Saturday, June 09, 2007
Getting the hang of this league thing (4 for 21)
Not too long ago, I posted jubilantly about winning the second league championship of my career, and the first in 17 tries. Now my personal winning percentage since the end of last fall is a neat 75%, as I captured the championship in two of the three spring leagues I played in.
Two of these leagues were fairly novel experiences for me. The first of those two was the first men's league I have ever played in. This was offered as a supplemental league to the mixed leagues by the local organization. The games were played on Sunday morning, before the mixed games started, so it was possible to double dip. This league was notable for a pretty high level of play. Every team was capable of putting out a full line of players with club experience, although a lot of these were masters players. In fact, one team, our finals opponents, were entirely masters eligible.
The finals game was a seesaw affair. The old guys jumped out to an early lead. They were running very efficient offense - using the "Boston" 4-man play, staying patient, and using any mismatches they had. On defense, they generated some key turns with their zone - ironically, most of our turns came from our oldest and most experienced players. We adjusted and started beating their zone with regularity, and got a few big D's ourselves, and managed to pull close at halftime. We came out in the second half with a lot more energy, and we got a lot smarter about matchups. We pulled ahead late in the second half, and then both teams got tired and we had some very costly and unnecessary turns. I was pretty sure the cap was going to deny us a comeback, but we managed a four goal run to close the game out and win by two.
The game was a nice contrast of styles, with the old guys running a mix of zone and man, and a straight stack offense, while we ran almost exclusively force backhand man defense and a horizontal stack offense. Personally, I had a pretty good game - two turns, including one of my three hucks, but a couple D's, a lot more touches than my man, and several goals, including a 60 yard backhand that tied the game in the final run.
I thought the experience of a men's league was a lot of fun. I don't think the spirit level was any worse than the mixed leagues, and the level of play was really high. I hope that (as I mentioned a while back) the league goes to a "overflow men play men's league" model, which will both increase the size of the men's league and improve the gender ratio of the mixed league.
The other "novel" league I played in was a clique league. I've played in a corporate league before, but it's been a long time, and other corporate leagues I've played in always required some ostensible link other than "we want to play together". This league was entirely open registration, and it showed in the talent spread. My team, which had several of my club teammates as well as some other strong pickups, probably had an average margin of victory in the 2:1 range. There was exactly one team that gave us trouble - another club-heavy team that had a couple of my teammates as well. In the regular season matchup (where we were missing all our tall guys except me), they beat us by 1. In the finals, we returned the favor.
We struggled in finals since our women had to play savage. Normally Yelena and Emily are a huge part of our success, but Yelena was worn out by halftime and Emily wasn't there. Still, we managed to gut out the win despite a pretty ugly final few points. I'm obviously biased, but I thought they made two very bad calls in the last three points, including a RIDICULOUS speed-up stall call on a goal. The game left a bad taste in my mouth despite the win, and it would have left a much worse taste had we lost.
The third league, the only one I didn't win, was the draft mixed B league. I played the B league in order to play with my wife. Considering how many goals I threw to her this spring, though, I think she's ready to play in the A league. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to play in the playoffs of this league, as the first round of B league playoffs was scheduled across from the men's finals (the rest of the men's league playoffs had been played over the previous week). I was the only player in the finals of men's league who was in B league, so I was the only person screwed by this setup. While I'm very confident my B league team would have won their opening game with my help (they lost by three), I seriously doubt we would have won the league, so I will count this as a loss.
Still, 4/21 sounds a lot better than 1/17, which is where I sat last fall.
I'm not playing any summer leagues - partly because my new job is really far from the fields, and I can get a good workout with lunchtime basketball in stead of fighting rush hour to play mediocre ultimate. I might join up late to a league somewhere though. We'll see.
Two of these leagues were fairly novel experiences for me. The first of those two was the first men's league I have ever played in. This was offered as a supplemental league to the mixed leagues by the local organization. The games were played on Sunday morning, before the mixed games started, so it was possible to double dip. This league was notable for a pretty high level of play. Every team was capable of putting out a full line of players with club experience, although a lot of these were masters players. In fact, one team, our finals opponents, were entirely masters eligible.
The finals game was a seesaw affair. The old guys jumped out to an early lead. They were running very efficient offense - using the "Boston" 4-man play, staying patient, and using any mismatches they had. On defense, they generated some key turns with their zone - ironically, most of our turns came from our oldest and most experienced players. We adjusted and started beating their zone with regularity, and got a few big D's ourselves, and managed to pull close at halftime. We came out in the second half with a lot more energy, and we got a lot smarter about matchups. We pulled ahead late in the second half, and then both teams got tired and we had some very costly and unnecessary turns. I was pretty sure the cap was going to deny us a comeback, but we managed a four goal run to close the game out and win by two.
The game was a nice contrast of styles, with the old guys running a mix of zone and man, and a straight stack offense, while we ran almost exclusively force backhand man defense and a horizontal stack offense. Personally, I had a pretty good game - two turns, including one of my three hucks, but a couple D's, a lot more touches than my man, and several goals, including a 60 yard backhand that tied the game in the final run.
I thought the experience of a men's league was a lot of fun. I don't think the spirit level was any worse than the mixed leagues, and the level of play was really high. I hope that (as I mentioned a while back) the league goes to a "overflow men play men's league" model, which will both increase the size of the men's league and improve the gender ratio of the mixed league.
The other "novel" league I played in was a clique league. I've played in a corporate league before, but it's been a long time, and other corporate leagues I've played in always required some ostensible link other than "we want to play together". This league was entirely open registration, and it showed in the talent spread. My team, which had several of my club teammates as well as some other strong pickups, probably had an average margin of victory in the 2:1 range. There was exactly one team that gave us trouble - another club-heavy team that had a couple of my teammates as well. In the regular season matchup (where we were missing all our tall guys except me), they beat us by 1. In the finals, we returned the favor.
We struggled in finals since our women had to play savage. Normally Yelena and Emily are a huge part of our success, but Yelena was worn out by halftime and Emily wasn't there. Still, we managed to gut out the win despite a pretty ugly final few points. I'm obviously biased, but I thought they made two very bad calls in the last three points, including a RIDICULOUS speed-up stall call on a goal. The game left a bad taste in my mouth despite the win, and it would have left a much worse taste had we lost.
The third league, the only one I didn't win, was the draft mixed B league. I played the B league in order to play with my wife. Considering how many goals I threw to her this spring, though, I think she's ready to play in the A league. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to play in the playoffs of this league, as the first round of B league playoffs was scheduled across from the men's finals (the rest of the men's league playoffs had been played over the previous week). I was the only player in the finals of men's league who was in B league, so I was the only person screwed by this setup. While I'm very confident my B league team would have won their opening game with my help (they lost by three), I seriously doubt we would have won the league, so I will count this as a loss.
Still, 4/21 sounds a lot better than 1/17, which is where I sat last fall.
I'm not playing any summer leagues - partly because my new job is really far from the fields, and I can get a good workout with lunchtime basketball in stead of fighting rush hour to play mediocre ultimate. I might join up late to a league somewhere though. We'll see.
# posted by Tarr : 6/09/2007 10:49:00 PM
