Wisconsin Hodags

No Wisconsequences & MLC 2011

2011-12-14T17:22:00.005-06:00

2011 Club Open Nationals - Machine vs Madison from luke johnson on Vimeo.

No Wisconsequences

MLC

Winter 2007 Blue/Black Scrimmage

Hodags Blue Black Fall 2007 by muffnuts

2002 National Finals

2011-07-12T21:06:00.003-05:00

A tough final loss against Stanford in 2002.
Setting up a championship run in 2003.

A tough final loss against Florida in 2006.
Setting up championship runs in 2007 & 2008.

A tough final loss against Carleton in 2011.
Setting up a championship run 2012??

6 National Finals Games in the last 10 years, 2002-2011.
3 National Titles.
2011 Potlatch Muckamuck Champions!

1999 Regionals

2011-05-05T17:07:00.000-05:00

Semifinals
Wisconsin vs. Iowa

'99 upa regional semi-finals: ihuc vs wisconsin from Doug Eglseder on Vimeo.

Finally, The Blueprint

2010-09-29T17:24:00.009-05:00

Andrew's great idea began work August 2007.
It's now September 2010.

trailer
www.ultivillage.com
www.hodags.org

The BluePrint

I think this article fully captures the nature of Wisconsin vs. Florida rivalry.

Rivalries Renewed 2/4/2008

2011 Hodag Captains

2010-07-21T19:48:00.005-05:00

Captains
John "Berjerges" Bergen
Ben "Hollywood" Feldman

Officers
Zach "Tallter" Alter
Pat "Paaat" Donovan
Alex "Timmons" Simmons

Workout Coordinator
Jerry "Bombshell" McGinnis

Natural Born Killer Scotto
Colin Camp
Dan Park

2010 turned out to be a rebuilding season.
2011 will have more experience under their belt.

Alumni Game

2010-04-10T08:58:00.003-05:00

Double-header Alumni Game April 24

Mardi Gras 7-Peat

2010-02-17T18:24:00.007-06:00

The Wisconsin Hodags survive a lost chartered bus, a blizzard storm, ridiculously muddy fields, and a first round loss to North Park to earn their 7th straight Mardi Gras Championship complete with King Cake. The first round loss to North Park has been characterized as a Travel Coordinator snafu. The drive-through-the-night car made it to the fields about 30 minutes to game-time, while the charter bus went to the wrong field site (weather change). North Park, having played an entire game already, agreed with Crumbly not to assess points despite the Hodags arriving about 20 minutes after game time. They were even nice enough to let Wisconsin do an abbreviated dynamic and layout into a mud puddle drill - before the game began. One break was scored the entire game and North Park prevailed 11-12, dominating Hodag defenders in the muddy conditions.

Ben Feldman, best injured Hodag not in cleats, freaks out hardcore. Reliving the hate days of 2008 - Benji snaps on the team for playing so average. It was a spectacle, an explosion, a diabolical world domination plan set aflame. Crumbly responded by challenging the Hodags to have fun instead of seething with hate -- which worked as Wisconsin won the rest of their games for the day, finishing 2nd in the pool at 3-1. Not winning the pool was probably a good thing as it gave Wisco another game to play on Sunday morning, needing now 5 straight wins starting in pre-prequarterfinals to take the 7th straight Mardi Gras Title.

Wisconsin rolled the first two games easily and then controlled Minnesota in semifinals for a solid win. Illinois was over-matched in finals as the Hodags devoured the King Cake. Dave Wiseman finally played up to his potential, grabbing 9 D's on the weekend, 3 more than Zach Ehler's 6.
Next up: Stanford Invite in 11 days!
UPA RANKINGS

Stevinson Invite
Wisconsin rocks Texas to start the day, up 10-0 before winning 13-3.

Trouble in Vegas 2010

2010-02-07T14:44:00.008-06:00

The Hodags have strong legs. It was 28 degrees and a little icy still. 18 college students linger at the bottom of Bascom hill, staring upward into 370 explosions of pain. 9 sprint races to the top later - and 4 kids had puked. Like I said, the Hodags have strong heart. Their ultimate skills are something to be desired yet this early in the season.

Wisconsin powers through shenanigans at the airport in which Jerry manages to earn 3 plane tickets by giving up his seat to a teammate.

Wisconsin plays Oregon first and loses 11-13 in a well played game. Eli Janin was dropping deep bombs to stationary targets. The Hodags had to fight through some awkward cutting at the beginning. Once the down field problems cleared up, Wisconsin was playing more confident and rolled Stanford 11-6 in the second game. Florida jumps out to 0-2 lead, Wisconsin responds to 5-2. It goes 6-6 before Florida takes half 6-7, and then oatbags for the win 6-13. It was described as fairly horrible to watch as Madison self-combusted down the stretch.

Rain postpones games for day 2. Party begins.

Wisconsin is scrimmaging Carleton. Bergen struggles early and Carleton takes a 1-4 lead. Wisconsin fights back a bit, but still down 5-8 at half. Wisconsin digs deep as Jerry McGinnis begins tormenting Grant Lindsley to tie the game at 11-11. Wisco then holds off several match point chances and comes back to win 17-16 on universe. Kanner was feeling the pressure.
The last mini game to 7 against Brown is won by the Hodags 7-5.
One week to Mardi Gras..

The Work Ethic of Wisconsin Ultimate…

2010-01-20T23:54:00.004-06:00

…is at an all time high. And this statement currently extends to all facets of the program.

Whatever you believe about the cycles of rest and recovery – Wisconsin has decimated through disregard.
In Madison, the only caliber for a successful workout is threshold of physical pain and how well one can push through that discomfort.
Last night was the fourth straight day of complete cardio and leg strength failure. Hitting the snooze button and falling out of bed was never so much fun.
Besides for the intrinsic fitness benefits (and setbacks) – the goal is to mentally “win” the workout.
Not to finish, but to win workouts that on average rated a 9/10 by 25 of the hardest dudes you see walking to class.
But the Hodags are not the only squad pushing. Bella Donna’s workout google-doc is getting lengthier by the day. Without fail, each player signs in to account for the work they put into the season, and every day the list grows. Last night for example, I saw the Pimpdags doing a running and agility workout. The Hodags were killing a long set of plyos and tabatas, while Bella Donna was running sprint intervals and lifting weights. Atropa girls were also seen on the track and in the weight room – putting the total number of ultimate players in the Shell at approximately 75 with the 4 teams combined. And that was just last night.
But that’s really the only alternative. Besides for once a week indoor practice for 2 hours, beginning maybe a week or two before the first big tournaments of the season; Wisconsin has no other way to prepare. It speaks volumes to the commitment level each player has individually invested into the season and the program. No other school has 80 college students busting their ass every single day of the week for the mere enjoyment and excitement of chasing a piece of plastic. But that’s the best part; it’s fun, it creates lifelong friendships, and it prepares an individual for future obstacles. Unlike most ultimate teams – Wisconsin has matured into a mentoring program. Your buddy not only runs sprints and lifts with you, but teaches and guides you. He is the second opinion, who has already experienced your struggle. Wisconsin’s success comes from the fact that being a part of the team is so much more than an athletic endeavor. It is an experience, a guiding force which teaches an individual to balance their time, activities, money, and life. It teaches a work ethic, a competitive drive, and the ability to succeed. When you have finished your time with the Hodags – you are a man’s man.
For all the glamor of being able to play ultimate outside year long – Wisconsin fights with discipline and delayed gratification. No one wants to sprint on the track, jump over hurdles, and touch backboards until they want to puke – but Madison player’s consistently do these activities with the final goal in mind.
Three days ago the Spring Season officially began as almost every player had fully returned from winter vacation. The first short 6 minutes of complete suffering was exactly to the point. But it was the post-running talk that seized my attention. Captain Matt Young began to speak of his goals for the team and his expectations from his teammates. He cemented the first building blocks of something great and took strides to imprinting the importance of this season on the 27 eager faces around him. Matt Young also spoke of his personal sacrifice to the team. As a medical student – Matt must complete several month long rotations as part of his school, which means Crumb is driving many hours on the road just to make it to Hodag functions. Soon I realized that Matt was not talking of sacrifices, but of opportunities. “Every day I drive to practice, I have to pass Breese Steven’s Stadium. That is four times a day I pass it, and every time I get so jacked up thinking that this is the location of National Finals.” In the loud and crowded Shell, I still felt the shiver of excitement roll through the tightly packed group of eager young men. I’m two years removed and even my heart quickened at that thought.
Then Jon Masler took front and center, making his first introduction to the 2010 team. Having been in Israel for the last 5 months, Jon had been waiting and stewing in the thoughts of his 5th year. With enthusiasm to spare, Masler stated his heart-felt commitment to the team and proved it with a quick flash of his freshly marked Hodag tattoo. The group hooted in approval as the first indoor Hodag Love roared and echoed throughout the Shell.
Wisconsin will have legs to spare this season and will most likely push another team's top player into total failure. Late in a hot tournament, he will bend over and put heat exhaustion in a big pile on the field. And the reason will be none other than the tenacity of the Hodags. Wisconsin will sprint you into the ground this season by throwing the fastest, most gritty, eager blanket defenders on you again and again.

Classic City Classic 2009

2009-12-05T18:54:00.005-06:00

Classic City Classic 2009

The last van left Madison at 5:40pm and randomly arrived at the same McDonald's as their teammates by sheer coincidence. It is 7:30am and the sky is dark. There is no sign of the sun to come and its snowing like its Christmas, the snowball kind. South Carolina is the first victim of the day. The Hodags are 24 deep coming in and lightning fast. Cross your fingers it doesn't get too muddy.

The fields are covered in snow and very soggy. South Carolina comes out hucking taking a quick lead on foolish turnovers 1-4. Jacob Meyer scores the first 2 goals as it tightens to 2-4. Cullen Geppert gets an awesome over the shoulder layout D to save a goal, but the game remains 3-6. Wisconsin switches to zone and breaks 3 times for half 7-6 on a floaty sky D. Evan Klane and John Bergen combined for another score out of half to lead 8-6, but then surrendered an 8-10 advantage. Wisconsin stormed back to lead 12-10 with a Ben Rehman Callahan goal. The Hodags won 13-11 in a sloppy affair and are 10 minutes from playing William & Mary, who brought 12 kids for the tournament. The snow clouds have finally dispersed, probably 38 degrees and a bit windy.

William & Mary is the next opponent and the Hodag Defense is finally awake. The contest trades to 3-3 before Alex Simmons rips down an sweet Callahan for the break 3-4. The lead stretches to 5-3 with a Wiseman under layout D, but W&M is able to tighten it 6-6 before Klane finds Chris Scotto for half 7-6. Scotto cleans up a deep huck as Wisconsin presses to 8-6. Thomas Coolidge tallies up 3 D's as the Hodag pressure builds and begins to score efficiently. Wiseman's 3 D's helps save Jake Smart's 5 turns as Madison pulls away 13-6. Madison's 16 D's far exceeded the earlier effort of only 2.

Florida State was the third game as the conditions improved. Wisconsin stormed to a 7-2 half using Rehman's 2 footblocks and sick under D. Thomas Coolidge continued to play like a stud - snacking on blocks all over the field. Florida State connected on several big hucks to close the game to 11-4. Ben Feldman finishes the deal with a blade to Cullen for the win 13-4.

Alabama is the 6th seed in the pool and currently waiting on the line as Wisco huddles all 27 jokers in a mishapen cluster. The game begins in hilarity as Alabama is committed to bombing it deep. Wisconsin counters with a Kylie Cyrus stall 9 floater unto which Alter doinks after out-reading everybody. Alabama bombs deep and out-races the Dayshoe 0-1. Chris Scotto gets a nasty layout D on the goal line as Bergen finds Davidman 1-1. Kyle Geppert gets another layout D allowing Wisconsin to go up 7-1. The Hodags finish strong, taking the game 13-1.

Tennessee is last stop and the Hodags have found a solid rhythm - taking control of the momentum up 7-3. Madison finally lands two consecutive pulls in bounds as they roll to a 13-3 win. Hector congratulates the team for unselfish play as Wisconsin wrapped up a 5-0 day.

Georgia, Delaware, and Michigan all finish 4-1 in several universe point contests, knocking Natty Mich down into the B bracket. Texas and North Carolina also fall into the B bracket. Wisconsin will see Notre Dame in quarterfinals and likely Georgia in semifinals.

Sunday morning is 25 degrees and we have 30 minutes to be at the fields - not one of the 6/8 dudes in my room set an alarm clock. Bergen's cleats are completely frozen and everyone's warm clothes are still covered in dirt. The fields are snow white - a winter wonderland. If Wisconsin wants to get past the Papal Rage - handler's Klane, Smart, and Park will need to have toasty fingers because it is winter. Hopefully, the field is frozen enough that footing will not be an issue today. On the way back from McDonald's, Hector's second morning coffee is precariously placed in the backseat cup holder -- needless to explain, tragedy is in the works.

The very first point was completely indicative of how the game proceeded. A 10 minute raging battle of will's including 4 layout D's, but Wisconsin stays in control over Notre Dame 3-2. Dave Wiseman had 2 D's as John Bergen exploded on Feldman for the second time, literally choking Simba with 2 hands at the neck. Cullen Geppert jacked a huge flick for a Diablo Dunk now 8-6 half. JerryBomb went down early with a tweak, leaving Killstrong to do his dirty work. The Hodags were leading 9-6, before several costly turns put the contest at 13-13, game point. Needing only one possession saving call, Wisconsin scores 14-13 to play Georgia, who has been eagerly watching for the last 20 minutes. Chris Scotto continues to be a stud while Bergen has become the emotional fire-starter. Zach Alter is running hard and Alex Simmons is playing shut-down defense.

Georgia, dressed in blood red, is currently hucking upwind for their warm-up, at least 3/4 landing in bounds. Bill Murray is at the helm and Dylan is flashing smiles in all directions. The GA dogs score a tough first point and then break twice on Wisco miscues, freaking out to a 0-3 start. Madison burns a timeout and reiterates the correct way to downfield cutting. Evan Klane and John Bergen are rocking in the backfield scoring 1-4. Wisco breaks back on an awesome Wiseman bookends now 3-5. GA finishes half with authority 6-8. Hodags cut it to 7-8 on a Dan Park O2. Jojah scores on a boom and breaks on a drop to lead 7-10. Backs against the wall, Madison digs deep as Thomas Coolidge gets an under layout D. Matt Crumb & Alex Simmons both make great effort plays - pressuring layout drops. Turtle rips several nasty IO breaks and Wisconsin is suddenly up 11-10 on 4 straight breaks. Hector screams for the Gloatbag - 8 straight breaks. Cullen Geppert rocks awesome defense, containing Dempsey as Wisconsin's depth was shining down the stretch. The best moment of the game was on the marathon 10-10 point. Both teams have dropped goals and cuts are coming once in a red moon for Georgia at midfield. An exhausted cutter tries a floaty dump pass which makes it one foot from his hand before Dayu Park swats it down. Jake Smart is thinking "timeout" but Muffin is screaming, "We aren't tired!" GA is openly walking; Bergen races off deep (still leading Kyle Geppert in their 10th 200m), and brings down the Smart bomb for the score. Both teams score easily down the stretch as the game trades to 13-11. Zach Alter floats a 500 ball to Diablo Donovan for the huge sky and Klane rips a cross-field hammer to Feldman to take the game 15-12.

A cool 30 minutes before finals allows the Hodags to recharge and run a full end-zone drill before finals. The field is looking muddy again. Layers of clothing are being shed on the field, as the high of 48 sets in. Madison begins on Defense and opens with a break on a Jake Smart boom to Cullen. Virginia plays it chilly as trucker hat pwns with a break inside-out backhand to space 3-3. The Hodags are playing 24 deep and the legs are showing as Wisconsin breaks for half 8-6 on a Alter give-n-go. Wisco's handlers move the disc quickly as Dan Park rips O2 and zips in a goal now 9-6. Virginia's Tyler is a one-man show, ripping the pull, playing the lanes on D, and then going deep on the turn. Madison stays in control of the contest, leading 12-9 despite multiple Smart deep bombs narrowly missing open receivers. The Hodag Defense is getting multiple opportunities each point and Night-Train is running out of gas. Captain Crumbly, a middle school broad jump champion, attempts to score on a 27 foot leap-n-score. Crumbles lands a bit low as his butt grazes the ground, ripping up soaked turf with his rippling gluteus 13-10. Pat Donovan rips down a big deep ball from Lazer, leaving the disc at 11 feet for a moment for all to see. Wisco has a chance to win at 14-11, but Virginia is not quite done and battles on to 14-12. The Hodag Offense is playing their most consistent of the weekend, probably because Wisco is already down by several scores late, and no one on the Madison sideline is worried about finishing this game, especially since Notre Dame is doing their damn best to heckle Madison out of it.
Feldman give-n-go's the disc to 20 feet out, before Simba pirouettes for a backhand score. The winning goal is called back on a travel, the play is repeated and layout dropped by Diablo. Virginia converts the break deep and suddenly it is a game at 14-13. The crowd is yet dispersing, and Wisconsin glances up to see Georgia still running there-back sprints on the far field. Benji Feldner catches an under and lets loose a backhand ripper to Chris Scotto for the win 15-13.

O'Doyle Rules! Wisconsin wins CCC for the 5th straight appearance, taking home the champion cups after submitting their roster as collateral. The best stats go to Evan Klane with 226 touches, 17 assists, and 11 turns. Bergen rocked 13 goals, but Alter smiles with a nasty relevance rating at +6. Coolidge, Wiseman, & Cullen all smacked down 8 D's each, while Simba & Smart battled for turnover supremacy. Every player played in every game... and we won. It should be warned that Sunday in Illinois is National No Gas Day. Thank goodness for BP. I want to give a big shout out to winter, for being such a frigid horrible season. The Hodags love to play in the snow mind you, but we don't enjoy the cold hands that go with it (that's a Carleton thing). The second best part of CCC was looking over and seeing the Dog's running sprints. It perfectly articulated what Wisconsin had been doing for 5 straight years; winning games with legs. Traditionally, that is always the battle; the southern teams get to practice ultimate and the northern teams get to practice running. It's not conceivable to me that ANYONE else is working as hard as the Hodags on the track. Not a single other team. But it should be noted that Wisconsin did not qualify for Nationals until the McClain Center opened.

Border Brawl

2009-11-10T23:42:00.003-06:00

Wisconsin starts 5-0.
In the last two games against Colorado and Minnesota -- the Hodags fall on universe point each. Growl...

Classic City Classic

It Takes An Army

2009-10-22T10:58:00.018-05:00

Hodag tryouts began with 115 strapping boys -- a gigantic pool of talent. First cuts humbled the total to 65 - still an unmanageable number. As the second round wound down, 40m times were calculated and 95 yard Burk-woods tested who had the speed-endurance combo. Intensity was measured and commitment was calculated, as Dr. Matt Crumbung challenged every player to a layout drill - straight through a small lake in maybe 50 degree temperatures. Enthusiasm remained as every player completed the challenge. The third round of tryouts put the count at an even 40 - two tryout teams of 20.
Both teams played well at No Wisconsequences, notably battling the tryout squads of Carleton and Colorado. Wisconsin-X led by Jake Smart, John Bergen, and Ben Feldman looked very athletic and polished for a split squad -- taking down just about the entire Central region's various fall tryout squads. Many of Wisconsin's second year players like Dan Park, Dayu Liu, and Jerry McGinnis are making noticeable impacts already. When the dust settled, the Hodag number stands at a whopping 27, the current club roster limit. Using the "it takes an army" metaphor literally, the leadership took every player who showed he deserved an opportunity. Overall, the Hodags are bringing back 16 returners, 4 freshman, 4 pimpdags, and 3 grad students. For the 7th year in a row, a returner did not make the team -- clearly sending the message that complacency is unacceptable on the Hodags.
The ultimate traditions are strong at Wisconsin as the first post-practice team meeting held expectations high and emotions spilling. Without a doubt, Wisconsin is once again deep, athletic, and confident. Not to mention, several Hodags are competing at Nationals next weekend with Madison Murder Club.

DARTH FELDMAN MEMORIAL

Now introducing the Wisconsin Hodags 2010: (in order of head-shots and good-looks)
Hector Valdivia - Coach
Matt Crumb #20 - Captain, Doctor, most responsible, best looking cutter. Crumbly will be a voice in the huddle and a mentor to all Hodags looking for a role model.
Jake Smart #6 - Captain, big ego, most handsome handler, big throws, bigger mouth. Jake needs to step into his role this season for the Hodags to truly be successful. Wisconsin's dominance will rise and fall on Jake's boom backhand.
Evan Klane #38 - Officer, vocal strong leader, most witty comments. Evan is a baller, who has come a long way since being a NUT. Evan has nasty throws and has matured into one of the strongest players on the field. Klane's dominance this summer with Madison Club will translate well for Wisconsin's offense.
Ben Feldman #2 - Officer, best facial hair
John Bergen - Officer, wishes he were Animal
Cullen Geppert - best defender
Pat Donovan - best at Mario Kart
Jon Masler - lost in Israel
Alex Simmons - will wrestle you
Matt Davidman - still obnoxious
Dayu Liu - imagine Asian handler
Jake Meyer - wishes he were Seth
Dan Park - finally a handler
Zach Alter - ridiculously fast
Dave Wiseman - Imagine a GIANT WOOKIE
Jerry McGinnis - the next Joey Dombrow
Jon Armstrong - most fun, best grades
Sammy Fitzpatrick - dominate big man
Zach Ehler - most motivated
Colin Camp - freshman, tall scary athletic surfer
Chris Scotto DiVetta - grad school, coolest, jockiest, enginerd
Ben Rehmann - freshman, eager young talent
Tanner Marshall - pimpdag, great hands
Kelsen Alexander - pimpdag, climbs the biggest rocks
Keith Christensen - freshman, loves thrill seeking layouts
Thomas Coolidge - pimpdag, more motivated than turtle
Kyle Geppert - freshman, wishes he were Cullen, runs like a snowman
Nick Jacobson - grad school, undecided

Fall 2009 Ultimate Frisbee Tryouts!

2009-06-29T13:12:00.007-05:00

NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY! SEEKING ATHLETES WHO WANT TO COMPETE!

JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP "UW-Madison Ultimate Frisbee Tryouts"

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=45998998592

Tryouts for the Wisconsin Hodags will start on Wednesday, September 9th at 4:30pm. They will be held at the University Bay Fields, located near the UW-Hospital on the west side of campus (The fields are directly across from the Waisman Center). Refer to this online map if you need help locating the fields: http://www.map.wisc.edu/

Important Information:
-Tryouts will be every Monday and Wednesday (Starting Wed., Sept. 9th) from 4:30pm to 7:00pm.
-Make sure to bring a white and dark jersey/shirt to tryouts
-Bring cleats if you have them (extremely important that you bring them if you have them)
-Tryouts will continue into October, at which point the team will be decided after our local tryout tournament on October 17th and 18th. Make sure you are available to attend if you are serious about playing for the Hodags. If you cannot, please let us know ASAP.
-Last year we had two different B-Teams, and will almost certainly have the same this year. Everyone will have an opportunity to compete, be it on the A-Team, or the B-Team(s).
-Invite your friends! The more people the better!

If you have any questions, you can contact Ben Feldman at bfeldman2@wisc.edu

Thanks!

The Wisconsin Hodags

Nationals 2009

2009-05-13T18:11:00.020-05:00

Results
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The winner will be _____.

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Andrew Brown's finest Commentary
Today was the last practice of the season and the Hodags were running at Nationals speed. The energy was overwhelming and opponents will struggle to match the intensity as Wisconsin plans to punish with their legs. The Hodags have 13 National champions. No current player or team can claim a single National Title. The weather will be hot and Wisconsin is deeper, more athletic, and more conditioned than any opponent they will face. Game of the tournament: Semifinals Wisconsin vs. Colorado.

The College Championships 2009

The most important weekend of the year is finally upon us. To achieve the final goal and win a National Championship - every point must be played as life and death. Just a single defeat at any point in the tournament all but ruins your chances for the title. You must win your pool. The Hodags know the winning formula well and will attack their warm-up with an energy and urgency that few other teams will be able to match. The championships look to be sunny and hot, 87 degrees at 5:30 pm, and gusty winds. This means every point played will slowly empty the gas tank for the weekend and expect cramps and heat exhaustion to be common sights among the top-heavy teams. Will the studs be able to carry all weekend? An extra day and relatively spread out games should help with this effect. However, one statistic stands out in my mind from Nationals 2008. It was the differential in points played between the quarterfinal opponents Wisconsin vs. Harvard. The Hodags had played around 72 points total while Red Line had played nearly 126 points. Point spread and finishing teams quickly is an absolute must with the upcoming conditions. The Offense must value the disc and score with quick strikes. The Defense must be seething with energy and pressure until the other team crumbles at stall 10 with no options open. Last time I checked, Wisconsin was still the 2-time defending Champion and only team to have current players who have accomplished that goal, 13 players in fact. Carleton has 0, Colorado has 0. The fifth year seniors who will be dominating are Jon Gaynor and Adam Drews on Offense, Tom Annen on Defense, with Tom Murray and Jimmy Foster playing all the time. Seniors Evan Klane and Jonathon Masler will need to hold down the back field while handlers John Bergen and Jake Smart will undoubtedly cause huge swings in momentum. Expect Cullen Geppert and Matt Young to blow up on Defense, guarding the best cutters. Defenders who must step up their game with weekend are Pat Donovan and Alex Simmons. The first year players must fall into a rhythm and play their role - whether it is on the sideline or running your absolute fastest for one point. If Wisconsin acts and walks like a champion in their pool play games - it could culminate into a historic weekend. I'm expecting Wisconsin to come out very hard and fast - setting the tone. Jerry McGinnis is overheard in his most manly voice, "You know, a lot of guys lift to impress girls, I lift to impress weights." It's JerryBomb time!

Before the day starts tomorrow, Wisconsin is even. The Hodags have a clean slate and the opportunity to destroy. The first goal is a game to 3. The intensity needs to pour out of the 7 D line studs. Hodags lean and lean and lean, until the opponent shows weakness and that's when the Hodags stab and twist the dagger. The D line needs to carry the team while the O line displays their speedy dominance. It will be incredibly hot and the Hodags need to use their depth and legs to outlast every other team. The faceless army will replace its D line thugs with another line of beasts waiting to prey on the weak. We come out of the gates fired up. There is no other team that can match our fire, especially not at this tournament, at these fields. The game plan, among many on D, is to apply immediate pressure on the hitch, sending a head hunter to crush all hopes of any easy pass the other team might think they have. We push this strategy until our adrenaline pushes us over edge. The Hodags will also show different looks on D at different times, to keep the opponent guessing and out of their comfort zone....
Masler wrote these thoughts down the night before regional finals. With the anticipation higher for this game more than any other I've played in, I didn't know how to express my thoughts aloud to the rest of the team. Although we unfortunately would lose the game the following day, I think this still applies to how I feel right now. I've never shown this to anyone, as it was a unfinished and raw:
This is our team. Our team. We've built it from scratch this year, more than any other in recent memory, and we're all part of a bigger picture of generations of Hodags before who have taken pride in this program and helped develop it to where it is today. We have all the pieces to the puzzle that we need. Whether on the field or on the sidelines, everyone is dependent on everyone else. We are all equals. We have leaders on this team, those who have taken it upon themselves to speak up and carry the responsibilities of motivating, teaching, and inspiring all of us, but everyone is just as big of a contributor as everyone else. We are brethren. Everyone in their own right who goes through this program realizes what Hodag Love means to them at different points throughout their career as a Hodag. For me, it was after winning nationals last year when it all came together. And now, more than ever, that feeling of Hodag Love is reinforced at this incredible opportunity. Like everyone who has ever played in the program has known, this game (tournament) is bigger than anything we've ever been apart of. Anyone who's worn the baby blue knows how this game (tournament) is what defines one's experience playing for Wisconsin.
All I want to do is kill. Every time I think about this tournament, the first game, the first point, I find it hard to contain myself and have to yell out to my boys, who are going through the exact same thing. You could tell at practice today, that it's business time. It's gonna be all kill mode tomorrow. We just flat out want it more. And it's time to take it.

The only performance enhancing drug that is not illegal is caffeine - and the Hodag coaches are pounding coffee. We are riding on our enemies like Pac on Biggie. It is a toasty 91 degrees and Wisco is about to scout Cal before destruction happens all over their face. Michigan and Minnesota battled tough this morning, as Michigan took an early lead 4-2 before Grey Duck sans Tim Pearce clawed their way back into it. Will Neff was calling timeouts with reckless abandon as the Aaronson brother's called travel after violation. Minnesota was up 13-10 and with the disc - ready to finish, but then choked hard as Michigan pushed the game to OT and with a 6-1 run and murderballed to 16-14. Wisconsin arrived to the fields super early and was antsy from the get-go - seemingly 18 hours of waiting to finally warm-up and get on the field. California was set to play Pittsburgh - giving Wisconsin plenty of time to scout from under tent. Cal hucked OB at least 6 times and played poorly, allowing Pittisburgh to punish and take a huge lead 8-3. It was a blow-out from start to finish as it ended 15-7 Pitt. The Hodags were forced to endure a Colorado beatdown as Cornell missed numerous hucks deep. Wisconsin had their cleats on nearly 1.5 hours until game time but the nerves seemed to be winning the battle. The energy was there, but confused and hesitant rather than dominating. The Hodags lost the flip but began on Defense pulling upwind as Jake turfed it near the brick. California just missed their deep look and the Hodags had a chance. Cal-Berkely was running hard but a Cullen under and forehand boom to Pat Donovan scored the first break 1-0 and Wisconsin rushed the field with vigor and authority. Cal looked unsure, but connected on break side unders to tie the game 1-1. On Offense for the first time, the looks were chilly until Murray missed J-Fo on the goal line. Cal tried a deep shot and T-Murda got up and snacked on a D, allowing Gaynor to rip floaty deep to Drews 2-1. Wisconsin failed to put any pressure on Cal who scored easily 2-2. At this point, the Offense started freaking out and throwing into D's and dropping the disc as Cal broke 3 straight times to lead 2-5 as high release goals from in the red zone were brutal to endure. The Hodags finally start moving the disc quickly and ripping deep shots to get back into the game, as Evan throws 2 assists to close to 4-6. Wisconsin begins to get pissed and steps up the intensity. Cal rips a stall 9 deep and the trailing cutter picks up the trash to lead 4-7. Tom Murda throws a dishy to Bergen for the goal 5-7, taking a timeout to steal back a break. It was a good effort but Cal confidently took half 5-8 and the Hodags took a weary huddle - drinking fluids and dying in the extreme heat.
Wisconsin started the second half on Offense and continued to show an extreme inability to break a cup. It wasn't until Darth Lazer punted a stall 9 MTA to which Jimmy Foster skied, that Wisconsin actually woke up! Gaynor doubled scored the point to John Bergen as Wisconsin tightened the game to 6-8. As the line was called - Muffin threatened Crumb's life and told him to make a play. Ben Feldman snacks on a deep D and then rips a Boom Headshot to Matt Crumbly for the break 7-8 as the Hodags sparked alive. Wisconsin turned the mark and played shut-down D and Cal began to crumble as Crumbly rips a flick to Gaynor 8-8. Jimmy Foster rips a flick to space and Cullen Geppert brings home the 3rd straight break to lead 9-8. Cal ties the game at 9-9 and takes advantage of two Feldman meltdowns to lead 10-11. Wisconsin holds to tie at 11s. The rest of the game will be a contest of who can go on the longest run. Wisco continues to have trouble with Cal's IO high release breaks and allows Cal to score almost whenever they turn it. The points are hard fought and although Cal scores to make it 14-11 on some Hodag miscues, Wisconsin does not give in. The Hodags begin to start tightening the lines, stacking their D lines to near universe levels. The Offense holds to bring the Hodags to 12-14, looking confident again. Wisco now needs 3 breaks to win, and 2 pretty quickly in order to avoid the hard cap ending the game. A Foster sky, Feldman deep run, and Murray scorch deep for the win on universe ends the most impressive Hodag comeback nationals victory in recent memory. Tom Annen flexes his fist in revelation knowing his rap-roaring backhand ripper was far more impressive than Lebron James sickest eva boom headshot in the eyeball on command. Wisconsin Zerg rushes the field and contends that "all your base are belong to them." Wisconsin congratulates Clay for a good showing and has only 5 minutes to move to the next field and prepare to play Williams.

Texas takes down Wisconsin on universe point first thing Saturday morning in a ridiculously exciting game.
Wisconsin takes down Pittsburgh on universe after being down late. Ben Feldman ripping a perfect flick to Jimmy Foster for the win.
Luther sent 4 seniors home and played with 13 kids. The score shows 9-8, but the game was never in question as Wisconsin rolled through pre-quarters.

It is Sunday - the season will be over in less than 24 hours. The team will be history. Quick Team meeting before Stanford and all eyes are on CUT. This is right where we thought we would be - we are the favorite and the better team. It should be 83, sunny, and probably a slight wind. The Hodags are still the defending Champs and Stanford is still Stanford at Nationals.

Wisconsin started strong - scoring the first point and breaking to take a 2-0 lead. The energy was there but the heat was going to be ridiculous. The game traded quite nicely to 6-5 as the Hodags were bidding often and scoring quickly on Offense. However, a new Zone look caused a drop in the red zone, giving an easy break back 6-7. Tom Annen ripped a huge backhand down the line to a wide open Adam Drews, but the far side poach made up all the ground and layout D'd over the shoulder and Stanford's Callahan made an under cut and ripped a backhand to take half 6-8. Wisconsin was now on their heels and starting half on Defense. Stanford jacked a deep bomb and scored to lead 6-9. With the game starting to slip, Wisconsin needed to score. Ben Feldman ripped a flick down the line to a wide open JImmy Foster, but the laser shot is too far and Stanford breaks again on a backhand huck 6-10. Wisconsin called a timeout and Seniors Annen and Foster ripped into the team for execution errors and intensity. It was now a huge deficit and unlike the pool play games - Wisconsin looked like they let this one slip away. With the team shocked, each point needed to be played one at a time. Tom Murray ripped a backhand to Gaynor and Wisconsin had life at 7-10. The universe D line put the pressure on Stanford and defensively bid on 4 straight unders before Bloodthirsty punched in 7-11. The Offense just needed to convert and give the Wisconsin D another chance. However, the stupid turn and break caught Wisconsin full fledge in the face, now down 7-12. That would all be wrap up the game and Wisconsin's season was over. Brutal.
On a similar note, Belladonna finished their season with clear disappointment.. I watched the first half and saw Belladonna's superior speed and veteran presence in Bosscher and Brute Squad. Belladonna looked dominant, but Stanford was calling everything. The last sequence I saw, Stanford threw a 20 yard backhand into the end zone landing 7 yards OB out the side. During the throw the cutter tangled feet with the Belladonna defender, nearly 6 yards from the end zone line. The foul is called as both players trip, but the throw, which was laser-ed forward, out-of-bounds and clearly uncatchable. Somehow, the call goes to the Observer, who inexplicably rules foul and the disc on the line. That was shady. At best it was a feet tangle; foul - contest. But on this specific play, the disc was clearly way OB and there would be no play on the disc whatsoever. Neither call was within 10 yards of where the disc landed! Hector commented that he saw 2 foul calls upheld that he thought were without a doubt - not a foul. He was so sure - he encouraged the call to go to the observer. The statistician noted that Stanford made a possession saving call on 13 of their 15 goals. When the game finished, the observer who had been ruling against Belladonna all game went over, hugged and kissed the Stanford coach and then began hugging and chatting with Stanford players. If that was my final season - I would want some answers. A note on observing over the weekend - extremely inconsistent. There were a couple of upheld fouls and up/down calls that were bullshit - and when really assessing who is "ruling" on these situations - it is clear that high level ultimate is played with a different level of physicality than hippie-loving free speech to whine. After Jacob Goldstein Observed the Hodag's second game - Wisconsin was ready to implement a rule that required the observers to run a sub 8 second 40 before the game. I will say Mike G was by far the best observer - consistently ruling no foul on immediate referral situations - way more professional and direct with his opinion.
Carleton and Stanford in one semi-final; Colorado and Texas in the other. The wind picked up significantly as rain clouds threatened, but the #1-2 seeds were too much for the contenders. Mamabird was running everything through Mac Taylor while CUT was moving the disc quickly against Stanford. Carleton and Colorado were both up several breaks late and finished with huge cheers. Next was the Callahan presentation with the women first. It is always fun to hear the description of the player because it is easy to guess who it is. When the second place description involved the wording "chilly decision making" - I knew that Georgia Bosscher had won the Callahan award! Sure enough, the Wisconsin women took home the award in almost back-to-back-to-back years in Holly Gruenke, Courtney Kiesow, and now Georgia Bosscher. On the men's side, Jimmy Foster placed 4th place, behind Pressley, Taylor, and Neff.

The Team USA vs. Regional All-Stars was interesting for a moment as Skywalker almost gets Jolian in the air, before doinking it. Team USA rattles points off at their leisure taking a huge lead, before All-Stars score - someone getting Bort in the air 5-1. Mahowald dominates for a moment later in the game, getting a poach layout D, working for an under and ripping a backhand for the score 9-2. During halftime, TBA Mike wins the longest hammer with a 70 yard bomb. The day ends and the crowd disperses to celebrate the end of the college season - all but 2 teams. Wisconsin was not happy and in no mood for shenanagians. National Finals began with an OATBAG was Carleton broke 7 straight times to lead 7-0 - complete with a dropped pull and end zone conversions. Colorado finally discovered the end zone and half went 8-2 CUT. The game turned in the second half as the score closed to 13-10, but CUT closed the door 15-11. Congratulations Carleton for keeping the title in the Central.

Jimmy Foster - Callahan 2009

2009-04-28T20:01:00.009-05:00

High Res on Youtube, just click the "HD" link in the lower right hand box of the video:

Veoh version:

Watch Jim Foster For Callahan Video in Sports | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

J-Fo
Jim Foster – 2009 Callahan

Jim Foster, the Wisconsin Hodag’s Callahan nominee, second-year captain, 4-year starter, and all around force, should win the Callahan award this season.

Jim is a baller; a dominant, game changing force on the field. A quick overview of his career makes it frighteningly obvious how good he is.
• Four year starter on Hodag’s O-line
• Member of the NUMP all collegiate 1st Team
• A 217-27 record
• 27 tournament wins out of 39 tournaments attended
• Jim has made it to National Finals every year he has started
• 3 Regional Championships
• 3 Nationals Finals Appearances
• 2 National Championships

There is simply no other Callahan nominee in the nation that can come close to matching Jim’s accomplishments as a college player. Nobody is even close.

Jim has the throws, the speed, the hops, and the desire of a champion. He is a match up nightmare for anyone in the country. Jim demands the opposition’s best defenders and beats them all over the field. While the Hodags have been a consistently top-level team for years, it was not until Jim became a starter and stud for the team did Wisconsin begin making annual appearances in National Finals. On a team of big names last year (Hohenstein, Lokke, Mahowald) Jim was still the go-to guy in every situation.

Is Jim a spirited player? Absolutely. Does he make shitty calls? No. Does he spike the disc? Thankfully, yes. Does he get pissed at other teams? Without a doubt. Foster is a competitor; he pumps up himself and his team with the plays he makes. It has been said elsewhere, but it bears repeating that Jim is a class act on the field, and his passion and intensity for the game make him only more exciting to watch.

Foster is the guy we can always count on to play his best on the biggest stage. This season Jim has played all year with the obvious target on his back. Teams attempt to shut him down but cannot overcome his athleticism. Regional finals, the biggest game we have played this year, was lost despite Jim going +6.

Vote for Jim Foster for Callahan; his success, ability, and leadership as a player make him a unique candidate who is extremely deserving of this award.

Jimmy Stats
#18
6'1
177 pounds
31 inch vertical jump
4.56 40m dash
4.37 pro agility
www.jimfoster.com

Regionals

2009-04-25T00:12:00.013-05:00

NATIONALS POOLS

Central Regionals

Nationals Teams

So Carleton, how many medals do you have?
How many college tournaments have you won in your lifetime?
CUT is a bunch of cheaters on the field and consistently make shitty, soft calls.

Nationals Seeds and Notable Missing Teams

Lake Superior Sectionals

2009-04-20T18:46:00.010-05:00

Wisconsin Sectionals
Traditionally, the beginning of the College Series is always awesome for the Hodags, and this weekend was no different. Hours of practicing zone in the horrid conditions of the Midwest plains had thoroughly prepared Madison for this tournament. First up was Beloit and the Hodags took the line entirely clad in nickname tailored costumes. It was a sight to behold with the music raging as Hippie Biker Adam Drew’s grizzled hair, handlebar mustache, and ripped jeans dominated for the 1-0 lead. Safety First Tour de France Jimmy Foster skied for D and lost his helmet when he scored 2-0. David Bowie made an appearance with skintight white spank me pants and a lionesque Mohawk mane, scaring most bystanders. Beloit was intimidated by the strangeness of the situation for about two points before realizing that Wisconsin was obviously screwing around. There was no wind to speak of as several blades and strong catches moved the score to 5-4. After the fourth score, Wisconsin began getting fired up about not playing hard defense. “We always play Defense!” screamed Tom Annen, who was adorning his best CUT apparel, with matching wrist/armbands and ripped sleeveless. The Hodags began doling out push-ups if your man caught an under pass, and then DP slamming from alumni Chris Doede if they were scored upon. This rampage style of defensive intensity propelled Wisconsin to a 15-8 win, dominating the down the stretch after almost relenting half. Adam “Straight Booze” Drews made it known that Hodags don’t have fun, ever, and when they do, it is only because they are murdering the other team… The long bye round gave the Hodags ample time to obtain a grill, thus cooking brats and hot dogs during the afternoon sun interim. Chris Doede continues to pour hate into the Hodags playing 500, while Hector travels to the far fields, helping the Pimpdags win before a quick round of disc golf. It seemed that Whitewater was organized enough to host Regionals, but did not manage to submit a correct roster to the UPA, thus getting disqualified from the College Series immediately.
Practice Winning Everyday was the mantra for the second pool play game against Steven’s Point. John Bergen was ripping scoobers with his full suit coat and Gaynor was dropping discs whenever possible, looking like a soon to be Wisconsin alumni. Feldman was looking absolutely ridiculous with a low cut top and swirly skirt, much hotter than MILF Cullen, complete with fake boobs and miniskirt. Simmons was gaining fantasy points with 3 take downs in the first half, before Muffnuts pinned Cinnabuns, straight with his singlet on 8-5. BananaHat Armstrong was making plays as this game ended in a rout 15-8. The Pimpdags had secured a birth into semifinals as BellaDonna dominated the women’s field, barely scored upon.
The Alumni presence over the weekend, complete with Fat Bill Lokke and Mabrowald appearances at the fields. K-Federation also got into the action, full out tackling Jimmy Foster as he held the mark, giving up a huck goal – causing Adam Drews to spike his wig in protest. MSoE wasn’t putting up much a fight in quarterfinals as the 4th pizza pass over the head was dropped or D’d. Monster Masler was dressed complete with the troll gem as his Troll Sullivan costume was absolutely hideous. Mario Smart was showcasing a perfect mustache as Hillbilly Pearce was scoring goals despite rolling up the pant legs of his oversized over-alls. The game ended quickly at 15-3 and allowed the Hodags to move to Hector and Riley’s birthday celebration at casa de Valdivia. The delicious mounds of food caused many Hodags to stay up late in full fledge celebratatory moods. Sunday was rainy and chilly – leaning towards miserable playing conditions. Wisconsin served up Eau Claire in semifinals 15-8 and put down Marquette in the finals 15-7. Jimmy Foster twittered for a moment that Wisconsin lost to Whitewater in finals, putting Tripoli into frenzy. Wisconsin’s game plan was to consistently get breaks one at a time as opposed to the huge runs used to dominate on Saturday. The Pimpdags qualified for Regionals, taking down the 5th spot, allowing one more week before Regionals in Northfield. The Hodags will need to focus on mental concentration to take down the #1 bid from the Central, facing Carleton in finals no doubt on next Sunday morning. However, with the format and 4 bids, Wisconsin will only need to win 3 games and qualify for finals to earn a bid to Nationals. Team meetings, pasta parties, and last minute chalk talks all encompass the weekdays before the battle rages for the #3 seed at Nationals. The alumni game is set for May 2nd at UBAY and the final stretch of the ultimate season is upon us! In other news, the Hodags obviously need a new media/results coordinator and could potentially use a technical video nerd to finish up the documentary which is in the pre-final stages of a completed timeline! However, Morfin’s request for a Time Turner was denied by the Department of Mysteries… Lastly, 5th year Captain Jimmy Foster is Wisconsin’s Callahan nominee!

Huck Finn 2008

2009-04-20T18:43:00.015-05:00

Wisconsin was able to practice outside in the muddy rainy windy conditions that is the Central only a few times before heading to Missouri. The workouts had intensified since SB2K9 as well as the urgency at practice. The schedule looked solid and challenging as the Hodags brought everybody but freshman powerhouse Jerry.
Old Man Crumb awakes to thoughts of earning a TMF (Too Much Fun) and the possibility of the finding the fields. It was a rough start to the morning as Feldman immediately jumped into the only bathroom first, insisting upon locking the door, not allowing anyone else inside for hours. Cullen was looking most chipper despite the continental breakfast consisting of 3 boxes of donuts, coffee, and a gallon replica OJ. It would be an interesting day no doubt. Wisconsin played grab-ass with Colorado on the van ride passing to the fields, which were highly anticipated to be awesome. However, the fields were actually yellow... but still soft with some recent moisture. Iowa was first on the docket and it was a mild 45 degrees, but getting windier with every passing moment. The Hodags were getting up to speed in warm-ups and Benji was an obvious firestarter as the contest commenced. 5th year super senior Tom Animal was opening up can's of whoop ass left and right - dishing out three straight breaks to start 3-0. Tom Murray was obviously ready to own the skies, going up huge for the first two scores, buffering his accolades of owning nearly the entire UPA Starting 7. Meanwhile, Matt Crumb swoops up a catch with a huge dive and pizza tosses the disc over his head, making Davidman jealous. It was not all fun and games as midfield turns resulted in a breaks as Alter and Masler were caught with their pants down deep, as Iowa brought the score closer at 3-2. Playing most unclutch at the precise moments, Wisconsin coughed up the lead 3-4 as Iowa gained momentum. Hector began whispering advice to Darth Klane, whose eyes glowed a murderous red. Jon Gaynah! rocketed a huge backhand allowing Murda to savagely sky n spike the disc, severing Diablo's pinky toe 4-4. Jake Smart is soo pumped up to see Patsy go down hard, he jerks it deep for the Hollywood speed show 5-4. Iowa steadies the ship with big shots and ruthless breaks 5-5. Adam Drews rockets a lazer flick to Gaynor for the awkward catch 6-5. Old Man Young wanted more and took in a big toss from Mannywood 7-5 half.
The Hodags began the second half on Defense and needed to keep up the intensity. The turns were flowing freely and the Hodags liked their chances hucking swill to Pat Donovan who twice skied entire packs of would be defenders with both heels planted firmly to the turf. However, sloppy choppy calls ruined the game for a moment as Iowa held 7-6. It continues to be stop and go as Darth Klane bombs to Gaynor, finishing to Davidman 8-6. Madison was irritated to such an extent that it become time to murder. Even Cullen spikes his headband proclaiming what every Hodag was thinking, "Fudge 'em Bucky!" On the second under cut of the point, Geppert gets a nasty layout D and immediately jukes his man to the cone 9-6 Double Happiness! Wisconsin's energy escalates everything as Jake responds, "You are in a freaking dreamworld right now!" Simmons seizes his first chance with a sick nasty under layout bid, just scraping the disc, and Crumb makes it back-to-back layout attempts, snacking the D. Mannywood breaks again to Simmons for the lead 10-6. Iowa is staggering, but scores quickly on the wind change 10-7. The Offense begins taking unnecessary deep shots, turning the disc so many times you would have thought Feldman was on the field... The cap sounds and Iowa scores 10-8, making the game interesting. However, Wisco holds easily upwind and breaks to win as Hollywood Feldner rips a flick to Dan Park 12-8. Meanwhile, on showcase field number one, Colorado loses to Notre Dame in surprise move.
In the second round, it was Illinois ready to throw down. Like any decent Midwest town, the afternoon winds picked up considerably and rocked every swilly disc thrown into the atmosphere. The Offense begins the contest as Bjergies rips a nasty flick to Jimmy Foster for the Bam Hand Club Spike 1-0. Illinois works the disc patiently, almost scoring until Matt Young interjects for a goal line layout D, sticking out his tongue after ruthlessly making up several yards. Masler grips it and rips it for Crumbly Bumbbly for the diving catch Double Happiness 2-0. The Hodags are feeling good and even Hector commented, "Holy Shit, Crumb can get D's at will! AT WILL!" Meanwhile, Colorado was now battling Florida on showcase field #1, as Callahan Contender MacPhearSon Taylor gets the Brodman with a bigtime sky. The Hodags are running hard and playing physical defense right on the hip. The intensity is showing as Animal, Gaynor, Davidman, and J-Fo all get layout D's on the marathon point, but dismal execution allows Illinois to break back 2-2. Wisconsin holds on Offense as Murda runs down an errant pass and rips a nasty Huck to the Jizzler for the spike 3-2. Mannywood flexes his guns, flying in for a sick D snag and then finishing to Cullen for the break 4-2, all transpiring as Alter is "Lost in Space!" Benji manages two straight turns after another nasty T-Murda huck is called back and Geppert is so pissed he layout D's his dude under. The super soft call is made and Wisconsin turns on this kid like pack of ravenous Hodags! After the violence calms down, Darth Klane rips a goal to Jon Gaynor as Wisconsin leads 5-3. Illinois takes advantage of the lulling wind for a quick score and break 5-5 off a double Murda-Cullen mack D, swooped up garbage style. The down-wind break followed as Illinois led 6-5. The Offense struggled to move the disc in the worsening conditions and insult to injury, Gaynor is led straight into a head-on-head collision by Bergen and goes down to ruthless concussion. JImmy Foster is so pissed now, muttering murderous thoughts as he is forced to the sideline by fellow H.S. teammate Jake Smart, who proclaims, "Screw Gaynor, we don't need him!" The River Ganges is later seen stumbling and crying on the sideline muttering, "My teammates don't love me anymore." This was all the provocation Jake Needham'd as he ripped a laser bomb to Tomacide for the dirty-girl spike 6-6. Mannywood takes it to half by rocketing an upwind backhand to Ben Feldman for the halftime break 7-6.
The Hodags are pissed about not running hard, specifically Masler who strangles Zach Alter for a brief moment before regaining composure, only to begin screaming again! Summer League Ringer Matt Crumb brings back the love with a perfectly performed "Frieeeeeends Fooooorrrrrever!" Illinois doesn't like the sound of that and immediately jump kicks Crumb in the back on a sky ball, leaving Dr. Young very surly on the turf. AlterZone sees some 500 ball swill and attacks the pile, skying Pat and 4 other players as Wisconsin holds 8-7. However, the wind is overpowering as Illinois scores and breaks upwind to lead 9-8. The game stops for a moment as the Hodags gather kindling, brush, and a large black kettle, for which to sacrifice Ben Feldman's soul! Illinois watches aghast as Cullen and Animal savagely break off and devour Ben's throwing hand and subsequently, arm. After that mess is cleaned up, Wisconsin scores upwind as Manny hits Drews 9-9. The hard cap immediately sounds and it is universe point! Monster Masler suddenly appears apparates onto the line, eyes glowing red, as Foster's Dark Mark burned hot baby blue. Monster Jazzler Mazler was just overhead muttering, "I'm gonna rip this. I'm gonna rip this." The pull goes 12 seconds and 84 3/4 yards, smothering Illinois. Foster snacks on a hail mary turn and Crumb finishes to Tom Murray for the first pump 10-9 win. The final huddle is not a happy one as both Foster and Animal rip the Hodags for not running hard. "Run 110% on the field because we have fresh legs! Don't save yourself!" Meanwhile, Florida was playing Colorado right next door and had taken a big 11-6 lead on Mamabird. But Co stormed back and tied the game, sending it to universe. The Brodsman jacked a 500 ball and Florida wins as Mr. Smith is awarded the Best College Offense Award.
Wisconsin is set to play Georgia, who has struggled against the top tier opponents so far this year and was yet to play Colorado on the day. The Hodags begin on Offense with wide open lines - determined to make the legs count. An explosion of fun ensues as Darth Klane comes out hot, scoring off a low release Drews laser toss 1-0. The Defense is ready to work as Matt Crumb gets the first layout D. The Hodags break as Cullen rips upwind for the 2-0 break to Simmons for the accidental skip spike at the feet of a Georgia defender. Now on the showcase field, the GA player swoops up the disc and rips it 60 yards straight out the side of the end zone, down the hill, and into the nearby woods. Tensions rose interestingly and Cinnabuns was not ready to wrastle, strapping on his headgear and putting his grill in GA's face. It was so intense for one split moment that even Brodman limped over to offer his opinion. Hector is the peacemaker, settling the Hodags and urging them to play on. Animal is seen gripping a dagger and staring menacingly at the Jojah sideline. Jake Smart rips a sick nasty flick Boom Headshot to roommate Diablo Donovan who click click click sky'd 3-0. Georgia finally scores 3-1 and Lazer responds with his own version of a Pew Pew! Boom Headshot going full field for T-Murda skydom 4-1. Georgia burns a timeout and gets it together - scoring and breaking twice as Adam Drews accidentally nails Freshman Armstrong who is standing on the sideline, stealing all of Wisconsin's fire! Jon requests to be buried alive rather than sacrificed once he realized it was a game disc thrown by his own teammates which nailed him so savagely now 4-4. The crowd now begins to cheer and the Hodags burn a timeout, allowing J-Foster a chance to tear the team a new one. Foster is one scaring mofo when he is pissed and every word radiated on this rant, "100% intensity on the field, every fucking point! I only have some many points left in my season and every one counts so run your ass off!" Darth Klane holds the Offense down scoring to Bergen 5-4 as the game begins to trade. Old Man Crumb erupts into a rage and begins getting layout D's upon command, but it is 5-5. Evan Klane calls "On Fire" as he hits Tomacide for another huge deep shot sky to lead 6-5, and Evan's fourth assist of the first half. Georgia manages to scores and after a timeout, steal a break 6-7 for half, leaving Wisconsin bewildered. It was an interesting huddle indeed but the mantra remained, "Play to have fun and just run! Run 100% because your buddy will if you don't." Madison takes the message to heart and storms out of half in a Defensive rampage. Jake Smart throws big goals to Matt Crumb and Cullen Geppert - both Double Happiness transition break goals for Wisconsin to lead 8-7. The rout is on as the blood in water only rallies the Hodags. Cullen Geppert continues to wreck havor, scoring 3 breaks on 3 points and putting the hurt to Georgia. Ben Feldman and Matt Crumb continue to pace the breaks as Wisconsin races to an 11-7 lead. Georgia halts the potential Oatbag with a score to make it 11-8. Tom Murda skies for a D and brings in the Double Happiness goal from Darth Klane now 12-8. The game ended tragically on cap as Georgia made a spectacular layout grab for a score 12-10. Matt Crumb won the game MVP by knocking down 5 layout D's - literally on command as the MUFA vertical stack that GA was running must have spurred the dominant performance. Wisconsin plays Florida last and wants revenge - especially in the brutal wind - hitting 25 mph often.
It was a Red Bull warm-up for Wisconsin who lounged a moment before almost running the same Seattle end zone drill as Florida, to which J-Fo responded, "Oh no, fudge that! Box Drill!" It was actually Bergen who realized that this game would suck without observers, but Coach Windham and Cyle were on hand to overrule any discrepancy. For the first time all weekend, Wisconsin starts on Defense going upwind and rips the pull to the brick. Brodie lumbers over the disc and instantly rifles a super high blade hammer to three streaking defenders for the in eyeball Troll traffic goal 1-0. Wisconsin shrugs it off as a WTF?, again wondering why Florida has to suck so hard. Manny tries the same huck before Feldman finds Davidman with a looper flick 1-1, as the Hodags rush the field, fired up. Florida continues to run bullshit offense, hucking a big backhand to which Animal D's 5 Gators deep, before relenting a score 1-2. It is Hollywood to Davidman again for Wisconsin now 2-2, as the Hodags are making possession saving layout grabs all over the field. After the Trouble in Vegas fiasco, to which Wisconsin was pwning on Florida before crapping it pants, it was Wisconsin who wanted to prove Florida actually sucks at Ultimate. Nobody on the Hodags was afraid of constant bullshit hucking, as most players had seen or played Muffin in action. It was time to bust it open as Evan boomed it deep to Tom Murrrrrda who skies the fuck out of Brodie and then hits the streaking Cullen for the upwind break 3-2. Murdaballs checks The Brodsman off the UPA Starting Seven List, having now brutally skied Dempsey and Brodie, with Neff and Mac still to come. However, after all the commotion, Madison poops themselves and allows Fl an upwind score and downwind break to steal the lead back 3-4. Wisconsin is a bit pissed because "They did what we thought they would do!" But during the escalation, observers were desperately needed as Brodie layout murdered Dr. Crumb. Matt Young went up two hands for a hammer and Brodie Smith clobbered him straight up in a murderously dangerous play and then was a total dick about the foul, contesting to send it back. If you are going to injure and go directly through someone's torso to get the D - you probably shouldn't contest it and thus Brodie's Callahan stock declines. Muffin administers a sideline TMF and Wisconsin scores 4-4 as Jimmy Foster brings it in from Animal, who has played the first 8 points of the game. Murray takes so long to pull that Brodie calls Offsides (WTF?) and makes Wisco pull it again... After that, Florida continues to punt deep, throwing 500 style double helix hammers to 3 Florida receivers. On one attempt, Troll attempts a greatest which hits cheating douchebag #12 right in the gloves for a drop. Ben Feldman catches a goal from Mannywood as the game evens 6-6. Wisconsin is in perfect position to take half, especially when Mannywood styles an entire pile of would be Florida receivers. However, Madison chokes up an upwind break off a garbage completed mack D huck for a goal line timeout, punched in for half 6-7... total bullshit. Florida boner checks itself as this contest is mostly being played in a brisk walk due to the ridiculous wind and fast break cheating by Florida. Animal and Murda combined to play nearly the entire first half at 10 points and basically the whole game at 17 points plus.
The Hodags are pissed with the Gators but somehow get pulled into the punting Shit Box out of half as Florida breaks 4 times to lead 11-6. It is very frustrating as the winds overpower most discs. Florida is completing their hucks wheras the Hodags are punting turns. The double teaming Zone isn't helping either. However, Muffin finds a small laugh as he calls "Offsides" on Florida, only for The Brodster to believe it, trying to re-pull his brutal OB rip. Even Coach Windham laughs as bystanders can't make on-the-field calls, usually made by observers... Anyway, in the final moments, Wisconsin is able to snap out of it and work the disc, scoring twice before the contest ends 8-13. Wisconsin takes a deep breathe and huddles it in. Mental errors, throwing miscues, and bad decision making marked the entire game. It was the same mistakes as always, but this time the Hodags didn't respond. Soon is was food and late night NCAA hoops with Michigan St. vs. UNC for the championship. The only bright spot of the Florida game was Gaynor returning to action in the waning moments of the day, giving the Hodags a small morale boost. Overall, it was decent day for the Hodags but a disappointing finish as the revenge game for Florida will have to wait until Nationals. Sunday looks like afternoon showers, but the morning will be beautifully windy.
Sunday morning was exactly that - ridiculously windy with gusts up to and beyond 35mph straight upwind/downwind. Wisco begins on Offense and works downwind with stretching deep looks and easy unders as Tom Murray finishes to Adam Drews 1-0 on the quick score. On the other hand, Kansas works the disc downwind very slowly and barely scores with a high release backhand on the goal line 1-1. Straight Drews is feeling it as he rips a Boom Headshot to the fully healed Gaynor taking the lead 2-1. Kansas' offense looks sluggish as they complete a stall 9 hammer, hauled in most stealthily for the 2-2 tie. Wisco is in no mood to mess around as Darth Klane rips a big huck to T-Murda 3-2. Tomacide is dominating on Sunday and throws his third assist to Drews for his 2nd goal now 4-3. The D is mostly lackluster as Kansas gets a lucky deep shot 4-4. The Hodags are again on the showcase field as Drews finds Davidman for the hold 5-4. The crowd gives Jake Smart the business as he is toasted to the cone 5-5 with a Horrorzontal spike even. Lazer Klane remains unstoppable as he hits the speedster Drews for his 5th score of the first half now 6-5 Wisco. The Hodags burn a timeout to steal half, but only show the first glimmer of intensity as Kansas somehow holds 6-6. It must be the wind as Davidman drops a goal and Lazer bobbles another, giving Axel a full field upwind huck, to timeout to goal line punch-in for half 6-7.
Despite the solid Offensive play, the Defense was struggling to keep up its end of the bargain, trading the whole half and getting only two chances with the disc to break. Sure enough at halftime, the wind began to shift suddenly, reversing the field position. Madison yells about showcasing some tough physical hard-nosed defense but it is to deaf ears as impossibly the Hodags have no fire, no layout bids, and inexplicably no will to win. It seems like the loss to Florida took the wind out of the Hodag sails this morning and with it the desire the win. Kansas holds out of half 8-6 and Wisconsin tightens its belt. Evan Klane rips a goal to Gaynor to make it 7-8, but the Defense just isn't getting it done on the field. Sloppy miscues allow Kansas to score and break to 10-7, but the scenario is still the same, one upwind break to tie the contest. Darth Lazer scores a goal from Manny as the game is within 2 at 8-10. Wisconsin furiously needs a turnover and upwind break, but they continue to play like pussies. Kansas scores and lets up another upwind break, making it 8-12 and curtains! Muffin was very angry and slapping players left and right, but it was of no use... the Hodags couldn't kindle a fire with a freaking blowtorch. It wasn't even possible to slap these kids hard enough to begin caring and their fate was sealed. Feldman finds Foster for a goal to make it 9-12, but its obviously curtains as Axel bobbles a mack D catch before sealing it 9-13. The Hodags were a bit salty with the result and a brutal loss to the Horrorzontals was not good news. "Embarrassing loss," was all Hector could mutter. The 2009 Hodags are young and their mental lapses have allowed the likes of Virginia, Tennessee, Washington, and now Kansas to chalk up victories against them this season. Muffin could only speak to individuals at this point, urging handlers to value the disc and play smart.
Next up was Michigan and Wisconsin, at the very least, needed to act tougher, even if that wasn't that case. With the spiraling winds, the Hodags did not seem excited to play, not excited to win and at times fucking clueless and helpless of how to take over a game. Things look worse as Michigan scores and breaks upwind to lead 2-0, giving Evan the walrus. If Wisconsin was to respond it would be now, as Muffin and Hector imposed their will upon the sidelines. The Hodags finally score downwind as Gaynor rips a sweet breakside backhand huck to Murda 1-2. Wisconsin then gets an easy break as Jake finds Manny on a little dishy 2-2. With the momentum in hand, Wisconsin breaks again as Murda rips deep to Cullen 3-2 on a long point. The rampage is on and the Hodags bust a nut with Manny ripping a nasty flick to Ben Feldman 4-2. A marathon point ensues and it looks as if Michigan will never score ever again, but 9 turns later it is 4-3 as the open Wisconsin lines couldn't finish Magnum off. Will Neff begins to play well, scoring and coaxing Michigan to break twice to lead 4-5, firing up the Hodags all over again. As the intensity builds, Gaynor gets open in the zone a rips a huge flick to Davidman now 5-5. Michigan tries to play the nice-guy game, but Wisconsin is finding the defensive zone, despite Foster and Murda crashing into each other both bidding for a layout D. J-Flo then scores to Old Man Crumb to lead 6-5 and Wisconsin steals half downwind as Gaynor gets a poach catch D in the lane and rips a 50 yard hammer to Crumb who finishes to Feldman 7-5 half! The noob Hodags worship Gaynor's fancy throws as Wisconsin looks to finish strong.
Madison is on Offense out of half and shreds Magnums zone with 7 perfectly placed fast throws 8-5 as Bjergies spikes it hard. Magnum scores on some swillyness 8-6 as a layout over the shoulder Matt Crumb mack D is ran down and bidded for the grab deep in the endzone. Wisconsin pounds in another quick and perfect O point to lead 9-6 as Davidman finishes. Lazer Klane rips a huge huck to Patsy for the sky spike break now 10-6 and gaining steam. Michigan scores to make it 10-7, but the Hodags are at another defensive level in the brutal 35 mph winds. The Hodags have the confidence to work the disc as Jon "Dialed In" Gaynor rips another huck to Davidman 11-7. Mannywood and Masler punch in the last two breaks as Wisco wins easily 13-7, demoralizing the revenge seeking Michigan. Wisconsin was happy to put together a strong game top-to-bottom and glad to bounce back after the atrociously played Kansas game.
The last round was negotiated to be Colorado vs. Wisconsin, just for something fun to watch. However, Mamabird and the Hodags were forced down to the last field for their exhibition game on the 15th place field, which surprisingly came with observers. Wisconsin barely managed a drill before game time as Muffin heckled Colorado's pre game possessions. It was Offense first going downwind, in probably 35+ mph winds. Overall, it would be brutally freaking gusty, but at times, manageable due to the nearby hills and full tree cover. At this point of the weekend, the fields were getting messed and travels were coming left and right as the field below their feet was "traveling." The Hodag lesson for this game was run as hard as you can because this is the last game of the weekend. Darth Lazer took the opening possession and rifled a head-level huck to Drews who finished to Murray 1-0. Colorado was looking strong, scoring as Simmons landed in no-man's-land and breaking upwind to lead 1-2, as Gaynor slipped in the mud. Despite the slow start, Wisconsin chills out and goes to work, taking unders and holding 2-2 as Drews and Gaynor gutted out another long hard O point. Crumb was still playing like a stud and tosses a goal to Jon KillStrong as the Hodags led 3-2. Colorado responds and scores three in a row to lead 5-3, once giving Wisconsin the walrus. Zach Alter is able to stop the bleeding, putting a flick blade on the money to Gaynor 5-4, as Colorado had been running a poachy zone, not guarding the third handler what-so-ever. Colorado is running the side-iso stack through Mac Taylor and score to take half 7-4. Wisconsin isn't out of the game, but lacking in confidence. Muffin lays out the game plan and encourages the team to finish the tournament strong. "If this were freaking finals, would you be running harder?" There was plenty of work to be done and Wisconsin was definitely getting better at slowing down Mamabird, but not enough as the lead widened to 4-8. Colorado had broken 4 times in the first half and now it was on the Hodags to roar to life. Adam Drews hits Gaynor for Wisconsin as the game stands at 5-8. Mannywood busts out a Cursebreaker as he two-feet standing skies Pebbles on the goal line and then punches in the score to KillStrong 6-8. The Hodags are firing back with high pressure D as Matt Crumb brutally footblocks Mac Taylor, but Mamabird holds 6-9. Muffin almost calls a timeout, but Big Jim S calls it first, as both teams are looking completely exhausted for the moment. Wisconsin needs to keep fighting and Zach Alter rips another Boom Headshot to Drews for the score 7-9. The battle continues only for Jazzler Jizzler to find Crumbly for a break 8-9. Colorado holds to 8-10 before Gaynor finds Murray 9-10. Wisconsin is feeling it and wants another break as Jimmy Foster brutal skies and finishes to Crumbly again now 10-10. Captain Foster is fueling the fire and hollers at the next D line, "No Under!" he screams for 6 straight times, only for Animal to steal all of his fire and go Zone. The Hodags get the turn allowing Jimmy Foster to find Cullen for the break now 11-10 Hodags. With the end in sight and the Veteran Hodags playing like studs, Wisconsin was setting the tone. Marathon points are now the norm as the game trades to 11-11. Wisconsin manages 5 footblocks in the game and evens the game despite being down 4 breaks in the first half. Adam Drews is now the workhorse, throwing three straight goals (2 Murda) and keeping Wisconsin churning 14-13. Jon Gaynor made a huge under layout D, when the disc was thrown before the Mamabird cutter even came out of his cut. Ganges was overheard later saying, "Either I'm going to D this or that guy was going to make the catch of his life." Co continues to hold as the game pushes to universe 14-14, as Animal just misses a perfect layout D chance. The final point is chilly until a pick/foul allows Bergen to heads-up keep playing, throwing a flick to space for Foster. The observers convene and the point is replayed as Brodie looks on bewildered. Bergen ends up double scoring the last point to Jimmy who takes off the disc as his teammates immediately chase him in jubilation. Wisconsin ended the tournament 5-2, but ending on a high note. Foster then steals the tray of rice-crispy brownies, only to again be chased by his teammates. T-Murda finishes crossing Mac off his list of Starting 7 Studs and then congratulates Crumb on his many footblocks. The Hodags ate riceless burritoes with Co at the nearest Qdoba as Mac chatted deeply with Hector.
And like every weekend, the Hodags are exhausted and heading back to the end of semester and the beginning of the College Series. If Wisco lay's an egg now - there are no second chances and team's are headed home instead. With a weekend off for Easter - Sectionals and Regionals are back-to-back weekends in Whitewater and Northfield respectively. The Defense begins is assault on the Offense, winning the poor snowy/rainy/awful field conditions battles. Find your Sectionals costumes now.

Terminus 2009

2009-03-14T18:48:00.012-05:00

Wisconsin had a short week to recover. The Stanford Invite had taken a lot of energy out of the trusty legs and there was very little time to even so much as comprehend the mid season evaluations which were running rampant amongst the Hodag core. With the new agility ladder, Wisconsin is getting more athletic and generally more intelligent as a team. This is not good news for anyone else. The 2009 season was supposed to be rebuilding time, as the graduation of 9 studs and the departure of 5 other starters puts new clothes on the old face - Hodag Intensity.
However, most Hodags skipped Wednesday practice as Spring Break had officially started. The ride down to Georgia was quick enough as the anticipation was overpowering. The weather was not as excited as misty rain combined with chilly winds made for crappy conditions. Nonetheless, Wisconsin was ready to own on teams. But the domination would have to wait until the pulls landed in-bounds as Jake and Animal took turns missing the field and then arguing/screaming at each other was they walked down the field. The first game was against Iowa State and fresh legs were a must for Madison. Dave Wiseman was playing strong D as Armstrong bombed a 30 yard flick huck for a score as Wisconsin played efficient and well across the board 13-6. Next up was Rhone Island and the Hodags feasted 13-3, riding Jerry's wide open and well timed under cuts not to mention Manny's filthy good looks. Wisconsin played Kennesaw State next and continued to showcase their dominance winning something 13-3. The rookie Hodags are beginning to get comfortable in the sets and are finally breaking through to make plays. The best moments for the Offense is that they went unnoticed, scoring easily with cutter to cutter movement. Wisconsin continues to adapt to an ever-changing roster as Hollywood refused to get his new cleats dirty, smarking about "Wet ground and groin tears don't mix pacho." Gaynor breathed a sign of relief, knowing the Hodags probably saved something like 6 turnovers from Benji's IO flick. The last game of the day was against Delaware, who had one tall stud who was making plays everywhere. Darth "I need a nut tap" Klane was bombing IO flicks for headshots as Big Patsy skied big in the drizzly conditions 3-4. Wisconsin needed to make some mid-game adjustments to shut down Mr. InDelware who was hucking, skying, and toasting for scores, taking the lead 5-7. Captain J-Fo was growing anxious and Dan Park appeared clueless for how best to quell The Sideshow's momentum, as they held out of half 6-9. It was growing colder, raining and a clamy 45 degrees. Wisconsin called a timeout and roared something fericious, determined to finish on top. The Offense took control of the field, ripping off 29 yard cutter to cutter unders for pancake headspikes. Animal set a box-3-and-1 on Delamatrix which completely shut him down something brutal. The Hodags took control of the momentum and OATBAG'd for the win! Boo ya in the eyeball! Overall, Madison was making big strides with most of the team playing well! The Offense's philosophy of scoring the disc every time was finally working out regularly as Veteran's Gaynor and Murray showed the ropes to Chrispy and Davidman. Jake pulled the disc out of bounds apparently like 18 times, but played shut down defense for it. Wisconsin plays the winner of Truman State/FSU and was on the inside track for a finals appearance as Georgia and Minnesota had both lost during the day. Wisconsin was pumped to crush on team's and decided to give Darth Lazer another nut tap just for a good Spring Break joke. Sunday morning - global warming - tournament canceled.

Stanford Invite 2009

2009-03-14T18:47:00.024-05:00

Midterms versus practice was the mantra in the weeks leading up to the Stanford Invite. The Hodags were feeling good and relatively fast, but still struggling to find a clear team identity. Needless to say, but during an ultimate season the injuries and bruises certainly begin to take their toll on the starters. Mardi Gras hadn't been particularly easy either and Trouble in Vegas showed the lowest possibility of the valleys. But Hodags are confident and all the veterans knew the expectation of winning well. After 3 straight hard workouts, Wisconsin relaxed for a moment to enjoy a pasta dinner at the disc house. The Badgers were rocking Minnesota and during the commercials Antonia Banderas showed off the finer points of murdering your enemies in a stunning over-the-top Desperado. The topic of rule changes sprang up as Jake argued the merits of Carleton and Florida no longer being able to call "Travel." The Refzervers were calling active up/down, travel calls, and most notably, putting the disc into play at stoppages with a 3, 2, 1 whistle. This would lead to countless faulty violation calls throughout the weekend as the disc was tapped in before the referee was in position to call it. Either way, these were big time changes for the speed of the game. Stanford was always a fun trip because it was a chance to see beautiful southern California. Riding through the airport on a wheelchair was exhausting as Murda demanded to sit on Muffin's lap. The plane ride was over sooo quickly... "And then you won a third national championship and made the world's team..." was the wonderful dream Morfin was experiencing before being woken up by the stewardess to a simple question, "Would you like a muffin?" To a sleepy grin, "Yes, yes Muffin would love a muffin."
Soon Wiseman and Muffnuts were waiting for Murray to get a minivan in the airport lobby. Immediately music (osman mirza's selection) was being tapped into over the interwebs until Murda's debit card got rejected. Muffnuts crutched clumsily to counter past at least 20 waiting patrons, and begins to haggle over the price of the car. "Well it's an extra $25 per day if the driver is under 25," with a stern stare. Murder pounds the counter in disgust but Muffin responds, "Good thing I'm 26." “Oh great, here's your total then,” with a warm smile. Wiseman then proceeded to steal the wrong car, which had to be unpacked and repacked again. As Tomacide winds through traffic, several bums are pushed into the street, fighting with construction workers, and openly begin peeing into oncoming traffic. Minivan Ganges was the leading contender of living it up in SoCal, going hiking and disc golfing - running into Kablanza, Big Jim S, and a couple of terrible looking Jam players. As it turns out, Hollywood Feldman doesn't quite get the mechanics of disc golf, such as hurling an object as opposed to low release air bounce super IO loopers popping straight up and nailing trees at 10 yards. This was followed up by 4 giant meals, not to mention a sushi hut in which a wasabi eating contest turned south. Morfin taps the server, "Is this going to be okay to eat?" The server's eyes widen and exclaims, "Oh, that is crazy!" But the bet is on and Muffin strategically plops the egg roll laden with wasabi into his mouth. Meanwhile Alter attempts to con the parking attendant who tracks him down at dinner. During the 4th meal, the Madison Lids guy sauntered in to examine his handywork as J-Fo and Jake argued over who would hit on their high school tropthy wife hot friend more. This couldn't even top the closing moments of the 1.5 hour car ride to Ripon, until Gaynah began crying to a moving serenade from the Armageddon soundtrack. Upon arriving at Hotel Erotica, complete with celebrating Oregon honey’s rushing to the pool looking for a Hodag stud to give them a late night tuck in. But Wisconsin was sleepy falling fast asleep... until the middle of the night when Manny tripped over Jake Smart into the TV, almost murdering the slumbering Muffnuts.
Stanford is first into the breakfast room and unusually lively for this early in the morning. SuperFly decided it was time play flower-finger-trap game, apparently given just that morning as a buddy gift. The game progressed loudly as Murda slapped down his waffle. Meanwhile the girl talk chatter was growing, “1-2-3-4 – pick a color… R-E-D.” The tumultuous uproar of whatever was read drowned out all sound and jolted all those in the breakfast room immediately aware as the moderately paced room was thrust into an orgasm of silliness and screeching girls as it turned into an amazing show of female combradiery. The rest of breakfast would be a blur.
Wisconsin was confident per usual, but already down to 20 players as they departed from the La Quinta and traipsed to the cars. It was a chilly 38 degrees out, very dewy and wet. Wisconsin's sideline looked very sparse during warm-ups as Doughyu missed his flight and Simmons was too sick to finish a single warm-up lap. A multitude of Hodags were at the trainer's tent getting taped and lubbed up. Wisconsin did manage to ascertain an entire field and tried to build some stream in warm-ups, but it was slow going as the first round started at 8:30am. The Hodags squared off with the UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs first. Darth Klane and John Bergen were the only two Hodags ready to throw down immediately, transitioning on backfield turns for easy floater goals 2-1. Jazzy Jizzler ripped the first break of the day to Diablo Donovan for the sky break 3-1. Madison sneaks a Zone set and immediately breaks downwind to lead 4-1 as T-Murda finds Feldner beating his man to the cone. Santa Cruz calls a timeout and regroups - scoring and breaking back to tighten the game to 4-3. Darth Lazer must have been feeling the Valley Fever as he sliced and diced for the next 2 assists putting Wisconsin up 6-4. The Hodags could not finish on D for half as Feldman on mack D's the disc and Santa Cruz snatches the upwind swill 6-5. Madison settled for 7-5 as Adam Drews hit Jimmy Foster for sky. Soon enough, Lil' Jimmy rolls up the sideline, along with the Foster's! The Hodags rejoiced for the moral support, but couldn't pound in the break out of half, now just 7-6. Zach Alter rips a big flick to Drews as Wisconsin responds to 8-6. The Brodags now turn up the pressure as Cupcakes Mannywood has already played 12 points. The Banana Slugs turf a disc to a diving receiver who spikes the disc into the air angerily, only for Janet to clap catch the disc and pop a quick breakside goal to Matt Crumb for the immediate score 9-6. Wisconsin struggled to slam the door and UCSC broke back to 9-8, keeping the game close and the sidelines tense. Adam Drews burns for his 4th goal of the game, now 10-8 and Santa Cruz keeps pace 10-9. The soft cap horn blows and Foster punches in another score to put Wisconsin up 11-9 in a game to 13. The Hodags stack the line and immediately break as Feldner floats a flick up to Diablo for the sky spike 12-9. Santa Cruz hucks upwind and Hollywood gets into good position, but again mack D's the disc into a waiting Banana Slug now 12-10. Jimmy Foster finishes the game with a nasty huck to the waiting Gaynor 13-10 Hodags. Murray and Animal paced the Hodags on defense as both collected two blocks during the contest. Wisconsin is not especially happy with their team wide intensity and vow to play at least a little bit better, considering that UCSC hung with Wisco the whole game despite only having a couple of ballers. The junk was struggling against the vertical sets and the general inexperience was shining through.
The second game was against the Sockeye stud Nate Castine laced Western Washington DIRT. The Hodags were still auspiciously without fire and anger, desperately needing a firestarting spark! Billiam Lokke called in the conference call, urging Wisconsin pwn on this knickny-knacky bullshit. Castine was ready to carry DIRT from the start, pulling huge, playing tight D on Foster deep as Bergen tossed up a stall 9 huck, at a normal stall 6 count. The refzesers were also flexing their muscles early on, calling half a dozen early travels and offsides calls - keeping both teams honest and concerned about this new presence. Overall, their effect on the game was positive after the player's adjusted to the new style of game flow. In the pre-game huddle, Old Man Crumb asks, "Do they have whistles then?" Anyway, Castine rips a 65 yard upwind flick for the brutal sky and eventually Wisconsin pushes the disc back a couple yards, again to Nate. Castine tries the open side under only for Straight Drooze to get a nasty layout D and putting the Wisconsin sideline into a frenzy! However, fast counts and stealthy poaches were hurting Wisco as DIRT broke 0-1 to start. Zach Alter scores to Darth Lazer 1-1 and the Hodags needed to set the tone and play our game. Western Washington is playing inspired disc, taking deep shots and easy unders to set the pace 4-3. Captains Lazer and J-Fo are pacing the offense with steady upwind Offense to tie the game 4-4. Wisconsin finally lucks out and finishes one of the countless opportunities to break as Jizzler pops a high release to Dan Park for the break 5-4. DIRT responds and scores a marathon point hammer to stay in the game 5-5 and then quickly breaks to steal the lead 5-6. Cupcakes Mannywood decides it is time to make plays as Manny bombs a 50 yard upwind flick for a T-Murda sky 6-6! Wisconsin screams Boom Headshot, but fails to steal half as WW takes it 6-7. Wisconsin is now pissed. Old Man Crumb screams about setting the bar higher and running this bitches into the ground! The Hodags are feeling the hate and proceed to immediately hit the kill switch, letting the beat build! Foster and Muffin bet on how best to get the D and score it, both agreeing to disagree. Madison stacks the line out of half and gets a deep turnover. Mannywood brings the disc to the cone and rips a Muffinesque 75 yard upwind bomb for a Hollywood sky and spike goal 7-7. Even Julie Foster comments, "That's nice," as the screaming bridge immediately ensues. The Hodags roar, retch, and rampage into a ravenous riptide! Jerry gets into the game and proceeds to get an under layout D on the isolation set, sparking ridiculousness!! Feldman pops a 55 yard downwind flick to the lumbering giant Diablo for the clap spike now 8-7. DIRT burns a timeout, but the damage has been done; the Hodags have hit the kill switch! Matt Crumb completely takes over and bids over the shoulder to tip a fluttering disc, which is unbelievably caught by WW. The sweet catcher swings the disc and proceeds O2 only for Crumb to spring up, chase him down, and then layout D him against with a hip thrust celebration. Wisconsin is on fire and Old Man Young cashes in the break on the open side with a two handed catch now 9-7, taking full revenge on for Castine's earlier layout bid which brutally table-topped Dr. Crumb onto his neck. Wisconsin opens the lines and WW scores to make it 9-8. Zach Alterzone hucks a terrible floaty flick upwind, but J-Fo is able to toe sky the line for the hold 10-8. Crispy Pearce scores a deep goal from Alter as Wisconsin pulls to 11-9. Animal throws a nasty invert huck to Masler who finishes to Murray now 12-9. Darth Klane finishes to the workhorse Gaynah for the finishing touches 13-10 Wisconsin. The sun is now fully blinding as Madison thanks the refzesers and relaxes for their bye round - waiting to play Wash U and Carleton in the following rounds. To this juncture, Adam Drews and Gaynor are playing really solid and burning all over the field as Simmons is forced to sullenly watches from the sidelines – claiming to be ailing too severely to run hard. As King MuffinPuff stalks to the minivan to some more sunscreen Muffnuts spikes a minivan crowded with boys mesmerized and slowly passing around a penthouse. That didn’t even compare with the free burrito Skipp was graciously donating to the hungry noise in Morfin and Crospy’s stomachs as they sensually shared the delicious burrito. The field complex was actually very nice – despite the lavish dosage of Valley Fever – and the huge sloping hills gave a perfect sight to the many high profile games happening everywhere as California stormed back and took down Colorado.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin was warming up in several end zone’s, to which games were still happening – but not the field with Wash U of St. Louis who was battling Humbuldt State to the depths of insanity. The Buds came away smiling and even made Cowboy Hat Jerome grin a bit. The Hodags took a calculated approach to the madness warming up again, running DragonShit simultaneously with the Gaynor pumping out deep hammers. As the game commenced, it became clear that the Hodags were playing dominate D and utilizing masterful deep looks. Wash U was under prepared for the assault the Hodags levied – as run through D after huck after sky after ruthless juke put the score out of reach. Wisconsin was sure to finish the game strong – flexing for the first time all weekend and clearly looking forward to playing Carleton.
The Hodags reached the next field with over 35 minutes to game time, resting for a moment and even fighting over food as the legs cooled. The CUT was playing with only 13 kids and as the day wore on they arrived looking perfectly dogged. Their jerseys were shabby and the Refs maneuvered the flip and opening statements. “Lets have a good clean game gentlemen.” Jerome and CK flashed fierce looks, while rustling their hair and smearing their eye black. Foster was unimpressed and quickly told the Ref’s not to take any of Jerome’s bullshit antics. The sidelines filled in and even the Hill Trolls made a note to attend this showcase game. Wisconsin scores on a very intense first point, spiking the disc directly into CUT’s face for the 1-0 lead. Carleton’s other 4 players then entered the game and it was a heated game immediately. Fat Kanner was ripping breakside hucks lazer deep and Fast Pants Lindsley was running down space with rampant authority. Florida began cheering and pointing as Jerome had raced onto the field, tackling and overpowering one of the refzervers while creating overall havoc and mayhem. It was only when Jerome wildly kicked out Muffin’s crutch did the crowd audibly gasp as Morfin subsequently wrestled Jerome to the ground in a mess of body parts. CK was budy turning the disc over as Dave Wiseman skied a pile of players, including Murda for the huge deep D. Crumb was not impressed and began hurting on CUT, getting layout D’s all over faces and dominating his match up.

Mardi Gras 2009

2009-02-24T20:30:00.019-06:00

Vegas Highlight video is up...

The journey began at 5:30am on Friday morning as 55 Hodags, Pimpdags, and Belladonnas packed onto a Charter Bus set to DEFCON Bonkers. Utilizing only a handful of stops - the Hodags survived the party central hotel and frenzied breakfast to arrive at the fields over an hour and a half early. It was beautifully nice, creeping to an eventual 60 degrees, no wind to speak of and clouds like circus cotton candy.

The schedule was set in stone -- Tennessee, Texas State, Minnesota, and finally Florida State. Wisconsin warmed up the big guns as the fields looked soft, dewy and painfully deserted yet. It was maybe 10 minutes before game time that Tennessee took their warm up laps. Wisconsin was confident, drilling hard, but lacking any real vocal authority. Jimmy Foster set the tone by hammering home running hard and breaking the game up into games to 3. Wisconsin started on O and worked very slowly and cautiously before Bergen hit Drews on the breakside 1-0. Animal and Tomacide were aggressive with the disc as the Hodags stormed to a 3-0 lead. Tennessee burned a timeout and completed the entire dynamic warm-up as the Hodags patted themselves on the back for such a strong start. Wisconsin traded to 5-2 as Foster skied deep finally and converted an isolation set. The wind was so soft that the idea of zone was abandoned. Adam Drews scored his third goal of the game to bring Wisconsin to 6-3. Wisco was in position to turn this game into a blowout but got sloppy with the disc, drops again. The score closed to 6-5 before Manny found Gaynor to take half 7-5.

The first halftime huddle for the Hodags was horribly hateful. The tongue lashing began immediately, exposing the quiet sideline and terrible help deep - leading to bullshit swill going in for scores. "This team is awful! Murder them!" But the response was timid and still unsure - like kids lost on Bourbon Street without their parents. The team-wide intensity was palpably lacking - just blips on the radar as Tom Murray was covering the entire field. Upon exiting the field after a double happiness, Murda was overheard, "That's why I can squat 3 hundo boys!" The Hodags came out of half tough - breaking on Defense as Cullen hit Jerry for the lead 8-5. Adam Drews scores his 4th goal of the game from Foster and Cullen rips a break to Jon Armstrong now 10-6. Again with the chance to finish the game strong, Wisconsin begins to fold like a paper crane. When the dust settles, Tennessee has rushed the field screaming multiple times and the game was tied 10-10! The Hodags slapped some faces and held on Offense to lead 12-11, still in good position to close out the game despite the miscues. Tennessee scored with another swilly deep shot to tie 12-12. Wisconsin is still ready to win before a brutal turf/slipped disc and head hanging put Tennessee up 13-12. Someone shat their pants and in a shocking turn of events a Davidman/Simmons sandwich was skied to lose 14-12. "What the fu-!" was the general consensus. Wisconsin slapped the joyous Southern hands before hanging their heads. As the Hodags pulled themselves up for a huddle, Texas State wanted to flip. Needless to say, Foster needed a minute. A Hodag needed to be sacrificed. Cullen stepped to the forefront - screaming about intensity, hate, and pwning! Foster was so angry he slipped out his favorite dagger and promptly slit Cullen's triceps, rending him paralyzed. The Hodags rallied into a frenzy and decided to play better.

But not immediately, as Texas State started strong and broke Wisconsin twice to start 0-2. Madison called their 5th timeout on the day thus far, and tried for the 3rd time to stop the bleeding on Offense. Tom Annen finally spoke up, screaming about making plays and finger pointing. The sideline intensity increased and Tom Murray exploded on some kids. Wisconsin scored 5 straight goals to lead 5-2. During the landslide, the stack is asking to run Chedderballs, but Murray just decided to take off deep, skying ridiculously (300+lbs!! in eyeball) for the goal. The Hodags were pissed and taking out their rage on Texas State. Half fell at 7-3, but Wisconsin was still very disappointed in themselves. Thus far in the season - the Hodags have dropped games to the likes of some shady teams. The second half was completely dominated by the Hodags. Manny tossed 3 breaks to Davidman and two more to Murda as the OATBAG went down big time. During one exchange Tom Murray put his hip into a kids face D'ing a disc 10'6 in the end zone. After the injury substitute, Murda takes off deep and skies in double coverage at 10'4 for the bookends 12-3. Bergen tossed the last goal to Drews as Wisconsin won 13-4, finally inspiring some confidence.

Round three would put the finally fired up Hodags against a frequent foe, Minnesota Grey Duck. The two teams chatted before the game, giving old friends had the chance to reunite. However the Pearce family reunion had to be put on hold as Chris wasn't able to make the trip because Chris was pulling a "Tim." The Hodags were fired up to start the game on D and the sidelines were finally stepping up the intensity, led by a hoarse-voiced Jake Smart and Big Patsy. But all that fire was ineffective on Tim Pearce who skied deep for the first goal and then tossed an upwind super-blade flick for a break to lead 0-2, over the outstretched Manny. Grey Duck lost their shit, mostly Lil' Orphan Arenson, who was painfully naive of the rules on several occasions. Wisconsin responded in a big way as Gaynor ripped a 40 yard cross field hammer into the end zone, Tom Murda racing and laying out for the snagged goal 1-2. Wisconsin exploded and Minnesota shat their pants. Animal immediately threw a huge flick to Gaynor to break 2-2. Big throws were going up by both teams as the game traded to 4-4, and Foster grabbed two straight goals. Manny bombed a flick break to KillStrong to lead 5-4. Suddenly, Darth Klane completely took over the game and threw the next three Hodag goals to lead 8-6 out of half. The game traded harmlessly until Davidman goes down in high-pitch screaming, wincing and writhing around the field like an earthworm after summer rain - claiming a cleated ankle. The Hodags show no sympathy from the sideline and is told frankly by Muffin to never show weakness on the the field again. "Never show pain, fatigue, or any sign of weakness on the field! I don't care what happened to you - if you broke your foot or lost your leg - don't for a single second show weakness! It is just as much a mental war as a physical war." But Davydman was in too much shock from his mental anguish to understand. Minnesota traded with the Hodags without further incident as neither defense could challenge the superior offense in the windy environment - ending 11-9 Hodags on cap.

The last game of the day was against Florida State, and the Hodags still had a chance to win the pool. The game started with Lil' Jimmy doing his best Steve Smith impression, skying a Packer for a touchdown 1-0. J-Fortune's nasty spike fired up the Defense who played relentlessly, breaking as Cup Cake layout D's the hitch and jams it in 2-0. After this transpired, it became clear that Florida State was either throwing the game or really not happy to be playing anymore. Wisconsin broke early and often, utilizing the full depth of the rookie's legs. Jerry and Armstrong paced the scoring while Dan Park got an under run-through D. Doughyu was moving the disc downfield, way better than Bergen would, and the Hodags jumped to a 7-2 lead. The scent of oats now filled the air as FSU folded and mailed it in, saving some energy for their upcoming game with Tennessee, no doubt. However, Ron Bjergendy attempted to flout his blades in the zone, giving up another score as the Hodags cruised to a 13-3 win. Simba Feldman was prowling the sidelines and giving updates all over -- and tricking the TD to get Wisconsin the #2 seed going into pre-quarterfinals on Sunday. Sure enough, as the pimped-out luxury Bus pulled out of the parking lot Simba rejoiced jubilantly as FSU was up 4-0 on Tennessee. Then later, as the Hodags showered and relaxed, Simba was on his celly - FSU takes half 7-5. And then, even at Happy Hour, Hollywood was texting his "connections" and ensuring Wisconsin's entry into ESPN Magazine.

Saturday night in Mardi Gras subsided with Bob having more beads than he could handle, Belladonna dominating the Happy Hour, and watching film. Dan Park made a cameo appearance in the balcony, sticking around just long enough to slide tackle Muffin's injured foot. Sunday morning was groggy as cell phones and backpacks were misplaced from room to breakfast to PimpBus. When the Hodags made it to the fields, again 1 hour and 20 minutes early, it was chilly and getting windier by the second. Texas A&M stepped to them in pre-quarters, the first of four games on the day. Wisconsin drilled hard and had steam starting the game, but failed to break as A&M opened 0-1. Alterzone bombed a huge flick to Lil' J-Focus for the tie 1-1. The Defense had a whole new look as Manny was resting his weary legs. Monster Mashler took control and bombed a goal to Simmons for the 2-1 lead. Wisconsin decided to throw some Zone when the wind become a noticeable factor. Texas A&M snapped a quick flick down the sideline and as J-Fo closed for the sure D he slipped in mud, wiping out and giving way 2-2. Lazer turned his cannon to Level Headshot and delivered a deep strike to Gaynor 3-2. Wisconsin increased the pressure as Bergen scored from Masler now 4-2 Wisco. At this point, J-Flow was picking up the slack as Manimal was in hibernation. But the stipulation of J-Faja playing D is that he demands to pull as Captain. However, the 90 yard blade backhand pull hit the line of trees overhanging the field, giving Texas A&M the disc before the brick, getting one under pass for the goal 4-3. After two mishaps, Lil' Jimmy was promptly pulled from the D line in favor of waking up Phenaminal. Despite the close game, Jon Gaynor rode under the radar and scoring two goals to take half 7-4 Hodags. Texas A&M has some sass and doesn't like being pushed around by these yankee Wisconsiners. Wiseman blows a deep D as the game tightens 7-4. Gaynor finds Straight Drooze in the back of the end zone for another Wisconsin hold 8-4. Finally, Manny makes an appearance in the contest, quickly dominating the disc and hitting Davidman for a break 9-4. A&M gets to 10-6 just as Adam Drews begins to hit stride, scoring the last 3 of his 5 goals to end the game 13-6. It should be noted that Murda racked up twice as many D's as Jerry's two. However, in the games nearby, Minnesota was toying too much and lost to South Florida. Tim Pearce could be seen frequenting the Hodag sideline, wishing his girlfriend still lived in Madison. Texas was also playing tight with a stacked looking Arkansas, perhaps going down early on Sunday
When the Hodags had enjoyed the shade of the bleacher's, Illinois was seen patiently waiting on the far sideline. Madison hadn't even seen the Illini sneak up, which unnerved Big Patsy the most. Muffin could see the lull lurking and immediately roused the captains to bring up the intensity. It was Sunday and the Hodags play like studs on Sunday. Illinois was looking polished in their attack drills as the Hodags seemed very loose. However, come game-time Darth Klane took control of the atmosphere and used his dark powers. "We bury this team from the very start!" Tom Animal roared and massaged his chops, knowing his time to shine was upon him. In consecutive order, upwind, down and up again, Manny tossed breaks to Davidman, KillStrong, and Murda to take a commanding 3-0 lead. Illinois shat their pants and Wisconsin broke a 4th time to rub it in. Illinois managed to score 4-1, but was losing in overall game speed. Wisconsin turned it up and Evan Klane snacked on a Callahan to lead 5-1. Lazer again tossed a pivotable goal to J-Fo to take half 7-2. Wisconsin reiterated keeping up the intensity and sideline talk. It was a heart warming moment until Cullen returned with Jumbalaya and all Hodags rejoiced. Jon Gaynor continued to dominate out of half throwing a full-field flick break mark upwind huck.... which was dropped by Bergen. But Gaynor would not be denied as he fired another huck to Simmons for the goal 8-2. Soon the Hodags resorted to push passes and break city trading to 10-4 as Simmons pwnd and Lazer zapped. Illinois fired up and broke back bringing the contest to 10-6, yelling with the power of Gaynor's belly. This made Davidman get angry... like the midget in the cabinet angry and he challenged Murray to a contest - who could dance best. Murda said fine, whatever and promptly landed his entire hip on an Illinois players head - crushing his cranium and causing clear clamor. Murda ripped a deep backhand and Davidman skied, spiking the disc silly and doing the Macarena to techno beats for the break 12-2. Illinois was appauled by the atrocious dance moves and break back twice, bring the game 9-12 upon the brink of their Mardi Gras tournament life. Wisconsin finished the game with Lil' Jimmy spiking the last goal 13-9.
Wisconsin shat itself to find that they were not playing Texas. As it turns out, Arkansas had some early morning ballers, much the prototype of Karl Doughgeee as they ripped, flew and ate pints of ice cream as they shat on Texas' unsuspecting faces. It was histaria from the beiginning as Goergia Tech then overcame the playmkaing Kansas squat with sheer legs and one decent thrower. So when the smoke cleared, it was Wisconsin resting on the shaded bleachers, savoring two satisfying wins. Surprisingly, the huck happy tournament line up for Wisco now took a turn for the worse as Georgia Tech was running a patient offense through #11. At first, the Hodags were just pissed that they were so timid and scared looking. Darth Lazer, Straight Drooze and J-Felatto were pacing the Odags as Wisconsin tied the game 3-3. Finally, it was Fatty Devilman" from hence forth known as The Corpulent One struck blood first by getting a phat layout D on a late O2 pass, which made Doughyu very pumped up. The Hodags stole the lead 6-5 with the first break as Murda hit The Corpulent One deep for double happiness. Diablo Donovan finished off his deep sky by finishing to Tomacide now 7-5. Altezone and Bjergies weaved for halftime 8-6. Thanks to a good flick and a hungry Animal, Madison started on Offense and Gaynor scored easily to J-Fro 6-9. Again The Rotundidman made a sick deep cut for Murda who ripped a deep backhand for a fat sky 10-6. Wisconsin was in it mentally and killing kids as J-Fellatio scored just before Cinnamonbums punched in the next 4 goals to win 15-10.
The Hodgas were annoyed to learn that they had to leave their shaded field to walk to the far field to battle Michigan, who successfully held off Luther in semifinals. Madison took a deep breathe and relaxed as long as possible, before running breakmark-attack at gametime. It must have been a subpar warmup because Magum scored downwind to start, broke upwind, and then Zone D broke downwind to lead 3-0. Wisconsin was shell-shcoked, almost giving up 0-4 before failing behind 2-6. The Hodags eventually score to make it 3-6 and at this point Magnum foolishly yells out, "We have more legs!" This remark was clearly reported back to the Hodags who took clear exception to that comment. Nobody ever has more legs than the Hodags! We train harder, we are deeper, we have more legs! WIsconsin buckles down the pressure and is able to grab a break back off despite an awesome Lazer under breakside D, called foul, leading to more Hodags rage and a huge Manny upwind huck, getting to 5-8 halftime. Michigan is feeling good, cheering positively, and winning the Will Neff way. Wisconsin didn't like all their happy positivity and started playing with some crazy rage. The trading continued to 9-12 before the Hodags stacked the universe line. Adam Drews was playing awesome offense as Gaynor and Klane connected for the score 10-12. With the intensity climaxing, Tom Animal makes the play of his life! A well throw Michigan huck is going deep with Manny on the receiver's heels. Without warning, Manny goes "idiot" - launching his entire body over the receiver's shoulder a full 5 feet completely horizontal in the air for the layout D, landing hard. It was the sickest defensive play of Animal's career, at a super clutch moment and was done with such reckless abandon for his body -- that Michigan's composure was instantly rattled. If Wisconsin was going to make plays like that -- Michigan was in for some hurting. Animal chuckled to himself as he limped off the field saying, "Now that's what a 300 pound squat is made for!" Wisconsin immediately breaks upwind as Pat Donovan skies the for the break windmill spike 11-12. The Hodags freak the fuzz out and create a man-pile in the upwind end zone. Gaynor gets a nasty layout D and Wisconsin ties the game 12-12. Wisco sticks to its guns, playing Studs only. Michigan shat their pants and Patsy skied upwind, putting his ballsack on a unsuspecting Magnum head 13-12. The Hodags have no choice but to geek out, puttng the pedal down and shocking Michigan 14-12 as Darth Lazer hits Gaynor for the sky blade. Diablo almost puts the finishing touches on the King Cake frosting, but turfs a huck after a giantitus sky as Michigan holds 14-13. It was patient easy Offense as the Hodags took easy unders until Dark Lord Lazer held the disc in the middle of the field. Not one pivot later and past stall 7, Darth puts a flick in his mark's eyeball for the win 15-13, as it was a most satisfying opportunity to rub in his stellar defense. As Wisconsin pulled it in, tragically and dramatically stealing $1,600 for Ben Feldman. Wisconsin downed the King Cake, snapped a team picture, and relished the comeback effort. To reiterate, Evan Klane took complete control of the disc late, bombing several ballsy hucks for huge scores. Animal played super clutch all day Sunday and Turtle managed to lose his shoes near the Illegal Burrito and was subsequently 20 minutes late for the bus as the Hodags awaited a screaming bus of Belladonna to propel their comeback! King Cake for everyone.
Wisconsin has one week to recover and prepare for Stanford, which will be tougher competition for sure. R Kelly Trapped in a Closet Commentary was thouroughly enjoyed on the ride back to frigidly cold and snowy Wisconsin.

College Trouble in Vegas 2009

2009-02-06T18:11:00.018-06:00

Watch Wisconsin Hodags Vegas 2009 | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Winter break was good to the Hodags. All of the top players were in the gym nearly every day – lifting weights, running on the track, or polishing up their beach bodies. The semester snowed, sleeted, and froze itself forward while the Hodags were blessed with more than anticipated indoor time for the early season. With four field practices, the Hodags immediately taught the major set plays, the complicated defensive sets, and a plethora of Hector-induced technique drills – specifically tailored to the current Hodag’s shortcomings. Overall, Madison was determined to ingrain these skills into the noobdags as quickly as possible.

Yes, these winter months were good to the fresh crop of extremely athletic first year players, many of whom were taken on potential alone. These raw players were blossoming into ballers on the field – already skying for scores and making significant impacts. On the indoor field – Wisconsin is frighteningly fast! The windless drills looked spotless, but the sideline intensity was still a work in progress. However, the biggest obstacle for Wisconsin will be mentally getting their disc skills up to par. Wisconsin is routinely sloppy and their youthful energy sprinkled with experience will surely be tested at Vegas. The last indoor practice before Vegas was particularly fast paced and frenzied, as the speed of the game was reaching its fastest yet. The final huddle emphasized overcoming execution errors and beating teams with both legs and heart. The Hodags as a team are young, but the individual experience of the top players is nearly unprecedented for college ultimate. Here’s hoping that the inconsistent defense can score more breaks that the streaky Hodag O-face gives up.

Trouble in Vegas – Day 1: Wisconsin was only sending 19 players off to Las Vegas, notably without top defensive studs Cullen Geppert and Matt Crumb. The raw talent of the Hodags also had a surprise visitor at the airport: freshman and first-time airplane flier Jon Armstrong was greeted by his concerned and doting mother, who was sending him unchaperoned to the City of Sin.

The weather was nice at first, and the wind mildly calm to start the morning. It would be the same festival atmosphere the Culimate-hosted Vegas experiment bragged of creating. Wisconsin was set to play Virginia first, and oddly, the game started late. The first two offensive possessions included bone-headed execution turnovers and non-existent defense after the turn. Virginia struck hard and fast, breaking the shell-shocked Odags twice before the dust even settled. The slight, initial wind allowed Virginia to connect on their first several deep hucks, perfectly past the defenders. Wisconsin responded and snatched the lead back momentarily as the wind went from whisper to howl. Virginia was ready to drop a tight zone and Wisconsin let the breaks go one after another. The semi-open defensive lines couldn’t put any pressure on Virginia, who rotated throwing perfect deep hucks to 1 on 1 match-ups or abusing the break side under. The legendary Hodag defensive pressure was not a factor – as players were not mentally prepared to execute a physical game plan. Apparently Virginia had one taller handler who could also bomb a little bit upwind and he was giving the Hodags fits. Wisconsin’s deep help was habitually late, wolfpacking maybe 1 of 15 opportunities as the game progressed. The hard cap loomed and Wisconsin put out the universe line for the last marathon point only (with 4-5 turns each), but offensive cutter’s legs ran out of gas, their inefficient disc movement ruining Wisconsin’s ground assault. The cutters were working hard but gaining nothing as the risk-averse handlers were showing their inexperience. The game ended 10-8 on hard cap and Wisconsin was left to hang their hands and wait 1.5 hours for the next game against Arizona to begin.

Wisconsin needs to only finish in the top 8 to make quarterfinals on straight up record, so a 5-1 or a 4-2 finish would probably give the Hodags a nod into bracket play. But Wisconsin was apparently still playing indoor ultimate – chipping throws into the wind and not playing physical in your pants defense at all. If only Hector and Muffin were present – the backlash to such an effort would have been most severe. But alas, the captains of the Hodags need to get the team on the same page, and hopefully ramp up some intensity as Wisconsin wasn’t able to effectively utilize their superior depth. The only bright performances were Tom Annen’s dominant and unstoppable hucks, Tom Murray’s highlight catches and grinding defense, and Gaynor’s utter disregard to his body’s cries of pain when hitting the ground. Basically, Wisconsin is really struggling with their fundamental Frisbee skills and was disappointed to not assert their style of play – a physical grind it out mentality. The wind contributed to spotty play all around and the early inconsistencies of the O-face were obviously detrimental to the overall performance and flow of the game.

The winds are gusting upwards of 20 mph now and a change of attitude needs to occur soon for the Hodags to rebound. Top defensive handlers Jon Masler and Thomas Annen also need to load the cannons and take repeated deep shots. Wisconsin plans to move Jon Gaynor over to help the fledgling defense and put Chris Pearce on the O-face. Overall, Wisconsin needs to shake off their young and uncertain look and play with some attitude and confidence. As Jake Smart put bluntly, “We’re not that good right now.”

But don’t lose ye faith yet Hodag Nation. Wisconsin took that long bye round and did some soul searching. Actually, they were deciding which souls to sacrifice with all the anger that was radiating from Captain Foster’s vengeful eyes. The Hodag Offense talked out some of their differences while the Defense received hateful rant after determined embarrassment talk from the most passionate among them. The decision was made – Arizona must die. The wind had picked up significantly by now and it was going to be a straight Zone game. Arizona’s offense was punting and playing zone because it was becoming terribly windy. The Hodags went along, playing zone for the first part of the game before getting annoyed. The D line broke immediately to start the game, but Arizona stormed back to score and break twice, probably 3-3. The teams compromised to trade until about 5-5, before Wisconsin turned to the dark side. Animal and Gaynor completely took over and the Hodags basically broke repeatedly to finish. It wasn’t quite an oatbag, but it was surely a steady handling of Arizona near 13-7. It had taken the Hodag O a little while to smarten up and get some confidence after their flat start. They finally stumbled upon working the zone across the field and finding flowing grooves. And after a sincere Hodag love circle jerk, the logistical changes worked to Wisconsin’s advantage. Alter and Bergen were bringing up their game and Captain Klane was playing solid enough. However, Feldman was still taking silly risks, giving up too many opportunities. The hero of the day was Monster Masler, who was ripping the disc while sporting his beautifully spaced cornrows.

The last game of the day was against co-arch-nemesis Florida. They loved to cheat, especially Cole “Troll King” Sullivan. The game began ugly, the first point lasting easily 25 minutes, with countless calls and punts – very chippy. But the Hodags finally hit stride, moving the disc to within 5 yards before punching in a Manny hammer score 4-2. Wisconsin’s Offense was even getting a little cocky, popping scoobers over Florida’s zone and working it, instead of punting for field position. Tom Animal was dominating like nobody’s business, while Jimmy Foster was taking care of every foreseeable problem. Reports of Cole Sullivan cheating ran rampant down each sideline, and Evan Klane responded to these reports by hand blocking Sullivan, and throwing a nasty dirty break to put the Hodags up 5-2, energy exploding. Wisconsin was finally putting the screws to Florida and jammed in its 3rd break in a row. Madison’s exuberance was to be short lived and was eventually bogged down by Florida’s style - as constant stoppages dampened the outlook. And even as Wisconsin tried to take command of the game – it was Florida responding. Brodie Smith was playing the role of main handler – dumping it 10 times in a row and holding it until the wind died, before jerking something swilly boner check as far as he could. The wind was almost completely cross-field, but slightly directional as the Hodags began to let up just a touch, and their aggressive decisions were falling to the wayside. As soon as the game heated up, so did the wind, as it became increasingly difficult to catch the disc. Florida’s schemes began working as the Hodags dropped countless discs and were scored upon 4 straight times to give Florida the lead 5-6, mostly on swilly transition goals. It would take some extra effort from Mr. Sullivan, who was definitely in an angrier troll mood than usual and straight up lying for the majority of the game, above average cheating. The hard cap sounded and the Hodags finally scored a 20-turnover marathon point to force universe point. Wisconsin pulled and Florida sent 4 receivers deep only to jack the disc OB. Wisconsin worked it until Manny was forced to turn a hammer, as no one was open. Florida used a couple of break throws for yardage before squeezing in a quick IO for the 7-6 universe point win. The undefeated Belladonna looked on horrified, dumbfounded how the Hodags could possibly lose to Florida after leading by so much? Georgia Bosscher was overhead, “Shikies, that didn’t even look like a Frisbee game. It was more of a punt fest – in between bad ultimate and a playing in a tornado.”

Clearly Wisconsin was bummed about how the first day turned out, however they were taking the lost with a grain of salt due to the ridiculously poor conditions. However, Foster is now ready to kill everyone for messing up his last season and illustrious career. Perhaps Wisconsin needed more moral support or maybe just a steady dosage of hate – either way they need a kick in the pants. It was tough to call any sort of lines, as most players who couldn’t throw in the tough wind didn’t get into the game. Despite the rough first day, the Hodags were confident, knowing they needed to win all their games the next day just to have a chance as the bracket format no longer put fate in their hands. But where was the overpowering intensity? The conditions were terrible to the Hodags as the brutal wind made for extremely long and sloppy points. That made it hard to really get pumped when they finally scored on some swill, after a million turns – I guess it’s not really an accomplishment. Worse than that – several brutal goals were dropped, Gaynor an especially painful one, giving Florida too many opportunities down the stretch. In the end it was resolved as a call fest.

Trouble in Vegas Day 2: Wisconsin was not playing well. The lines were tight and the studs were not getting the job done. Rain was setting in and conditions were worsening. Wisconsin was tussling with Washington and the game remained close throughout until late execution errors (drops) caused the Hodags to drop another game on the weekend 11-7. At this point the screws came undone and Wisconsin showed its first real sign of weakness. It was torrentially down pouring, freezing, no one able to catch the disc, and veterans were struggling. With no answers, Wisconsin opened up the lines completely and adjusted their attitude. Oregon played well and put the hurt on Wisconsin, converting in miserable conditions while Madison could do no right. Oregon used tight D and calm executing to put the hurt big time on Wisconsin. Everything was going wrong for the Hodags – short staffed and after the poor showing the first day – the wheels came completely off. Drops were now as common as Hodags falling over – as the 2 inches of mud made solid footing a luxury. Multiple Hodags were falling down on every point, super fucking slippery fields only intensified the mistakes on defense as Wisconsin struggled. The last game of the day was against Colorado. The Wisconsin game plan was still to play it loose and open – no chalk talks and just trying to have any sort of fun or enjoyment in the freezing cold. Wisconsin would drop the last game to Colorado as well 6-10, a little closer than the Ego affair, but still not impressive. Near the end of the game – it was so absolutely shockingly cold that Gaynor and Drews couldn’t re-enter the game – as their joints had frozen and iced up after the hurricane storms. Current record for the season, 1-5. Wisconsin rushed back to the cars – just happy to be a little warmer and dryer.

You lost all three games? In all the annals of Wisconsin ultimate lore – there was never a day that the Hodags went completely winless – save 2002 and 2006 May Sundays. The schedule for Sunday includes Santa Barbara in the morning, and then anywhere from the ninals bracket to the 18th place game. As the day finished, Wisconsin was just glad to be out of the cold, hopefully warming up their hands so they can catch some discs tomorrow.

Day 3 coming shortly...
As promised, the third and final day of Trouble in Vegas. The Hodags were shocked, tired, and not to mention running short on numbers and experience. There was still one more pool play Cultimate scheduled game against the Black Tide. Despite the brutal setbacks of a winless day, at least a decade since that was plausible, excluding Championship Sundays, Wisconsin wasn’t overly concerned with the results. This was obviously a new team that wasn’t as used to winning. Having graduated the best class in ultimate history as well as losing 5 other starting line up players to other facets of life – the team is in full-fledge rebuild mode, except for the fact that they still have 11 National Champions and all the pieces to do the unthinkable – win a third straight title. But without the proper motivation and killer mentality of having to win all the time – there was a clear lacking of intensity. Even Colorado mentioned it, asking why not fire starters and usual in-your-face-intensity. Mental and emotional problems aside, there were going to be clear logistical problems with the status of the fields. J-Fo recounted that they got to fields and waited 40 minutes to see if the Vegas Parks Department was pulling the plug. Feldman strolled right up the heated discussion with Cyle and Skip vehemently arguing whether the original contract stated that the fields could be used during rain or poor field conditions. When that whole catastrophe was smoothed out (cash in the pocket), the Hodags had 20 minutes to warm up. It was a new day, but Santa Barbara scored their first O point and broke 3 straight times. That pretty much screwed everything. There wasn’t much more to say about it. Wisconsin was playing D lines with a less chance to break than Colorado 2005.
Meanwhile, Belladonna was not phased by the weather and finished third, much better than the Hodags and a higher finish than the men for he first time in several years. The Hodags regrouped one last time and decided to beat some crappy teams before heading back the Madison, which probably had better weather overall anyway. Wisconsin was able to take down Duke and Tufts in the last two rounds, as the wind picked up dramatically. Overall, the timing of cuts was off and general impatience resulted in many turnovers. Manny was the only player on the field with a 40-yard upwind huck and the blade turns from Wisco’s Offense were hurting. The Hodags could not find any footing with the mud situation, which just contributed to the soft D. Most of the TiV results are trash because of the brutal conditions and it was also the first outdoor tournament for Wisconsin. However, it will affect seedings for Nationals no doubt.

High School Seniors! Attention!

2009-01-28T12:36:00.004-06:00

If you are thinking about applying or intend on enrolling to UW-Madison this upcoming fall, please contact us! We would love to have you come out and practice with the team if you have a scheduled visit to the campus. You can contact Ben Feldman (Officer), Jim Foster (Senior Captain) or Evan Klane (Captain) for more information.

Thanks!

Ben Feldman - bfeldman2@wisc.edu
Jim Foster - jcfoster@wisc.edu
Evan Klane - eklane@wisc.edu

Interested in Playing?

2009-01-28T12:34:00.003-06:00

Our B-Team (Pimpdags) is still looking for active members for the spring semester. Please contact Bob Wilcox (B-Team Coach) at rswilcox@gmail.com.

Thanks!

Ben Feldman

Blue Black 2008

2008-12-14T19:15:00.005-06:00

Watch Blue Black 2008 in Sports Online | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Just For Fun.

Hodag Spring Miracle from Brandon Malecek on Vimeo.

MLC – A Cold Day In Hell

2008-11-15T23:56:00.004-06:00

MLC

Watch MLC 2008 in Sports Online | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

It was miserable. It was windy, it was dark, and it was really freaking cold. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun – because anything can happen in Missouri… anything. The captains were very explicit about when the warm-ups would begin. However, Mandy the GPS got turned around and it was concluded that most cars were LAF. Wisconsin roamed from despondent cornfield to booze-selling convenience store until they arrived at a go cart track with an adjacent open space – identified as the MLC fields. Stepping out of the car, Animal couldn’t recognize anyone. “Who are all these n00bs?” From head to toe storm troopers foamed with scarves, hats, gloves, and tights were looking pretty dismal. However, the Hodags were determined to run hard, for fear of frozen toes. As the first round of games was set to begin – the Hodags began getting serious. Darth Klane yelled, “Give me a tighter huddle damnit!” as the frosh Hodags weren’t all the way convinced of what might happen in there. The frigid Missouri wastelands were nothing to the evil wind and the darkening clouds, which were moving in very quickly. As soon as the Death Eater circle closed ranks, the sky had turned jet black and Jimmy Foster was stepping to the forefront of the huddle – his outline in the disappearing sun was beyond breath taking, as most players averted his intensely threatening eyes. “This is a statement weekend! I freaking love the cold, I live for this shiz, hell – I freaking invented winter!” It was a rousing speech, but soon Jay-Fo noticed that the rookies were shivering and wrapped in blankets – probably going into hypothermia. Manny immediately noticed his master’s gaze and laughed a demonic cackle and finished Foster’s thoughts for him, “It will be a cold day in hell when CUT can beat us!” Gaynor choked on his hot chocolate and Adam Drews squeaked in disbelief, for the last time the Hodag’s roundly expected to beat Carleton, it ended with a snow storm defeat in Northfield 2005. However, Cinnabuns and Cullen were not taken back with this statement – because neither of these players had ever lost to Carleton and neither ever expected to. As Wisconsin stood stunned by this sudden turn of events, lost in thought and soul searching, it was time to play some ultimate. As the Hodags looked over, Texas State was standing on the line – looking annoyed with the lethargic Hodags who were teetering from rage to severe apprehension. Eventually, Jon Masler stepped forward and roared, loud and brawny, standing as a pillar of fortitude for the confused Hodags. With this renewed moment of intensity, the Hogads suddenly rushed Texas State – grabbing appendages and tearing the Buckets limb from limb in a passionate frenzy of uncontrollable rage.
The very first point was indicative of how the rest of the weekend would be shaping up. It took the Offense four tries just to score downwind and the wind was overpowering most punted throws. However, there were bursts of glory as a Hodag here and there would power through the conditions for a layout attempt or sky D, as Jimmy Foster mack D’d both chances on the first point. Wisconsin finally punched in a short goal as Jay-Lo hit Bjerjies 1-0. Madison had convinced themselves that the cold air was really invigorating as they pounded Texas State with their legs – completing a push pass Animal to Masler for the upwind break 2-0. The Blodags quickly form ranks and begin in chorus to rap and dance “Oh hot damnit, this is my Janet!” Texas State couldn’t stand such white boy dancing and immediately called a timeout to revamp their game plan. It was more than Manny could take, “We don’t let the Offense play anymore this game. Seriously – if you can’t ball when you’re on the field, take off your cleats.” Feldman was smirking and goofing off again, which only further pissed Manny off. It was time to set the tone for the season, and sacrifices had to be made. Manny had made up his mind and in a flash of light, Animal had strode the circle, brandishing a familiar jagged blade. Hollywood didn’t even notice until Annen was on top of him, splicing Ben’s Achilles tendon and barking, “The Defense will score until Feldman can heal himself!” The rookies exchanged nervous glances, now having witnessed the second team sacrifice in two weeks. “It is all coming a little fast. I like hurting people – but some of these guys are crazy,” commented Uncle Jerry as he eyed Feldman, dancing on a nearby picnic table with Talter. The Hodags took Manny’s words to heart, scoring the downwind break as Animal found Cullen 3-0. Wisconsin was scoring with increased efficiency at every opportunity as BergieMingie gets a *sick* layout D and then breaks it to Dan Park, who rips a huck upwind to Simmons for the break 4-0. The Pheanimal was taking over the game and crushing on everybody, scoring from T-Murda to lead 5-0. With the scent of the oatbag in the air, Cullen gambles a little too much as Texas State almost scores deep and then insists dramatically that they are in until they spike it and walk away 5-1. Manny stormed off the field cursing, knowing if the Offense went back in that his personal domination would be lost in the S box, because Feldman was sure to be tossing up some FUZZ. It wasn’t a pretty sight as the O-face turned it 7 consecutive times into the downwind end zone. Muffin has seen enough and yells to Gaynor, “How many more chances do you need?” Babyface smiles back and puts two fingers in the air. Two throws later Gaynor gets the under D, starts the face break, scoring the goal from Darth Klane 6-1 for halftime. Texas State tried to contest the score, miscounting the number system twice before Foster told him to just go back to his huddle. Wisconsin attempts to huddle close to stay warm, but the blood covering Manny’s fur was too much to take and several rookies began playing in the falling snow as Wisconsin readied for the second half.
Almost all Hodags had experienced Regionals, but the first-time players weren’t really getting the message. “There is no way the most important game of the year could be anything near this shitty,” exclaimed Dan Park, flatly refusing Cullen’s insistence as the snow flurries swept his face. When Matt Crumb made it to the line he joined in, “You had better believe it baby! Playing CUT in Regional Finals in snow storm cross winds is the bomb!” Mas-Guy just shook out his flowing hair and ripped a bomb to Where’s Wiseman? for the big sky. Matt Crumb raced for the dump and started talking smack in all directions, “I came to ball today, cuz I do it for the kids! For the kids damnit!” screamed Crumb as he cracked a backhand to Animal for the break 7-1. Manny was still very angry about halftime and almost exploded with rage when he saw Tom Murray saunter out onto the pitch with some very tight very red jet pants – swishing with every step. Consumed with rage and in a 5-2 set, Animal goes deep, calling Murda under for obvious reasons. Masler is still standing with the disc, as all resets had moved downfield. Janet powers up and rips a ridiculous deep bomb – an explosion of fury and the sideline erupts with an emotion filled version of “Oh hot damnit, this is my Janet!” Jasler just pumped his fist and pointed to the sky as Animal skied for the break 8-1. Texas State was pretty much unphased by the Hodags antics and calmly walked to the line muttering, “It is sooooo cold.” And it was pretty cold considering several Bucket’s were somehow still in shorts and a short sleeve jersey, while the Wisconsin sideline was huddling near trashcan fires. Texas State scored to make it 8-2 and even traded late into the game 11-4 as Jerome was making plays. Feldman’s life was twice more proverbially threatened, before it was outright exploded “I’m gonna kill Feldman!” as Hollywood had tossed his 3rd straight turnover on the point, two of which were upside down. As the game ended, most Hodags ran to the cars to grab more clothes and all those at the fields, huddled together like penguins, capturing heat with every armpit.
The second game was against North Texas and Two-Face Klane flipped his own special coin during the flip and mysteriously chooses the wind. Wisconsin makes chilly work of North Texas, scoring meticulously as Darth Klane was ripping high release flicks all over before Bjergies finds Talter on the O2 score 1-0. However, UNT wants to work and is playing with something to prove, as they score easily 1-1. Animal surely scowls as he prowls off the field, staring down and breaking two different kids with popped collars as Drews does the dirty work, hitting Gaynor down the line 2-1. North Texas really wanted to give it to the Hodags and scored downwind again 2-2. The game conditions were worsening and the level of respect between the teams was tanking worse than the S&P 500. UNT was working the disc upwind, getting unders to midfield when the deep shot came. North Texas called much needed strip and things exploded altogether. Even the sideline was heckling this one, “You are lying to yourself and everybody here!” It was to no avail and North Texas State broke upwind several passes later, seizing the lead 2-3. The Blodags were generally annoyed with this outcome until Bergen was an idiot and served up a floaty 500 ball Callahan, forcing Wisconsin to walk 80 yards back to the line down 2-4. Muffin found Foster near the middle of the field, “Do you want to take a timeout?” J-Lo just glared at Bjergies until he hollered out the starting D line. As Animal walked to the line he was ready to point fingers, “Remember what I said at the beginning of the day? If you let the Offense play too much, this type of crap is gonna happen!” Everyone on the line giggled a little bit, save Yossi and Crumb. Old Man Young, having been on the team for his 7th year, knew exactly what needed to happen. Animal just needed to be released back into the “wild” so he could go “Aggro” on somebody. There was only one way to out Aggro the Animal, it would involve “making plays.” Crumb immediately interrupted Animal’s defensive call to step out of the line – using his most hostile Old Man Voice. “I am a Hodag! I make plays! You wanna see the fandango? You had best believe that I’mma showman! Better than Manny even.” Every eye on the line was rapt with attention as Crumb was talking big game right to Animal’s face. If this came down to intimidation, Manny had never lost. “Just give me the disc. Feed me the ultimate – I will carry this team myself!” On the first play, Matt Young went deep and skied for the catch. Two passes later, Crumb had scored the point, closing the game to 3-4 as he yelled, “I am the reincarnation of the FrisbeeMonster! Roooofffeeeeeooooo! Bingo bango! Aaahhh-shheeeiiit!” As Yoshmee finally cracked a smile and chuckled at this Old Man Crumb outburst, it was clear that Wisconsin was having fun again. Wisconsin immediately stacked the next time, determined to get back an upwind break. Jimmy Foster was ready to respond, bombing an inconceivably big backhand bomb, as Manny skied for the goal 4-4, complete with a head spike, dancing, and singing, “I can do whatever I like,” in his best T.I. impression. UNT recovered long enough to score downwind, again taking the lead 4-5, as Wisconsin was yielding too many unders. However, Manny was a man on fire and knew what had to be done. Without any hesitation whatsoever Animal takes the field with swagger rivaling Lucifer’s himself – before scoring O2 from Darth Klane, putting the Hodags even 5-5. Wisconsin knew it would take work to pull themselves out of the S-box (less than 38 degrees) long enough to end this game from these dark conditions. Wisconsin put out a dominate line and it paid off, as Jimmy Foster allowed Tom Murda to sky for the goal 6-5 and half, as Murray hollered about his rager for Jay-Lo. The halftime speech was not pleasant as Hodag studs who had been there before let the Feldman have it again and again screaming something like, “Hit the freaking ground, break their ankles, win each individual match-up with your work ethic. The HODAGS rely on each other to be fudging crazy, get crazy D's and rock the fudge out of our opponents.” As Feldman yawned, Bergen quickly slapped him in the face and glared as the rant continued, “When someone scores, we rush the field and let the other team know that they do not belong within 100 miles of us. We succeed and fail as a team. Not as individuals. Let’s take North Texas by tornado.” And that was all that needed to be said as Wisconsin took the field with a steady determination. The Hodags generate a turn and work it upwind as Masler finishes deep 7-5 to Matt Crumb who shouts as running deep, “I believe in you Janet! If you believe, you can achieve!” And Jasler needed every word, for he ripped a solid flick for the score – the first time all day Jasmine hadn’t immediately turfed his flick huck (~12 yards) into the brutal upwind. As UNT sulked back to their line, several players could be heard muttering amongst themselves, “Why do we get broken so much?” Wisconsin takes the line with energy seething from every player and the Wisconsin Defense had that malicious look in their eyes – like their unrelenting work ethic could not be denied. It was all man’s D as Cinnamons makes a play and then Double Happiness as he scores from a Jake Smart super sniper bomb 8-5, dunking pretty nasty-like on the UNT defender who gets pretty pissed about the over-the-top spike. It was like the flood gates had opened wide and the few Wisconsin fans cheered, “Hodags Gone Wild!” A landslide of emotion leapt from the Hodags as Jasmine was ready to instill some pain, finding Adam Drews for another break now 9-5. Wisconsin was firing on all cylinders and taunting the clearly thirsty UNT with jabs like, “Water makes ya tired! Water makes ya weak,” in their best southern accents. This caused UNT to pop their collars once more, but this only caused the ravenous Hodags the desire to punish more – and it was all Animal, hitting freshman JohnKillStrong for the goal 10-5. It was game point Blodags, and the lines finally loosened, allowing pirate YoshMee into the game. Freshman Jerry made a nice layout attempt before Shmeee is taken out in the lane hollering, “Damn crocodile!” In the midst of the confusion, North Texas bombs it deep and scores to make it 10-6. Manny lets out a roar of disgust, knowing the Offense would have to enter the game one last time to finish it. Ben Feldman rocketed a flick deep and Foster brutally skied the 500 people pile and finished to Ron Bjergendy 11-6. The conditions turned steadily more sour, windy, and cold as Wisconsin groaned at the knowledge of having two games left on this dark and gloomy Saturday.
As Wisconsin did some more penguin warmth huddling, it was time for some deep shadow games – like those the Hodags loved to play in the Northwoods. Shadow games involve playing under the radar and choosing the appropriate moments to finish their victim, something every mature Hodag knows how to do, especially Gaylord Ganjies. Kansas was next on the docket and under the leadership of Axel, really wanted to give it to the Blodags. Evan Two-Face Dent again flipped his mysterious double-sided coin and somehow won the flip, despite the 15 flip-flops the wind did to the other disc. Wisconsin chose wind and started on Offense, much to Animal’s chagrin. However, the pre-game pep talk was quick and to the point – “We will have to choose who lives and dies” starts Tom Murda. “And someone on that team over there, is gonna die! Because I’m not wearing hockey pads and I’m ready to layout into some backs and earn my TMF’s.” Cullen’s vexation showed in his face, as the C Monster was the reigning TMF Champion, having earned several backpack awards last season. As Wisconsin cheered, “No mercy; punish, destroy, consume,” Tim Pearce could be seen from a great distance, obviously outside of the huddle, barely even wanting to be there as the Hodag roar rang loud and jumbled in the gusty winds. The Wisconsin Offense takes of business as Adam Drews rifles a shot to Jay-Fo-J-Lo 1-0, and a half-hearted rendition of OOOooooOOOoooo Sucks! On the line, Yoshmee is adjusting his pirate eye-patch as Masler smirks and sprouts off some smack talk to the disc, “I’m gonna rip this guy so hard, they are gonna think Mike Jones had a hand in it.” Animal responds, “Who?” “Mike Jones!” “Who?” “I said Mike Jones,” roars Jasler as he put a scolding hot ripper into the atmosphere. As the disc is floating, Foster decides to enact some revenge on Kansas from CCC 2005 and whipping out his wand, wordlessly casts, “Confundio!” As Kansas sets to catch the pull, it plops right off his mittens for a drop. Yoshmee charges the scene in excitement, looking for opportunities to plunder and disparage. But Janet takes control and sets the isolation play, easily hitting Tom Murda for the chilly break 2-0. Shamanimal, complete with his sock sleeve, sends a towering pull deep and Kansas has their hands full just fielding it. The hitch pass is immediately turfed, still in the end zone, and Jake Smart wonders out loud, “Was that for reals?” Shamanimal is left with no choice, but to finish O2 to Jake for the break 3-0. Kansas was giving Wisconsin freebee points left and right and Wisconsin had done everything short of water-boarding the Horrorzontals at this juncture. It took the Horrorzontals three attempts just to score the downwind 3-1 as the conditions worsened yet again and the wind swirled. The Hodag O-face wasted no time scoring as Evan Dent hucked deep to Jay-Lo 4-1 for the flip spike. Kansas was getting desperate as their offense was still turning the disc, forcing Axel to get a nasty layout D en route to scoring 4-2. Madison was still scoring easily downwind as Jon Gaynor found Straight Drooze for the midrange score 5-2. Wisconsin is again coming dangerously close to a lull as the 2008-09 Hodags are not quite as committed to dominating as they should be – unwilling to punish lesser teams and twist the dagger, rather content to play with their food. This should be obvious as the most important game the majority of the current team has ever lost is Vegas Finals 2007 or maybe quarterfinals of Centex 2008. This would explain why the two biggest haters on the team – Animal and Foster – are the only two players who know how it feels to lose an important game. They know how it feels to lose at Regionals, to lose at Nationals… they are the only two players with a real perspective. Despite Yoshmee, who just knows how to lose. Sooner or later they will need to translate this desire to the current crop of n00bs who have been spoon-fed victory after victory. However, there is a diamond in the rough, Cullen Geppert – who believes in hard nosed defensive work. Cullen sets the tone by example getting an under layout D, popping up from the ground pumping his chest. Wisconsin quickly turned the disc back to Kansas and the C Monster went back to work, getting a second poach layout under D, again popping up, beating his chest and pointing to the sky and the Northern skyline, clearing gesturing towards Katie in Michigan. But the inexperience of Wisconsin was unmistakable as another Masler huck upwind went barely 20 yards before dropping harmlessly to the snow covered ground. Tomacide Murda, determined to not be shown up, uses his head and leaps for a D in the lane, yelling to Cullen that he can get D’s too. Again Wisconsin would flounder opportunities, giving the disc back to Kansas. Cullen is finally ticked off at the handlers and gets his third layout D of the point, this time on the far around breakside, swinging his fist into the air and glaring down T-Murda screaming, “They are who we thought they were!” But the heroics of Cullen and Murda would not be enough to overcome the futility of the handlers as Yoshmee and Masler continue to give back to the disc and Kansas scores 5-3. Despite the defensive struggles, Wisconsin took half easily as Feldner put a nice disc down the line to Jay-Fo for the score 6-3.
The halftime huddle was not a pleasant one as Animal again put his heart on his sleeve and hated on everyone who needed it – maybe not even as hard as he should have. “Look around! You see that beast on your chest? That’s a Hodag, and we sure as hell ain’t playing like it!” Looking into the eyes of his teammates, it was clear to Foster that these ‘kids’ had not the slightest idea of what it took to win. Infuriated by this realization and this being his last season, Jay-Lo decides it is time to pump up the Blodags, “Since we are too young and inexperienced to be good, what we’ll be calling on is good ol’ fashioned blunt force trauma. Horsepower! Heavy duty cast iron pile driving layout D’s, that will have to hurt so much they’ll rattle their ancestors! Every time you hit them with a shot, its gotta feel like they tried kissing the express train! Yeah, let’s start building some hurtin’ hucks!” Evan Dent explodes with maniacal laughter at this pump up speech and vows to rid these barren MLC of every enemy combatant. The invigorating half-time speech did little to increase D lines efficiency at scoring upwind, clearing missing the 85-yard upwind hucks of Morfin. Axel Bramhead was the driving force for Kansas making plays to keep it 6-4. The Wisconsin captains decided it was time to put in the work as Jimmy hit Klane for the quick score 7-4, as the gloved Kansas pullers kept popping off some haggard looking poop bombs. Kansas continued to score downwind on a second effort play and the game was still close 7-5. Straight Drooze is getting annoyed with his teams lackluster effort and screams at the Defense as they walk off the field, heads down, “Always run as fast as you can run! If your not running ya fastest, you are pretty much pointless – and that goes for everybody on the team!” After a moment’s pause the normally cool headed Drews adds, “Sorry, that sounded kind of jerkish… but suck it anyway!” The fire-starting captains were again in control as Two-Faced Klane found Jay-Fo for the score 8-5, yelling at Yossi to not be so chunky. Yoshmee takes it serious, vowing a personal vendetta on his waistline as he gets a goal saving layout D. The Yosh, was nearing exhaustion but needed revenge, as he weaved upwind with Manny and Mas-Guy before bombing to Cullen for the sky break upwind 9-5. The Hodags rush the field, in a torrent of excitement as blood leaks from their mouths as the devoir the fallen Stegosaurus that the C Monster immediately kills with his deadly spike. However, Bergen is mostly a vegetarian and is suddenly in the mood for pancakes and even a pick-up game of dischoops. Bjergies immediately challenges Kansas as he magically transforms Missouri into his own personal backyard disc field – complete with rising mist and flair-filled fanciful outfits for his Hodag teammates. Kansas is confused by the new rules and accidentally travels, which Klane calls from the sideline, resulting in a turnover by rule. Bergen rushes to the disc and puts a show for the ages, complete with several swim-move-side-arm-chicken-wing-push-pass-daisies before dishing to a wide-open Manny, setting the pick between Phenamial and the defenders. As Bjergies holds off both defenders he yells to Animal, “Huck the ‘bee – HUCK IT!” Manny rips a flick deep and Dan Park rips it down for the score, leaving Bergen to proclaim, “Game Blouses.” Kansas is getting pissed with all these antics and scores to make it 10-6. Tim Pearce finally gets back into the game, but doesn’t get a chance to juke his defender as Darth Klane rips a ridiculous 85 yard backhand Boom Headshot to the free running Ganges for the win 11-6, but not before wiping out on the slick field, getting the worst of his shit-talking Karma.
Wisconsin again feasts on the sideline, wishing that Iowa would just get over here so the Hogags could beat the crap out of them already. The pre-game huddle was quick and to the point as Foster went of the finer points of “The Secret Power of Within,” touching on all of Chuck Norris’ finer kill moves. This fires up the Altered beast as he finishes the cheer with a riveting Hodag roar. But it was clear from the start that Iowa would not be taking any of Wisconsin’s shenanigans as the Hawkeyes played through a down disc and a sweet Cullen Geppert layout bid to score 1-0. As Evan Klane takes the field he yells some inspirational words to the D Line, “It’s no fun to be easy.” Alterzone plays like a man, getting a layout snag catch to save possession before Two-Face Dent takes no mercy on Iowa as he hucks deep to the speedy Hollywood 1-1. Iowa is not impressed and scored just as easily, snatching back the lead 2-1. Up to this juncture, Iowa was talking shit. They were spitting trash after every point and spiking the disc. It was firing Jimmy Foster up and heating up the situation. After a specific terrible call, Iowa was at it again, pointing fingers and shooting curses. “This type of disrespect would not be tolerated,” thought J-Foulliard, as he drew back his sleeve and drew a certain jagged dagger. Iowa must have missed it in the commotion of the foul call – and soon, without warning J-Flow as face to the face to player. “You want to know he got these scars?” J-Faja pulled back his shirt revealing beaded scars whiplashed across his back and the teeth marks deeply imprinted upon his biceps. “You see my teammates are a little crazy. Sometimes they go too far – they don’t know when to say no.” The Iowa player began slowly backing away, now keenfully aware of the glistening dagger clasped firmly in J-Foulliard’s hands. Iowa players were stepping forward left and right, “Let the call go, just let it go man!” But the Joker was still walking forward slowly, smacking his lips, his eyes blood red. “You want to see a magic trick?” The Iowa player’s face was ghost white and his cleats now seemed stuck into the ground. J-Flow stepped closer again with a wide smile and growled, “Why so serious?” The Iowa player suddenly recovers his voice and squeaks, “Contest – I can’t cheat to win.” As Foster raises the dagger, Gaynor moves in quickly, catching J-Flow’s wrist as he is about to strike. “No J-Faja, we finish this on the field. Frankly, this can wait until the proper time.” The tension suddenly breaks and the teams are playing ultimate again – but J-Fear was a man possessed, racing all over the field and playing ridiculous D. The Defensive intensity was beginning to heat up, despite the miserable frozen conditions as R.O. Gibralter gets a sick nasty layout D on the goal line, allowing Hollywood Feldman to huck deep to Jimmy Foster 2-2. The calls are coming left and right and every point is ending in heated discussions and controversy as Iowa spikes it and walks away 3-2. Foster continues to dominate, hucking to blown coverage wide open Jon Gaynor, sneaking deep and tying the game 3-3. Iowa attempted to keep in place, but desolation hit them with crippling strength, and they faltered as Masler D’s a disc on the breakside. The Yoshmee juked for an O2 and had perfect power position, giving way to his voice velvety soft urging, “Someone, anyone, make a damned deep cut.” Adam Straight Drooze got the clue better than Vanna White as he pulls away from his defender easily, scoring deep 4-3 for the first break of the game. Wisconsin was thinking fire and brimson; the Hodags were gonna make it rain with pain. Jay-Flow acts out his own preference for justice as he closes the skies deep worse than Stout. Evan Klane promptly shoots his lazer beam deep and Hollywood’s first cut was the deepest, scoring the break to lead 5-3. Iowa closes their eyes as they walk back to the line, trying to get back into their sanctuary of pearce while the Hodags scream the dirtiest things they’ve ever seen. Iowa is able to block out the turmoil long enough to score quickly now 5-4. Wisconsin’s starting seven sauntered to the line, unconcerned with Iowa’s newfound confidence as Jimmy Foster growls, “They need to genuflect with some respect.” Jon Gaynor called the play, but it was easier than intended for Iowa was pulling out of bounds maybe to half field. The River Ganges still set up his man to race deep on the third sequence; waving his hands and calling for the closed casket as he scores easily 6-4 for halftime.
Wisconsin pulled everyone into a tight huddle as the chilling elements were testing the Hodags resolve. “This is the last half of the day. Empty the tank!” proclaimed Captain Jay-Foulliard as Davidman just shook his head. Animal was distracted, suddenly in his own head wondering, “Why is this game close? Why haven’t we demoralized this team entirely and eaten their souls. What would Shane do?” Infuriated by his betraying thoughts, the articulately angry Animal leaps into the fray, interrupting any and everyone as he shouted, “My fate is manifest destiny and I will conquer this region!” The Hodags are truly inspired as the Offense takes the field to start the second half, as Iowa quickly pulls OB for the nth time in row. Wisconsin makes swift work of the point as Gaynor scores his third time in four points, hitting J-Faja for the floating goal 7-4. Iowa is getting desperate as the margin widens, shooting insults and talking shit, trying to throw the Hodags off their game. It was working as Iowa started trading with the Hodags, making it 7-5. Madison would walk it off like Stephen Hawking as Lazer Klane found Alterzone for the weave goal 8-5. Iowa had last year’s Regional MVP Zach Eastland on the sideline’s, as he encouraged his Iowa students not to be intimidated, shouting, “We can do it!” Animal snickered as he learned over and whispered to the naughty princess Jasmine on the line, “We can make it look like a suicide – even a little artsy?” Masler looked at the Phenaminal with horror in his eyes, seeing the Animal clearly for the first time. “No Annen, we should let them score.” Shaminal stalks off looking disappointed as Iowa made it 8-6, still within striking distance. Meanwhile, Bergen heard the mutterings of his West High School teammate and knew action needed to be taken before The Animal went all-aggro. Bjergies calls for the disc and rockets a super sick flick down the line to a high-stepping Hollywood Feldman for the goal 9-6. Iowa slammed their mittens to the ground in disgust, knowing Wisconsin was just too strong to take down. There was no choice, the cheating had to begin immediately. The calls came hard and fast as Jon Gaynor supplied two straight D’s giving the Hodags chances to close the door, but Iowa held in there, eventually scoring to make it 9-7. John Bergen puts the hammer down and scores as quickly as possible to the Altered Beast, putting the lead at 10-7. As Bjergies pumped his fist leaving the pitch he screamed to the Defense, “We finish on D!” As Animal set to pull one more time he fumed to his teammates, “This is like ThunderDome! Two will enter and we need to leave!” But it was to no avail as Iowa punched in another score, cutting it to 10-8. Animal was dragged off the field in a furious rage, beyond mad and threatening lives left and right. It would take 6 chances for the Wisconsin offense to close out the game, but Darth Klane finally completed a pass to Gaynor for the win 11-8. The handshakes were quick as Iowa reminded Wisconsin that they would be seeing them tomorrow and probably in the finals of Regionals again. Wisconsin hurried home to shower and relax out of the frigid cold.
The rest of Saturday night was complete with dinner, a showing of “The Dark Knight” and then a second Sonic dinner. The majority of Hodags were frantically doing homework until about 1:30am when the last of the Brodags fell asleep – enduring riveting nightmares and contemplating taking sleeping pills. The captains had finally delegated most wake up responsibilities to the travel coordinator Naughty Princess Jasmine. But this was no kidding matter to the Jisler, smacking people out of bed at 7am sharp – well before J-Fo would be seen crashing into the bathroom. Sunday morning was new ray of light because the sun sneaked out from behind the wall of dark clouds and the temperatures relented from the previous high of 38 the day before. The wind also dropped off slightly and made for much better conditions for elimination Sunday. Wisconsin was on the hard side of the bracket – set to play Colorado State first and eventually Carleton in semifinals before Colorado in finals. Teams were still bundled so tightly their dark colors rarely matched – but now most storm troopers had removed their face-masks and were clearly visible for the first time.

Wisconsin Roadtrips to GA for CCC

2008-11-08T16:10:00.037-06:00

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Classic City Classic

Tournament Pictures - Chad Borer
As the Hogads departed for Georgia, the snow began to fall in waves of sleet and mush. The pasta dinner the night before only intensified the excitement as the team watched a very awkward 2005 Jim Foster lose in the finals of CCC to a ringer laced Kansas. As the very last car departed, chalk full of Hodags, Animal immediately put in his earplugs and did his best Joey D impression - toning out so hard that he couldn't find his highlighter - which was hiding behind his ear. The last car would undoubtedly arrive too late for a hotel, and would suffer for it, because the other half the Blue Dragons stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night - so if anything they will play really smart tomorrow.

Jimmy Foster was most pleased to wake up at 5:10am to let the last car in the door. The captains meeting was set for 7:30 and the Hodag captains assumed games started 1 hour after that - at 8:30am. That turned out to be an incorrect assumption and the majority of the Hodags arrived at the fields just 15 minutes before game time. North Carolina State was the first round game and apparently had some ballers who had been playing with El Diablo, a week before at Club Nationals. The Hodags were not impressed as pajama pants wearing Jake Smart hit Tom Murray for the first break 1-0. Wisconsin arrived onto the fields as mercenaries from the North, prepared to finish breaks without mercy nor concern. Jimmy Foster kept the Hodag Offense on serve as his big loopy flick to Gaynor put the Hogads up 2-1. Feldman tried to huck through a mark and was promptly knocked to the ground and came up scowling. NCST continued to keep it close at 2-2 by taking deep chances, but Foster responded by getting gaping unders and hucking a flick bomb to a wide open Adam Drews 3-2. Tom Animal began asserting his will now, hucking upwind to Gaynor who finished to John Armstrong for the break 4-2. After another NCST turn, Manny rips a backhand through a foul and traffic, hitting an NCST player square in the face. Tom Murray made a nice layout bid and a ridiculous Manny IO floater to Jake set up a huge bomb to Diablo Donovan, who finally scored to Adam Cinnamons 5-2. NCST tried to make some pick calls to stay in the game, but a Feldman anvert huck to Gaynor took the Hodags to half 6-3. During halftime the Hodag huddle blew up as the captains were pissed about the level of intensity, as well as the propensity to give up open unders. NCST was being more physical than Wisconsin and that was really ticking Foster off! Devan Blaine also lambasted the Hodags about their sideline and positioning on the field - hammering in defensive principles that Hector had instilled during the first Hodag practices of the year. As the second half began, Adam Drews bombed a flick to Foster, who dished to Animal before finishing to Zach Alter for the spike 7-3. Jake Smart would turf a goal line throw before Chris Pearce got the D back. Janet ripped a deep huck to T-Murda and Wisconsin was suddenly well in control at 8-3. NCST tried several more desperate calls, saying one disc was down in the end zone, but the Hodags were having none of it as Foster reiterated during a timeout, "No one plays harder than the Hodags!" and the team agreed with a giant roar. The Wolfpack gained some last minute momentum as Blaine did a disappearing act with the disc as the hitch and NCST kept it close before bowing out 11-7. Jimmy Foster went +6 with 2 sky D's and Jon Gaynor was right behind him at +5.

Wisconsin brought it in after the game and refocused on the goals of the day - playing open lines, on the hip aggressive defense, and dominating in the air. Next up was Georgia Tech, who challenged the Hodags to a close game at CCC last year. GA Tech started on offense and worked it in for the goal 1-0, putting the pressure on Wisconsin to respond. The Hodags stuck with the plan and played completely open lines and it worked as Bergen hucked an IO flick sky ball to Gaynor for the two-handed grab before hitting John Livestrong for the tie 1-1. Ben Feldman had a chance for a layout D, but slowed down thinking, "There is no way he is throwing this," right before the throw went up. GA Tech was keeping pace as the wind picked up mostly upwind-downwind before scoring to lead 1-2. This pretty much just infuriated the Hodags, as Manny screamed for a biger contract. Soon Feldner was sprinting wide open deep but the immediate Lazer huck had too much juice for Feldman to haul in. However, Benji was able to put the finishing touches on the point with a nice looper to Jerry McGinnis for the tie 2-2. The Hodag intensity was picking up and Janet hucked a full field bomb to Alex Cinnabons for the break sand lead 3-2. At this point, 5th years Animal and Foster begin to take over, hucking to each other and getting the disc at will to lead 4-2. Georgia Tech tightens the game to 4-3 as their main dude skys for another deep shot. GA Tech is now raising up their defensive pressure and Animal is once again trapped on the sideline at stall 9. Manny puts up a 55 yard blade hammer right down the line that lands perfectly in Jon Gaynor's hands for the hold 5-3 and GA Tech is without words for that effort. Wisconsin rubs it in by screaming, "You can't stop that" and "OoooOOooo Sucks! Beef Stick! Eat Fish!" That type of crazy intensity propelled Wisconsin into half as Drews hit Devan Blaine for the break 6-3, after Lazer bombed a huge backhand to the seemingly unguardable J-Fo. The games were going fast as they were only to 11 and GA Tech seemed to be hurting themselves with a wide array of awkward drops. During the halftime speech, Captain Evan Klane reiterated that running your balls off on defense was a must and that if everyone was only playing 5-7 points per game - then you shouldn't be tired on the field. The words were taken to heart, but the defensive pressure was waning as break mark goal line flicks were really hurting as the game traded to 7-4. Newcomer Dayu Liu tossed a bladely flick to Dave Wiseman who backpedaled and elevated for a two hand clap and hard landing, knocking his hat off and sending his glasses flying as he spiked the disc 8-4. That would be the last break of the game as both teams missed opportunities to capitalize, especially Davidman who missed a perfect chance to sky on D, so good that it was tastier than ice cream with sprinkles on top. Tommy Sanchez reeled in a sweet full extension layout catch off a Lazer backhand bomb 9-5. J-Fo ripped a big loopy flick to Murray for the sky catch to keep it 10-6. Alex Simmons and Jon Gaynor made back-to-back sick layout snatches to keep possession on offense, as Cinnamons finished to Manny 11-7. Alex Simmons and Jimmy Foster both went +3 for the game as Wisconsin rolled to a 2-0 start. Wisconsin had just finished a perfectly open game and was now getting some rhythm as even the video camera made an appearance.

Next up was Alabama and in the pre-game huddle, Wisconsin was preaching breakside defense on the goal line and putting together some runs on defense, because there was only 1 break in the second half against GA Tech. Jimmy Foster was mid-rant when he said, "That last team was awful and this team is even worse (insert C1 quip)." Animal the Hater was the only one to laugh, for he was one of the remaining few Death Eaters who knew the powers of the Dark Arts. However, the Alabama team who had been watching the entire last game, seemed up the challenge of hanging with the Hogads. Alabama tried a deep huck on their first possession and Jon "River Ganges" Gaynor came in as deep help and skied the 5 player pack for the D. Alabama was able to eventually score on a doink and second effort layout snag and then used zone to generate a turn and punch in a break 0-2 on the Hodags, spiking both discs. The open lines tightened immediately, but there was no tension or anxiety - just the determined attitude to mess this team up. Feldman hucks a super bladely flick to Gaynor, who accelerates for the catch 1-2. Wisconsin breaks downwind as Animal hits Zach Alter O2 for the tie 2-2. Alabama scores again to lead 3-2 and is feeling pretty good about themselves. Feldman takes this opportunity to completely implode, throwing a hammer turnover in the zone and then a flick huck out the back, blaming receivers all over the field. Eventually Benji finds Adam Drews for the goal and Wisconsin ties it 3-3. Wisconsin was now getting pissed and is no longer content to trade - upping the intensity. Janet throws a huge pull to the back cone and Alabama turns it on the goal line, allowing Evan to break to J-Fo who finishes on the breakside to Pat Donovan 4-3. Yossi throws a sweet IO break to Cinnabuns, after Gaynor saves possession with a sick layout grab. Davidman gets a poach layout D in the lane and Bergen jacks a flick to Murray as Wisconsin steals half 6-3. The Hodags are feeling good and amp up the pressure, allowing no more open under cuts and Alabama resorts to punting sky balls. The Hodags chill it out and walk the disc both upwind and down as Animal throws a perfectly placed huck to Alex Simmons 8-3. Jake throws a push pass to Alter for another break 9-3 as Wisconsin lands at OATBA going upwind. Tom Murray is a baller as his trifecta hat trick of D's on the point ends with him limping to sideline as Alabama finally scores on the breakside 9-4, ending Wisconsin's run at the coveted oatbag. Feldman hucks the last two goals to Adam Drews, the last one a sick backhand bomb as Wisconsin moved to 3-0 on the day, winning 11-5. The Hodags went into the bye round feeling confident that with an actual warm-up longer than 15 minutes - that they could play even better.
Wisconsin came off the bye round with crisp throws from a solid warm up and seemed to be hitting stride. Jimmy Foster wins both flips for color and starting on Defense and celebrates with a loud howl! The game begins instantly in controversy and bad blood as Pat cuts across a defender, trying to sky a deep huck. The defender calls a foul as the disc soars over his head, into the bidding hands of Cinnabuns as he lands in the end zone. The disc goes back and Foster was freaking out - just absolutely losing his stuff with incredulous remarks about the legitimacy of that call. Wisconsin puts in the double score as Yossi finds Jake Smart on the O2 and Jake immediately goes for the angry spike, staring down several Lead Belly's on his post-spike steps 1-0. Jimmy Foster rips a ridiculously big pull and the Hodags cover well, eventually scoring on a push pass, Devan Blaine to J-Fo 2-0. Foster rips another huge pull and Wiseman hucks it deep, partially handblocked, and Feldman skies Murray for the upwind break 3-0. The next Hodag to show his fangs was Monster Masler as his back cone pull pushed Ohio State deep in their own territory. Lead Belly put a nice huck and John Armstrong made up 5 yards over the 50 yard sprint to layout in front for the smack D. Pat Donovan immediately skies deep and finishes with a loopy flick to Alex Simmons for the 4-0 ruthless start. Ohio State finally scores and celebrates loudly, but this wasn't going to help matters. Zach Alter ripped a 75 yard forehand sniper bomb to T-Murda for the easy score 5-1. Soon after, Tommy tossed a floaty break upwind and Animal was flying knee-tackled to the face as he stood OB in the back of the end zone, and Pat doinked the easy catch. The disc went back and Gaynor hit Feldman for the break 6-1. During halftime, Wisconsin talked about pwning, playing hard defense, and finishing teams when they are down. The second half began with Jimmy Foster flying all over the field, completely unguardable getting open deep and more gaping unders. J-Fo eventually got the disc and had a visionary moment, throwing anvert deep to space seemingly to Cinnabuns, but Uncle Gerry flew in for the snag catch and spike on Simmons for the 7-1 lead. Gaynor tries his first huck of the weekend and Ohio State capitalizes to score 7-2. With the game in hand, Animal relaxes and decides to help The Ohio State out as disc flying OB is greatest back in bounds for a 20 yard loss by Animal, who commented, "Hey, at least I looked good doing it!" Animal continued his physical play, running into players as Big Pat D'd a disc with his shin. Eventually Tommy scored from Devan Blaine and the Hodags were poised to dominate some more 8-2. At this point Chris Pearce had seen enough and predicts on the line that he will score, which he does and finishes with a flourish and spike that Tim would be proud of 9-2. The next point turns immediately into a marathon event and 7 turns later, Jake finds Murray for the score 10-2. On the final offensive point, Feldman makes a break side cut and is clearly open. Bergen, afraid to break the mark, looks him off and Feldman is freaking furious and shouts, "I'm gonna kill you Bergen!" and then screams "Crucio!" As Bergen completes the swing, he crumples into a heap, crying for Lil' Schotty as he screams like a little girl. Bergen is able to regain his composure long enough to hit Cinnabuns for the finish 11-3 as Foster smashed coolers and chairs into the ground. After the game Ohio State is wandering about the supposed C1 meeting after the rounds. Animal mutters, "Yeah, we had the meeting and they said you are out of C1 because you suck." Ohio State hung their heads and walked away, knowing that none on their team had the appropriate amount of flair to compete with Manny.
Wisconsin had 15 minutes until the next round began and spent it promptly laying on the sideline, reminiscing murdering The Ohio State - because as Devan Blaine said, "Man they sucked." However, Jimmy Foster didn't win the flip as promised and Wisconsin was forced to start on Offense. Wisconsin moved the disc easily to the goal line, but a covered Armstrong cut the cone was D'd as John yelled, "No, No!" However, Feldman was eager to finish the point with a big flick 1-0. Pitt hucked and skied to make it 1-1 and then was jacked up enough to play hard defense. Wisconsin was able to score in two passes as Feldman was wide open deep and Evan bombed a perfect backhand to lead 2-1. At this juncture BellaDonna showed up and Yossi promptly took off his shirt and flexed in the warm sun. As the next line was being called, Yosef was sure to get on the line, ready to make a play. Four passes later, Yossi closes on the under cut and makes a huge over the shoulder layout D, flexing his guns and howling for the girls pleasure. Manny immediately punches in the goal to J-Fo, spiking it hard for the 3-1 lead. Wisconsin pours on the pain as Pat gets a sky D and Feldman jacks a huge skyball and Monster Masler skies his dude and jams it into traffic to Murda for the score, chest pounding and fist in the air for the 4-1 lead. At this point, Uncle Jerry skies for a deep D on #2 of Pitt, who calls a box-out foul, claiming to not have been able to jump. Nobody likes the call and several passes later, #2 scores in the back corner and spikes the disc into Gary's feet - getting scathing looks from the Wisconsin sideline and a full disc punt from Jerome. However, Pitt uses the momentum and breaks to 4-3 as Feldman mails in a deep misread D which is cleaned up by a Pitt garbage man, scoring upwind. Jimmy Foster is again enraged that his deep super sick sky catch wasn't converted and urged the Hodags to respond. Pitt goes junk and Bergen finds Gaynor for the goal 5-3 and then Wisconsin breaks to take half as Jake throws a 70 yard head level flick fastball to Pat 6-3. Wisconsin is rolling and happy to respond by taking half. The Hodags are starting downwind, but it becomes another marathon point before Feldman finishes to T-Murda now 7-3. Yossi gets a second sick layout D and BellaDonna squeals in delight before Yosef finishes double happiness to J-Fo and makes the jerk it motion 8-3. Zach Alter pours in another break to Gaynor as Wisconsin takes a commanding lead 9-3 and becomes almost bored with the game. The first lull of the season commences and Pittsburgh puts together several breaks in a row, including a Manny handblock on the upwind goal line. The game tightens to 9-7 before J-Fo calls a retaliatory time out and tells everybody to take a deep breathe. The universe upwind O-Face enters the game and takes care of business as Drews hits Manny O2 for the lead 10-7. Wisconsin puts out a fresh line and Yossi hucks to Murray deep before finishing to Cinnabuns for the game winner 11-7.
Wisconsin was disappointed to discover that there was no tournament party, but took solace in the fact that Minnesota killed Florida in pool play 11-5, yielding a first round match-up with Florida in quarterfinals tomorrow. The Hodag domination of the day included J-Fo at +11, Ganji at +12, Feldman & Simmons at +8 and Manny & T-Murda at +7. The Offense struggled late in the day and only converted at 78%, while the blistering D line scored 56% of the time on the field. Sunday morning will be the first real test for Wisconsin, and a rematch of 2008 National Finals.

The Hodags of Wisconsin went back to the Holiday Inn Express happy, exhausted, and with a sense of steady determination. Right after pool play, Madison was under the impression that Florida had been eliminated from quarters and that UNCW would be the first round opponent. This was just Minnesnota trying to mislead Wisconsin and lull them into a false sense of security. Wisco was confident that whomever the played on Sunday, their opponent wouldn’t be able to match-up with the speed of the Hodags. Many of the top Wisconsin studs and first year freshman were falling asleep without regard to the surrounding habitat. But the party animals and true ballers refused to sleep and instead ordered pizza, demanded the presence of Tim Pearce, watched the very finest youtube videos (Call On Me!), and put together the worst negative highlight video imaginable (starring Zach Alter!). Sophomore Dave Wiseman got a total makeover as he shed his long hair and glasses for a buzz cut and contacts – making him look intimidatingly scary and imposing at his 6’4 stature. Jimmy Foster straggled into his hotel room at about 12:40am, stepping over the asleep Bitterman and Yossi in the hallway, before jerking Muffin out of his trance involving raucous techno music and the ITunes visualizer (which Princess Jasmine has been known to stare at for hours).
The Hogads were sure to wake up on time for Sunday’s games and feasted on an awesome continental breakfast complete with cereal, sausages, cheese eggs, Cinnamons rolls, and delicious coffee. Tim Pearce was again mingling with the Hodags during breakfast and even went so far as push into several UNC players in line for breakfast, stating causally, “Out of the way, the Hungry Hungry Hogads coming through.” The first round of quarterfinals started at 10am and Wisconsin used what little space they could claim for their warm-up drills. Meanwhile Coach Muffin was interrogating Coach Charlie of Minnesota to give up the inside details on the Packers worse than Brett Favre – looking for any intricacy to Florida’s offense which could be exploited. There was plenty to say as Favre described the various sets and audible packages that Brodie would call from the stack, as well as reliving the FL vs. MN game for the #2 seed. It seemed that Florida was tired for their fifth game of the day (go figure) and seemed content to let Michael Aaronson go Kurt Gibson on them, basically doing everything from start to finish. Cole Sullivan made a spirited attempt at getting into Mike’s head with some atrocious fouls, which worked for about half a point, before Michael realized that he could dominate pretty much everyone on the field – and that as competitive as CCC was, it wasn’t quite as intense as Club Nationals. As the anticipated FL vs. WI match-up loomed, Foster flipped against the terrible trifecta of Brodie, Windam, and CVA – electing to start on defense. The Hodags were looking good, complete with the Sunday Baby Blue, but they were auspiciously lacking the regular super intensity to begin the match. It seemed that only the veteran returners were aware of the circumstances as most rookies were content to yawn as Jimmy & Darth Lazer screamed words of encouragement and deepest loathing.
As the captains had previously decided, Wisconsin was to take the lead and then loosen up the lines - allowing rookies a chance to make plays. Brodman was first to strike blood, bombing a backhand to the back corner, also utilizing a banishment spell to quell Diablo's presence and scoring 0-1. Madison's Offense takes the field with a swagger, as a nasty line of super fast cutters were generally considered "non guardable." Adam Drews takes an immediate under and whips it up the line for a silly Feldman sky and flip spike 1-1. Wisconsin was hesitant to get pulled into "Florida's game" of standing in a vertical line and trying not to get yelled at by Brodman. It was now clear why everything thought Kurt was always "yelling at" his teammates - the fact is that Captain Kurt was really just giving directions, like "Tommy go deep already, I'm fudging being brutally double covered right now." This “giving directions skill” was also something the Brodman had inherited from his time with Florida, and now he was that guy who was forced to do everything. But Florida was missing their deep hucks by just a little, as the marks and junk of Wisconsin was just too dominant to overcome. Tom Murray cuts for an under and bombs upwind to Cinnamons for the sick sky, but sure enough, it went back on a violation call. But the Mas-Guy wasn't flustered, as the disc came back probably 63 yards on the call. Jasmine was not to be discouraged or denied and several every other's later, Janet rips a huge IO flick to Alter who skies 3 Gators in traffic, and finishes +1 to Diablo for the 2-1 lead. Florida stiffened up and prepared to do battle with every strategic ploy they possessed - while Wisconsin dropped a pretty decent D line going downwind. This was the defining juncture of the game as the marathon deep shotfest was consistent with Florida's decision making. Mas-Guy was pumped up and continued to play baller, skying for a D and ripping two perfect hucks deep, to which only Adam Drews could drop both, slipping through his supergrip fingers. Freshman Uncle Jerry was also in a heated match-up, pitting big man against very large unshaven Brodman, but Uncle Gary was in his shorts and bodying him all over the field. The Hodags needed all 5 shots to score the 15 minute point as Jake Smart eventually rifled a head level flick to Gaynor for the score 3-1. Florida now has their backs against the wall and are getting desperate, forcing another huck bomb deep into traffic. Benji Feldner is in the area for the poach D and resets the disc to Manny. Animal powers up his flick and rips it right into the marks foot, sending the disc sky high. A pile of players is patiently waiting, but Diablo Donovan shows his powers of levitation and swoops in, ripping down the disc in between defenders galore. With the plunder seized, Donovan resets to Alter who finishes quickly to Hollywood for the break and kickball spike 4-1 Wisco. Lil’ Jimmy Foster grips the pull and using his entire 6’7 wingspan, absolutely destroys the pull, sending a nasty floater and pinning Florida real deep in their end zone. However, Wisconsin has definitely left the lines wide open, and with the inexperience, is not able to lock Florida down, giving the Gators new life as they finally convert a low and straight deep shot down the line as the poach is late 4-2. Cyle breaths a deep sigh of relief from the sideline, no longer concerned about getting completely shutout. Wisconsin pumps up the pressure on Florida, but Sullivan is determined to foul his way to the lowest spirit score ever, hacking Manny 4 straight times, before Animal gets salty and whips a hammer to the River Ganges for an easy score 5-2. Florida goes immediately to their bread and butter, bringing Brodie into the backfield to get more touches (and trying to huck to Kurt) before getting brutally mark blocked on the near sideline. Animal is generally incredulous with the call and the sideline crowd lets Florida have it – heckling, giving brutal cat calls, and a rousing chorus of boos that only a Muffin at Nationals could relish. Florida indeed scores, closing the spread to 5-3. Brodie Smith continues to be the only standout player for Florida, getting an under layout D as well as a ridiculous full extension flailing lane jumping bid about 4 yards off on a lazer huck that he takes like a sliding hockey player in the hip – about 3 feet horizontal in the air. It was at that point that Wisconsin fully realized just how big of a frame and unshaven face Bodie had, and just how much smaller every Hodag other than Shane was, that was guarding him. Rolling on the momentum and the cheating brutal hacking fouls by Cole Sullivan, Florida breaks the Hodags with a fast huck down the line 5-4. Wisconsin is working the disc through the zone and finally breaks through the cup as Feldner pivots through a foul, hitting Animal with lots of open space along and the River Ganges flowing nearby. Meanwhile, Florida hears the foul call and "thinks" they hear "travel" because they are so used to hearing “travel” after the cup gets broken. However, this was not the case. As Florida players halted everywhere, frozen like red-light green-light, Manny was frolicking through a valley of statues, throwing his dirtiest dischoops moves, before giving it the clap spike from the MastaGanji 6-4. There was nothing to argue and Florida took the line with sour faces, determined to stay in the game. The Brodags continue to play the lines open and Florida scores off an under poaching mistake to make it 6-5. Madison is playing a solid O Line by now and Lazer finds gets a good O2 before ripping a ridiculous IO backhand to space, giving the speedy J-Fo plenty of room to run it down 7-5. By now the Gators have come to an exasperating realization, “Man, these guys can really run.” The Blodags stack the line to take half, but Florida resorts to hucking to their top stud, putting up a huge blade to which Brodie can box out and sky the undersized Benji 7-6. Wisco punches in a push pass goal, despite the brutal fouling, as Hollywood finds Bergen to take half 8-6. Madison is feeling comfortable with the lead and decides to keep the lines as open as possible, wanting to get the new players in on the feeding frenzy.
As the second half starts, Wisconsin begins to utilize the infamous early 1990’s Carleton sponsored Trident Spread (which will undoubtedly arise next weekend at MLC) – thoroughly confusing Florida and allowing murder and havoc with soft IO’s. Gayor and Foster combine on the destruction, scoring an unconventional look to lead 9-6. The Hodags are going upwind now and after a Princess Jasmine sick layout D in Brodie’s face near midfield, the huck is completed to Benji near the cone. Two passes later the finish cut to the cone is dropped and Florida seizes momentum, as Brodman throws a hammer to make it 9-7. A rare drop gives the Gators all the opportunity they would need as the game closes to within a single point 9-8. 5th years Foster and Annen meet eyes on the walk back to the line, and is one simultaneous command they scream, “Hodags do NOT drop discs! That is fudging unacceptable!” As soon as Manny can calm down enough to stop choking Feldman, Animal breaks the mark something brutal to the widely flowing River Ganges 10-8. It was getting late in the round, the soft cap looming in the distance, and Florida was looking to get within striking range. Wisconsin leaves the lines open, believing that their depth with eventually make the difference. Evan Klane gets a D in the lane and Alter sends a rocket flick down the line. Diablo is closing quickly into the space and near the back of the end zone, Donovan has a picture perfect chance to make a 15 foot layout catch of his life, but can't make the Harrison Ford leap of faith. As Pat pulls back, fearing injuries worse than death - he draws the unmistakable ire of his dark master - Darth Klane! Florida wastes no time with their possession as Smith jacks another deep looping huck to a single receiver as 3 Hodags converge. None of the Brodags can get to the spot as the receiver pulls it in, eventually scoring 10-9. And this is when the Hodags really needed observers for the first time all weekend. First of all, Florida gets a layout D, as Feldman throws into another turn - but what else is new. Florida works the disc to inside the red zone and then is struggling to keep the disc moving against the in-your-shorts tight goal line defense of the Hobags. At stall 9 a dying wobble of an O2 pass to the middle of the field puts 4 players in position to have a shot at the disc. Darth Blaine is clearly first to spot, ripping a catch D in full stride. However, Bergen was guarding the Gator the disc was intended for, and the box out position of Bergen was said to be cause enough for a foul, despite the poach D. A 10 minute discussion, right into and through the hard cap, couldn't settle anything. The Gators needed that call real bad, and despite how much angry disbelief Foster showed or the calm well-reasoned replies of Master Blaine - it was no use. Florida desperately needed this call and wasn't going to back down with the game on the line. As soon as the disc is live, Florida scores the last 3 yards to tie the game 10-10 – setting up universe point. During the insanity of 10 minute entire team argument - the captains had overlooked the hard cap rules - and for now it was universe point. At this point, Wisconsin hadn't realized the game was this close and James Foster Jr. was damn near livid with the situation and Florida shenanigans. Hurricane Foster storms to the line and furiously presses his Dark Mark. Animal instantly appears at his right hand and Tom Murray at his left - for these Death Eaters held no remorse for slaughtering the wicked. Darth Blaine and Feldman were quickly joined by Gangji and Drews - giving this line speed over speed. The pull was centered to Manny and Feldner was given a free under, taking the yards and quickly hitting Drews. Without even a single spin move, Tom Murda has the disc and is loading up, bombing a backhand to Hurricane Foster, rampaging deep, and blood leaking through his jersey with every step. Florida sensed their demise and sent three defenders deep, but none could catch J-Fo nor the game winning spike that went through the trees and rolled down the road, 11-10 Wisconsin. Madison had finished like ballers, not ever giving their opponent a chance with the disc to win. Florida took it gracefully and took strides toward becoming a team - taking solace that they had played the defending national champions to game point. As Wisconsin took a deep breath, it was clear from the post-game chatter that Gaynor was not to be stopped, scoring 5 times and Manny chalking up 3 more. The Hodags were also happy with the amount of D's, as Madison punched down 11 in the game, and Murda, Evan, Masler, and Jake all getting at least 2, not to mention the super dirty Princess Janet layout D, literally in Brodman's eyeball.
After the exciting conclusion, Wisconsin readied itself to hit full stride in semifinals against North Carolina. As the game is set to begin, both teams make opposite chunnels to celebrate the starters as Jasler, Manny, Mr. Murray, and the River Ganges strut to the line. The River Ganges loves to play UNC, vowing to shoulder the burden and make his best babyface during the D point. In no less than 30 seconds into the game, the Hodags turn suddenly ruthless and savage - exposing fangs and claws and taking out as many Darkside players as possible. One particular player couldn't take the pain, "Noooo! Fudge!" The crowd hushed as the trainer came slowly onto the field, carrying Vitamin I and red bulls. Muffin wonders out loud, "Why do you think he screamed fudge so angrily?" Diablo leans forward, "Probably because the trainer isn't hot enough." There was nothing to do; the teeth marks on his ankle and the internal bleeding in his leg were too much, as SeaMonster of GA drove him away in the water filling golf cart. As soon as play resumes, Adam Drews gets a deep D. Immediately, Gaynor was all action to get the disc, dominating unders and resetting dumps. However, Babyface Gangji hits his quota of spin moves at 4 less than when Adam Drews usually becomes aware that he is doing the Crazy Frank pivot spin move. Darkside needs only two attempts before punching in the goal and celebrating by spiking the disc 25 yards off the field into a tree 1-0. Zach Alter was so excited to finally be a Hodag he jumps the gun and sky balls a disc to somebody who obviously can't just as high as Will Lokke, resulting in a turnover. It seemed that Wisconsin was still convinced they needed to huck, having been partially brainwashed by Florida. Animal snaps back out Florida's mind control scheme long enough to demonstrate to Bergen how to properly break a mark. At this, UNC becomes chippy and #13 brought back two Alter hand blocks on close plays, clinging to the 1-0 advantage. Manny gets another deep D and double scores on the goal line - completing the marathon point upwind by utilizing easy unders 1-1. The game remains wide open as the Wisconsin D Line has 4 chances to break, while UNC was bleeding huge unders. However Wisconsin was still in the huck first mentality - bombing regardless and missing the easy opportunities while trying to make the big play. UNC finally gets lucky on a huck and scores to lead 1-2. Feldman takes advantage of the big unders and gets a good luck at Cinnabuns, leaking icing on his way deep, and hauling in a big looper to tie it 2-2. This was the breaking point of the game as Wisconsin made a gritty goal line stand and JonKillStrong got an all effort D. Manny eventually got a pitch he liked over the center of the plate, and ripped a huge IO flick into space, praying that Armstrong could overcome noob status. John "Murder He Wrote" Armstrong hauled in the goal and Wisconsin rushed the field as the Hodags took the lead 3-2. UNC was getting nervous, throwing a low huck which Tomacide skys for the D right in the lane. Adam Drews eventually gets trapped on the line after his 6th straight spin move, and just HAD to throw is lefty hammer, finding a space with two wide open Hodags, as T-Murda skies Wiseman and brutally wipe spikes the disc on Dave to make it 4-2. UNC calls a timeout and the Hodags freak out, "Why do they call timeouts? Because they're scared!" J-Fo was so pumped he grenade launches a giant outside in backhand hanging blade which lands back corner and rolls to an unsteady stop - completely killing UNC’s first set play. On the run down field Foster announces to all, "How good are my freaking pulls - Seriously?!" Lil' Jimmy follows up his big talk by hitting Dan Park for the break now 5-2. The Hodags were starting to pull away, but the wind had certainly made the game contested to this point - as 55 minutes had already elapsed to play 8 points. LiveJonStrong is so excited about dominating that he holds nothing back - determined to do something as vile as "eating a soul." UNC puts up a deep pass and Feldman is again poaching deep - but Benji plays it awkwardly and can only barely mack the disc. But it certainly gave the bidding JonKillStrong a better shot at the disc, and John goes big and hard, smacking the disc... right into the UNC receiver's outstretched hand. The trauma of the collision went from moderate to extremely savage as the pile came crashing down, so violently the ground ripped the disc from the receiver’s fingers. The 2nd impact was only amplified by Armstrong landing squarely on his chest, and put over the top as KillMode monkey barrel-rolled over his head, adding dirt and sand to his wincing face. UNC cried "Oh Uncle Jerry!" and relented a bit, taking a full 15 minutes to cart the 2nd player to go down off the field. It was ruled a foul due the murder beginning prior to the drop and this deadly play was in clear violation of the Geneva Convention, which it now seemed are rules that the Hodags have ruefully ignored. However, after the 26 minute delay - UNC subs in and calls a timeout?! "WTF is that?" sneers Animal. “Didn't you just have 34 minutes to set a play?” It was clear the UNC was now stalling - trying to keep the game close and hopefully hit the cap. UNC punches in the short goal making it only 5-3 Wisconsin. This is about the time Georgia shows up, apparently having perfected their heckling skills - undoubtedly with several years of practice watching semis and finals. Wisconsin only thrives off of trash talk and the fresh Offense is rearing to dominate as Feldman hucks pretty nice to J-Fo who is unbelievably sky D'd in the end zone. Newcomer Davidman gasps at this play, “Has that ever happened before? I’ve never seen Jimmy not make a play on a disc in the air!” On the second go around, the point finishes as Simmons skys deep and floats up a pass to Drews for the sky spike score triple combo 6-3. Madison keeps the defensive pressure on, generating more deep turns from UNC. Janet lofts up a huge curveball that sails around the length of the pitch, hitting Tomacide in stride 7-3. The Hodags are prepared to take any measures necessary and with a boot to the neck mentality - there was little Darkside could do, but turn it over quickly. Zach Talter gets a swing and loads up a boom headshot to a jogging wide open Jimmy Foster 8-3 and halftime. Madison rushes the field, happy for a blowout, but the captains vowed more, "You see this?" As Foster pulls a gleaming jagged dagger from his shorts. "That is how you stab with the dagger," suddenly jabbing it into nearby Jake's left calf. Smart is streaming with tears, but doesn't dare move for fear of retribution from Darth Blaine. Without warning, Crazy J-Fo now has a dark gleam in his eyes and face more determined than Dexter. "And this is how you twist the dagger!" Foster’s childhood friend, shrieks again and shudders on the ground, irreparably harmed, but in a flash of light, Jake is healed as Darth Klane sneers, "Beware the wrath of the Hodags!" But for all the drama and puzzled looks on rookie player's faces, it was actually the Offense's turn to play, and Bergen was so excited to finally play, he needed anything but a Red Bull. The Hodags hold out of half easily, despite UNC’s zone efforts as Gaynor rips a perfect midrange bomb to a wide open Alex Cinnabuns 9-3. Wisconsin now opens up the lines and Uncle Jerry proves he can pivot with the best of them – clearing space with very hard pivots and rough elbows. UNC is able to score and tighten the game to 9-4. UNC again employs a zone to try to slow Wisco down, with their sidelines screaming, “Body up those crashers! Knock those fudgesticks over!” North Carolina was surely buying into the hate, but did not have the dark heart to follow it up, giving up a double score as Feldman (gaining confidence in his IO flick) bombs twice in a row to Adam Drews for a cartwheel spike 10-4. UNC makes it 10-5 on another completed huck. Adam Drews is proving overwhelming to the Darkside as Straight Drews speeds for an easy under and bombs to a wide open Chris Pearce to lead 11-5. UNC is able to keep pace, scoring to make it 11-6 just as the girl’s start horn is confused with the soft cap – as Cinnabuns spreads rumors and attempts to undermine the stalling effect. The wind picks up and UNC intensifies their zone, getting a turn from Hollywood Feldner who had his heart set on bombing this year and liked a dubious match-up, sending it deep as Jasmine barks, "Ben I hate you. I fudging hate you Ben." UNC would break back to 11-7. Again with the zone, but the poppers decimate it with quick disc movement upwind until Animal finds Drews to lead 12-7. The hard cap sounds and the game is officially over - but the Hodags agree to play one more point. The closest thing to an all n00b line took the field, giving Yossi once last chance for a big layout, skidded to a halt more gracefully than a bearded walrus, but UNC scored anyway to make it a respectable 12-8. Adam Drews had apparently taken up a personal vendetta against UNC, scoring 5 times and snacking on 2 D's.
Meanwhile, it is 12-12 universe point next door with Notre Dame battling Pittsburgh to the death. The team exchange deep hucks and conversations before Pitt lands a finishing blow 13-12 and the right to lose in finals of CCC 2008. Pittsburgh is eventually able to switch fields and J-Fo lets them know right away, "Game time is now." Madison starts on Offense as Zach Talter bombs a laser forehand deep to Benji Feldman 1-0. This quick start got the Hodags in a full fledge frenzy, ready to consume any pure soul they might venture across. Manny started the action hot by getting a sky D, breathing a sigh of relief and muttering, "No Pebbles." Yossi loaded up a flick which was mack D'd, but nonetheless caught by Gaynor who finished to LiveJonStrong 2-0. Pittsburgh calls a timeout to collect themselves, clearly concerned about getting completely shut out. Wisconsin brings in the huddle at top tier rage - screaming, "Why do they call timeout? Because they're scared! Who wants to get a fudging D?" At least 10 Hodags thrust their hands in the air and steped forward, beating their chests and in Yossi's case, stripping his shirt, hoping Belladonna had finished their games for the day. "Who's tired?" The war cry was no one as Wisconsin readied to break again. J-Fo juices a pull OB out the back because he is so excited to decimate on Defense. Pittsburgh takes their time before a rabid Jimmy Foster closes quickly on an under cut makes a perfect layout D. Pittsburgh rookies can barely contain their looks of shock and fear at the sight of such a man-child. Meanwhile, Animal pulls a swim move O2 that is so filthy, a foul brings it back. Manny is unphased as he finishes to Uncle Jerry 3-0. Tom is in the zone and bombs an anvert IO huck to Dan Park who scores to Gaynor for his 1st ever college assist 4-0. Pittsburgh is able to stop the bleeding and connect on a huck as Alter gets lost downfield. The Hodags needed to score to take Pittsburgh completely out of the game and had two shots at it as Drews throws a nasty O2 pass to Alter who tries to jam it into Simmons at the cone for a turn, and then later in the point, Talter again hucks it to Cinnabuns who can't come down with it. Pitt is fed up with Cinnamons and breaks to make it 4-2. The Madison West handler duo of Animal and Bergen combine to keep Wisconsin rolling 5-2 with the Swingtime cheer "OOOooooOOOOooo Sucks!" Pitt puts up a double helix jack and scores it, now 5-3. Jon Gaynor and Ben Feldman do most of the dirty work, getting huge unders before Feldner breaks the mark brutal to Bergen, who finishes to Chris Pearce for a 1 handed snag because Tim doesn't like to pancakes 6-3. ESN keeps it close using breakside lazer hucks to their fast kid as the poachy sets of Wisconsin are unable to contain the bombs 6-4. Pitt is trying to stay competitive, but a brutally terrible pull comes up way short, yielding field position again. The Hodags can't punch it in and Pitt tires to huck until Alter steps in for his 5th handblock of the weekend. The points are sloppy downwind and Pitt gets another chance, throwing midrange across of the middle of the field and also when when #5 of Pitt makes a suspect strip call as Adam Drews flys in the catch D – similar to Darth Klane’s catch D late in the Florida game. However, Pitt players are not quite as douchy as Florida, and eventually relent the call in the best interest of spirit. Feldman bombs big huck deep and the sideline comments, “That is a nice throw.” But Jake is quick to chime in, “Nice throws don’t have defenders near them!” The marathon ugly point continues and the River Ganges flows swiftly for a layout under D, as the Hodag n00bs scream, "Sick!" Gaynor puts the finishing touches on the point, ripping it to Drews who calls a timeout on the goal line. Manny has to finish the point, DH to the Ganges 7-4. Wisconsin throws out another fresh line and ramps up the intensity as T Murda makes a nasty under layout bid and Zach Talter responds to that with a good around the back layout D strip play, but Pitt scores to make it 7-5, sticking around. Ben Feldner is starting find his groove, ripping a backhand to the non guardable Adam Drews 8-5 for half. Wisconsin is getting angry (pretty much all the time) and urges the team to give everything in the last half of the day, especially on man defense. In the second half, Wisconsin starts playing in-your-pants man D until Pittsburgh cannot handle the pressure. Masler gets an O2 and bombs to Uncle Gary, allowing Foster to finish to Yossi 9-5. The game trades until a foul-turnover discussion gets going and the controversy turns ridiculous as both teams admit not knowing the rules. Players off the field convince the thrower that it goes back, when it should have been a turn - whatever. The argument goes so thorough that bystanders cheer for change soon, "Conference One! C1!" Benji bombs a flick upwind to J-Fo, finishing to Drews to lead 11-7. With the points so ugly and long Bergen is livid and ashamed of the Defense for not finishing and demands to play a D point. Jon Raynah riles up the sideline determined to give a full effort. Janet da Princess Jasmine rips a nasty IO to Animal, but sails all the way to Murda in the end zone for a violent spike 12-7! Foster is still not satisfied, and screams for hard marks as Pitt tosses a lazer goal despite the WI efforts to play tough and physical. Klane rips a full field huck to Feldner to make it 13-8 after Alter's 9th and 10th handlocks of the game, not to mention his 2 layout snags to save possession. With the weekend winding down, Jasmine rips a moonshot backhand similar to the number of Z’s on a pull, letting all 14 players have a shot at it. Jimmy Fosters skys a whole pile with a solid read and immediately rips a blade to Gaynor upwind, forcing Ganji to accelerate for the slider catch 14-8. By this point, Pitt has some despondent looking dudes on the sideline who are not only getting killed in finals but also with a partially shaved head. Darth Klane finishes to Chris Pearce with a solid spike and chest bump, ignoring the original called iso Mingie Benji 15-8 and the Blodags rush the field. Pitt can only comment, "Chalk up another one for the Ho-Dags."
WI kept the pressure on both halves, taking 3 breaks in both, but J-Fo was not safisfied screaming, “I want to score every point!” He springboards off that idea saying, “They should never score upwind, especially deep!” It was a solid weekend altogether as the Offense went 50/62 to score at 81% and the D went 43/87 scoring at 50%. Foster carried the load with 72 points as the other studs played at least 60 points. Gaynor wins fantasy at +24 without throwing barely a turnover, leaving Foster, Animal, Feldman and Drews to fight for second ranging from +18 to +13.
After the Hodags celebrated the victory, they made sure to cool down as best they could without doing any stretching whatsoever – for fear of tearing their huge muscles. They also made sure to not play through any slight injuries, fearing their symptoms could develop into something worse - a principle Dan Miller would be proud of. After a quick circle jerk, the Hodags gather their championship glasses for the fourth straight year as Murda chimes in, “4Peat in the eyeball.” The Hogads celebrate properly by taking a team picture and heading straight to the Dragon Buffet for feast on baby lamb flesh before heading back to the frigid tundra, barely studying through the dark night, to take tests first thing Monday morning.
Back in the chilly caves of the Northwoods, the Hodags get two practices within the sacred “Shell” to prepare for MLC. However, these practices were full of implementing zone, which involves a lot of talking and explaining, which was dull business to athletes eager to murder and consume souls. The last practice on Thursday was a fiasco, as the off-the-bat scrimmage was without intensity or proper defense, as the O-face goes 0-5 on possessions. The Defense plays well enough, but two-time Captain and leader Jimmy Foster is freaking angry mad. He calls for a team huddle and berates his team for playing like pussies, not running hard, and wasting our valuable practice time. Manny takes the worst of it for 5 straight minutes before exploding, “Practice? Practice! How the hell can I make my teammates better by practicing?!” Diablo couldn’t contain his laughter and proclaimed, “Manny’s stock has to be rising, I’m going to hold onto Animal Corp stock for this weekend, because that shiz is gonna skyrocket!” Wisconsin is definitely excited to play CUT in finals with a full squad and concuss some CUT bitches KillStrong style stamping their dominance on the Central Region. However, Manny did admit , "They are better at cheating than we are." There are still many questions for the Hodags as they perform at MLC – like if Talter will lead the negative highlight reel for drops or if the captains will get the team to the fields with more than 15 minutes until game time. Of course the fans want to know the over-under on how many people KillMode will concuss this weekend and obviously, what is the lowest temperature at which Yossi will strip his shirt off when the Bella ladies saunter by? Lastly, how many more feminine nicknames will Jasmine/Janet get this weekend?

2009 Wisconsin Hodags

2008-10-29T10:38:00.050-05:00

Introducing the 2009 Wisconsin Hodags roster:

Jimmy Foster: Two-time Captain and 5th year scary cutter, super fast, really tall, contains the power and speed to pwn and then bomb deep, probably better than you.
Evan Klane: 3rd year handler, Captain, big time talker, smart than Devan Blaine, and lazer powered Pews!
Tom Animal: 5th year handler, Captain of Madison Club, Officer, next Muffin, flair elevates his game, mutton chops, stock through the roof, unbreakable handler defender, never lifted a weight, previous 1/2 of best buddy pairing ever, and biggest hater.
Jon Gaynor: 3rd year cutter, Officer, known primarily as GAYNAH! and baby face lefty who makes ridiculous faces in all pictures, gangly Jon will stay under the radar most of the season.
Ben Feldman: 3rd year cutter, Officer, lead tournament organizer, recruiter, Hollywood Simba, major C1 proponent, merchandiser, UPA Board Member, Sherwood slayer, and currently with death threats on his head.
Tom Murray: 2nd year cutter, in Pimpdag Hall of Fame, super fast, sky's everybody, and layout catch D specialist.
Adam Drews: 3rd year cutter, last college tournament was CCC 2006, saw Pauly Shore naked, speedster, and lefty bomber.
Matt Young: 4th year grad student, 8th year cutter, Dr. Crumb gets layout D's with a smile across his face, and very old man who consistently wears Packer attire.
Cullen Geppert: 3rd year cutter, dominant defender, dream destroyer, insane athleticism and intensity, dominant at earning TMF's, will layout D your best player.
Pat Donovan: 2nd year cutter, wearing level 97 Diablo Enchanted Dragon Armor, unable to fit through most doorways, will sky you without jumping.
John Bergen: 3rd year handler, chilly handler, Captain Hook surprises every time, loves his scoober, unimpressive physique, won't ever break mark.
Jon Masler: 2nd year handler, big throws, never landed a pull inbounds, lots of heart, plenty of Jew.
Zach Alter: 1st year handler, breaking ankles better than Rebholz.
Jake Smart: 2nd year handler, extremely lazy, big ups, biggest throws in college, yet a giant hyprocondriact.
Yoshi Kakou: 1st year handler, very intensely angry, giant green tongue able to grab anything.
Matt Davidman: 1st year cutter, very cocky, best player you don't know about.
Alex Simmons: 1st year cutter, cannot finish agility ladder, ridiculous layouts, better than Davidman.
John Armstrong: 1st year cutter, KILL MODE.
Dan Park: 1st year cutter, nice throws, good instinct.
Chris Pearce: 1st year cutter, already way better than Tim.
Dave Wiseman: 1st year cutter, next Drew Mahowald.
Jerry McGinnis: 1st year cutter, better looking than Heijmen, next Shane Hohenstein.
Dayu Liu: 1st year handler, will break the mark better than Bergen.

Numbers and full bios to come.

Wisconsequenced

2008-10-22T00:00:00.007-05:00

For a weekend with supposedly little significance, it was loaded with early season expectations, Regional rivalries, and plenty of drama. The Wisconsin Hodags hosted their first tournament since Midwestern’s 2003, and with the help of Cultimate, put together a premier event. They took advantage of the fantastic Cooler Classic fields of Delafield, WI – and weather on Saturday that was the best possible, a calmness with highs in the mid 60’s, sunny, and no wind to speak of.
The Hodag captains drafted their respective split squad teams, and nobody was as confident as Tom Annen who briefly mumbled, “AnimalSaurusRex will be the team to watch this weekend, because Evan Klane’s ‘Army of Champions’ lottery picks -- can’t actually throw at all. I’m very confident with the studs we recruited and keep your eye out for Ben Feldman!”

Captain Evan Klane countered these comments with two words, “Pew! Pew!” Saturday morning provided many cups of hot chocolate, Patagonia galore, and a perfect atmosphere for college ultimate. All of the top seeds of Carleton, Colorado, and Wisconsin reX & armY had first round byes to soak in the scene. Pool play would challenge both Wisconsin teams, as a slow warm-up combined with other team's desire to take down any Wisconsin squad had clearly heightened the atmosphere.

Luther and Michigan battled early as Wisconsin drilled, but rising Central star Greg Shirbourner was not able to take down a sloppy Michigan, even with the excellent guidance of alumni Dill McAdam. Meanwhile, Colorado was struggling early, losing a close game to Kansas 11-15 before going down on universe point to Illinois 14-13. Minnesota was looking stronger than usual with ex-Hodags Dan Schmit and Tim Pearce holding down the offensive line, along with all-around stud and dedicated boyfriend Mike Arenson. Charlie Reznikoff could be seen shouting put-downs at Grey Duck all through the much anticipated Army of Champions match-up.

As the day progressed, Tom Animal made his presence known to all that would oppose him – as his style points certainly helped increase his level of play. Captain Jimmy Foster was roaming from sideline to sideline, evaluating talent as best he could, as Sub Zero heckled him from the next field over. Wisconsin AnimalSaurusReX played a close game with Luther, just escaping with a 15-13 victory. They followed that up with a 15-11 beat-down on Michigan, asserting dominance early, and continuing it with prospective Hodags making plays. Animal, Murray and Feldman all had big time performances with their aggressive hucks. Rex took the pool 2-0 using athletic, intense, and on-the-hip shut tight shut down defense.

Wisconsin Army of Champions was very confident in the week approaching No Wisconsequences, winning the practice scrimmages and talking it up, so much that Jon Gaynor flashed onto the radar. However, a veteran stacked St. Olaf looked plenty confident to throw-down with the tryout Hodags - bombing early and often and skying for deep scores. Adam Drews began to pick up the slack and take over, propelling the Army of Champs to a narrow 15-13 victory over Olaf. Mr. Meyer must have been so proud, as his son Nate absolutely dominated all over the field, as Seth could only watch mildly disgruntled about rule violations on the sideline. While Rex took care of business - Army was ready to choke and certainly stumbled, at times looking intimidated against a full Minnesota team in pool play. Unable to stop Minnesota's initial set plays and their semi solid offensive line - Grey Duck took control of the momentum. Wisconsin could not put any pressure on Grey Duck's quick disc movement and struggled to move the disc in the backfield. Refusing to huck the disc, Minn's patience worked with slashing unders, taking half 8-6 despite Tim Pearce (wearing his Hodag jersey) being completely ineffective against his old team. In the second half, Minnesota pulled away 15-9, but not before Zach Alter skied the crap out of Mike Arenson pretty brutally, humiliating him in front of his Sub Zero teammates.

Meanwhile, Carleton College was dominating the scene, shutting out MSU in the first game and using all 20 players available to them. Once in awhile CUT would heed some of the advice that Coach Derek Gottlieb (2001 UPA Champion) was able to bestow upon them. Jerome Potter was overheard on many occasions – as Ben Hahn was also able to confirm – teaching his fellow CUT’s the finer points of subtle cheating. This only set-up the drama that would occur in the cross-over games as Wisconsin ReX was set to play Carleton. With Fat Kanner and Grant Lindsley steering the ship – CUT would stack the first 9 points with a universe worthy line – clearly set on taking down the split squad Hodags. Their plan worked to perfection as sloppy turns let CUT rampage to a 6-1 lead, almost taking a 4-0 start. Wisconsin was content to play open lines and evaluate the talented freshman, fighting to earn a spot. The second half was a much closer contest as CUT relaxed their lines as well, trading 7-5 as Carleton went 3-0 on the day.
Army of Champions had a crucial cross-over game against a split-squad Iowa, a rematch of semifinals of Regionals last year. The first half was extremely exciting as both teams hucked in the increasing wind, as Wisconsin armY took the early lead using on the hip defensive pressure. However, Iowa convinced armY that it was game to only 13 and responded with a befuddling force middle 4 man cup. The wind was increasing and breaking the cup became difficult and the Wisconsin split squad wasn’t able to pop the zone effectively enough to break it. Soon, the over the top hammers were being eaten by Iowa’s big athletic wings & deep, which led to poor transition defense, giving way to Iowa eventually dominating 13-9. This tragic loss pushed Army of Champions into prequarters of the 17th place bracket and almost put Officer Jon Gaynah! into tears, “I'd trade my girlfriend to Foster for a night for a shot into the winner's bracket!?

As the day came to a close all of the tournament gear had been sold and with requests for more jerseys and pullovers. Sunday was a whole different day entirely as T-Shirts were replaced with jackets, and long sleeves were evident for all but Carleton -who insisted upon wearing basketball jerseys. The swift early morning wind and cold fronts moved into the Wisconsin tundra – making zone defense the fall fashion from game to game. AnimalRex was still in the winner's bracket and playing quarterfinals against the Iowa squad who had crushed Champions the day before. The conditions turned sour and soon upwind-downwind was the scenario. The handling corps of Animal, Bergen, Yossi, Jake Smart, and Tom Murray all had big throws and loose cannons as the game progressed. Iowa went Zone immediately, believing it was their greatest weapon. Madison bombed early and often, punting downwind and playing shut-down D, many times forcing insta-turns from Iowa. Wisconsin broke first and never looked back, determined to mix up the strategy of hammers, hucks, and Yossi popping the cup better than Rebholz ever could. Meanwhile Bergen had flatly refused to attempt to break the mark or take any chance whatsoever save the scoober. But Iowa was able to keep it close, mainly from the nature of the wind and scoring downwind. But soon, Feldman had gained his swagger and threw 3 straight huck bombs for goals, hitting cutters perfectly in stride. Wisconsin exploded the game wide open by spreading the field and then crushing on the scattered defenders - putting it out to 15-9 and moving into semifinals.

On the next field over, Minnesota and Colorado were fighting for a semifinals berth. Colorado was running the Mac Taylor Show, going upwind and down, getting seemigly every pass. Mamabird looked big, athletic, and more athletic - dominating the air and pulling down hucks from all directions. Give Minnesota credit, they refused to punt downwind - absolutely refused. They threw dangerous swings and turfed several break side unders on their way to letting Colorado back into the game. The only plays of note were Mac Taylor pivoting to break and Arenson brutally hacking him something brutal, especially considering what a nice guy he used to be pre-Sub Zero. It went all the way down to universe point as Colorado again went up and big, taking the game. That put the semi-finals repeat of CO vs. WI, while Illinois vs. CUT were in the other. Carleton was actually playing their games on the cross-wind fields - which made for many OB pulls. Carleton was obviously putting the screws to Illinois - going up with early breaks before Illinois responded back. The second half was never in question as Kanner and Lindsley made play after play 13-7. In the other game, Mac seemed to have carried the load only as far as he could, limping slightly and proving ineffective against Wisconsin's poach and tough defense. Rex was in control most of the way and newcomer Jon "Kill Mode" Armstrong caught all 3 upwind breaks, spiking all 3. The final cap was 11-9 Rex as Animal's squad moved into a re-match of the previous day in finals and commented, "I look so good, all the time. I'm incredibly glad Pebbles graduated."

Meanwhile, ArmY of Lazer was battling UW-Whitewater in a tough Sectional rivalry game. It was hard nosed defense to the core on both sides, but moving the disc in general was difficult. Matt Crumb and Big Pat also refused to punt the disc, but Champions held on to the 14-12 win to still have a shot at 17th place. Next up was McGill of Ottawa, who threw a ridiculously brutal Zone. The game deteriorated quickly as Gaynor was now really pissed at Animal for drafting all the big throwers. But McGill was determined to flex on this split squad, winning big (13-7) but not before calling a suspect foul on a wolfpack disc when surrounded by 5 Wisconsin players, all waiting for the disc to come down. However, ArmY of Champions thought they finished their day on a high note - putting down Michigan State something hard 13-2. But they were wrong - instead of watching finals and cheering on the other half of Wisconsin, Magnum forced armY into one last game, before folding 9-6.

All this action set up the fabled Central Regional final match-up for at least the last 8 years - Carleton vs. Wisconsin. But, in reality it was split squad AnimalSaurusRex vs. Tryout Carleton. CUT was politely asked by Foster if they would like to perhaps play the full Wisconsin team to see where they might stack up? Jerome sent L.A. Gangsta jibberish flying in all directions before dropping, "Shit ya, bring the house, give us all that you got!" Skip stared at his watch as the 40 Hodag tryout circle got pumped up to bring it in finals, as Carleton waited on the line. However, then Michigan showed up and said that they really really pretty please wanted to play one more game. Most of the team looked pissed about having to leave finals, but this also nixed the chances of picking up Gaynor, Drews, and Matt Crumb for the finals. The game was intense from start to finish, but Carleton was controlling the tempo - scoring easily on Offense, with Sockeye-like ability to throw 3-4 passes per possession. Wisconsin was attacking the middle of the field and playing it chilly. Feldman was playing all over the field, almost getting the most ridiculous in-layout D on Grant, ripping the disc out of his fingers with Doede-like intensity. Furthermore, Feldman also jerked*ahem*juked Grant in the lane so hard, that he brutally fell over in the lane pretty silly looking. In the second half, the game tightened to 10-8 and the older studs believed with a couple more Hodags like Evan and Gaynor, reX would have killed. Wisconsin was able to hang around late with 3 deep goals from Jake Smart and one nice grab on near the line by Davidman.

But soon Carleton exerted themselves and Wisconsin played it open again - yielding victory to CUT at 15-10. GOP was so excited, they stopped heckling Animal and the Observer for just about 10 seconds when it ended.

Wisconsin was left to clean up and make the final 2009 Hodags.

Fall 2008 Tryout Information!!

2008-08-27T12:54:00.010-05:00

NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY!

JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP "UW-Madison Ultimate Frisbee Tryouts"

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=45998998592

Tryouts for the Wisconsin Hodags will continue on Wednesday, September 10th at 4:30pm. They will be held at the University Bay Fields, located near the UW-Hospital on the west side of campus (The fields are directly across from the Waisman Center). Refer to this online map if you need help locating the fields: http://www.map.wisc.edu/

Important Information:

-Tryouts will be every Monday and Wednesday at 4:30pm, lasting till around 7:30pm
-Make sure to bring a white and dark jersey/shirt to practice

-Bring cleats if you have them
-Tryouts will continue into October, at which point the team will be decided after our local tryout tournament on October 18th and 19th. Make sure you are available to attend if you are serious about playing for the Hodags.
-Last year we had two different B-Teams, and will almost certainly have the same this year. Everyone will have an opportunity to compete, be it on the A-Team, or the B-Team(s).
-Invite your friends! The more people the better!

If you have any questions, you can contact Ben Feldman at bfeldman2@wisc.edu

Thanks!

The Wisconsin Hodags

The Blueprint Preview

2008-07-21T23:47:00.002-05:00

Too long to be a trailer, too short to be the real thing. Well, here's something in-between. Get a little bit of everything with a preview of what we have in store for the documentary; the first championship ultimate season ever to be captured in its entirety.

The Blueprint.

Enjoy.

Blueprint - The Preview from Brandon Malecek on Vimeo.

UPA College Championships 2008

2008-06-03T13:54:00.024-05:00

A team united in one goal

The 2008 Blueprint Road to Repeat Preview is finally up

Friday Pics
Saturday Pics
Sunday Pics

No Wisconsequences from Brandon Malecek on Vimeo.
Sectional Finals & Alumni Game

Online Videos by Veoh.com
Stanford Invite Day 2 - the audio is not quality.

Centex 2008 - Wisconsin from Brandon Malecek on Vimeo.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

If you were searching for motivation... look no further

Central Region Finals from Brandon Malecek on Vimeo.

Wisconsin team picture after making finals for the 3rd straight year!

Lil' Jimmy wanting more!

Back-2-Back National Champs!

Best Graduating College Class Ever

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Highlight Video for Finals

Nationals Forecast: Skies Partially-Cloudy With Baby Blue Jerseys

2008-05-14T20:45:00.021-05:00

Post Natties Road Trip Drama.

Reality Implosion from Brandon Malecek on Vimeo.

Highlight reel from the 2007-2008 season; introducing the Hodag sky patrol.

2008 Nationals Champions

VIDEO CLIPS:
Pool Play vs. Stanford
Quarterfinals vs. Harvard
Semi-finals vs. Colorado

UPA Open Finals Write-up
Match Open Finals Write-up
Match Quarters/Semis Write-up

Discraft Pictures
NUMP All Collegiate Team
NUMP 2008 Final Rankings

SI Video

Back-to-Back Championships in '07 and '08 for the Wisconsin Hodags
Why you ask? Because the Hodags work harder than any other college ultimate team. The Hodags had more legs, more energy, and more endurance than every team they played all season - and it showed more than usual at Nationals in the heat and altitude.

Does this sound familiar?

"Madison is essentially the best modern day program having played 4 of the last 6 national finals, and every year in nationals since 1999. Furthermore, if Wisconsin can continue the trend of dominance and get back to finals in 2008, the Hodags would have a strong case for the best class of players ever. Wisconsin would have a graduating class of 12 players who will have played in 3 national finals, which would beat UCSB’s 10 players who have been to nationals 3 times and their 41 players in 2 years. Basically since 2000 Madison has been dominating college ultimate along with Colorado. Here is the premise – Wisconsin has not only the best single year college team ever and is becoming the best modern day program. The 2008 Hodags could have the best line ever for a graduating class in the history of ultimate. Three stud handlers in Matt Rebholz, Kevin Riley, Muffin Malecek and four dominate cutters in Andrew Mahowald, Shane Hohenstein, Will Lokke, and Chris Doede. Add to that defender Seth Meyer and cutter Tim Pearce – this is literally the best 9 players to ever graduate in a single class. Prediction – the 2008 Hodags will be the best team in college history going undefeated 56-0 and winning 8 tournaments. The Wisconsin dynasty will be better than Santa Barbara’s 3-peat and UNCW’s run in the 90’s. Wisconsin will be unstoppable next year with 8 players getting time with Sub Zero and the opportunity to get to play some of the best club teams in the world. Expect the younger players to sharpen their skills while getting valuable experience with Madison Club. The college season starts in approximately 2 months – can the Hodags defend the title?"

Yes

TMF

Matt Rebholz for Callahan

2008-05-08T11:50:00.026-05:00

Wisconsin Callahan from Brandon Malecek on Vimeo.

Captain Matt Rebholz is Wisconsin's Callahan Nominee

Matt Rebholz is a 5th year senior on the University of Wisconsin Hodags, and has been nominated by his team as their Callahan. The Rebel Rousa has played 5 straight years on the Hodags, is a two year captain, including a 2007 National Champion and 2008 All-Region. Matt is a 4 year Offensive Line starter at Handler and 2007 Club Captain of Frontline. He is a Madison native, graduating from Memorial H.S., but not before competing in Junior Nationals with Midwest Express. Rebholz has steadily risen through the ranks of Madison ultimate – not only winning a Summer League Championship in the competitive division, but also establishing a dynasty so tyrannical, the rules were changed to break up the conglomerate. Matt Rebholz was playing elite club before he was even taking classes at Wisconsin, when he played for Madison G Unit who took 9th in club nationals 2003. “We’ve been playing Frisbee since forever.” Matt is at the core of the team, the heart, soul, and glue that keeps 26 Hodags on the same single page. Rebholz has taken a program fresh off a National Title, and led it to two straight Championship Games. Rebholz can handle pressure. Imagine the other team has scored; it is late in the game and the O needs to score. Who is the first pass going to? The answer is Matt Rebholz and has been for the last 4 straight years. You want a big time player, a leader with steady nerves, and the ability to make big plays. Rebholz can bring down the house firing deep around marks and has been tutored in leadership by the likes of both Tom Burkly and Dan Heijmen. So do you recognize Rebholz, or does he look like anyone on the faceless army? Reb fulfills many positions as top captain; Matt is the final authority – the coach who calls lines, talks about strategy in huddles, and pumps up his team in preparation for big games. The job is harder than it sounds, but Matt Rebholz dominates on the Hodags. Matt is integral to a team that wants another title more than anything and Matt is positioned to leave the Wisconsin program at the top, possibly reaching his third straight title game. The Rebel Rousa with his skill, leadership, and spirit has everything required. The Callahan is for the MVP of your team, and the MVP for the Wisconsin Hodags is Matt Rebholz.

Muffin "Mr. Irrelevant" Malecek is the RC nomination
Muffin for Callahan 2008

What happens when the repetitive nature of ultimate becomes dull and loses its excitement? At this point, we seek the flair of adventure, a pure quality of excitement, and the intrigue of something unknown; the Dark Side. On the Dark Side, everything is volatile, fiery, extreme, and insatiable. That is where Muffin resides, in a risk-loving world of high impact and ravenous questionable decisions. It is a world of unblockable hucks, furious anger, and high octane emotion worn on the sleeve. It is a world shaded with facades, explosions of character, as sunglasses and corn rows hide the expressions of intensity and drive to win, which hides beneath the surface. It is the nickname which lies within the horcrux, the flick which connects the layout D’s into breaks. Make no mistake; there is no character in ultimate that is more exciting than Muffin. Malecek hears the constant heckles, acknowledges the sideline, and looks past the haters toward the ultimate goal; a second National Championship. The goal is lofty, the trek to success long and difficult, but that is where the Dark Side thrives. It possesses the raw power that is steadily honed and crafted by the hours of sweat, lifting, sprinting, throwing, and dedication to reaching the top. It starts and ends with motivation. Who wants it more? With an attitude of Richter, the hair of Valley Renshaw, mouth beyond Match Diesel, and of course, a flick bigger than Gibson’s – Muffin is unreal. With characteristics like this, you couldn’t create a more complete player on Madden 2008. The MVP is the most valuable player – a leader that those around look to for answers. Muffin’s answer is to break, win, and succeed. But underneath the surface, what else does Muffin do for his team? In Morfin’s two years as conditioning coordinator, Malecek has increased the work load. Mandatory running, sprint technique, jumping technique, throwing fundamentals, agility footwork, and the list continues. Muffin captained Madison Club for two seasons, ensuring that every returning Hodag and any transfers learned the systems and became incorporated into the team. How many other players are out the week after Nationals, practicing with 20 discs and 4 cones all alone? When others have taken time off, Muffin has worked. When others have relaxed, Muffin has visualized success and planned. When others have slept, Muffin has created storylines, hype, and manufactured strategy. Muffin lives, breathes, and sleeps ultimate. When you are in class, Muffin is scouting other teams, when you are studying, Muffin is recruiting. When you are taking time off, Muffin is play club. When you are practicing, Muffin is training. “I think about ultimate, 99.9% of my time.” Seth Wiggins called from the sideline, “Bet you can’t do that upwind” and seconds later, BOOM! A breakmark flick huck has just devastated the other team for another break and now the offense is trudging back to the line, while Morfin rallies his troops. Red bull substitutes for blood in Morfin’s veins, and an aura of athleticism drips from Muffin’s every step. When you speak of experience, Muffin has been playing ultimate for 9 years, leading to the most asked question of 2008. “Why are you called Muffin?” As you may know, Muffin’s “real” name is Brandon. His freshman year we started calling him Bran Muffin, like “Get back in the oven, Bran Muffin!” It got shortened to Muffin and stuck forever since. Muffin for Callahan 2008.

Defending Callahan winner

NATIONALS POOLS!

Live Score Updates from Nationals
Predictions and hype

Lake Superior Sectionals & Central Regionals

2008-04-28T21:29:00.016-05:00

Detonator!

Lake Superior Sectionals – Whitewater, WI

The Hodags were feeling nervous about how the season was going. Those tragic loses at Centex had shaken the confidence of the team, as had the weather. It was the worst winter in Wisconsin history, snowing over 100 inches and raining when it was warm enough. The fields were beyond waterlogged, canceling practice on University Bay Fields, and pushing it to exotic sites all over the city. The Hodags had a good plan to prepare for Regionals. It involved winning sectionals, then playing the alumni and Blue/Black scrimmages as showcase games during the Memorial High School Mudbath tournament, to prepare for the atmosphere like Regional finals against Carleton. It was an organized assault by the Hodags to prime for just one game on Sunday. However, the rain came in waves and forced Whitewater to cancel Sectionals, pushing it back a week and making Sectionals/Regionals in back-to-back weekends. This was not an ideal situation for Wisconsin – who had been focusing on peaking this tournament all year. Instead it caused the Hodags to play the alumni game at Sectionals, completely missing the opportunity to recruit at the Memorial HS tournament and to reschedule the Blue/Black Spring Scrimmage until after Regionals. Despite all the factors working against the Hodags, the goal for the season was clear – win the rest. The real season was upon the Hodags and now every game was elimination. Shane reminded the team that every game we play now, is more important than any game we have played all season!

In the days leading up to the Lake Superior Sectionals, the Hodags were struggling to get numbers at practice. Tim Pearce was visiting his lady friend in Minnesota, while Chris Doede was in the middle of his 30-35th tests, still far from the 55 total scheduled for this year. Other Hodags were beaten up from Centex and Spring Break, making it pretty regular to have no subs all practice. And then there was the problem of actually finding grass to play on. The UW Fitness Club had already lost their indoor time and now they were going to ruin the only fields they could get. Even when the Hodags could practice, it was sinking into inches of deep mud with either 30 degree temperatures or a brutal rainy crosswind. It wasn’t looking good and the Lake Superior Sectional was looking harder than ever.

Sectionals & Pool
Uploaded by muffnuts

But the captains were very purposeful in their preparation – holding team meetings to reinforce the team goals, lashing freshman with spiked whips after practice for coming late, and making the team run the Randy Doss Drill until Hodags were bent over in exhaustion. The injured Hodags were forced to do push-ups on the sideline and occasionally roar to encourage those still playing. In the days leading up to Sectionals, it was imperative for most Hodags to quickly find a costume. It would be a Sober Saturday, something the 5th years knew nothing about because it had previously been Silly Saturday at Sectionals. Wisconsin arrived to the fields with plenty of time to prepare, mostly milling around tournament central booting the kickball and visiting with Whitewater and Milwaukee. The Pimpdags’ season would be on the line today, while the only thing on the minds of Hodags was the most exciting way to score a goal. The only drill the Hodags ran was an upside-down Seattle Drill, just moments before game time. John Bergen was stuffing Egg McMuffin’s in his face while the rest of the team was doing dynamic, refusing to seriously prepare for any of these games. Soon it was the first point against Lawrence “Soft in the Middle” a stout performer in the Wisconsin Sectional. As 7 Hodags strutted onto the field, something became apparent – they were all wearing costumes… elaborate, creative, ridiculous outfits. Pat the Panda took the first pull as Biker Rebholz in his skullcap and Snakeskin leather jacket readied himself to put on an X-games demonstration. But there was a strong supporting cast including: Lokke the Leprechaun, Shane the Spandex, Chris Doede the Hodag Defensive Stud, Turtle the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Cullen the Monk, Feldman the Desperate for Attention Housewife, Bergen in red leather pants, and Matt Crumb evolving from a waitress to Bret Favre, to Animal as the day progressed. The first game against Lawrence could start no other way then with Captain Biker hitting Captain Pimp J-Fo with a big hammer for the 1st score of Sectionals. It wasn’t half as good as last year’s Shane full field fuzz to Bobby Lau for the 1st score, but it was a decent start. Within moments the Hodags had asserted themselves as full fledge all-stars and decided to make the objective for each point a challenge of ridiculous nature. If you wanted to score, it had to be fantastic and entertaining, at risk of being booed into oblivion by the sideline. Morfin wanted to set the bar high, as dominating Sectionals was some of the most fun of the season. Like a kid in a candy store, Morfin was keen to take deep cuts left and right, and bomb huge hammers whenever possible. The O and D lines forgotten, the Hodags leave it to first 7 on the line get to play, allowing Muffin to get a catch D and bomb a huck to Rebholz 2-0. K-Federation wants in the action and sends a huge blade hammer pull, hollering “Coming right back at ya!” Animal skies for the hammer and then whips a 30-yard invert flick for the Andy Holt sky complete with his Kanye Glasses 3-0. Shane notices that bash brother Fat Bill looked as though he could not care less as he waddled about the field. Then with the defensive intensity of any average leprechaun, Lokke gets a hand block from at least 5 feet away, as Animal scoobers to Riley 4-0. Things are spiraling out of control for Lawrence who can barely keep their jaws from dropping as K-Federation drops a huge hammer for a Golden Hand Moment as Skywalker triumphantly pwnd 2 Soft in the Middle simultaneously 5-0. Shane finally makes an appearance on the field and promptly bombs the biggest thumber hot fuzz piece of work to Pat the Panda who catches it 6-0. Then there was Feldman, he was the first Hodag scored upon, but Wisconsin was in control 7-1. Jon Masler looked badass with a Hodag tail and muscle jacket as he bombed a ridiculous backhand rocket to the Morfin 8-1. Hollywood is looking for retribution, but pulls back a thumber at the last moment, deciding it was a bad decision before throwing a terrible hammer instead. Lokke gets the D and bombs to Rebholz, who tries to greatest but is dropped by Bergen! Then Morfin got a layout D and everybody laughed. It was time for the set plays. Animal was running the wrap completely in camouflage, and missed the Feldman no look push pass that almost hit his face. Monster Masler gets a run through catch D and puts in the scoober to lead 9-1. Lawrence is running out of questions as they fake a push pass high release that would have assuredly been a Callahan. The Hodags decide to tone it down and play fairly. Rebholz lined up a 25-yard lefty flick, but it was no good. Soft in the Middle had not perhaps completed a handful of passes through Wisconsin’s zone all morning, but they were still giving Lokke the fits. Will was attempting game changing huge hucks on greatest attempts in the middle of the field, throwing poor 500 balls that were terribly misread, until Morfin ruined everything and caught the swill 11-3. A nearby Milwaukee School of Engineering player, who was at his first tournament ever, looked over at the Hodags questioning, “Is this a real game? Does this count?” He couldn’t tell whether the Hodags were playing for real with all the costumes and ridiculous attempted throws. The game ended quite absurdly as Rebholz put a flick through his and his mark’s legs for a 40-yard sky goal 13-3. But the Hodags weren’t satisfied and challenged Lawrence promptly to game of kickball. Just 50 yards away was a perfectly sized softball field, so 5 innings of play went down as Lawrence held a 3-1 lead deep into the bottom of the 4th. Wisconsin had no answer for the consecutive double and triple down the line and it really looked hopeless at Lawrence pitcher was an ace. With 2 outs and the based loaded Matt Rebholz steps up to the plate. With his size 22’s and look of determination, the Rebel Rousa clears the bases up the middle, propelling the Hodags to a late comeback win and sweep of Soft in the Middle. It was a great day to be a Hodag and half of the team celebrated, by going back to McDonald’s between rounds. The second game against Stevens Point Homegrown was much more serious as they had a big tall athlete baller. This kid was huge, could sky, throw, jump, and bid – Callahan shortlist right here. But as the Hodags start playing, all of the cuts are out as every Hodag is trying to score on the big ridiculous catch. Wisconsin was cruising and maybe Homegrown was having some fun as their turns and throwaways were matched by the Hodag’s lefty’s, greatest’s, scoobers, mack line and fuzz. Tom Murray sets the tone for the game as he attempts a huge big after a greatest throw in the end zone, complete with his Baby Blue Pony outfit. The mack line makes several efforts, but none are successful as points drag on. However, Wisconsin did take the third OATBAG of the day as the score said 10-2, but Stevens Point was playing tough. They were outraged when Matt Crumb, wearing his Packer’s #22 Jersey got a layout D in the lane, when SP was also wearing dark green. The Teacher Taco only stuck out his tongue and made monkey faces, gesturing hand block and snapping his fingers as Wisconsin extended it to 12-3. However, in a last ditch effort, the stud athlete X makes a deep cut and the throw goes up. Animal is poaching from somewhere and steps in the path of the rumbling giant. It is a gruesome sight, like road kill, as the Animal is trampled completely over. The catch is immaculate to make it 12-4, and Animal is carted off the field. The game is ended quickly and the funeral date was set, as the Hodags won 13-4. At this point, the Hodags packed up camp and moved halfway across the campus to set up a new field with ditches in both end zones, ready to play the Hodag Alumni Game. Several alums joked about how long it would take for the Hodags to strip their costumes, needing full mobility to keep up with a team stacked with National Champions. Dan Miller was looking dapper and Bryan Paradise was commanding his troops in Baby Blue. Andrew Brown, Dan Heijmen, and Tom Burkly were controlling the O line as Tim Pearce was scoring goals for the college Hodags. An early turnover, gave the college team a chance to strike as Jon Masler bombed a full field backhand to Cullen, who skied Heijmen for a break, but not before Scallet calls the travel, craftily denying the score. Ben Feldman tossed a shady looking high release flick, but Tim Pearce was still scoring easily tying the game at 3-3. Tyler Splinder was scoring goals deep from Mike Lang as the Belladonna were supporting from the sidelines. Matt Rebholz continued to hit Tim Pearce deep on the non-ditch side, as Andrew Brown was visibly shaken and Dan Miller was bent over in exhaustion at 5-4 Hodags. Matt Crumb made a huge sky D on a Scallet huck as the Hodags were in business. Bucket attempts the Double Happiness to Crumb, but the flick is OB. A low pass is dropped by Tyler and Bucket finishes O2 to Murda as the Hodags lead 6-4. Dan Heijmen ripped a backhand deep to Jack Marsh to bring the game back to 6-5. A Kevin Riley hammer to gain yards and an Evan Klane finish to Hodags at 7-5. Jack Marsh continued to take us deep and Paradise finished from a Brown high release flick to make it 7-6. The game becomes sloppy as the alumni break, but Foster skies for half 8-7 college kids. Tom Murda makes a nice deep D and Dan Miller takes down a poach D. Jack Marsh continues to dominate the game, getting a layout D on the goal line to save a hold. The college Hodags used some strategy in the backfield, stranding Andrew Brown with the disc on the cone, and then forcing in a break to extend the lead. John Bergen was running sets immaculately, collecting O2 goals, while Animal hucked a disc deep to an undercut. Dean Bolton put in a couple of goals late as Kevin Riley as resigned to sing out loud on the sideline to anyone who would listen. The alumni play a classy game, not contesting close fouls and giving the college easy goals as they took the lead late in the game. However, the alumni were abusing our marks in general, putting pressure on the O-face to finish the game 15-12. The Hodags brought in a 50 player huddle and the usual suspects needed to address Hodags young and old. Even Dan Heijmen needed to lecture the current team about how to win a National Championship and how the team should be coming together. Riley and Foster sighed audibly, knowing the Heijmen’s never ending inspirational speeches wouldn’t end for several weeks yet. Heijmen was forced the give the college team the pep talk they deserved and reinforced the message that sometimes gets overlooked in Hodag camp, “You guys are really good. Just believe that and play to have fun.” Hodags left and right can’t stop but smile as the Alumni wish the Hodags good luck and that they will see them in Madison for a BBQ later that night. The Hodags make the trek back to the original field for the day, but several Hodags become trapped and get lost on the short walk.

The Hodags return to find Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSoE) ready to play. After the tough game against an experienced alumni team, this was a cakewalk. However, the game broke down into a contest of 500, with most of the defense falling back to protect the end zone. Wisconsin was cruising so easily, several points were converted with set play backwards pizza tosses through the legs, cartwheel catches, and a forced greatest conversion. It was topped by a huge Rebholz flick huck through his legs deep to Riley. K-Fed was about to clap the disc, when a high flying Animal swoops in for the smack D right in Kevin’s face, revenge from practice earlier in the week, when K-Fed got Animal in the air twice in a row. The Hodag sideline burst into the cheers and Riley was heckled so badly, he collapsed into a Bucket form right on the field. As Wisconsin had taken a 6-0 start and were looking good at 11-2, began losing interest in the game and playing 5 or 6 Hodags at a time. It seemed pretty fair because MSoE was playing 1-2 girls most of the game. As Wisconsin finished 13-2, the same MSoE player who was completely new to an ultimate tournament had to stop and confess, “Wow, you guys are like the Harlem Globetrotters of ultimate,” as the Hodags completed greatest, bombs, and bitchings in every which direction. The last game of the day was against Eau Claire, for a spot in quarterfinals the next morning. The Hodags weren’t very excited about the format for Sectionals, because none of the Hodags wanted to play 3 games on Sunday. Eau Claire was running sets, had experienced players, and #7 Fudge was dominating all over. The Hodag zone was getting thrashed including one thrower breaking K-Fed with a nutmeg. However the sheer intensity and might of the Hodags propel them forward to an uneventful 13-6 win. Eau Claire was moving the disc well and deservingly traded with the Hodags for parts of the game. Wisconsin watched the Pimpdags finish and cheered, before hurrying home to Madison to eat dinner and spend the evening with the alumni. Most Hodags would only collected a few precious hours of sleep, before heading back to Whitewater in the very early morning. It is a grumpy warm up and first game, as some Hodags don’t even want to cleat up or jog. It turned out that the Hodags were playing Beloit, who had just edged out Wisconsin C in pre-quarters late on Saturday, despite Frederick’s best efforts. The lines remain very open and the Squirtle Squad is landing punishing blows. The final score is 15-2 as Wisconsin has OATBAG’ed every opponent except Eau Claire to this point in the weekend. Wisconsin has more fans on Sunday and has plenty of time to cheer on the Pimpdags, who are battling Marquette for the chance to play the Hodags in semifinals. The game goes down to the wire, but Marquette finishes strong winning 13-10 and sending the Pimpdags into the backdoor bracket. Madison gets in a last minute Dragon strike and Seattle Drill before beginning. Marquette is outmatched, but manage to score consistently, as Madison leads 5-2. At times it takes 3 Marquette defenders to guard Jim Foster as Tim Pearce flies under the radar for several goals 7-3. Muffin tosses a beautiful flick out to space after catching a huck deep. Marquette player Fran Kelley exclaims to his main handler, “Hey, why don’t you throw like that?” referring to several previous huck blades which gave the receiver no chance. However, it wouldn’t be all fun and games as Doede lambastes Morfin for getting scored on twice on Sunday. At this point, King Dedede starts freaking about during a timeout – screaming about poaching. Chris, who had missed the memo, to dress up, didn’t realize that the Defense was still breaking with 6 players on the line. Wisconsin continues to play the lines open and finish strong 15-6. Finally, Wisconsin was in the finals of Sectionals and they made the trek into the Whitewater Warhawks Perkins Stadium. The home team Sub Par was set to play the defending National Champion Hodags on the school football field. Wisconsin started on Offense and worked the whole field before a goal line turnover. Sub Par hucked the disc deep, but Evan Klane gobbled up the D, halting Whitewater’s initial surge of energy. Riley bombed a huge flick deep to Lokke for the first goal 1-0, but Jamie Bauer streaked deep to catch an Ari flick bomb to tie it 1-1. Rebholz tried a deep bomb to Feldman, but Whitewater got a poach sky D. Rebholz and Riley slowed it down in the back field and scored easily as Bucket hauled in the goal 2-1. Cullen Geppert makes a nasty layout D on an O2 scoring cut, giving Wisconsin the chance to blow it wide open. An O2 to Masler up the line, a Shane in-cut down the line had the D jamming it hard down the line. Shane winds up and unleashes a big time flick. The C Monster closes in and at full extension grabs the disc inches off the ground for the upwind break 3-1 Hodags. That kind of Double Happiness had Wisconsin foaming at the mouth as the Defense went into a rampage, stifling Whitewater’s offensive set. Ari, Strohm, and Schleicher were running hard, but not making any headway against a sling blade/no O2 strategy. Morfin bombs a perfect 75 yard flick that hits Andy Holt in the face, before he drops it, leaving the game at 3-2. McSchlokke fires a deep flick; only for Mike Swain to army patrol the skies with a soaring D. Eventually Wisconsin gets it back allowing Matt Rebholz to hit Riley O2 for the finish 4-2. Whitewater reverts to jacking it deep and Chris Doede makes his second D of the game, closing ground of 5 yards before the over the shoulder layout D. Muffin hits Shane for an under, who rifles a deep laser looping flick – make Matt Crumb stick a one handed full extension layout catch straddling the end zone and taking a time out injury sub, on a throwing originally called "too far" from the sideline. Wisconsin sends in Bucket, who calls a foul, and then throws a cross field hammer to Muffin for the score 5-2, as the sideline screams at Riley in fury for thinking about throwing hammers. Foster gets all up in K-Fed’s face and Schlokke even wiggles a fat finger in his direction, scoffing as his decision making and ironically calling Riley “fat” during their disagreement. Whitewater continues to miss deep on a break side huck as Muffin saves Marshall and Murray who had both been brutally trapped on the sideline. However, the Squirtle Squad wasn’t giving Morfin many options and was forced to rocket a stall 9 inside-out backhand deep to space, that Tom Murda brought down for the break 6-2. Sub Par burns a timeout to stop the bleeding and to give their fan base a breath before the Hodags continued the onslaught. Diablo gets roasted O2 by Ari and Whitewater scored to make it 6-3. Sub Par hucks it deep for a break and Randy Richgels skies the pile with a tomahawk spike, but Kevin Riley brings back the score on a travel call. UW-W is devastated by the turn of events, as Ben Feldman drops a 50 yard flick to Jimmy Foster to make it 7-3. Wisconsin pseudo-stacks the line to steal half as Muffin bombs a perfectly placed flick to space for Matt Crumb to clap 8-3 Hodags. Wisconsin picked up right where they left off in the second half as Riley put a flick so deep that Tim Pearce was able to outrun all 3 defenders for the goal 9-3. Ari tries another flick huck, but Cullen gets in the lane and jumps to 10’3 to D the disc in the lane. Muffin eventually bombs a deep hammer to Shane vs. Schleicher. The hammer is well placed to the back, but Shane stumbles on the double helix and drops the basket catch as he contacts the ground, letting Sub Par escape a for sure break. Rebholz gives Morfin the business from the sideline, something about good choices and not throwing hammers, letting Whitewater score 9-4. Animal was injured ever since Stevens Point best stud trampled him, was heckling the Offense with the camera until Riley hucked deep to Feldman who scored to make it 10-5 Hodags. Chris Doede collected his 3rd deep D of the game and Muffin jacked a full field flick to a wide open Diablo Donovan, who dumps to Jon Marshall. At stall 9, nobody else has ran down field, stranding Marshall and forcing him to toss up a desperation flick. He picked a good target as 6’7 Diablo skied the pack of players with his feet barely leaving the ground 11-5 Hodags. Sub Par hucked past their receiver deep again and Muffin tried to a set play to get the disc to a cutter, however, Morfin accidentally called Schleicher as the defender, who promptly baited and got a nasty under layout D, getting revenge on Tom Murray for the ruthless layout D at Eau Claire in quarterfinals. Whitewater scored, but the game was well in hand as even Tim Pearce made a goal saving layout D. The momentum of the weekend was summed up in Marshall's play, so confident he was pointing deep when cutting for Tom Murray's backhand. Wisconsin cruised to a 13-6 victory, capped by the DIII Whitewater Football team needing to start practice. They looked pretty scary, so the ultimate teams relented and hurried from the stadium. Wisconsin had secured the #1 seed at Central Regionals and promptly had a team meeting in the pavilion after applauding their fans and support. The Hodags had an open forum where every Hodag had their chance to speak with the Bushmills and reinforce the season up until this point. Wisconsin still needed to prepare for Regionals in less than a week and even select their Callahan nominee. Per usual most 5th years were nominated as Foster pushed Rebholz immediately, only for Animal to nominate Muffin, leaving Mahowald and Riley to nominate each other. Shane, Lokke, and Doede were also added to the list as the choices became most comprehensive. The veterans on the team went off to chill and plan how best to give the Goat to the underclassmen who were left to decide. Four hours later the Hodags had finalized Rebholz as the Callahan and then stripped for ‘shirts off’ team picture to celebrate the occasion. Rebholz tightly toed the line of “pulling a Miller” but delivered a moving tribute to the team and the tournament.

Central Regionals - Luther Campus Decorah, Iowa

Pictures!

As Wisconsin returned home to celebrate and shift the focus briefly to school, the season became more exciting than ever. It was the home stretch, the final week before the decision to attend Nationals would be made. But Global Warming had something else to say, as the weather took a nasty turn; snowing, sleeting, and raining in 5 of the next 6 days, almost postponing Regionals entirely for the weekend. But there was no way, the pressure of performing at Central Regionals was building. The emails from the alumni urging us on, the messages from players saying they couldn’t come to practice, and then then injuries piling up left and right, all adding to the factors working against Wisconsin. Even the players at practice had to endure deep soggy mud, and drilling/playing became interesting/ridiculous events, especially when cup members run around the big puddles and leave gaping holes in the cup. On Thursday, the wind, cold, and rain had finally overtaken the O line, which couldn’t break so much as a 6-person Squirtle Squad Zone. In 15 straight possessions, the O scored once. Muffin watched, bewildered how 7 awesome players couldn't manage to score in a little wind. All week the rising expectations and confidence of the Hodags was insuppressible, but now just hours before Regionals, the Offense was crumbling to pieces. Despite the late setbacks, Wisconsin was confident and ready coming into the weekend. The team had a Friday breakfast in two sessions at Mickies Dairy Bar, a good excuse to bond with the team and skip class. Muffin missed his ride to Decorah because he hair wasn’t finished yet and roommates heard something like, “have to look good, to play good,” as they walked out the door. Despite the craziness of driving to Iowa and the weather threatening tornadoes, Wisconsin packed every warm weather article they possessed. As it turned out, Mother Nature remembered exactly which weekend Central Regionals was as she dropped the thermometer to 30 degrees and very windy. It apparently went down to a coin flip whether to cancel on Friday afternoon, and over 75% of the fields were totally unusable. The format was straight bracket starting in pre-quarters, so that meant a short weekend and only a few games. However, with the closure of fields, the schedule had to be totally redone. Again it was a coin flip for which gender began games at 8am or 12noon. The boys lost the flip and were forced to wake up and be at the fields, 7am Saturday on Luther campus in Iowa. Furthermore, the fields that were available were still soaked to the bone, forcing the Hodags to move fields 3 times and get only in a half-ass warm-up. The rest of the complex was literally under water as small lakes sprang up left and right. It was terribly cold and windy ridiculous. The field changed up cross-wind to upwind-downwind moments before the round was set to start and Wisconsin looked like a team confused as the "dark" Hodags were wearing whatever color sweatshirts/coats they had packed.

Centex 2008

2008-04-12T20:54:00.042-05:00

Centex Pictures are here!

PICTURES!
Stanford Day 2 and Centex Day 1 videos are coming very soon.

Wisconsin came into Centex with the best season start in school history. Sitting at 24-0 with 3 tournament titles in 3 shots, the Hodags were the clear favorite to 3-peat at Centex. The ultimate community was holding their breath, waiting to see if the perfect season could be a reality. Each team the Hodags played was ready to give their best shot at cracking the streak, which was sitting near 73 straight and 130-4 since 2006. The hype machine was chugging along and the Cinderella storylines were splicing together. And then the worst enemy of Wisconsin emerged – Spring Break coupled with complacency and entitlement. Hard nights of workouts were replaced with slip-n-slide races, lying on the beach, and water balloon launching. The injuries piled up as the team bonded and gelled, making way for younger players to step into new roles. Wisconsin also approached the tournament with a wary feeling, knowing that Saturday of Centex was the hardest single day of college ultimate. The loss of field space had also affected the team, but not as much as the loss of Andrew Mahowald, nursing a broken knee. The Hodags made it to Austin on Friday and had one last team meeting before falling asleep to NCAA tournament action.

Saturday morning was dewy, chilly, and dark; everything Hodags love. Upsets raged during the March Madness Sweet 16 weekend in basketball and ultimate alike as top seeds Stanford, Carleton, UBC, and Arizona lost in the first round. The Foster’s and Geppert’s arrived early to cheer on Wisconsin who was set to play California Berkeley. As the day started, there was a suspicious feeling about the team. It was as if the team was still mentally on Spring Break and not totally committed to difficult task at hand – that being the most exhausting day of college ultimate. Wisconsin started on Defense and took their sweet time getting into the thick of things; gaining possession only on silly Cal forced turnovers near the goal line. Cullen tossed a nice flick to space for Shane to run onto as Wisconsin scored first 1-0. Muffin got a D in the backfield and then ripped a full field flick to Feldman, who hit Bergen for the finish 2-0. Shane made a sick sky D from the weak side and Cullen followed it up with a layout D, pushing Wisconsin to a 3-0 lead as Masler hucked a perfect leading flick to an open Seth Meyer. The Wisconsin Defense had swept the first game to 3 and kept the shaky Offense off the field. However, the next point turns ugly as Animal is screwed by an array of crappy passes to/near/around him as the Hodags turn it 3 straight times in a row, leading to a Cal score 3-1. Tim Pearce is cutting so viciously that he jukes his defender into falling down, but soon gets cleated and has to sub out for Simba Heijmen. Rebholz sends a Boom Headshot to Fat Bill who pulls down a spectacular grab with a lot of contact for the goal 4-1 Hodags. Muffin sends his second straight hammer and Seth hauls it in with a nice slider, and then takes out the rulebook on another unassuming defender. Shane finishes the point to Andy Holt who taps it in for a goal and then unceremoniously spikes it for the 5-1 lead. Simba makes a deep cut and tries to read the disc, instead of just running hard, he comes up short, forcing Pat Donovan to get his back on a super huge weak side help D. Kevin Riley gets in on the action with a D point, getting the Goat from Feldman and jacking a flick deep to Doede for the goal 6-1. At this point, the Hodags had taken command of the game and California had folded early, allowing the Hodags to roll to a 7-1 halftime lead as Morfin fakes the fast break and then converts it anyway to the Glutin German. It should be noted that the Animal was left stranded by the Squirtle Squad several times. The second half started just as strong as Riley made a nasty spin-move in the lane before tossing a break side backhand to Lokke 8-1. The Hodags continue to make plays left and right as Teacher Taco Matt Young makes a sweet poach D, as the game traded to 9-3. The Offense has their first turnover of the day, but earn it back and manage several sliders before Lokke sends it deep to the Bucket, but it comes back on a weak sauce foul call. Jimmy Foster throws a perfect O2 pass to Rebholz for the jump goal 10-3. Jeremiah puts on a fierce mark, knocking the thrower over in route to forcing several Cal turnovers. Muffin tries consecutive hammers to the end zone, but a misread and ding drop causes the Hodag sideline to explode in anger. UGMO eventually punches in the goal to make it 10-4, after a lefty backhand opens up the break side. The Offense holds easily and Cullen makes a huge layout D on the ensuing D point, leading to a sky high Animal scoober that Marshall and Shane simultaneously catch to lead 11-4. Straight Squirtle Squad tries to turn the screws on Cal as Masler gets a D in the lane and then bombs a big huck to Feldman, who blows the goal for a turnover and then acts like a handler, pointing continuously before almost throwing into a hand block. The point drags with turnover after sloppy turnover as the usual sharp focus, propensity to consume, and urgency to destroy was replaced with nonchalant contentment and an unsteady attitude. The lead was insurmountable, but the careless turnovers (15+ in the game) were the undoing of Wisconsin’s confidence. Old Man Young gets a ruthless foot block, kicking the disc out of mid-air, very old school style. UGMO eventually turned the game around and took advantage of the Hodags shoddy play, converting to make it 11-4 and then breaking twice to make it 11-6. Kevin Riley bombed a perfect flick huck to Tim Pearce and Shane hits Jeremiah deep before tossing a high release double helix backhand to Muffin for the game winner 13-6. It was a solid win, but a terrible performance. The ultimate was sloppy, the intensity lax, and the full commitment to the mission was clearly lacking. Wisconsin cheered Brodag Love and waited for Oregon, who was battling NCST late into the round, eventually losing 13-8.

As Madison prepped for its second round game, the sun appeared and brought a slight wind with it. From the very first possession, it was going to be a struggle. Oregon manufactured a turn and almost converted, dropping the pass for a break. Ego recommitted to physical play, as Dusty Becker fouled Kevin Riley 4 times consecutively before play was able to resume. Bucket hucked a perfect backhand strike deep to Gaynor, who dished to Lokke before snatching Fat Bill’s partially hand blocked throw for a goal 1-0. Oregon wasn’t making it easy for the Hodags, unlike Cal had, and this is when overconfidence and complacency started to work against Wisconsin. There was still no sense of urgency, no intensity, a lack of focus; an unnerving compliance with any outcome of the game. Mental resolve aside, the Hodags were playing poor ultimate and Oregon capitalized, scoring deep easily to tie the game 1-1. With the Wisconsin Offense struggling to convert, the match-up of the game was clearly going to be Dusty Becker vs. Kevin Riley in a contest of who could be the bigger asshole. Dusty was fouling incessantly and Lil’ Rilers wasn’t helping matters be egging Becker on. However, there seemed to be something odd about the struggle on the field. It was almost as if Becker wasn’t himself, like he was being controlled. Skywalker was patrolling the sidelines, looking for an explanation when he noticed Cycle of Florida casting unforgivable spells left and right on his field, trying to control cup defenders to double team, foul, and cheat in any way possible. One imperius spell ricocheted off Cole Sullivan’s troll exterior and nailed Dusty right in the back. The usually spirited Oregon team was unaware that one of their leaders, Becker, was now fully under the power of the dark arts, his mind no longer his. Dusty was being forced to foul Kevin Riley now, 7 times in a row before an errant swing was incomplete. The after turnover defense was poor and lax, leading to a quick strike and ruthless break 1-2. Animal came in on Offense only to attempt a deep pass to Riley, who misread his second deep attempt on the day for another turn. Oregon took a shot deep into double coverage, but Ego was able to come down with it after a mack doink and finish to Stout to take a 1-3 lead, partially due to Wisconsin defenders giving up on the play. To stop the bleeding, Wisconsin brought in Muffin and Shane to play Offense. The Wisconsin sideline was becoming agitated with the ridiculous physical play and the Bucket was becoming angrier with each deliberate hack. Finally, Riley confronted Dusty on his physical play yelling, “Hey man, that’s egregious!” Kevin noticed Dusty’s blank stare, as if he wasn’t listening, perhaps it was because Eli was attempting to explain to Dusty the meaning of the word egregious. Several moments later, Dusty fouled Muffin for the fourth consecutive time, causing an irrational eruption from Morfin. “You better quit the snap!” screamed Morfin, but the glazed stare, dumbfounded look, and stupefied expression, gave Morfin the notion that something awfully terrible was happening – the ultimate community had been infiltrated. However, Morfin was also familiar with the dark arts and with horcrux powers never before known in the ultimate contingency, Morfin was determined to land a final flow, hitting Hohenstein for a goal to get the Hodags back on track, now 2-3. But Oregon had already stolen the momentum and now had their full team energy behind them. Oregon’s offense was hitting stride as Eli Janin hucked deep leading to a dishy to Stout, who spiked the disc over the fence into the parking lot, thumping his chest in pride like a common hippogriff. Wisconsin was no longer impressed with the ego of Ego, as the O-face jammed it up the sideline before the goal came back on a call. Wisconsin promptly turned it on the double score, forcing Foster and Lokke to combine on a deep D. The Offense decided this would be a great time to screw around and turn it again; giving Dusty an open backhand huck to a streaking Stout, but Gaynor beats him to the spot to get back the possession. K-Fed tries a 40 yard hammer that bounces of Tim Pearce’s single handed attempt, but Foster gets a catch D in the lane and hits Lokke on a chip shot to finally score 3-4. The Defense finally gets a possession after Oregon overthrows a deep attempt, but Cullen layout drops a swing pass to Animal, giving Ego back the disc near the goal line and an easy conversion and a double spike to make it 3-5. The Hodag Offense plays it patient, taking 30 passes before Rebholz breaks the mark to hit Jon Gaynor 4-5. Eli tosses a midrange shot to a wide open receiver to stretch the lead to 4-6. Riley continues to pace the offense, throwing an extreme invert to Lokke to make it 5-6. At this point, Wisconsin starts to stack the D line, trying to earn back a break to even the game. It takes a swill pass, a catch through a Gaynor layout bid, and a blade to the end zone for Ego to convert, but half is taken nonetheless 5-7. Wisconsin was not happy about anything and Muffin was especially upset. Hadn’t it been Muffin who had ran with his mouth about an undefeated season? Didn’t he make claims about being the best player in history, way better than Bonds and Rodman combined? It was true that Morfin’s powers had been growing with every tournament, but the constant tearing of his soul was sure to eventually take its toll and the dark powers would overwhelm him. Muffin was buying into the dark side and challenged his teammates, “We don’t even look like we give a shit, like we don’t even want to be out here? Do you want to win? Do you want to lose to Ego?” Wisconsin definitely had their backs against the wall and relying on Oregon to just give up the disc was not the attitude needed. Wisconsin started the second half on Defense and stacked the line, but failed to break as the lead stretched to 5-8 as Eli jacked another backhand deep for Oregon. Things were looking bad for the Hodags. However, the game was moving very slowly, due to the outrageous number of stoppages, due to the incessant Oregon slashing on the mark. The lines for Wisconsin became increasingly tight as Riley went O2 for Foster and finished to Klane for a goal 6-8. The Hodags needed a break desperately and stacked the line as the cap was within 20 minutes. Shane made a defensive play that was called a foul, and then Shane called the foul on an offensive push-off. Both contests sent the disc back, but the sideline intensity was increasing as was the tempo on the field. Hodags were bidding, putting on aggressive marks, and looking to make plays. It was Hohenstein who made the deep D and now it was Wisconsin who was running Oregon into the ground. Ego was dying on the field, so they resorted to Florida tactics of fouling to slow down the play. Dusty was again bumping knees on resets and banging on the mark. Play slowed to a crawl as stoppages were called every 4 seconds. Dusty was hacking egregiously as this point and Stout was even pulled down into the S-Box, calling Muffin a freaking “pussy.” Animal finally stuffed in the goal to cut the lead to 7-8, but Madison was still behind in the count and the anxiety on the sideline was increasing. The lead jumped back to 7-9 as Oregon abused the break side and then the open side to score. Ego’s junk was no longer effective as Stout is switched onto Lazer, only to abandon Evan to help downfield, leaving Klane lots of open space to score from Riley to make it 8-9. Wisconsin is bidding on every other attempt and Oregon sends it deep to the goal line, only to call a timeout, clearly stalling, clinging to their small lead now 8-10. The soft cap sounds and it was now a game to 12. A crowd was gathering as word spread that the Hodags were down to Ego late in the game and a common whisper swept the crowd, “Does Muffin have one glove on? How much flair does he need?” Back on Offense, Wisconsin turns it on a bad huck attempt, but Dusty gives it right back on another backhand overthrow deep to Stout. The O-face is chilly and works it down the field until Foster throws a perfect strike to Gaynor to make it 9-10, giving Jon a solid blimp on Oregon’s radar. Oregon and Wisconsin trade possessions and then Ego jacks it deep and Matt Crumb gets elbowed/knocked into with the disc in the air, which results in a huge argument. Muffin and Dusty try to get involved, but tempers and accusations are flying as the Teacher Taco doesn’t want to hear anything from Becker. The disc goes back and even Dusty and Animal get into a fight about an offensive foul. Eventually, when all of the hacking stops, Matt Crumb gets a layout under D, with his tongue out and a wide grin across his face the moment he took inside position and the disc had been thrown. Riley demands to pick up the disc and Wisconsin is in business until Shane tosses a looping high release backhand to Muffin, who gets clobbered in the air by the poach. The foul call is boo-ed from the crowd, who has seen more stoppages than a restaurant line in the South. Muffin holds his ground, asserting that he was nailed in the side, only to have Oregon argue, “It’s a contact sport.” Cycle and his fellow hill trolls were causing mayhem from the sideline booing and hissing. Even Brodie “Grawp” Smith got into the action, heckling at Morfin, “That was a Brodie call!” Florida continues to heckle as Shane hits Foster with an IO break for the goal to tie the game 10-10. At this point, there are two ways to look at it; the Hodags won the game or Ego lost it. Wisconsin has finally stole back the momentum and Muffin pulls the disc out the back he is so amped. Dusty takes the disc at the brick and puts up a 500 ball, which 3 Hodag sweeping defenders crash over the stationary receiver, causing the audience to gasp with delight. So with the game tied 10-10, Muffin picks up the disc and decides that Oregon needs to be punished for their excessive hacking and fouling game plan. Could Morfin commit another act so despicable, so evil, that it would rip his soul for the 4th time? Morfin toyed with the idea for only a moment, before deciding that it would be well worth it. Three is a very powerful magical number, but four is well on the way to seven – the most powerful magical number. As Lokke made his in-cut fake, Morfin had made up his mind – the glove was a perfect receptacle for the most supreme act of evil. In a flash of blinding light, the mark crumpled and the glove pulsated, vibrating viciously. The Red Headed Mexican made the curse all the more satisfying as Will’s huge layout catch finished the act, putting the Hodags back into the lead 11-10. Oregon looked defeated and without either of their best two handlers in the game (Eli going down an ankle injury and Dusty being cursed into oblivion) the substitute handlers choked quickly. The third swing pass hits Morfin in the chest near the goal line setting up the finishing act, a quick pass to Feldman for the win 12-10. After the game ended, as Oregon shook hands after a disheartening defeat, Stout refused to shake hands with Morfin, surely due to Kurt’s imperius curse, as THE KURT was attempting to disparage Stout’s reputation as a spirited player. But it appeared that Florida had had its hand’s full against Illinois, who had taken a big lead 6-2, partly due to Gibson being hit by a pull before he could jump into the air, thrash his legs to the side, and land on his back. However, UF came back to win on universe point, stealing the game from Illinois 13-12. Stanford had also stumbled early on Saturday, losing to Bay Sectional opponent UC-Santa Cruz 10-13. Arizona had dropped their first round game to SW Regional powerhouse Colorado 9-13, as the original seed upsets continued. Even Carleton struggled, losing to Georgia on universe point 12-13. With Wisconsin almost going down to Oregon, the parity in college ultimate revealed itself to be squarely hinged on momentum swings.

Despite the victory, the Wisconsin post game huddle was fairly distressed. Playing in a lull and taking a team for granted was not acceptable. Every team out there is giving Madison their best shot and when the Hodags fail to bring it, the other team will. Muffin seemed to be the only player to take this message to heart urging the team, “We’re not unbeatable. We could lose this next game if we don’t try!” The next game was against Michigan – the team to originally call out the Hodags pre-MLC in the fall about taking them down. The Michigan Magnum Mohawks looked pretty sweet, but their yellow JAM-resembling jerseys did not. Michigan came in with a solid game plan – move the disc quickly, utilizing the break side, and scoring efficiently on offense. They removed the deep poach with deliberate timed cuts and exposed the Wisconsin Defense as Ricky pulled the strings behind the scenes. These are games when Wisconsin could really use a coach – someone to game plan for the team in all situations and whose sole objective is to make sure the team is ready to perform each and every game. Many times it is not fair to the captains – whose play can suffer from dealing with the problems of the team – rather than just focusing on their own play. Wisconsin started on Defense and played strong to start as Seth, Murray, and Shane all make under layout D attempts on the first possession, but Magnum was playing very chilly and carefully, working it in for the hold 0-1. Michigan is playing solid Offense, allowing the game to trade to 2-3. For Wisconsin, the handlers were dominating the disc movement before a Tim Pearce turnover, causing the young Wisconsin sideline to ask each other, “Do you even recognize that guy? Who is that?” However, the Offense pulls together and plays decent defense, getting the disc back and allowing Riley to mack the disc, then snatch it, and finally launch a hammer to Tim Peace to make it 3-3. The Wisconsin Defense is looking for some separation as Michigan turns the disc. In semi-transition, Muffin puts a medium range backhand right around the defender, who can’t even find the disc until it lands perfectly in Matt Crumb’s hands for the break, 4-3 Hodags. A hospital pass through the cup rises into the air, creating a dog pile that macks the disc into the air, and allowing Will “Percy” Neff to pull it down and huck it down the hill out-of-bounds. Percy Neff had been most uptight all game, issuing stringent demands to his teammates and pointing his noise in the air after Hodag every score. However, Michigan converts on a layout catch off a huge huck to make it 4-4. Michigan is playing some sort of man-zone that slows down the Hodag Offense enough until Feldman catches a 2 yard pass out-of-bounds, probably because Feldman is a moron, and the Hodags get promptly broken to fall behind 4-5. It was another momentum change and the Hodags were trying to coast through an entire game. The captains call a timeout, as Shane verbally thrashes the Defense for not bringing any fire. The Offense is moving the disc well, getting swings and swirling cuts mostly before Riley blasts a laser to Gaynor deep in the end zone, through the sloping ditch, for the tie 5-5. The Defense vows on the line not to get beaten under and Michigan sends a deep shot too far for the turnover. Cullen makes a deep cut and play stops on a pick call.
The Michigan defender lets Cullen have his space and Muffin immediately lets go of a ridiculous backhand huck, which Geppert impossibly misreads by stopping running, narrowly missing the break score. The Hodag sideline lamented how much they missed Andrew Mahowald at times like these and Magnum bombs a huge flick, which Animal lets go contested now 5-6 Michigan. The Offense holds easily as Lokke throws a beautiful low release break to tie the game 6-6. Wisconsin kept the lines open and didn’t attempt to steal half with a stacked line, leaving Michigan a wide open huck to take half 6-7 after a missed layout attempt. Wisconsin started on Offense in the second half and held the disc uncharacteristically long near their goal line before resetting. Evan "Lazer" Klane for one is playing hard-nose defense, blanketing his man and bidding all over him, but is one of the few O-face players to have a kill switch mid point. With the stall count somewhere near 17, Bucket hit Simba with a low hammer that was dropped and Percy Neff fired a hammer immediately back for the 1 pass break 6-8. Andrew Mahowald let out a groan of despair, upon seeing K-Fed attempt to carry the team solely by his Bucket handle. Skywalker comments to Jake, “I wish he would just play his role and not turn the disc.” Wisconsin is losing badly for the second time on the day, but there was no sense of urgency. The Hodags finally break Michigan’s cup with a cross-field hammer going downwind and fast breaked for the hold 7-8, with Rebholz leading the charge. The Defense was hungry as Chris Deode made an aggressive bid in the lane and Seth bid on the deep ball, but Michigan held 7-9. It was getting late in the game and the lead was cause for concern, but the O-face looked good as Simba let’s a backhand loose down the sideline that Gaynor cleans up 8-9. The Wisconsin Defense is smothering, but Magnum gets lucky on some high release swill that eats up half the field, before firing a left hammer for the hold 8-10. It was the exact same situation as the last game, down late, and time cap looming. How would the Hodags respond with their backs against the wall? The Offense needed to convert and then the Defense would break and Wisconsin would overtake Magnum in a fury of layout D’s and deep shots. However, something unthinkable happened – Kevin Riley refused to throw a swing to lose yards, urging Rebholz into the cup only to throw a dishy directly into the defender – giving Magnum the disc, down 2 breaks late, and with Michigan only 3 goals away from victory. Michigan works with the around backhand breaks until Ben Feldman gets a layout D, called foul late, saving possession for the Mohawks who double score on the break side to lead 8-11. Wisconsin foolishly played the same Offense, not yet going to universe status, but letting the O-face “try it again.” The proposition of a comeback was definitely within the realm of possibility, but the Defense needed to get on the field to break 4 times. On the third throw, Kevin Riley attempted a 40 yard up/cross wind hammer to Gaynor who couldn’t make the catch over his head. Michigan didn’t have far to go and after only 1 under cut and reset, a stall 9 anvert punt was pulled down in the end zone for the break, but was called back on a stall. A scoober for the reset and several breaks later, Michigan punched in another break to lead 8-12. A four point advantage at this point in the game was insurmountable even for the best defenses. It takes four handlers to break the zone, but Wisconsin finally scores to make it 9-12, as Riley hits Animal at the cone. Michigan brings down a huck and rushes the field, arms in the air, winning 9-13.

Wisconsin lined up to shake hands in a silent shock, waiting for the celebrating Magnum players to say “great game.” Moments later Wisconsin was left to refocus and wonder what happened. The lack of actually playing ultimate had finally caught up with the Hodags who had forgotten or abandoned their sets and were playing individualistically. The Defense lacked intensity for parts of games and fell into a slump, a ridiculous 4 hour lull to which no Hodag could see a way out. Wisconsin needed a sparkplug, but couldn’t find as much as a match. The saying goes – the offense loses games while the D line wins them. During this game – the Defense did not deliver the previously promised breaks and the O was helpless after an array of stupid turnovers. In the end, this game was truly significant because it halted any chance of the undefeated season. While the achievement of a perfect season was denied, the reason for the loss rested solely upon the lack of defensive possessions, as Michigan had only 6 turns in the contest. Other factors could have been a couple of K-Fed hammer turnovers or simply that the Offense couldn’t score consistently when the team needed it. The Wisconsin leadership also let the lines stay open too long, not feeling pressured by the situation, and then there was that Tim Pearce hadn’t even been playing. As Wisconsin took refuge under the tent and replenished with large amounts of goodies the Foster’s supplied; Hodags took a moment to themselves and several wandering players overheard unimpressed spectators who had never witnessed the destruction of the Hodags saying, “That team looks like any other. What makes those guys so special?” That team must have relaxed, forgetting their grand hopes for the season and becoming overconfident. Muffin took the loss better than most however, letting go of the outcome and accepting the loss, while looking forward to finishing the pool. As Wisconsin hung their heads, Muffin spoke to the team, “It’s not the end of the world. The season is not over.” Malecek was right, but the team wasn’t working and peaking as it had done last year. It was as if the team was mentally still on spring break – and it was uneasy for the leadership to let the team far so far from the trodden path. Whatever the excuses, the Hodags were clearly not 100% focused on Centex coming in and the pretournament visualization overlooked. Had Spring Break 2k8 taken such a toll on the Hodags, that they had no energy left for the last NCUS major tournament? Had Wisconsin’s general fitness and disc skills declined that much in just one week? Overall, it was a depressing effort and put Wisconsin at 2-1 with two games left to play. However, the Brodags found a better attitude and decided to bounce back and have fun.

Wisconsin was now playing the San Diego Air Squids as the Offense scored quickly with Lokke’s layout catch near the cone, letting Fat Bill hit Rebholz for the goal 2-1 and subsequent grenade spike. The Air Squids miss on 3 straight deep attempts and gave Wisconsin the disc freely, allowing Wisconsin to jam it up the sideline, Doede finishing to Tom Annen, 3-1 Hodags. The Hodags began to rain devastation upon San Diego, as Seth Meyer made a focused layout grab before Animal scored his second straight goal to make it 4-1 Hodags. Zach Ehler makes a layout under bid and the Air Squids huck a big backhand out-of-bounds to continue their sloppy play. Chris Doede catches the swing pass and fires a backhand deep to Jon Marshall, who lets Feldman finish to Tom Murray for the goal 5-1. The Air Squids finally converted when they took Smandy Smolt deep for a mack completion to bring the score to 5-2. Tim Pearce re-enters the tournament after sitting the majority of the Michigan game, and sends a backhand deep that Foster can’t bring down. Gaynor almost makes a layout D, but San Diego is moving the disc confidently and breaks to make it 5-3 on a well placed huck. The Offense goes back to basics and jacks it deep to Fat Bill, who is just short of the goal, but finishes lazily to Pearce for the 6-3 lead. The Hodags get the turn and Muffin sends a flick deep to Doede, who tosses some serious swill, that Masler comes down with to take half 7-3. This game was very different than the last and showed the clear distinction between teams who turn the disc and teams who play possession. To begin the second half, Shane gets a monster over the top D, but Wisconsin can’t convert as a 15 yard straight backwards dump pass wasn’t caught by a bidding Muffin, allowing San Diego to score 7-4. The O-face has uncovered newfound swagger as the pressure is off allowing K-Fed to huck a perfect backhand to James Foster for the hold 8-4. However, Wisconsin loses focus for a moment, allowing San Diego to put together a score to bring the game to 8-5 on a lucky hammer. Shane had a great sky catch D down the stretch and Muffin almost caught a Callahan before finishing to Animal now 10-5. Pat Donovan made a solid phantom D deep before the receiver catches it for the goal 10-6. At this point the Bucket of K-Federation sloshes and spills, as K-Fed’s defender accidentally runs into K-Fed, only to be savagely bench pressed in the other direction. The drama continues as the defender lays out into K-Fed’s back, before K-Fed takes off down field for a wide open give-and-go before karma catching up with Riley and making his Lil’ Smokey’s brutally drop the disc. The situation magnifies as Kevin’s 2 drop turnovers near the end zone lament comment from Doede, who calls out Riley, saying he better do something sick to make up for his sub-par play. Immediately, Kevin throws into a foul and the low disc is dropped, saving his third turnover. However, Riley’s next swing pass is also low and is dropped by Rebholz, making #7 an integral part of the Offense who tries to make the Defense angry by giving back breaks. Both teams are completely exhausted, but several speed bursts later, San Diego puts in the break to make the score look more respectable, now 10-7. The O-face needs subs to continue, putting in the Best Buddy Look Tandem to break the 3-2-2 zone, as Malecek hits Foster for the lead 11-7. Tom Murray gets a sweet poach D in the lane and Doede scores easily to lead 12-7. The game ends 13-8 Wisconsin on a Jimmy Foster Callahan as Wisconsin moved to 3-1 on the day.

The next game was against the #2 seed in the pool, North Carolina State. It was the 5th and final game of the day and the Hodags resolved to play to win point differential, knowing they didn’t have complete control of their fate. NCST has also been playing well, already winning the Queen City Tune-up and hadn’t played Wisconsin since 2006 Terminus quarterfinals. Therefore, the Wolf Pack wasn’t as intimidated as some teams and was going to give an honest effort to move on into quarterfinals. NCST scored first, but the Wisconsin Offense responded as Kevin Riley rockets a deep flick, hitting Jon Gaynor in stride 1-1. The Defense is rocking as Chris Doede gets a hand block on the around pass, causing a turnover in their end zone and the sideline to explode. Malecek isn’t able to reset the disc anywhere up field, and is forced to throw a stall 8 hammer to Feldman for the goal 2-1. The wind was picking up and the Wisconsin zone was giving NCST fits. However, the Wolf Pack puts up an anvert flick, which Seth tries to take down at 12 feet, giving State a chance. After several swings, the game tightens as NCST rifles a hammer for a finish 3-2. The Offense looks the best of the day, breaking the zone and moving the disc effortlessly until 2 straight drops by K-Fed and Jimmy, only to be redeemed by a gigantic Will Lokke ruthless sky from a curving Riley backhand to make it 4-2. Malecek pulls a laser flick out the side of the end zone, putting NCST on the cone and forcing a huck out of bounds that Shane eats up. Hohenstein then takes up handling duties with Muffin and Animal before ManBearPig serves a flick up for an Old Man Meyer sky 5-2. The Wisconsin zone remains tough to break as Tom Murda flew in for a swat D, which landed in Animal’s hands. The Hodags could now smell the blood in the water as Muffin puts up a nasty flick, making Shane brutally sky Doede for the goal 6-2. NCST dropped a short hammer and Hohenstein hit Rebholz for the break, spike, and half 7-2. Wisconsin had finally found its usual intensity and was starting the second half on O-face. It took almost a hundred passes but Tim Pearce finally hit Gaynor for a 1 yard goal and score 8-2.
NCST scored to make it 8-3 before Jon Gaynor tried to injure Tim Pearce with a stall 9 lefty blade flick, causing TP to bid and land hard. Wisconsin took the disc back at midfield and Evan Klane hit a hard running Tim Pearce for the goal 9-4. The Wolf Pack is now attacking the break side and scores on a lucky low huck, which Zach Ehler determined was not suitable for a layout D snack as the game extended to 9-5. Kevin Riley bombs a break mark flick down the sideline to a cutting Simba for the easy score 10-5. NCST continues to score as both Young and Marshall permit their receivers to fight over who pulls down the deep goal 10-6. On Offense, Will Lokke bombs a bladely looking backhand, which is poorly thrown because Fat Bill was too lazy to step out and throw it properly. Jimmy Foster snacks on a floaty pass, giving Riley and Lokke both chances to catch the goal, but both just macking the disc. Wisconsin fights on through the S-Box conditions as Riley hits Foster for the goal now 11-6. The Defense mercifully scores to give the Offense a chance to relax as Shane D’s the big hammer and then runs deep for a Morfin flick bomb now 12-6. Tall Pat gets taken deep before Rebholz hits a streaking Lokke O2 for the finisher 13-7.

As the Hodags stretched and prepared for barbeque showcase game, it was sure that the news of the upset in pool A had spread quickly – reminiscent to when Wisconsin lost to Washington in the first round of 2005 Centex. Friends from other teams would ask, “So how did you guys do?” Like they didn’t hear, the Hodags had finally lost! The showcase game between UNC and UBC only had implications for Texas, who was going to be eliminated from quarterfinals despite only losing to Pittsburgh by 2 points. UNC began asserting this will in the showcase game and the women’s dance off began making waves with the spectators. The girl’s teams had choreographed dance moves to an array of music, which made several Belladonna ladies, Kari especially, disgusted and ashamed because of the connotation involved with women’s ultimate. It was fun to watch, but Wisconsin made their weary way back to the hotels to sleep and prepare for Sunday. The Hodag’s 4-1 record on the day was only good enough for A2 and a first round match against Florida in quarterfinals, who took the B pool undefeated.

Sunday…

Wisconsin arrived at the fields about an hour before game time and weren’t running drills until about 20 minutes prior to game time. The Hodags still joked while stretching in the pre-game huddle as there was a steady familiarity with what was about to ensue. When Florida burst onto the scene in 2005, they were like any other ill-tempered southern team, but over the past 3 seasons, they have tragically transformed into the class delinquent. Hard fouls and travel calls aside, they were just lame to play against. Mostly lazy and cheap, they didn’t even look like they cared, or like they had any inclination to actually run hard. Despite all of these circumstances and past history with UF; the Hodags were focused on finding their range in the stiff upwind/downwind conditions, hitting bombs in Super Striker. The opening flip was pretty funny as Chris Gibson squared off with Andrew Mahowald in a sudden death FPS match of rock, paper, scissors to see who gets to call the flip. It was a deadlock for 3 rounds before Chris’s scissors snapped Mabrowald’s paper for the headshot and subsequent spike. UF won the flip and took wind. As the teams put in there last second preparations, an ever increasing intensity was taking over the Wisconsin sideline. It was an unexplainable building of desire and energy – there was a sense of anticipation in the air and emotions were definitely elevated. Jimmy Foster spoke strongly to the team calling it an opportunity to put Wisconsin domination on display. Wisconsin had been playing Frisbee since forever and it was time to bring intensity 26 deep. It was the Hodags first chance to play Florida in over a year, missing the match-up all of 2007. Despite the team records, it would be the match-up of the century pitting Kurt Gibson’s Florida Flick to Muffin’s B-Button SonicBoom. Only in the nastiest conditions do the biggest throws start to matter and upwind pulls were at a premium. Wisconsin started the game on Defense, pulling upwind to what looked like a pack of slender bobcats. The orange and purple camouflage worn by the Gators were as blinding as they were… blinding. Approaching the game, Muffin was open to the idea that the Gators had changed their stripes and was actually a decent minded ultimate team, since it had been a full year since playing them. But from the very moment the game commenced, Muffin remembered exactly what irks him about Florida. Florida is the only team Muffin has ever encountered who purposely and maliciously cheats. It’s like they train the new faces how to foul – egregiously, dangerously, downright spiteful, mauling hacks. They double team regularly; they intentionally foul, consistently to stop the flow. They will attempt to block you when bringing the disc to the line, just to reset their quadruple team cup. They make ridiculously nit picky travel calls and Cyle regularly saves his travel call (for the pivot not being on the end line) just until after the thrower moves the disc. Cole Sullivan is the newest player who has picked up on these blatant actions, kicking and fouling like any common hill troll. It really comes down to respect and playing with a mutual regard to showcase the best that ultimate can be. But when playing UF, it is closer to its worst. Wisconsin started on Defense and immediately brought out its studs in the wind, knowing every point was going to count. The opening pull rolls out the side as The Kurt picks up the disc OB near the sideline; steps back inbounds, pivots out, and tosses a light backhand to 4 Florida cutters going deep on 2 defenders. Shane went up too early and Broderick caught the uncontested pass, finishing for the 0-1 lead. The Riley travel call was overruled, as the observer stated that bringing his foot off the line when walking in bounds is actually a line violation, instead of a travel, so that call is overruled. As it stood, UF led 1-0 and now Wisconsin was going downwind on Offense and moving the disc laterally against the cup as Cycle called 3 straight travels. Rebholz crashed the cup and threw a big bladey hammer to Tim Pearce, who tries a one handed attempt. CVA drops a low swing pass, but a Wisconsin pass through the cup is deflected. The turnovers are coming quick and dirty, just the way Van Auken likes it. Gibson hucks a low flick that Foster D’s and Matt Rebholz sends a second perfect hammer to TP, who catches it this time. But nope, coming back, Cycle said there was call with travel at stall 8, because Matt’s back cleat was no longer on the white line. Yeah, CVA saved that last travel call for about 6 seconds, just to cheat a couple more seconds of double team action. Those certain bullshit calls, could be to say, taking away from the Spirit of the Game for all those Frank no spam fans. But its not just the travel calls, as Cycle fouls the crap out of Kevin Riley on a hammer throw, swiping at K-Fed’s arm as he follows through over his shoulder, and then contests and sends it to the observer saying, “That’s what they’re here for.” An observer shouldn’t need to baby sit reckless and blatant fouls, but Florida was literally attempting to cheat at every opportunity. An upwind flick is macked before being clapped by one of Florida’s four receivers, who then turns it over and tries to get it back, saying the earlier foul call on the reception nullifies his subsequent turnover. The two observers on the field, need some reassurance, and soon the head observer is then brought onto the field to settle the argument, ruling against Wisconsin, stating that play stops regardless, on a foul reception, despite any non-recognized continuation chatter. It ends up not mattering as Brodie drops a layout attempt and Feldman is fouled deep by The Kurt. Simba is able to talk The Kurt into the foul, as he sang sweet hymns, confusing Gibson and taking the disc. However, Feldman, trying to play hero once again, and beyond all reason, throws a hammer turnover on the goal line!? Gloves bombs a hammer to Brodie, whose subsequent huck comes up short as Lokke D’s it. At this point, there are so many turnovers that Jake gave up counting. However, Wisconsin swings the disc instead of punting it downwind and Foster triple mack drops the disc, giving Florida an instant transition break upwind 0-2. A sloppy start combined with a strong wind that the Hodags hadn’t experienced all year, wasn’t a great rallying point. But Madison competes in the Central Region, and knows all about upwind zone offense, having put their entire Nationals berth on the line in 2006. None of Wisconsin’s elite players were nervous; on the other hand, there was a sense of resolve that was noticeable from the very way the handlers walked to the line. However, the flick blade pull downwind isn’t smart to touch, so Wisconsin opts to start the disc on the goal line, already brutally trapped by the Florida 4 man cup. The wind was only about 15-20mph, but the Hodags weren’t moving the disc as quickly as they could, as Fat Bill held the disc gluttonously long in his Sausage Fingers for minutes at a time, before throwing a 1 yard pass flick turnover to K-Fed. Shane almost phantom D’s the hammer to Broderick, before Smith actually cradle drops the pass deep in the corner, allowing Wisconsin to escape a 0-3 deficit. As Rebholz tries to run the disc to the line, a nearby Cole Sullivan throws his shoulder out to clip Matt, as he picked up the disc. What sort of team condones their teammates to take cheap shots like that? What sort of leadership encourages or says that kind of behavior is acceptable? Don’t they have a coach or any class at all? The game continues, as Rebholz, Annen, and Muffin begin to take control of the disc. However, Morfin has never been one to accept Florida’s cheating ways, calling 19 double teams on Smith, 11 disc spaces on Cycle, overcoming 6 more violation/travel calls from Cycle, several on completed hammers, before the observer steps in for a real decisive, “Hey, settle down, relax, or we’re issuing some TMF’s.” Rebholz eventually tries a big upwind huck and Florida hucks right back into an Air Animal D. Muffin throws a cross field hammer to Shane, who flicks it through the cup and has the Hodags pushing to the upwind goal line. Malecek finally takes things into his own hands, dropping an easy hammer to the Animal for the first upwind hold by Wisconsin 1-2. The Gloves tries a flick upwind to his brother, but Shane is there for the sky D. Four throws later, Shane is ripping a huge inside-out flick to Foster for the downwind break 2-2 and Wisconsin is storming the field. The Gators center to Gloves who fires a deep backhand, again to 4 cutters who pull down the reception and score quickly, thinking it was 2-3. However, Riley calls the travel on the big step-out only to have Kurt respond with the ultimate Grant Zukowski comeback to travel calls, “No, man, I’m 6’2.” The observer says travel and Kurt instantly summons the disc. It must have been when Kevin turned to the observer that The Kurt pulled his wand and landed an imperius curse upon an unsuspecting K-Fed. It was at this moment that Skywalker realized that the video camera lens sneakoscope sensor was going haywire. Like pulling thoughts out of the Pensieve, Andrew Mahowald was sucked into an awful memory. It was in the desert of the City of Sin, Las Vegas, and Florida was battling Arizona late into the day. Andrew Mahowald had been cheering from the sidelines, watching the end of the game as he noticed something strange about The Kurt. It could have been the look, or the relatively new gloves, but Mahowald needed to know. Pulling his wand, he landed a perfectly placed legilimens spell on Gibson, during a true moment of weakness and penetrated deep into his mind. It was so carefully construed, all of the planning, the torture and pain, the quadruple cup, it was all there. Skywalker shuddered at his immediate realization; Gibson had indeed been tampering in dark magic and those horrific images were hastily cast aside by Andrew, burying the accusation. If he would have notified the ultimate wizarding community then, it surely would have created an outrage. The Golden Hand was finally jerked back into the present by the buzzing of the sneakoscope lens – detecting dark magic. As Mabrowald turned, Gibson has instructed K-Fed to put the disc immediately back into play and fires a huge downwind hammer to the unsuspecting players, who hadn’t known the disc was in. The double helix hammer is macked by Brodie, only to deflect off Cullen and somehow land in Smith’s lap for the blade spike and lead 2-3. Wisconsin raised eyebrows to such a forceful spike and jabbering, for such a weak sauce play. Wisconsin is back on Offense and only moving the disc laterally through the 3-2-2 Florida clog as Bucket wasn’t dealing with the pressure well, screaming at Foster, “Look at me!” as he popped/cut across the field. Things look bad from the sideline as Riley is yelling instructions now at the handlers, about where and when they need to be in open space. Eventually K-Fed just tosses a high hammer that Lokke has to slider to catch safely. Fatty then slips twice as he tries to get up, causing skinny people all around to snicker at the chubby red-head. However, Lokke gets the last laugh as he pulls in a looping backhand from Riley for the 3-3 tie. Florida is going downwind again, but chooses to punt on offense, as Florida decided they would rather cheat on defense than actually convert sets on offense – something Carleton would surely scoff at, probably contributing to CUT taking down the Gators in Centex quarterfinals 2007. Wisconsin has the disc and Rebholz rips a huge cross field hammer to Shane, who loops a flick deep to Doede. Wisconsin smells blood and stuffs in the goal as Murray hits Rebholz for the 4-3 lead. Wisconsin is pumped up and pulls out the HO-DAGS cheer for the downwinder, as Muffin rockets a flick pull. Kurt and Cycle try to play catch, but CVA drops the pancake catch on the goal line. Tom calls a time-out and Florida resets a literal 4 man square around Tom, who is called for a push-off foul, taking away a short Foster swing turnover. Shane pops the cup at stall 8 and Animal feeds the ManBearPig a break 5-3. Florida continues to punt and give up the disc as Riley and Muffin tear apart the cup for gashes at a time. Eventually Muffin fires a 20 yard upwind hammer to wide-open Tom Murray, for the upwind break to make it 6-3 as Wisconsin went absolutely nuts in the upwind end zone, screaming and making a general raucous. Wisconsin was generally rolling, as the most experienced Hodags were making plays. Muffin ripped another huge flick blade and Gibson dropped a short pass near his goal line and Wisconsin was poised to finish. However, a Muffin flick was too high for a stationary Foster, narrowly missing the downwind break. Florida bobbles the disc twice and calls a foul on a Chris Doede hammer mark and a Tom Murray layout D to save possession in both instances. Chris Doede’s intensity gets the run through dump D and Wisconsin was eating field left and right before an Animal scoober over the cup to Morfin was off target. Gloves immediately jacks a flick in transition and Broderick comes down with the catch before a stall 5 timeout. Lokke is broken on the goal line and the Florida between the legs spike makes it 6-4 and stops the hemorrhaging. Wisconsin walks to the line, knowing they let an opportunity to close the game, slip through their fingers. Muffin and Riley pop the disc through and around the cup as Lokke is now even making crisp passes. Animal is eventually trapped on the line before firing a 37 yard cross field hammer to Shane and the Hodags are in business, but eventually another travel call, on a 2 yard pass, stops the momentum, allows the cup to reset, and sticks Shane on the sideline, who can’t reset for a turnover. Florida is able to convert quickly downwind and tightens the score to 6-5. Wisconsin hucks and sets their zone, but a solid swings and a big hammer past Lokke gives Florida a crucial upwind break 6-6. Madison is back to moving the disc slowly as Cycle is now calling offensive fouls on pivoting and a Florida player injures himself on a bid into the Bucket, trying for a Callahan. Riley then proceeds to provide treatment to the UF player’s injured shoulder, adjusting it, rubbing it out, and repositioning it before Florida finally realizes a teammate is down. After the substitution, Rebholz tries a huge upwind hammer down the sideline, but the wind eats it up and turns it over OB. Florida is now transitioning downwind with Gloves getting every other as the Hodags foolishly allow immediate resets back to the thrower. The Kurt works it to the goal line and hits Broderick for a 1 yard goal to re-take the lead 6-7. The fouls continue to rack up before Matt Rebholz rips a perfect hammer down the line to Tim Pearce, who is now fouled three times consecutively on the goal line, for the Florida defense to recover. Muffin eventually crashes the cup to save Pearce and calls double team to make the cup reset. “Double team… double team!” shouts Muffin, pushing the cup back to at least 8 feet before letting the stall count resume. Malecek is still pivoting in the cup, looking for an open option as Brodie calls, “Violation” on defense. Muffin, who had no inclination whatsoever to say the V-word, calls bullshit, and throws a hammer for the goal. Florida tries to argue that Muffin said violation first to stop play, but that wasn’t even plausible, as Morfin was still pivoting to score. Eventually the observer is able to see through Florida’s attempts to stop play, this time making phantom calls for the offense, and rules that he only heard the V-word uttered once, and since Muffin wasn’t the one who uttered it, play didn’t stop and the subsequent hammer score counts 7-7. Wisconsin decides it is time to guard Kurt with two defenders, because half the players on Florida have the intelligence of hill trolls, and wouldn’t know what to do with the disc if it hit them in the face. However, the wind helps as UF scores to take half 7-8. The Hodags start the second half on Offense going downwind and get a chance to lament all of the missed opportunities in the first half. It seems that all the drama continues to revolve around Muffin, who is still attempting to get the Gator cup to play by the rules specified. CVA tends to disagree, and thinks cheating or adjusting morals for personal gain is tolerable, as stall counts suddenly stop dropping on the called infraction of double team. First it is an offensive foul on a full field hammer, and then it is a stall count on a scoober over the shoulder. In the end, it was the observers who kept the game moving forward as a perfect Animal scoober to Malecek pulled in the deep, allowing Foster to fly free. But it was Florida and the aggressive deep went for the bear hug strategy, hoping to stop play and let his other defenders recover. With no penalty for this type of cheating despite an appeal to the moral high ground, Muffin dropped a high hammer in his eyeball, giving Foster the satisfaction of spiking the disc in the wake of Florida’s continued bullshit now 8-8. The Hodags need an upwind break to take the lead and Doede almost supplies the turnover, causing a Gibson drop, but getting tacked with a very close elbow graze foul. The Gators hold onto to the disc long enough to abuse the break side to score downwind 8-9. Wisconsin comes right back stretching the field as Foster makes a spectacular sliding deep catch off a huge looping flick from K-Fed, tying the game 9-9. The Hodags continue to bring the pressure, as the Broderick break side in-cut is shoulder high layout D’d by Shane Hodagstein, giving Wisconsin the disc near midfield. As soon as the cup is broken to the middle, Rebholz rips a huge backhand, but there was no receiver and Florida was going the other way. A swilly Chris Gibson flick huck is again D’d by Shane, but somehow ricocheted of Tom Murray again into Brodie’s lap, as he showed the disc and then spiked it brutally, on another weak sauce play 9-10. Tensions rose as Brodie got all up in Shane’s face as they exchanged words and email addresses. Wisconsin took advantage of a short pull, as Animal hit Foster with a hammer strike 10-10. Muffin ripped a nice bladey pull and The Kurt quickly put up a deep backhand. Lokke had an inside track, leaping but only macking the disc slightly, causing, guess who, Brodie to mack the disc further and then chase it down with a layout catch for the hold 10-11. The Brodie then spikes the disc as hard as possible, showboating his third Hodag assisted goal. Wisconsin was back going downwind and Florida was now playing straight man defense. However, the marks were physical and hard fouls were common place, as Sullivan grunt slammed Morfin, causing play to lag for almost a minute. Will Lokke tosses a short backhand to a full speed Foster, who bids and sticks the disc near the goal line. Wisconsin is so close to scoring, but can’t stick it in as Morfin grabs a reset, only to have hill troll Sullivan kick Morfin’s arm waist high as he pivoted to throw backhand. The stream of obscenities to leave Morfin’s mouth would have made a pastor’s heart explode. Mike Gerics spirited reincarnated was the anger spewing forth, because one can only believe the fouls are accidental to such an extent. If only Kyle Weisbrod had been there, a TMF would have been issued faster than Ben Wiggins could sprint the field. However, play continued as K-Fed made the O2 move to score, but dropped the low downwind flick, giving the disc back to the Gators. The Gloves shouted instructions to his teammates against the Wisconsin zone, but a double helix hammer was double teamed by cascading sky mack D’s of Jimmy Foster and Lokke. Florida is forced into man defense and Muffin quickly floats a flick out for a diving Will Lokke score 11-11. The Gators move the disc slowly downwind, until Kurt puts up a floaty backhand to which Sullivan promptly drops. Rebholz grabs the disc and tries to run to the line, before the quadruple team can set, but Gator Sullivan rolls in his way, slowly jogging in his path, impeding Rebholz’s progress. However, Florida’s tactics could not deny the Hodags, who had found that chip on their shoulder. The Hodags earned every yard with patience, before Animal launched the finishing hammer to take back the lead 12-11. Wisconsin was determined to score and after noticing that Kurt was only trying to get the disc immediately back every time, employs the box-and-1 system to deny Gloves the disc. Every stoppage now takes minutes to resolve as Kurt calls “foul” after a disc space and fast count call. However, as Carleton certainly knows, 2 disc violations mean clearly the “V-word” and not a foul. Gibson is eventually forced to throw an inside-out backhand, but Shane and Doede combine for the double mack D. Muffin sends it deep, but it is too far and Florida returns the favor with a dropped cross field hammer. Morfin is at the center of attention, fighting high stalls in the cup with mini scoobers to Animal, until Tom puts up a deep hammer for Doede to pull down in the back corner, putting Wisconsin up 13-11. With the cap in effect, it was a game to 14 and Wisconsin held all of the cards. The face guarding of Gibson must have worked, because Gloves resigned himself to downfield for a moment. Florida struggled to move the disc, but it finally broke to Cyle, who immediately hucks a backhand to a stationary Kurt. The disc sails out the back as Shane ensures the matter, but not before the Brodson takes down a water cooler, kicking it in disgust, because one upwind break sealed the deal now. However, first the observer had to walk off 10 feet, and then Foster had to convince Florida that he had actually clapped the low disc, causing more delays. However, the Wisconsin zone O was improving with every point, now confident to move the disc in the wind. Shane lets a deep flick rip, which Foster comes down with on the goal line, before getting knocked to the ground. Simba is screaming for Jimmy to see Bucket as the disc is tapped in and Kevin gets the dump, on the verge of victory. Bucket goes to the most insatiable desire, to finish in Florida’s eyeball, as he rifles a flick through traffic and past a bidding defender for the goal to win 14-11. Wisconsin rushes the field in excitement and Riley pumps his fist, putting the finishing touch and getting retribution against Florida. The Gator complex had been removed and Wisconsin was headed to semifinals against Mamabird. The game was a quick blowout and the Hodags crushed UNC in the finals as they 3-peated at Centex and won all 3 NCUS events, cashing $5,000 from the cu1timate fund. As Wisconsin congratulated themselves on the first perfect pre-season in school history, Muffin inexplicitly wasn’t happy. It was all too perfect; the best team in history; the undefeated season; the most dominate starting line in all of the ultimate archives? No, something wasn’t right. And then the smoky fog lifted and Morfin came to a terrible realization. His memory had been modified, but he wasn’t sure how much time had been lost. Racking his brain Morfin saw the defender still on the ground, the disc not in the receiver’s hands, but also on the ground. It was difficult to tell what reality was and what was fantasyland as the memory charm Obliviate was most powerful. Suddenly, the volume was turned back up and Wisconsin was scattered, and looking for defense. A Brodie huck sails out the back of the end zone and Florida sets their cup. Muffin tosses a soft scoober to the backfield, but Rebholz can’t handle it as a defender crashes, giving Florida an easy downwind score, now 13-12. But Wisconsin was still on O going downwind for the fatality, surely the Hodags had it locked down. Wisconsin looked good, moving the disc to midfield, before Riley and Rebholz became stalled on the sideline. Riley loaded up a hammer, but gave away his target as Lokke couldn’t sky the high and hard hammer, completely over his head, giving Brodie an easy D. The force is changed at least once and Lokke is now marking Kurt, who fires a hammer before calling a late foul. Fat Bill and Gloves both hit the ground a silly number of times within several passes and play lags in the hilarity of collapsing knees. Florida is now just feet from an upwind break and finally stuffs it in to tie the game at 13-13. With 2 chances to score, Wisconsin squandered both and was now on universe point going upwind on O. Muffin cracked the cup twice and Wisconsin was past midfield, in prime position before Will dumps the disc foolishly back to the sideline. The cup reforms on Riley who gives a short pass to a crashing Morfin, but leading to a Brodie layout into Muffin’s back. As Broderick is rolling up Muffin’s legs, a 1 yard pass to Riley is dropped. Muffin calls the foul as soon as the disc turns; because he is being knocked into as he threw it. The observer rules that the foul call wasn’t on the throw, but just before, and so it was a live disc regardless. Muffin argued that the contact clearly affected the throw, causing K-Fed to fumble the disc, but proximate cause was overruled again. Florida set up very deliberately; The Kurt even paused to the stretch out both quads, before picking up the disc. “Come on,” moaned the sideline, “not even Beau does that!” With the stakes at their highest, Cyle rolls the dice, hucking deep, but it is just OB, giving the disc back to Wisconsin. The handlers look good, moving the disc quickly and breaking through the cup, but not before a stray pass is deflected on the way to Shane, giving Florida the disc mere yards from the end zone. In the transition, Shane almost layout D’s Kurt, but it only takes 3 more passes before Florida stuffs in the goal off a give-n-go to the break side, to actually win and steal the game 14-13. Wisconsin was left with no choice, but to line up and shake hands, still in desolate shock. Soon after, Wisconsin formed a circle and contemplated wallowing in misery. Indeed, Hodags were falling to the ground left and right, sitting and waiting. Silence replaced silence before Rebholz addressed the team, but his post game talk was a blur of seemingly empty words forced determination. “This next game will make us better,” but no one believed it. As two time Hodag Captain Matt Rebholz finished speaking, Muffin stepped up to talk, which was a surprise because Muffin rarely ever needed to talk in team huddles. On surface Muffin appeared to be the only Hodag truly unfazed by the failure and explained to the team that there was still an opportunity to play meaningful games and keep seed for Nationals. It wasn’t a coincidence that both speakers were 5th year Hodags, but their words of endorsement fell on deaf ears, as the team lost all will to live. However, Madison was faced with a difficult challenge – firing up for another game almost immediately after a huge mental and emotional letdown. It’s not like flipping a switch and Wisconsin could only say “Hodag Love.” In the precious few moments before the next round started, Muffin quickly saw the trainer, attempting to clear his head. Malecek had played on the Hodags all the way back in 2004 and knew how it felt to lose in quarterfinals. He had seen the team struggle at Centex 2005, after losing studs Tripoli and Zukowski to injury, and how the Hodags lacked the drive to compete. The Hodags looked generally sad as the game was about to start – like ultimate wasn’t fun to play if it was only for 5th place. The despondency ran through the team like a virus – pushing spirits down and taking the will with it – the determination of heart. Muffin arrived back at the fields just in time for the Offense to drop a disc in our red zone, giving Pittsburgh a two pass upwind break to start the game 0-1. At this point in the day, Morfin decided to make the difference and strutted onto the field to play some upwind zone offense. Malecek realized on the walk to the trainer, that this was his last College Centex ever, and Muffin was sure to leave everything on the field. True to his word, Malecek was able to hit Evan with a nice break for the upwind tie 1-1. Muffin and Matt Rebholz were doing their best to keep the team focused and fired up. The lines opened up immediately and fresh legs were inserted as the Hodags momentarily let a tidal wave of devastation upon Pittsburgh, powering to a 4-1 lead on Animal’s and Muffin’s consistency around the disc and Seth scoring 2 goals. Matt Young even made an awesome layout D with his tongue out and full smile across his face – moments before impact with the disc. Wisconsin was relying on new players to fill positions as Feldman was now starting for Will Lokke, who had dropped out of the rotation and was busying devouring as many discs as he could get his Sausage Fingers on.
Wisconsin wasn’t bringing the full fire yet, but was still leading 5-2 as Kevin Riley hit Gaynor for a goal. The Pittsburgh coach made a great effort to tell the Hodags not to “double guard” the mark if the original defender bids and was lying on the ground, while another defender momentarily puts on a force. Despite the silly arguments, Pittsburgh was able to respond to the initial Hodag surge of energy and scored to make it 5-3 after an Air Animal greatest attempt missed and then broke to make it 5-4 after Feldman turnover. This break was like a punch to the stomach as Wisconsin walked to the line solemnly and brought in Muffin anticipating Zone Offense. Wisconsin finally scored on good pair cuts and open spacing as Foster hit Gaynor for a midrange score 6-4. Wisconsin was in control, but the disappointment from losing in quarterfinals was beginning to shine through. The team was still in shock and the usual omnipotent confidence was missing from almost every Hodag step. It was a difficult truth to face, that not practicing or doing any sort of disc skills was such a detriment that it would cause Madison to lose games. The team was young and when fundamentals were overlooked as Wisconsin waited for the snow to melt, the Hodags might have overlooked how much work needed to be done before the final weeks of the season. Furthermore, the loss to Michigan should have been an insult enough and cause every Hodag to play with something to prove. At this point in the tournament, the Hodags were not playing with anything to prove and Pittsburgh, with everything in the world to gain, connected with their downwind deep shots and broke to make it 6-6. Slowly the Hodag fire extinguished and the sideline fell mute. There was no cheering, no intensity on the field, no desire to murder and punish. It was replaced by apathy and self-pity, leaving a bitter taste with Muffin. Wisconsin was eventually able to pull it together and trade to half 8-7 as Matt Rebholz hit future Grey Duck Tim Pearce for the lead. This far into the contest, it seemed that only 5th years Rebholz and Malecek cared about the outcome. The Hodags were trading with a generally terrible Pitt team, lacking grit and intensity and sliding into a lull. It wasn’t helping the Simba Feldman who was doing his very best to showcase his offensive throws, adding his 6 turnovers to Riley, Rebholz, and Annen’s combined 10 more. As the second half started and Muffin got back into the game, it was evident that nobody really cared about this contest. The lack of effort upset Morfin, much more than the loss to Florida. How were the Hodags not playing hard? Wasn’t this season about a commitment to every game? It made Morfin sick to contemplate, so he began changing the momentum with his actions. Being positive, yelling on the sideline, and encouraging his teammates; Muffin gave 100% to every point. But his teammates could not escape the pain, as injured players fell out of the rotation and the team energy dropped to an all time low. Even as these events transpired, Muffin and Rebholz were fighting a losing battle. Doing everything in their powers, Matt and Morfin tried to fire up the Hodags, but it was no use. As the game progressed, Muffin did his all to keep pumping up the team, shouting words of encouragement, challenges on the line, and incessant talk to the Offense when on the sidline. None of it mattered, no effort made a difference as the Metro East Squibs of Pittsburgh were scoring the old-fashioned way, one shitty throw after the next, proving any anything can happen when one team doesn’t even want to play. The second half continued to trade 9-9, 10-10 and 11-10 Wisconsin as Matt Rebholz converted goals to Foster and Riley. There was just no fight in the Hodags and the game traded wearily. However, Pittsburgh made a last minute run and gathered enough steam to tie the game at 11, before breaking twice to lead 11-13, probably off 2 of Wisconsin’s 27 turnovers. Malecek scored from Tim Pearce to make it 12-13, but Pittsburgh hucked and scored on a stacked line to take a huge 12-14 lead. It was late in the game and Wisconsin needed players with legs to win as key individuals were still dropping out the rotation. Wisconsin was able to score to bring to the game to 13-14 and essentially universe point with Wisconsin pulling. Malecek matched up every player, attempting to neutralize their offense for some last minute heroics. However, Animal lunged to the open side and was beat on a break-side huck, hanging a helpless Doede out to dry as Pittsburgh won 13-15 and cheered, as the Hodags waited to shake hands for the second time in a row. It was as if the court had been rushed after the final buzzer beater and the crowd was screaming all around. This was the lowest point of Hodag ultimate in 3 years, since 2005. That score cemented the worst finish at Centex since 2004 and it was a tragic feeling, losing to an inferior competitor. There was less to say than usual and Morfin took the loss the hardest. Morfin had given his all for the team, for the Deatheaters. His reputation, his energy; all of his feelings were worn on his sleeve for all to see. There was no denying it; the fourth horcrux was becoming too powerful, too taxing, too much. It left his soul weak, fractured, and vulnerable. Morfin had no choice; it would be perilous, potentially fatal. A horcrux had never been magically restored because it was obviously too risky and complex. But before he could change his mind his heart broke to pieces as the deepest remorse overtook his body. Morfin trembled from head to foot, and a felt a pain so intense, he thought he was dying. Only the deepest feeling of repentance could possibly undo the creation of the most despicable act – splitting the soul. This supreme act of evil, believing Wisconsin ultimate was immortal, was a difficult fact to face and only the excruciating pain of this realization was able to communicate with the glove horcrux. The black glove began to seize up, twisting, and flexing. The soul was attempting to escape, but the glove was resisting. Morfin collapsed to the ground and a true feeling of responsibility overtook him, his actions indelible, Morfin felt an immaculate wave of energy and life flow escape from the glove, trickling in transformation as the wispy ghost absorbed into Morfin’s Dark Mark. Everything went black and Muffin awoke on the field shaken, but refreshed. The worst possible scenario had just occurred, losing on Sunday not once, but twice. The Hodags had just put on the most lackluster performance in memory, lulled into self-pity and not able to find the energy to respond to two late breaks. Several Hodag parents must have been in shock, as the Foster’s, Scallet’s, Geppert’s, and Riley’s had to also endure two straight losses.

Matt Rebholz finally collected the Hodag elite and questioned the morals of playing another round. Should Wisconsin play their rookies; should the lines remain open and give way to any outcome? The Hodags were set for a Vegas Finals rematch against the Arizona Sunburn, but barely 19-20 Hodags were in the rotation for the 7th place game at Centex. Wisconsin finally agreed with itself to play the lines open and hope that the team could improve as a whole. Madison won the flip and started on Defense, only to fall behind 0-1. Kevin Riley hit the C Monster for a goal as the sophomore implemented offense scored to tie 1-1. However, things turned bad for Wisconsin as Arizona scored easily and then broke to lead 1-3. It was more than Malecek could bear, as Muffin demanded to play Offense. Malecek hated to lose more than anything and knew he could make the difference when Wisconsin needed it. The Hodags turned the disc and as Arizona took under cuts to the middle of the field, Muffin accelerated past the cutter for an in-cut layout D and double happiness to make the score 2-3. Muffin amped up the younger players, who were still susceptible to outside influences, making a scene and yelling to the team, “If you want to play defense, get on the line!” Muffin threw line calling to the side and went to pure emotion, asking for the players who wanted to get that layout D. Needless to say that line broke to tie the game 3-3 and really started to put the pressure on Arizona. Soon Jon Masler and Matt Young made back to back layout D’s, followed by an Andy Doss sky goal and Marshall 2 handed sky to make it 6-4. Wisconsin’s Offense was able to hold for half 7-5 and then hold again out of half to lead 8-5 on Rebholz’s solid play. Muffin continued to dominate around the disc, hucking upwind to break to 10-6 and causing Wisconsin to use a timeout. Shane Hohenstein stormed the circle, offering up a 24oz energy drink for a Team Detonator. Wisconsin thrived on the energy, slamming the can against forehead after forehead until Muffin punctured the can, and Rebel Rousa finished the deal, exploding the can into 2 perfect halves as it splits on his forehead.
The intensity and explosion of sound made every Sunburn player look, knowing that any mounting Hodag intensity is never a good outcome. As play begins, Tom Murray makes a sick layout D and Muffin finishes to Marshall for the lead 11-6. Wisconsin traded to a 13-8 win, adding another Matt Crumb layout D with a full grin on his face. Jon Marshall made a Double Happiness play, catching the goal like a football wide receiver.

In the end, Wisconsin took 7th place at Centex – the worst finish ever in last 3 years of Centex. This tournament also ended the year long win streak and was the first time the Hodags didn’t make it to at least semifinals in any tournament since Nationals 2005. As Wisconsin wandered over to the main complex, the Minister of Magic Skip Sewell awarded Wisconsin 5,000 Galleons for becoming the first Tri-NCUS Tournament Champion. Amid the setbacks of losing games, the documentary took a small hit as the Hodags were too depressed to take good footage after the quarterfinals loss or even the energy drink detonator. This Sunday could be summed up nicely by Cullen Geppert’s walk back to the car. The C Monster trudged very slowly across the barren fields, heavy bag over his shoulder, head drooped, the look of deepest disappointment across his face, yet still carrying a large vanity check for $5,000. Other notable post Centex events included breaking the Suburban key in half in the wrong lock, Pat jumping over bulky obstacles, including Cullen with his Razer Red Scooter, and driving back to Wisconsin to begin school, totally exhausted. Overall, the Hodags were not pleased with the weekend and will be taking out their rage on the state of Wisconsin at Sectionals. But the weekend provided several more lessons for the Hodags and that the season needed to be refocused to the task at hand, Regional finals. Looking forward, Carleton remains a semis caliber team in Wisconsin’s eyes and Colorado has shown resilience over the season. However, spring showers and record snowfall have left Wisconsin under inches of snow all year – making another weird obstacle that the Hodags must overcome. As Tom Murda arrived back in Madison he could only utter, “I want to play Frisbee so bad! This weekend was not satisfying.” Wisconsin lost their focus. The undefeated season is over. Perhaps it was the 7 straight days on the beach, the plethora of injuries, or the limited practice time in Wisconsin. Whatever the reason, the Hodags faltered for the first time all season and lost as many games in one tournament as Madison had lost in the last two seasons. Defeat and shock were evident, but the mental failure to respond is what unnerved the veteran Hodags most. To say that this weekend was a disappointment would be a tremendous understatement. Perhaps the pain from workouts and unwavering commitment just wasn’t the same as 2007. What else could be undone? No more comparisons between the top Hodag squads of ‘06 v ‘07 v ‘08. Losing is a motivator. It encourages you to work harder, to test your limits, and to put in more time. Besides confidence being shaken, the reoccurring mental weakness was the worst part. Certain individuals have been slacking either physically or mentally, and it has hurt the performance of the team. In these times when focus is lost and when you want to quit, I look for an answer through motivation. My favorite quote is from the Arnold Schwarzenegger documentary Pumping Iron. Lou Ferrigno was training to attempt to knock off Arnold in the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition. It was Arnold’s last year, but just Louie’s second, so he was training very hard (yelling Arnold’s name for every excruciating rep) and was extremely motivated to try to take down Arnold, especially after coming in second place on his first attempt. Lou Ferrigno is sitting down to dinner and his dad is rambling about the competition and visualizing for Louie. This quote still sends tingles down my spine. “Don’t ever feel sorry for yourself, Louie. Remember, if you’re training hard, he may be training twice was hard. You just gotta keep coming back stronger. All the way, Louie, you’ll never get this chance again. All the way.” This quote quickly reminds me of a couple things real quick – to never feel sorry for yourself, to train harder than your opponents, and to realize that you will never get this chance again.

It has continued to rain, snow, and sleet for weeks at a time and in a final twist of fate – Sectionals has been canceled due to the inches of standing water, pushing it off a week and making for back-to-back weekends of Sectionals and Regionals. Having Sectionals a week later also denies Wisconsin the chance to play the Blue-Black Spring Scrimmage and Hodag Alumni game as feature events at Memorial HS’s Mudbath HS tournament. However, as it stands, Wisconsin is still the scariest team in college ultimate and will be reasserting itself in Wisconsin soon. Courtney for Callahan!