Fanzine
-
brian relly
- fan-tas-tic
- Posts: 2711
- Joined: 31 Aug 2003 10:03
- Location: 303
- Contact:
I got a haircut today before my trip, so I figured if I was gonna shower, I might as well get in a light shred. For some reason I left out one of my best highlights from my last session in my last entry, so let's start there: hit leggy rubberman. 
When I first hit rubberman, I used to do it half leggy and half hippy. Then I learned it all hippy, then all leggy. All leggy is definitely the most fun way to do it, and the hardest imo. So that was fun.
My second session of the day was short, light, and nice. I messed around some with quantum sets. Slapping mirage bsos. Toe blizzard deep and clean on both sides. Flip may have been my first time, so possible new move there. Can't recall. I was also really stoked to hit flipside quantum whirl (toe blurry whirl) for my first time. I had hit plasma on that side before, but I've never been sure if it was clean or not. Not counting that plasma, almost all of my cool quantum moves had used the other quantum set. So hitting an undeniably clean quantum whirl with the flip quantum was a small milestone. Tried to hit toe swifter, and had a couple OK looks, but it's hard indeed. I also hit pdx tap bsos, which I'm pretty sure is a first for me too. I also hit double pick up with the dexes going out-in, like a ddd but ending on toe. That may have been new, but I don't think so.
The most fun part of the session for me was trying to hit my Shred30 on my flipside. I consciously changed the pdlo to a pdx mirage, but other than that, I got pretty far into it. Something like 22 contacts, and then I got confused.
When I first hit rubberman, I used to do it half leggy and half hippy. Then I learned it all hippy, then all leggy. All leggy is definitely the most fun way to do it, and the hardest imo. So that was fun.My second session of the day was short, light, and nice. I messed around some with quantum sets. Slapping mirage bsos. Toe blizzard deep and clean on both sides. Flip may have been my first time, so possible new move there. Can't recall. I was also really stoked to hit flipside quantum whirl (toe blurry whirl) for my first time. I had hit plasma on that side before, but I've never been sure if it was clean or not. Not counting that plasma, almost all of my cool quantum moves had used the other quantum set. So hitting an undeniably clean quantum whirl with the flip quantum was a small milestone. Tried to hit toe swifter, and had a couple OK looks, but it's hard indeed. I also hit pdx tap bsos, which I'm pretty sure is a first for me too. I also hit double pick up with the dexes going out-in, like a ddd but ending on toe. That may have been new, but I don't think so.
The most fun part of the session for me was trying to hit my Shred30 on my flipside. I consciously changed the pdlo to a pdx mirage, but other than that, I got pretty far into it. Something like 22 contacts, and then I got confused.
I was having lunch the other day in some hole-in-the-wall, and when I looked up from a bite of my wild boar, I saw a commercial on the television with some shitty operafied rendition of the Righteous Brothers. `Man, music is even worse than 10 years ago when I lived here' I thought to myself. Then the words 'Il Divo' flashed on the screen and I nearly spat my wine out laughingana_ali wrote:You're a footbagger for christ sake! I hope you're not listening to Il Divo
I`ve hardly had access to the net since being in Spain, but there isn´t much footbag stuff to report. I took 5 days off, and the one day I did manage to play, was right after a really bad night. Not only did I sleep badly due to the cold, but since I was staying in a house unfamiliar to me, I got lost in the dark in the middle of the night, and instead of finding the door to my room, I slipped down some stairs
But yeah, I played the next day, despite the lack of sleep and the pain, and it was tough. I did manage to hit my Sick 3 a couple times, but Shred30 was rooooough. Lost lots of stamina it would seem... but then, not ideal shred conditions either.Today I did 5 minutes of BOP practice, in a puffy winter jacket and snowpants. Went better than I expected... whatever, its adds on the shoes.
Tomorrow I meet all the Madrid shredders, and will hopefully get in a quick session. The weather looks like it will shit on us, but I´m not looking to impress. I´m just excited to meet Spanish shredders finally. Hopefully I can get in a longer session on Monday, though less people will show up.
Hopefully I´ll keep you updated. As for tonight and tomorrow night, we´ll see how well I´ll sleep. I´m planning on waking up at 2:30 in the morning to watch the NBA All-Star game live.
February 19th, 2006
Alright! Got a session in today, AND I have internet access so i can rabbit on a bit about it in the old blog too.
Last night it poured buckets, which had me a little nervous about today´s session. Would we get rained out? Would it be cold and windy? Would my shoes get wet getting there (I´m using my shred shoes as my walking shoes too)?
Luckily, the weather god was a sweetheart, and gave us better weather than I could have hoped for. No wind, no rain, and occasionally the sun even gave a little warmth. Unfortunately, I had to leave early, and most people showed up late, so we never took full advantage of the weather, but we couldn´t have asked for better.
I met up with Sergio in the morning, and despite us setting up a specific meeting point, we both managed to wait 20 minutes before finding each other. Sergio struck me as a real nice guy, and my Spanish held up alright as we made our way to the shred spot. We played in the Parque el Retiro, which is one of my favorite parks in Madrid. On the way, he told me that there were around 11 footbaggers in Madrid, but mostly beginners. When we got to the spot, nobody was around, but we decided to warm up. We ended up playing 2-man for a good hour before anybody else showed up.
This was especially rough, cause I´ve lost a lot of my conditioning. Still, I´ll probably be really happy about this in the long run, since it will get me into better shape for CSS.
Sergio has only been playing for a year and a half, but I was very impressed with his game. He can hit lots of 4s and 3s, and I can see him turning his guilts into 3s with a little effort. Ducks, pixies, steps, barrages, all on both sides, though with varying consistency. He is working on being as bothsided as possible. I only played with 3 guys all day, but from having played with all of them, I really feel confident that Spanish footbag is on the right track.
Just as I had hoped, playing with somebody else out in public, really got me pumped. I played decently all session, which was a major upgrade from my last session. I still had some stamina issues, but it was a BIG improvement over last time. I hit my Sick3 in way fewer tries than last time, and it just felt easier and stronger. I`ve got this unexplainable feeling that I`m going to hit it at CSS... I hope I`m not jinxing myself. But even on 'bad' days, I still can get it. I also attempted a run-through of my Shred30, and was very happy to see it flow much better than last time. Hit the first 23 contacts without a drop, then I passed it. Last session, I struggled to get through the first 16 contacts, but today it just felt better. Still, I was more tired than I should be after 23 contacts, but hopefully I can get in one more session tomorrow, and maintain (recover) my stamina level enough to give me a chance at CSS.
We played with a Charles Dupuy bag, which I really liked. A bit smaller than my Ilja, and a nice weight. I hit a bunch of tricks which I don´t think the Madrid shredders had seen in person before: toebius, WHAT!?, atomic drifter, ps egg, janiwalker, and ewalk to name a few. I gave some tips to Sergio, and I think they were useful to him. I´m always very careful about giving tips to people I just met, cause it can come off badly, but I think it went over fine.
We had settled on meeting at 10:30, but it was just Sergio and me until noon, when 2 more shredders showed up: Mario and Arturo. It felt much better playing in a 4 man circle, even though we didn´t have much time. Arturo is a big guy and plays in CT 520s, but seemed very interested in my G6s. I wonder if the G6s are any good for bigger players... probably better than Lavers, but not sure if New Balance are better. Mario was hungover, so he didn´t seem that pleased with his game, but he had some nice tricks. He jokingly tried something like fairy mofly, and I asked him what was the downtime component. It seemed like he didn´t think it was actually possible, but he was trying like downtime blurriest. I explained to him that the move was easier symposium, and hit a mofly for him. I hadn´t hit one in ages, but I´m glad I did, cause he was like
I really had to tear myself away at the end, cause I wanted to stick around and play. But I had to go eat with relatives, so I said some quick goodbyes, and set up a session with Sergio for sometime tomorrow. It´ll depend on how I feel and on the weather, but for the sake of CSS, I´m going to make every effort to play tomorrow, cause I don´t think I´ll have another chance until I´m in Denver.
Last night it poured buckets, which had me a little nervous about today´s session. Would we get rained out? Would it be cold and windy? Would my shoes get wet getting there (I´m using my shred shoes as my walking shoes too)?
Luckily, the weather god was a sweetheart, and gave us better weather than I could have hoped for. No wind, no rain, and occasionally the sun even gave a little warmth. Unfortunately, I had to leave early, and most people showed up late, so we never took full advantage of the weather, but we couldn´t have asked for better.
I met up with Sergio in the morning, and despite us setting up a specific meeting point, we both managed to wait 20 minutes before finding each other. Sergio struck me as a real nice guy, and my Spanish held up alright as we made our way to the shred spot. We played in the Parque el Retiro, which is one of my favorite parks in Madrid. On the way, he told me that there were around 11 footbaggers in Madrid, but mostly beginners. When we got to the spot, nobody was around, but we decided to warm up. We ended up playing 2-man for a good hour before anybody else showed up.
This was especially rough, cause I´ve lost a lot of my conditioning. Still, I´ll probably be really happy about this in the long run, since it will get me into better shape for CSS.Sergio has only been playing for a year and a half, but I was very impressed with his game. He can hit lots of 4s and 3s, and I can see him turning his guilts into 3s with a little effort. Ducks, pixies, steps, barrages, all on both sides, though with varying consistency. He is working on being as bothsided as possible. I only played with 3 guys all day, but from having played with all of them, I really feel confident that Spanish footbag is on the right track.
Just as I had hoped, playing with somebody else out in public, really got me pumped. I played decently all session, which was a major upgrade from my last session. I still had some stamina issues, but it was a BIG improvement over last time. I hit my Sick3 in way fewer tries than last time, and it just felt easier and stronger. I`ve got this unexplainable feeling that I`m going to hit it at CSS... I hope I`m not jinxing myself. But even on 'bad' days, I still can get it. I also attempted a run-through of my Shred30, and was very happy to see it flow much better than last time. Hit the first 23 contacts without a drop, then I passed it. Last session, I struggled to get through the first 16 contacts, but today it just felt better. Still, I was more tired than I should be after 23 contacts, but hopefully I can get in one more session tomorrow, and maintain (recover) my stamina level enough to give me a chance at CSS.
We played with a Charles Dupuy bag, which I really liked. A bit smaller than my Ilja, and a nice weight. I hit a bunch of tricks which I don´t think the Madrid shredders had seen in person before: toebius, WHAT!?, atomic drifter, ps egg, janiwalker, and ewalk to name a few. I gave some tips to Sergio, and I think they were useful to him. I´m always very careful about giving tips to people I just met, cause it can come off badly, but I think it went over fine.
We had settled on meeting at 10:30, but it was just Sergio and me until noon, when 2 more shredders showed up: Mario and Arturo. It felt much better playing in a 4 man circle, even though we didn´t have much time. Arturo is a big guy and plays in CT 520s, but seemed very interested in my G6s. I wonder if the G6s are any good for bigger players... probably better than Lavers, but not sure if New Balance are better. Mario was hungover, so he didn´t seem that pleased with his game, but he had some nice tricks. He jokingly tried something like fairy mofly, and I asked him what was the downtime component. It seemed like he didn´t think it was actually possible, but he was trying like downtime blurriest. I explained to him that the move was easier symposium, and hit a mofly for him. I hadn´t hit one in ages, but I´m glad I did, cause he was like
I really had to tear myself away at the end, cause I wanted to stick around and play. But I had to go eat with relatives, so I said some quick goodbyes, and set up a session with Sergio for sometime tomorrow. It´ll depend on how I feel and on the weather, but for the sake of CSS, I´m going to make every effort to play tomorrow, cause I don´t think I´ll have another chance until I´m in Denver.Internet access has been spotty on this trip, but in a way that could be good. My next couple weeks will probably see me offline almost as much. CSS7 this weekend, then an EC swing for job interviews. Time offline could be a good thing for me. I´ve been reading more, and if the weather in Spain were better, I´m sure I´d be playing more too. This week alone I read a book of short stories by Truman Capote, a long Elmore Leonard novel, and I´m halfway through a book about DNA by James Watson. I feel like I catch up with what little I miss on modified by reading it once every couple days, as opposed to reading it a couple hours a day.
Anyway, I figured I should blog my last session, cause this is my last chance before CSS, which I hope to blog. On monday I had another session in Madrid. I was hoping more people would turn out, but everybody except Sergio bailed I know I´m not Vasek or anything, but man, sometimes it feels like I get no respect in the footbag community. Whenever a player better than myself rolls within 2 hours of where I live, I get out and go play with him. Not to dis the Spanish players, but come ON. Hell, I even speak Spanish for gods sake, its not like they wouldn´t be able to talk to me. Whatever, I´m glad that Sergio made an effort to come out and play.
We started out playing outside, by the Torre Picasso. That place always makes me think of the movie `Abre Los Ojos` which was remade in English as Vanilla Sky. I never saw the Cruise remake, but I liked the original. Anyway, Sergio was a little sore from playing the day before, but I was surprisingly springy. It was cold out though, so I played in a long sleeve shirt, gloves, and a hat. At least it wasn´t raining, and after the unexpectedly warm weather from the previous day, I could hardly complain. I was a little tired, because the previous night I set my alarm for 2:30 am, so I could watch the NBA all-star game live. It was worth it though.
We played decently outside, but after 45 minutes we relocated to the metro station, which was MUCH warmer, mostly cause there was less wind. It was only my second time playing with Sergio, but I got such a good vibe off him, I felt real comfortable playing however I felt. Sergio played pretty well I thought. His osii are really good. Saw him get like 16 in a row. He was also hitting ripwalks and step sets out of them very very cleanly. Other highlights were atom smasher and blender. I gave him a few tips which hopefully will help him in the long run.
I was real happy with how I played. I felt very confident... like if I was at CSS at that moment, I could probably do OK. I had a one-drop run through of my Shred30, which was 31 contacts, 29 uniques, 1 drop. I think it would score around 215 or so (edit: 216.8, which beats the record by 10), which I´d be very happy with. I also hit my Sick 3 a couple times. The second time was the best, since it was at the end of the session, and I hit it under pressure. I told Sergio I had five tries to hit it, and I got it on my third try.
Other random highlights.
*PSDLO
*step whirl-ripwalk repeat
*30 contact string starting with frenzy
*atomic blender
*smoke bsos
*23 eclipses in a row
*flurry to tripwalk, first try.
*toe gdlo first try.
*atomic drifter-drifter
*phx bsos
*drifter-sidewalk repeat to start a string
*sailing eclipse.
*atomic zulu bfly
*paradon swirl-drifter
*fs toe blur, fs atom smasher, when I was explaining to Sergio how I no longer do certain symposium sets, so as to avoid injury.
I said goodbye to Sergio, and told him to go to Worlds. Spain needs to represent worldwide... I´m tired of trying to speak French at tournaments already. I hope I can make it to Worlds this year, but I have this feeling that I won´t be able to. We´ll see. The plan is to focus on rocking CSS as hard as I can, and then we´ll go from there. Shit, 2 days! Can´t wait.
Anyway, I figured I should blog my last session, cause this is my last chance before CSS, which I hope to blog. On monday I had another session in Madrid. I was hoping more people would turn out, but everybody except Sergio bailed
I know I´m not Vasek or anything, but man, sometimes it feels like I get no respect in the footbag community. Whenever a player better than myself rolls within 2 hours of where I live, I get out and go play with him. Not to dis the Spanish players, but come ON. Hell, I even speak Spanish for gods sake, its not like they wouldn´t be able to talk to me. Whatever, I´m glad that Sergio made an effort to come out and play.We started out playing outside, by the Torre Picasso. That place always makes me think of the movie `Abre Los Ojos` which was remade in English as Vanilla Sky. I never saw the Cruise remake, but I liked the original. Anyway, Sergio was a little sore from playing the day before, but I was surprisingly springy. It was cold out though, so I played in a long sleeve shirt, gloves, and a hat. At least it wasn´t raining, and after the unexpectedly warm weather from the previous day, I could hardly complain. I was a little tired, because the previous night I set my alarm for 2:30 am, so I could watch the NBA all-star game live.
It was worth it though. We played decently outside, but after 45 minutes we relocated to the metro station, which was MUCH warmer, mostly cause there was less wind. It was only my second time playing with Sergio, but I got such a good vibe off him, I felt real comfortable playing however I felt. Sergio played pretty well I thought. His osii are really good. Saw him get like 16 in a row. He was also hitting ripwalks and step sets out of them very very cleanly. Other highlights were atom smasher and blender. I gave him a few tips which hopefully will help him in the long run.
I was real happy with how I played. I felt very confident... like if I was at CSS at that moment, I could probably do OK. I had a one-drop run through of my Shred30, which was 31 contacts, 29 uniques, 1 drop. I think it would score around 215 or so (edit: 216.8, which beats the record by 10), which I´d be very happy with. I also hit my Sick 3 a couple times. The second time was the best, since it was at the end of the session, and I hit it under pressure. I told Sergio I had five tries to hit it, and I got it on my third try.
Other random highlights.
*PSDLO
*step whirl-ripwalk repeat
*30 contact string starting with frenzy
*atomic blender
*smoke bsos
*23 eclipses in a row
*flurry to tripwalk, first try.
*toe gdlo first try.
*atomic drifter-drifter
*phx bsos
*drifter-sidewalk repeat to start a string
*sailing eclipse.
*atomic zulu bfly
*paradon swirl-drifter
*fs toe blur, fs atom smasher, when I was explaining to Sergio how I no longer do certain symposium sets, so as to avoid injury.
I said goodbye to Sergio, and told him to go to Worlds. Spain needs to represent worldwide... I´m tired of trying to speak French at tournaments already. I hope I can make it to Worlds this year, but I have this feeling that I won´t be able to. We´ll see. The plan is to focus on rocking CSS as hard as I can, and then we´ll go from there. Shit, 2 days! Can´t wait.
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Sergio Mendez
- Shredalicious
- Posts: 61
- Joined: 27 Jul 2005 12:29
- Location: Madrid, Spain
I ask for excuses, for the rest of players of Madrid. It was a Monday morning and the majority they dyed class or work ... and the rest ... they are a few vagrants¡¡¡. I suppose that it is a part of the national character
I am very bad with my partners, am making them feel very guilty all, for not having come to play with Ken. It was deserving it. He is the biggest player of footbag and an excellent person. I hope to be able to see him in the worlds
But all the footbagers can be calm. meanwhile I am here, no footbager will feel alone in madrid¡¡¡
I would like to be grateful to Ken "Zen Master" Somolinos, all the advices that it gave me. Thanks to them, I surely could do blurry, janiwalker, blurrier, blurriest, paradox drifter and someone more in very little time.
A greeting
I am very bad with my partners, am making them feel very guilty all, for not having come to play with Ken. It was deserving it. He is the biggest player of footbag and an excellent person. I hope to be able to see him in the worlds
But all the footbagers can be calm. meanwhile I am here, no footbager will feel alone in madrid¡¡¡
I would like to be grateful to Ken "Zen Master" Somolinos, all the advices that it gave me. Thanks to them, I surely could do blurry, janiwalker, blurrier, blurriest, paradox drifter and someone more in very little time.
Jejeje ... I hope that many people should speak Spanish in the worlds, if I am not going to have to be kept silent for many days¡¡¡, I keep on using a traduztor to write in the forum. I am going to have to dedicate the same time to English than to the footbag¡¡¡C-Fan wrote:
I´m tired of trying to speak French at tournaments already.
Hah!! What does it mean!!???
A greeting
"True Victory is Victory over oneself"
hey Ken,
dude, u need to come to worlds, only because afterwards you can finally come to berlin.
its gonna be sooo cool...
anyways...also wanted to say that i pretty much always regularly read ur blog (and thats about the only one) and that its always been a very cool read, especially after worlds, thanks a lot for that.
have fun at css! i have a feeling that u'll hit your sick3 as well as shred and then decide to do that again at this years worlds!
cheers,
paul
dude, u need to come to worlds, only because afterwards you can finally come to berlin.
its gonna be sooo cool...
anyways...also wanted to say that i pretty much always regularly read ur blog (and thats about the only one) and that its always been a very cool read, especially after worlds, thanks a lot for that.
have fun at css! i have a feeling that u'll hit your sick3 as well as shred and then decide to do that again at this years worlds!
cheers,
paul
Paul Cronjaeger
84 * fcfootstar berlin
84 * fcfootstar berlin
-
FootbagGuru
- Fearless
- Posts: 615
- Joined: 10 Apr 2005 06:05
- Location: Greenwich, NY
- Contact:
February 27th, 2006
I shouldn't be posting here, I should be sleeping. The last few weeks have been really draining. Lots of commitments, lots of excitement, and lots of travel. 10 days in Spain, come back for 1 night at home, CSS, come back for one night (tonight), then I fly out tomorrow morning again. All this travel is really rough. Throw in some root canal, varying time zones, and a tourney, and... well, I'm tired.
The big news is CSS. Overall, it was a really fun weekend, and I am definitely glad I went. Its possible that this was one of the most up and down weekends of my life. It had so many good, fun, and memorable moments, but it also had some of my most frustrating and depressing moments too. Yeah, there was footbag, but my last sentence spans much more than just The Game. Hopefully I'll find some time to blog it all, and that'll clarify all my thoughts. For now though, just a few thoughts.
Footbagwise, I think this may have been my best tournament ever, in terms of playing. I played all 3 days, I played well all three days, and I really pushed myself. The last session of the tournament in particular, I feel like I will never forget.
Competition wise, this was probably my worst tournament ever. This was the darkest spot on the weekend, because it was avoidable. I've talked about this with Stephen and Brad already; I think its important to air grievances face to face and intelligently, before bitching and moaning on the internet. I'll write more in depth later, but this is how competition went for me:
*got 9 hours of sleep in a double bed which I had to myself.
*ate a healthy and big continental breakfast.
*Got to the site when doors opened at 11.
*started warming up for competition around noon, because competition was supposed to start at 1 pm.
* Hit my sick 3 5 or more times, no problem. hit my Shred30 with one drop several times, and felt very strong.
*1:30 rolls around, comp hasn't started. I'm still warm.
*2pm rolls around, still no comp. Now I'm playing lightly just to stay warm.
*I start getting cold. Other competitors who were on time also start showing signs of wear.
*Comp starts at 2:40 or 2:45. I'm completely cold by now, and haven't eaten anything other than a banana since breakfast.
*Comp goes badly for almost everybody who was there on time. Dave wins Shred 30, with 2 drops and a midstring toe stall. Lon takes second place with 4 drops. Scott takes 3rd with a score of 150, which no offense, but thats a shitty score. My shred goes so badly, that halfway into it, I handcatch the bag and strongly consider walking off before my time is up. I look at the crowd and decide it would be unprofessional to do so, and do a couple tricks until I can finally walk off. I wish I could show them my Shred30 run throughs that I was doing 2 hours ago, or even the ones from one hour ago. $80 bucks and countless hours of practice down the drain. I am extremely unhappy with how competition was run.
I'll go into detail about my thoughts on comp later. In my opinion, if competition is scheduled for 1 pm, it should start at 1 pm, and players who are late should be cut. Is this unfair to players who show up late? In my opinion, no. But even if it is, I think it is much more unfair to the responsible players who showed up on time, to delay competition to a time when they are no longer warm. CSS is the biggest shred tourney in the US, especially since Worlds is in Europe 2 years straight. If players cant be professional enough to be on time, that should be there problem. Look at the Shred30s from this tournament, and tell me they reflect the level that the competitors are capable of. I saw Clavens hitting his Shred30 dropless... at 1 pm. That would score around 250. My Shred30 scores 230 or 224 if its dropless. Lons is around 250. The delay in comp was a bad mistake.
Comp was the lowest point of the weekend for me, which I'm OK with, considering the rest of the tourney went so well. Also, it wasn't worlds or anything, and it wasnt like I had ideal conditions and choked. CSS was one of the most fun weekends I can remember. Sooooo many high points. But I wanted to get the comp thing off my chest early. I wanted to explain why I scored so badly (my last Shred 30 scores in comp are: 202, 197, 193, 195, 186, 206).
Don't want to end here, cause it looks like a negative post, but I also don't want to give away too much of the good stuff, cause that deserves a lengthy write up. So just trust me, my first CSS kicked major ass; 85% great, and just a touch of real-shitty. Sneak peak of future highlights from my CSS blog:
*Surprise shredders appearances.
*My romantic milkshake date with another footbagger.
*Hot tubbing with 9 guys in their boxers.
*Me hitting 2 unique quad dexes in the same day, both on film.
*Celebrity sighting at lunch
*The best hotel in the history of footbag
*My most memorable, and best shred session ever at a tournament.
*Cute volleyball chicks.
*My fashionable wardrobe.
*God pulling out the stops to thwart my chances of playing with Penske.
*Funny Chicago crew moments.
*What I ate.
*My proposed deal with the dev...Mike Hansen
*Some combos and stuff that stood out.
Trust me, it'll be cool. Now I just need time to write it...
I shouldn't be posting here, I should be sleeping. The last few weeks have been really draining. Lots of commitments, lots of excitement, and lots of travel. 10 days in Spain, come back for 1 night at home, CSS, come back for one night (tonight), then I fly out tomorrow morning again. All this travel is really rough. Throw in some root canal, varying time zones, and a tourney, and... well, I'm tired.
The big news is CSS. Overall, it was a really fun weekend, and I am definitely glad I went. Its possible that this was one of the most up and down weekends of my life. It had so many good, fun, and memorable moments, but it also had some of my most frustrating and depressing moments too. Yeah, there was footbag, but my last sentence spans much more than just The Game. Hopefully I'll find some time to blog it all, and that'll clarify all my thoughts. For now though, just a few thoughts.
Footbagwise, I think this may have been my best tournament ever, in terms of playing. I played all 3 days, I played well all three days, and I really pushed myself. The last session of the tournament in particular, I feel like I will never forget.
Competition wise, this was probably my worst tournament ever. This was the darkest spot on the weekend, because it was avoidable. I've talked about this with Stephen and Brad already; I think its important to air grievances face to face and intelligently, before bitching and moaning on the internet. I'll write more in depth later, but this is how competition went for me:
*got 9 hours of sleep in a double bed which I had to myself.
*ate a healthy and big continental breakfast.
*Got to the site when doors opened at 11.
*started warming up for competition around noon, because competition was supposed to start at 1 pm.
* Hit my sick 3 5 or more times, no problem. hit my Shred30 with one drop several times, and felt very strong.
*1:30 rolls around, comp hasn't started. I'm still warm.
*2pm rolls around, still no comp. Now I'm playing lightly just to stay warm.
*I start getting cold. Other competitors who were on time also start showing signs of wear.
*Comp starts at 2:40 or 2:45. I'm completely cold by now, and haven't eaten anything other than a banana since breakfast.
*Comp goes badly for almost everybody who was there on time. Dave wins Shred 30, with 2 drops and a midstring toe stall. Lon takes second place with 4 drops. Scott takes 3rd with a score of 150, which no offense, but thats a shitty score. My shred goes so badly, that halfway into it, I handcatch the bag and strongly consider walking off before my time is up. I look at the crowd and decide it would be unprofessional to do so, and do a couple tricks until I can finally walk off. I wish I could show them my Shred30 run throughs that I was doing 2 hours ago, or even the ones from one hour ago. $80 bucks and countless hours of practice down the drain. I am extremely unhappy with how competition was run.
I'll go into detail about my thoughts on comp later. In my opinion, if competition is scheduled for 1 pm, it should start at 1 pm, and players who are late should be cut. Is this unfair to players who show up late? In my opinion, no. But even if it is, I think it is much more unfair to the responsible players who showed up on time, to delay competition to a time when they are no longer warm. CSS is the biggest shred tourney in the US, especially since Worlds is in Europe 2 years straight. If players cant be professional enough to be on time, that should be there problem. Look at the Shred30s from this tournament, and tell me they reflect the level that the competitors are capable of. I saw Clavens hitting his Shred30 dropless... at 1 pm. That would score around 250. My Shred30 scores 230 or 224 if its dropless. Lons is around 250. The delay in comp was a bad mistake.
Comp was the lowest point of the weekend for me, which I'm OK with, considering the rest of the tourney went so well. Also, it wasn't worlds or anything, and it wasnt like I had ideal conditions and choked. CSS was one of the most fun weekends I can remember. Sooooo many high points. But I wanted to get the comp thing off my chest early. I wanted to explain why I scored so badly (my last Shred 30 scores in comp are: 202, 197, 193, 195, 186, 206).
Don't want to end here, cause it looks like a negative post, but I also don't want to give away too much of the good stuff, cause that deserves a lengthy write up. So just trust me, my first CSS kicked major ass; 85% great, and just a touch of real-shitty. Sneak peak of future highlights from my CSS blog:
*Surprise shredders appearances.
*My romantic milkshake date with another footbagger.
*Hot tubbing with 9 guys in their boxers.
*Me hitting 2 unique quad dexes in the same day, both on film.
*Celebrity sighting at lunch
*The best hotel in the history of footbag
*My most memorable, and best shred session ever at a tournament.
*Cute volleyball chicks.
*My fashionable wardrobe.
*God pulling out the stops to thwart my chances of playing with Penske.
*Funny Chicago crew moments.
*What I ate.
*My proposed deal with the dev...Mike Hansen
*Some combos and stuff that stood out.
Trust me, it'll be cool. Now I just need time to write it...
C-Fan wrote:
Competition wise, this was probably my worst tournament ever. This was the darkest spot on the weekend, because it was avoidable. ...*Comp goes badly for almost everybody who was there on time. ... I am extremely unhappy with how competition was run...Comp was the lowest point of the weekend for me
Don't hold back Ken, make sure everyone gets the picture.
Also, it wasn't worlds or anything,
Ouch.
Old Skool
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the Executioner
- BSOS Beast
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CIC flurry
- Amazingly Sexy Man-Beast
- Posts: 3423
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Ken,
You totally blew my mind. I didn't know you were so good at footbag. I was wondering why I didn't know, and I think it's because there's not much video of you. I'm not a video expert, but I know I haven't seen any.
But yeah, so you are so good at footbag...triple dexes like whoa...strings like whoa! And you're so nice!
Ur shred is stupid.
Stupid like dumb or stupid like tiiight?
stupid like tight
You totally blew my mind. I didn't know you were so good at footbag. I was wondering why I didn't know, and I think it's because there's not much video of you. I'm not a video expert, but I know I haven't seen any.
But yeah, so you are so good at footbag...triple dexes like whoa...strings like whoa! And you're so nice!
Ur shred is stupid.
Stupid like dumb or stupid like tiiight?
stupid like tight
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Senor Grommet
- Post Master General
- Posts: 3394
- Joined: 18 Oct 2002 20:25
- Location: Greater Santa Cruz, CA
- Contact:
I hope Ken doesn't get Bird flu then . . .
Isnt it just a BIT mysterious that at about the same time Ken leaves Asia this whole bird flu phenomenon pops up? No, no they can't be related . . . can they?
Isnt it just a BIT mysterious that at about the same time Ken leaves Asia this whole bird flu phenomenon pops up? No, no they can't be related . . . can they?
My name: Jeremy Mirken, AKA Chocolatey Shatner, AKA jerk enemy rim.
I kick it with trunk chef elf and liz luck key my.
I kick it with trunk chef elf and liz luck key my.
At a net cafe in Chinatown (NYC) now. Few quickies.
1. To everybody who has emailed or PMed me in the last month, sorry if I have yet to respond. I've been offline for long stretches at a time, and when I get online I usually have to mail people to set up job stuff, or places to sleep, etc. I'll try and write back when things calm down.
2. I'll be in Boston on the 14th this month. People interested in shred etc, pm me, or better, Somolinos at gmail.
3. I'll be in NYC until the 20th, minus the trip to Boston. So I'd like to get in some kicks on the weekend, or whenever is good. I'll be free starting the 10th or so.
4. I'll eventually blog my CSS experience in depth. I don't want to give the impression it was a bad weekend, cause I really found it 90% excellent. Y'all will get a clearer impression when I get to it.
I haven't shredded since CSS, and have been itching to play. Still, its kinda nice to look back and say my last session was one of the best of my life. I think my short-term goal for shred is to work on my style and variety. I can do a lot more tricks than I show; I should work on showing that off.
Thanks for the good times and kind words, everybody at CSS. Looking forward to seeing you all at future tournies, and reminiscing about the fun in the blog.
Got nothing but love for you.
1. To everybody who has emailed or PMed me in the last month, sorry if I have yet to respond. I've been offline for long stretches at a time, and when I get online I usually have to mail people to set up job stuff, or places to sleep, etc. I'll try and write back when things calm down.
2. I'll be in Boston on the 14th this month. People interested in shred etc, pm me, or better, Somolinos at gmail.
3. I'll be in NYC until the 20th, minus the trip to Boston. So I'd like to get in some kicks on the weekend, or whenever is good. I'll be free starting the 10th or so.
4. I'll eventually blog my CSS experience in depth. I don't want to give the impression it was a bad weekend, cause I really found it 90% excellent. Y'all will get a clearer impression when I get to it.
I haven't shredded since CSS, and have been itching to play. Still, its kinda nice to look back and say my last session was one of the best of my life. I think my short-term goal for shred is to work on my style and variety. I can do a lot more tricks than I show; I should work on showing that off.
Thanks for the good times and kind words, everybody at CSS. Looking forward to seeing you all at future tournies, and reminiscing about the fun in the blog.
Got nothing but love for you.