Masters Division Pre-tournament Coverage

By Bil Elsinger

Only five teams return from last year's Nationals qualifiers and with the US bid to Worlds up for grabs for all US participants, it's a wide-open race for all. Three of last year's semifinalists are back, but the wholesale transition of a couple new teams from Open will test traditional standards.

Two years ago, a mid-seeded OLD SAG managed a 1-4 record in pool play and two wins in the placement bracket. Last year, with the recent World Champion Keg Workers missing in action, OLD SAG outscored their opponents by an average of seven points in pool play, and went on to win the championship without losing a game. Old and In the Way (OIW) was the only team that seemed capable of challenging OLD SAG, with OLD SAG's two closest games coming against OIW, including a three-point finals loss, and a down to the wire two-point loss in pool play. KAVU went undefeated in pool play, but they lost to OIW in the semifinals and never had the opportunity to face OLD SAG.

As always, the Master's race is difficult to predict with team strength depending as much upon recruiting efforts as history. Unlike Open, where new additions usually mean a crop of young athletes perhaps best suited for defense, additions to Masters teams often include experienced veterans, just off the top of their game. Such was the case with the Pennsylvanian OLD SAG, as the difference in results between last year's performance and those the previous two Nationals trips might not have been possible without the addition of players like Big Rick Atkins ("00"), Curtis Maier ("100"), and Sam Sackett. But what happens when a team named "One Last Ditch Shot At Glory" has achieved the glory that it so desires exactly according to original member (ex-RAGE) Steve Wherry's three-year plan? What happens in year four?

OLD SAG's dominator offense was unstoppable last year, with big hucks coming from Maier at opportune times to SAG's tall receivers. A year of several times a week practices and heavily regimented conditioning work from the other teams (just kidding) should mean that we'll see some defensive adaptations, and Masters tradition indicates that it is tough to repeat (only the Keg Workers have managed to do so).

The finals were nothing new for the other "old" team last year. Old and In the Way has been a significant obstacle to other team's title aspirations since their 1999 championship win. 2000 saw them going down in semifinals after their WFDF Worlds win, and the last two years have seen OIW in the finals. Old and In the Way's success can be attributed to talent, but their consistency has a lot to do with team chemistry, as the core of their team has been together since their 1999 championship, and practicing since May of this year shouldn't hurt. Some big names will be missing from this year's roster, as Steve Mooney, Phil Lohre, John Hamm and Ben Theilhorn no longer appear, but the addition of Buzz Ellsworth, Heath Mackay and Renzo Verbeck should help shore up the team's dams, and defensive stopper Jim Glynn, Jeff "The Glove" Bryant, big game player Randy Ricks, mammoth puller Buzz Ellsworth, and team captain Bob Pease return. Not just talented and hard-working, this Boulder, CO team gets big props from its opponents for the spirit that it brings to the field. A couple close games against the other Nationals Qualifiers already this year (14-12 vs. KAVU and a 15-14 squeaker against regional rival Never Nice Guys) are signs that this year's field is closer than ever.

Undefeated until their semifinals loss to OIW last year, KAVU's second closest games were a pair of four-point wins in pool play. The above mentioned close loss to OIW and two good wins over the Keg Workers at Northwest Regionals this year (13-10 in pool play, 15-11 in finals) indicate that this Idaho team hasn't lost a step from last year's form. An impressive point differential (third only to SAG and OIW) last year is a manifestation of the gap between the stronger Nationals teams and the also-rans, but things may even out as several teams are competing to join the top tier. Every year sees a surprise or two, as teams bring in crops of recent all stars, but recent history suggests that KAVU will most likely be in the mix in the last few games, although several tough games in a row may challenge their depth. The KAVU ­ OLD SAG pool showdown should be one of the better games in pool play, with future hall of famer Mike O'Dowd and the intense Pat Benson both back to help lead the athletic KAVU and its strong deep game. Thanks to the rampant turnover in the Master's Division, only one of the six teams that KAVU beat last year is back.

Coming in with a high seed, the southern region's Miami Refugees have been playing together for 20 years, most recently in Open. The Refugee roster reflects their long tradition, as this year sees few changes (the addition of Alabamian Parker Gillum and Floridian Milan Hooper, no major losses) in personnel, but a big switch in divisions. What happens when you take a team a few years removed from Open Nationals and drop them wholesale into Masters? Just how well will the perennial Master's powerhouses stack up? This year gives us the answer. Players to watch include the well rounded Steve Fowler, amazing thrower Woody Brown, no-step-lost-here Kurt Dahlenburg, and Milan Hooper (and his deadly hammer). Little travel from this team and the switch from Open to Masters means that the Refugees don't have a lot of experience with the other Master's qualifiers. On the other hand, their (relative) youth gives them a big advantage, they've been working on their defense in the off-season, and being acclimated to Florida's weather doesn't hurt. Miami's long game is hard to beat, but has forty years of warm weather mellowed them to the point of melting? Maybe not. The Refugees eviscerated the rest of their region, with their closest game being 13-7 versus a non-qualifying team. That their region includes the Skeleton Crew (who have made semis the last two years) bodes ill for the more mature qualifiers.

Speaking of mature (in years) qualifiers, Seattle's Keg Workers of America Local #333 ruled the roost last year. That is, until their fall in the fall. Because of the Master's anti-wildcard, the Northwest was limited to one bid, and some personnel losses contributed to the Keg Worker's failure to make the big show despite a Worlds win. Call it a sea-change if you will. This year sees another shift as one third of the Keg Worker's roster has exchanged blue-collar life for other lines of work. Out with the tide? Pete Barnouw goes on the quixotic quest for a pain-free existence, Tommy Barnouw bids farewell too, Mike Glass goes under the knife, Frankus Flores is eating people (Donner Party), Stu Downs leaves only his words of wisdom, and Jimmy O treks Nepal, although he's on the roster, and a possible guest appearance is not out of the question. The always flowing kegs have tempted some young players and their legs, amongst whom are the fabulously named Billy Lawless, the hard running Eric Cooper, and former Sick of It All Kerry Karter. Union pride determines the line (except, historically, for one lone point) as Troy Fever and Elod Toth keep the team together, Charlie Morrison maintains the team's spirit, and Mike Weems can't be stopped. Asked about the team's strengths and weaknesses, Getty Freeman responds with one answer, "We drink a keg a day." Former player Stu Downs confirms this as he notes, "The Keg workers have that drunken magic that is unpredictably dangerous," but "dangerous to whom?" is the unanswered question. Is this the drunken master at his best? Or have the effects of wanton drunkenness finally inflicted their toll? In the past, the Keg Workers have relied on their workmanlike defense, but this year's defense didn't rear its best incarnation in the KAVU game at Regionals. Age may be telling on this team, but regardless of their merits on the field, this Seattle entrant has always been a keg of fun. Their opponents will not, however, underestimate the Keg Workers, low (for them) seed or no.

Hailing from the province of Ontario, Canada, the Ottawa Green Light Ultimate Masters hope to mirror the success of their British Columbian nephews, Open team Furious George. GLUM took the Northeast title in a close 15-13 title game against the Red Tide, as they went undefeated for the Regionals weekend, a fine feat for their first tournament. This mystery team is captained by the experienced Chris Keith. Amongst the more significant contributors are Paul Chambers, Geoff Simonett, the spectacular Jamie Kelly, who should bring some West Coast flair to the East Coast team. Even more mysterious will be the few players who missed Regionals, but who will make the Nationals trip. Many of the other teams are paying attention to this third seed in Pool B, perhaps just because of the paucity of information available about them, and few would be surprised if GLUM is much more than their lack of advertisement would have them seem.

New York Metro's Empire worked its way through the back door of Regionals by beating Red Tide in the final Northeast game. Empire includes half of last year's Slow Children (0-5 last year in pool play, with their only win coming in their second game of the placement bracket), but per captain Sanjeev Khanna, they have stepped up their discipline and as a result have made some competitive gains. The Northeast region claims to have stepped up a notch this year, but needs to come through at Nationals to confirm that they've joined the top tier of teams. Empire comes in as a low seed, but few of the teams in Pool A show signs of vulnerability so any movement up will be difficult.

Amongst those teams is Central entrant, The Fat Boys. The Fat Boys from St. Louis are new to the Masters game, but, like the rest of the Masters teams aren't new to ultimate as their core, the St. Louis Tunas won Nationals way back in 1984. A move from the eighth seed in the central region to a surprise win and replacement of normal central qualifier Chronic means that the other regions have taken notice. Chronic's loss was the Fat Boy's gain as Jeff Walters, Sam Labrie, Steve Walters, and Mark Witherell opted to stay close to home and play with the new entrant. Fat Boy's offense runs trough Doug Parrish, the motivational mastermind and Mark Houska, a highly competitive two-way player, as original Tuna Tim Duggan, and sub-calling Scott Keating also carry a good portion of the weight on the team, although their roster goes a solid 25 deep. The Fat Boys can still play defense, despite their mostly over-40 roster, as was confirmed in their comeback from 3 down in cap to a 10-9 win at Regionals over Grey Expectations. Their win over an elite Open team at Tune-Up indicates that they are the real deal, and that they haven't lost much from their Open days.

In-region rival, Grey Expectations only made quarters last year despite being a top four seed. As would be expected, they hope to improve on their performance. The addition of former Sub-Zero players Dan Rydel and Butch Severt and a few others increase the likelihood of this. The close Regionals final means that the Central is sending two equally competitive teams, although Grey Expectations did not play very deep into their roster in that game and needs to prove that they can play several tough games in a row. Mean John Fenske and speedy defensive player Paul Anderson return as Rydel comes in to run the hard running offense. The team is fast and relies on this to spread the field, but can be challenged by dominators and may have difficulty covering teams dominated by a couple players. All is good if the offense is running smoothly, although with the patches that the rest of the Masters have uploaded, better play at all levels could mean that Expectation's upgrades leaves them in the middle of the pack.

Coming in second out of the South is The Big Unit, led by the always charming Stu Downs. Formerly the open team Big Sak, The Big Unit returns Greg "Bug" Alpow, Matt Simpson, and the pretty but demure Doug Oetter. Parker Gillum and Jason Calvi are gone, but Akasha Ellis and Peter Thomas have entered the fray as some Atlanta and Birmingham players are making the trip South. Despite this, The Big Unit may not have the deepest roster, although the aggressive Scott Cathey stays close on defense, Giang Tong displays a wide range of throws, and Dave Brown maxes out in the speed category. According to Stu Downs, The Big Unit's strengths include "lots of unusual throwing decisions and an ability to lull opponents to sleep with terrible play which can instantly shift into average play almost unnoticed." Hopefully the Big Unit's offense can click despite this claimed erratic play, as their defense may not be the best. But who needs defense when you have Oetter and Stu to spread good cheer?

The Mid-Atlantic is the only region to return two teams from last year's group. Both OLD SAG and HOSS have been in the dance the last three years running. Wilmington based HOSS outplayed their seed last year, moving up from the 11th seed and going 2-0 in the placement bracket for a ninth place finish. None of the teams that they beat have made it back (intact) this year, so HOSS finds themselves back at the bottom of the seedings. Injury has hurt HOSS over the off-season, although Tim Weigand and Travis Dent add a little height to the offense, and Joel Shuman helps bolster handler speed. Offensive and defensive units are assigned, and the 20-person roster will be counted on from top to bottom. Pete Schuman will lead HOSS on the field, Rabah Sbitani keeps the disc moving on offense, Jay Coyle uses his great field sense to guide his throws, and Joel Shuman will break marks for HOSS. There's no doubt that HOSS is persistent, as last year's second effort showed that they were able to stay focused, but their geographical distribution makes working together a challenge. Each year of working together may result in improvements, although whether this year's will be incremental or tier shattering is unclear. Experience has helped shape the team's off-season preparation, as Frank DeFazio notes, "Our grueling training regimen includes smoking no more than one pack a day and actively reminiscing about how good we were when we were young." A pool of traditionally strong teams and interesting newcomers (the Refugees and GLUM) make for some significant obstacles to success, and a 17-10 loss to OLD SAG in regional finals doesn't bode well for excessive expectations.

Why do Nice guys always come (in) last? San Diego's Never Nice Guys won't need to answer that question. But as the hour grows late, and my deadline looms, I'll just copy and paste (with some editing) the team's blurb (now found pre-edited on their team page): "As with most Masters teams, there is a long open division history and NEVER NICE GUY'S 2003 squad (NNG) is made up of mostly Southern California Players. In the 1980's and 90's, southern California had three of the best teams in the country in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and San Diego with the thorn in their side being the scrappy Burbank squad. Year after year these teams have had intense battles at both Sectionals and Regionals to the extent of creating fierce rivalries that only our infamous local traffic could separate. This NNG team consists primarily of San Diego players that have played under many names such as Iguanas, Los Guapos, PBR and of course Nice Guys Off the Field. This name was to coin a phrase and to define an era. The battle hardened warhorse and team leader of the San Diego contingency, Steve Ferguson combined with the infamous "Bad Boy" Burbank team leader John Babin to form this 2003 contender. Ferguson brings name brand players that have made the decision to advance to the Masters division, including Jim Ingebritsen and Kurt Kuelz. Meanwhile, John Babin has brought along his infamous defensive Burbank "quad" along with several of the L.A./Santa Barbara players, including Rich Gallagher, Randy Sanchez, Jeff Landesman and Brian Herman. Old Burbank has battled these teams for over 20 years despite short rosters, and brings Masters experience with finals appearances in the late 90s. This joining of longtime foes shows that the level of competition in Master's is enough to break the traditional boundaries of southern California ultimate."

NNG's middle seed is a bit low, as they beat Old and In the Way in pool play at Regionals, and their rematch loss in finals came down to the wire. Their Regional backdoor win against last year's qualifier and fifth place finisher Ironwood could mean that the Southwest might be seeing two semifinalist, and with three strong teams seeded above them in their pool, should mean that pool play may be a bit more contentious than usual.

Round one on Thursday should see an interesting matchup of new youngish teams as Never Nice Guys and the Fat Boys come face to face. Both OLD SAG and KAVU benefit in the next round, as they face these two teams just off of what should be a grueling contest. Meanwhile, over in Pool B, the Keg Workers take on mystery team GLUM. Will it be the old dominant Keg Worker team? Will GLUM go a long way towards making their pool the stronger one?

How the rest of the day for Pool B goes depends upon the answers to these two questions, although certainly of interest will be the third round, as Old and in the Way is pitted against the Miami Refugees for a test of the "Old" vs. the new.

The OLD SAG vs. NNG and KAVU vs. the Fat Boys should both be good games for Pool A round two, and the third round will see a showdown between the two top seeds. Odds are fairly even that those seeds will already be in jeopardy thanks to the earlier games.

All ideas expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the UPA