OCD-Lite: collections

So I have this idea for a collection. Meaning something to collect. Like, right now I collect flattened souvenir pennies and $2 bills. But I want to start collecting jerseys of professional athletes who wear the same jersey number I do. A fun but expensive idea. So I could get NFL jerseys from, say, Phillip Rivers or Plaxico Burress.

What are some other famous #17's out there?

Support the home team.

Not Mucho Gusto... Although we do have sectionals this weekend...

The Mercury. They are fired up. Watch this video and get psyched about professional women's sports. Mucho Gusto dances, the Mercury make videos. Hilarious.

Chicago Heavyweights

Just got back from Chicago last night.... Another whirlwind weekend of ultimate. I am starting to think that the so-called elite ultimate players are trying to kill the sport. Mucho Gusto was placed in the non-elite bracket at this tournament, which seemed a little chinzy given that there weren't any women's teams at this tourney who are in the top 10 of RRI. But the most unfortunate part was that we were not able to play up - our crossover only allowed us to play the teams in the upper division that finished last.

While I like winning, I play the game to get better at it too. And my belief is that unless you get a chance to play against teams that are better than you are, you will not have any models for success. It's not like I can watch professional ultimate on tv where I can learn techniques from the best. And besides, there's no substitute for experience. You need that experience as a team.

My team has traveled out of our region twice now to try to compete with teams that are better than us, but due to the cost of this we often can't travel the entire team to do it. The one tournament in our region is Colorado Cup, and AZ teams have been systematically excluded from that tourney for the past three years.

Because we're not "elite."

We never will be until we have a chance to play with some of those teams. Will we lose those games? Yes. Most of them. But each year that the team grows and has a chance, we'll get better. And eventually, we will compete with those teams. But to not ever have a chance? I frankly think that is counter to "spirit of the game." And I think that it will kill a sport that relies exclusively on grass roots enthusiasm and support for its very life.

Oh yeah. We won our pool. Beat the 5th seeded team to play in the 5/6 game which we lost. To the twelve seed Hayride. Do we get to be "elite" now?

If I was a dance, I would be.....

Ridiculous. My favorite sort of quiz. This is about as logical as determining what sort of kitchen appliance I would be. The link is at the bottom, in case you'd like to find out what sort of dance you might be.

You scored as ChaCha You are Cha Cha! Flirtatious and fun, you are the life of the party. People tend to add syllables to your name and count you incorrectly. You are versatile, approachable, and best when syncopated. For someone so sexy, you are a lot less of a tramp than most. ChaCha 83% Quickstep 75% Jive 67% Waltz 67% PasoDolble 58% Samba 42% Foxtrot 42% Viennese Waltz 42% Tango 17% Rumba 17% Which ballroom dance are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Why the ads, you money-grubbing ho?

You may wonder why I have ads on my blog. Couple of reasons: first off, I work in ecommerce marketing and I am using the blog in part to experiment with various forms of advertising, to help learn HTML stuff, and to learn more about new media communication. Second, all the money I raise through the site will go to my women's Ultimate team - Mucho Gusto.

So buy stuff off the blog. If you do, Mucho Gusto will earn money to go to tournaments, and eventually we'll get to Nationals. That's right: it's on YOUR shoulders.

Woman's Place is on the Pitch

I just stumbled on this great video depicting the development of women's soccer in Egypt. It makes me thank my lucky stars for the opportunities I have every day, especially when they interview the young men in the video....

Another best song ever.

"Use Me"
Bill Withers

We've reached the dog days of summer when no one can stand to hang around in Tucson. It's hot, humid from the monsoon, and just generally slow-moving and dull. It's like winter in some other places, I think, although I've never lived in a super-serious winter sort of place.

This is having an impact on our practice regimen. You wouldn't think it possible that w/ 25 people on our extended roster that we'd only have 9 players at practice, but this is exactly what's going on. So many vacations. Including mine! I've certainly been gone plenty of times.

I have to remind myself that it's too soon to panic. We have time to gel as team, still have three playing opportunities between now and sectionals, and so much potential to rock it. But I am a worry wort - as if you couldn't tell by the constantly vexed tone of my blog posts - and am forced to wonder if we've bit off more than we can reasonably chew. Our college students have been under the whip since last October - and are probably burned out. Our older women have children and can only do so much. Ok, stop panicking.

The flip side of this is that everyone is really loving our social time and various entertaining fundraising projects. We hosted a glow-in-the-dark tournament this past weekend and raised serious bucks - it was a very memorable party to boot. We anticipate the next one to be even more crazy and successful. And the group beer-making has been hilarious. Photos to follow.