Chain Lightning's Rob White skies Doublewide's Kiran Thomas for a goal. Photo courtesy of Ben Deneka.
From the first point in the Regional finals on Sunday, it was easy to tell that things were just a little bit different for Chain Lightning in this year’s UPA Series. The team from Atlanta brought home its first Regional victory in three years with a 15-10 over Texas’ Doublewide.
After Doublewide caught the opening pull it was only a matter of throws before Chain’s Mark Poole (our former summer league captain) sold out for a layout block on a breakmark throw. Poole had to take an injury after his mark landed on him but his replacement, AJ Tiarsmith, would find John “Kid” Hammond in the back of the end zone with a hammer.
Though Tiarsmith’s hammer was anything but advised, it was clear that Chain now had, not only the mentality, but also the talent to execute something that it hadn’t done in three years, win the South Region.
Competition and sparks flew fast, often and early in Atlanta today at the UPA South Open Regionals. 16 teams from all over the southern United States met today in order to decide which two teams would move on and all but six teams have been removed from the competition.
(We don’t have photos at the moment but hopefully we will soon. If you were out there today and you’d like to have your photos posted on this blog then e-mail us your pictures!)
Being from Atlanta, we know better than to question the motives of one Stuart Downs. That being said, the RSD crowd has been a little bit upset about the lack of brackets and seedings thus far in the Club Regionals process, rightfully so, we might add. That being said, Mr. Downs has recently been a little bit upset about the manner in which the RSD crowd has expressed its upsetness.
Now, there’s no point in everyone trying to figure out what’s been going on in everyone else’s corner at this point. What matters is, we have brackets and seedings!
We think the tournament organizers got just about everything right. However, if one were to quickly refer to that same RSD thread that we linked you to earlier, you might find a particularly convincing argument for El Diablo to be seeded in front of GRIT. Against common opponents Diablo’s record is 2-2 while GRIT’s record is 0-2. Not to mention the way that GRIT backed into the second place finish at Texas Sectionals.
However, we have been alive for probably about the same amount of time that Stuart Downs has been tooling fools on the field. For that reason, we bow to his supremacy when it comes to seeding and apart from that the seedings may be more or less perfect. (Aside from FTS’ argument for a higher seed, but once again, we bow to older, wiser minds.)
Now, on to the important things. Games we plan on watching.
Obviously the most interesting games are going to come in the second and third rounds on Saturday in the championship bracket and then again in the first, second and third rounds on Sunday. We plan on making sure that we have full of most of those games, and round by round score updates for the whole tournament. You can attain those by following us on Twitter or taking a glance at the box to the side of your internet window.
We’re still looking for a photographer so don’t be surprised if we walk up to you on Saturday and ask for your pictures or if you want to take pictures for us, shoot us an e-mail. We promise it will be worth your while! (Our lawyer takes this opportunity to point out that we offer no compensation, monetary or otherwise, only our eternal gratitude and completely appropriate affection.)
We look forward to meeting captains that we have traded e-mails with and watching a weekend of Ultimate at one of its highest levels. Check back here for updates and the like!
Atlanta's Chain Lightning poses after winning the Chesapeake Open. Photo by Kevin Leclaire. Courtesy of Rob Barrett.
On a rainy Thursday night in northern Washington four young men careened out of control in a rental car and flipped twice before finally coming to a stop. Those four men were Atlanta, Georgia’s Asa Wilson, Rob White, Paul Vandenberg and David Berendes, all members of Chain Lightning. Wilson, White, Vandenberg and Berendes all emerged from the vehicle unharmed and unwittingly stumbled into the perfect metaphor for their team’s history.
El Diablo's Bryan Sansbury moves the disc up the field at Club Sectionals. Photo courtesy of facebook stalking. Taken by Michael Gastaldo's camera.
Every year in every sport where there is any semblance of a playoff system there is that team. You know the team, the Cinderella story, the team that, by anyone’s account, doesn’t belong in its surroundings. Last year in the UPA Open Club Series, that team was El Diablo. A team that, prior to the last two seasons had made very little noise in the Ultimate world, somehow, the team that is a blend of players from Georgia and South Carolina made Nationals and no one saw it coming.
This year, captain Mike Nash and the rest of the Diablo boys were ready to be more than just that team. They had their time in the sun as the Cinderella story and they were ready to become true contenders.
Doublewide poses after a tournament this season. Photo courtesy of Max Cook.
It’s hard to imagine that a team that is the reigning two-time region champion would spend a season living in the shadow of another team in that same region. However, such has been life for Austin, Texas’ Doublewide this season. Atlanta, Georgia’s Chain Lightning has been lauded and heralded as a potential Finalist in Sarasota this season and it seems that Doublewide has fallen by the wayside, despite Doublewide’s title holding position.
Perhaps it’s because Chain performed admirably at the biggest tournament of the preseason, Seattle’s Emerald City Classic, despite some incredible team drama (of the car accident variety) and won arguably the second biggest tournament of the preseason, The Chesapeake Open. Perhaps it’s because Doublewide has seen three tournament finals thus far this season and not come away with a single victory. Whatever the reason, Doublewide captain Max Cook is not concerned with perception.
Movin' On Up 