MOSH 2015

Pictured (Sunday crew, left to right) first row: Kat, Pepe, Sally, Lisa
Second row: Becca, Kiwi, Goemaat, Gabe, Ethan
Third row: Ducky, Nikki, Grefe, Tall Paul, Simon, Jake, Vinny, The Body

I don’t remember the exact conversations that took place or who said what, but I remember the sentiments: Never again. Just plain stupid. Worst tournament ever. For those that were spared the calamity of attending Mosh 2014, you have, at the very least, heard of the tournament described in such tones. As ultimate players, we have had to persevere through cold, wet, or windy tournaments. Everyone has done it, and complained about doing it, but done it nonetheless. Such is the nature of our playing a sport that is so effected by wind and weather that it can render even good teams looking feeble. Mosh 2014 was all of that, the miserable tournament to top all miserable tournaments.

And yet… we went back to Mosh. Thank god we did. 

Saturday

After a night of watching terrible/fantastic/baffling movies (with Death Bed: The Bed That Eats the obvious highlight) and nearly dying while drinking Bai Jiu, myself, Vinny, Moonshine, Simon, and the man, the myth, the legend Shen headed to the fields for the first game of the weekend. We had to make a pit-stop at Taco Bell to satisfy Simon’s breakfast crunchwrap cravings, but we arrived at Edgely otherwise unscathed. We met up with a few of the non-Dickinson pickups that we rounded out our numbers, Gabe, Jenna, and Messiah’s own Ethan Peck, and prepared for the first game against the team Shen had defected to, Big Trouble in Little China. 

The clear highlight of this game, a 13-4 win in favor of The Godfeathers, was the amount of pick-6 that was played. Up 4-3 to start the game, the Feathers weren’t really playing ultimate, instead just catching turnovers and running them back for scores. I’m not kidding, I think our first 4 points were scored in this manner. Eventually we did start playing the sport we were there for, and took a 7-4 halftime lead before running the table in the second half. A comfortable win, and Big Trouble was a fun team that invited us to a post-game spirit circle and more Bai Jiu drinking. Not that anyone wanted any more, but it was a nice touch.

Pictured: Simon and his stump

With game 1 in the bag a little early, we had time to look around at other team’s sidelines and realize that we were woefully unprepared. The St. Joe’s team behind us had one fold-up table stocked with food and drinks, and a second table for slap cup. We had… a stump? So Jake and Moonshine went off to remedy this with rum, apple cider, and Wawa Sizzlis. Unfortunately, while they were away, we struggled against our second opponent, Buttmop (the team otherwise known as Bitmap). Down 5-2, we tried to score right as Jake and co. returned to make it look like we weren’t playing like crap, but of course we didn’t. The look of frustration in Jake’s face as he returned to find us losing was best summarized by Gabe: “Jake showing up to find us losing is like dad coming home from work to find LEGO sprayed all over the floor.” Best quote of the weekend, but not our best game. Feathers fell 13-8.

Facing Call of the Wiest in game 3, we played much better, which must be attributed to increased concentration and focus resulting from our rum and apple juice cocktails. Throwing a mix of zone and man defense, we were simply the better team, generating turnovers and capitalizing off both good field position and hucks when we needed to. On the back of our second win, we rolled into our final game knowing that we could lock up the first seed in the pool with another win. In even better news, the kegs were finally tapped (who decided on that pesky 1PM tapping?). Needing a break from the rum-ciders from earlier, many of us went over to the clubhouse to get beer for the team. Beer in tow, we prepared for the last game. Facing the Fredericksburg Mothers, the Feathers built up and early lead and more or less coasted to victory. We were by far the more talented team, although we did get lazy towards the end of the game and let the Mothers win a few points back. It didn’t matter, though. We won the game and the pool, earning a first round bye Sunday morning in the process.

Due to the tournament scheduling, our pool play bye was during the last round, so while other teams were toiling away, The Godfeathers were among the first get a chance to eat the smoked pig the Millersville alums had prepared for everyone. The pig was a nice addition to the tournament’s offerings, and something I had not seen before. And so we spent some time milling about with each other and the other teams before heading out to relax for a few hours. Moonshine and I accompanied Simon to his house, where I got my ass handed to me in Mario Baseball. Around 9, we met up with many of our teammates at Vinny’s for some card games and revelry. On the way home, Simon and I decided to poison ourselves with Wawa, ordering and eating entirely too much food.  

Pictured: Saturday crew staring into the sun and some Feathers on the line.

Sunday

With a 10:30 start time, one might assume that we’d arrive on-time, rested and ready. But in true Dickinson & Friends fashion, most of the Feathers rolled up to Edgely five minutes before the game was to begin. Kat even locked her keys in her car. So a 10:30 game was out of the question. Luckily, our opponents, the Ithacettes, were coming off of an early morning win, and didn’t mind the delay. When the game mercifully began, we cruised to a 4-1 lead due to sharp defending and calm, 100% offense (and a diving catch off of a Gabe hammer by yours truly). From there, however, we started making dumb mistakes and let the Ithacettes back into the game. Jake called a timeout before half to implore everyone to regain the focus that made this game feel so easy for the first few points, but we never quite took control as emphatically. Granted, we stretched our lead in the second half and were able to take the game 15-10, but this game required us to grind out more points than we would have liked. I actually think the first few points were an accurate reflection of how much more talented we were, but we made the mistake of assuming that we could roll the whole game without, you know, putting in the effort to do so. We made this first win much more difficult than it needed to be, and knew that in order to win our semi-final game against Safety First (Garden State), we’d have to be much better.

 And we were better, thankfully. Safety First was comprised of Garden State players, and some very good players from other teams. They were fast and athletic, and capable of going on four or five point runs, as they did to come back in their previous game. This game started out tight and on-serve, with Safety First taking a 3-2 lead. We were then broken to go down 4-2 and a timeout was needed. Out of the timeout, we picked up our play and took half at 8-5. This was another game with lengthy points, with neither team generating many turnovers defensively so much as forcing them upon themselves offensively. 

Pictured: Field Captain Gutter

That three goal cushion wouldn’t last much longer, however, as Safety First rallied to tie the game at 9-9. We were leading 11-10 when soft cap came on, but proceeded to give up two in a row to trail 12-11. We tied it at 12-12, but couldn’t get the stop we needed and went into game-point receiving, down 13-12. Early hopes of working it down the field to score and tie it were diminished when we turned the disc over in our half due to a miscommunication. Forced to defend a short field, we made them throw a lot of swings between their handlers, their cutters unable to find space in the end zone. The disc made it over to the sideline, where they tried a short up-line cut into the end zone, a cut that had worked well throughout the game. But at that moment, Adam Kracht, aka The Body aka Senor Monday, made a game saving layout D. In his first game of the tournament, he made a tremendous play that gave us the disc back and propelled us to the win. We tied it at 13-13 and, on a back and forth universe point, came out on top as Ethan tossed up a huck for our final score. 14-13. Game over. Exhale. 

The final was against Scorpio (AMP, with a great Simpsons reference). Their game had ended much sooner than ours, and they had a plethora of fresh people on their sideline. Our numbers had shrunk due to injuries and some having to travel home early, and those still playing could have used more time between the tense semifinal and this game. We prepared ourselves knowing that Scorpio was a very good, very deep team, and we were not favored to win. We wanted to give it our best shot, but started out sloppy and sealed our fate by going down early. The final was not a heavily imbalanced game, and Jake did especially well to carry us, but we never recovered the ground we lost early on. Scorpio took Mosh 15-9. The Godfeathers finished 5-2 and in 2^nd place, a year after some of us “vowed” never to return.

Epilogue

What a difference a year makes. I will remember Mosh 2014 as one of the most disappointing tournaments I’ve been to. I will remember Mosh 2015 as one of the best. I think of Mosh 2014 as the beginning of what was a difficult period for me ultimate-wise. Last fall was a time of transition as I was settling in to my new life in DC and still adjusting to being out of school. I found less opportunities to play, and the opportunities I did have were challenged by elements in and out of my control. You can’t fight weather, but to have three tournaments I was looking forward to (Mosh, Fool’s Fest, and Driftwood) so crippled by bad conditions was disheartening. Throw in an injury in the early summer, and what should have been the busiest ultimate time of the year turned into a wash. Ultimate was not quite as much as fun as I remembered.

And then this past weekend happened, and every previous idea I had of Mosh and the last year was laid to rest as we had beautiful weather and played some pretty damn good ultimate. Most importantly, we had a fantastic group. The Godfeathers are, in essence and in name, a Dickinson alumni team. With an alumni team, you get all the joys of reconnecting with those you played ultimate with in college, and it shows how many of us make the effort to stay in touch despite geographical challenges. But there are also the non-Dickinson folks who join up with us. Part of the fun of The Godfeathers is welcoming new people into our circle and getting the chance to play with them. While yes, these friends are there to complete our roster, they also there because we want them to be a part of our culture. The intimacy of the Dickinson Jive Turkeys has not been lost in our post-college lives, despite having to navigate work and real-life commitments. I find that astonishing, and I am thankful for it. If outsiders feel welcomed into that, even better. Dickinson was a small school, after all.

A year removed from the tournament that seemed to begin a downward cycle, I feel a new cycle starting. I am excited to be playing again and want to do everything I can to play more. And I want to be around the people that elevate these weekends from just another tournament to one we’ll look back on fondly. Maybe next year we’ll even win this danged thing. 

Selected Highlights
-Kat’s amazing homemade apple juice
-Pick 6. Always.
-So many hammers
-Death Bed: The Bed That Eats
-Eating a pig’s eyeball (thanks Esser)
-Large sideline/coaching squad
-The Stump
-Not huddling under a rain tent for the entire weekend to prevent freezing to death

-More pictures here