Chowder and I arrived in lovely Lennoxville on Tuesday, two days prior to the start of tournament play, with the goal of reliving some old college glory from his Bishop’s days. I was lucky enough to experience an evening on the town — which consists of one street light and a single bar worth mentioning (the Golden Lion Brew Pub — go there and try their Amber) — with Chowder and two of his old buddies. Many stories ensued. Most very unsafe for work or family. It was a good way to ease into the environment and chill out in anticipation of the hard work to come.

Day One

Thursday morning came fast. Our first game was at 10:30 against Scotch from Halifax. These guys are perennial attendees at CUC, but are rarely ever looking to win. They’re a great group to play, and the post-game shot of their namesake liquor can be seen as a reason to stay under the radar as much as possible when playing against them. GLUM came out hard, but a little unfocused early, as can be expected in the first game of our 2nd tournament of the year. In addition, we were trying to re-incorporate some players who weren’t able to attend No Borders in July, so it was fortunate for us to get one of the weaker teams in the division first. We eventually worked out the kinks and took a 15-6 win into game 2.

Next up was Quantum, a team we were anticipating since hearing about their admirable performances against DoG at the spring Masters Invitational tournament in Boston (two close losses, including 15-11 in the final). All we really knew was that they were based in Quebec City and likely had some old Q players. We expected them to be small, quick, and aggressive, and we weren’t disappointed. However, with our superior size and some difficult wind in the stadium, Quantum never seemed to be able to mount much opposition. Maybe it was nerves, but we came away with a relatively painless and easy 15-3 win.

After a bye, we closed out the day against our hometown rivals, BDU. As at No Borders and countless mens’ league scrimmages, GLUM just had too much firepower for their Ottawa brothers. Final score 15-5.

Day Two

Things seemed to click almost too easily on Day One. The long game was unstoppable, our O line was on fire, and the D line was tearing it up. On Day Two, however, we had a slate of the 3 Fs — Flood, Figjam, and Fuel — expected to be the top 3 contenders for our title. If anything, the day went better than our first.

Flood (Winnipeg) had basically the same team they had last year, with a few elite athletes who were unfortunately thrust into handler roles. This took away any threat they may have posed on the deep end, and we walked away with a 15-3 win.

Figjam. Ah, Figjam. This team seems to have made it’s life mission to beat GLUM (see their 2010 website here) after two unsuccessful attempts in 2008 and 2009. With a Worlds qualifier year coming up in 2011, and an initiation into the UPA Fall Series apparently in the plans for this fall, Figjam is hoping to be Canada’s Masters representative in Brazil in 2012. It’s clear they’ve stocked up on a few younger players from the Open scene, and have re-dedicated themselves to fitness and skills development, but so has GLUM. They sat a few key players in this pool play game, and GLUM took advantage with a 15-6 win.

Fuel is Ontario’s 2nd-ranked Masters team, but is still a few players away from competing with the depth of GLUM. Led by GaLUMni Derek Sigurdson, Fuel represents an improvement on the past few years’ Toronto Masters team, Fossil. They’ve got the makings of a competitive squad, and with the ability to draw on retiring Open players from the GOAT-Grand Trunk system, they should be formidable opponents in coming years if they can keep it together and recruit well. Nonetheless, they aren’t quite there yet, as evidenced by another relatively easy 15-6 win to end our second day of pool play.

Day Three

An 8:30 start. An 8:30 start for MASTERS?!? Cruel and unusual punishment. Our last pool play game of the tournament was against NSOM from Montreal. Neither team seemed to eager to play frisbee. We didn’t need the win in any case, having solidified the #1 seed in semis. The Montreal boys graciously offered many sweeteners of the ‘young French female’ and ‘potent potables’ variety if only we would grant them a 15-6 default win that would catapult them into semis themselves, but the first option would only tire us out and get us in trouble with our wives and girlfriends, and the second, well, we already always have the second well covered on our own… so we played the game instead. And we made it very interesting, with the help of an opponent who had been growing stronger and gelling more as their tournament progressed. We traded points for much of the game before GLUM finally managed to pull away in the second half for a 15-11 win. The most points scored on us in 3 years of Nationals play, and a reminder call that we better wake the hell up before the semis…

Fuel pulled out 4th place after pool play, setting up a rematch. Things went pretty much to plan the second time around. We used our full depth and even managed to save a few key players some time before finals. We opened up our deep game, which had seen some difficulty in the earlier games. We locked down on defense, with manic pressure on the marks and bails that made it very difficult for Fuel to move the disc. A big difference from our morning go-round with NSOM. Final score was 15-6 again.

Which set up a 3rd straight final matchup against Figjam on the turf of Coulter Stadium. They had their shot at GLUM; now what would they do with it? Last year’s final in the muck and rain of Winnipeg had started slowly with both teams trading points in the early going. This year’s final would follow suit. We took half 8-5 in Winnipeg, and we did the same here. Last year, we followed the half with a closeout second half. I think the final score might have been 15-7. This year was different. We didn’t maintain focus out of the half very well at all. It almost seemed like we expected to cruise to the end. As a result, we quickly found ourselves in a tight game. Our O had a few uncharacteristic drops and throwaways that led to easy Figjam scores, and all of a sudden, the score was 12-12. A contested foul called by Owen as he made a bid on a floater from Seton down the line turned the crowd against GLUM (everyone loves the underdog, I guess), but the call was upheld by the observer and GLUM ended up converting the crucial point to go up 13-12. This seemed to be the backbreaker, as we went on to score the next two points and finish the game 15-12, picking up our 3rd straight CUC gold medal.

A special note to Eric Budgell, who collided head-to-head with a Figjam player early in the game and missed the rest of the final while awaiting stitches in the hospital emergency room. Ugly gash, could have been a lot worse for either player; fortunately both escaped with only their good looks damaged. Budge was in the midst of an awesome tournament after busting his ass all year with Taylor in his infamous noon-hour workouts/Bataan death marches, so it’s too bad he had to miss the big game.

It’s tough to say where this year’s team ranks among the last three champions, but I think GLUM gets stronger every year, along with the Masters division as a whole. We may not be pulling away from the pack as much any more, but we are maintaining the gap. An expected strong fall season of recruiting some major ex-Open talent should propel us further ahead going into next year’s crucial CUC season. We don’t normally concentrate on the summer season in Canada, choosing to focus on the more prestigious and more competitive UPA Fall Series, but 2011 will be different. I fully expect a battle royale for roster spots on that team, and I look forward to either playing with or watching the best GLUM squad to ever see the field.

Fall Series reports to come — if I make the team…..

ps– There should be video of our final available at some point, too. It streamed live on iamultimate.com, and Tushar promised to deliver a CD to Hillbert as soon as he’s finished editing it. If I can, I’ll post a link here.

pps– There are photos in various places, too. I’ll try to hunt them all down and do a post with all the links.

Dad was down in West Palm Beach with Peter when he passed, along with Pete’s son Kelly (George). Arrangements are under way to hold a memorial service for friends in Florida before moving on to Michigan, where the two will be interred together in the state where Peter raised his family.

Peter and Marge were, in all my experience, a happy, vivacious couple who brought serious fun with them wherever they went. They will be sadly missed by the entire Noonan family, Margie’s family, and their many friends in Canada and abroad.

My thoughts go out to Mike, Shawn, Kelly and all the grand-kids…

Following is Peter’s obituary, to be published in the Ottawa Citizen:

Peter J. Noonan, a resident of Palm Beach Gardens passed away August 20th, 2010 at his home after a valiant battle with cancer. Peter was predeceased by his beloved wife of 25 years, Marge McBride (8/10/2010), Annette Palmquist, and Dorothy Kanable.  He is the very proud father of Michael (B.J.), Shawn (Dede) and Kelly (Rosana) Noonan and the late Mary Susan Noonan Boyes, stepfather of Jan, Karen, and Susan Brundage, and grandfather of John, Samantha, David, Brian, Katie, Riley, Matthew, Kevin, Kion, and Liam.  Peter will be much missed by siblings Ann, Bernard (Patricia), Bernice, and Jim (Diane); he was predeceased by brother George and sisters Mary Chateauvert (Des), Kathy Parkinson (John), and Rose (Ron) Grant. Also mourning his loss are his dear family friend Joyce Bryant, his extra-special four-legged buddy Jake, and many others too numerous to mention.

Born in Almonte, Ontario, Peter became a US citizen in his early 20s and had a brilliant career in the automotive industry as an international finance administrator with Jeep and American Motors, and eventually retiring from Chrysler.  Those who knew Peter understood that his loyalty, determination, and his ability to work with people from all walks of life were keys to his success.

A funeral mass will be held at Howard-Price Funeral Home in North Palm Beach, and final entombment will take place alongside Margie in Washtenong Cemetery in Ann Arbor, MI.

For those who wish, Peter’s family ask that, in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to Ella Milbank Foshay Cancer Center (Jupiter), Hospice of Palm Beach County, or the Canadian Cancer Society.

It’s been a slow start to the year for GLUM. After a disappointing 5th place finish at the 2009 Ultimate Players Association Championships in Sarasota, the roster dispersed for the cold part of the year and their various off-season regimens, some to Crossfit, others to their caves for hibernation. Rumblings began over the email wire in late winter, when our American brother, Dave Lindsay, roused the troops to gauge interest in some early-season Open tournaments stateside, but this met with less than full enthusiasm. Granted, Ottawa was still under a few feet of snow, so x-country skiing and maple syrup-making were higher priorities.

The TEAM captains finally put out the annual call-to-arms in the spring, and ultimate players started to emerge from the woodwork, cleats in hand, excited about the possibilities presented by a trip to Prague for Worlds in July and another run at the Canadian National title in August. OCUA’s mens league became the de facto practice night, and Brett Taylor’s infamous noon hour workouts saw an uptick in attendance.

But it was still with some sense of mystery that we all arrived at UPI on the Saturday morning of No Borders. A few of the regulars were still in Europe, and a few more had left the Masters division for the summer, returning to Open to stay fitter and play stronger competition before returning to GLUM for the Fall Series. We numbered 18, with a few nursing injuries. But Saturday was Masters Regionals day, with all 4 Ontario Masters teams placed in the same pool for the purpose of pre-Nationals ranking, and GLUM figured to have a softer day than had we been in one of the power pools.

Things went surprisingly well for a first day with no team prep or practice time. We dispatched Fossil (Toronto’s #2 Masters team) with little problem by a score of 13-1. Our field sported a decent crosswind all day, and it seemed to prove difficult for Fossil’s handlers, while GLUM’s experienced core had no similar trouble. Our superior athleticism also showed, with the long game hitting almost at will.

Next up were our hometown rivals, BDU. These guys go hard, and probably harder against GLUM than most other teams. But again, a lack of proven handling made things tough for them, and GLUM was getting its legs by this time. We took a 7-1 half, I believe, before winning out 13-4.

Our final Regionals match was against Toronto’s new #1 Masters team, Fuel. Led by GaLUMni Derek Sigurdson, we expected Fuel to be a force to reckon with both at No Borders and in Sherbrooke for Nationals. We may again have benefited from the wind, as it seemed Fuel was intent on winning through the long game, and a number of their hucks went awry or were defended by our fast deep defenders. Final score was 13-4. And with that, GLUM is through to Nationals as the #1 overall seed for the 3rd year in a row.

We played all 3 pool games without a break. Then received a brief 30-minute respite before our crossover game against the 3-seed from one of the power pools. This turned out to be Grand Trunk, Toronto’s #2 Open team, populated with a roster of young, fast, talented but emotional young dudes. GLUM played the experience card, and we were fortunate enough to also have enough legs and ups to mostly take away their intended deep game. Things were tight through to about the 3/4 mark, when GLUM managed to take and sustain a lead, then run away to a 13-8 final and a spot against Red Circus (Halifax touring Open team) in the quarter-finals on Sunday morning.

We played our best game of the tournament against Circus. They are young, fast, athletic, and play intense D. We managed to match that intensity on O, and worked even harder on D to generate turns and eventually, to get us back a lead after falling behind by 2 points late in the game. At 16-16 in a match to 17, GLUM received for universe point. I’m pretty sure we turned it over at least once before managing to punch in the final score and our ticket to semis.

We got our Ottawa brethren, Phoenix, in the semi-final matchup, which started almost immediately after our marathon with Red Circus. Phoenix plays a very similar game to the Halifax team, but with better disc skills and depth of talent. They were running with a short squad this weekend, suffering from the same post-Prague hangover that we were, but it was more than enough to outrun and outgun the tired legs on GLUM. We stayed close early, but their energy took its toll as the game wore on, and we were eventually outclassed by a score of 15-7.

All in all, a promising start to the year, but lots to build on heading to Nationals and Fall Series.

In short, looks like the boys are 2-2 through the first two days of play.

DAY ONE: GLUM vs. Gauntlet (Canada – BC)

We saw and put down B.C.’s Gauntlet 15-5 or so at Canadian Nationals last year. Closer this time. GLUM 15, Gauntlet 12 in a seesaw battle that neither team led by more than 3 at any point. No big surprise, as BC may have some new guys, and GLUM definitely had some gelling to do with half a team of new faces. Box score shows our Blackfish brethren are making their mark as expected, with Kieran McConnell and Colin Hanes both leading the scoring, with Yapper, Brooksie, and Geofford close behind.

DAY ONE: GLUM vs. OLD SAG (United States – Philly)

Another old foe, from UPA Fall Series, revisited. Another case of slow start probably due to lack of PT together. Box score shows we started out on O and got broken 5 times in a row. The gap stayed at least 3 the rest of the way. Derek Baxter, Brooksie, and Kieran led the way in scoring again.

DAY TWO: GLUM vs. Big Bombers (Japan)

Japan’s Masters team was expected to be a possible dark horse in the tournament, based on the performances of their Open teams in recent years, but their 0-4 record indicates that’s not the case. GLUM took this one, fairly easily by the look of it, 17-10. Took a 9-3 half, then basically traded out. Brooksie, Ford, Hillbert, and Bax atop the scoreboard; are we resting our younger guns from the ‘fish? In one interesting side note, it appears that Brad Rollo threw a pass for a score in this one… hmmm, that’s one long-ass huck from Hintonburg to Prague…

DAY TWO: GLUM vs. Wolpertinger (Germany)

I’d love to hear more about this one from the boys. I wouldn’t have expected such a beating by a Masters team from Germany (not really a world power on the ultimate stage), but GLUM went down 17-11, and the only team Wolpertinger has lost to so far is OLD SAG, by just 2 points. Geofford and Brian Baker with a couple of assists each, Ford and SDR each with a pair of scores.

NEXT UP:

Tomorrow’s games are against OUF (France) and Helsinki Ultimate. OUF is 1-3 after beating Japan and losing to Wolpertinger (17-11), Troubled Past (17-4) and OLD SAG (17-13). A match against Troubled Past (currently skunking the field with a plus-minus through 4 games of +45) closes out pool play on Wednesday. I don’t know how tiebreaks work at WUCC, but it seems like a tough road for GLUM to climb into the top-4 of their pool and make quarters. Hopefully the boys can take care of business against OUF, win one against Helsinki, and hope for a drop by Wolpertinger to steal that 4th spot…

If any of you are reading this in Euroland, let us know how it’s going outside of the scoreboard. Sounds like it’s hot as f*ck over there, which puts you in the same boat as us at home in Ottawa. 40+ degrees with the humidex today and not much different the rest of the week. League tonight, practice tomorrow, league on Wednesday, and mens night on Thursday. Advanced weight-dropping and cardio-building weather. Defibrillators optional.

Good luck to the crew over there, and try to come back in one piece. No Borders and Nats are on the horizon…

———-

Addendum: Here’s an email I got yesterday from X:

very very quick…

We’re 2 and 2 so far, wins over Vancouver and Japan, losses to Old Sag (Philly) and Germany. Old Sag, they started off with a 0-5 lead, we finally got it together after that but not to overtake. Germany, well, they’re strong. Solid throws, they have twins on the team who are short burly guys who seem to lead the team. No games have been runaways – we were leading the Germans 4-1 (I think) early on. Don’t remember anything specific about the Vancouver game (except that we won), Japan was mostly long bombs to short quick guys, Brooks had a stellar D in the end zone.

Our team is starting to gel pretty well – boy these Blackfish guys are good. We’re all playing well I think. Two games a day doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s draining. The first day was a scorcher, every day so far (and probably today) has been humid.

Gotta go, we play in under 2 hours…

Nash for the win. Again. Sheer brilliance. National treasure. Massive vuvuzela honk-out to our boy!

Sue Sylvester (Glee) does VOGUE! from Madonna-X Portugal on Vimeo.

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Couple updates to the previous post, and a suggestion to keep your links tuned to Consequence of Sound’s Festival Outlook page and LastFM’s Bluesfest page, which both seem to be updated frequently with the latest speculation:

• Crowded House – 80s indie nostalgia!
• Metric – wouldn’t be a big stretch
• Rush – the requisite classic rock
• Black-Eyed Peas – playing Sarnia Bayfest in the days post-Bluesfest
• Arcade Fire – same as above
• Sam Roberts – same as above
• Scorpions – same as above
• Weezer – same as above
• Jack Johnson – playing Toronto in July
• G Love and Special Sauce – opening for Jack Johnson

Oh, and this isn’t a Bluesfest rumour, but it’s pretty cool anyway: Sloan is playing Westfest on June12…

Jazzfest also has some good stuff: Medeski, Martin & Wood on June 28, Owen Pallett and Elliott Brood on Canada Day, and Souljazz Orchestra on July 2…

It’s a bit later than usual, but the first mention of potential acts for this summer’s Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest popped up this past weekend. There are about 3 weeks until the initial lineup announcement (April 21), and at least 10 bands are already heavily rumoured to be attending. A few years ago, on a whim in mid-winter, I managed to find the ‘images’ folder for the Bluesfest website. It wasn’t read-protected in any way, so I got a little early warning on the acts as the webmasters added their pics to the website. Apparently the organizers got wise to the trick; no such luck this year. I had to do this the old-fashioned way: scour the web. I’ve checked the rumour mill and a lot of concert tour schedules, and here’s the latest on this year’s potential lineup:

Let me get this one out of the way right away, ’cause it’s undoubtedly the grand daddy:

• U2 - I just cannot see this. First of all, I think they’re too big for Bluesfest. This show would pack the place like never before, and have the streets around all the way north to Scott St. and south to Gatineau packed solid. I imagine the thought of that might make the city cringe. Plus, this is their 360 tour, in the round, which would be impossible at Lebreton. Bluesfest fits their schedule, though (Philly on July 12, Montreal on July 16), and the rumour has a lot of traffic, so we’ll see…

Now on to the rest:

• Iron Maiden w/ Dream Theatre on June 6 – pretty much confirmed as part of their The Final Frontier tour. Wow. Hmmm. Um. I don’t know what to say. I’m sure it will be an entertaining show? And here I thought Bruce Dickinson had gone back to being a pilot…
• Great Lake Swimmers is the first confirmed indie act. Glad to hear it. Lost Channels is a great album. Looking forward to seeing who joins GLS on the Black Sheep, Hard Rock and Subway stages.
• Keith Urban are you kidding me?! Now it’s a country festival in addition to blues, hip hop, indie, classic rock, folk, and metal?? This is not a positive development. Maybe Nicole will come with him, though.
• Levon Helm has still got it, and if he brings it, I will be there, picking up what he’s puttin’ down.
• Moody Blues are still on tour??? Well, there’d be lighters and Virtual Zippos ablaze for Nights in White Satin, I suppose. Prog-rock-stravaganza. Seems to be more and more ‘classic rock’ every year, though… not a good trend.
• The Tragically Hip been there, done that. Great Canadian band or Greatest Canadian Band Ever? Whatever. I like the Hip a lot, but chances are there will be something I want to see more.
• Jimmy Cliff would be pretty f’ing cool. I have no idea what he’s got left, but I would love to find out.

And a few on the wish list who are touring this summer:

• Neil Young‘s Twisted Road tour is scheduled through the start of June in the southern US. I expect he’ll make Bonnaroooooooo again. Maybe he’ll make it north in time for mid-July?
• Gaslight Anthem are at Osheaga in Montreal in early August, so the timelines are not off. GA are awesome.
• Arcade Fire also at Osheaga and owe Ottawa another show, no?
• Pavement also at Osheaga
• Weezer also at Osheaga
• The Black Keys also at Osheaga, one of my favourites. Schedule seems to work.
• The National also at Osheaga, were here last year, but were one of the highlights of the festival for me. I’d love to see them again.
• The Hold Steady‘s tour calendar goes up to July 1, when they play in Milwaukee. They also have a new album coming out. I would dearly love to see this show happen.
• My Morning Jacket has a two-month gap in their schedule for June-July until starting an opening gig for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ reunion tour in Massachusetts. Petty has also been rumoured for Bluesfest, and getting MMJ would be fantastic.

ps. Also GLUM-related, I just picked up the Cdn Nats 2009 DVD from Hillbert. There’s a disc dedicated to photos of GLUM, and there are some really good ones in there. I’ll post them somewhere in the cloud for viewing/download soon and let everyone know via email. Also have full video of the Open, Womens, and Mixed finals, but I won’t post any of that. If someone wants a copy, let me know and I’ll burn it.

Aside from Steve Nash, Baron Davis might be my favourite NBA player/joker. This is part of the reason why.

Boomdizzle’s beard tips of the day (@Baron_Davis):

• “If you’re going to trim your beard yourself, you’ll need the right tools.” (2010-01-07)
• “Abraham Lincoln had a beard, and he was president. Fact – Important people have beards.” (2009-12-23)
• “A Long beard in December is very Christmas like.” (2009-12-22)
• “The bigger your beard, the bigger personality it develops.” (2009-12-18)
• “Shaving your beard down can help shape it for the future” (2009-12-16)

THE KNAVE
Ah, a pox upon’t!

LEBOWSKI
Indeed! “A pox upon’t!” ‘Tis your answer to everything. Your merry revels have ended, sir. Condolences. The rogues lost; the rogues have always lost, will always lose, and so it will be tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.

Gold, Jerry. Gold.

Two Gentlemen of Lebowski