Oh Boy! 2009
Posted by Eric on June 15, 2009
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Brenda Boden
Brit Gartner
Chris McCrory
Chris Stevenson
Dan Piotrowski
Elliott Erickson
Eric Morin
Heather Wobig
Libby Whiting
Liz Scheibel
Martha Harris
Matty Spillum
Mel Sard
Michelle Lucius
Michelle Verant
Morgan Maki
Nick Scheibel
Reed Bailey
Sarah Bennetts
Spencer Hagen
Tom Bomberg
Yeff Carroll
Late Tryouts have been offered to the following players:
Field Update #100,001
Posted by Eric on June 2, 2009
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Open Tryouts:
Wed, June 3rd - W. Minnehaha Park @ 6:30pm - northeast corner
Sun, June 7th - One Day tournament 2pm @ Maple Plaine Polo fields - information on Wednesday
Closed Tryouts:
Wed, June 10th - W. Minnehaha Park @ 6:30pm
Sun, June 14th - W. Minnehaha Park @ 3pm
Roster and other information will be completed after June 14th - additional tryouts dates TBD, if necessary
Sunday 3pm @ McMurry/Como
Posted by Eric on May 29, 2009
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Tryout number two will be at McMurry/Como fields in Saint Paul at 3pm.
Sorry for the moving around, hopefully it will be resolved soon.
Fields!
Posted by Eric on May 26, 2009
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Soo, long story short, Pearl Park is under construction.
We will try to play on the North End of Pearl Park, parking on Portland Ave or Hampshire Dr
Back up fields at Bossen Field.
See you there! 6:30pm.
Website!
Posted by Eric on May 18, 2009
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You can finally count on the right side of this website to mean something.
You’re welcome.
General Website Stuff and Upcoming Events
Posted by Eric on April 27, 2009
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The logo is changing…as soon as I figure out how. The same for the inaccurate information on the side bar. The real schedule is as follows:
Open Scrimmages: May 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th. Everyone is invited, come have some fun.
Open tryouts will be May 27th, 31st, and June 3rd.
Closed tryouts will be June 7th, 10th, and as needed.
All events will be held at Pearl Park, see previous post for details. Sundays will most likely start at 3pm, Wednesdays probably at 6 or 7pm.
Field Update!
Posted by Eric on April 27, 2009
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Unless otherwise noted, all things involving scrimmage, tryouts, practice will be located at Pearl Park in Minneapolis.
http://tinyurl.com/clgqwx
Hope to see you all at the first open scrimmage this weekend, 3pm Sunday!
Open Scrimmages
Posted by Eric on April 20, 2009
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Come out and enjoy the lovely Minnesota spring (the sun, rain, and wind!).
Sundays @ 3ish starting May 3rd. Location TBD (and posted here).
Open tryouts to follow starting May 27th.
Sorry for the horribly slow updating of this site. Performance will improve.
Regionals 2008
Posted by MattSpillum on October 16, 2008
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Sorry for the delay in writing. I needed time get used to not seeing all your lovely selves so regularly. And I don’t have a working computer at home. Right…where was I?
Regionals 2008 was, simply put, an absolute blast. Oh Boy! finished its second season with style, flair and grit. Never in my many years of ultimate have I enjoyed a team as much as I have Oh Boy! Thank you each and all for making this season such a great one.
One thing that Oh Boy! had yet to demonstrate in 2008 was the ability to get the job done decisively on Saturday morning. With the ubiquitous Teddy Grumpskins awaiting us on the field, I wondered; would we turn in another lackluster morning effort, or would we get up for once? Steady progress has been one of our hallmarks all year, of course, and I suppose it should come as no surprise that we came out crisp and efficient, stamping our first mark on what might be a long and interesting Regionals legacy. Oh Boy! 15, Teddy Grumpskins 5.
Our second round brought us a team we had yet to face in NURD. Our opponents were coming off an impressive first half performance against ICE, and we were shaking the rust off after a fairly long downtime between rounds. The result was a nip and tuck game, a bit too close for comfort. Stellar sidelines energy and an excellent performance from the Offensive line put Oh Boy! over the top in the end. Oh Boy! 15, NURD 12.
ICE requested observers four our last pool play game, ostensibly to practice playing with them on the field. This was a minor, if novel, distraction, and I’m not sure I would blame the folks in orange for the early hole we dug ourselves. For whatever reason, we just couldn’t seem to hold onto the disc. In the second half, we were able to find our game, but it would be too little, too late. Oh Boy! 8, ICE 15.
Having matched our seed within our pool, our crossover round brought us to the game that Rec Sport Disc wanted: Abusement Park had managed to slip to third in their pool after losing to Deathstar Contractors. The rematch was on. And we came into the game…tight. Seriously, for long periods of the first half, it seemed eerily remniscent of our last game against them. And then, the sidelines woke from its slumber (thank you Spencer!). At 8-12, Oh Boy! scored a big point and then Eric announced that the D-line would let the O rest for the remainder. This rally was one of the reasons that I love this team. We are never out of it. Six straight points to close out the game, and finish our day on an up note. Oh Boy! 14, Abusement Park 12.
All night and the early morning, I kept hearing that we were going to play Steamboat first round Sunday. So of course, when we arrived at the fields, who should be awaiting us but Gambit? Unlike our last meeting at Heavyweights, we didn’t start the game with a lot of fire, though, and Gambit kept scoring points on random bail-out throws to make it 2-5. Instead of calling a time-out and letting our opponent’s stunning luck settle over our heads, we came out firing on offense, took the point, and suddenly you would have a hard time telling which team was down two. Eight more points were tacked on in as dominant a run as we have put together all season. Another excellent Sunday game to add to an increasingly impressive Sunday resume. Oh Boy! 15, Gambit 10.
And that put us into the game with Peppermint Bon Bon. This was a battle the whole way. Just like Sectionals had been before. Both teams put together monster plays on offense…both teams made crucial clutch d’s. In the end, only Bon Bon’s superior experience kept Oh Boy! from the play-in game to the back-door final. Dave Truesdale would later tell me “you guys gave us fits.” Oh Boy! played this game with heart and poise beyond its years. This was a game to hold in your heart to keep you warm over the coming winter. Oh Boy! 13, Peppermint Bon Bon 15.
Regionals 2008 showed us what we were capable of. It showed us what we have left to do. It showed us what the future can look like, if we but will it so. As I said on the fields, for next season, I am all in. I hope to hear the same from many of you beautiful people who have been the greatest blessing of this year for me.
Thank you, fellow Oh Boy…ers? …ites? …pudlians? However it is said, fare you well and be not strangers.
much love,
–matty
Sectionals 2008 Report Card
Posted by MattSpillum on September 22, 2008
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Let me begin by telling you all something. Ultimate is a life-changing, physical and spiritual force for good in the universe. It gives me a reason to smile on my darkest days. You are all to be thanked for keeping me sane this summer and fall. I love playing with each and every one of you.
Right. On with it.
Oh Boy! 2008 came in to Sectionals with a solid season of development that needed continuing and a disappointing club series legacy to bury. To this, I think we can say check and check.
Still, before we suffer any separated shoulders from back-patting, we still have the nagging first game focus issue to tackle. Once again, Oh Boy! put forth a tepid and scattered effort in Saturday’s first game. Which is sad, since Alpha Cobra Squadron was looking equally listless. A decent show of sustained intensity here might have been decisive, but it was not to be. Plenty of good flashes, especially right before and just after half, were not enough to carry any momentum. Grade: C+. Oh Boy! 7, Alpha Cobra Squadron 13.
After a five day vacation, we returned to the field tan, rested and ready to face Plowed. While we won the game handily, the absurdly long bye did us no favors as regards our team focus. We once again had flashes of brilliance and equal flashes of carelessness. I think everyone on the team had plenty to try to improve on after this game. Grade: C-. Oh Boy! 13, Plowed 5.
Mad Udderburn was a name that floated across the gulf in other pools all season long. We never managed to face off with them until Sectionals, though. Coming into the game, I remember hearing that they really wanted to air it out, and I distinctly remember that they had been tied at fives with ACS in the second round (and then lost 13-5, but that wasn’t the point). Oh Boy! needed to step up and take command of a game, and we thankfully answered that call. We took away easy throws and dominated in the air. We took accurate long shots over and over. Six total turnovers for Oh Boy! in this game says what needs to be said. Grade: A-. Oh Boy! 13, Mad Udderburn 1.
Where we couldn’t buy a game with Udderburn before Sectionals, we couldn’t escape Teddy Grumpskins all summer. Fortunately, they rotate their roster so often that we never got bored of the same faces. They also improved each and every time out, and there was no question that this team wanted to beat us. Over and over, they would meet every point of ours with one of their own. After a run by them put us behind 8-10, we called a timeout. Naturally, Tom Bomberg was the reasoned voice to which we turned. Sometimes it makes all the difference in the world to laugh in the face of adversity. The chuckling settled us down, apparently, and lit a fire under our feet. Oh Boy! would take the next five points in as dominant a fashion as I have seen us play. Grade: A-. Oh Boy! 13, Teddy Grumpskins 10.
The gut-check win guaranteed us a spot at Regionals, and left us with a shot at Peppermint Bon Bon in the first round Sunday. The team seemed to be in the sweet spot as we ate delicious food and watched meaningless t.v. at Will’s. No one needed to be reminded of the line.
Sunday morning, the team gathering on the dewy plains seemed different to me. Sure, it was all the same stuff: joking around, throwing, cleating up and just getting ready each in our own way. We just were all there. Together. At the same time. There is no mistaking this sensation. It was palpable focus, and it was arguably the most important result of the weekend. Even if we hadn’t played all that well against Peppermint Bon Bon, we would have been able to take that with us. Fortunately, we took that focus and put it to use. This game was a hard-fought match, and Oh Boy! answered Bon Bon punch for punch all the way. Both sides were discomfited by the other’s defensive intensity, and neither offense could get into much of a flow. In the end, they caught that one break too many, but this was still a game for the books. Grade: A. Oh Boy! 13, Peppermint Bon Bon 15.
The loss put us into a match-up with the ever-changing face of Deathstar Contractors. The Carleton mixed team has been an annual fixture in the Central Region for a long time now, and most other teams are onto the Sectionals/Regionals roster surprises. Here’s to hoping that tired routine won’t land them in Florida this year. Our game began as a series of runs, with them scoring the first two, us scoring the next few, and so on. Both teams struggled to keep possession in this game (77 turnovers all together!). Oh Boy! managed to keep pulling away, taking it to 13-8. The faceless minions of the evil Empire clamped their zone on a bit tighter and fueled a run of their own to make it 13-11. Oh Boy! 2008 is not as fragile as we once were, however, and we reasserted our game to pull it out. Grade: B. Oh Boy! 15, Deathstar Contractors 11.
So, overall, Oh Boy! prepares for Regionals having justified our third overall seed at Sectionals. While we showed a lot of improvement and steady progress, many things still need work. We need to remember that feeling of focus on Sunday morning. We need to make smart decisions, not scared decisions. And we need to catch our d’s (honestly, it was a total of eight near-d’s that the other team managed to catch on Sunday alone. That’s absurd). More than anything else, we need to keep playing this beautiful game together, and keep putting our hearts and souls onto the field for each other. This team has put the last of Heavyweights behind it, and we are on course for a great Regionals. Grade: B+, with extra points for resilience and improving focus.
Much love,
–matty