Deja Boo Hoo Hoo

Haven't we heard this story before? A short-staffed Dojo team turns up to face a Neild-led Buggers squad that has been warming up for the game apparently since just after a carbo-loaded breakfast, the Bugs stretch out a big lead, Dojo stages a comeback, some Bug rookie crashes a kenshi or two out of the game, the lack of fitness from the we-never-train Dojo starts to show, and it all finishes with a flourish of hammers & hucks to Bug #1...

But don't think we're bitter, it was a great game with plenty for everyone (well, most people anyway - more on that shortly), and really the final difference between the teams was the number of offensive errors the Dojo made. The first five or six points of our video footage make for particularly unpleasant viewing if you're of a Dojo inclination, as do the last few.

There's no doubt that the Dojo missed Matt, Piers, Coopers and Goldie particularly as the legs started to get heavy in the second half, and that some extra numbers might have made the difference. But really, if the kenshi hadn't worn themselves out trying to get the disc back after all those first-half mistakes then the job still could have been done without the full complement. That wasn't the case though, and on the night the Messy team were convincing winners.

Here's something we found interesting, though. In putting all the footage together, we noticed something that, whilst not surprising, was something we'd always thought was only an impression rather than reality. So here's an amusing game to play while watching the video - keep a count of the number of JRay throwaways, and also keep a count of the number of times anyone other than Jason, Mike, Leon, Stu or Jangles touches the disc. We can't say for sure, but we reckon the JRay throwaway stat will be at least the same if not more. Now, no-one will be surprised to see Jason throwing some pretty wild stuff (or to see that he also throws nearly all the goals), but I think even Mike would be surprised to see how little disc the Bug rookies get during a game, especially when the pressure is high. There must be at least a couple of guys on that team who only touched the disc once or twice in the whole game!

But enough about that - what we've all come to see is plenty of sweet Ultimate action, so here it is, courtesy of the brilliant Marijke Walls and surprise cameraman Will Churchill (how he got hold of the camera we're not really sure):









"Thanks ladies" indeed. It was a real treat to have the 97.3fm ladies with their marquee, esky, fruit & drinks, and each Dojo player is now sporting brand-new cleat bags, water bottles, cold bags and cookies. Yes, cookies.

There's now a huge break of a couple of months between seasons, but the BPL will be back (will there be a new monkey at the helm???) with what will surely be a serious shakeup in the teams and perhaps administration. It can only get better (and hopefully bigger), so stay tuned.

And lastly, it's the final Above&Beyond poll for the season on the right. It's all up for grabs - will Dan Walls be able to get enough votes for his awesome efforts against one of the world's premier players to push him past current frontrunner Stefan Rappazzo? Will our German BPL MVP runner-up Stefan Schmidt sneak past them both? A place on the honour board is at stake!!!

ps Below the poll can also be found our latest blog addition - DojoMojo TV! Oh yeah.