Continuing on my new and sporadic trend of editorialized dumps, let Friday begin:
Ultimate is sooo hard
Where does ultimate fit on the ESPN sports difficulty list? I honestly think ultimate is more in tune with tennis and basketball due to the complexity of throws. Coupled with physicality (bumping/layouts), ultimate has got to be comparable to other physically impactual sports like hockey and football (obviously to a lesser degree). I’d put ultimate just above basketball but under wrestling and martial arts…wait a second, is it possible this list is bat-shit out of order in the first place? I think so. Here’s how I’d do it.
- Boxing/MMA
- Football
- Hockey
- Wrestling
- Martial Arts
- Ultimate
- Basketball
- Tennis
- Soccer
- Other sports that apparently exist…jk jk we’re all delicate and unique snowflakes…
Glory Hog
San Francisco Revolve Mobile Dogfish announced their MLU roster for the season. Lots of familiar faces and names continues to make the MLU experiment very appealing to current ultimate fans. Just a year ago, Club players didn’t dare enter into this pro ultimate fray, but are now jumping on it like it’s hot. Well, because it is, right? What changed? Did the AUDL prove that they can get players on ESPN so now everyone wants to have a microphone shoved in their face? Was the Triple Crown really that unappealing that current players want something new? How will all of this affect the club season anyway? Isn’t it awesome that I’m dancing around stating my opinions as the Skyd Editor-in-Chief/pope by asking provocative questions?
Ultiworld Cares
Can I recognize for a second how awesome it is that we have not one but two awesome publications covering the sport of ultimate? When we started Skyd three years ago (it feels like forever) there was nothing. Yes, a few blogs that updated infrequently, but there was essentially no concept of media. When Skyd arrived to cover our first tournament people were afraid of us. Then they quickly grew to love us. Now they demand that we cover more than our volunteer-based organizations can cover, but aspire to cover.
Enter Ultiworld, who is rapidly making a name for themselves with their hard work and vigor. Bryan Jones (voted sexiest ultimate correspondent in 2011 and 2012) used to complain that the only way he could find out about ultimate was to read his own articles. I don’t know Charlie Eisenhood (editor of Ultiworld), but he’s doing great stuff for ultimate and making Bryan Jones that much happier. You may not agree with him or me some of the time, but if you don’t appreciate the often fantastic coverage you’re getting by two organizations that are being driven by their love of the game, then I have some choice words for you. “I challenge you.” I challenge you to work harder. I challenge you to organize with the same professional aspirations that both Skyd and Ultiworld share. Think you can do better than Skyd or Ultiworld? Prove it.
Don’t get me wrong. We want to be held to a higher standard and appreciate constructive feedback as we strive to bring ultimate to the community. Our success is built on your interest as much as it is built on your support. But it’s good, every once in a while, to appreciate how far we’ve come in just three years. I love that I can listen to Ultiworld discuss in depth articles on Skyd like they did with BVH’s recent piece. I love that there are people willing to step up to the line out of relative obscurity to make ultimate matter — to us.
Let the World Games begin
Hats off to Jonathan Neeley for a great piece about the World Games tryouts. I now know everything about the World Games and it sounds pretty awesome. While I will continue to hold a grudge that I wasn’t accepted as a tryout, I’m glad there will be at least one opportunity for players to have a chance to live up to their reputations. Because that’s totally how things should be.
RISE UP Already
RISE UP is an amazing project dedicated to professionally teaching ultimate skills and strategy. It’s led by one of the most passionate and visionary leaders I’ve met in the ultimate community, Mario O’Brien (he raps, folks). What happens when great minds like Mario, Andy Lovseth, Ben Wiggins and *cough* yours truly come together to make something they believe in? I believe that’s called art.
I guess I have a lot to ponder
Here’s an awesome clip from Zoolander to cap off your week. Why? Because I think it’s funny and I think you will too.
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