Mixed Easterns

NYNJA went to the tournament with 4 girls and 11 guys, but only 3 and 10 played. Having savage girls made for a difficult tournament, but I think we played about as well as one could expect, save for the game against Slow White X. That game featured a lot of poor decisions on offense, mostly throws that were rushed or thrown to covered receivers. It was an ugly game, made more so for me because I felt that the Slow White players were, well...cheating. They played a very physical game--I remember one player using his arms to prevent me from cutting. I called foul, he contested. Somebody called travel on me on a goal-line throw for a score, and it was the worst call I've seen in a long time. I had cut laterally toward the thrower, caught the disc with my left foot planted, took one step with my right foot, and released the disc without moving my left foot at all. Score. "Travel." My left cleat didn't even slide, it was just a terrible call.

I was astonished at how many times opponents called travel on me this weekend--at least 8 times, and I actually travelled on maybe two of them. For most of these, I caught the disc with momentum and released it before my third ground contact. One lady argued that I slid my foot, but does that matter if I am not establishing a pivot? I don't think so. Three times, I caught the disc and stopped as soon as I reasonably could, perhaps four ground contacts. They called travel when I hadn't even looked up to throw. It was an in-cut...what possible advantage could I have gained when I was losing yards? I felt it was ticky-tack, so after the first couple times I didn't even say anything, just took the disc back. I did get upset, though, when my mark delayed after calling travel--he took a good 15 seconds to rest before tapping it in.

The other thing I hate is when, as a handler behind a zone, I cut into the cup to receive a short pass, looking to then break through the cup. The defenders, wanting to discourage this practice, decided to rush at me as I cut toward them. One time, a huge dude--6'2", 180lbs?--ran into me and knocked me over. I called foul, and the lady in the cup called travel. She was serious. Here's the problem: the rules state, XVI.H.3.c.2 "A player may not take a position that is unavoidable by a moving opponent when time, distance, and line of sight are considered." Meaning, if I am cutting into a space between stationary opponents, and then they start rushing in to that space to prevent me from getting there, any contact is a blocking foul. I initiated momentum, giving me a kind of right-of-way to that spot. Demolishing me is not cool. Also, note XVI.H.4 and what it says about reckless disregard and dangerously aggressive behavior.

Another time, I was guarding my man, he ran me into a pick, and the picking player was another giant, who brought his arms in front of himself--to "protect" himself--and thereby body-checked me to the ground. Notice that he did not even stumble backwards. I guess his arms must have done a good job protecting him. I called injury, but stayed on the field. Some Canadian stomped on my toes to initiate his cut, that sucked. I also got demolished in the endzone, spun around and knocked flat on my back, but held onto the disc for the goal. I'm starting to think that I need to build some muscle before playing club open.

Tonight's workout: 2mi in 14:13, 4x40yds, 200m in 30.8, ab circuit.