Blauer Burgunder wins Pig Me Up 2

As advertised, the Styrian-style pig roast was tremendous. The large hog-on-a-spit was expertly turned by a man of similar color and demeanor as the pig and received a standing ovation for his slow-cooked masterpiece.

Outside of that, the team I ended up on called "Blauer Burgunder" after a local red wine, somehow and somewhat improbably, won the tournament. As per usual hat-tournament protocol we had a melange of players.

Soni was 16 and heading to U-23's the next day, as was Ami. Vale, 14 years old with money throws and quick cuts. Frischi, the veteran engineer from Vienna. Izi, our co-host for the tournament and a wonderful handler. Flixi -- his first tournament ever and now his first tournament win. We worked out the forehand before the second-to-last game on Sunday. We had Martini, a short quick handler-type woman who we called in as a handler, only to find out at the Saturday-night party that she had been playing ultimate for now her 5th month. Richey, a burly flag-football player with "the heart of a lion" according to Tommy, my friend from back home who has been living in Vienna now for a year.

As you can tell, we decided at the first game to have everyone's name end in the "y" or "it" sound. So that made Veronica a Veronicky which became "Key" which when I called her in the wing of the zone never quite worked because I don't think she had ever been called "Key" before, but that was ok. Flixi was really a Felix, Ami an Amadeo and Martini a Martina. It was nice. We were a team!

We had Andrea (Andi) for a half-day and then there was René, whom I called either Reeny or Rene or something like that. And there was James who we had to call Jamey of course, a lanky lefty from Australia. I hope I am not missing anyone. Will have to look at the pics.

We played zone the entirety of our last two games on Sunday which ended up being a semifinals (winner of that game would make the finals) and then the finals. In the finals we played a team that went up on us 6-2 and won 6-4 in a sloppy game which they clearly got the upper hand behind a basically un-guardable Erik Doesburg, also known in certain circles as "that tall blonde Dutchman from Mouthful of Sand/Gronical Dizziness." He won MVP/MBP (Most Beautiful Person) at the tourney, and deservedly so. I tally up to 6’4 and change but hand to hand he had a full hand on me and rang up as 6’6” at least.

We won the finals on double-game point, 7-6 on a sweet lefty backhand deep huck from Jamey to Ami. It was a nice way to end the trip to Worlds and meet some super fantastically cool, fun, vibrant and new-to-the-game southern Austrian players. It was like a mini-Poultry Days, with teams camping out, the pig roast, the beer and wine, the communal atmosphere. Wonderful.