see you in berlin... you've only got 6 weeks to get well!! back off!
Jay's Blog.
Well, I laced up and did what I did last week, with far better results. Kicks, toe stalls, and clippers didn't hurt. Quicker movements like far legover I could feel, but spins/ducks/swirls didn't. So, I played for 2 minutes doing stalls, and then 15 minutes later I heated up my back, and then hit some osis->swirl rpt's, and ducks. After I was done that, I filled my glass of water heated up the pad again and am typing to modified.
So, I'm getting better!
It looks like I'll have to write montreal completely off, because if I want to do anything at USO or Worlds, competitively, I'll need to heal up as best as I can...And I know that if I compete / sideline shred, I'll push myself and screw up the process. It really sucks, that after spending all the money for plane tickets etc, to get to these tournaments I wont be able to play as well as I should be able to. Good thing that tournaments aren't only about the competition.
Two / Four square is still possible, so I wont be 100% useless. I figure that air shredding, and doing some basics, like I did now, every few days will probably help the amount of 'footbag' I'll lose in the recovery meantime. I've also begun to work my upper body, which feels really nice. If I strengthen my back, shoulders, etc enough I figure they will be far less injury prone in the future.
So, I'm getting better!
It looks like I'll have to write montreal completely off, because if I want to do anything at USO or Worlds, competitively, I'll need to heal up as best as I can...And I know that if I compete / sideline shred, I'll push myself and screw up the process. It really sucks, that after spending all the money for plane tickets etc, to get to these tournaments I wont be able to play as well as I should be able to. Good thing that tournaments aren't only about the competition. Two / Four square is still possible, so I wont be 100% useless. I figure that air shredding, and doing some basics, like I did now, every few days will probably help the amount of 'footbag' I'll lose in the recovery meantime. I've also begun to work my upper body, which feels really nice. If I strengthen my back, shoulders, etc enough I figure they will be far less injury prone in the future.
Jay Boychuk
FOOOTBAG! MHMMM!
Did I mention, FHOOTPACK! UGH!
Mmm-chika-haa, bu-dum-cthhhh, KA-BLOOOIE! The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes!
So, I went to go see Jorden's performance. Disgustingly awesome, in a walnut-sized nutshell, but classy and snazzy, in a Zimbabwe sized nutshell for perspective. He was a Jester, and did a great job as a character in intermission type acts, and well in two of his own. That is right, Jorden did two different acts, wait, three? I'd say 2.5, since the second rolled into the third...Anyway, two parts were no feet, and one part was feet. Take that Gene Simmons. He did great, when I saw him with one well covered, drop out of everything.
But, the real "Booyah" of today was playing with Jorden. Nice, hot weather and gunits afoot, we played by the Hamilton harbourfront, underneath some highway overpasses for shade. I probably played for an hour and a half with him, with only ONE instance of "ACK, don't do that move" which was stepping ss torque. I didn't end the session on "I should probably stop" but instead "alright, it is 30 degrees and we don't have enough water" type of deal. I hit new moves, decent strings, new drills and all with, not terrible, ugly, perhaps even "anti-frothy" fugly style. I did stay away from some moves that were unnecessary, like pdx drifter's and torques, just because there was no need to aggravate my back. Hell, I didn't hit a symp move ALL day. That was an accomplishment even Steven Seagal wouldn't butcher with a pony tail hairdo.
I guess today you could call the "first hot day out", and my stamina could feel it. With 3 weeks no playing, and hot humid air my run length didn't really suffer, but the after recuperation certainly did. I was really close to dimwalk->gyro egg*rpt, which I wanted more than Moses. I stopped after about 3 tries though, since eggbeaters are one of the moves that tweaks me if I do too many, at the moment. The day I can beat some eggs once more, with no repercussions will be sweet. I think those 5 eggbeaters I did do, were the only ones of the day however.
I got some tips from Jorden that instantly helped, which was a pleasant surprise as well. Typically, with Jorden the tips I receive would involve me actually changing my fundamentals, such as "when you shuffle, don't pull your shoulders towards the ground and eventually knee yourself in the face". But yeah, hopefully I'll get some new concepts into my game when I'm actually back.
Man, there were alot of fish by the river we were playing "on top of". I should mention we were playing on a bike path. Anyway, every 2 minutes fish in mating season were flipping and flopping around, which was really, neat? I feel like it was a neat that you wouldn't appreciate through the ages of 11->15, because you were 'too cool'. Maybe that statement will hit home with someone.
CHRISTMAS TIME! I got some christmas-business-countdown today, as I received a sack of clothing from the destroyer. Man, shred-hand-me-downs are the BEST gifts, of all time. I guess I am lucky he grew since he was 17, and was there at the right time. I mean, imagine, if I had of went to any other University in the world, some other kid would be parading around in a Trio shirt. I win this round, infant.
Did I mention, FHOOTPACK! UGH!
Mmm-chika-haa, bu-dum-cthhhh, KA-BLOOOIE! The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes!
So, I went to go see Jorden's performance. Disgustingly awesome, in a walnut-sized nutshell, but classy and snazzy, in a Zimbabwe sized nutshell for perspective. He was a Jester, and did a great job as a character in intermission type acts, and well in two of his own. That is right, Jorden did two different acts, wait, three? I'd say 2.5, since the second rolled into the third...Anyway, two parts were no feet, and one part was feet. Take that Gene Simmons. He did great, when I saw him with one well covered, drop out of everything.
But, the real "Booyah" of today was playing with Jorden. Nice, hot weather and gunits afoot, we played by the Hamilton harbourfront, underneath some highway overpasses for shade. I probably played for an hour and a half with him, with only ONE instance of "ACK, don't do that move" which was stepping ss torque. I didn't end the session on "I should probably stop" but instead "alright, it is 30 degrees and we don't have enough water" type of deal. I hit new moves, decent strings, new drills and all with, not terrible, ugly, perhaps even "anti-frothy" fugly style. I did stay away from some moves that were unnecessary, like pdx drifter's and torques, just because there was no need to aggravate my back. Hell, I didn't hit a symp move ALL day. That was an accomplishment even Steven Seagal wouldn't butcher with a pony tail hairdo.
I guess today you could call the "first hot day out", and my stamina could feel it. With 3 weeks no playing, and hot humid air my run length didn't really suffer, but the after recuperation certainly did. I was really close to dimwalk->gyro egg*rpt, which I wanted more than Moses. I stopped after about 3 tries though, since eggbeaters are one of the moves that tweaks me if I do too many, at the moment. The day I can beat some eggs once more, with no repercussions will be sweet. I think those 5 eggbeaters I did do, were the only ones of the day however.
I got some tips from Jorden that instantly helped, which was a pleasant surprise as well. Typically, with Jorden the tips I receive would involve me actually changing my fundamentals, such as "when you shuffle, don't pull your shoulders towards the ground and eventually knee yourself in the face". But yeah, hopefully I'll get some new concepts into my game when I'm actually back.
Man, there were alot of fish by the river we were playing "on top of". I should mention we were playing on a bike path. Anyway, every 2 minutes fish in mating season were flipping and flopping around, which was really, neat? I feel like it was a neat that you wouldn't appreciate through the ages of 11->15, because you were 'too cool'. Maybe that statement will hit home with someone.
CHRISTMAS TIME! I got some christmas-business-countdown today, as I received a sack of clothing from the destroyer. Man, shred-hand-me-downs are the BEST gifts, of all time. I guess I am lucky he grew since he was 17, and was there at the right time. I mean, imagine, if I had of went to any other University in the world, some other kid would be parading around in a Trio shirt. I win this round, infant.
Jay Boychuk
awesome. good to hear you're back in action, jay. rip it up @ worlds! team canada represent.jay7 wrote:That was an accomplishment even Steven Seagal wouldn't butcher with a pony tail hairdo.
greg raymond, kingston
FB: Rocker Holliday
"What is it that makes a complete stranger dive into an icy river to save a solid gold baby? Maybe we'll never know." - Jack Handey
FB: Rocker Holliday
"What is it that makes a complete stranger dive into an icy river to save a solid gold baby? Maybe we'll never know." - Jack Handey
Oh sweet Moses! Life, is, basically the best thing that ever happened to the Universe. Well, I guess what that statement was directly corresponding to, in my life is "The way footbag and SECRET German Deli's make me feel is the best thing - --".
So, I found a place in Hamilton called "denningers", which is the German deli / Supermarket in question. It had 90% of the food I ate in Germany, all stocked up. German packaging, ingredients list, succulent texture and Oma style cooking smells. I bought all I thought I should eat for the week, and thinking about it was like having some sort of Hanuka festival, every day a new BADASS food to consume.
In footbag news, today was the first day I had a REAL drill session. I hit a drill with a concept I learned from Jorden, two days ago. Mhmm, I can see good things from holding your shoulders one way, balancing that clipper ever so gently and thinking of Matt Cross crank. I also hit a drill that I had only hit in Texas, and with Johnny a few months ago. The session was only 1 hour long, but damn it felt like seconds. I can't wait until I can have 2 hour sessions again, and then have it feel like one gracious minute.
Speaking of Matt Cross, I wish he still lived in Buffalo. Turns out, bi-weekly, or possibly more, I will be working there for the rest of the summer. It would have been great fun to kick with him in his home land, for a while. Warm up for worlds together, get ourselves back into shape and represent the east coast! Grumble.
My tshirt is entirely soaked through with sweat. This feeling, is the feeling of accomplishment, gritty non-showered-after-work-mixed-with-sweat-ness, love, no tears and just, UGH. Footbag! 3 weeks away from you is deathly. I don't know how I'll kick at USO, but I feel like as long as I don't re-injure myself, Worlds will kick tush. I mean, did you see those shirts in with "shredi" on them? That alone will make all the people who remained in North America ashamed they didn't learn to swim across the Atlantic.
Oh man, this summer has time yet to be awesome. Oh Little 'bo.
So, I found a place in Hamilton called "denningers", which is the German deli / Supermarket in question. It had 90% of the food I ate in Germany, all stocked up. German packaging, ingredients list, succulent texture and Oma style cooking smells. I bought all I thought I should eat for the week, and thinking about it was like having some sort of Hanuka festival, every day a new BADASS food to consume.
In footbag news, today was the first day I had a REAL drill session. I hit a drill with a concept I learned from Jorden, two days ago. Mhmm, I can see good things from holding your shoulders one way, balancing that clipper ever so gently and thinking of Matt Cross crank. I also hit a drill that I had only hit in Texas, and with Johnny a few months ago. The session was only 1 hour long, but damn it felt like seconds. I can't wait until I can have 2 hour sessions again, and then have it feel like one gracious minute.
Speaking of Matt Cross, I wish he still lived in Buffalo. Turns out, bi-weekly, or possibly more, I will be working there for the rest of the summer. It would have been great fun to kick with him in his home land, for a while. Warm up for worlds together, get ourselves back into shape and represent the east coast! Grumble.
My tshirt is entirely soaked through with sweat. This feeling, is the feeling of accomplishment, gritty non-showered-after-work-mixed-with-sweat-ness, love, no tears and just, UGH. Footbag! 3 weeks away from you is deathly. I don't know how I'll kick at USO, but I feel like as long as I don't re-injure myself, Worlds will kick tush. I mean, did you see those shirts in with "shredi" on them? That alone will make all the people who remained in North America ashamed they didn't learn to swim across the Atlantic.
Oh man, this summer has time yet to be awesome. Oh Little 'bo.
Jay Boychuk
Well, I played 4 times this week, 3 days in a row, yesterday off, and today. Looks like it was a bad idea, as now my back is feeling it. The three days were fine, then I said "well, I should give myself a day's rest"..So I did, and then halfway through a routine this session it let me know I need more time off. (edit) I just remembered, the trick that did it was pdx drifter. Yeah, how lame is that.
So, I guess, no shred at USO? Yay! Everything I've always wanted it to be. I hate not playing every day. It will be weird when it becomes my reality, after Worlds...Every other day. Ugh.
So, I guess, no shred at USO? Yay! Everything I've always wanted it to be. I hate not playing every day. It will be weird when it becomes my reality, after Worlds...Every other day. Ugh.
Jay Boychuk
Formally taking USO writeup request into consideration.
Round 1.
Here I am, 4:30 A.M eastern time driving to the YYZ, Pearson Airport of Toronto Canada. I've got one backpack full of colourful clothes, passport and travel documents. I'm in the car that has taken me to countless jams and tournies throughout this year. Chicago, Vegas, Albany, Rochester, Fredonia, Texas, San Francisco, Montreal, and soon to be Portland and Berlin. A blue honda civic, 2 doors and alot of memories has really been the vessel to my footbag freedom. I'm decently nervous, as this year is the year that anyone could 'take' the Open. Landes, Gatesman, Bevier, Strellner, who knows. The absence of Sir Penske, Lord Moir and Count Clavens, really makes this one a toss up between the future US champion. So I arrive at the Park 'n Fly, and have a smooth transition to my plane, as always. I watch alot of US open footage on my ipod during the plane ride, physicking myself out for the tournament ahead. Personal favourites are the Christmas Calendar 2006 by Dat, and 23 seconds water temple draft by Dat as well.
So, here I am. Portland Oregon, PDX airport. I had wondered if that was any coincidence between "pdx mirage" and the PDX airport, the founding city of footbag, in a way. I then quickly thought how I was the 2938th footbagger to make that connection, and felt unoriginal, but geeky enough to be a part of that number. It was around 12:30 PM, and I was super anxious to get to the site and start chatting with the coolest people in North America. I must admit I was really partial to Nick Landes, since I remember him being really nice and hilarious at Worlds 07. I headed to baggage claim terminal 8, ambled towards the shuttle service on island 3 and sat next to some cute school girl doing some advanced Chemistry. Moments afterward, I got my first smell of Freedom, as the said girl started smoking a cigarette and blowing it carelessly into the surrounding air. +1 America, you win this round. I got into the Blue shuttle service, and spoke to a man with a thick accent and a grungy 12 hour shift attitude. The Vancouver WA / Portland scenery is really unique, in comparison to my common surroundings. Many evergreens, mountains and dry grass side roads.
I get dropped off at the hotel, and frantically turn my head in hopes to see footbag. Sweaty, bouncing little boys all doing what I do best in my life. I meet a hotel lady, and ask her if footbaggers had arrived yet, and her response was "Footballers?" and then had to go through the hacky sack regime. I check the time, and it is around 1:00 pm, and I realize that registration opens only at 7:00 or so. I then ask for the room reservation, and spell "Ianek Regimbald" a-boot 30 times, and find out he hasn't arrived yet, nor has any other room mate of mine. Time to do what tiggers to best, and pull out my credit card and go to sleep in the room and wait for the adventure to come.
Looks like I couldn't get to sleep. Hell, could you? The FOOD NETWORK was on! Damn Ina, you could help me cook strawberry Jam every thursday.
With this type of entertainment, and seeing all the home cooked biscuits this lady was pumping out of the oven I couldn't help myself, I needed to go grocery shopping. I went to Fred's grocery store, which seemed to be about a 4 minute walk alone. I picked up a little bit of this and that, just as Mrs. Garten recommended. I would trust that lady with someone else's first born. I did a bit of Jay-walking, and noticed a security guard walking my direction, and immediately had that head-rush of "Ack, please don't give the foreigner a jaywaking ticket, that would be lame". Instead, he saw I was wearing a footbag shirt, and he worked at Nautilus, the compound that the USO was taking place at. He was somehow excited for it, and I was glad.
I was sweating balls, and needed to get to the cool hotel room and try to catch some sleep. Two hours had passed since I landed in the holy land of John Stallberger, and I had been awake for quite some time. I wrote a Dear Diary entry, and passed out for a little bit watching Keanu Reeves vs Morgan Freeman in some 90's flick. Oh Keanu, your skills are above us all.
Ianek, Reid, Bo Peep (Mr. Gatesman) and Jeff Overbo arrived, and they too had been on a small search for footbaggers. For some uncanny reason, NO one was at the event site despite the fact that USO started in hours. They had the urge to go grocery shopping, and the second walk to Fred's began. I started to get to know Reid a bit better, as I had only seem him hit barroques at NYJ this year. I confess that I had not taken great notice of him, and that when Ianek told me he was in our room, I thought he could have been some net playing Montreal-er. Turns out, he was a Mafia Member from 1928->1932, and he made Al-Capone cry when he was only 14 years old. Everyone was itching to play, but everyone knew that they should hold off, and wait for competition and just relax for the first day.
Some time wasting went on, and we finally headed to the event site. Dr. Eric Chang ran up, exchanged body warmth through a arm wrapping technique known amongst many cultures, and internally I thanked him because I could use that energy later, for things well beyond my stand-alone capabilities. I got my copy of DAWN OF THE SHRED, which since I have watched aboot 9 times. I saw the[pronouced "thee"] Goldberg, Red, Nick, Zeb/Zac Jackson, Matt Kemmer and Sam Culclough next. It was great to see some familiar, semi friendly and completely MANLY faces to brighten the weekend. The first thing I saw Matt Kemmer hit was symp whirling swirl->matador, by request of Nick Landes. That was an immediate eye opener, and reminded me how I have so much to learn. I've seen Red twice this last year, and every time I am extremely impressed by how into Footbag he still is. A seasoned, and marinated veteran with passion and bright views for the future of footbag. He's really trying, and it is paying off within the community.
Communist Kyle Hewitt also was there, wearing either Pink Quantums or black old-man slippers with curly hair. He exchanged his feelings through the form of a non-shrink wrapped Halo 2 game guide, signed on page 32 to none other than me. We didn't hug. His calves were carved larger than the last time I saw him, but he was still the same person as I have read from the last 2 years on the interweb. Joe Biden for the win.
Mr.Stallberger spoke about how the tournament came together, through the hard work of Red and himself, thanked us for attending and set the mood for the US Open, and it's professional atmosphere. This was to be an Open, not a Jam. Players pack's, coupons and footbag's a-foot, we departed for dinner. Somehow I instinctively grouped myself with Eric Chang, with then associated me with Goldberg and Alex Dworetzky, two folks which I met heavily at Green Cup. I wasn't sure if I belonged, or was welcomed at all but I eventually sat down at a Red Robin and ate a burger. We spoke about Euro's, the new Czech and Polish talents that could one day rule the world, and caught up in general with what was going on. What was really going on, was our Waitress. Holy fuck, I think I'll still dream about that woman when I'm 30. Like, her nose had exquisite curves. Ugh. Ashley from Vancouver WA everyone, give her a round of applause. She deserves a medal. Steve was excited aboot the worlds Routine attendance, which has ~70 competitors, and I began to get those butterflies in my stomach about both events, which I am basically solely representing Ontario / Canada with.
We watched Dawn of the Shred in it's entirely in our room, and I think it was a successful showing. Alot of different music, camera angles, editing styles and players made it a pleasant watch. I feel however, when you see yourself in a video, you don't really watch it as unbiased as when you see a video without you. So, in some cases, it would have been nice if I didn't make the cut for personal reasons. Like, every time I see a camera on me, I wonder "shit, is this run going to be as good as that one I did for that shot?", and as a result, I don't think I had a single good run at USO. The only combo's I'm happy about are like, whirr->huge superfly, and pswhirl/superfly bsos together. I feel like Evan and I have a bit in common with how we see things, and I stress a "bit". It is however nice to relate to someone at a tournament that you didn't really know beforehand. Anyhow, D.O.T.S is worth putting in your collection, so, do it!
Samstag.
Free breakfast was nice, buffet style with a mix of warm/cold food. The entirety of Saturday was spent for me being nervous and worried about routines. I played in the corner with Matt / Zac Miley, Kyle Hewitt and Zac Jackson, and I didn't hit anything good really. Half injured, Half saving yourself, half nervous doesn't really make a good combo for "busting phat", not that I can anyway. The weather was warm, sun in the air, 13 year old girls doing demo's for the 100+ person crowd. This seemed like what USOpen would be in my mind. Good surface, loudspeakers, gangster-beats, American flags and Scott Bevier destroying. After seeing Scott at 90% of the tournaments I go to on the East Coast, it was kind of sad to see him become part of the West and realize that I wont see him often at all anymore. I had my hopes that he would be US champion, but I had yet to see Nick and Gatesman's routines. Heck, Matt Kemmer and Zac Miley were scaring me, as they were both playing pretty well the entire tournament. I saw a certain Aaron Orton, who I respect in many ways. He gave me a quick inspection and immediately said "Damn, your QL is ready to break!"...He gave me some stretches, and advised me to fix my posture in a certain way so that I would fix the problem with my back, instead of just preventing it. I was shit nervous, and it didn't help that I was in a circle with Evan as he was spreading his butterflies from his stomach to mine. My routine was next up, and I did it with decent choreography, not too many bails and a few drops. Apparently I did the least drops of the day, which bumped me up to second seat for Finals. That somehow boosted my confidence, but also seemed extremely undeserved. Afterward I kept playing in random circles, and childishly put unnecessary stress on my back. I seemed to get along quite well with Zac Jackson, who I never really had a friendly relationship with. He has a good sense of humour, and I am glad I spent the time with him that I did on Saturday, as we didn't really converse the rest of the tournament.
Circle shred was up next, which was when it really hit me "ah fuck, I can't circle shred anymore". A few factors obviously contributed to this, 1.) Broken back 2.) No practice because of 1 3.) shredded all day beforehand...So, I completely unrepresented myself in circle, and that kind of blew larger chunks than usual. I hit torch-r-rack, which I suppose would be my only claim to fame. Evan proceeded to the next round, and I prayed I wouldn't because my back was killing me, and I wasn't playing good enough to merit hurting it more for the sake of competition. I guess the emotion would be melancholy, but when I found out I didn't advance I was sad and happy because of it. Jim Penske was arriving tomorrow, and for that I was extremely excited. I decided that shred was not an option, and we picked the more viable one which was the hot tub. Ianek's first investment when he has a house with money, apparently will be the Hot Tub. It was obvious and apparent he had an obsession with the pit of hot frothy bubbles, and I didn't really mind joining it.
We had a catered Lunch/Dinner, which had great cold-cuts and bread for us to feast on. This was the Hall Of Fame dinner, which I actually enjoyed. It is inspiring to hear how people dedicate their lives to footbag, outside of shred. I never really truly considered it a possibility to actually move somewhere, compromising financial success for the love of footbag. Hearing that people have based their lives around footbag, and given to the community really made it a reality that you can have a successful, fulfilling life not just by following your parents rules and map for the rest of your life. Sunny's speech was really the kicker on that one. Man, Steve Goldberg. Footbag owes so much to that man. I don't feel like I can appreciate him enough, he just like, ugh. That hall of fame ceremony was impressive, but hearing every speech have a life story that wouldn't be possible without Goldberg. Wow. I feel like if I become successful financially, doing what Steve has done on a small scale could be extremely rewarding.
Dinner that night was an interesting feat. The G-berg Goldberg Steve was partially migrained, and ambling through the second story of the hotel meanwhile his was on the first floor. The group of us hot-tubbers from room 209 halted his saunter and convinced him to go get food with us. In iPhone we trust, his name is Robert Paulson, we walked to the smoothie store 9 blocks from the hotel. Evening street lights illuminated, only competing with the google maps compass which directed our straight path towards milky goodness. Parting the traffic waters, we jaywalked too and fro across 164th street, overtop bushes, through parking lot divisions and inbetween shrubbery, aside homeless men and finally to the Smoothie shop. In iPhone we trust. Evan Gatesman and I decided to head to the mexican restaurant for real food, where I opted out from purchasing anything. The chips/salsa looked tasty however. At the picnic benches we all discussed, gossip'ed and slurped about the many deep-rooted issues within footbag. One of which, was how extremely lengthy Jeff Overbo's tongue stretches. Have you seen a grown man pick his noise without using his fingers? Have you seen a grown man almost molest his very own ear using a wet pink bubbly taste tester? We have. In fact, Steve now owns his very own copy of the act on his iPhone camera. Let Jeff pray it doesn't make it to Youtube.
Death to Smoochie was on T.V, and it captivated us all. Interesting movie, and I don't think I'll ever watch it again. We also watched Juno, which, is a great film. Some free breakfast, hot tubbing, D.O.T.S watching later, and it was already time for Finals routine warm up. Room 209 walked to the event site, to find wet puddles and rain amist. Red and John had it totally covered, leaf blowers, mops and dedication later, it was completely playable. Props to their effort, seriously. Warm up was held in a conference room, which had been given to us by the hotel. I kicked with 'lil Miley and Kemmer, and we all played below average, due to the worlds '07 style carpet. Ianek is impressive with shred, don't underestimate this man. Every time I see him session, there is at least one bap level string that blows you away.
I wasn't really nervous for finals, as I had thought to myself before the tournament "Making top 8 in the US would be incredible. Going home and being able to explain that you are within the top tier of North America, officially, would be very rewarding". So, as my goal had already been reached, the nervous nature that I battled the day before was simply not there. Penske was BUSTING. You could tell that Penske said to himself as he flew from his Brother's wedding "Even though I can't compete, I'm going to shred so that everyone knows I'm champ". And he did. He has almost inspired me to shave my legs, because seeing the lack of hair on his legs, and instead noticing the rippling beauty of calf muscles is just, mind oggling. I wonder how many people would make fun of it though. I guess at his level, you are above grade-school name calling. I think that will be nice, the day that I am good enough to have the confidence to shave my legs for footbag, with the sole purpose (shout out?) to make my calves look supple. Seeing Penske play, after watching Nick / Bevier / Gatesman shred hard all weekend, just makes his mastery and complete pity-the-fool-ness so apparent. He is a god among footbaggers.
I remember Clavens posting a while back, about how he just goes for a walk before routines to clear his head. So, I followed suit and went across the Nautilus lot, ipod in ears and did my routine in many steps. A few dropless, mostly 1 drops and I was confident. I didn't want anything about the other finalists routines to bend my thoughts in one dimension or another, my goal was really to do the routine Steve and I worked on justice. My name was called, I walked out to centre stage, and I got that "routine" feeling. Adrenaline, I guess is the culprit for this effect. Music cue'd, audience prepared, and I did my thing. One drop on a swirl, mid-routine and no other tricks affected as a result. No bails, no hiccups, just a good version of the routine. Dropless would have been better, but I could have also done a lot worse. I didn't hear any crowd cheers, didn't notice my music volume was changed mid routine, didn't see the birds in the air, and didn't remember that Ashley probably never ate chili-cheese-fries from Red Robin in her life for that body. That state in a routine is nice, but comes with a price of severe preparation and focus. I guess that is why I play footbag.
Having Steve hug me after the routine felt good. I guess over the past months I have really started to respect him, practically like a father. I guess that is a bit much, but it feels really good to know that someone other than family has strong faith in your potential, and goes out of their way for you. Just a whole-grain, fulfilling feeling to not let him down when the pressure was on. Just thinking about Worlds makes me extremely nervous again, because I'll have to live up to that standard. *brrr*
Next up = circle competition finals. I honestly don't remember a single run from it, and I don't know why. I was watching it, sitting 30 feet from the action. I feel like at 07 worlds I remember every Vasek run like it was my 9th birthday. Sick 3 was nice too. I hung out a bit more with Zac Jackson, in preparation for it since his Bag was the shit. Shout out to Nick Landes bags, which have come a long way to being awesome. It was predictable and somewhat saddening to see how many people just drop sick 3's. I mean, obviously all of us can drop legover->clipper->outside kick on a bad day, and the pressure of competition is enough to ruin your mind. It just seems like a weird competition. I got lucky, and hit my safety and bigger sick 3 first try, but I know I could have also gotten the wrong breeze and dropped everything. Pixie paradon->blurry whirl->mobius was apparently enough to get me third place.
Request competition was held in the former warm up conference room, as the rain had began to emotionally pour as sick three finished up. I felt like a prick, since I just ran like a girl out of the rain and started kicking in the room, when people like John Stallberger and Red cleaned up the entire site in the rain. It didn't dawn on me that I should have offered a hand until it was too late. I played in a circle with Brian M and Ianek which was a treat. I didn't know Brian in his 1999 glory days, but he was still busting despite not playing for 10 years. I say busting, because hard tricks and decent strings were everywhere. Atomic spinning butterfly, High plains drifter first try, whirls blenders etc all with confidence. I wonder if I quit footbag, if I would kick like that ten years later. I hit some decent stuff that string, as I was motivated to do weirder stuff because him and Ianek were kicking.
This was my first Request contest, and I did pretty average. I didn't drop the final combo that got me out, which was good I suppose. Penske was allowed to compete in this, since it was so unofficial, which was cool to see his mastery shine. The killer combo round was pixie rake->dragonfly or Stepping far Refraction->zulu clipper. I chose zulu clipper, because I had never done dragonfly before. All 3 of my attempts, my body forced me to do stepping far refraction->ducking clipper, as I for some reason couldn't "wrap my head around" the zulu. Meh, better luck next time. Gatesman, Nick, and Penske were the final 3, not extremely unexpected. Per usual request contect, Evan was the true destroyer. Those floppy knee's and loose hips combined with his level of play can certainly come in handy when he needs to hit the most ridiculous combo's that knock Jim and Landes out of the game. Very, very deserved champion of that format.
The award ceremony was weird. As everyone went to get their medals, and when Scott Bevier told me "wear yours" as I walked back with it to my seating place, I just didn't feel right. 2nd and 3rd place just, doesn't feel deserved. Like, I watch videos of so many people in America / Canada, and knowing that if all of those great players were there I wouldn't have even made finals in anything. Being 2nd in the U.S and basically N.America just feels very "well, I should be 16th considering who didn't go". Anyway, I guess I should just suck it up and take it with pride, since I didn't just get it by pure luck.
Kyle's Car. Well, lets look at the facts about Kyle Hewitt. 1.) #1 modified shit disturber. 2.) Makes posts entirely dedicated to me being from America's Hat. I could describe his car in many ways, but I think I'll just make a short list of the things I had to sit beside in the back seat.
1.) Old French Fries. 2.) many Monster cans 3.) Two Vinyl Records 4.) Ripped up Jeans 5.) 3 shrink wrapped Halo 2 guides. 6.) Soda box containers 7.) 3 random CD's. 8.) Car parts, ripped from the interior. 9.) Rusty Screw Driver, with screw bits. 10.) Dora the Explorer air freshener wrappers. 11.) Hard Drive cases 12.) Half Seat belts 13.) Broken Coat Hangers 14.) Nintendo 64 games. 15.) Used books for classes he doesn't take. 16.) Evidence of possible Hamster family 17.) Dirty Dress Shirts 18.) One footbag. 19.) Coupons. This was all that I had to move, simply to get myself enough room to sit in the middle seat, as there was another Eric Chang sitting beside me in the back seat. There was a large mass of matter collected in the foot-room of the occupied seat, which had no human occupying it. I imagine you could find many things in there, of which may be radioactive, hallucination inducing, or double used for bio diesel car fuel.
The water temple was the reason I was in this automobile, and it was totally worth it. I played below average still, but understandably. It was all about watching the Fourkast crew, without Dave, tear it up. The Water Temple was everything I thought it would be, and that was a great event that I will cherish. It is like Vegas, it actually does live up to the movies. Hell, Evan Gatesman tore it up, hitting blurry whirling swirls, double blenders->ripsteins*rpt, and other massive combo's. He is certainly a spectacle. It was a decently noisy place with all that water falling, which was interesting because you couldn't hear the other people playing, but only your own footsteps. It made it like every string was your own little world. I found this random video on Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90ay6O1xj-U . I suggest you watch the Evan videos if you feel lonely.
Nick Landes chain mail bags are weird to play with, (I should clarify that he doesn't make them, just the ones he warms up with). I totally can see his style development from chain mail shredding, as they are really unforgivable. After the Temple, we went to Quiznos and all ate, met up and kicked around. The depart for Red's house was on the agenda, where Street Fighter Four was the focus. When I arrived there, thanks to Eric Chang, I saw a sandman and an empty carpet to kick on. Barefoot I hit some stuff, like pixie egg->pixie ss egg*rpt, pixie dlo->plo*rpt->pixie ss dlo->magellan*rpt, some pixie egg->pixie dlo combos, and pixie symp egg both sides. This was all the while Red was gutting the sole purpose crew of their souls by winning 32 straight games of Street Fighter in a row. Props. It was awesome to see how they had another world outside of footbag to have in common. Ianek continued to play with the sandman after I was done, which is when Sunny Evan and intermittently Jeff and Reid all gathered 'round and told stories. Apparently, at one time, a little boy went up to Sunny and said "Oh my god, oh my god, DARYL GENZ IS HERE" many years ago, when she went to a tournament. This little boy was none other than Jim Penske. Funny to hear about a god like that, in that kind of stage in his life.
Going back to the hotel from Red's really declared the end of the US open, as many goodbye's were said and many left, went to sleep for early departures and whatnot. The memories were done being made, and we just had to pack up and come to terms with the successful event we all attended. Reid Ianek and I all had similar airport times, and we hung out in the E terminal waiting for our planes, eating Nachos and Hummus talking footbag business. It is funny how so much business gets spoken about at tournaments, and how little actually gets done.
Worlds in two days, with a sore back, two medals and mind still in shred mode. It will be interesting going back to back tournaments. I fear that when I do shred at worlds, it will be like "end of tournament shred" the entire time, since I wont have any time to drill, or work on the inspiration I have received.
Sorry for the lame write up, I just wasn't feeling it. Needed to get it done now though, since I wont remember as much after worlds.
Round 1.
Here I am, 4:30 A.M eastern time driving to the YYZ, Pearson Airport of Toronto Canada. I've got one backpack full of colourful clothes, passport and travel documents. I'm in the car that has taken me to countless jams and tournies throughout this year. Chicago, Vegas, Albany, Rochester, Fredonia, Texas, San Francisco, Montreal, and soon to be Portland and Berlin. A blue honda civic, 2 doors and alot of memories has really been the vessel to my footbag freedom. I'm decently nervous, as this year is the year that anyone could 'take' the Open. Landes, Gatesman, Bevier, Strellner, who knows. The absence of Sir Penske, Lord Moir and Count Clavens, really makes this one a toss up between the future US champion. So I arrive at the Park 'n Fly, and have a smooth transition to my plane, as always. I watch alot of US open footage on my ipod during the plane ride, physicking myself out for the tournament ahead. Personal favourites are the Christmas Calendar 2006 by Dat, and 23 seconds water temple draft by Dat as well.
So, here I am. Portland Oregon, PDX airport. I had wondered if that was any coincidence between "pdx mirage" and the PDX airport, the founding city of footbag, in a way. I then quickly thought how I was the 2938th footbagger to make that connection, and felt unoriginal, but geeky enough to be a part of that number. It was around 12:30 PM, and I was super anxious to get to the site and start chatting with the coolest people in North America. I must admit I was really partial to Nick Landes, since I remember him being really nice and hilarious at Worlds 07. I headed to baggage claim terminal 8, ambled towards the shuttle service on island 3 and sat next to some cute school girl doing some advanced Chemistry. Moments afterward, I got my first smell of Freedom, as the said girl started smoking a cigarette and blowing it carelessly into the surrounding air. +1 America, you win this round. I got into the Blue shuttle service, and spoke to a man with a thick accent and a grungy 12 hour shift attitude. The Vancouver WA / Portland scenery is really unique, in comparison to my common surroundings. Many evergreens, mountains and dry grass side roads.
I get dropped off at the hotel, and frantically turn my head in hopes to see footbag. Sweaty, bouncing little boys all doing what I do best in my life. I meet a hotel lady, and ask her if footbaggers had arrived yet, and her response was "Footballers?" and then had to go through the hacky sack regime. I check the time, and it is around 1:00 pm, and I realize that registration opens only at 7:00 or so. I then ask for the room reservation, and spell "Ianek Regimbald" a-boot 30 times, and find out he hasn't arrived yet, nor has any other room mate of mine. Time to do what tiggers to best, and pull out my credit card and go to sleep in the room and wait for the adventure to come.
Looks like I couldn't get to sleep. Hell, could you? The FOOD NETWORK was on! Damn Ina, you could help me cook strawberry Jam every thursday.
With this type of entertainment, and seeing all the home cooked biscuits this lady was pumping out of the oven I couldn't help myself, I needed to go grocery shopping. I went to Fred's grocery store, which seemed to be about a 4 minute walk alone. I picked up a little bit of this and that, just as Mrs. Garten recommended. I would trust that lady with someone else's first born. I did a bit of Jay-walking, and noticed a security guard walking my direction, and immediately had that head-rush of "Ack, please don't give the foreigner a jaywaking ticket, that would be lame". Instead, he saw I was wearing a footbag shirt, and he worked at Nautilus, the compound that the USO was taking place at. He was somehow excited for it, and I was glad. I was sweating balls, and needed to get to the cool hotel room and try to catch some sleep. Two hours had passed since I landed in the holy land of John Stallberger, and I had been awake for quite some time. I wrote a Dear Diary entry, and passed out for a little bit watching Keanu Reeves vs Morgan Freeman in some 90's flick. Oh Keanu, your skills are above us all.
Ianek, Reid, Bo Peep (Mr. Gatesman) and Jeff Overbo arrived, and they too had been on a small search for footbaggers. For some uncanny reason, NO one was at the event site despite the fact that USO started in hours. They had the urge to go grocery shopping, and the second walk to Fred's began. I started to get to know Reid a bit better, as I had only seem him hit barroques at NYJ this year. I confess that I had not taken great notice of him, and that when Ianek told me he was in our room, I thought he could have been some net playing Montreal-er. Turns out, he was a Mafia Member from 1928->1932, and he made Al-Capone cry when he was only 14 years old. Everyone was itching to play, but everyone knew that they should hold off, and wait for competition and just relax for the first day.
Some time wasting went on, and we finally headed to the event site. Dr. Eric Chang ran up, exchanged body warmth through a arm wrapping technique known amongst many cultures, and internally I thanked him because I could use that energy later, for things well beyond my stand-alone capabilities. I got my copy of DAWN OF THE SHRED, which since I have watched aboot 9 times. I saw the[pronouced "thee"] Goldberg, Red, Nick, Zeb/Zac Jackson, Matt Kemmer and Sam Culclough next. It was great to see some familiar, semi friendly and completely MANLY faces to brighten the weekend. The first thing I saw Matt Kemmer hit was symp whirling swirl->matador, by request of Nick Landes. That was an immediate eye opener, and reminded me how I have so much to learn. I've seen Red twice this last year, and every time I am extremely impressed by how into Footbag he still is. A seasoned, and marinated veteran with passion and bright views for the future of footbag. He's really trying, and it is paying off within the community.
Communist Kyle Hewitt also was there, wearing either Pink Quantums or black old-man slippers with curly hair. He exchanged his feelings through the form of a non-shrink wrapped Halo 2 game guide, signed on page 32 to none other than me. We didn't hug. His calves were carved larger than the last time I saw him, but he was still the same person as I have read from the last 2 years on the interweb. Joe Biden for the win.
Mr.Stallberger spoke about how the tournament came together, through the hard work of Red and himself, thanked us for attending and set the mood for the US Open, and it's professional atmosphere. This was to be an Open, not a Jam. Players pack's, coupons and footbag's a-foot, we departed for dinner. Somehow I instinctively grouped myself with Eric Chang, with then associated me with Goldberg and Alex Dworetzky, two folks which I met heavily at Green Cup. I wasn't sure if I belonged, or was welcomed at all but I eventually sat down at a Red Robin and ate a burger. We spoke about Euro's, the new Czech and Polish talents that could one day rule the world, and caught up in general with what was going on. What was really going on, was our Waitress. Holy fuck, I think I'll still dream about that woman when I'm 30. Like, her nose had exquisite curves. Ugh. Ashley from Vancouver WA everyone, give her a round of applause. She deserves a medal. Steve was excited aboot the worlds Routine attendance, which has ~70 competitors, and I began to get those butterflies in my stomach about both events, which I am basically solely representing Ontario / Canada with.
We watched Dawn of the Shred in it's entirely in our room, and I think it was a successful showing. Alot of different music, camera angles, editing styles and players made it a pleasant watch. I feel however, when you see yourself in a video, you don't really watch it as unbiased as when you see a video without you. So, in some cases, it would have been nice if I didn't make the cut for personal reasons. Like, every time I see a camera on me, I wonder "shit, is this run going to be as good as that one I did for that shot?", and as a result, I don't think I had a single good run at USO. The only combo's I'm happy about are like, whirr->huge superfly, and pswhirl/superfly bsos together. I feel like Evan and I have a bit in common with how we see things, and I stress a "bit". It is however nice to relate to someone at a tournament that you didn't really know beforehand. Anyhow, D.O.T.S is worth putting in your collection, so, do it!
Samstag.
Free breakfast was nice, buffet style with a mix of warm/cold food. The entirety of Saturday was spent for me being nervous and worried about routines. I played in the corner with Matt / Zac Miley, Kyle Hewitt and Zac Jackson, and I didn't hit anything good really. Half injured, Half saving yourself, half nervous doesn't really make a good combo for "busting phat", not that I can anyway. The weather was warm, sun in the air, 13 year old girls doing demo's for the 100+ person crowd. This seemed like what USOpen would be in my mind. Good surface, loudspeakers, gangster-beats, American flags and Scott Bevier destroying. After seeing Scott at 90% of the tournaments I go to on the East Coast, it was kind of sad to see him become part of the West and realize that I wont see him often at all anymore. I had my hopes that he would be US champion, but I had yet to see Nick and Gatesman's routines. Heck, Matt Kemmer and Zac Miley were scaring me, as they were both playing pretty well the entire tournament. I saw a certain Aaron Orton, who I respect in many ways. He gave me a quick inspection and immediately said "Damn, your QL is ready to break!"...He gave me some stretches, and advised me to fix my posture in a certain way so that I would fix the problem with my back, instead of just preventing it. I was shit nervous, and it didn't help that I was in a circle with Evan as he was spreading his butterflies from his stomach to mine. My routine was next up, and I did it with decent choreography, not too many bails and a few drops. Apparently I did the least drops of the day, which bumped me up to second seat for Finals. That somehow boosted my confidence, but also seemed extremely undeserved. Afterward I kept playing in random circles, and childishly put unnecessary stress on my back. I seemed to get along quite well with Zac Jackson, who I never really had a friendly relationship with. He has a good sense of humour, and I am glad I spent the time with him that I did on Saturday, as we didn't really converse the rest of the tournament.
Circle shred was up next, which was when it really hit me "ah fuck, I can't circle shred anymore". A few factors obviously contributed to this, 1.) Broken back 2.) No practice because of 1 3.) shredded all day beforehand...So, I completely unrepresented myself in circle, and that kind of blew larger chunks than usual. I hit torch-r-rack, which I suppose would be my only claim to fame. Evan proceeded to the next round, and I prayed I wouldn't because my back was killing me, and I wasn't playing good enough to merit hurting it more for the sake of competition. I guess the emotion would be melancholy, but when I found out I didn't advance I was sad and happy because of it. Jim Penske was arriving tomorrow, and for that I was extremely excited. I decided that shred was not an option, and we picked the more viable one which was the hot tub. Ianek's first investment when he has a house with money, apparently will be the Hot Tub. It was obvious and apparent he had an obsession with the pit of hot frothy bubbles, and I didn't really mind joining it.
We had a catered Lunch/Dinner, which had great cold-cuts and bread for us to feast on. This was the Hall Of Fame dinner, which I actually enjoyed. It is inspiring to hear how people dedicate their lives to footbag, outside of shred. I never really truly considered it a possibility to actually move somewhere, compromising financial success for the love of footbag. Hearing that people have based their lives around footbag, and given to the community really made it a reality that you can have a successful, fulfilling life not just by following your parents rules and map for the rest of your life. Sunny's speech was really the kicker on that one. Man, Steve Goldberg. Footbag owes so much to that man. I don't feel like I can appreciate him enough, he just like, ugh. That hall of fame ceremony was impressive, but hearing every speech have a life story that wouldn't be possible without Goldberg. Wow. I feel like if I become successful financially, doing what Steve has done on a small scale could be extremely rewarding.
Dinner that night was an interesting feat. The G-berg Goldberg Steve was partially migrained, and ambling through the second story of the hotel meanwhile his was on the first floor. The group of us hot-tubbers from room 209 halted his saunter and convinced him to go get food with us. In iPhone we trust, his name is Robert Paulson, we walked to the smoothie store 9 blocks from the hotel. Evening street lights illuminated, only competing with the google maps compass which directed our straight path towards milky goodness. Parting the traffic waters, we jaywalked too and fro across 164th street, overtop bushes, through parking lot divisions and inbetween shrubbery, aside homeless men and finally to the Smoothie shop. In iPhone we trust. Evan Gatesman and I decided to head to the mexican restaurant for real food, where I opted out from purchasing anything. The chips/salsa looked tasty however. At the picnic benches we all discussed, gossip'ed and slurped about the many deep-rooted issues within footbag. One of which, was how extremely lengthy Jeff Overbo's tongue stretches. Have you seen a grown man pick his noise without using his fingers? Have you seen a grown man almost molest his very own ear using a wet pink bubbly taste tester? We have. In fact, Steve now owns his very own copy of the act on his iPhone camera. Let Jeff pray it doesn't make it to Youtube.
Death to Smoochie was on T.V, and it captivated us all. Interesting movie, and I don't think I'll ever watch it again. We also watched Juno, which, is a great film. Some free breakfast, hot tubbing, D.O.T.S watching later, and it was already time for Finals routine warm up. Room 209 walked to the event site, to find wet puddles and rain amist. Red and John had it totally covered, leaf blowers, mops and dedication later, it was completely playable. Props to their effort, seriously. Warm up was held in a conference room, which had been given to us by the hotel. I kicked with 'lil Miley and Kemmer, and we all played below average, due to the worlds '07 style carpet. Ianek is impressive with shred, don't underestimate this man. Every time I see him session, there is at least one bap level string that blows you away.
I wasn't really nervous for finals, as I had thought to myself before the tournament "Making top 8 in the US would be incredible. Going home and being able to explain that you are within the top tier of North America, officially, would be very rewarding". So, as my goal had already been reached, the nervous nature that I battled the day before was simply not there. Penske was BUSTING. You could tell that Penske said to himself as he flew from his Brother's wedding "Even though I can't compete, I'm going to shred so that everyone knows I'm champ". And he did. He has almost inspired me to shave my legs, because seeing the lack of hair on his legs, and instead noticing the rippling beauty of calf muscles is just, mind oggling. I wonder how many people would make fun of it though. I guess at his level, you are above grade-school name calling. I think that will be nice, the day that I am good enough to have the confidence to shave my legs for footbag, with the sole purpose (shout out?) to make my calves look supple. Seeing Penske play, after watching Nick / Bevier / Gatesman shred hard all weekend, just makes his mastery and complete pity-the-fool-ness so apparent. He is a god among footbaggers.
I remember Clavens posting a while back, about how he just goes for a walk before routines to clear his head. So, I followed suit and went across the Nautilus lot, ipod in ears and did my routine in many steps. A few dropless, mostly 1 drops and I was confident. I didn't want anything about the other finalists routines to bend my thoughts in one dimension or another, my goal was really to do the routine Steve and I worked on justice. My name was called, I walked out to centre stage, and I got that "routine" feeling. Adrenaline, I guess is the culprit for this effect. Music cue'd, audience prepared, and I did my thing. One drop on a swirl, mid-routine and no other tricks affected as a result. No bails, no hiccups, just a good version of the routine. Dropless would have been better, but I could have also done a lot worse. I didn't hear any crowd cheers, didn't notice my music volume was changed mid routine, didn't see the birds in the air, and didn't remember that Ashley probably never ate chili-cheese-fries from Red Robin in her life for that body. That state in a routine is nice, but comes with a price of severe preparation and focus. I guess that is why I play footbag.
Having Steve hug me after the routine felt good. I guess over the past months I have really started to respect him, practically like a father. I guess that is a bit much, but it feels really good to know that someone other than family has strong faith in your potential, and goes out of their way for you. Just a whole-grain, fulfilling feeling to not let him down when the pressure was on. Just thinking about Worlds makes me extremely nervous again, because I'll have to live up to that standard. *brrr*
Next up = circle competition finals. I honestly don't remember a single run from it, and I don't know why. I was watching it, sitting 30 feet from the action. I feel like at 07 worlds I remember every Vasek run like it was my 9th birthday. Sick 3 was nice too. I hung out a bit more with Zac Jackson, in preparation for it since his Bag was the shit. Shout out to Nick Landes bags, which have come a long way to being awesome. It was predictable and somewhat saddening to see how many people just drop sick 3's. I mean, obviously all of us can drop legover->clipper->outside kick on a bad day, and the pressure of competition is enough to ruin your mind. It just seems like a weird competition. I got lucky, and hit my safety and bigger sick 3 first try, but I know I could have also gotten the wrong breeze and dropped everything. Pixie paradon->blurry whirl->mobius was apparently enough to get me third place.
Request competition was held in the former warm up conference room, as the rain had began to emotionally pour as sick three finished up. I felt like a prick, since I just ran like a girl out of the rain and started kicking in the room, when people like John Stallberger and Red cleaned up the entire site in the rain. It didn't dawn on me that I should have offered a hand until it was too late. I played in a circle with Brian M and Ianek which was a treat. I didn't know Brian in his 1999 glory days, but he was still busting despite not playing for 10 years. I say busting, because hard tricks and decent strings were everywhere. Atomic spinning butterfly, High plains drifter first try, whirls blenders etc all with confidence. I wonder if I quit footbag, if I would kick like that ten years later. I hit some decent stuff that string, as I was motivated to do weirder stuff because him and Ianek were kicking.
This was my first Request contest, and I did pretty average. I didn't drop the final combo that got me out, which was good I suppose. Penske was allowed to compete in this, since it was so unofficial, which was cool to see his mastery shine. The killer combo round was pixie rake->dragonfly or Stepping far Refraction->zulu clipper. I chose zulu clipper, because I had never done dragonfly before. All 3 of my attempts, my body forced me to do stepping far refraction->ducking clipper, as I for some reason couldn't "wrap my head around" the zulu. Meh, better luck next time. Gatesman, Nick, and Penske were the final 3, not extremely unexpected. Per usual request contect, Evan was the true destroyer. Those floppy knee's and loose hips combined with his level of play can certainly come in handy when he needs to hit the most ridiculous combo's that knock Jim and Landes out of the game. Very, very deserved champion of that format.
The award ceremony was weird. As everyone went to get their medals, and when Scott Bevier told me "wear yours" as I walked back with it to my seating place, I just didn't feel right. 2nd and 3rd place just, doesn't feel deserved. Like, I watch videos of so many people in America / Canada, and knowing that if all of those great players were there I wouldn't have even made finals in anything. Being 2nd in the U.S and basically N.America just feels very "well, I should be 16th considering who didn't go". Anyway, I guess I should just suck it up and take it with pride, since I didn't just get it by pure luck.
Kyle's Car. Well, lets look at the facts about Kyle Hewitt. 1.) #1 modified shit disturber. 2.) Makes posts entirely dedicated to me being from America's Hat. I could describe his car in many ways, but I think I'll just make a short list of the things I had to sit beside in the back seat.
1.) Old French Fries. 2.) many Monster cans 3.) Two Vinyl Records 4.) Ripped up Jeans 5.) 3 shrink wrapped Halo 2 guides. 6.) Soda box containers 7.) 3 random CD's. 8.) Car parts, ripped from the interior. 9.) Rusty Screw Driver, with screw bits. 10.) Dora the Explorer air freshener wrappers. 11.) Hard Drive cases 12.) Half Seat belts 13.) Broken Coat Hangers 14.) Nintendo 64 games. 15.) Used books for classes he doesn't take. 16.) Evidence of possible Hamster family 17.) Dirty Dress Shirts 18.) One footbag. 19.) Coupons. This was all that I had to move, simply to get myself enough room to sit in the middle seat, as there was another Eric Chang sitting beside me in the back seat. There was a large mass of matter collected in the foot-room of the occupied seat, which had no human occupying it. I imagine you could find many things in there, of which may be radioactive, hallucination inducing, or double used for bio diesel car fuel.
The water temple was the reason I was in this automobile, and it was totally worth it. I played below average still, but understandably. It was all about watching the Fourkast crew, without Dave, tear it up. The Water Temple was everything I thought it would be, and that was a great event that I will cherish. It is like Vegas, it actually does live up to the movies. Hell, Evan Gatesman tore it up, hitting blurry whirling swirls, double blenders->ripsteins*rpt, and other massive combo's. He is certainly a spectacle. It was a decently noisy place with all that water falling, which was interesting because you couldn't hear the other people playing, but only your own footsteps. It made it like every string was your own little world. I found this random video on Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90ay6O1xj-U . I suggest you watch the Evan videos if you feel lonely.
Nick Landes chain mail bags are weird to play with, (I should clarify that he doesn't make them, just the ones he warms up with). I totally can see his style development from chain mail shredding, as they are really unforgivable. After the Temple, we went to Quiznos and all ate, met up and kicked around. The depart for Red's house was on the agenda, where Street Fighter Four was the focus. When I arrived there, thanks to Eric Chang, I saw a sandman and an empty carpet to kick on. Barefoot I hit some stuff, like pixie egg->pixie ss egg*rpt, pixie dlo->plo*rpt->pixie ss dlo->magellan*rpt, some pixie egg->pixie dlo combos, and pixie symp egg both sides. This was all the while Red was gutting the sole purpose crew of their souls by winning 32 straight games of Street Fighter in a row. Props. It was awesome to see how they had another world outside of footbag to have in common. Ianek continued to play with the sandman after I was done, which is when Sunny Evan and intermittently Jeff and Reid all gathered 'round and told stories. Apparently, at one time, a little boy went up to Sunny and said "Oh my god, oh my god, DARYL GENZ IS HERE" many years ago, when she went to a tournament. This little boy was none other than Jim Penske. Funny to hear about a god like that, in that kind of stage in his life.
Going back to the hotel from Red's really declared the end of the US open, as many goodbye's were said and many left, went to sleep for early departures and whatnot. The memories were done being made, and we just had to pack up and come to terms with the successful event we all attended. Reid Ianek and I all had similar airport times, and we hung out in the E terminal waiting for our planes, eating Nachos and Hummus talking footbag business. It is funny how so much business gets spoken about at tournaments, and how little actually gets done.
Worlds in two days, with a sore back, two medals and mind still in shred mode. It will be interesting going back to back tournaments. I fear that when I do shred at worlds, it will be like "end of tournament shred" the entire time, since I wont have any time to drill, or work on the inspiration I have received.
Sorry for the lame write up, I just wasn't feeling it. Needed to get it done now though, since I wont remember as much after worlds.
Jay Boychuk
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- Location: Las Vegas, NV
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Well, worlds was insane. At least 900% better than Prague, thank heavens. I guess the only real impression that is imprinted upon me to a scarring degree, is that Juho is a god among all the Finnish men. A shrine is in order for this, as I plan on digging up every Juho video possible in the next hours to come.
Juho "Super" is now a unicorn. Time to find my worshiping hat. Also, time to shop at Winners to find incredible shirts like this man owns. In order to get as awesome as him, I deem it essential to monitor and apply his dress code to mine. Too bad I don't have flat broad shoulders. Damnit.
Toni "The Beast" was a great pleasure to meet. Last year I only knew he was in my pool, and that he beat me. This year however I spoke to him, shredded with, gave props to, and watched him play footbag. Toni is now on my list of awesome individuals to send Virgins to. I hope that next time I play with him, I don't suck goats. I kind of felt unworthy in the same circle.
Anssi "The Accelerator" was also a great pleasure to room with. Last year he became my god, and I've benefited in many ways from this. I can still learn a lot from Anssi, and I look forward to seeing him some how in the next year. Hopefully that means me going to Helsinki Airport, calling him up and asking him when he's off work. Flurricane->pixie whirl*rpt much? Suck it the Rolling Stones, you only wish you would leave a legacy behind like that.
Mikko "Uniqueo" was also fun to meet again. His English is great, and his vocabulary selection is one that I find very fitting. His Titty shirts will leave their legacy only at Worlds 09, and same with his crazy spinning blenders. I mean, he wrote the script to "Reindeer Games", he MUST be a mangod. More like Poseidon rather than Zeus however.
Tuukka "TKO" still had those puppy dog eyes. I think the most fun circle I watched at worlds was between Tuukka and Ianek, about 1 hour after they were both exhausted. Really really creative links and random ideas that makes footbag so awesome. Note to self+others: You don't need to do blur->dimwalk*rpt to be cool, you need to be Tuukka. I'm glad to have had the chance to be mentioned an "honourary Finn" from this man.
Mr. Tuomas Riisalo was another person I was glad to be in contact with at Worlds. Typically this species could be found at the breakfast table, at the East Side Hotel. All around nice guy, and fun to joke with or get advice from. It will become necessary to learn Finnish, in order to properly talk shit and establish a further connection.
Vodka / Tequila "Chili" was a character that could be also thought of as a "Margarita Party". I'm not too guilty that I didn't come into contact with this entity, but special props to Samu / Lauri / Pekka / Animal / whoever else was responsible for it's creation. I think that a vital part of worlds 09 was the facial expressions, shaking, puking and utter discomfort associated with "Ah come on, I'll take a drink if you take a drink. See, Tuomas drank it 9 times today, and he's still here! Smell it, see; it's not that bad..."
Props to the Berlin crew, as the only fault of the entire tournament was being late like, twice? I wont forget about this Worlds for sure. Everything was organized so well, walking distance, venue's etc. Next years worlds will have great trouble in making it half as badass.
Just for the Kebab.
Juho "Super" is now a unicorn. Time to find my worshiping hat. Also, time to shop at Winners to find incredible shirts like this man owns. In order to get as awesome as him, I deem it essential to monitor and apply his dress code to mine. Too bad I don't have flat broad shoulders. Damnit.
Toni "The Beast" was a great pleasure to meet. Last year I only knew he was in my pool, and that he beat me. This year however I spoke to him, shredded with, gave props to, and watched him play footbag. Toni is now on my list of awesome individuals to send Virgins to. I hope that next time I play with him, I don't suck goats. I kind of felt unworthy in the same circle.
Anssi "The Accelerator" was also a great pleasure to room with. Last year he became my god, and I've benefited in many ways from this. I can still learn a lot from Anssi, and I look forward to seeing him some how in the next year. Hopefully that means me going to Helsinki Airport, calling him up and asking him when he's off work. Flurricane->pixie whirl*rpt much? Suck it the Rolling Stones, you only wish you would leave a legacy behind like that.
Mikko "Uniqueo" was also fun to meet again. His English is great, and his vocabulary selection is one that I find very fitting. His Titty shirts will leave their legacy only at Worlds 09, and same with his crazy spinning blenders. I mean, he wrote the script to "Reindeer Games", he MUST be a mangod. More like Poseidon rather than Zeus however.
Tuukka "TKO" still had those puppy dog eyes. I think the most fun circle I watched at worlds was between Tuukka and Ianek, about 1 hour after they were both exhausted. Really really creative links and random ideas that makes footbag so awesome. Note to self+others: You don't need to do blur->dimwalk*rpt to be cool, you need to be Tuukka. I'm glad to have had the chance to be mentioned an "honourary Finn" from this man.
Mr. Tuomas Riisalo was another person I was glad to be in contact with at Worlds. Typically this species could be found at the breakfast table, at the East Side Hotel. All around nice guy, and fun to joke with or get advice from. It will become necessary to learn Finnish, in order to properly talk shit and establish a further connection.
Vodka / Tequila "Chili" was a character that could be also thought of as a "Margarita Party". I'm not too guilty that I didn't come into contact with this entity, but special props to Samu / Lauri / Pekka / Animal / whoever else was responsible for it's creation. I think that a vital part of worlds 09 was the facial expressions, shaking, puking and utter discomfort associated with "Ah come on, I'll take a drink if you take a drink. See, Tuomas drank it 9 times today, and he's still here! Smell it, see; it's not that bad..."
Props to the Berlin crew, as the only fault of the entire tournament was being late like, twice? I wont forget about this Worlds for sure. Everything was organized so well, walking distance, venue's etc. Next years worlds will have great trouble in making it half as badass.
Just for the Kebab.
Jay Boychuk
Hey sir,
It was very nice to get to know you a bit. You are a cool guy. Way to represent at worlds.
It was very nice to get to know you a bit. You are a cool guy. Way to represent at worlds.
"...You have to get, really, practice, like eight hours every day. Then you get good level and then you can compete....There is no money, so players are like big family and that is what I -like" -Vasek-
Reid Strellner
Reid Strellner
-
mosher
- brutal footbag cronie
- Posts: 6177
- Joined: 22 Jan 2004 23:30
- Location: Toronto, Ontario
- Contact:
Hey Jay,
Just wanted to say that you really gotta stop viewing all these other players as gods and demeaning your own skills. You'll never have your OWN confidence if you keep placing yourself so far below others in your mind.
You are FUCKING AMAZING at shred and you're a smart talented guy that has shit loads of potential. Now stop taking a shit on yourself and start realizing that "Hey, I'm Jay and I'm awesome!".
Your friend,
Tom
Just wanted to say that you really gotta stop viewing all these other players as gods and demeaning your own skills. You'll never have your OWN confidence if you keep placing yourself so far below others in your mind.
You are FUCKING AMAZING at shred and you're a smart talented guy that has shit loads of potential. Now stop taking a shit on yourself and start realizing that "Hey, I'm Jay and I'm awesome!".
Your friend,
Tom
Tom Mosher
hate is a waste of passion!
hate is a waste of passion!
Hey gov'ner! Heute Margarita Partyyy!! And then a couple döner kebaps!
Seems like you spent too much time with the Finns, but that's more like a good thing I guess.
Nice to hear you got back home safely. We had a wild party on Sunday, too bad you missed it.
Have a break from footbag and then continue practicing hard, you're getting good.
I hope to room with you again, maybe next year. So, untill then --
Seems like you spent too much time with the Finns, but that's more like a good thing I guess.
Nice to hear you got back home safely. We had a wild party on Sunday, too bad you missed it.
Have a break from footbag and then continue practicing hard, you're getting good.
I hope to room with you again, maybe next year. So, untill then --
-
mahhkohh
- Flower Child
- Posts: 1944
- Joined: 22 Feb 2005 08:36
- Location: near stuttgart,germany
- Contact:
its maybe the best thing to do at a footbag event.Anz wrote: Seems like you spent too much time with the Finns, but that's more like a good thing I guess.
yeah, i just can second that. cure your back and then keep doing footbag. you are so damn good right now, and you still have loads of potential.Anz wrote: Have a break from footbag and then continue practicing hard, you're getting good.
it was nice seeing you again, seeing how much better you got and overall a fun time. hope to see you again "soonish" (not in like 3 years or so,next year maybe)
come get your mÃcrÖ¶ bag today
buy one of my bags and help finance my guitar lessons
mäcrö hartig
buy one of my bags and help finance my guitar lessons
mäcrö hartig