This weekend was my first game of "women's" ultimate in over a year.  The day before Chick Flick, a women's hat tournament in Seattle, I rallied 2 Bellingham women to join me, Jessee and Betsy, and Erika was already planning on it.  The four of us piled in my car at 6:30 in the morning and headed down to Seattle.

Unfortunately, 2 days prior, I came down with a cold that was either passed to me by Miguel from his students or from my co-workers, who had all fallen ill in the previous 2-3 weeks.  I was battling the headache and congested feeling, but decided I was well enough to play; regardless of the fact that it was supposed to be cold, overcast, and possibly raining.  

We took a few wrong turns on the way to the fields, but eventually found the place in good time.  The four of us were on 3 different teams, which was nice so that we could meet new people.  I joined the "Psyche" team with my friend Annie, who used to live in Bellingham.  Our fine team included KK fron Riot, Eva from Riot, and Gwen from Fury (since they have webpages, I thought I'd link to them), two 8th Graders named Jesse and Sonya, and several other fine women from the Seattle area.  Being one of about 2 women players in Bellingham for a couple of years causes me to get pretty excited when I have a chance to play good ultimate with all women.  

And boy was I spoiled this weekend.  I'd have a few photos to show you if I hadn't left my camera's memory card at work, but I'm sure you've seen ultimate photos before.  Our team had a lot of energy, and although we made a habit of getting a slow start (scoring 1 out of the first 6 points, for example), our SOUL seemed to kick in, along with our Mojo, and we somehow pulled together a win for all 4 of our games!  It feels pretty different having all women on the field, and narrows the gap a bit between the skill level and speed.  It was really great seeing 14 year olds "going to" the disc and getting "up" to catch a high disc.  It would have been so awesome to have played ultimate in 8th grade!  

Anyway, I don't need to talk your ear off about it.  Obviously I have an affection for women's ultimate.  There's a hat tournament next weekend.  I've also got a wedding function to attend, but I think I can squeeze it in.  I'm hooked.

When we first moved here, "going to ultimate" involved throwing the dogs, cleats, water bottles and "light and dark" shirts in the car and heading to a grass field.  We'd arrive in the parking lot and wait for the cars to start filing in.  At first, we were the newbies, and we noticed the tight-knit group of friends that made up the rest of the group, with all their sexual inuendos, heckling and good hearted jabs at each other.  This was the group that eventually comprised our entire group of friends here in Bellingham.  This was the group that after 5 years helped Miguel and I make the decision to stay here, rather than move back to Oregon as first intended.

For several years we lived it up, travelling to frisbee tournaments all over, within about an 8-hour drive.  We were awesome as a team, and almost reached ultimate victory for a local squad; one point away from heading to regionals.  That glory  lasted for about 3 solid years.  Thing started changing about 2 years ago when couples on the team, who brought us our experience and stability, started having children, college players, who brought us our sass and young legs, started finding jobs and higher education in other towns, injuries put people on the sidelines, and we lost our umph.

For the last 2 years it's been difficult to get a real game going, even in good sunny weather.  We're especially struggling to find women that want to play.  Pick-up has turned more into a teaching exercise to try and "build the community", rather than a good, gut wrenching workout.  This summer, however, we did have an influx of a few motivated players that have taken on the organizational aspect of the community game.  This is what we've been lacking; someone willing to put it all together.  So we actually had a successful fall league this year, with 4 teams!  That's pretty good, considering the last several leagues we've had have dwindled from 4 teams to 2 pick-up teams. 

Since we've lost the original field we used to play on due to development,  we now put our shoes, water bottles and team shirts in the car, and head to the turf field.  We pull into the parking lot, never sure of who is going to pull in after us.  There are several unnamed faces throwing discs around on the field, sprinkled with a one here and there who used to play.  I'm always delighted to see one of those "veteran" faces again, but I've come not to expect them anymore.  The game has changed, and I still have a glimmer of hope that we'll again play on grass where the dogs can chase a disc on the sidelines, with all that heckling and grab-ass that made the ordeal so much fun.  For now, however, I'm glad to be playing at all, and to have the opportunity to help new players learn the game. 

We actually did pretty well this year, in spite of ourselves.  We pulled together 16 or 17 handsome and sexy ultimate players from Bellingham to make "The Merkins".  Adam was a huge part of our success because he took our discombobulated spirit and actually produced a few props so we had something to show off (a necessity at Potlatch).  First of all, he whipped up the Merkin shirts.  You can see them in this photo.  Yes, if you know what a merkin is, you can determine what is on our shirts.  Also, and possibly a tight runner-up for awesome-ness is the "pub" that Adam wheeled onto the field on Friday morning. 

He told me he was going to make a "bar", and we all know that Adam can pretty much make anything out of two nails and a piece of plywood, but I had no idea how important the "Pubic Pub" would be to the success of  the entire weekend.  Enid had a major part in the human artwork, which in no way could I ever hope to match.  Sean provided the wood and a bit of ingenuity on the wheels.  This provided the perfect template for our infamous "Pin the Merkin" game, which was a huge success for all the 9 teams that had the chance to partake.  

The stats aren't nearly as impressive as the aswesome gallon-sized mojitos we gave to each of our competitors, but even so, we ended up in 3rd/4th-ish place in C-Pool.  We won 1 of 3 games on Friday, won 0 of 3 games on Saturday, and won 2 of 3 games (wow) on Sunday.  So, overall that puts us at winning 3 out of 9 games and still coming in in the top 30 teams out of 100 at Potlatch 2008.  Not bad for a team that can't get a practice together, or even a real game of ultimate.  Thanks, Adam and Enid, and Sean, for the encouragement and swag.  Adam, even though you didn't get to play this year, we all appreciate you being there and keeping our "spirits" high, and next year, we'll be making sure you're out on the field too.

Last night we did something most of you probably have never done.  We had a Merkin Making Party.  We are going to a frisbee tournament for the 4th of July weekend and our team name is "The Merkins".  I'm still not sure who came up with this idea in the first place, but I have heard the word passed around here and there.

The tournament is called "Potlatch" and the idea is that we give a "gift" of some sort to the other team.  Our gift this year is a game of "Pin the Merkin on the Manhood".   You've played pin the tail on the donkey at some point in your life; this is just a new variation.  The winner of the game gets a huge jug of a fresh, mouthwatering Mojito on the field to share if they wish, with their team.

Apparently we all are going to "wear" a merkin during play, which is bound to add a few interesting photos to our collection.  After pulling out my "art bucket" last night, we came up with a few variations on the merkin that you might be interested in.  We've even named some of them, such as "Grandma's Merkin, Surfin Merkin,  Super Merkin, Muscle Merkin, and Married Merkin.  Cheers to a new party game everyone.   

We played in our annual Gnarly Gnines ultimate tournament last weekend put on by Bellingham Ultimate.  Somehow our team managed to pull in at 15th out of 18 teams.  This is a bit astonishing and heartbreaking at the same time.  Really, it came down to a couple of games that we lost by 1 point, which put us in a lower bracket, but come on people, 15th?  All it is is practice.  We need some...any, really.  This past year, our lovely Bellingham squad has had a hard time getting enough players, especially women.

I'm trying to put together a women's team for Flowerbowl, and I've only got 2 people interested - for the funnest (not a word, but appropriate) tournament of the year!  Why is this so hard?  Well, people are having babies for starters.  People that used to be heavily into the sport are starting to retire from it and nurse their tired ankles and knees,  people are trying to graduate, and people are injured.  I'm hoping this is just a dip in the wave of ultimate around here, but from what I'm seeing, it could simply be a recession of the waters.  Ultmate really is a great workout and a fun way to spend time with friends.  Hopefully we can bring some of that back, because we really do love it.