2Q's Christian Gaffney and Nathan Salwen (on his birthday!). Even the league commissioner Winston Suntaree got in on the mess with a monster layout / face plant into the slop D block on Meat Rouf's Won Chun. Gaffney and Suntaree courteously refused a ride home with Meat Rouf's Maggie Mead, knowing full well she'd never get the stains out of her Honda's upholstery.

All the games were hard fought and quite exciting. Besides the forfeit, every game was decided by three points or fewer. And three games were won by one point. This closeness bodes well for even match ups at finals this Sunday, which will see pool play in order to decide who will play for the championship and 3rd place. The decision to go with pool play seems made not only to secure at least two games for each team, but also because the records are more even than ever this season. With all the forfeits, it's been quite difficult to tell the true standings or even who's the best. Assuming teams show up on Nov 22, we should have that answer and our champion.

Check the Standings or Schedule page for Tournament schedule.

Note from the Editor Regarding Forfeits

13 November 2009

Being the primary organizer of MUD's scores and game summaries over the past few seasons, I've gathered a decent amount of information (11 spreadsheets and almost 2,000 emails) regarding the various teams and their matchups. With the numerous forfeits seen this fall 2009, I looked back over the last five seasons to see what trends might have enabled us to predict this lack of attendance. What seems thankfully likely is that enthusiasm for the sport (or the hike to Inwood) is not the problem. Rather to blame, is the way our league has evolved. And at this juncture, it seems clear that these forfeiting trends won't cease unless craftier scheduling or further evolution occurs.

We began keeping records of scores for each game in the summer of 2008. You'll recall that's the first and only time league founder John Kim won the season championship. He wanted to make sure it went into the books. In that season, 72 games were scheduled and only 7 were not played. Being the summer, three field locations are used at Riverside/72nd, Inwood, and East River Park. Weather (rain at Riverside and lightning anywhere) affects many games during the spring and summer. However, out of the 7 missed games only 2 were rained out (many rainouts were made up this season). That leaves 5 forfeits and 4 of them were by one team. Even with that chalked up to bad luck or bad captaining, that's only 6.9% of games that were forfeited.

In the fall of 2008, the league was slimmed down to 6 teams and only 51 games were scheduled. Amazingly, NONE of these games were forfeited or canceled for another reason. It was said in the newsclips at the time, but the intimate experiment of fall 2008 may have truly been MUD's best season.

Spring 2009 saw a renovated Riverside field and massive signups into the league. Whereas the '08 summer season had allowed 9 teams, the league commissioner only permitted an 8-team field. This league saw MUD's first real evolution. We became more selective. Many people were turned away and those who were chosen made a point to show up. Of the 64 scheduled games only 2 were forfeited (3.1%). 6 games were not playable because of the fragile Riverside field that didn't drain like we all hoped it would.

The biggest evolutionary jump came in summer 2009. In an attempt to accommodate the even greater interest in playing with us, we split the player pool into two leagues: casual and competitive. I'll only speak about the competitive numbers here. This was MUD's longest season at 89 scheduled games, not including the final tournament. Of the games scheduled, a record 21 were not played. 11 of these 21 were forfeits. It's tempting to blame that on the complex and changing weekday game schedule. However, every forfeit happened in a Sunday game. 12.4% of all the games were forfeited, nearly double any other season.

The trend continues this season as well. In fact, it worsens. Despite the fact that the competitive league saw a first-ever modified draft and every player was hand-selected based on skill and likely attendance, after 42 scheduled games, 14 have been forfeited. That's a third of the games (33.3%). Every team but one has suffered at least two forfeit losses.

As I mentioned, the evolution is to blame for these disparaging statistics. The most obvious explanation has to do with the club circuit. When we split into two leagues, nearly half the competitive players were members of or attended tournaments with a club team. In fact, 11 of the 14 forfeits this season coincided with two major, nearby club tournaments. At least half of the forfeits in the summer can be attributed to club involvements as well. Thus scheduling around these tournaments might fix the forfeit problem, but then you're suddenly offering many fewer games and disrupting the continuity and team-building flow of the season. Also, the more than half the players who don't play club shouldn't have to accommodate because some of their potential teammates have a different set of priorities.

Perhaps MUD needs a different set of priorities, or at least a further evolution of its priorities to truly accommodate this vastly growing NYC ultimate community.

A more drastic proposal is to split the league even further. Make MUD into three separate leagues: recreational, competitive, and club. There is an overwhelming number of new or casual-interest players within our ranks and in a few other organized leagues in the city. Offer these people similar and social competition in the recreational league. Then group all the more competitive members that don't play club. As mentioned before, these people make up more than half the current competitive league and the numbers should swell even more as interest in MUD grows, like it has recently. Finally, a club league should be set up and scheduled around tournaments. In New York, there are at least 10 teams worth of mixed players. Offering a forum where these teams could consistently scrimmage or blend with each other (perhaps setting up an A, B, C, etc. system) would provide a way for more New York teams to be regularly competitive on a regional and national level. Having club players on their own schedule will also obviously avoid most of the frustrating no shows that now occur.

Of course, the main adversary to every form of New York ultimate is field space. By mid 2010, Randall's Island will be finished with its "Sports Fields Development" renovation. Already, over 20 suitable ultimate fields are 100% complete. Best of all, Randall's Island has a Manhattan address. With the field space offered on that island, all three leagues and more could be run at once.

The forfeits and those Inwood fields are not going to be satisfactory for much longer, especially not when there seem to be alternatives. MUD needs to start thinking forward, far forward. Too many people have a stake in NYC ultimate for things to be even the least bit disappointing.

--Mateo

Turnout in Week Eight Is Not So Great

9 November | MUD Newsdesk

As predicted, many commitments, including a club tournament outside Philadelphia, significantly slimmed the rosters of most teams on Saturday. It should be noted that at this Philly tournament, a New York team comprised of many MUD leaguers made like another local team and took out at least three Philly-area teams on their way to the B-Bracket championship.

Back home in Inwood, however, only one game was played.

Cinco de Layout finally produced a quorum-or-more showing and defeated the only team without a forfeit loss this season, JV Squad. The game ended 13-10 and also marked the end of Cinco’s six-game losing streak. Cinco captain Kara Donnelly was quite proud and remarked that she thinks her team is "back on track." This, of course, refers to the fact that in week three Cinco was hailed as "the clear frontrunner" and deemed "unbeatable." Surely Donnelly would like to get her team back to those glory days and in the next two weeks, she’ll have her chance.

As for the other non-games in week eight: Three Amigos took two forfeit wins over Random Fax and 2L2Q, respectively. 2L2Q also gave up an (F) win to Cinco. JV Squad was gifted a win from Meat Rouf and the Rouf and the Fax never got to play. These latter two slacker albeit first-place teams will dual it out in a rematch this coming Saturday to affirm the proper rights to top seed in the playoffs. However, JV Squad and 2L2Q will get a shot at the standing's leaders in the first round on Saturday, and could shake things up in their own ways. The end of the season is great. You have no excuse to miss it.

2L2Q's Gaffney Keeps Things Even in Week Six

31 October | MUD Newsdesk

With a win and a loss in week six, 2L2Q's co-captain, Christian Gaffney has no answers for his team's struggle with mediocrity. "We're doing what we can, but for now, that's not enough," he said at a mid-week press conference. When leaving the podium, however, Gaffney was seen winking at fellow teammates. Members of JV Squad, who were present to boast about their exceptional performances in week six, speculated that Gaffney's wink meant he's saving something special for the finals, and that his team knows it but they haven't debuted it yet. Only time will tell. 2L2Q's week six loss was to JV Squad. But they had a revenge 9-8 universe-point win against Random Fax, who beat them by the same score in week 4.

JV Squad took the week 6 crown with the aforementioned win over 2L2Q, 11-7, and another over Three Amigos, 11-8. For now, the Squad moves in behind the top two teams as the sole occupant of third place with a 6-6 record.

Before losing to the Squad, Three Amigos showed some real fire as they trounced the win-streak confident Meat Rouf. Taking the game 13-9, the Amigos kept a safe distance with the score for most of the game. The Rouf mounted a minor comeback in the second half but it wasn't nearly enough. It did get Meat Rouf riled up for their next game, but amazingly nonchalantly, Cinco de Layout never showed up. The nongame marked a record setting 5th forfeit loss by a MUD league team in the regular season.

However, enough of Cinco managed to roll off the shuttle bus by 3:50pm for their game against Random Fax. The Fax was oddly out of facts to dispense before the game, but certainly not out of flow or scoring drives. The final score was 13-6, Fax.

With week 7 as a bye week, two games for each team in week 8 looks to be the best chance to solidify seeds for the week 10 championship. Pada Mosh may crush the rosters of several teams so anything can happen. Allegedly, Cinco de Layout has been recruiting married couples during the bye week to try to add some commitment to their roster. We'll see how things pan out.

After 5, Rankings and Roster Spots Seem Up For Grabs

14 October | MUD Newsdesk

Well shoot, now that week five's games are said and done, everyone is in either 1st place or 3rd place. Random Fax and Meat Rouf sit on top, both at 7-3. Beneath them, Cinco de Layout, Three Amigos, 2L2Q, and JV Squad all tote 4-6 records, putting them in a 4-way tie for 3rd place. Saturday's surprising wins and losses and some even more shocking forfeits contributed to the mid-season mix-up that if anything makes these teams seem, to quote Three Amigos's captain Reynaldo Uno Uno, "fairly well-balanced."

Three Amigos and Meat Rouf worked their respective opponents over on Saturday, both finishing with two wins. The Amigos began their day, right on time and waiting for Cinco de Layout to show their lovely faces. Under the threat of point assessment, it seems Cinco was scared away. Only 3 of the 23 member team showed up and los Amigos forced a forfeit. In the next round, the Amigos took on 2L2Q, who had beaten them at universe point back in week two. This time, 2Legit just couldn't hang on and lost 11-8. These two wins were absolutely crucial for Three Amigos as they launched the team from a lonely last place into the aforementioned 4-way tie.

Meat Rouf started their day with a circumstantial win over Random Fax. Despite its 11-10 score, the game was not decided on universe point. The circumstances required that the game be capped right in the middle of a Random Fax comeback and so the loss was most disappointing for the Fax. However, Meat Rouf managed to streak back from a 0-4 start to the game. In the second half, after Fax tied it at 8-8, the Rouf busted out to 11-8 and Fax couldn't come back in time. Meat Rouf's second win was against 2L2Q, 13-9. This decisive margin was perhaps due to the scare of squeezing out of the first game, or perhaps because of the Rouf's happy full bellies after a bye spent at Indian Road Café.

Random Fax's other game was against JV Squad whom they defeated, 13-9. The Squad also faced the barely present Cinco De Layout, who's numbers, by the time they faced the JV Squad had risen to cinco. JV Squad thought about letting them play with just five, but instead called it a forfeit and then played a tough game against Cinco plus "three solid guys."

Cinco's captain Kara Donnelly says she's "so sorry" she hasn't kept her "team in order." It's MUD's understanding that "we all signed up to play some ultimate and that's what we expect and want to do on Saturdays." Thus it seems you shouldn't even need a captain to keep you in order, but rather a realization that you belong to a community that misses you when you're not around.

Breezy Week Four Blows Standings Around

14 October | MUD Newsdesk

Previously undefeated when they're actually playing and not forfeiting, Cinco de Layout (formerly Team Five) lost both their games this Saturday. Perhaps they spent the day trying to make sense of the pun in their name or perhaps their opponents 2L2Q and Meat Rouf finally got things going.

Meat Rouf certainly looked like they were cooking with gas this weekend. The Rouf went out to a 6-0 lead on Cinco before graciously giving up a few points to make it a game. They ended up defeating the former number one ranked Cinco, 13 to 10. In their first game, the Rouf encountered the JV Squad who hasn't been able to figure out much this season besides showing up to games. In this contest, both teams struggled to get into the endzone with all the wind blowing. This blustery showdown ended 9 to 5 in favor of the Rouf. Earlier, JV Squad lost to the last place Three Amigos, 8 to 10.

After beating Cinco 11 to 6, 2L2Q crashed into the wall that has been Random Fax (formerly Six). The Fax is on a tear. They pulled in the winning score (9 to 8) on a capped universe point against 2L2Q, and then went on to crush Three Amigos, 13 to 5. Fax currently sits atop the standings with the best record (6-2), the most points scored, and the fewest allowed. Fax handler Brittany Kaplan was overheard asking teammate Tony Fangel, "Do you think we'll ever lose again?" Meat Rouf's Maggie Roush Mead is sure they will just after 1pm this coming Saturday. We here at the newsdesk are sure that whoever wins, in fact, whoever plays this weekend, better bring extra socks because it looks to be a wet one.

Despite the Rain, Flames Emerge in Week 3

5 October | MUD Headquarters

On Monday morning, Team Five reserved MUD's conference room and met to discuss a possible name change. Before the vote was tallied, it seemed the clear frontrunner was Fire, as in "On Fire." And they certainly are. After losing both games in week one (to forfeits), Five has been unbeatable.

This drizzling Saturday, the team who during the draft was arbitrarily designated "Three" gave "Five" a good run. Three managed 8 points to Five's 10. But in Five's second game, Six was extinguished the way Elton John thinks Marilyn Monroe lived her life. 13 to 3 was the final score and the game was over in just about 7 minutes. A few of Six's teammates were missing including Richard Previdi, who said on Monday, in a press conference, "Five, or Fire, or whatever is nothing. They made the mistake of peaking early. Besides Six is higher than Five." Previdi then added something about Seven eating Nine, which seemed out of context. In an adjacent conference, Five's deep threat Dre Pilette shot back, "the second game," the one against Six, "looked rough from the outset. We lost our 2 subs and had to play savage." And then they won by 10.

Six also played JV Squad and won 13-6. Three's other game was against Meat Rouf who put up a miserable fight. Three won 13 to 4. 2L2Q, in case you were wondering, had a fair outing. Still wearing green, and wet like everyone else, they also defeated Meat Rouf, 10 to 8, and 2L2Q lost to JV Squad, 11-5. At 1pm next Saturday, 2L2Q will have a shot at taking down the rampaging Five. The Rouf will get their chance at 3:50pm. But Meat Rouf has to get its sausages in order before it can expect real success.

W2: 5 and Six Bully Their Respective Fields

26 September | Inwood

Despite no formal agreement among the captains, Six (who will be known as Random Fax) showed up and demanded to play on the field near the water. They insisted that all other teams besides their opponent play elsewhere. This intimidation tactic was the master plan of soft-spoken captain Fred Merkel, and not really in keeping with his disposition. The tactic clearly worked as Six won both its games. First they went 13-10 over 2L2Q (who attempted far too many hammers, perhaps to appease the songwriter of their namesake). Six then won 13-7 over Team Three. This was surely a disappointment for Three's captain Rey Punzalan, the leader of last season's champs. Three was disappointed earlier as well when they faced 2L2Q and lost on universe point, 10-9.

On the other field, Team Five ruled the day with two victories. They first defeated Meat Rouf, 11-9. As the Rouf was figuring out its offense, Five took half at 7-3. But the Rouf stormed back and got it to 10-9 before hard-cap went on and Five scored to take it. Five then battled the JV Squad who took them to universe point only to lose. Previously, the JVs had taken on Meat Rouf and in a shameful display of rusty ultimate the teams hardly made it to half time before the cap went on. Though the game was fairly close, the Rouf pulled away to end it 9-6 and finish 1-1 for the day.

What the Forfeit?

19 September | Inwood

Anyone want to play some ultimate? For those of you interested in playing this Fall, get a clue; the season has begun.

A dismal showing in week one led to five forfeits and a battle of top dogs. Yet to be named Team 1, helmed by league founders John Kim and Venu Manne, faced off against Team 2, which on Saturday was led by league commissioner Winston Suntaree. In the absence of his two captains, Commissioner Suntaree put up a good fight. His team managing nine points. For one score, Team 2's Nick Choi sought air against Darren Wan and John Kim in the endzone and came down with the disc. But that flair was no match for Team One, whose twelve points were all achieved with style.

Team 1's other win came off a Team 3 forfeit. Team 4 also got two wins on forfeits from 3 and 6. Team 2 took a forfeit win over Team 5, as did Team 6. So after one week two teams are undefeated (1 and 4), two teams broke even with a win and a loss (3 and 6), and two teams blew it by not showing up (3 and 5). Let's see some of those drafted, chosen, and lucky faces this Saturday.

Saturdays Get Competitive in Fall 2009

18 Sept | Newsroom

Coming up tomorrow is day one of MUD's competitive Fall. In this most intimate of MUD's seasons, you should find yourself having a great time no matter how your team is doing. With all the teams playing every Saturday at Inwood, high fives, old and new friends and spirited heckling are bound to be commonplace.

This weekend boasts a few conflicts in the local ultimate world, so be sure to get in touch with your captain, telling her or him whether or not you can make it. Rosters might be a bit shallow, but a lovely forecast suggests some great ultimate at the very least. See you at 1pm!