Monday, April 25, 2005

tip of the week: how to cheat and really piss me off

Not all violations are equal, and it isn't necessarily the violations that yield the biggest advantage that are the ones that get to me the most. Rather, it's the ones that are small but frequent, or ones that aren't done all the time but only when it makes a difference. And there's other stuff, too.
1. "One". At goaltimate recently, I called "fast count" when the marker started by saying "one", then allowed the count to get to five in order to call a foul. (This happened after about 8 minutes of playing, after telling myself beforehand I wasn't going to be a Billy B rules jackass.)
2. Jumping offsides on a pull in order to throw it farther or to get down faster to set up a cup or disrupt the first pass. Perhaps oddly, I don't mind if you're offsides if you're just doing it to be lazy.
3. The sidelines yelling "Nice D" after a brutal mugging by the marker on a break-mark attempt. In a parallel world, I might compliment that team on its honesty in admitting that they're cheating, but in this one, it almost always makes me mad.
4. The "handler hop." I'll call a travel on this every two or three years. A handler will catch a swing pass standing still, then will do a little hop to the continuation side.
5. The no-pivot-foot pivot. You all know this guy. He steps out to fake a backhand, then follows with his pivot foot as he turns back to the forehand side. This enables him to throw a forehand more quickly. I can think of one guy who does both 4 and 5 and averages well over one travel per pass (I only name names when I am personally aggrieved, btw).
6. The auto-fake. Ok, this isn't a violation, other than being an offense against good ultimate. Catch a swing pass, then automatically fake the continuation with a big backhand windup. If you do that three times in a row, it ought to be a turnover.
7. Pulling out of a line of cars, driving the length of the line, then cutting back in to wait in line closer to the front.
8. Pulling into an intersection knowing that traffic is blocked just in front of the intersection, resulting in gridlock. I swear, if I have a terminal illness and no assets to pass on, I will make it my life's work to ram people who do either of these things.

10 comments:

Idris said...

1. at "goaltimate I", i assumed i didn't know the rules, because all the san diego players all started with "one". some scrub on the condors always does this. he tweaks when the second fast count comes and he swears he's counting "really slow".

2. more should be taught about pulling.

5. i'll name names, siedler. at first you're like "holy shit, that dude pivots so fast", then you watch closely and...

6. jeff eastham [wg team, jam] loves this, as do most women.

Luke said...

what about the 'slow walk up the field travel'. Fake a forehand while stepping forward, drag pivot foot with you. and the coup de gras (sp?), when travel is called, completely stand up, bringing back foot 3 feet forward.

it may be the most unstoppable move in frisbee.

Alex de Frondeville said...

Well, in that case, then you shouldn't mind when I do 2.

As for 6, I've seen more continuation passes killed by this stupidity... And this applies equally to the backhand and forehand sides

parinella said...

Well, in that case, then you shouldn't mind when I do 2.
Nah, you're trying to gain an advantage. Or else you're trying to impress the ladies with how far you can pull it.

Alex de Frondeville said...

I was referring to the laziness, naturally.

Luke said...

alex, yes we got the laziness. but since when do you pull?

Alex de Frondeville said...

Every now and then in practice, we have to let the defense actually practice their O, so they make us pull.

Anonymous said...

You left out my favorite: When a cutter toward the disc catches it, then makes a wide turn to face forward. Conveniently, the turn (a) goes from the sideline about 3 steps toward the middle of the field; (b) away from the marker who, if playing good D, was on the sideline side of the receiver because the force is usually in that direction; (c) usually involves a nice wind up for a fake or actual throw; and (d) has no impact on which foot later becomes the actual pivot foot [this decision is made a few minutes later based on which cut is coming at the time].

It really pisses me off. If you are running toward the disc, there is only one way to turn around and throw downfield. That is to establish a pivot foot and turn around. (Technically, you could throw behind your back I suppose). Anything else is a change of direction which is prohibitted.

The worst offender I know is also one of those 'ambidextrous' players who likes to be facing foward with both his feet wide apart so he can later 'fool me' by claiming the pivot was his other foot. Of course, his definition of a pivot foot would not have looked out of place at the auditions for Saturday Night Fever, but thats a whole other story.

Edward Lee said...

The worst offender I know is also one of those 'ambidextrous' players who likes to be facing foward with both his feet wide apart so he can later 'fool me' by claiming the pivot was his other foot. Of course, his definition of a pivot foot would not have looked out of place at the auditions for Saturday Night Fever, but thats a whole other story.

The quantum-mechanical pivot foot is completely legal, or so says CVH (you can look it up on RSD). A pivot is an area of the body that maintains constant contact with a fixed portion of ground. The pivot need not be a connected set (eg two feet). If the guy steps to the right to throw a righty flick, his pivot has now shrunk to the area comprising his left foot. He can still pivot about as he wishes so long as some part of his left foot remains fixed. Similarly, if his first step was to the left to throw a lefty flick, his pivot has shrunk to the area comprising his right foot.

parinella said...

The quantum-mechanical pivot foot is completely legal, or so says CVH
Sorta. If you catch a pass in flow and stop, then yes, you have an infinite number of pivots, specifically, every part of both feet or anything else that is touching the ground. However, if you run out of bounds or take possession after a turnover, the rules require you to put the disc into play at a particular spot. You then have only half as many infinite points.

I think what CVH is pointing out is that it's okay to call travel on stall 6 if the thrower makes an otherwise legal pivot on the wrong foot. For example, ambi picks up the disc on the sideline and plants his outside foot on the line. He stands, looking for a few seconds, then pivots on his other foot. You could also do this if he picks up the disc in the middle of the field and plants one foot (as the rules state) directly where the disc is.

Whether it's legal or not, this may or may not be a chickenshit call, in my opinion. The way it ought to go is that the thrower inadvertently or unconsciously begins to put the disc in in such a way that it's obvious that a pivot will be a travel, and the marker informs him of this, thrower says, "Oh, geez, thank you," and sets up properly. It's not chickenshit if the thrower is trying to gain an advantage.