Thanks for the kind words guys. I too am amazed that I am recovering so quickly.
One of the perqs of my gov't job is that I get every other Monday off from work. This is my first off day, and I'm really enjoying it. Mostly just took care of a lot of errands, but beyond that it was nice to have some time to myself. It's also cool that I have a 4 day week. I'm gonna go play some footbag in a bit, but I figured I'd blog about Funtastiks before it fades from memory.
Prelude:
The week leading up to Funtastiks I got in a couple solo sessions where I tested the limits of my injury. I found that toe tiltless and bops didn't hurt at all, but pdx tricks were off-limits. My right knee still hurts, so whirls and any rigorous knee tricks were also off limits. Still, the fact that I was able to play at all made me happy, and I could still do some cool stuff like barflies b2b. I wasn't sure how much I'd be able to play at Funtastiks, but I recently found an Amy Winehouse song I really liked, so I figured I'd do a routine to it, even if I only spent 2 sessions planning it out and practicing it. I think I had 2 solo sessions before Funtastiks, and after the second one my legs felt weird, so I decided to lay off until the tourney.
Friday:
Had trouble focusing at work, as I always do right before a tourney. My boss let me go an hour early, so I was able to get out to Maryland pretty early. Hung out with Adrienne for the afternoon, then killed time at her place as we waited to see what Vince's plans were. We played a few games of Wii bowling, and I talked a lot of NBA stats with her dad. Finally convinced Vince to drive up with us that night. I think I slept in the car ride? Anyway, we arrived there in what seemed to be no time. I walked into the hotel, and right past the lobby there was a small room where people were playing footbag. I thought it was super cool that they rented out a shred room each night. Knowing footbaggers, we would have played in a garage or in a hallway, but having a proper room felt much classier. I go into the room and say some hellos. One guy I never met before comes up to me, and before he says anything, I just KNOW he's going to guess I am somebody else. Sure enough, he introduces himself as Dan, and then proceeds to ask me if I'm... Manu
I am in such a state of complete shock, that I don't even have any fun with it. I just laugh real hard and introduce myself. I was just so thrilled to have a footbagger meet me and not guess that I am Tu/Tuan/Erik Chan(g). Manu! Too good.
I don't think I even touched a footbag that night. I go to bed, and the next morning feel well-rested and ready.
Saturday
We get to the site early, and I just mosey around watching net players warm up. I'm feeling antsy, so I decide to warm up Vince and Aintno in net, by teaming up with Flash. I find that doing basic net kicks doesn't hurt at all, so I get the idea to compete in intermediate doubles net. I figure that the worst that can happen is that I get "net legs," and can't compete well in freestyle the next day, but given that I was already injured and didn't have a strong routine planned, I didn't really care. I ask around for a while, and finally Ken David of NYFA agrees to register with me. He plays in modded g-Units, and had never played net before. Meanwhile, I played in my walking shoes, and hadn't competed in net since the year 2000. I liked our chances.
We did some warming up, and it was soon pretty clear that our best hope would be to forget about setting each other up, and instead either just hit the bag back directly over the net, or try and set it in the air in general and run the hell out of the way. We were seeded at the very bottom of intermediate doubles, and our first match was against Ted Fritch (intermediate doubles champ of the world) and Phil N. We lost in straight sets, but we got a few points. Despite the loss, I had a lot of fun, since Ken kept cracking jokes throughout. Ted would give us advice like "be more fluid with your sets" and Ken would respond: "What's that? Pee more fluid during sex?"
Our next match was against Danny Bodkin and Julian Soloski. We lost the first game, but it was closer. In the second game, we started to click a bit more, and ended up winning it! My goal was to win at least one game, but now I thought it was a real possibility that we could win a match. In the third game, we served well and pulled off the win!
Yeah Team Ken! Our next match was against the Bowin Bros from Jersey, and beat them in straight sets. So that's how we went from being the lowest seed in the tourney, to advancing to semi-finals.
By the time semis happened, Ken and I weren't in the best physical shape. I kept missing right inside kicks, and instead had the netbag hit my right ankle. It got to be pretty explosive pain. Meanwhile, playing in freestyle shoes caught up with Ken. Towards the end it was painful just to kick the bag. In semis we faced Jack Lentz and Mark Something, and lost in straight sets. I did get a spike in though, so that was a moral victory. In the consolation bronze medal match we faced Dan the Man (the guy who thought I was Manu) and Adrienne. The only highlights were Ken's jokes about his foot about to fall off, and one serve by Adrienne that I returned with a flying clipper kick. We got our asses handed to us, but I still was proud that we took 4th place in net. Go NYFA freestyle!
At some point I left the site with Jon Schneider in order to check out some chili-tasting fare. It was rad, there were like 15-20 booths along the main street, and you could go up to them and pay a quarter to get a solo-cup sized sample of their chili. It reminded me of the Guatemalan insanity pepper episode of the Simpsons. So who better to do it with than Jon? Some of the chilis tasted kinda ketchup-y, but some were quite good. It was nice to enjoy a little bit of smalltown USA street festival fun.
Saturday night we went to the brewery for dinner. I had a really nice stout which was from a cask, and had a very rich flavor. Back at the hotel people played some footbag, but the game that dominated people's attention was Duel! Shockingly, I can't find any YouTube vids of it, but in essence it's a game that combines indian wrestling with tug of war. There are two bases and a rope. At the count of 3, each competitor grabs as much rope as they can, and then they proceed to try and make the other person fall off their base. If you let go of the rope, you also lose. So the whole idea is that you can give and take slack with the rope, so you shouldn't pull too hard, because the other person can release slack, etc. It's pretty fun. I spent most of the night icing the swelling net welt on my right ankle, and watching people play duel.
Next: Sunday
