Log

February 09, 2010
 
FRISBEE INVENTOR DIES:
You may not know Fred Morrison, but you know his work. Morrison, who died Tuesday at age 90, used his experience as a World War II fighter pilot to design the flying chunk of plastic we call a Frisbee. Originally labeled "Pluto Platter" and "Whirlo-Way" by Morrison, the flying saucers became a hit after he licensed them to Wham-O in 1957 and named them Frisbees. According to the Wall Street Journal, Morrison's fascination with the objects began at an early age, when as a teenager he would throw popcorn lids and cake pans on the beach in California. His invention eventually created new sports entirely, with ultimate Frisbee an organized sport on many college campuses.
January 11, 2006
 
One of our regular players for the past 6 or 7 years, Mark Pace, was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. The tumor was successfully removed on December 19, 2005 and he just started chemotherapy and radiation treatment to remove the "residue" this week.

He and his wonderful wife have been keeping copious notes about their experience and research and they keep track of everything, and I mean everything, at the following blog:
teamtumorerradication.blogspot.com

Mark, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you a sound and speedy recovery throughout this process. If you face this challenge anything remotely like how you throw a forehand throw, without fail, deep in the right corner of the enzone, you'll have no problem at all.
May 23, 2005
 
Jerry, Jerry, Jerry... oh man... Jerry A was in full effect tonight.

This one was so weird, I don't even know how to explain it, so try to follow along.

The Darks messed up their first pass from the 0 yard-line and dropped it in the endzone, somewhere around -3 yards (this is probably the best way to explain this.) Dan from the Whites picks up the disc and walks to the 0 yard-line, which is the White's 100 yard-line, appropriately. Nobody was really moving, so he dumped it back to the 95 yard-line to NewGuy Sean.

This "momentum" must've gotten Jerry all worked up, so he started running ... the wrong way. NewGuy Sean passed it to Jerry, at which time everyone else paused and thought... "hey, aren't... they... going the wrong... way?"

Jerry and NewGuy Sean proceeded to pass it back and forth all the way down to the wrong endzone as the Whites screamed "Wrong way, wrong way" and the Darks yelled "Go, go, go!" Everyone was rolling.

Then... oh yes, there's more. After 4 or so games of domination of the Darks, we were on our final game and finally, the Whites were ahead 3 to 1. They scored one more point and... let's add that up... 3 + 1 = 4, Jerry insisted "That's game!"

A few people start to walk off when everyone realized that it wasn't over yet. That just got the Darks worked up again for an incredible come back as they won it 6 to 4.

It was classic Jerry. At the end, he even nicknamed himself... Wrong-Way Jerry. I love it!

Anthony didn't show up this week for Jules to pick on, so her new target was Augie. Who's next on the list? I sure hope it's not me. Only time will tell.
May 16, 2005
 
16 people showed today to throw the disc around... and that's basically what we did: Threw the disc around... too bad nobody was on the other end to catch the damn thing. There were so many dropped passes and just plain 'ol bad passes that it reminded me of the early days of the sauce. It was pitiful. Plus, my team got their asses kicked up and down the field, regardless of our "unstoppable" zone defense (which was more like swiss cheese). But I'm not bitter or anything.

But in light of the massacre that was happening, Jules (on our team) was constantly taking Anthony (one of the best receivers) directly to school with her blocks. One time, she jumped up, blocked a pass coming to him, it flopped up for another opportunity, and she pounded it back down to the ground with authority.... the crowd went wild. The very next possession, she blocked another pass directed at him. It was a beautiful display of David vs. Goliath as Anthony subbed out to take a break. He had a great sense of humor about it though (you have to have thick skin to play with this bunch of hooligans) and proceeded to call her out for next week. Can't wait to see what happens.
May 02, 2005
 
Eighteen people showed up tonight, the most in a long time. That gave us two subs for each side. The funny part was when someone from the line ran in after a point yelling "Last Back!" ... and nobody was running. In fact, most of us were pretty excited to take a little break for a point or two. We're so out-of-shape, it ain't even funny.

Two guys visiting from Japan, Eric and Hiroshi, joined in. They used to play with the UCI group a while back, so it bumped up the level of effort just a tad. Everyone thought Eric was from Kenya because he was running circles around us. Clayton, another UCI guy, was surprising everyone with his bursts of energy, blocking a pass at one line, then immediately scoring at the other end.

Wise cracks were flying left and right as usual. Calvin overthrew to Mark then yelled something like "Oh, I thought you were actually going to sprint!" Then, after I got schooled by Eric, Mark mentions "He obviously didn't get married and have children." Ouch... Then there was Jerry Anderson, who got blamed for everyone else's bad throws, as usual.

A highlight definitely worth mentioning was when Julie faked Ken out of his shoes to score one of her many points. However, Ken retaliated with some of his dead-on, laser beam, long distance forehand throws. Brian continued to quietly sneak in and block a ton of passes. And Anthony made his usual outstanding ESPN-style endzone catches. But, the play-of-the-day has to go to Nandi for his elegant two-handed layout sliding catch. It was beautiful. In fact, he even got these weird paper cuts between his fingers from the blades of grass. Good times.
April 04, 2005
 
For the first time ever, we had 7 on 7 for our first game of the season. It was great!

Despite Joe breaking his wrist mountain biking a couple months ago and Jim breaking his finger TWO friggen days ago, we still had a great turnout. A bunch of the same 'ol faces with one new guy named Nandi, who made a couple of really good plays.

We've had about 20 new signups over the off season, which totals to about 70 active people on the distribution list. So we should have plenty of players throughout this season.

We also had the long awaited return of Vadim, who we haven't seen since he sprained his ankle last season, and Jerry Anderson, who tried to show off with a diving slide catch (but missed) and was the only one to whine about his poor little blisters.

Augie brought out his Port-a-field, which is regulation size (much larger than we're used to playing on). Add on top of that the fact that nobody has worked out in six months, we were completely wiped out after the first point. But it was all good. We still played until dark. And I'm sure I'll be sore all week.
November 14, 2004
 
We finally got the chance to hook up with the Fullerton Crew today to throw the disc around on their turf. Rocket Sauce representation was a little low in the beginning, so we just mixed up teams and played for a while. Eventually more people showed up to give us 7, so we started a friendly little scrimmage of Rocket Sauce vs Fullerton. We started off strong, but lost momentum once the score was 3 to 3. It was down hill from there as they showed us a true ass whoopin'. I'm not one to give excuses, so I'll just leave it at that.

The game itself was pretty competitive. There was at lease one semi-heated argument about whether or not stepping on the line was considered in bounds or out of bounds. In a normal Rocket Sauce game, we'd say "well, it's close enough... just take the point." Especially when you're using imaginary lines and no cameras to give you the instant replay. But one guy insisted that we stepped on the imaginary line, so we were out of bounds. Adam insisted that the line was in bounds and it got a little uncomfortable. They gave us the point... which didn't matter in the end, which is exactly why I prefer to let things like that slide.

A big group of guys had to take off, so we mixed the teams again and played to 5. Overall, it was a great day. The weather was perfect and more importantly, Augie supplied beer for those that stayed to chat a little longer.

Big "Thanks" to Augie for getting the two groups together.
November 01, 2004
 
Tonight was our first night game in a long time. We showed up at TeWinkle park with nobody else there and two baseball fields and a soccar field completely lit up. It was glowing and seemed WAY too good to be true.

In the usual Rocket Sauce style, we set up cones and expected to get kicked out eventually. As we were warming up, a handful of teenaged girls start stretching and cart-wheeling on the side of the field. Then "The Man" comes over to tell us we needed a permit. I knew it... I knew it was just too good to be true.

The Man was cool though because he turned on some lights for us in an unused, third baseball field. He really didn't have to do that. We looked for him after the game to slip him a twenty, but couldn't find him. Augie's looking into getting a permit for next week.

The game itself was awesome. We had 6 on 6 and everyone was extremely wiped out at the end. We were all used to playing only an hour or so at the end of daylight savings time. So tonight we played hard with what seemed like an endless amount of light.

We'll see what happens next week. The Man was talking something about $35-50 an hour for the field. We all agreed that we'd rather pay him and let him pay the city (wink wink) if he gets around to it.
October 26, 2004
 
Lest anyone think the season is over.... the game is on this Monday!

Jody found us a couple of fields to play on and we're in the process of finding out which one is best. The best candidate so far is off the 55 near the fairgrounds.

Stay tuned...

I'll send out the usual Friday email with directions.

Rock on!
October 21, 2004
 
New site design using web standards...
www.rocketsauce.org
August 16, 2004
 
Like usual, the turnout numbers are starting to dwindle a little. We had 6 on 6 for most of the night, with one sub. Then 7 on 7 for the final game. Still good numbers, but not like what we've had this whole summer.

The play of the game goes to the Fix brothers. Both had incredible catches, and both involved me somehow. The first was a pass from me to David cutting across the middle. I had the sun in my eyes so I couldn't tell if he was looking at me. Apparently he wasn't, but luckily he saw it coming at him from the corner of his eye and somehow managed to swoop it down with one hand right into his leg to hold onto it.

On the second one, I was guarding Ryan. A nice pass came sailing through the middle as we were both running for it. I barely got to it, but managed to swat the edge of it straight down. I'm like, "yeah, blocked that one!" I turn back around and there he is with the disc in his hand. I couldn't believe it, I thought I had it for sure. I apparently knocked it right into his hand.

Rock on!
August 02, 2004
 
Another great turn out tonight. 7 on 7 with a few subs on the sideline. I don't think we've ever had these kind of consistent numbers in the entire 6 years we've been playing. Let's keep it up.

A couple of old faces showed up like Andrew and Tony. One new guy, Jody, made a couple of ESPN-style plays, diving for catches and blocking passes left and right.... all in bare feet!!!

The darks took a while to warm up and got crushed the first game. In the second game, whites were up 3-1. Darks then proceeded to dominate with 4 unanswered points and an unstoppable zone defense thanks to Calvin. Darks pretty much took over the rest the day.

July 19, 2004
 
We had a great turn out tonight. Full 7 on 7 with 2-3 subs, which is very nice. A couple of new players showed: Jim brought his 12 year old son, Brin, who's got super star written all over him. And Josh brought his highschool buddy, Ceasar, who just dominated with his height. (We need more short guys like the Fix bros and Josh :-)
 
The biggest surprise of the evening was the triumphant return of the Fresh Prince, otherwise known as "The Locomotive" or "The Out of Control Cam Shaft" because of his unwieldy and unstoppable speed once he gets going. He's back from Texas and ready to kick some ass.
 
The play of the game goes to Joe for the no-look-stick-your-arm-in-the-air-block to save a game winning point. Nice going Joe! 

Still no sign of Levron (name changed to protect the innocent).


July 12, 2004
 
Today was the last game for Ian before he packs his bags and heads eastward to North Carolina. It was a fun game... hammers thrown all over the place to honor the man.
 
Fabian pretty much summed it up in this sappy email to the group:
 
A sad day is upon us. The founding father of Rocket Sauce Ultimate Frisbee Club, Ian "Punkass" Arcuri, is picking up stakes and moving to North Carolina.
 
When Ian sent out the email back in '99 to everyone at Object Automation asking who wanted to play Ultimate I thought this sounds cool. I can remember that first day of playing Ultimate in Santa Ana like it was yesterday. The wheezing and shortness of breath, the aches and pains in my sides and chest, the bad throws and worse catches. And that after only 10 minutes. And who can forget not being able to walk right for the next 3 days. Thank you Ian, because of you I've had more injuries in 4 years of playing Ultimate than I did the entire 6 years in the Marines.  Seriously though. Ultimate has had a profound impact on my life and it was all because of Ian's email. Thanks.
 
A large number of us have Ian to thank for bringing Ultimate (and new friends) into our lives. Let's see a good turnout for Ian's last day with the Sauce. 
 
Jerry


April 12, 2004
 
Week #2

A huge turnout this week! People have really come out of the woodwork for the 'sauce this season. We had a whopping 17 people that showed up at this week's game and we had a lot of subbing' going on. It was all good. Not a bad thing at all this early stage of the season.
We decided to switch to the back field as there are less 'ankle-snappin' holes on that turf. It appears that we have a few players like Jim and Brian that haven't played in a few years due to injury and 'what-not', but still have their collective mojos workin'.
A new player, Kathy has brought a few of the 'sauce's newest beginner-females. This is cool as we can always use a few good ladies on the field.

Unfortunately Levron (name changed to protect the innocent) once again didn't make it to the game. Rumor has it his mom made him stay home to pick up his Pokémon cards and clean his retainer. We hear is new paper route and shoe-box mobile project may keep him out of the next few weeks. Too bad. We needed someone to pick up the towels after the game.
April 05, 2004
 
Week #1:

A killer start to the 2004 Season! A complement of nine characters showed up for the first Monday night scrimmage. This week saw the long awaited return of David Guido and Jeff Patmon, long lost brethren of The 'Sauce.
A spirited half-dozen games were played. Needless to say most of us are a little overfed after the winter hiatus. I personally hurt like hell for three days following. Luckily we had a new female player, Julie to run all over us.
We were supposed to see a new player, Levron (name changed to protect the innocent) show up. He never materialized. Rumor has it he got distracted by his own likeness in a supermarket freezer case and forgot to show up. Maybe next week.

Out....
May 19, 2003
 
Last night saw a great turnout - 14!!! A few new faces (Sean and John), the cast of usual suspects and even a rare appearance by a fiery little veteran Rocket Sauce member by the name of Leesa. 'Tis a rare and spectacular sight when she graces us with her presence. While I did not witness it personally rumor has she even laid out for the disk. Clearly she has benefited from some off the field practice sessions with some wise sage of Ultimate (me). :-)

It is rare that we can actually field a full team on each side, although our average turnout for games has been consistently high so far this year. The games were close with both sides making their share of turn-overs and good plays. All in all though play was taken up another notch - which is good to see. Some of the newer members of Rocket Sauce clearly demonstrated their confidence in their throws and catching last night. Good running by all. Although I do feel that in fairness to everyone on the field we are going to have to tie some cinder blocks to Sam.

The play of the evening does have to go to Sam. White moved the disk to the end zone and sent up a floater. A member of the dark team, John I think, smacked the disc away from the white receiver to have it bounce off the chest of yours truly only to have Sam do his best "sack of potatoes" lay-out to grab the disc before it hit the ground for the score. Good job Sam!! Clearly we are going to have to tie one of his hands behind is back in addition to the cinder blocks.

Then there is the last game of the evening. It was 5 on 5 and initially it appeared that the team make-up may be a little lopsided. Well, lopsided was right however in the completely opposite direction than anyone first thought. The dark team, fielding mostly new members of Rocket Sauce, demonstrated almost flawless play and opened up a can of whoop-ass on the seasoned veterans of the white team. It wasn't pretty.

Clearly some of us, me, are going to have to start working out between our sessions to keep pace with Sam. Great games, great turnout. Keep it up. ~ Jerry 'Fabian' Anderson
May 12, 2003
 
A new player, Sam emerges. An excellent disk handler whom we can all learn from. Erich and Luke make a repeat performance. Luke unfortunately collides with Jerry's hair early in the first game and strains his ass-neck. He's forced to leave the game and a 3-on-3 with a single substitute player rages on. ~ Punk Ass
May 05, 2003
 
Some more new blood on the pitch. Erich and Luke are our new players and both add tremendously to the game. Double-A makes a return and amazes us all with how fast he's picking up the game after playing only two times.

The first game (5-on-5) goes to 10-10 before we decide to call it for a water break. That was a marathon session! We play on till almost dark with a 4-on-4. Luckily we are able to reflect a car's headlights on Jerry's pompadour in the waning light and use the reflection to light the field.~ Punk Ass
April 28, 2003
 
A new player, Amit (a.k.a. Double-A) makes an appearance. We have a spirited 5-on-5 with Michael Boyer and Jerry Brooks having a deep shot duel at opposite ends of the pitch, in the later stages. Unfortunately the disk accidentally hits Jerry's hair in the later stages of the third game and shatters on impact. We take a short break to clear the debris and resume play soon after.~ Punk Ass
April 21, 2003
 
A great set of games. We had full 7-on-7 most of the time and a die-hard group of 5-on-5 stayed on for the last game where everyone but Guido seemed tired. It was fairly windy but not insane, and it died down a bit towards sunset. We played until about 7:30pm with no problem! ~ Aaron Lewis
April 07, 2003
 
The first meeting of the 2003 season. We had a good turn-out (3-on-3) for a game in the DRIVING rain. Aaron laid-out for a disk and slid for 25 yards... with a boat wake of water in front of him. Hysterical! Luckily Jerry Anderson showed up, whose hair we huddled under between games, to stay out of the rain. A lot of familiar faces from last season. Very cool.~ Punk Ass
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