Sunday, November 28, 2010

When Does Next Season Start?

So barely had the disc settled onto the stubby grass at Annerley last week before someone started asking when next season starts.

The short answer - start thinking about it after Australia Day (and that special beach Ultimate tournament on the Gold Coast), and it’s likely Leagues will begin in mid-February.

Traditionally, December and January is the ‘off season’ for Ultimate Leagues in Brisbane. It’s the summer and Christmas holidays, Uni and school is out, its pretty hot, and after ten months of Ultimate its time for a break for organisers and players.

That said, many stronger players train through December and January as part of their preparation for Nationals in April, so if you’re looking for an extra run and a chance to improve your skills, ask around for training times.

Pickup games (including weekend beach trips) also get a new lease of life over Summer, so make sure you’re on the right email lists.

A big challenge with establishing the start date for 2011 is that our field providers are focused on supporting their Winter sports, and so tend to not get going until after us. As a result, they can be hesitant to commit fields and times to us that they may wish to use for themselves.

The field providers are also aware that they want to give the fields the biggest possible rest to regenerate before their seasons begin (those noting the state of Annerley Field 3 will recognise that it could really use a lot of time off).

That said, QUDA and the League Directors have worked very hard in recent years to give us robust relationships with our field providers, so hopefully they’ll be able to announce firm starting dates as early as possible.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Movember Still Has a Few Days To Go

Our mortal brains are still reeling from DojoMojo's win on Thursday night to properly put fingers to keyboards to record the event further for posterior, but that doesn't mean you can't donate in the last few days of Movember 2010.

The Brisbane Ultimate Blog has been proud to continue our tradition of support (2009 Phil Stocks, 2008 Matt Anscomb and 2007 Rodney and Mansauce (again)) and this year we've done our bit for facial hair and men's health via aL, Dusty and Mansauce.

You can donate too!

Donate to aL Don (soon to be renamed MaL)

Donate to Dusty Czok (soon to be starting in his own 'tasteful' video collection)

Andrew 'Mansauce' McCasker (because while everything is better with mansauce, its better +1 with 'sauce'stache)
Let's hope that next year, Buzz, MatR and ... let's say the entire Slamtown Flatball Club can mo up!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Less Than Five Hours to Go!

Less than five hours to go until the BPL final tonight, and there's no time to post!

We've only been able to talk to a couple of people about the Final, but they've got some wise things to say.

Yesterday we bumped into Dan Strelan on the train: "It's the battle of the walking wounded. Dojo - Fatty's arm, no Cunliffe (rules is rules). UQ - No Gref (whip), Jules ankle. Hopefully Dojo bring their A-game. They will have to work hard on D to shut-down an all-class UQ. The talls are mentioned but a firing BW and hard-working Nathan in the midfield will play a big part. I think the game is in UQ's hands - it will be up to Dojo to snatch it out."

Earlier in the week we dragged Stef away from a pile of schools to receive these insights: "Reckon the Dojo were more dominant this season, but the Lovers have peaked at a better time. Stephen Cameron will need to rally his troops... maybe even hand the reins over to the likes of Pallen or Fatty to ensure it's not a nonchalant affair. Is aL's knee ok?? What about Julians ankle?? For all the speculation about Fatty's hand, the Lovers are dealing with some rusty wheels as well. The Dojo went undefeated against SFC while the Lovers were winless against us. What is Ryan Black really doing next Thurs?? We may have been born at night.... but not last night sensei. There is no way they would be benching a top flight reciever for the finals.... I'll believe what i read on the Dojo blog if I see Ryan there on the night. Go the Dojo."

League Director Stu had of course already posted the following data, which we fearlessly cut and paste: "UQ (in various names) have made the BPL final 7 times; losing 4 of them to MBB, beating MBB twice, and last season beating Cobras in sudden death. Dojo have famously been in 5 finals and lost 4 of them to MBB and one to Whippett Good. Can they beat the choke by beating UQ? Come along to AJSC next Thursday at 7.40pm to find out!"

Of course, you'll also want to check out the relevant thoughts offered at the Dojo Blog and the Gold Coast blog.

And if none of this takes your interest, why not join the conversation about the structure of BUML 2011 over on the Heroes blog?

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Monday Night's All Right for Ulti - BUML Finals Wrap

So despite a bit of rain the fields had dried enough that the dreaded email from ARC hadn’t arrived and we here at the stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion fired up the gold plated hovercraft and scooted down to the Annerley Fields to watch the conclusion of Brisbane Ultimate Mixed League Season 2 2010, taking along Young Son in his bright blue Dyspnoeics shirt to show some allegiance, or at least score some extra cuddles from Suze.

Of course, bringing along Young Son meant that your correspondence was only able to watch snatches of the games, but here’s how it seemed to go down.

Over on Field 5, Frisky Time (est. 2010 – Motto “What?”) took on the Kelvin Grove Cougars (est. 2009 – Motto “Run hard, huck fast, and eat the corpse”) for the Div 2B Final.

The match was fairly close, but the key to the game seemed to be that the full compliment of Cougars was available, fired up and on time, while the Frisky’s seemed to limp into the event with six on the line for the opening huck, and various injuries, contact lens issues and other lateness hampering their chances to rock. The Frisky’s fought hard but its seems the Cougars got up to claim the win – a great cap to what’s been an excellent season for the northsiders in red. I should also note that at one point Tim Johnson threw an outstandingly excellent hammer.

On Field 3, the Div 2A Final saw one of the most historied teams in the League, the Dyspnoeics (est. 2006 and along with Bermuda Triangle the only original teams still remaining in the League (Mellow Yellow and the Chimichangas formed a season later) – motto “Bet you can’t spell or say our name the same way twice”), take on one of the newest, the Discheads (est. 2010 – motto “Gimme Dischead ‘til I’m dead.”). The Discheads had a full turn out of fans thanks to their connections with the Heroes Drinking Club, who duly brought a keg of homebrew and all the supporting accompaniments including Carl's Dad (who went to school with Buzz) and Starky. As for the game itself, it was a close one with much heroics on both sides, before the Discheads got away with it for the win. Well done to both teams for entertaining the crowd.

Presentations for Division 2 were then held while the Division 1 Final commenced in the background. Medals and ribbons were provided, along with bottles of plonk as thanks for the Captains, and thanks also were extended to everyone who helped with the administration of the League, in particular Adilia Murabito and Chris Fox. Well done to the Griffith Go-Go's for taking out the Division 2 Spirit Prize. Pizza was served, and a few of us got the chance to personally thank John Coorey for his massive efforts over the year. Thank you, thank you, three times thank you John! Planning for 2011 is underway.

So on to the Division 1 Final between the tie-dye clad Wushi Finger Hold and the outrageously panted Chimichangas. We here in the mansion have seen reports this morning that Wushi were victorious – well done to them. Sadly for this correspondent, it was well past Young Son’s bedtime and we had to depart after watching only one dazzlingly brilliant point featuring Peta McNaughton.

And so Finals week rolls on, with our next stop at BPL on Thursday, and then the QUDA Bash on Sunday. But for Monday night ... see you next year!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Monday Night Mixed League - the Grand Finale (rain permitting)

Games hopefully on Monday night to round out the season (rain permitting)

Division 2 Pool B Grand Final

Kelvin Grove Cougars vs Frisky Time

Two of the fastest running teams in the competition. Red vs light green. Bring it!

Game on at 6.45pm, on Annerley Field 5.

Division 2 Pool A Grand Final

Discheads vs Dyspneoics

Two of the most skilled teams in the competition. Grey vs blue. Leave your fear at home!

Game on at 6.45pm on Annerley Field 5.

Division 1 Grand Final

Wushi Finger Hold Vs Chimichangas

You can poke and prod the food all you want, but in the end you have to eat it!

Game on at 8.15pm on Annerley Field 3.

FREE PIZZA! BYO champagne for the 'champagne Ultimate'!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Poll Catch Up - Obscure Nicknames

A while back we had a bit of a fad using polls over on the east wing of the stately mansion, but we've been a bit slack about posting some of the results. So let's rectify this matter with a look back at the obscure nickname poll. It's not surprising we suppose that Wetnose won this poll. Wetties' nickname sounds a little bit rude, although apparently it comes from his skill and dedication to playing the position of 'puppy' in a defensive zone. That and that it can be difficult for the Australian accent to get the L's in 'Get moving Liam' or a 'Lay out Gillions' off the tongue quickly in a game situation.

There is probably more of a story about Dr Chris Burwell getting the 'Buzz' many many years ago. We'll hazard a guess its at least partially to do with his study of entomology, partly to do with his intense play, and partly aliteration with Burwell. Commenters may wish to put forward their own theories.

'Silent' George is obvious to anyone who's met him, particularly if they did so early in his days on the Ultimate scene. He's a quietly spoken fellow who doesn't say much, and runs very frickin' fast without betraying his location to those with ears.

The nickname of Jangles makes very little sense, until you discover that Adam's surname is Beu (pronounce "Bo"), and have a passing familiarity with the 60's era song "Mr Bojangles." We're not sure how many out there are familiar with early twentieth centry tap dancer Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson, but the description on Wikipedia seems to fit: "Audiences enjoyed his understated style ... rarely did he use his upper body, relying instead on busy, inventive feet and an expressive face".

We think Leon 'Fatty' McIntyre has landed Fatty to reflect the Australian tradition of reverse-nicknames - he's tall and skinny so they call him Fatty.

John 'Cheeseburger' McNaughton picked up the cheese following the Queensland u19 team nicknaming his dad, Bruce McNaughton, as Big Mac.

Think we're wrong? Got more info? Comments lines are open.

Happy Birthday Piers

We miss you around Brisbane. That is all.

Next Week is the Last Week

Assuming the rain gods don't keep messing with us, there's three big events here in Brisbane that will wind up our year of Ultimate around the State. So get it together to get along to all of them.

Monday Night 22 November will feature the Grand Finals for Divisions 1 and 2 of the Brisbane Ultimate Mixed League aka BUML. Details to come, but there will be pizza to come and good fun clean mixed Ultimate to watch.

Thursday Night 25 November will feature the heckle-fest that is the Brisbane Premier League's Grand Final. This is top-shelf Ultimate featuring some of the best looking local lads you'll ever see charging around after a disc. Details to come, but there's usually food and drink involved too.

Finally, Sunday afternoon 28 November from 2-6pm is the end of year QUDA Bash and BBQ! The BBQ and other goodies are $10 and you need to RSVP arrange to pay beforehand so the catering can be done just right. Email 2010bash@quda.org or put yourself on the Google Document. If you can pay as a team that smooths things out - Account name: Qld Ultimate Disc Association Inc BSB: 034002 Account Number: 167889. Reference: Your full name or teamname (if paying for everyone).

Everything is on at the Annerley Recreation Club fields at Greenslopes, where BUML and BPL are played every week.

Wednesday pickup at looks like continuing over the Summer, as will various Club training, but otherwise that's mostly it until around Australia Day ... and then it all goes nuts again ...

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

BPL Draw - 2010/2 Semi Finals!


BPL - Let's Talk Snakes and Sumo

So to conclude our season review before tomorrow’s Semi-Finals, we turn to two teams that have arguably kept somewhat under the radar this season, but have managed to get themselves into the top half of the ladder – the Dojo Mojo and the Cobras.

And they’re playing each other in the Semi Final – so let’s take a look at that too (ill-informed though we are, and lacking the time to ask around properly!)

Dojo Mojo – Six wins, one forfeit away, two losses.

The Dojo started the season in somewhat embarrassing circumstances with a forfeit to the Buggers. But it got a heck of a roll on from there, defeating the rest of the competition in a four game winning streak, before losing to a Buggers outfit that was keen to show what was missed in Round 1.

The second half of the season was more uneven, and the chatter on the Dojo blog also coincidentally declined, with second wins over the Heroes and Cobras, but a return loss to the UQ Lovers most recently.

Cobras – Four wins, one forfeit to them, four losses.

On the board its been a see-sawing season for the Cobras. The snakes came out of the swamp hard with wins over Slamtown and the Buggers in Rounds 1 and 2, before crashing to earth with a loss to the Dojo. Next was the first of their two wins over the Heroes, but aside from these relatively-easy-beats, they haven’t won a game, having been robbed of a game by a Slamtown forfeit and defeated by the Buggers and Dojo.

Semi Final – Dojo Mojo (2) vs Cobras (3)

Why the Dojo Will Win: It’s pretty simple here. The Dojo are the favourites. They’ve beaten the Cobras twice this season, 15-12 in Round 3 and 14-11 in Round 8, without too much difficulty (on the scoreboard at least). They’ve got buckets of talent and plenty of BPL Finals experience. Flan and Lankowski.

Why the Dojo Might Lose: Everyone loves to joke that the Dojo’s finals experience is all about ‘the choke’. Fatty’s broken wrist.

Why the Cobras Might Lose: Key player Mike Nolan Jr has left town (we think?). Exams. The weight of expectation.

Why the Cobras Will Win: Will be very hungry for it, following an indifferent season and the loss to the Passion of the previous season’s Final must still rankle. Remember they beat the Dojo twice in the previous season. Abra.

Will Ultimate be the Winner? There's been a few spirit issues between these teams through the year, but they seem to have gotten better at sorting these things as they've gone along. They both like to play open games and throw it around. So yes, Ultimate will be the winner.

Separate tipping post to come, but feel free to offer your analysis - you probably know more than we do.

About the Brisbane Ultimate Blog

We've had a spike in readership over the last month, including it seems people who are coming back for more. so we figure its worth bringing everyone up to speed. This might get posted every once in a while.

The Brisbane Ultimate Blog was initially started by Rueben Berg back in early 2006 to enable Brisbane people to discuss all things Ultimate Disc.

In May 2007 Jason 'JdR' de Rooy wondered if he had what it takes to generate content for a blog on a near-daily basis, and he’s been doing that reasonably consistently ever since (with occasional BPL-focused help from Liam ‘Wetnose’ Gillions).

In 2010 the blog hit 1,000 posts, and has inspired several other related blogs. We generally average between 40 and 150 hits per day, and around 800 unique visitors a month. We encourage you to have a look around the archives as we think there's some interesting stuff there.

We have many regular readers and commenters whom we love and try to serve, but we’re also aware that at any time we could have a brand new Brisbane Ultimate player, or any member of the general public, reading along. Let us know what you like, or would rather we do.

While Jason posts the most, the Brisbane Ultimate Blog is not intended to be a personal one. Jason wears lots of other hats within the Ultimate community. We try and reduce confusion with those other hats by blogging in the impersonal “royal we”, style, or referencing "the stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion" to add an element of suspension of belief and a reminder that we do this for FUN.

On the other hand, the content can’t help but reflect the spare time, experience and interests of the writers and we put our names on what we post. We tolerate anonymous comments that are respectful and engaging, but we encourage members of our community to identify themselves, particularly if they don't want their comment ignored.

We’re constantly on the look-out for people who want to blog with us and can expand and improve our voice. We don’t know everything and everyone, and would happily increase the flow of information and opinion.

We aim to promote Ultimate and Brisbane in all its forms, but we also aim to be interesting and put our own flavour when we repeat information available elsewhere.

We seek to engage with our readers, share knowledge and encourage them to consider new ideas as ideas worth consideration, even if the end up being bad ideas.

We endeavour to be balanced and positive in our posts, while still encouraging people to express their passion for Brisbane Ultimate, and to support improvements in our sport.

We aim to be exceptionally supportive of the volunteers who are the lifeblood of Ultimate administration, particularly by promoting their activities and recognising their good work.

We have in jokes and heckles, but we try to make it clear to the casual reader that they’re not missing anything and to those involved that no harm is meant.

We sometimes get things wrong, and we encourage people to call us out on them and aim to be quick to correct our mistakes. We believe its better to say something interesting and get it wrong, and have everyone learn from that, than to stay silent and miss the opportunity to be corrected. Trying to be perfectly correct on everything all the time would lead to a drastic decline in the quantity of content on the blog.

We hope that when you visit us here in the stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion, you enjoy yourself.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

BPL For and Against Season Review - Lovers and Heroes

So in a recent post we here in the stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion fired up our ‘Footy Show’ style analogue season summary machine to consider how the Moreton Bay Buggers and the Slamtown Flatball Clubs got themselves into 4th and 5th places at the end of the for and against season. Today, as we rush towards tomorrow’s Semi-Finals (rain permitting!), we’ll have a look at minor Premiers the UQ Lovers, and wooden spooners (there’s always something for the cabinet), the Heroes.

UQ Lovers – Six wins, one draw, two losses.

The new-look UQ Lovers, hoovering up most of the best of the previous season’s Champion and fifth placed teams, seem to have totally stuck to the script this season. To wit, a Win-Loss-Win-Loss opening four games while the team worked out who had which side of the bed, followed by an unbeaten run up to the Semi-Finals and the Minor Premiership.

The Lovers losses have been against Slamtown who are taking no further part in the season, and the Dojo, who they won’t see again unless both make the Final.

Elsewhere, the Lovers have had the wood on the Heroes and the Buggers, beating them twice. A chance to add the Cobras to this double-win list was lost due to rain.

Still, the most recent game against the Buggers was as close as you can get without being a draw– 13-12. The Buggers know that Finals time is a whole new disc-game – do the new Lovers know this too?

Heroes – nine losses.

Its been a tough second season for the sixth team in the Brisbane Premier League, the green clad Heroes. In their first season, they managed to pick up a win to keep the home fires burning and the ladies interested, but this time around the champagne has been kept well corked.

The best results were to hit double figures but go down by 3 last week against the Cobras, and by 4 against UQ in Round 6.

Still, nobody in our hearing is talking about the Heroes going away or doing anything other than improving. If this were the EPL, there’d be talk about the need to bring over a top flight striker. But on the other hand, with three ‘feeder’ teams in the BUML, its arguably only a matter of time before the home grown talent shines through.

Perils of Blogging Ahead

Sometimes its just like when Bill Murray's character tried to record the weather report a day ahead of time in the movie Groundhog Day, only to find it come back and bit him in the ass.

We've had the chance to get ahead in the posting this week and have been trying to schedule posts to automatically come up when the time comes.

But alas, we've cocked it up and they've come out in a funny order ahead of time. Things must be confusing if you're following us via email updates. Oh well, better luck next time.

Anyway, we'll sort them out and leave them up here for your consideration, and rest assured the staff have been beaten.

BPL For and Against Season Review - Buggers and Slammers

So yesterday a Bugs player called us out for daring to suggest in a faux-controversial way that Slamtown were a superior team and should be in the Semis instead of the Buggers (the comments were also about stirring pots and stuff, but we'll leave that for today).

We made a bit of a response in the comments, but we’ve never been ones to shy away from a bit more controversy here at the Brisbane Ultimate Blog (so long as its interesting), so what they hey, lets look at the season-long records rather than the 15-10 score from the Slamtown-Buggers matchup last week.

Coincidentally, the Buggers and Slamtown blogs have been reflecting on the season going into the finals, so make sure you check them out too!

Slamtown – 2010 Season 2 - Four wins, two draws, one forfeit away, two losses

It’s the numbers above that suggest that Slamtown are one of the strongest teams in the competition. But drilling down it gets more interesting.

Two of the Coast’s wins are of course against the sad-to-say-but-let's-be frank cellar-dwelling Heroes.

But Slamtown are undefeated by the Lovers and the Buggers, having beaten and drawn with each in their two games.

But on other parts of the ledger, they lost to Dojo in Round 5, and of course didn’t get to play the occasionally very good Mojo again. They also lost to the Cobras in Round 1, and of course didn’t take their chance to have another crack at the snakes and forfeited that game.

There’s certainly some who’d suggest that forfeiting a precious BPL game is so sinful that greater disadvantage should be extracted than the present zero ladder points. But let's go look at the Bugs.

The Buggers – 2010 Season 2 - Three wins, one forfeit to them, one draw, four losses.

The Buggers started by picking up a forfeit from the Dojo in Round 1. Now let’s note, we here in the BUB think many Ultimate players traditionally would rather have a decent game and lose than pick up a forfeit, and the Buggers in particular LOVE to play Ultimate. And indeed, they got extra revenge by beating the Dojo in Round 6, making it clear that back in Round 1 they were certainly shafted of the opportunity for a good game and a likely win.

Elsewhere in the season, the Bugs have lost twice to minor premiers the Lovers, and if we can tangent briefly to looking ahead to this week’s Semis, its going to be big if they can get over the students.

But remember, the Buggers are ALWAYS all about building through the season and being better in the finals series than anyone has seen them before, although they are coming off two losses in Rounds 8 and 9.

For their other losses, they lost to the Cobras in Round 2 (but came back to beat them in Round 7), and of course to Slamtown last week in the replay to their earlier draw.

If you’re just thinking about ladder points though, it’s worth noting that the game that the Buggers didn’t get to play due to the washouts was against the Heroes, and as the Heroes went 0-9 for the season (and 1-19 for the year), its fair to say that would’ve been a win.

The Weigh In

So lets weigh up the factors
  • That Round 9 Result – Slamtown 15, Buggers 10, trumping that earlier draw.
  • Missing Round 10 - Buggers were far more likely to beat Heroes (firing up their goal difference on the way), than Slamtown would’ve been to beat Dojo
  • Missing Opportunities - Slamtown had plenty of opportunities to seal the deal with two draws against teams they otherwise beat, for starters.
  • That Forfeit – yep, the rules have been clearly stated and applied for some years – a team that receives a forfeit gets 3 ladder points and 15-0 marked on their points difference, as a recompense for not getting a game.
  • That Other Forfeit – yep, and if Slamtown can’t make it to a game, then yep they don’t deserve any points.

Weighing that up, there’s a solid argument that while Slamtown may have won a battle or two through sheer force of arms, the Buggers won the war.

League play and the agreed rules of BPL are about doing what you have to do, week in and week out, to get the ladder and field points to get you into the Semi-Finals – its only there that winning means glory!

Are Slamtown a better team than the Buggers? Yes, in Round 9 they were. 15-10 tells us that.

Do the Buggers deserve to be in the Semi-Finals over Slamtown? Yes. 18 ladder points and a better points difference tell us that.

Tough luck, Slamtown, and good luck Buggers!

Tomorrow – we’ll try to talk tops and bottoms - the Lovers and the Heroes.

Monday, November 15, 2010

What's In a Name

Readers will of course know that we here in the stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion are so old school that our bus has stained glass windows, and of course anyone involved in Ultimate or Canadian super-hero Shaman for that matter will know to respect The Old Ways, even if its hard in our fast based blogging by the seat of our pants culture.

What the heck are we talking about? Respect, and showing it by spelling correctly, particularly when it comes to people's names. But that isn't to say you can't take a few short cuts and make it easy to get it right, so as usual here we are helping you out again.

>> The big man with the double-barrelled everything needs two Ps and two Z’s to encompass the awesomeness – Rappazzo.

>> I before E except after C, or when you’ve just been skied by big Mike Neild.

>> Always brief and to the point is the one T in Mat Ryan.

>> Nathan’s spark is lit, and then he’s like “Zow” – ie Litzow

>> Stu doesn’t stew. Or when you see him in action, its more like "Ooo!" than "Eew."

Got some other suggestions, or personal beefs of this particular flavour? Comment lines are open as usual.

We got nothing witty, just remember it’s a small d, a capital R and two O’s in there when you’re talking de Rooy.

So Let's Belatedly Flame Up Another BPL Controversy

Those without good memories might want to go back to read what we here at the stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion wrote, in our role as purveyours of Brisbane Premier League commentary and controversy, back in August.

For those who can't be shagged clicking on the link, following the Round 1 forfeit by Dojo Mojo to the Moreton Bay Buggers, we philosophised that in a tight season, the 15-0 scoreline awarded to the team that turned up and sadly didn't get a proper game possibly could lead to an unfair outcome in such a tight season, if goal differences involving one of those teams are relevant when it comes to Semi Finals time.

And so it came to pass. The Buggers are into the Semi Finals on goal difference over the Slamtown Flatball Club, a team that is demonstrably a superior team having beaten the Buggers 15-10 last week and drawn with them earlier in the season.

If we were some sort of important sport, you could now cue up much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the opinion press and other uninformed types (alas, there is just us bloggers, who are nonetheless pretty uninformed).

Of course, all the above is not a call for Slamtown to be put in and the Buggers put out (we're really just "raising controversy" as usual for fun and because people enjoy being passionately one-eyed about BPL). The rules were established before the season and fair enough they are to be abided by.

The use of points difference to differentiate between ladder positions does add some spark to the League, with players able to argue that 'every point counts'.

But equally, shouldn't a genuine win count more than a forfeit (which is sadly, a "might've won")?

(of course, AFDA it seems can't be shagged applying its own tie-breaking rules, and has instead announced that there will be a whole lot of "equal fifteenths" and such following incompleted games at Mixed Nationals 2010. Disgraceful! But that's a post for another day).

Comments are open for the vitriolic, who hopefully can keep their tongue in cheek and aim to be as entertaining as we routinely endevour (even if we occasionally fail).

Keep your eye out for the rest of BPL Semi Finals Week here at the Brisbane Ultimate Blog.

BPL Results - 2010/2 Round 9 (Final Round)

The stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion was empty on Friday as the residents and staff vacated south for Badman's Birthday Bash, and hence the delay in posting last Thursday's results.

Round 9 Results
UQ Lovers 15 defeated Dojo Mojo 10
Slamtown Flatball Club 15 defeated Moreton Bay Buggers 10
Cobras 13 defeated Heroes 13 - 10

Note that due to washouts during the season, Round 10 will not be played, and BPL goes into Semi-Finals next week.

Competition Ladder following Completion of Season
1. UQ Lovers - 22pts
2. Dojo Mojo - 20pts
3. Cobras - 19pts
4. Moreton Bay Buggers - 18pts
5. Slamtown Flatball Club - 18pts
6. Heroes - 9pts

Next Week's Draw - Semi Finals
Field 1 - UQ Lovers vs Moreton Bay Buggers
Field 2 - Dojo Mojo vs Cobras

Friday, November 12, 2010

Just in Case You Haven't Marked the Calendar

In the land of bizarre coincidence (maybe?), two people have phoned the stately BUB HQ in the last half an hour to check the dates of Nationals 2011.

Don't forget Brisbane folk, if you ain't playing, its hoped that you'll be able to help out. So mark these dates. Here's the announcement from AFDA (which otherwise can't be found on their website as yet).

The AFDA is pleased to announce that the Australian Ultimate Championships
2011 (AUC2011) will be held in Brisbane from Friday 1 April until Monday 4 April
2011.

Please note this is different than our usual dates of the weekend closest to Anzac Day.

The reason for this change was the triple whammy of Anzac Day, Easter AND School Holidays all occuring at the same time. Therefore it was decided that availability of flights/accomodation needed to be considered when making this decision.

This weekend is outside of School Holidays so these issues should not hamper
attendance.

Regional Qualifiers would be held on or prior to the 19/20 February 2011.

Regards

Simon Wood
AFDA
National Events officer
admin@...
0430 076 807

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Growth in Brisbane Leagues - 2006 to 2010


Click to embiggen.
[edit - hopefully we can't seem to cromulate the 'team numbers' embiggening problem, so will post it separately another day]

Data drawn quickly from the AFDA Registration Database, with all the limits that entails, but generally the longer a League has used the system, the better the quality as players and administrators become used to it. Up to the reader to judge the value, anyway.

We've left WUFL 2009 Season 3 off as the other Leagues didn't have a season 3 that year, and that data didn't buck the general trend. WUFL Season 2 2010 also had only 15 people registered, so we left that off too (although we know there were four teams).

UQ and Townsville Leagues don't use the registration system (which annoys QUDA and AFDA, as they can't report those player numbers when we seek funding etc - but equally, UQ and Townsville question the need for their players to pay AFDA fees when their Universities provide public liability insurance), and Gold Coast has only recently started, so no trend data there as yet.

Do these graphs tell a story? Maybe that BUML Div 2 is the engine for growth in Brisbane (the mid-table drop is presumably tied to the establishment of Div 1). Its also evident in BUML Div 2 that team size must be growing, as team numbers aren't growing at the rate player numbers are.
Of course, growth isn't everything - most obviously it's worth noting that BPL, in focusing on elite play, doesn't specifically aim for growth.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

BPL Draw - Catch Up Week

This week is on the draw as 'rain catch up week', which means the rained out Round 9 will be played.

Draw over here.

Or you can just have the text:
Field 1 - UQ Lovers v Dojo Mojo
Field 2 - Cobras v Heroes
Field 3 - Moreton Bay Buggers v Slamtown Flatball Club

Exam Time

Why do you readers think we haven't been updating the blog lately?

a) Apathy - just can't be arsed at the moment

b) Priority - just to busy with other stuff at the moment

c) Finality - blogging is over, dude.

In answering this question in the comments, please show your work or illustrate with examples.

Thursday, November 04, 2010

Flarkin' Rain

Feel free to insert your own fictional expletive in the comments.

[Update - Annerley Fields are now closed]

Appy Days

So its presently raining here in Brisbane on a Thursday morning. Flark it. We're not saying anything yet about fields. But maybe as preparation let's get out our i-Devices and check out a couple of Ultimate related apps.

WFDF Rules - well, this should be on everyone's i-thingee. It's free. The rules of the game, cleanly presented, easily searchable.

Stick Ultimate - T-Ross pointed this one out to us a while back and we put down our $1.19 to see what it was about. Frankly, its a bit disappointing. I think the game (two offensive stick figure players verses a defender) would be tolerable if it happened at any sort of speed and the disc did anything other than go at a straight interceptible line. We applaud the programmer for having a go and getting something out there, but we can't recommend it.

Championship Ultimate - Well, we just gave them our $6. It looks fancier than Stick Ultimate, but also very parochially North American. We'll let you know if its any good.

Flingy - not a flying disc game alas, but included here because the programmer is Griffith Ultimate's own Dustin, and he could use the money (let us know if there's other Aussie Ultimaters looking to make a buck through App design). A fun little time-waster. JdR's top score is in the 13,000s.

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

BPL Draw - 2010/2 Round 10

Less Than Two Weeks Until Badman's Bash

We know lots of you are planning to go - do the guy a favour and let him know you're coming by registering. Registering of course also means you get to stay with the group and enjoy yourself.

http://www.afda.com/rego/showteam.php?teamid=8585

And here's the latest from the man himself:

to all badmans bash party goers
just to let you all know
on friday night there will be a booze cruize
in a psychodelic double decker bus
departing 6-630 (NSW time!)
this will take us on a tour of the byron highlights
and maybe even pop down to lennox
yes we are able to drink on the bus (:
this will take us to the byron brewery for dinner/party
and there will be a bus to take us back to cabins
this is included in fee (except for fri dinner)but i will get us a deal
if you could russle up some more drinking buddies/ultimate players, the more the merrier
please get them to register as the accomodation needs to be prepaid
get ready for a fun weekend
luv yas all
bads

WUFL - Grand Final Time!

So last week Moulin Rouge defeated Titanium Nachos 12-8 in their semi, while Missfire had to forfeit to Wonder Women (a game was still played with WW coming out on top something like 9-4).

All this sees this Thursday's FINAL being a head to head between the green and the red! Wonder Women vs Moulin Rouge!

Will the Wonder Women put the first Championship trophy into the Heroes Ultimate Club's mantlepiece? Or will there instead be much bottom showing in the house of love?

Be at Oakman Park to find out!