1992 UCSB Black Tide
Regionals were at Davis this year. We had played A and B all year, but had combined for the College Series. An idea which didn't work at all. There were too many people who had never practiced together. Subbing was off, and there was little/no flow. Zippy and Garthe were captains.
The most important thing was the wind. no, no, no, THE WIND. It was obscene Saturday; it was nearly impossible to work it upwind. The worst wind I've ever played in, or seen anyone play in. I don't have the stats, but I'm pretty damn sure that every team who won the pull, chose side and won the game. I'm also pretty sure that every damn game was capped. The strategy was to huck, play zone, get the turn and score. We had one guy (Paul "Dootson" Wheaton), who could really throw the hammer - and our strategy was to get it to him as soon as possible and have him huck the blade upwind!!! We only got 30-40yds (he normally could throw endline-endline). Sunday it was windy, but not quite as bad. The only team which had any luck working it up was Stanford. They twice (??) worked it up to within 10 yds of our endzone, only to drop it (don't remember if it was Saturday or Sunday). They had scored a couple against other teams upwind. We won that game at the cap. Losing to us was bitter, and broke them. That year we had been fierce rivals also, and thought we were going to Nationals (amusing anecdote: the Stanford chumps had already bought their tickets before Regionals!! They had to end up selling them to Berkeley).
But... Oregon had not played in any tourneys all year, and had been practicing their hearts out. They were far and away the best team at the tourney. Oregon dominated everyone. They were incredibly athletic, just jumping and leaping and hucking past everyone. The loss to Oregon sucked, but it was ok (for a loss); they were clearly the better team. What really hurt was losing to Berkeley. I think the way it fell out - we played Stanford, beat them. Then played Berkeley, lost and were done. Berkeley went on and beat Stanford to go. Nah, that can't be right. Anyway, however it fell out, we lost to Berkeley and that sucked cause they weren't better than us (although Waller might disagree).
So I remember beating Stanford by 1 (capped, we won the flip), getting beaten pretty handily by Oregon (Sunday I think), and a bitter defeat to Berkeley. All else is a blur.
The most important thing was the wind. no, no, no, THE WIND. It was obscene Saturday; it was nearly impossible to work it upwind. The worst wind I've ever played in, or seen anyone play in. I don't have the stats, but I'm pretty damn sure that every team who won the pull, chose side and won the game. I'm also pretty sure that every damn game was capped. The strategy was to huck, play zone, get the turn and score. We had one guy (Paul "Dootson" Wheaton), who could really throw the hammer - and our strategy was to get it to him as soon as possible and have him huck the blade upwind!!! We only got 30-40yds (he normally could throw endline-endline). Sunday it was windy, but not quite as bad. The only team which had any luck working it up was Stanford. They twice (??) worked it up to within 10 yds of our endzone, only to drop it (don't remember if it was Saturday or Sunday). They had scored a couple against other teams upwind. We won that game at the cap. Losing to us was bitter, and broke them. That year we had been fierce rivals also, and thought we were going to Nationals (amusing anecdote: the Stanford chumps had already bought their tickets before Regionals!! They had to end up selling them to Berkeley).
But... Oregon had not played in any tourneys all year, and had been practicing their hearts out. They were far and away the best team at the tourney. Oregon dominated everyone. They were incredibly athletic, just jumping and leaping and hucking past everyone. The loss to Oregon sucked, but it was ok (for a loss); they were clearly the better team. What really hurt was losing to Berkeley. I think the way it fell out - we played Stanford, beat them. Then played Berkeley, lost and were done. Berkeley went on and beat Stanford to go. Nah, that can't be right. Anyway, however it fell out, we lost to Berkeley and that sucked cause they weren't better than us (although Waller might disagree).
So I remember beating Stanford by 1 (capped, we won the flip), getting beaten pretty handily by Oregon (Sunday I think), and a bitter defeat to Berkeley. All else is a blur.