Sandblast 2011 Preview

This may also be posted on Sky'd Magazine as we are doing a cross-promotional beach tour '11.
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My last trip to Sandblast was in 2005. That year I shot, edited and commentated the finals for the tournament DVD and played with Hurt Locker. Back then there were several teams that could make finals but you couldn't tell who they were. The crew wearing thick tans and thin Speedos? Bunch of guys and girls in button-downs and ties? And there were friends you didn't recognize because you weren't used to seeing them on sand.

I'm back for 2011 and have to wonder about the tournament and how much it's changed or remained the same. Here's a few questions I am asking myself for the overdue return to Chicago.

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Defending champions Team Esquire changing their name to Threat Level Magna — mistake, typo or savvy marketing? (answer tomorrow from captain Matt Davidman).

Team USA @ Sandblast – Potlatch semis losers or Poultry Day champions?

Team USA 2 – First losers, second-tier winners or the age-defying 2011 Dallas Mavericks?

Number of teams representing the Midwest out of 60 total across both divisions. Over/under: 48.

Quantity of Fuze drinks given away by Fuze, the Official Sponsor of Chicago Sandblast 2011. I'm gonna guess 750.

A question we've all wanted to find out the answer to: who plays better on the sand, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids or Sheboygan?

Beach etiquette: should I call that travel or just maybe hold it back because the sand is really deep today and heck, it's only beach?

Looking at the pools I see eight teams with dirty, double entendre names referring to adult situations. How many more can there be?? The eight I have are: Ski Unit, Highlighter Nation, Labor Party, Hoffman's Mom, Big Fun, Crunkzilla, Team USA2 and Beach for America. Gnarly stuff.

Crystal Ball: Looking to the future USA Ultimate is starting a Beach Division in 2012. There's a theory that the beach game could go big like beach volleyball's raging success in the 1980s. Let's say the ruse works and beach ultimate is the hippest activity on the planet. Does Zima provide the first major sponsorship? Or Kangol?

How many months away is the 2011 World Championships of Beach Ultimate this August 21-28?

If something happens on the beach, does it stay on the beach?

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Answers to some of these questions, a Q&A with Davidman and other burning answers tomorrow sometime.