bragging

if i can't brag about myself on my blog, where can i?

i had a freakin' awesome winter league game tonight. freakin' awesome. i'm talking D here. OK, so there are some not-s0-good players in winter league who throw ill-advised throws to the girl i'm covering, but still. they weren't thrown directly at me; i had to anticipate them and GO TO the bad throw and knock it away. in other words, the throw wasn't so bad that had i not D'd it, it still would have gone into the ground. oh no. i was a factor in our 1-point victory.

i marked up against kelley. kelley. skinny, good, fast kelley. (who didn't go out to the bar afterwards...i hope it wasn't because of me, because of the game...that's a ridiculous thought, there are a thousand other reasons why she and pete didn't go out -- 900 of which could be due to pete.) anyways, we decided to force backhand. good decision. i got two (count them: two!) point blocks on her (OK, so one was a really nice, in-your-face point block; the other was just a piece, but a good-sized piece, enough to make the disc wobble into the ground. yes!). good decision. and i forced at least two other back-hand throw-aways and another flick throw-away when we switched up the force at my suggestion. OK, so maybe i shouldn't be taking credit for unforced errors, but i'd like to think i was in her head.

in-/short-cut D's: my shining point was a marathon one in which i got no fewer than 3 (or was it 4?) D's in which i physically smacked the disc into the ground. 2 were in nearly the exact same spot on the field, one of which i was poaching off onto shannon (that felt good: poaching). the third was a lay-out D into the sidelines -- i anticipated the throw from len, who is not that good, and so it wasn't that great of a throw, decision-wise or execution-wise, but i must say, it was still a pretty sweet anticipation and lay-out D. aw yeeeah. i forced at least 2 bad throws to kelley that point as well, being close on her, so as to make the thrower over-throw her. (again, i'd like to think i was in their heads, but i'm probably giving myself more credit than is due.)

deep D's: i had 2. one was a deep huck to kelley. she had a couple of steps on me, but i had position and a 5th-gear i wasn't expecting. but i still think she had the advantage...until i jumped up and tipped it away. (my reading of discs and timing of jumping has been good lately -- that's nice b/c it's something i felt had been suffering later in the season.)

and then. on double game point. we had been down by 4. we came back to tie it at 12's. it was do or die time. last point. point to decide the victor. i honestly would have been content to sit it out. i wasn't in on the point before and it would have been far too presumptuous of me to take clare out b/c it was DGP. but wait. what's that they're doing? is that kelley i see going in? they're going 3-2. that means i'm in. oh, bad decision, team purple.

i run down on the pull. i'm guarding kelley. what is she going to do? i'm a little nervous. but determined that the game-ending point will not be scored on my watch. kelley is just hanging out in the stack. paul cuts in from the back of the stack, like he's done all game long. kelley is still standing there. it's clear she's not going deep, so i start to poach off a little and take notice of what shannon is doing. she had been in the front of the stack, setting up a cut. a deep cut. i see paul fake and look at her. she takes off. he throws. i get on my horse and go deep with her and the throw. there's no way i can get it. it's perfectly placed to the back of the endzone and she has too many steps on me. but wait. i'm gaining. it's floating. we all 3 (me, shannon, the disc) arrive at the same point in space at the same time. i jump. i extend my arm. i am jumping over her, trying not to hit her, not least because i'm concerned about fouling her, but i'm worried about hurting her, re-injuring her knee, her ACL. time stops. i hit the disc, cleanly. but it's not enough. she -- and i -- has a second chance at the disc. and that's where i disregard all concerns for her and my safety -- we were right at the soccer goal post, dangerously close to my head -- and i lunge to hit the disc again. i actually don't know if i hit it again, and i actually thought shannon might have come down with it. but in my lunging (and i'm sure she was lunging too), we collapse. we make contact. in a bad way.

we are in a pile on the ground. she is on top of me. i hear her say, "it's OK. it's just my bad knee." i'm like, "wha???!!!" she says to me, "don't move, OK?" i reply, "sure, fine, yes, OK." i was in a perfectly safe position, prone on the ground. my shin hurt, but not in a bad way. she removes herself from me, and she is fine. i apologize profusely for the unintended dangerousness of the play, and to my relief she accepts sincerely -- there is not a hint of anger or hard-feelings in her response. it is then that i look around, notice people walking the other way, and see the disc lying on the ground, to the left of where we had been piled: i got the D.

i don't actually remember the rest. i'm pretty sure we turned it again before scoring for good. wait, now i'm sure of it. george knight had a loop I/O flick that went beyond olen's reach out the back of the endzone. i don't remember how we got the second D. it may have been the one where chris's guy essentially missed the catch, chris got a piece of it, and i knocked it to the ground. but that could have been earlier in the game, too.

end of story: we score and win. what a game! what an ending! what D! my throws were OK, too. i had one turn-over: an ill-advised hammer to GK. gah. but my flicks, while not stellar, were catchable and accurate. i threw a lot of backhands, so that was nice :) and i had fun at the bar after -- i did two carbombs with shannon. she is still talking to me.

oh: i have a killer bruise on my shin from where i collided with shannon's cleat, cleat-side up. battle wound: nice.

time for a bite to eat, a shower, then bed. in that order.

good night!