Not that I’m implying anything, but…

After a rainout last week, Ultimate action was back on this last Thursday. I got there early as usual to warm up and with not having played any in over a week, I was a bit rusty on the throws. By the end of warm up though, the throws were doing exceptionally well.

No one knew anyone from the team we were playing. From the look of them, they were just a bunch of young guys. So we thought we would expect the usual from young guy team which is fast running and never tiring, but not much skill in throwing or actual game play. Boy, were we in for a surprise.

During warm-ups, my stomach started growling a bit and feeling queasy. I thought it would pass as it usually does, but shortly after the teams lined up to begin the game, my stomach was no longer my friend.

I knew nature wasn’t going to stop or even delay for this game. Ultimate league is played on fields that are way out in the middle of no where, and as such, has no restroom facilities.

This is going to be a problem.

I saw that we had plenty of people on our team, and we had easily scored the first point. So, I grabbed my keys and headed off to find a restroom. It took around 10 minutes to find the closest gas station.

I came back about 30 minutes later. The look on the team was drastically different than when I left. I asked them what the score was and they said 9-6. Them.

Crap.

We play games to 13, so we’re awfully close to losing the game. When I got back, I started doing what I always do, and those of you who have watched sporting events with me can attest, I scream. A lot.

The screaming got the team a bit more fired up, but still not enough, the score then became 11-8. Still down by 3. They only have to get 2 more points.

A timeout was called, and we came out of it determined. The score was 11-9, then 11-10, then 12-10, then 12-11, then finally, 12-12. We were tied up.

Although we play to 13, you have to win by 2 with a hard cap at 15. Hard cap means that whoever gets to 15 wins if you can’t win by 2.

So it went on back and forth. They score, then we score. They score, then we score. This was such an evenly matched game. The defenses were great, but the offense was always just a little bit better.

The score was now 14-14. The next point would win and they had the disc.

By now, all the other games were finished so they all came on our field to watch. There was quite a crowd of people, all of course, with lots of alcohol in them already. So a very lively bunch. By now, the excitement of the game was catching on.

I mentioned earlier that they were a young team and they showed all the athleticism of youn’ens. The only difference was that they didn’t have any weakness of the typical young team. They took care of the disc and had no turnovers. No stupid throws and were well organized. Their guys were fast and caught everything. Never cracked under pressure.

Almost never.

We knew we had to stop them. The next point will end this. Our guys stepped up as the last point started with a great D (defensive play) from our side. That was to be quickly followed by a great D of their own. This went back and forth. It wasn’t a matter of bad plays, just the defense for both sides really tightened up.

The pressure did slightly rear its head as one of their best players dropped the disc in the end zone (there were defenders blocking the view so he didn’t really see it coming). When he dropped it, the crowd let out a collective ‘Ohhhhhhh’.

We capitalized on it and moved the disc down the field. As one of their defenders slipped slightly, our guy raced towards the end zone. Our guy with the disc saw what was happening and send it (the disc) down the field.

The game was over.

The crowed roared at the spectacular ending. A miracle comeback against a really good team.

I’m sure you’re all bored by this, but I wanted to write it down so I won’t forget. It was probably the most exciting game I’ve ever played in.

Have a good weekend everyone!