Sidelines 2012 – 02 – 03

Welcome to this SuperBowl edition of Sidelines! But only because the game is Sunday, I predict a boringly efficient game, and I really don’t care which of Tom or Eli gets another ring. Wouldn’t you rather see Ray Lewis and Patrick Willis headlining this game than possibly the frailest quarterbacks around?  Anyways, I digress…

This week on Sidelines:

U23s!

The international scene

NYNY v Big Brother

The AUDL

Tom Crawford

Starting with the biggest news of the week, the 2013 location for

U23s being announced. Come July 22 of next summer, the ultimate world will congregate at York U in Toronto, Ontario, to compete in Men’s, Women’s and Mixed divisions. Will Canada repeat? They’ll have the home crowd, I know I’ll be in it. Book it off, July 22-28 of 2013, definitely worth spending vacation days on.

But if watching come world class ultimate isn’t your idea of a vacation, maybe playing it is. Heading out of country? Experience ultimate in another culture and a language you haven’t quite gotten the hang of, it’s a different game. I’d definitely hit up the Phnom Penh Big Phat Hat Tournament if I happened to be in town. FFindr may not have every tournament out there, but every once in a while it’ll lead you to a gem.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me take you back to a simpler time, when lavender was a valid jersey colour.

NYNY you might recognize, but Big Brother, maybe not so much. (Don’t worry, Google didn’t either.) Precursor to the Boston’s Ironside, Big Brother is a throwback to a bygone era. Still waiting to see a retro pro team in tie-dyed shirts though, those go together like bacon and eggs don’t they?

AUDL tryouts and training camps are picking up steam as winter fades, and competition looks pretty fierce. In Connecticut, top performers Eric Rathbun of Central Connecticut (running a 4.86 40, compared to Usain Bolt at just under 4.4) and Husayn Carnegie  of NYU (jumping 43.5 inches), among others, look to fill out the Constitution’s roster. As such a young league, the AUDL will be comprised mostly of the younger generation, as our college friends display. I must say, if there’s any variety of ultimate that’s worth putting on tv, it’s the college game, because that is some exciting ultimate to watch. I’d much rather see Florida v Florida State or CUT v UBC (etc), or Connecticut v Detroit, this Sunday than Chris Collingsworth fawning over Tom and Eli.

Our last story comes out of Pennsylvania, the Wharton school to be exact. While Tom Crawford, CEO for USA Ultimate was in town, he sat down with “Knowledge@Wharton High School” and talked some ultimate, about the spirit of the game and where he sees everything going. Really interesting piece, lots of emphasis on youth, seems like a flexible guy, no Gary Bettman in him, I like it.

Well, that about wraps it up. TGIF from us at Iamultimate, now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go play ultimate until the wee hours of the morning. Because I’ll be asleep. :)

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