A Nationals Preview

I actually posted this to rec.sport.disc but because it's so priceless I am re-posting here to fill up space in preparation for the Big Show.

This is not actually a preview of the USA Ultimate Club Championships. In case you were wondering.

it's an example of one of the worst articles ever written on ultimate, and that's saying something because there are plenty to choose from. I found it in my archives while doing research for the mockumentary script on ultimate soon to be, uh, finished!

Bonus points if you can count the number of errors: grammatically, stylistically and factually. I stopped counting myself.

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'Flatball' Wizards
BY JIM MERRITT, Newsday

May 23, 2004
Remember when Frisbee was a rite of spring as cool and undemanding as catching rays in the campus quad or hanging out at the rathskeller?

Well, hold onto your hackysacks: Now, Frisbee is a fledgling intercollegiate sport at Hofstra University in Hempstead and Adelphi University in Garden City, and its players are clamoring for respect.

"I don't think [people] appreciate how hard it is to throw a Frisbee well, and the conditioning it takes," says Aaron Bjerke, 21, of Alexandria, Minn., a junior communications major and member of Adelphi University's Frisbee team.

The 25-member Hofstra team, formed last fall by A.J. Pave, 22, a history major from Holliston, Mass., prefers to call the sport "ultimate disc" or flatball. The team matched discs against Northeastern in Boston and Penn State before ending its first season earlier this month.

Ultimate disc "is fun and very, very competitive," says Michael Chan, 22, of Baldwin, a Hofstra player who specializes in airborne grabs.

The laid-back rules set by the Seattle-based Ultimate Players Association prize sportsmanship over winning. (For those keeping score, Hofstra beat Adelphi in three out of four games this year.) Players toss the disc down the field and score a point in the end zone, not unlike soccer. Disputes on the field are settled by the players themselves, but clashes - and crashes - are inevitable.

"I get really bad turf burns just from diving," says Seth Dellon, 20, the Hofstra co-captain with Amy Ostroff, 20. Dellon says this disc deserves respect - and maybe even equal footing with other varsity sports.

Whoa, dude, say varsity athletes.

"More power to these guys that they are really excited about their sport," said Thomas McCormack of Rockaway Point, a senior sports management major at Adelphi and guard for the varsity men's basketball team. "But, in all honesty, collegiate basketball and football can't be compared to Frisbee."

Which goes to show you, Dellon said, "We don't get respect from anybody."