Jeremy Mirken's Footbag Blog

Senor Grommet · Post by **Senor Grommet** » 01 Mar 2007 21:33

2 blog posts in one day. Mark your calendars!

Good days: common
Great Days: rare
Today: Unheard of . . .

It starts off with me seeing the kicking circle "manualist" video that was posten in the kicking circle. Had me LOLing. I sent it to my work colleagues disguised as an important message. Then I have a fairly easy work day, followed by some early afternoon Scrabble online. Rating jump from 715 to 742 (large increase) by whooping an opponent ranked much higher than I am by 130 points. Highest rating achieved to date, Culminating in not one, but two pool tournament victories at the Bay Bar, for which I won 60 whopping bucks. Beat that Clavens! Now I'm high on life and about to go improve my scrabble game. No hacky today.

david · Post by **david** » 01 Mar 2007 22:18

Dear Jeremy,

I don't care about you or your stupid board games. Go play net.

Love,

David Clavens

Senor Grommet · Post by **Senor Grommet** » 01 Mar 2007 22:56

David once wrote:

Why are you so cool in real life and so silly online?

Touche

funklovesfootbag · Post by **funklovesfootbag** » 03 Mar 2007 18:49

I think you have to play freestyle more than once a month for it to be a genuine return...might want to change your title.

Sporatical_Distractions · Post by **Sporatical_Distractions** » 19 Mar 2007 16:57

How's life w/ Senor Grommet?

Senor Grommet · Post by **Senor Grommet** » 02 Apr 2007 09:35

Life is pretty good Kevin. thanks for asking. I'll recap the previous month's events:

-Lost several pool tourneys in a row, although played respectably at each one.
- Played freestyle twice in one week, footage of Emily and I will be used in a documentary by an art student on the progression of footbag.
-Bought a Pool book and the Inner Game of Tennis, which is helping me to see the importance of reaching athletic potential by improving the mental game.
-My scrabble rating is now at 1044 (up from 744 just a few posts up), getting close to "master" level status, although it may take years to really approach that level.
- Went camping just like Clavens this weekend, althouh my camping experience was filled with extravagant food overindulgence and a great deal of alcohol imbibing.
-Played net yesterday and crushed about 4 spikes very hard.

max · Post by **max** » 03 Apr 2007 00:24

props for your 1044 ranking! Taht's pretty tight. I must start playing scrabble in English (I'm 700 or so in French).

Just out of curiosity how much time per player do you usually play for? I've noticed that a lot fo the top players (1800+) play with 10 mins /player maximum and usually more around the 5 min mark.

Senor Grommet · Post by **Senor Grommet** » 05 Apr 2007 07:08

1072.

Freestyle yesterday: ps egg bsos, looked bad though. blurry whirl b2b, a bedwetter, ripped warrior, smoke bsos, whirling (front body) reverse swirl, and Teapotting same mirage.

bigdirtyfoot · Post by **bigdirtyfoot** » 13 Apr 2007 09:24

Jeremy you are one crazy footbagger.

CIC flurry · Post by **CIC flurry** » 13 Apr 2007 23:15

babooyaka wit a smoove

Senor Grommet · Post by **Senor Grommet** » 16 Apr 2007 13:52

Well, I'm back from competing in my second footbag net tournament in the open bracket, the Southeastern Footbag Net Championships. It was basically completely awesome. Thanks to my Spring Break overlapping with the tournament dates, I was lucky enough to spend 5 days in Memphis, TN hangin' with some cool new friends and a buddy from my not so distant past, Mike McCarthy.

I got to eat some Memphis BBQ, meet some footbaggers who've been playing nearly as long as I've been alive, hang out with a crop of young, very talented, undiscovered net players, and kick it with the local folkers.

I got 2nd place in Open Doubles Footbag Net with my partner Mike McCarthy (Squanto). We played fairly well in the context of the poor weather and turf conditions- it was raining the day prior and the grass was not really grass after the first 30 minutes of play, but rather vast mud pits! Still there was a bit of high flying action and a great deal of stained clothing. After the round robin, Mike and I were actually the number 1 seeded team, having defeated Jonny Leys and Cory Current in 1 game to 15, 15-13. We beat the #4 seeded team in the semis t make it to the finals, but ultimately lost to Leys and Current in the finals 7-15, 9-15 (or something close to that score). Mike and I represented Santa Cruz well and we got plenty of compliments, although we had never played together before the event. After the tournament, I washed the mud spots off of my face at a restaurant.

Overall, I made two very good friends, Walt and Ben, who I believe I have convinced to travel to the 2007 Green Cup in Oakland this Spring. They may be the future of Footbag Net, along with me

.

Senor Grommet · Post by **Senor Grommet** » 29 May 2007 15:10

originally posted in Emily's blog:

I was sad you(Emily) didn't make it to the GC this year. The SC crew was, in fact, severely underrepresented. We only brought up 4 people/players out of our club of like 8-13 ish. When you think about the sheer number of Chaos members who showed up to our event to support us (8-10?), 4 is a pretty pathetic number. Oh well, I'll get over it.

You'd have been proud of me. I whooped some major ass. AJ helped deliver the ass whoopings. We actually played decently in competition for the first time, which was really cool. In the finals of the "advanced" bracket, we were down 8-9 in the third game of the best 2 out of 3 series. We fought back and won 15-12 against the team that had beaten us in unofficial games 3 times the day before. AJ and I won the advanced bracket, but we didn't get any prize or recognition for it during the awards ceremony. That was kind of lame. I did get to drink out of the Green Cup trophy though.

It's up and down with he and I. He is a really good player but he never seems to play up to his potential, and that frustrates me to no end. I should probably correct the above statement to read two things: 1) he doesn't play up to his full potential due to continued difficulties with his mental game and, 2) we have never fully realized our collective potential in tournament play. Sometimes we play great in practice though.

Anyway, our "partnership" is complete, at least for now, as I'm fairly sure he is not going to Worlds this year. So, I'm back to being partnerless again. I dunno what I'm gunna do about that one.

In Open singled net, I surprised myself and performed well. Out of 16 or 18 players, I placed 8th. First, in my pool of 3, I got my ass whooped by Alexis but beat Walt Huston from Memphis, so I advanced out of my pool to the round of 8ish. Then I had to play Cory Current, a good open player from Chicago, who beat me 11-7, 12-10. I had a great showing and received major props from many players who watching me excitedly. I was hanging in there very well, and even had a game point in the 2nd game. Anyway, since I lost, I had to go back down and fight my way up. I played several other matches, including AJ Shultz (who beat Ben, one of the memphis boys, who beat Chris Young), Edwin Veltman (who beat Sage and Chris Young), and someone else who can't remember now, all of whom I beat. So, yeah: 8th place overall. I am very happy about that.

Lastly, I paid my Chaos dues, so I am now an official member of Chaos Footbag, as well as an SCFC member. I got a sweet Chaos beanie and hat, and my Chaos number is 25 (although there is already a 25 from the past who they have to check with to see if it is alright to give away his number to me). While I had mixed feeling about this at first, I am happy with my decision. It is my way of showing my dedication to Net and support to the club that helps to train and teach me.

The final of men's Open doubles net will be up on YouTube shortly so I won't spoil who won, but i was happy that it was an all-Chaos final.

So there is your Green Cup wrap-up from Jeremy.

Senor Grommet · Post by **Senor Grommet** » 14 Jun 2007 16:14

had 2 freestyle sessions witin the last week. Felt nice to do some of the ol' freestyle tricks again. Session #1 was in the school library, demo-ing freestyle for 2 third grade classes for the elementary school I teach at. Session #2 was at my school's end of the year "PlayDay," an outdoor activity carnival-ish thing, where different sports booths are set up. I played for hundreds of kids and for two hours, allowed kids who wanted, to take one of 9 footbags I brought to school and kick to their hearts content. I taught about 40-50 kids how to do consecutive kicks, and a few kids showed real potential, so I gave them each a footbag (3 5th graders).

I'll likely be flying to Vancouver to play in a net tournament, which will be awesome. I'll of course be competing at worlds this Summer. It will be nice to see all of my footbag friends and acquantances again!

HG · Post by HG » 14 Jun 2007 16:32

i'm gonna watch at least 2 of your net games jeremy

Senor Grommet · Post by **Senor Grommet** » 15 Jun 2007 11:25

i dunno if you were serious when you posted that, but it made me happy! We'll definitely chillax at Worlds Henry.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 15 Jun 2007 12:37

I'm also definitely down for watching you play net at worlds. I always make it a point to watch freestylers play net (like Wulff the last few years at worlds).

You gonna compete in any freestyle categories?

Senor Grommet · Post by **Senor Grommet** » 25 Jul 2007 00:56

Latest footbag adventure:

This past week, I traveled to Montral for the Championat Footbag de Montreal 2007. It was a blast. I was in Montreal for 8 days,7 nights. I met just about all of the net club which sbout 25 strong, and mde friend with several of them.

In the tournament, I was seeded 12th in singles (and finished 13th) and 9th in doubles (and finished 7th). I didnt show my best play during the important matches, but I played well enough to earn some respect from the Montreal club, which is nice. After training with them for only a week, I realize how lucky they are to have such a thriving cvlub and how good they will all become quite soon. Already, their young players are dethroning some of Chaos' finest!

Anyhow, i stayed up late, drank a lot, and partied at some fun bars and clubs. Had such a great time and will definitely be back next year. On the very last night, at the site of the Just For Laughs comedy festival, I ran into Kolo and Matthieu, the Montreal freestylers. After kicking a bit, they came to watch the fional open doubles match. It was nice to see them.

CIC flurry · Post by **CIC flurry** » 25 Jul 2007 20:34

Yay, Jeremy's back!

Senor Grommet · Post by **Senor Grommet** » 20 Aug 2007 20:56

I'm thinking a little and writing a lot in this write up. This is coming from the perspective of a footbag player as opposed to a freestyler.

I took a plane with Emily K and met Fletch in the Orlando Airport. Twas cool. We taxi'd it to the All Star resort where we met some footbaggers, checked in, and then watched circles play hack for a couple of hours. It was hoooooooot and muggy. It was the same or worse all week actually, but livable.

For me, since I was competing in net rather than freestyle at worlds, my week started off early. My first day of Competition was Sunday at 9AM, which meant I was on a different schedule than the freestylers. Throughout the week actually, I was waking up much earlier than the freestylers of much later- never at the same time. Day 1 was singles compeition- I didn't make it out of my pool, although I played well. After several singles games scattered through out the day, I played some pickup games of doubles net, which was great.

Monday was open doubles day. My partner from Montreal , Renaud, and I were seeded somewhere around 16th, give or take two positions either way. That meant that we were in a pool with the 3rd seeded team (a montreal team) and a team ranked somewhere between 10 and 14 (Patrick Keehan and Cory Current). In order to move out of our pool, we had to beat one of these two teams in a match, best 2 out of 3 games to 11 pts. We did! We beat Patrick and Cory 5-11, 11-0, 12-10. It was possibly the best competitive feeling I have ever felt at a footbag event. The first upset of the tournament, produced by me!

Wednesday and Thursday were round of 32, quarterfinals, and consolation match days. In singles I made it to the consolation bracket finals, where I ultimately lost 17-15 to a solid veteran player. I wasn't happy, but I played fairly well, and I played through a slight groin injury.

In Doubles, Renaud and I faced the number 1 seed of the tournament, last year's world champs Patrick Shrickel and Florian Goetze from Germany. It was exciting for many reasons, the first of which was that we got to play inside the gym which meant there were spectators, both net players and freestylers. Also, because we were facing the #1, there was basically no pressure to perform- we were expected to be slammed. Anyway, game one rolls around and Renaud and I start out with w 3-0 lead playing well and catching a few breaks. Then 5-5. Then 7-8 . . . 10-9, 11-13, 13-13, and ultimately losing 13-15. We lost game two 6-15 and were out of contention for the championship. We played two more consolation matches, both of which we lost to better teams, and ended up getting either 16th or 17th place out of 27 teams.

I totally understated our performance in the above paragraph. We played the #1 seeded team amazingly well and we were heartily congratulated by all of the net players watching the match. Basically, this was the match that put me "on the map" in the net world. It was one of those "playing out of your mind-good" experiences for me, and it happened at the most important time. I had one more of those "in the zone" experiences when I made it out of my pool in open doubles the match before. My defense (digging) was the best it has ever been and I didn't miss any spikes. I was killing all of my shots, and again, it was a match that many people were watching.

Throughout the week, I had a few freestyle kicks most of which were cut short by mandatory net matches. It was really nice to meet some new people at this tournament. I won't name any names, but If we talked, you have made an impression on me, and if I ever sought you out to speak or hang out with you, then consider yourself a special person in my heart. Thanks for making this week a memorable experience for me. Special thanks to Justin Dale and Scott Behmer for giving me a couple of rides when I really needed them.

Interesting experience:
I attended a conference on the future of footbag net at worlds where very important topics were discussed by the sports largest names. I presented a topic to the audience of players about how to recruit new players, where to focus the recruiting efforts, and some potential methods of recruitment. My ideas were documented and were received well. I feel like I have made a name for myself at this year's worlds like I never have before.

I took some pics that I will likely post within the next week or so. Stay tuned and thanks for reading.

Disappointment. So many freestylers, even my closest friends didn't really see me compete in my net matches. Their loss because I fucked shit up!@

I may have turned a few players onto the dark side as well . . .

HG · Post by HG » 21 Aug 2007 19:07

To that last statement, i say nay!

modified

Jeremy Mirken's Footbag Blog

Green Cup Highlights

A Worlds Write-Up