Will Churchill and the Sea of Tranquility

With the night sky over the Dojo's wooden garden pavilions illuminated by a full moon these past few nights, we knew that Will Churchill (known to BUB readers as will-i-am) would drop by for an evening of serene moon viewing. No doubt it comes as a surprise to many that Will's lunophilia is of a purely celestial, rather than puerile nature, but there you go.

While we sat by the edge of our reed-lined pond observing the reflections in the water we delved into a discussion on our game last week and some of the big issues surrounding the Brisbane Premier League right now. The conversation went something like this:

DojoMojoBlog: Will, as usual it's a delight to spend a quiet evening composing lunar haiku and discussing the finer points of Ultimate with you. I'm sure you'd agree it was a tough game for the new-look Passion crew last week. It seemed like your team (which now appears to consist of mostly young/inexperienced guys) ran hard early but quickly lost interest once the Dojo got its game together and started crunching the goals in?

Will Churchill: I do agree Steve. What made Passion a killer unit last season was that our team had a lot of depth once the disc got past Cheeseburger and Buzz so we'd keep moving and score. Albeit that we did have a tendency to become complacent with our wins and let some games slip out from under us (ie: losing to Dojo when you had 6 players was a real wake up call).

At the moment I see it that Passion has gone back to square 2 (never 1). When we started with ole Bretty Matzuka and Pottsy the rest of the team was greener than a fresh recruit being sent to war, or an over ripe cucumber. For the immediate future at least I see the Passion working to rebuild our strength and skill base and come next season, with the return of some of our players, we will be a force of reckoning once more.

DMB: Sounds ominous! Speaking of which, any Johnny-Mac-special grillings between games this week? Or maybe you'll be rolling out some new sort of half-time drill?

WC: Funnily, no. There was no grilling this week, the loss hit the team in a pinching sort of way and being the resilient youth we are we shall bounce back (great layout by the way, how's the... entire upper half of your body? Bouncing back? .... that was cheeky I admit :)

Actually, Johnny has taken the backseat for this season opting to lend his experience leading teams to a new player who is up to the role of challenging himself to manage the Passion. Nat (never Nate) Litzow has taken the reins so far and is doing a swell job. John is around as an encyclopedia of Ultimate related knowledge and strategy on field but the man running us is Nathan.

DMB: "Manage the Passion", eh? That can't be easy with a team of undergrads. Okay - here's a hypothetical: If you could poach one player from any other team in the league to come over and bolster the Passion roster, who would it be and why (don't be boring and say Mike Nield)?

WC: Well straight out the window are Buggers players. A leopard doesn't change its spots and a crustacean will never be a cool creature like a Unicorn or a Cherub that the club so diligently bases itself around. So I'm left with 3 teams to choose from. I'd probably grab the 'Big Guy' Julian Sacre and bring him home to momma. The man is a unit on the field and a difficult player to stop. Couple with Jmac and there is a game winning deal there.

(Let it be known though that as boundless as my love for the big guy is I still want it public knowledge about how I took Julian to school and tore down a contested disc in the air against him in the YUFL final on Monday. Honestly, I was awesome.)

DMB: Happy to take your word for it, Will. Perhaps Julz will like to contribute his thoughts via one of his legendary post comments...? And speaking of defectors like him, we've been hearing rumours that all those guys betrayed their Passion roots between seasons simply because Al Don promised them nice shirts. Any truth in that?

WC: UQ is pulling itself under a single banner starting this weekend at Mixed Nationals and we shall be touting our bitchin' new colours and strips. The plan at the moment is to integrate these strips into our 2 YUFL teams (3 come next year if everything goes ahead) and then try to garb the BPL and womens team in the same. It'll be some work but we're confident enough that the price is right and we have instilled the right kind of pride and fellowship in the club that such a move would work.

As for how Al is getting credit for this I don't know. Props go out to Gref Goranson for his l33t photoshop skillz and design f1air. As a preview, it might be a downer to see another dark team around Brisbane but I ask why the Buggers are red instead of the more aquine blue and black of their aquatic environs? That's just n00bish (ok, enough of the leet speak).

DMB: Whoa - we weren't really following much of that Will, but hopefully those "leet speakers" out there were, whoever they are. We here at the Dojo pride ourselves not only on our oldskool (is that leet?) style but even moreso on our extensive merchandise range. Surely a man with your unusual perspective on life can suggest some interesting additions (including to this blog)?

WC: Sweatbannds! Frisbee players don't wear enough sweatbands. Heck, I've played with 4 one game and it wasn't enough! That and caps, no not the crappy GAIA caps that you shead a tear over for lost potential. TRUCKER CAPS! The line outside my house of people wanting to borrow my Decepticon Cap is nothing short of the attention that the self referencing egotistical all round winner I am deserves (yes, I just said that). Caps and sweatbands baby - that's a money maker (coming to a UQ fashion outlet near you).

As for other things... you guys could really use a unicorn in the zen garden here. But you'll need a dozen stableboys or so. There is a price that comes with magical creatures. But you can at least sell it for $5 a bag.

DMB: Not quite sure what it is we'd be selling for $5 a bag, Will, but you'll be glad to know that there are already Dojo caps in existence (circa 2004 Nationals), and headbands too. They just don't get a lot of use these days, now that we're a primarily night-time team...

Anyway, enough about Ultimate - let's get back to those haiku. Thanks for the chat, Will.