Nationals - Four weeks late

Prediction number 1 (and further down on the same page is number 2) for Chain at the big show this year

Prediction (or better said, an analysis headed into the Series) number 3 for Chain

Despite high hopes and pre-Series accomplishments in 08, we nearly lost the Sectional championship game in Athens. And you'll remember that we lost the Regional Championship game in Austin.

But in the end, it wasn't a prediction or seeding that got us to the Semi-finals. It was play from people like Russell and Rob White, Cricket and Asa, guys who played their best over this long weekend affair.

And when looked at next to our Sectionals and Regionals results, Sarasota was a different story entirely. Putting the Bravo game behind us, and finishing strong games against Sub-Zero and PoNY had us feeling primed for Friday and beyond. In this mid-tournament post, Barrett describes where we were headed after Thursday play.

An excerpt from the UPA's write-up on Friday's games tells the story of our two strong victories against powerhouse teams that day:

[Late in the first power-pool game Friday...] "On Revolver’s next opportunity, they turned it on their goal line and [Chain's] Josh Markette punched it in for the score. Later, Chain produced another upwind break and coasted to a 15-8 victory. Josh Greenough said after the game, "Chain Lightning… they’re just good."

[In power-pool game two against Ring] "Chain pressed to close the game out early, and Schrafft responded with a defensive block leading to a Joel Wooten score [for Chain]. Dusty Smith got a heads up D on a telegraphed throw that quickly lead to another Wooten score and a 15-10 triumph. Chain’s victory secured them a first or second seed [in Saturday's elite eight bracket play]..."

The results of Friday's games put us against the team who knocked us out in 2007, Toronto's GOAT. Big guys with ambitious throw choices is their claim to fame. They had played an extra game Friday and looked tired half-way through our quarters game. Here's a little blurb on how we handled the second half against them:

"The backbreaker came ... when [Chain's] White came up big again with a monstrous sky over John Hassell, an impressive feat that had the crowd oohing. [White, aka] Yahztee got the 35 [-yard] bonus by streaking to the end zone for the score."

With the win against GOAT, we set up a semi-finals game against Boston's Ironside, who we were 1-1 against so far this season. In this game, we traded for a long while. I didn't play my best, and had a personally embarrassing moment when I was outrun to the back cone on a huck from my teammate :( That, plus two throwing errors, made this my worst game. (We got back both of the throwing errors and scored those points.)

We ended up losing to Boston 15-10.

• Here's a link to AJ's blog about the tournament.
• Long-time friend, former gdub teammate, and Ironside player Faust posted this.

The semi-finals loss is motivation in the gym now, but it'll take alot more work to get back to Sarasota with the same opportunities next year. The team will be different, but hopefully we'll surpass what we've done so far.

Saturday night's partying deserves another post entirely :)

Sunday we watched most of the Open finals game and heard periodic updates from the road on the Women's ... Riot started with an 11-0 opening run but eventually lost to San Francisco's Fury. Congrats to Kate and the Bay Area women!

Now its the post-season, time for training: lifting, swimming, drinking more beer and pushing cars.