Friday, August 18, 2006

Training, ECC preview

The four stages of training in a stud's career:
  1. Training? I don't need to train.
  2. Bring it on, beeyotch.
  3. Whenever I try, I win the race.
  4. I have to train for the training.

Bonus training tips:
  • Plan the work, work the plan. Don't cut corners.
  • If you do decide to stop in the middle of a workout, stop at the beginning of a rep, not at the end. That little extra rest between reps can change your mind.

ECC Preview:
DoG has won all of its tournaments so far this year, the first time we have gone this far since 2001, which was also the year of our only previous ECC. We started with 14 on the only hot weekend of the year there, three of whom were on their way back from a grueling week in Japan at the World Games. We lost a couple one-pointers off the bat, played some more, and survived our way to a 2-5 record. Now let us never speak of this again.

Game 1: DoG v Rhino. I don't know these guys, but I presume they're a Huck n Hope offense. DoG's patience should prevail in this one. 13-1.
Game 2: DoG v San Francisco. Huck n Hope merged with Hope n Huck. They got Safdie but have lost all their other Boston imports, but the Boston influence should make this a close game. DoG 13-6.
Game 3: DoG v Condors. They beat us handily last time at this tournament, so that ought to be worth a couple points. I don't know anyone on their team anymore except for Hollywood. He's a top-notch Boggler in his own right, although I'm still the best, so let's say DoG 13-9.
Game 4: DoG v Furious. This is the only team that has a bunch of guys I remember playing against, and we'll be tired and a little overconfident, so it'll come down to the wire. DoG 13-10.
Party: Jim and Al again dominate, although it would be a miracle if Al loses the ro-cham-dirty-dance-with-Mr.-Sensitive-Ponytail-Guy again. However, the absence of our teammates gives the party victory to some chick team, unless the Sockeye guys get really obnoxious and start heckling them for no good reason.
Game 5: DoG v Sockeye. DoG brilliantly picks up Lou Burruss, Luke Smith, and Chris van Holmes for this game and know all the Sockeye calls as well as pointers for telling apart the really big kids. However, we also pick up Brian Cameros, and his infectious attitude keeps it close. DoG 13-11, guaranteeing a finals appearance.
Game 6: DoG v Bravo. A lot of hucking, no hoping. Will Deaver threatens DoG with sanctions for years of roster abuse and Sectional tournament shenanigans. A Little League coach is seen huddling with the DoG team, and suddenly every huck from Bravo is complete. Bravo 13-2.
Round 7: DoG v bye. Grab a beer and a burrito and start diagramming all the hucks to figure out whether it's the 2nd or the 3rd pass.

Seriously, I'm looking forward to the tournament. We don't get to see the West Coast teams except at Nationals. We expect to be behind them right now, but maybe seeing them complete 85% of their 50% hucks against us will clue us in on what we need to do to stop them. Obviously, the answer is to play me on D, but I'm not a machine anymore.

12 comments:

greg said...

i won't be in seattle this weekend, so in the interest of oversized egos i think you should revised the condors score to 13-2.

parinella said...

So who am I going to hate on your team? Please tell me that Corey is going to make an appearance.

Julian said...

You absolutley can not claim to be the best boggler without facing Chris Saenger. If you're not chicken, I might be able to set up a grudge match, which we could web-cast on Ultimate Talk or maybe some Boggle site.

Idris said...

Ah, the benefits of still being in stage 1... or at least thinking you are.

I'll try to do my part in properly executing the west coast H 'n H offense. Its just so fun.

parinella said...

Julian,

See what I said about stage #2.

Idris,
I was torn between posting this topic and "In Defense of the Huck N Hope (TM)." Point #1 was going to be "It's fun!" Like Coed play, as you ought to know.

Back when we were able to huck successfully and often, we said that one of the requirements for a good long throw choice was that even if you swapped the identities of the cutter and defender, you would still make the throw. Part of the stereotypical HnH mentality seems to be "that guy's fast and a good jumper, I'll just make a perfect throw and he'll barely get to it." The stereotype exaggerates, as all stereotypes do, but life is short and hard and we need to categorize in order to figure out the rules of life.

Marshall said...

This instead of the Corporate tournament. Priorities, T-man.

Anonymous said...

weboggle.shackworks.com/

Play the 5x5. If you can't regularly score in the top 3...go home. Teams don't count. Bots are easy to spot.

H

greg said...

jim,

no corey either, his playing and posting have both faded in the last few months. we do still have 3 other guys from the last time we played you in a meaningful game (hawaii), so there might be just enough for you to hate.

parinella said...

Yeah, whatever happened to T-Man? I miss him sometimes. It was sad when I joined the UPA and could no longer say, with or without joking, "the UPA sucks". Even now, years removed from any UPA affiliation, I still hesitate to say anything bad towards the org or, for that matter, any individual I don't know well enough to make fun of in public.

Recap: 2-4, easily rationalized to 4-2. JFC, what debacles those two rationalizations were. Up 9-3 on Furious, and 11-8 on Condors, and lost to both. Luckily in our last game, the D was smart enough to suck until it was too late for the O to blow it. Meh. I want to kill something. You, perhaps. Luckily for me, I don't think I added anyone to the "I schooled Jimmy P" list, except maybe that one guy. But that happens sometime.

I was going to badmouth Idris for throwing a no-look 30 yard scoober, but he insists that it was merely a response to being tackled, so I gave him a pass for that one. But he takes a little too much glee in winning, more than is deserved.

Boggle update: played a couple rounds two nights ago, finished in top ten consistently, a couple times in top 3 (although what's up with those "team X" names?), once or twice in top 3. I was a little off, but not too far off. I'll still face up with what's his name.

Anonymous said...

I believe that "Team X" all work together towards a cumulative score. Seems cheap to me. There's a "Team BYU". Maybe we need a new hobby...

h

Dennis said...

"although it would be a miracle if Al loses the ro-cham-dirty-dance-with-Mr.-Sensitive-Ponytail-Guy again."

The preceding comment seems to be based on something -- but unfortunately, I don't know the story...
What happened?

--D

parinella said...

The comment more or less speaks for itself. At the party at this tournament in 2001, there was a guy with a ponytail kinda hanging out by himself and acting cool. So, we got a rocham between Alex, me, another guy, and 8 women with the loser (obviously) having to dirty dance with the guy. Alex of course lost.