Chicago New Year's Jam: December 29-31 2011

[Wasabi]

There's a pic of me with that pink D. Starbag? Well, it was New Year's Eve and I was particularly douc---

Unfortunately, I DID leave that beaut at Reile's. Hopefully the puppies didn't chew on it. And yeah, on the trip back I felt like a douchebag for forgetting it. Mah baaad. :<

[YouTube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmINoL0b ... ata_player[/YouTube]

[Moxie]

Nice Waylon, I didn't remember that you took the pink D. Bag. D. is my new penpal after he sent me an awesome letter with the donated bags.


The hotel was GREAT. The shred room was nice (with an amazing view), the hotel rooms seemed nice, and the Security staff was AWESOME. When we were playing golf from 12:15am-3am in random spots in the hotel (all of which had security cameras), several people and I commented about how we were going to get caught. Sure enough, we were in a hallway and suddenly a huge security guard appeared. I went straight to my coat and grabbed it, confident that we were going to get yelled at and kicked out. Instead, he said something along the lines of, "Hey guys, you see that thing up there? That round thing up there is a camera. You just came really close to hitting it. Please try to not hit those. Thanks guys." and he walked away. We ended up playing in hallways, the underground corridor, a ballroom, on an escalator, and in a loading dock. If there were any doubts about using this hotel in the future, I think that one instant erased them from my memory.

This was the first time (except maybe my first year?) that I've been to NYJ that I didn't stay in the hotel. It was different, but still fun. Jeremy, Fletch and I had some adventures with public transportation, and I saw my first fight on a train.



To all prize bag recipients: I hope you let the stitcher know if you like the bag, and write a review if so. If you have any negative feedback, please be sure to send him/her a PM first.

As Nathan said, we reached our goal and we had enough prizes for every single competitor (not just people who placed) to get a nice prize (footbag, DVD, or t-shirt), along with everyone getting to choose from a variety of other prizes. The idea is to encourage(/bribe) everyone to compete, even if they know they're not going to place. I feel like it's good for the sport in general. Attendees were also given some bags to take home and give to new players in their area, which is another way to help the sport.


Once again, thank you to our generous sponsors:

Dragonfly Footbags, who provided four first place prize packets (which included cash, a t-shirt, and two footbags), stickers, lots of footbags, and more.

Freedom Footbags, who provided hand made footbags from stitchers (some of whom were at our event), t-shirts, great DVDs, a set of juggling balls, stickers, and more.

Kolo Sport, who provided multiple Footfighter bags, footbag shorts, t-shirts (including girls' t-shirts, which is AWESOME to have when you have any girls attending an event), many hand towels, lots of footbags, and more.

Pro Kicker, who provided a Peteca, many net bags, a freestyle soccer ball (bag?), lots of footbags, and more.


And all of the awesome prize bags:

Brian Bear (brianbear)
D-Bags (D.)
Elemental (lotus)
Hania-Bag (Hania)
Jeremy Mellor (Catopillar)
Marco Hartig (mahhkohh)
Michael-Bag (jaust)
Nathan Pipenberg (Nathan)
Richard Abshire (richardabshire)
Waylon Lew (Wasabi)

[CIC flurry]

I just posted some pics on my facebook.