Ken it was a pleasure to meet you man, your shred is sick, and your attitude and personality is even better.
Meeting Players at your skill level with that kind of attitude makes me greatfull that this sport is so underground and wholesome.
Hope we cross paths again, expect some death threatening invitations to the chicago new years jam in about 8 months
if you even hint you wont be able to make it team ramrod is gonna track you down and kidnap you for that weekend. lol
take care buddy
p.s. it was also cool to talk to someone about hockey even if it was only a 10 minute convo its more than i ever get from anybody in this fucking city
Fanzine
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tuomoruutufan
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OK! Finally a lull in the action of this trip. At a net cafe, 2 hours for $5 is pretty good, given it's NYC and the connection is wicked fast. I'm gonna try and get the CSS blog rolling, but before then, a few quick responses.
Yeah.
Wow, my blog is fast approaching its 666th post...
OK, onto the CSS7 blizzoggo.
CSS7
The lead-up to CSS was a strange one for me. On one hand, I was incredibly excited to go. I'd always wanted to go to CSS, but it never seemed a possibility. Finally though, I found myself in pretty ideal circumstances: I'm living in Arizona, I'm not in school or working, and I have lots of time to practice. Despite this promising trifecta, CSS almost didn't happen for me. I had to go to Spain, and then almost immediately after, I had to come out East. By some scheduling miracle, and some tough layovers and jetlag, I managed to squeeze in CSS. But jammed right in the middle there, I felt like I barely had time to catch my breath, much less get psyched up for the event. I skooled my Shred30 and Sick3 a hell of a lot leading up the event, but then I had 10 days in Spain, where I barely got to practice. I was a little nervous about how I'd play, but luckily things worked out well.
I'm gonna make each day of CSS a separate post, just to make it more digestible.
Thanks man! I've really gotten into wearing NBA jerseys for footbag. They breathe well, hang perfect on my body (never get in the way, or obscure visibility), and they stand out and look cool. I've got something like 4 jerseys which are great for footbag.Zeke wrote:Sweet Pippen jersey
You obviously weren't in the hot tub at the hotel. That or Stephen confused me with Hansen...Splint wrote:I heard you have a 12 inch cock.
quadgun wrote:"you know!"
Yeah.Wow, my blog is fast approaching its 666th post...
OK, onto the CSS7 blizzoggo.
CSS7
The lead-up to CSS was a strange one for me. On one hand, I was incredibly excited to go. I'd always wanted to go to CSS, but it never seemed a possibility. Finally though, I found myself in pretty ideal circumstances: I'm living in Arizona, I'm not in school or working, and I have lots of time to practice. Despite this promising trifecta, CSS almost didn't happen for me. I had to go to Spain, and then almost immediately after, I had to come out East. By some scheduling miracle, and some tough layovers and jetlag, I managed to squeeze in CSS. But jammed right in the middle there, I felt like I barely had time to catch my breath, much less get psyched up for the event. I skooled my Shred30 and Sick3 a hell of a lot leading up the event, but then I had 10 days in Spain, where I barely got to practice. I was a little nervous about how I'd play, but luckily things worked out well.
I'm gonna make each day of CSS a separate post, just to make it more digestible.
CSS7: Friday, Day One
I wake up feeling better than expected. I don't really feel jet-lagged, despite spending a full day in transit getting back from Spain the day before. Only 5 hours of sleep, but I figure I can sleep on the shuttle to Phoenix. I do a last second check to make sure all the important stuff is in my bags: G-Units, shorts, credit card. I figure everything else is replaceable. My folks give me a ride to the shuttle pick-up point. We get there early and do some crossword puzzles together. Finally the shuttle arrives, I hop on, and take my first breath of relief. The plan is to catch up on a couple hours sleep on the way. I end up sleeping a little, but soon enough I get that feeling in my stomach of excitement and anticipation, that realization that I'm on the way to a tourney, and I can't fade it out. I listen to some Kinks on my iPod to calm me down, and I watch the cacti in the rear-view mirror grow smaller, like ticks of a clock. I visualize my Shred30 in my head, and breathe at the correct intervals. It occurs to me that this is my first CSS. I've been to World Champs 5 times, Japanese champs 3 times, tournies in Montreal something like 4 times, 1 Western Regionals, 1 funtastiks, and 1 East Coasts. In terms of major major events, only Euros and Footjam really remain.
I get on the plane with no problem, and as the plane fills up after me, I start on the inflight crossword puzzle. I'm destroying it, when out of nowehere, a floppy 32 panel bag lands on it
I look up and see Lon Smith and Joe Crain! We exchange some platitudes, but since the flight is pretty full, we don't try and get seated next to each other. Totally unexpected to see them on my flight. I hadn't seen Joe since Worlds in Prague, and Lon since...UCSF Jam in 2001? 2002? Something like that. I talk to the nice grandmother next to me, and sleep a little. Luckily, I woke up at one point as we flew over the Rockies, which was a real spectacular sight.
We get into Denver no problem, and Lon and Joe and I pick up our bags together. We go back to the fountain to meet up with Chicago, and as we approach, we see a circle of 5 guys hacking. I yell out in an embarassingly loud voice: "NYEEEEEEEEERDS!!!" but they didn't seem to notice. We hop in the hack circle, and then a long round of introductions begins. I think the only person from Chicago I knew was Reile, who I hadn't seen since 2004 Worlds. We have fun in the hack circle, and really just mess around. Outside observers would never guess that we are really good, based on how basic our hack circle was. Somebody finally calls Brad, and not 5 minutes later, I feel arms wrapping around me from behind, hoisting me into the air! Whoooo! There's something like 9 of us total, and on the way to Brad's phat-ass 12-man van, he explains to us how he got ridiculously hooked-up by his friend who works at the rental place. We are lucky he's so well connected. On the ride into Denver, I talked with Lon about injury. He said that in some ways, footbag is less fun for him after his serious injury last year, because now he feels he has to play more carefully. I have just the opposite view: I came back from my serious injury (just before Worlds 04) with a more positive approach to the game. Coming so close to having footbag taken away from me, makes me appreciate every single session I have now. If I hadn't come so close to losing the sport, I don't know if I would appreciate it as much as I do. Lon tries to collect money for Brad to pay him for the ride from the airport, but giving cash to friends isn't my style. I tell Brad I'll buy him some drinks at the party, and I do.
We get to the hotel, and Lon checks in. Then Joe and I casually go in, trying not to look suspicious, and dump our bags in the room. Room? More like suite. I was very pleasantly shocked at what an incredible hotel we got. It was very likely the nicest hotel I've stayed at at any footbag tourney. 2 king (queen?) beds, a biiig bathroom, a nice lounge, and a pool and hot tub downstairs. There were 6 of us in our room, but we could easily have fit 12 comfortably.
I dump my stuff, and change into shorts under my regular clothes "just in case." I go down and meet up with Brad, who says there are people kicking already, nearby. We wait a real long time as Team Ramrod... actually, I have no idea what they were doing. But it took ages. We were thiiiiiiis close to just leaving them, but finally they came down, piled in the van, and drove the 3 blocks to the shred spot. Maybe not 3 blocks, but mad close.
I love the feeling of walking up to the first circle you see at a tourney. Clavens was going off, but I was more distracted by the sight of none other than Jeremy Mirken! Cool! Surprise guest appearance! Later, Scott and Val Davidson showed at the party, which was another cool surprise. Seeing Mirken was a treat. I hadn't seen him since Western Regionals back in 2001. I stripped down and hopped in a circle with him, and even though the sun was almost setting and it was getting cold, I played for 45 minutes or so. Not too much stands out from this session, cause I was mostly just excited I made it. Mirken did hit whirring rake, which I had never seen before. Super clean. He had some good looks at furious ss whirl too. Blurriest bsos real clean. Dat Phan was there filming, and I tried to get atomic drifter-WHAT!? on tape, to no avail. I had my most fun just going for strings. I didn't try my Shred30, but all the components of it, and the breathing felt on point, which helped get my confidence up. Clavens was going off... just super consistent. Beasts, a clean nemesis, good links. Stephen Barnes was there, but he was just getting ready to leave when I got in. I told him we'd play the next day, which fate didn't permit. But more on that later.
I hopped in a circle with Sunny and Daryl, just to say hey. Sunny is soooo much better than when we played in Montreal. Blur, legbeater, and other good 4s, but most impressive was her solid BOP play. I had a bit of a scare during one string, when I stepped awkwardly on Clavens backpack and nearly fell over. I was mad lucky I didn't twist an ankle. Clavens was also lucky, because I miraculously didn't break his glasses, even though I stepped right on them. Daryl said he was going to the players party, so I wisely hopped out and jumped in his ride.
NEXT: Friday night's players party, and DAY 2.
I wake up feeling better than expected. I don't really feel jet-lagged, despite spending a full day in transit getting back from Spain the day before. Only 5 hours of sleep, but I figure I can sleep on the shuttle to Phoenix. I do a last second check to make sure all the important stuff is in my bags: G-Units, shorts, credit card. I figure everything else is replaceable. My folks give me a ride to the shuttle pick-up point. We get there early and do some crossword puzzles together. Finally the shuttle arrives, I hop on, and take my first breath of relief. The plan is to catch up on a couple hours sleep on the way. I end up sleeping a little, but soon enough I get that feeling in my stomach of excitement and anticipation, that realization that I'm on the way to a tourney, and I can't fade it out. I listen to some Kinks on my iPod to calm me down, and I watch the cacti in the rear-view mirror grow smaller, like ticks of a clock. I visualize my Shred30 in my head, and breathe at the correct intervals. It occurs to me that this is my first CSS. I've been to World Champs 5 times, Japanese champs 3 times, tournies in Montreal something like 4 times, 1 Western Regionals, 1 funtastiks, and 1 East Coasts. In terms of major major events, only Euros and Footjam really remain.
I get on the plane with no problem, and as the plane fills up after me, I start on the inflight crossword puzzle. I'm destroying it, when out of nowehere, a floppy 32 panel bag lands on it
I look up and see Lon Smith and Joe Crain! We exchange some platitudes, but since the flight is pretty full, we don't try and get seated next to each other. Totally unexpected to see them on my flight. I hadn't seen Joe since Worlds in Prague, and Lon since...UCSF Jam in 2001? 2002? Something like that. I talk to the nice grandmother next to me, and sleep a little. Luckily, I woke up at one point as we flew over the Rockies, which was a real spectacular sight. We get into Denver no problem, and Lon and Joe and I pick up our bags together. We go back to the fountain to meet up with Chicago, and as we approach, we see a circle of 5 guys hacking. I yell out in an embarassingly loud voice: "NYEEEEEEEEERDS!!!" but they didn't seem to notice. We hop in the hack circle, and then a long round of introductions begins. I think the only person from Chicago I knew was Reile, who I hadn't seen since 2004 Worlds. We have fun in the hack circle, and really just mess around. Outside observers would never guess that we are really good, based on how basic our hack circle was. Somebody finally calls Brad, and not 5 minutes later, I feel arms wrapping around me from behind, hoisting me into the air!
Whoooo! There's something like 9 of us total, and on the way to Brad's phat-ass 12-man van, he explains to us how he got ridiculously hooked-up by his friend who works at the rental place. We are lucky he's so well connected. On the ride into Denver, I talked with Lon about injury. He said that in some ways, footbag is less fun for him after his serious injury last year, because now he feels he has to play more carefully. I have just the opposite view: I came back from my serious injury (just before Worlds 04) with a more positive approach to the game. Coming so close to having footbag taken away from me, makes me appreciate every single session I have now. If I hadn't come so close to losing the sport, I don't know if I would appreciate it as much as I do. Lon tries to collect money for Brad to pay him for the ride from the airport, but giving cash to friends isn't my style. I tell Brad I'll buy him some drinks at the party, and I do. We get to the hotel, and Lon checks in. Then Joe and I casually go in, trying not to look suspicious, and dump our bags in the room. Room? More like suite. I was very pleasantly shocked at what an incredible hotel we got. It was very likely the nicest hotel I've stayed at at any footbag tourney. 2 king (queen?) beds, a biiig bathroom, a nice lounge, and a pool and hot tub downstairs. There were 6 of us in our room, but we could easily have fit 12 comfortably.
I dump my stuff, and change into shorts under my regular clothes "just in case." I go down and meet up with Brad, who says there are people kicking already, nearby. We wait a real long time as Team Ramrod... actually, I have no idea what they were doing. But it took ages. We were thiiiiiiis close to just leaving them, but finally they came down, piled in the van, and drove the 3 blocks to the shred spot. Maybe not 3 blocks, but mad close.
I love the feeling of walking up to the first circle you see at a tourney. Clavens was going off, but I was more distracted by the sight of none other than Jeremy Mirken! Cool! Surprise guest appearance! Later, Scott and Val Davidson showed at the party, which was another cool surprise. Seeing Mirken was a treat. I hadn't seen him since Western Regionals back in 2001. I stripped down and hopped in a circle with him, and even though the sun was almost setting and it was getting cold, I played for 45 minutes or so. Not too much stands out from this session, cause I was mostly just excited I made it. Mirken did hit whirring rake, which I had never seen before. Super clean. He had some good looks at furious ss whirl too. Blurriest bsos real clean. Dat Phan was there filming, and I tried to get atomic drifter-WHAT!? on tape, to no avail. I had my most fun just going for strings. I didn't try my Shred30, but all the components of it, and the breathing felt on point, which helped get my confidence up. Clavens was going off... just super consistent. Beasts, a clean nemesis, good links. Stephen Barnes was there, but he was just getting ready to leave when I got in. I told him we'd play the next day, which fate didn't permit. But more on that later.
I hopped in a circle with Sunny and Daryl, just to say hey. Sunny is soooo much better than when we played in Montreal. Blur, legbeater, and other good 4s, but most impressive was her solid BOP play. I had a bit of a scare during one string, when I stepped awkwardly on Clavens backpack and nearly fell over. I was mad lucky I didn't twist an ankle. Clavens was also lucky, because I miraculously didn't break his glasses, even though I stepped right on them. Daryl said he was going to the players party, so I wisely hopped out and jumped in his ride.
NEXT: Friday night's players party, and DAY 2.
Friday night
Player's party Friday night was tight. Just a real good vibe, cheap but good beer, and NBA on the TV. I registered but forgot to pick up my shirts, until like 3 hours later
I was real conscious all night not to drink too much, cause the Denver elevation makes alcohol hit you way harder and faster than normal. I ate the free appetizers (fried sausage, chips and salsa) and had a nice pale ale from the local brewery. People played foursquare outside, but I wanted to take it easy, so I stayed inside and talked a lot with Chicago. I was pretty good about not watching NBA, even though it really tempted me. I bought Brad a drink, but he decided what we'd down. Since he's a bartender, I knew it would be good, and he didn't disappoint. We drank a shot of his own design, which went down dangerously smooth, but didn't mess me up too bad. Even so, I don't really remember transitioning to a party/art show, where everybody was super pretentious. Another cool surprise at the party was having the Davidsons make a surprise appearance. I think the person I was happiest to see at the party was Paul Mestas. When I get around to writing a footbag book, he's totally getting a chapter. One of the most incredible people I've ever met. He showed off his ridiculous pool ability, including a trick shot where he laid down the triangle at the edge of the table, and made the cue spin around the triangle to sink a corner ball without scratching Paul is so cool.
Back at the hotel, some shred went down. I decided not to push it, so I just enjoyed being a specatator. The person who impressed me most that night was EASILY Tom Kotsakos. He was in a circle with Mirken where they were trying ridiculously hard moves like pdx blur and mxylplyk. Tom hit a bunch of stuff that blew me away. Pdx ripwalk?!? Wow. Clipper set tap (bubba ss mirage)?! Damn. The trick that most impressed me was clipper set atom smasher. That deserves x-dex no question. That shit is harder than most common 6 adders.
Before going to CSS, I made it a condition that I had to get bedspace everynight in order for me to commit to a room. Since Penske dropped out the room, and the suite was huge, I ended up getting a double bed to myself every night of the weekend. Definitely unexpected, and awesome surprise. I ended up sleeping really well, and getting something like 9+ hours of sleep.
Player's party Friday night was tight. Just a real good vibe, cheap but good beer, and NBA on the TV. I registered but forgot to pick up my shirts, until like 3 hours later
I was real conscious all night not to drink too much, cause the Denver elevation makes alcohol hit you way harder and faster than normal. I ate the free appetizers (fried sausage, chips and salsa) and had a nice pale ale from the local brewery. People played foursquare outside, but I wanted to take it easy, so I stayed inside and talked a lot with Chicago. I was pretty good about not watching NBA, even though it really tempted me. I bought Brad a drink, but he decided what we'd down. Since he's a bartender, I knew it would be good, and he didn't disappoint. We drank a shot of his own design, which went down dangerously smooth, but didn't mess me up too bad. Even so, I don't really remember transitioning to a party/art show, where everybody was super pretentious. Another cool surprise at the party was having the Davidsons make a surprise appearance. I think the person I was happiest to see at the party was Paul Mestas. When I get around to writing a footbag book, he's totally getting a chapter. One of the most incredible people I've ever met. He showed off his ridiculous pool ability, including a trick shot where he laid down the triangle at the edge of the table, and made the cue spin around the triangle to sink a corner ball without scratching Paul is so cool.Back at the hotel, some shred went down. I decided not to push it, so I just enjoyed being a specatator. The person who impressed me most that night was EASILY Tom Kotsakos. He was in a circle with Mirken where they were trying ridiculously hard moves like pdx blur and mxylplyk. Tom hit a bunch of stuff that blew me away. Pdx ripwalk?!? Wow. Clipper set tap (bubba ss mirage)?! Damn. The trick that most impressed me was clipper set atom smasher. That deserves x-dex no question. That shit is harder than most common 6 adders.
Before going to CSS, I made it a condition that I had to get bedspace everynight in order for me to commit to a room. Since Penske dropped out the room, and the suite was huge, I ended up getting a double bed to myself every night of the weekend. Definitely unexpected, and awesome surprise. I ended up sleeping really well, and getting something like 9+ hours of sleep.
Saturday morning
I really couldn't have asked for a better start on the day for a tourney. I was showing no signs of jet lag, no soreness from yesterday's light shredding, no hangover, and I had 9+ hours of sleep in me. We went down the continental breakfast, and were relieved to find it amazingly easy to sneak into. They didn't check everybody for room cards, and even if you tried flashing yours, they hardly noticed. This was a real sweet deal, considering that the continental breakfast was huge and varied. I had pancakes, fresh fruit, yogurt, sausages, OJ, and fruit loops. Filling and healthy, just the right way to start off a day of footbag.
Brad swung by the hotel in The Van, and *bam* a group of us arrived right at 11 am when the doors opened. The Church was a real good shred spot. Very high ceilings, nice carpet (no crazy designs), and wide enough for a ton of shredders. It never got smelly either. Great venue. Some people were already playing, but I decided to take my time and stretch, considering comp was scheduled for 1 pm. Around 11:45 or so, I started playing lightly in circles, and by 12:30 I felt real good. I was hitting stuff like zulu pdx torque midstring, alpine leg to swifter, and sailing ss dlo. I felt real strong, and had lots of fun playing in circles. As 1 pm approached, I made a small circle with Dave, and we practiced our Shred30s. I saw him hit his dropless once, and i got 1 drop run throughs of my own a few times.
I already touched on this before, but 1pm came and went without comp starting. 1:30. 2 pm. By this point, I snacked on a granola bar to keep my energy up, but by the time comp started, I was ice cold and tired. Lon and Dave had been there on time as well, and the timing definitely affected them too. In my opinion, players who show up late should be cut. 1pm was the announced time, everybody knew it, and a bunch of responsible players showed. If you don't cut the late players, you are effectively penalizing the responsible players by giving an edge to the late comers. By cutting the latecomers, you are being harsh on them, but I think its more just to penalize the latecomers, than the people who were there on time. I know its hard running an event. I helped run the first 6 footbag events in Asia, including 3 national tournies. That's why its frustating for me to attend events where simple, avoidable errors needlessly hurt the tourney. I'm not going to go much more into detail, cause I already talked things over with Brad and Stephen. And I do agree that criticizing is easier than organizing. But as somebody with a long list of successful events to my name, I don't feel like I'm talking out of my ass.
Hmm... I was going to go into more detail about how I felt during comp, but I have to go now. Sort of a down note to end the entry on, but rest assured, everything gets really really positive from here on out (with a couple small exceptions, which I will get philosophical about).
In other good news, the reason I am cutting this entry short, is cause I'm going into NYC to shred outside with NYFA!
Very, very excited about this. More later 
I really couldn't have asked for a better start on the day for a tourney. I was showing no signs of jet lag, no soreness from yesterday's light shredding, no hangover, and I had 9+ hours of sleep in me. We went down the continental breakfast, and were relieved to find it amazingly easy to sneak into. They didn't check everybody for room cards, and even if you tried flashing yours, they hardly noticed. This was a real sweet deal, considering that the continental breakfast was huge and varied. I had pancakes, fresh fruit, yogurt, sausages, OJ, and fruit loops. Filling and healthy, just the right way to start off a day of footbag.
Brad swung by the hotel in The Van, and *bam* a group of us arrived right at 11 am when the doors opened. The Church was a real good shred spot. Very high ceilings, nice carpet (no crazy designs), and wide enough for a ton of shredders. It never got smelly either. Great venue. Some people were already playing, but I decided to take my time and stretch, considering comp was scheduled for 1 pm. Around 11:45 or so, I started playing lightly in circles, and by 12:30 I felt real good. I was hitting stuff like zulu pdx torque midstring, alpine leg to swifter, and sailing ss dlo. I felt real strong, and had lots of fun playing in circles. As 1 pm approached, I made a small circle with Dave, and we practiced our Shred30s. I saw him hit his dropless once, and i got 1 drop run throughs of my own a few times.
I already touched on this before, but 1pm came and went without comp starting. 1:30. 2 pm. By this point, I snacked on a granola bar to keep my energy up, but by the time comp started, I was ice cold and tired. Lon and Dave had been there on time as well, and the timing definitely affected them too. In my opinion, players who show up late should be cut. 1pm was the announced time, everybody knew it, and a bunch of responsible players showed. If you don't cut the late players, you are effectively penalizing the responsible players by giving an edge to the late comers. By cutting the latecomers, you are being harsh on them, but I think its more just to penalize the latecomers, than the people who were there on time. I know its hard running an event. I helped run the first 6 footbag events in Asia, including 3 national tournies. That's why its frustating for me to attend events where simple, avoidable errors needlessly hurt the tourney. I'm not going to go much more into detail, cause I already talked things over with Brad and Stephen. And I do agree that criticizing is easier than organizing. But as somebody with a long list of successful events to my name, I don't feel like I'm talking out of my ass.
Hmm... I was going to go into more detail about how I felt during comp, but I have to go now. Sort of a down note to end the entry on, but rest assured, everything gets really really positive from here on out (with a couple small exceptions, which I will get philosophical about).
In other good news, the reason I am cutting this entry short, is cause I'm going into NYC to shred outside with NYFA!
Very, very excited about this. More later Amazing weather in NYC today. Perfect shred conditions, and good turnout. I tweaked my ankle really badly though, falling on a barfly. 
Ouch. I'm gonna take it easy for a while, hopefully be able to play next weekend. This may jeopardize my ability to play in Boston. Ugh. Some random highlights from today's shred: smoke bsos, phx bsos, food bsos, vertigo, blah blah. Played real strong today.
Stan played awesome. GDLO-legbeater. GDLO-dimwalk-blur-legbeater-blurry whirl. EDIT: blurry whirl-blurry whirl-ps whirl. Spinning pdx blender. Drew impressed me the most. EDIT: bubba egg, pdx egg, pdlo, ripwalk, blur, almost blurry whirl, and good strings. I'm gonna go get drunker now to take away the ankle pain, and maybe go out pimping tonight. So lonely.
Ouch. I'm gonna take it easy for a while, hopefully be able to play next weekend. This may jeopardize my ability to play in Boston. Ugh. Some random highlights from today's shred: smoke bsos, phx bsos, food bsos, vertigo, blah blah. Played real strong today.Stan played awesome. GDLO-legbeater. GDLO-dimwalk-blur-legbeater-blurry whirl. EDIT: blurry whirl-blurry whirl-ps whirl. Spinning pdx blender. Drew impressed me the most. EDIT: bubba egg, pdx egg, pdlo, ripwalk, blur, almost blurry whirl, and good strings. I'm gonna go get drunker now to take away the ankle pain, and maybe go out pimping tonight. So lonely.
Last edited by C-Fan on 12 Mar 2006 17:48, edited 1 time in total.
Weather in the city was wet and rainy, so I felt less bad about yesterday's injury; we wouldn't have played anyway.
The ankle looks like a bad roll, but not a sprain. I'm using an ankle brace Stan is lending me, and putting ice on it and keeping it elevated. It has very minor swelling, but you wouldn't even really notice it unless I mentioned it. No discoloration. I'm able to walk on it, but I feel it, so I'm trying not to put weight on it. It sucks that I got injured, but I guess I'm lucky it was after CSS, and not during the summer. Also lucky that we got such awesome weather on Saturday, and I only got injured at the very end.
Not sure if I can play in Boston tomorrow or the day after, but I'm thinking I shouldn't. Will call Pete Bowler tonight.
CSS blog will resume probably later in the week.
EDIT: One more casualty from my Union Square shred: my white and red Ilja is now grey and maroon. In Arizona my bag would sometimes get dirty, but after washing it, it would always return to the original colors. Union Square filth appears to be much more resilient... ugliness. Oh well, as long as it continues to play well, that's all that matters.
The ankle looks like a bad roll, but not a sprain. I'm using an ankle brace Stan is lending me, and putting ice on it and keeping it elevated. It has very minor swelling, but you wouldn't even really notice it unless I mentioned it. No discoloration. I'm able to walk on it, but I feel it, so I'm trying not to put weight on it. It sucks that I got injured, but I guess I'm lucky it was after CSS, and not during the summer. Also lucky that we got such awesome weather on Saturday, and I only got injured at the very end.
Not sure if I can play in Boston tomorrow or the day after, but I'm thinking I shouldn't. Will call Pete Bowler tonight.
CSS blog will resume probably later in the week.
EDIT: One more casualty from my Union Square shred: my white and red Ilja is now grey and maroon.
In Arizona my bag would sometimes get dirty, but after washing it, it would always return to the original colors. Union Square filth appears to be much more resilient... ugliness. Oh well, as long as it continues to play well, that's all that matters.
the weather was beautiful saturday!! i was outside like 80% of the day too which was nice.
I rolled my ankle on a barfly too ken! i haven't really tried very many double dexes since barrages since then. I can hit them clean but they sketch me out. I've actually done it twice, the second time was worse. My ankle was sooo swollen at TOFU. Its the worst thing to be injured at a tourny.
I rolled my ankle on a barfly too ken! i haven't really tried very many double dexes since barrages since then. I can hit them clean but they sketch me out. I've actually done it twice, the second time was worse. My ankle was sooo swollen at TOFU. Its the worst thing to be injured at a tourny.
Josiah Digges
Embassy Footbag Crew
Embassy Footbag Crew
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slapdash21
- Futureless
- Posts: 4681
- Joined: 29 Sep 2004 14:50
- Location: Beantown, kidd
Yo Ken, obviously you've dealt with injury before so you know what suits you best, but having had chronic ankle problems - its not a good idea to keep a brace on for too long - use it to stabalise and compress the ankle in the aftermath, but once you can put weight on it, take it off to get all the balancing muscles working. You don't want to get stuck with a weak ankle.
Who wears short shorts?
Dylan Govender.
Dylan Govender.
Cool, thanks for the advice Dyalan. I heard something similar about icing it, where they recommend you only ice it for the first 48 hours, then lay off. Honestly, looking at my foot now, there's still no discoloration, and the swelling is hardly noticeable at all. I can walk normally, but certain motions still produce pain. The knee on the same leg feels a bit weird, which I'm pretty sure is related to the ankle tweak. I'm thinking/hoping that this injury will play out the way my knee injury in January did: I'll lay off it for a while, do some pool rehab, then slowly start back into freestyle. I'm in no rush really, so why risk anything? I do intend to stretch it everyday, to make sure I recover with the same range of motion. The only temptation I have left is this coming weekend, which I plan on spending in NY. I'm leaning against playing, even if I feel up to it.
Funny note: I was wearing an NBA jersey when I injured myself, but it wasn't my Grant Hill jersey. THAT would have been funny.
OK, let's see if I can't make a bit more of a dent into the CSS blog.
CSS, Saturday, after comp.
Competition left a very bad taste in my mouth. Considering how I was warmed down before comp started, it was an easy decision for me to throw the rest of my clothes and call it a day shred-wise. I hung out a lot with Cameron, which was fun. As the evening wore on, Rippin' showed up, and it was nice to talk to him for a bit. At the same time, it was also rather sobering. I'm not going to go into detail in this blog, but this tournament was a bit of a sobering, growing-up experience for me, in terms of how I view the responsibilities of adulthood, and the sorts of decisions I intend to make from here on out. That sounds pretty hazy, but there are some things that aren't meant to be blogged. I'll just leave it at: I'm very glad I saw Rippin again, and our conversation was something I needed to hear.
I helped clean up the Church, and finally everybody went to Sam's #3, the host restaurant for the party. This was a highlight of the weekend for me. There were so many of us, we all got seated in separate groups of 3s, 4s, and 5s. I had fun drifting from table to table like a social butterfly, just making the rounds. I ate most of my meal at a table with Sam, Ashley, and Kevin Regamey. Our server was a really friendly gaiter, Jimmy. It was funny cause Kevin and I decided to split a milkshake, and asked Jimmy if it came in a single glass, or in a glass and with extra in the shaker. He said it came in a single glass, but he could put it in two. I said that that would be cool, or he could just bring another straw. You know, it'd be more romantic and all. Jimmy's eyes lit up and he was like: "Ohhhhhhhhhhhh.... ro-MAN-tic." I ate some good calamari, and the romantic shake with Regamey was also quite good. Another highlight of the restaurant was seeing Brad's shorty Aydia. I had met her in Montreal, but she got way bigger and cuter. She's just adorable. I asked her some questions about the drawings she was doing on the table mats, and my favorite response was: "this is a drawing of mommy when she was a kitty." So cute.
It felt kinda surreal to be eating dinner, look up, and see another table full of footbaggers. Like, you're talking about music with friends over dinner, look at a nearby table, and there's Luis M and Chad D just chilling. I've been in that situation a lot over the years, but it still feels like a dream. Pretty cool.
Back at the hotel I had a little rum and coke, watched some NBA (Celts beat the Lakers in the final minute), then went to the hot tub. I didn't bring trunks, so I went in in my boxers. The pool was pretty tepid, but it felt good to swim. Played with Cameron in the pool, where he kicked me in the head. Good fun. I think people went off to play poker, but my memory isn't that great from this evening. I think I went to bed pretty early. Again, I got the double bed all to myself. Score.
Funny note: I was wearing an NBA jersey when I injured myself, but it wasn't my Grant Hill jersey. THAT would have been funny.
OK, let's see if I can't make a bit more of a dent into the CSS blog.
CSS, Saturday, after comp.
Competition left a very bad taste in my mouth. Considering how I was warmed down before comp started, it was an easy decision for me to throw the rest of my clothes and call it a day shred-wise. I hung out a lot with Cameron, which was fun. As the evening wore on, Rippin' showed up, and it was nice to talk to him for a bit. At the same time, it was also rather sobering. I'm not going to go into detail in this blog, but this tournament was a bit of a sobering, growing-up experience for me, in terms of how I view the responsibilities of adulthood, and the sorts of decisions I intend to make from here on out. That sounds pretty hazy, but there are some things that aren't meant to be blogged. I'll just leave it at: I'm very glad I saw Rippin again, and our conversation was something I needed to hear.
I helped clean up the Church, and finally everybody went to Sam's #3, the host restaurant for the party. This was a highlight of the weekend for me. There were so many of us, we all got seated in separate groups of 3s, 4s, and 5s. I had fun drifting from table to table like a social butterfly, just making the rounds. I ate most of my meal at a table with Sam, Ashley, and Kevin Regamey. Our server was a really friendly gaiter, Jimmy. It was funny cause Kevin and I decided to split a milkshake, and asked Jimmy if it came in a single glass, or in a glass and with extra in the shaker. He said it came in a single glass, but he could put it in two. I said that that would be cool, or he could just bring another straw. You know, it'd be more romantic and all. Jimmy's eyes lit up and he was like: "Ohhhhhhhhhhhh.... ro-MAN-tic."
I ate some good calamari, and the romantic shake with Regamey was also quite good. Another highlight of the restaurant was seeing Brad's shorty Aydia. I had met her in Montreal, but she got way bigger and cuter. She's just adorable. I asked her some questions about the drawings she was doing on the table mats, and my favorite response was: "this is a drawing of mommy when she was a kitty." So cute.It felt kinda surreal to be eating dinner, look up, and see another table full of footbaggers. Like, you're talking about music with friends over dinner, look at a nearby table, and there's Luis M and Chad D just chilling. I've been in that situation a lot over the years, but it still feels like a dream. Pretty cool.
Back at the hotel I had a little rum and coke, watched some NBA (Celts beat the Lakers in the final minute), then went to the hot tub. I didn't bring trunks, so I went in in my boxers. The pool was pretty tepid, but it felt good to swim. Played with Cameron in the pool, where he kicked me in the head.
Good fun. I think people went off to play poker, but my memory isn't that great from this evening. I think I went to bed pretty early. Again, I got the double bed all to myself. Score.CSS Sunday
Woke up feeling really good. No footbag pains in the legs, just some lingering back pain from water-wrestling Cameron. Breakfast was again spectacular. What a great way to start the day. Another serious highlight of the tourney. Talked a bit to Tim Werner about how he spent his night, then went back to the room and watched 2 full quarters of the Pistons game. Rasheed Wallace is probably my 2nd favorite player in the league, so I had fun watching him put in a good game. My experience yesterday, and the stories of everybody's partying the night before, put me in no rush to get to the site. Eventually Sam and Ash woke up, and I walked to the site with them. Enjoyed talking to Ashley, it was good getting to know her.
The weather on Sunday was amazing. T-shirt and shorts outside no problem. Just a lovely Spring day. Lots of people outside practicing foursquare, but I started my day inside the church, in a circle with Mike Hansen and Jeremy. I was excited to play with Mike Hansen, cause he's not the kind of guy who plays in a ton of circles, or plays the entire tourney. Very nice vibe in this circle. Dat filmed us, and I finally got atomic-drifter to WHAT on camera, which was a combo I really wanted filmed. I also hit paradon swirl to pdx grifter to kick off a decent string. Jeremy hit janiwalker to grifter, which I thought very stylish. Mike had some nice phasing stuff too, and some cool gyro toes.
Stephen Barnes injured himself on Friday, but on Sunday he decided to play lightly. I really wanted to play with him, so I made him promise me that if he played, he'd find me so we'd get a chance to shred together. Little man did not disappoint, and so Dave, Stephen and I went out and had a little circle. Dave played well as usual. Blurtigo on both sides, almost bsos. Some nice fearless linking. Stephen impressed me, despite (or was in because of?) being injured. I look forward to playing with him when he's fully healthy. The good weather put me in a good mood, and I felt like I played real on point. I think Chad filmed this circle, so who knows, maybe I'll finally get lucky and appear on a vid (Sick03 was a loooong time ago). I think he got a couple different clean quad dexes of mine on film, as well as some strings I felt real good about.
I tagged out that circle and played with Mirken and Lon for a while, which was also fun. Enjoyed playing with Lon. He had a few epicly long strings, like somewhere in the 70 plus range. At some point, a girls volleyball team started practicing near us, and I took some time off to watch them, and fall in love with #5 Luckily, they left after a while, and I watched some competitive 4 square.
I was hoping to play with Rippin, Pete, or Jim, so I decided to stop playing, go eat, then come back and play some more. A group of people went to Subway, but I figured I could eat that anywhere, so I went off wandering with Sam and Ash to find better eats. I liked that we were just wandering with no idea where we were going. Finally, we hit upon a place called the Cheesecake Factory, which looked good. The food was a bit expensive, but really big servings and really really delicious. I had a philly cheese steak, which Ash wisely counseled me not to finish. The highlight of the meal was when halfway into it, this towering mountain of a man walks in with his family and sits at the table across from us. I thought to myself: "That dude looks just like Eduardo Najera (NBA player for the Denver Nuggets), just way bigger!" Of course, it WAS Eduardo Najera, he just looked way bigger in person, cause he wasn't posting up Shaq. I made a point not to stare, but it was pretty exciting for me to see an NBA player in real life, just randomly at a restaurant. I was wearing my Pistons jersey under my shirt, and was half tempted to flash it at him. I considered going up for an autograph or to say hey, but I thought: 1. I'm not a huge fan of his, or his team. and 2. He's having lunch with his family. Leave the poor man alone. So I didn't say anything. I think I took the right course. Very exciting.
Back at the Church, I felt a little unsettled in the stomach. The cheesesteak? I had that horrible feeling where you run to the bathroom everytime you feel a fart coming on, cause you don't want to risk it being wet. My timing was kinda bad, because Rippin had already played and stopped, and it looked like Pete and Jim were wrapping up their session. Jim was injured, cause he tried diving mobius the night before and landed badly. Still, he played remarkably well: consec blurriests, janiwalkers to blurriests, stuff like that. I decided to save my energy, and try and play well that evening.
I had a nice long conversation with Mike H while we watched from the sidelines and he stitched a bag. I played with one of his bags earlier that day, and I really liked it. I was surprised, because he doesn't stitch very much, but still makes high quality product. He mentioned a possible deal, where he would give me a bag of his if I could go for a complete month without looking at modified, excepting my blog. I'm willing to take him up on this, but I'm not sure if the deal on the table was entirely serious or not. Lately, I find myself mostly just doing mod stuff (moving threads, correcting spelling, etc) and looking at new vids.
A bunch of us rushed back to the hotel, because the "complimentary coctail hour" was going to end soon. Everybody with a room key was entitled to 2 free coctails, and despite my plan of playing later that evening, I wasn't about to pass up complimentary alcohol, just on sheer principle. We made it back to the hotel in time, and I picked up 2 tequila cokes. Like I said, I loved this hotel. Had some nice convo with Joe Crain, where he encouraged me to become a sportswriter. I really should. Or at least write a fucking book about this sport already. Ugh, sometimes I hate my lack of motivation. At least I get some practice writing with this blog. Right, back to the hotel. Warmed by the free alcohol, a bunch of us hit the hot tub again. Chicago was absent, because they decided to go hit strip clubs. Hot tubbing was good, but from that point on, the various groups of footbaggers split up, which caused lots of confusion and wandering. One group went to go play 4 square, but they disappeared to play a few blocks from the hotel, so the group that I was in couldn't find them. I was itching to play freestyle, cause I still had some shred in the tank, and Jim said he'd play with me before the tourney ended. I ended up spending a lot of time in the Montana room, where Kevin Regamey was helping Evan Gatesman take the canvas out of his lavers. I can't believe Gatesman got so good with unmodded lavers. After a few failed attempts to get in contact with everybody, I decided that I was going to shred tonight no matter what, so I enlisted Dave, Evan, and Kevin to go play in the room near the hot tubs.
More later...
Woke up feeling really good. No footbag pains in the legs, just some lingering back pain from water-wrestling Cameron. Breakfast was again spectacular. What a great way to start the day. Another serious highlight of the tourney. Talked a bit to Tim Werner about how he spent his night, then went back to the room and watched 2 full quarters of the Pistons game. Rasheed Wallace is probably my 2nd favorite player in the league, so I had fun watching him put in a good game. My experience yesterday, and the stories of everybody's partying the night before, put me in no rush to get to the site. Eventually Sam and Ash woke up, and I walked to the site with them. Enjoyed talking to Ashley, it was good getting to know her.
The weather on Sunday was amazing. T-shirt and shorts outside no problem. Just a lovely Spring day. Lots of people outside practicing foursquare, but I started my day inside the church, in a circle with Mike Hansen and Jeremy. I was excited to play with Mike Hansen, cause he's not the kind of guy who plays in a ton of circles, or plays the entire tourney. Very nice vibe in this circle. Dat filmed us, and I finally got atomic-drifter to WHAT on camera, which was a combo I really wanted filmed. I also hit paradon swirl to pdx grifter to kick off a decent string. Jeremy hit janiwalker to grifter, which I thought very stylish. Mike had some nice phasing stuff too, and some cool gyro toes.
Stephen Barnes injured himself on Friday, but on Sunday he decided to play lightly. I really wanted to play with him, so I made him promise me that if he played, he'd find me so we'd get a chance to shred together. Little man did not disappoint, and so Dave, Stephen and I went out and had a little circle. Dave played well as usual. Blurtigo on both sides, almost bsos. Some nice fearless linking. Stephen impressed me, despite (or was in because of?) being injured. I look forward to playing with him when he's fully healthy. The good weather put me in a good mood, and I felt like I played real on point. I think Chad filmed this circle, so who knows, maybe I'll finally get lucky and appear on a vid (Sick03 was a loooong time ago). I think he got a couple different clean quad dexes of mine on film, as well as some strings I felt real good about.
I tagged out that circle and played with Mirken and Lon for a while, which was also fun. Enjoyed playing with Lon. He had a few epicly long strings, like somewhere in the 70 plus range. At some point, a girls volleyball team started practicing near us, and I took some time off to watch them, and fall in love with #5
Luckily, they left after a while, and I watched some competitive 4 square. I was hoping to play with Rippin, Pete, or Jim, so I decided to stop playing, go eat, then come back and play some more. A group of people went to Subway, but I figured I could eat that anywhere, so I went off wandering with Sam and Ash to find better eats. I liked that we were just wandering with no idea where we were going. Finally, we hit upon a place called the Cheesecake Factory, which looked good. The food was a bit expensive, but really big servings and really really delicious. I had a philly cheese steak, which Ash wisely counseled me not to finish. The highlight of the meal was when halfway into it, this towering mountain of a man walks in with his family and sits at the table across from us. I thought to myself: "That dude looks just like Eduardo Najera (NBA player for the Denver Nuggets), just way bigger!"
Of course, it WAS Eduardo Najera, he just looked way bigger in person, cause he wasn't posting up Shaq. I made a point not to stare, but it was pretty exciting for me to see an NBA player in real life, just randomly at a restaurant. I was wearing my Pistons jersey under my shirt, and was half tempted to flash it at him. I considered going up for an autograph or to say hey, but I thought: 1. I'm not a huge fan of his, or his team. and 2. He's having lunch with his family. Leave the poor man alone. So I didn't say anything. I think I took the right course. Very exciting.Back at the Church, I felt a little unsettled in the stomach. The cheesesteak? I had that horrible feeling where you run to the bathroom everytime you feel a fart coming on, cause you don't want to risk it being wet. My timing was kinda bad, because Rippin had already played and stopped, and it looked like Pete and Jim were wrapping up their session. Jim was injured, cause he tried diving mobius the night before and landed badly. Still, he played remarkably well: consec blurriests, janiwalkers to blurriests, stuff like that. I decided to save my energy, and try and play well that evening.
I had a nice long conversation with Mike H while we watched from the sidelines and he stitched a bag. I played with one of his bags earlier that day, and I really liked it. I was surprised, because he doesn't stitch very much, but still makes high quality product. He mentioned a possible deal, where he would give me a bag of his if I could go for a complete month without looking at modified, excepting my blog. I'm willing to take him up on this, but I'm not sure if the deal on the table was entirely serious or not. Lately, I find myself mostly just doing mod stuff (moving threads, correcting spelling, etc) and looking at new vids.
A bunch of us rushed back to the hotel, because the "complimentary coctail hour" was going to end soon. Everybody with a room key was entitled to 2 free coctails, and despite my plan of playing later that evening, I wasn't about to pass up complimentary alcohol, just on sheer principle. We made it back to the hotel in time, and I picked up 2 tequila cokes. Like I said, I loved this hotel. Had some nice convo with Joe Crain, where he encouraged me to become a sportswriter. I really should. Or at least write a fucking book about this sport already. Ugh, sometimes I hate my lack of motivation. At least I get some practice writing with this blog. Right, back to the hotel. Warmed by the free alcohol, a bunch of us hit the hot tub again. Chicago was absent, because they decided to go hit strip clubs. Hot tubbing was good, but from that point on, the various groups of footbaggers split up, which caused lots of confusion and wandering. One group went to go play 4 square, but they disappeared to play a few blocks from the hotel, so the group that I was in couldn't find them. I was itching to play freestyle, cause I still had some shred in the tank, and Jim said he'd play with me before the tourney ended. I ended up spending a lot of time in the Montana room, where Kevin Regamey was helping Evan Gatesman take the canvas out of his lavers. I can't believe Gatesman got so good with unmodded lavers. After a few failed attempts to get in contact with everybody, I decided that I was going to shred tonight no matter what, so I enlisted Dave, Evan, and Kevin to go play in the room near the hot tubs.
More later...
Ah, my job interview is over. I think it went well. In any case, I decided to celebrate by reading more of "Black Hole" by Charles Burns, which I really dig. It's a comic book about an STD that gives teenagers hideous deformities, and its set in the 70s, but really could take place whenever. I've always loved comic books. One part of me is deciding what to do during my ankle's convalesence period, and another part of me is considering possibly playing lightly over this weekend; it will be my last chance for a while to play with NYFA. We'll see. My ankle is feeling very good today. I'm going to walk about MIT for a little to keep it moving, but I won't make a footbag decision til the weekend. I'm having a Newman's lemonade with Vodka now, which is really really delicious. I'm staying at my friend's place at MIT now, and apparently the 6th best Scrabble player in America lives in this hall.
I'm tempted to write more about CSS, but I think I'll go eat first. It's weird that I haven't mentioned Luis Monhollon yet in my CSS blog. I did play with him a bit on Saturday, and I watched him a lot on Sunday as well. He literally has the best footbag style ever. It's like this perfect combination of Lon 1999/2000, and Juan Rangel. I've got a footbag style crush on him. His brother Nelson also had incredible style. They make Osis look like a legit, cool 3 add move. The best news I heard at CSS, was that they have another brother who also plays. That can only be good news for the footbag world. There was some discussion at CSS about 2 prize bags being awarded to the "best shredder" and "best trick" of the tournament, but I don't think that ever went down. Though it would be hard to give best shredder to anybody other than Clavens, I think I would vote for Luis based on pure style. He just makes footbag looks so much fun. As for best trick? Also hard to say. Alpha predator by Regamey was pretty nice. Mirken's whirring rake was sweet. Hard to say.
My drink is hitting me a bit harder than expected, so I'll continue with CSS bloggage later. Love, Samosas.
I'm tempted to write more about CSS, but I think I'll go eat first. It's weird that I haven't mentioned Luis Monhollon yet in my CSS blog. I did play with him a bit on Saturday, and I watched him a lot on Sunday as well. He literally has the best footbag style ever. It's like this perfect combination of Lon 1999/2000, and Juan Rangel. I've got a footbag style crush on him. His brother Nelson also had incredible style. They make Osis look like a legit, cool 3 add move. The best news I heard at CSS, was that they have another brother who also plays. That can only be good news for the footbag world. There was some discussion at CSS about 2 prize bags being awarded to the "best shredder" and "best trick" of the tournament, but I don't think that ever went down. Though it would be hard to give best shredder to anybody other than Clavens, I think I would vote for Luis based on pure style. He just makes footbag looks so much fun. As for best trick? Also hard to say. Alpha predator by Regamey was pretty nice. Mirken's whirring rake was sweet. Hard to say.
My drink is hitting me a bit harder than expected, so I'll continue with CSS bloggage later. Love, Samosas.