Be the Club...

What do you get when you combine late-night highlights of the Ryder Cup with a nice dram of Macallan? The first post on the Dojo blog in a long time - that's what.

Oh man - so much to write about, so many distractions. Let's take it from the top. DojoMojo has qualified for yet another BPL grand final this season with a gritty 3-point win over Cobras. And that's where the latest round of controversy starts!

Controversy #1 - Reece

We (ie I) let Reece play. Well you know it just wouldn't have felt right getting into the grand final against a 6-man team (and it certainly wouldn't have felt great should we have happened to lose to one!). This despite the fact that our man Chris Cunliffe accepted Stu's ruling and didn't attempt to get on the field. In fact he didn't even attempt to get TO the field, but that's another matter altogether...

Nonetheless we feel sure that had Chris turned up then Liam would have happily allowed him to play in exchange for bringing the Cobras roster up to 7 with Reece.

Okay to be honest we were having some serious second thoughts about the wisdom of our chivalrous conduct about 5 points in, when the Cobras were starting to build a small lead courtesy of some vintage Stewart play, but at the end of the day it does feel good to have won a proper game...

Controversy #2 - Ultimate Fighting or Ultimate Disc?

Sure, the Cobras captain has a bit of a dodgy reputation when it comes to foul calls, and he does like giving receivers a bit of a touch up (putting it mildly?) after making a bid on a long disc. But none of that justified our man Ryan pushing Liam to the ground twice after some borderline post-catch contact. Yes, tempers had been building for a while (especially courtesty of an utterly bogus "out" call by Liam a few points earlier), but any kind of physical retaliation is completely unacceptable in Ultimate. A Spirit timeout was called and Ryan made a full apology to an accepting Liam, but in the interests of setting a suitably harsh benchmark DojoMojo has officially suspended Mr Black until next season, ruling him out for this week's Grand Final match against UQ. Ouch.

So we've got no Ryan, no Cunliffe, left-handed Leon only has his right hand, Eastburn has been injured all season and Dan Walls decided that the second half of 2010 would be a good time to take a sabbatical. If we can win the big game from here it'll be a miracle.

Things Chimay Will Make You Say

You know something we've realised lately? Reading descriptions of frisbee games really isn't very interesting. In fact, unless you were there and/or you get a mention in the article itself then you'd have to wonder if the few minutes that you might spend reading a game review wouldn't really be better invested in, oh, let's see - making some homemade hollandaise sauce, planning your trip to a farmers' market on the weekend, or just taking out the rubbish.

So this week we're saying nothing about the game against MBB last Thursday night, other than the obvious facts that it happened and Dojo lost.

Okay, we might say that the expected Burwell-to-Neild combo didn't bore us to tears as we'd been afraid it would. In fact early on it was more the Burwell-to-Chadwick connection that was taking some kenshi by surprise (ie whoa Buzz has the disc and some tallish guy is running long WTF!). We might also add that the game was 8-3 at half and finished 15-10, meaning the Dojo at least managed to trade the second half despite some pretty wacky options going to ground in the face of a virtually mistake-free Bug performance.

But that's enough of the tedious details of what was just another brick in the BPL Season 2 2010 wall. What we know from the Google stats (and stats, as we heard today, will confess to anything if you torture them for long enough) is that the readers of this blog care little for quality reportage and in-depth match analysis. Juicy BPL scandal is the key here, and thankfully when there's a controversy on the boil in BPL the Dojo is nearly always involved.

Onto the subject of Chris Cunliffe then. Chris, as many will know, is a bit of a gun frisbee player. Turns out that he's been injured for a while (2 years since his last BPL appearance, apparently), and that he's just managed to get himself fit enough to go for a run on Thursday nights. The thing is though - Chris had signed to play Cobras for the remainder of the season (he's young and is entitled to make mistakes), and he needed to play every remaining BPL round in order to be eligible to play in the finals (for reasons we're not about to elaborate upon here). Sadly for the Cobras, their opposition, those mankini-wearing Slamtowners, couldn't get 7 guys to make the trip from the GC and forfeited the game, leaving Chris in an awkward jam. Oh baby - you know where this is going, don't you...

So of course it's Dojo v Bugs. Which means the team some (hi Mike) consider to be the "villains" of the BPL and always shortest of numbers on the night, was up against the team that also happens to be home to our esteemed LD, who couldn't agree more wholeheartedly with Mike vis-a-vis the Dojo's villain status... Anyway, short story is that Chris has now taken up permanent residence at the Dojo, much to the detriment of the Cobras and much to the annoyance of an LD who has long since tired of these sorts of eligibility quandaries (not to mention Dojo opportunism). But don't get too upset just yet Wetnose - Chris is still a shadow of his former self and probably won't be back to his full vertical leap or maximum speed until the semifinals get underway...

Too much? Let us know in the comments if you'd like more of this sort of Courier-Mail gossip column stuff, or if a return to the strictly sporting style of the majority of our first hundred-and-one posts was more to your liking. Or maybe just videos without any words at all...

Black Light

Were Dojo wearing black against SFC last week? Maybe, but that's the one thing we forgot to ask Pete Allen when we inquired to see if he wouldn't mind putting together a match report for Dojo's round 5 BPL matchup against the team that some have affectionately taken to calling "Salami Town"...

Thankfully, Pete was able to find some time in his busy schedule (does anyone know what Pete does other than being awesome at frisbee?), and here's his description of how the game went down:

"Thursday's match began in the usual Dojo way with no one knowing who was and wasn’t showing up, and with a last minute phone call from Stephen letting us know he wasn’t coming after he had arrived home and whilst preparing to leave for the game turned the key in his lovely Porsche, only for nothing to happen…I guess that’s what you get with quality Porsche engineering.

With the arrival of our 8 players and a slow and succinct warm up in stark contrast to the drilled and high intensity warm up down the other end we took the field not sure how this would go. Our opponents had turned out in force and had been doing well this season but how would they go without the Mayor. It appeared as we lined up to receive the pull that we would be facing a 2-3-2 (the light breeze did carry that much info to at least my ears) and then it was on.

Dojo worked the disc around frantically with some extremely fast popping and swinging to work the disc up to the other endzone…and then threw it away. SFC then threw a couple of short passes followed by the usual huck, which didn’t complete, and then Dojo repeated their last effort, and threw it away again…and eventually after quite a long first point conceded. This was pretty much the way the first half went, with Jody throwing his dangerous flick for a few points and pretty spectacular layout D’s (pretty much all from SFC), and it was looking tight after Dojo fought back from 6-4 down to take half 8-6.

The second half saw this rather nice little run of points to the Dojo continue to make it a 7 point run, with pretty much 100% offence after some lucky turnovers from Slamtown who had a little bit of a drop fest for a few points allowing Dojo to get out to 11-6. We like to think it was our intense defense…

Around about now we slackened off a bit to allow a few quick points in and start the hearts beating again (Pete starting to feel the power of the dark side of reportage here...). Luckily with time running out, Coops was on the ball and alerted us to the fact that it was after 9pm and after another Slamtown point time was called, with the last point to start with the scores at 11-9 to Dojo. The last point saw Dojo click back in on offence and sink the last pass with a rather unspectacular pass from and almost complete silence with the receiver standing dead still. Quite a quiet end to what was one of the most fun games of BPL I’ve ever enjoyed and the spirit between the two teams was the best I’ve seen in a long long time - thanks SFC."

Ladies and Gentlemen - Pete Allen. There is no substitute.

One Hundred Not Out

On June 12th 2008 the DojoMojo blog took its first tentative step into the Ultimate blogosphere. In that first post we described ourselves as "the oldest, most gloriously history-laden and also most spectacularly well-merchandised team around", and nothing much has changed. Except for the fact that, including this one, 100 posts have taken up their own tiny chunks of server space somewhere out there in the great Google cloud...

Over the past 26 months we've interviewed the biggest names in the BPL, had our team shirt voted one of the best in the world (thanks everyone), written plenty of controversial stuff (none of which we regret in any way), and of course provided video coverage of a multitude of BPL games and two Grand Finals (the ones we weren't playing in) absolutely free of charge.

For those with a statistical bent, or even just the slightest degree of curiosity, or perhaps just wanting to dodge work for a few minutes, here's a few interesting DojoMojo Blog facts:

6,849 unique visitors
29.96% new visits

#1 most viewed post: Sorry Mum (251 visits)
#2 most viewed post: Smells Like Bad Spirit (153 visits)
#3 most viewed post: Worst Huck Ever (147 visits)

Seems nothing rates quite as high as a good old Spirit controversy, eh?!

Visitors have viewed the blog from 43 different countries (including the odd visit from interesting-sounding places like Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia, Lithuania and Laos, among many others).

Top Ten Visiting Nations:

#1 Australia - 6,031 visitors
#2 USA - 341 visitors
#3 Canada - 133 visitors
#4 UK - 59 visitors
#5 Germany - 26 visitors
#6 Hong Kong - 20 visitors
#7 Ireland - 13 visitors
#8 New Zealand - 12 visitors
#9 Brazil - 12 visitors
#10 Japan - 10 visitors

Sure, we're not likely to be targeted by News Ltd for a hostile takeover anytime soon, but it's good to know that people around the world are getting to read - and watch! - the way Ultimate is played here in Brisbane. Hope you're liking what you see.

Pete Allen Goes Above & Beyond

It's official, and deserving of a blog post all to itself:

Pete Allen is the winner of DojoMojo's Above&Beyond competition for Season 1 2010. Well done and well deserved, Pete. Your fantastic prize is in the post (oh so unreliable these days...) and your name has been added to the glittering list of Dojo legends on the Above&Beyond Honour Board....

Bear Market Blogging

Seems that most of the BPL blogging community is in hibernation this week (we really hang out for those Power Rankings, Spaz), with the one notable exception of the ever-friendly & lighthearted Heroes media outlet. Okay, so maybe no-one but the Heroes themselves cares that their training has been re-scheduled, and perhaps that's something that might be better communicated via team email rather than worldwide blog post, but nonetheless Carl did manage to put in a trailblazing BPL blogging effort a few posts back... He even had time to grumble about the crumble of the BPL fields - couldn't agree more, Carl.

Hmmm... You know how when you read a Jeremy Clarkson article in the paper he spends at least the first 500 words rambling on about something totally unrelated to the subject of his review? Well we'd been hoping to adopt a similar approach with this post, picking up on shreds of gossip and innuendo from the many other BPL press agencies out there and building some sort of LD-annoying controversy out of it. But reading back over what we've written it appears that we've accidentally succeeded in building a reasonable word count out of very little material, and wouldn't be the least bit surprised if most readers have already clicked away to some of the much more interesting content the internet has to offer... Hi Lee.

Oh okay, let's talk briefly about the game against Heroes last Thursday night. Yes, Sensei C appeared to be in dire need of some laser eye surgery, flailing around for a spinning white blur on several occasions. Too much time staring at the "New Post" screen on the Dojo blog perhaps??? Otherwise it was pretty much the usual situation against Heroes - Dojo turn up expecting an easy win (thankfully with a team this week), then spend the first half doing some lazy trading, lurch into halftime with a dodgy 8-6 (or was it 8-7?) lead and finally decide that games against Heroes need to be won in exactly the same way as against any other BPL team i.e. significant effort and commitment required. So with socks pulled up and appropriate exertion applied the kenshi roll through the second half to a 15-8 win.

Heroes have some useful-looking new recruits this season, and with Matt Boevink now in an on-field Captain-Coach role, they should see some significant improvement in depth of ability and availability of multiple options. However having said that, every second pass is still going to Jangles, and relying on a key player like that is never good for any team. Just look what happened to the Bugs without Mike last season...

Sorry couldn't resist. But hey, if you're going to be so tactless as to advertise yourselves as "Brisbane's current Premier Ultimate Frisbee Team" (which might need a re-write to bring it up to date BTW) you really are asking for trouble...

The Above&Beyond poll is updated above right for a fresh round of voting....

Ultimate Speed Dating

Two points was all it took. Even for the least "Dojo Way" player in the entire BPL...

Due to the absence of pretty much all of the kenshi last night, each and every Bug got the chance to enjoy that most forbidden of all guilty Bugger pleasures (and one assumes there are many...) - to run with the Dojo. As the night progressed, everyone from Special G to Tony Ross spent two or three precious points breathing the rare air of the Dojo's nonlinear, anti-hierarchical structure - and it wasn't hard to tell that it felt good.

And so it was that even the #1 Bug found himself echoing the sentiments of Oscar Wilde, who famously said he could "resist anything other than temptation". It was only a momentary aberration, but no sooner did Mike catch a disc 30m out from the Bug endzone than without even stopping to think he let fly a vintage Dojo hammer for a breakside goal in the front corner of the endzone. Feels good, doesn't it?

Okay sure, so he might have followed that up by saying that he's "more likely to play for Heroes than for Dojo", but that's fine by us. This writer is more likely to spend his Thursday nights drinking a nice cold beer than playing for the Buggers, and it's enough just to know that that one little souvenir of Dojo escapism will stay with Mike forever...

Anyway, that's about enough storytelling for now. During the game we'd been planning a fantastic tale about how the Dojo beat Bugs with only 5 players (it was actually looking entirely likely that there might be a Dojo win for most of the game), topping our current record of being the only team to ever win a BPL match with only 6 players. Sadly however, that's a story that will have to remain untold for now (of course it also would have only been true in what we thought at the time to be a hilariously quoted-out-of-context fashion anyway).

Pretty soon we'll get around to naming last season's A&B winner, and to getting this season's voting underway...

Worst Huck Ever!

That's how the DojoMojo commentary team described the winning throw in the Grand Final match of Brisbane Premier League Season 1 for 2010, fought out by UQ Passion and Cobras (ummm Reece - anything to say?). And as far as describing the game goes, we reckon that's about all that needs to be said, given that we've got nearly an HOUR of exclusive, non-stop frisbee footage right here for your viewing pleasure, absolutely free of charge.

Oh there is just one thing, and that is that the naming & shaming that went on here at the Dojo blog a few weeks ago seems to have been a cathartic moment. Both teams, and most notably the Cobras, played with impeccable spirit and competitiveness throughout, with not even a single moment of controversy in the entire match. A great achievement by everyone involved, especially in such a high-stakes game.

And now let's roll the videotape!

Sorry Mum

You know, my Mum used to say (and still does) that if you can't say anything nice about someone then you shouldn't say anything at all. The problem is that if I lived by that rule all the time I would a) have very little to write about on this blog, and b) do the BPL community a great disservice by failing to address some very important issues. Best not read any further then, Mum.

Oh okay - let's talk about the good things first. Final point of the game, Dojo and Cobras even at 14-14. Strange that I can't clearly remember how that point started, but the Dojo put together a lengthy offensive push featuring innumerable hammers over the Cobras trap zone. It seemed only a matter of time before the inevitable winning Dojo goal would come, until a cross-field hammer outside the Cobras endzone was picked off by a Cobras player who I really should know the name of, and hopefully will soon. The Cobras team then put a fast sequence of completed passes together and scored fairly easily. Game over.

(Post-edit note: Thanks Reece for reminding me about what should have been an unforgettable foul call in the last point, where Finn (I know his name now!) was running in the wrong direction for the disc and collided with Coops, neither of them being anywhere near it, and neither of them intending for there to be any contact. Ah, but a foul was called nonetheless and Cobras got another shot...).

That's it for the "saying good things" bit.

What also has to be said is that due to the actions of a few senior players the Cobras are fast developing a reputation for themselves as a cheating, aggressive, obnoxious and downright nasty team to play against. This must be something that all of their great young guys who just want to play excellent disc find very troubling.

During the game we saw a Cobra player run headlong into Coops, and complaints from the Cobra captain when "dangerous play" was called (i.e. "but he'd already dropped it!" - yeah, because if he caught it he would've ended up knocked to the ground). We had general abuse and arguments over call after call. Probably the "Bug" moment for Cobras though was when Liam called an obviously premature stall on Dave Watson (memory fails as to whether Watto's throw was a goal or had set up an easy goal pass). Even the spectators on the sideline were ridiculing this at the time, and Liam was given the opportunity to retract, but alas... A turnover followed, and what should have been a 12-9 scoreline to Dojo turned into a one-point game at 11-10.

Sure, we made our own mistakes thereafter to lose the game - no-one's denying this. But seeing our lead reduced by 2 points through pure deceit certainly didn't help. I never thought I'd see merit in having referees in Ultimate, but after last week I'm starting to understand. I'm tempted to add further to this point, in particular pointing out that often those who call loudest for referees are also those who are most in need of being scrutinised them, but I won't (any more than I already have)... There's a lightly veiled point being made there for those who care to read between the lines.

I really would have followed my Mums' advice though, even after all that, if the comments from the Cobras captain in the post-game huddle (and afterward, including his ridiculous efforts on the BUB) hadn't been so full of gloating ill-will. If winning a damn trophy is all that matters, and you're prepared to sacrifice your own reputation and friendships to get there then I for one think that's a pretty sad situation, and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone there.

Anyway, I've been searching for a suitably tone-lightening witticism to end this post with, but nothing comes to mind. Instead let me just say that it's been an honour and a pleasure to play my 20th consecutive BPL season (yes - every season there has ever been, under the various nomenclatures) with my Dojo teammates Pete Allen, Ryan Black, Matt Eastburn, Rohan Ferris, Sean Flanagan, Jon Good, Andy Lankowski, Leon McIntyre, Darren Shi, Adrian Thompson, Dan Walls, Dave Watson and, for one golden game, Andy McLean. And to all the great, great guys playing in all the other teams - thanks for making the BPL something that we all want to come back to, season after season.

See you for the next one.

How Not To Play Ultimate (or Blog About It)

Okay so we might have failed yet again in our blogging duties here at the DojoMojo Blog over the past couple of weeks, but that's nothing compared to the on-field fail against Cobras last Thursday night...

What an absolute shocker. Okay, we traded for the first half against a very pumped up and confident Cobras, but just trading points isn't something the Dojo has done a whole lot of this season, so nothing to get too excited about there. And even less to get excited about in the second half. Nothing, in fact, except for this soon-to-be-legendary moment:

[NB refer comments for several more accurate versions of the story]

The Cobras receive the Dojo pull well into their own endzone and manage to move a pass or two until the disc reaches Abra (pretty sure it was Abra - happy for anyone out there to correct this detail) in the front left corner. Abra goes for a throw of some sort only to find the surprisingly long arms of Leon McIntyre already where he's just released the disc to (some say Leon should've actually caught the disc for a Callahan, but that's another story).

So, big handblock to Leon on the glue that holds the Cobras together, and a key turnover on the first (or maybe second?) point of the second half. Leon then quickly dumps it backward a few metres to Coops who immediately looks to the endzone for the score. He sees Rohan streaking away and lets it fly! Ummm - just one problem, he's hucked it the full length of the field toward the DOJO endzone...

Thankfully Rohan pulls the catch in just short of the Dojo goal line, turns and sees Pete heading toward him. So what does he do next? Well it seems the penny hasn't dropped yet despite the guffawing from the Dojo sideline and he puts up a very dodgy floater (more of a slip&slider actually) for Pete to run onto for an own goal (luckily not possible in Ultimate) in the Dojo endzone.

Ah, but being the brainiac he is Pete has had the situation under control the whole time. With the entire Cobras team now in disbelieving confusion and slowly jogging back down the field, he has ALL NIGHT to look back in the correct direction this time where he sees Daz (as we recall it, maybe it wasn't him) begging for the disc in a now very sparsely occupied Cobras endzone. Pete sticks it - GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's the last thing that happened all night, as far as we can remember...

Just Quickly...

Oh dear - a big FAIL to the DojoMojo blog after last week's game against Heroes. No results, no A&B poll, no excuses.

Here's a quick recap just to set things back on a somewhat even keel. Dojo turned up lazy & missing Pete, Coops, Adrian & Ryan. We traded for the first few points, getting easy blocks against the rookies but then being too casual about holding on to the disc (or playing defence...).

It must've been something like 3-3 when Sensei C had a vision of Andy McLean, wearing a long brownish robe and speaking from beyond the BPL grave, who gently offered his advice: "use the time-out, Steve".

So we did. We gave ourselves a little lecture and, learning from the disastrous early-season failure of the Cobras, and the near-failures of both UQ teams against the rookie Heroes, resolved that this game needed to be won like any other.

So back on we ran, and what do you know - Andy's advice worked. End result 15-8.

Having had that big upset win early and a few close (and bitter) losses, these Heroes chaps have clearly settled into the BPL environment and are now playing to win. Heavily reliant upon their 3 main players they may be, but as the skill base of the team builds those wins are going to become much less sporadic.

Oh and speaking of those 3 main Heroes, if there is a prize for most-improved BPL player then without doubt this season it has to go to "Silent" George Salisbury. That guy has transformed his game in the space of a few months from being mostly a deep speed threat to an all-round cutter, popper and quick disc mover. Just goes to show what serious training coupled with a senior role in a developing BPL team can do.

Anyway - don't expect a match report from tonight's game against Passion either, as this correspondent won't be there. Perhaps another kenshi with a literary bent might oblige???

You Can't Always Get What You Want

Sometimes a draw can feel like a win, but last Thursday against the Moreton Bay Bugger outfit our 11-11 draw felt well & truly like a loss.

Actually it was a bit more complicated than that, as the Bugs managed to get ahead by a couple in the first half through their standard combo of quick, sharp disc movement and, when things get static, throwing any old thing in the vague direction of Mr Neild. After half a dozen points of this sort of carry-on, Leon McIntyre made himself very clear during the break between points that he wasn't going to stand for it any more. Some might find this a little bit surprising, but Leon has quite the knack for delivering a rousing gee-up talk, and the assembled Kenshi took note...

Before we continue the story, let's intersperse it with some video coming to us once again courtesy of the one & only Mrs Marijke Walls. We've cut the footage into three segments not with any intent to tell a story in three parts, but in actual fact the game played out pretty much that way. The highlights of the first part, with the Bugs inching ahead, run thus:



The score had run away to 6-4 in favour of MBB before the Dojo decided that a change of strategy would be necessary. And before you could say "Man D" the Kenshi had got themselves out in front with an unanswered 5-goal streak, including taking half 8-6.



All looking pretty good for the Dojo, but as ever the Bugs weren't about to give up and as the time cap loomed they had managed to even the scores 10-10. Everyone knew there couldn't be much time left, and as it happened the only person who actually knew exactly how much time was left was one Mr Tim Ferguson (making his big BPL comeback this season with MBB) who, in his inimitable style, had managed to secure whatever timing device was being used in lieu of the BPL's standard issue but apparently broken alarm clocks.

You can see where this is headed. Amazingly, the Dojo managed to score the next goal with "just two seconds" left on the clock, meaning there would still be time for one more last point! Of course, there's every chance that this was in fact true - we'll just have to take Ferg's ever-reliable word for it. It's also true that this minor timing incident needn't have had any bearing at all on the outcome of the game, as you'll see in this last clip:



Yes, it really is time for the nice people at QUDA to come good with some new video equipment for our humble media outlet. We're not about to describe what happened during those moments where our equipment failed us, but it's clear enough from the end of the film that the Bugs were able to move the disc back down the field for an unlikely and, from a Dojo perspective, highly unsatisfying conclusion.

Ah well - but how about that h-u-g-e block from Pete Allen on Mike to get the vital turnover in the last point?! Sadly it's beyond our capabilities (and quite possibly even beyond our software) to show that big moment zoomed-in or in slow-mo, despite our best efforts. All we can do is to note that Pete definitely saved his best for last, and that's after a game of standout play marking or being marked by Queensland's only Dingoes player.

Big games were also had by Ryan Black, Sean Flanagan, Jon Good and Firestormer Coops, who was also involved (entirely blamelessly) in the night's second-biggest fail (and there were more than a few) where the Sensei completely misread Coops' beautifully placed huck for what should have been a goal... Thankfully Marijke was saving battery power at the time and didn't have the camera running.

So there you go - it was the Dojo's many missed opportunities, rather than any single event, that led to an unsavoury draw. Plenty of room for improvement next time round... Above&Beyond poll ready to roll on the right.

Out the Back with Stefan Rappazzo

A quick look outside at the brilliant sky this morning was all the inspiration we needed to decide it was time to load up the Dojo combi van. So with our pre-dawn kendo practice finished we set out for Slamtown, that famous fantasy land where ladies in golden bikinis pay for your parking and Ultimate players wear orange shorts.

Of course, there's always plenty of time to sit out the back at D-bah, waiting for the next set to come through. And it was in precisely those moments of sundrenched calm that we turned to Stefan Rappazzo, the don of Gold Coast Ultimate, for some reflection on last week's match between DojoMojo and his Slamtown Flatball Club:

DojoMojo Blog: Spaz - thanks for taking a sickie and joining me for a surf & a chat. After the late cancellation of our planned pre-season clash, that first game between the new-look Dojo and the largely ex-Dojo Slamtown FC teams was a long time in the making. How do you think it lived up to all that anticipation?

Stefan Rappazzo: Well, poorly from a GC point of view. It would have been great to have played ya in the preseason as the SFC is very much relying on developing some chemistry together, and there is really no other way of getting that done than getting more games played together. The Dojo were good on the night, and I think some of the lads that are a bit newer to the competition may have been a bit rattled by the pregame banter whilst SFC were warming up, and the Dojo were excelling at their usual pregame rituals.

DMB: Ah yes. In fact I spent most of my pre-game moments pestering Becky to shoot that video for us (thanks again Becky). I noticed a second video camera in use on the sidelines - can we be expecting some footage with more of a Slamtown focus to be popping up on the SFC blog soon?

SR: Video is something we are only starting to experiment with, and in all honesty our footage from the other night will not likely make it to blog, but we're hoping that future games will begin to find their way online. I've always been a fan of the video, win or lose, it's great to watch how things unfolded and a great way to continually improve. With nearly every BPL team represented via 'blog', it would be great to see this become the standard and you could have every game video documented. I can't put any firm time lines upon this becoming standard procedure, but I can tell ya it's a work in progress.

DMB: Yep - it certainly would be great to see all three BPL games getting video coverage each week. Anyway, back to the questions. What differences did you recognise between the 2010 Dojo unit and the team that you and so many of your Gold Coast colleagues were part of over the past few years?

SR: Well, height for one. In losing myself, Mike, Phil and Lee, and then gaining Pete and Jon G you definitely gained in the sky department. Getting Wallsy, Watto and Ryan back also helps. That said, short or tall, the Dojo continues to be the deepest team in the league with a solid roster of players who play nearly every position on the field. The real difference will come if you can get the finals monkey off your back... besides that... it seems business as usual for the Dojo.

DMB: Yes - winning the big game always takse a little more than business as usual. And speaking of outstanding efforts, does any one moment stand out in your memory as last week's "play of the night"?

SR: Hmmmm.... tough to say. Not much of a highlight type of an evening, no layouts that stand out, and no 'particular' throws that do either. During our post game discussions we spoke of the fact that we were very flat, but how the Dojo played nearly flawless O... I don't recall too many turnovers once you guys got the disc. The amount of crossfield hammers was uncanny, and Fatty's lefty breakmarks were disheartening. Not that it was highlight material but Darren Shi's foul call away from the disc to nullify Jody's endzone D was a heartbreaker. Daz had his revenge on us with his hard working game, and I think that call should have been made by Pete... or not at all.

DMB: Interesting that some sort of foul call has been included in the answer to that question two weeks in a row now. Anyway, looking ahead - you've got a big game coming up this week against UQ Passion. Do you think it's fair to describe JMac and Julz as "the new Jason & Mike"?

SR: No. I think JMac is much more of a dynamic player than just a pure hucker, and as much as Jules is an amazing receiver/player, I don't think he has as dominant a persona as Mike does. That said, they could very well be the hottest combo in the league right now, but I wouldn't go so far as calling them the next bromance. Speaking of hot combos, Pete and Fatty both being able to huck and both taking discs high is becoming a lethal pairing in itself...

DMB: Right again, Spaz. And with this swell starting to pick up again we should probably leave it at that...

Fifty-Four Million Words and Counting

Sun Tzu once said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single footstep. Okay, maybe it wasn't Sun Tzu, but the point we're trying to make is that with the near thirty minutes of video coverage below running at one thousand words per image, this little introductory paragraph is only the first tentative footstep on an Ultimate odyssey that is about to take us all the way to the Gold Coast and back, taking time to paint large portions of Slamtown red, white and black while we're there... Here goes (credit to Ms Becky Larkin for the top shelf cinematography):







Yep - the Flatballers were down 8-3 at halftime, and Dojo managed to stretch the lead out via many, many hammers to 15-8 by the time it was all over. What the video perhaps doesn't convey is that this game was played with exemplary spirit by both teams. Some early niggle was quickly defused by a few well-timed words, and what followed was a hard-fought AND thoroughly enjoyable and respectful game. Otherwise the video pretty much says it all, so to add anything further here would seem superfluous. Oh, other than to mention that Dojo spanking SFC has apparently not been enough to put us back at the top of the Power Rankings (which we love reading - thanks Spaz), despite Passion's pretty ordinary showing against Heroes. Hmmm...

Next week it's Dojo v MBB - sure to be a cracking game, made even moreso by the word on the street being that Bug numero uno won't be around for our game(s?) later in the season. No doubt the already frail autofocus of our video camera will be strained to the limit by a match-up that's usually played out from endzone to endzone, skipping all those boring bits in between... Stay tuned.

Above&Beyond voting is ready and waiting to the right - it's going to be fast & furious with only a few days left before the next round.

Oh and PS Reece - please rest assured that we featured the best moments we had on video from each team in last week's footage. The missing disc eventually turned up, but not in time to make it on the blog (and there was no sign of a callahan - you must've dreamt that one). What we've found though is that the best way to see all the highlights we want to see is to produce our own video...

TXT Versus Talk

It's no secret that Liam "Wetnose" Gillions is deep in preparation for his imminent nuptials at the moment. What might come as a surprise to many, however, is that Liam has chosen the Dojo Gardens as the venue for his big day. At least it'll certainly be a surprise for his delightful fiancee Grace, when he gets around to telling her.

So while we were looking over the Dojo estate, inspecting the various teahouses and pine tree groves for their ceremonial suitability, we managed to also quiz Liam about his views on the game between DojoMojo and his Cobras team last Thursday night at the AJFC fields:

DojoMojo Blog: Liam, let's divert ourselves from talk of ritual kimonos for a moment and discuss our game last week. Firstly, we were thinking of inviting new Cobras spokesman Reece around as well for a chat today, but it seems he's having a difficult enough time just keeping his own media outlet up to date. What's going on there?

Liam Gillions: You know how kids are these days - so fickle and flippant. He probably got distracted by something shiny and ran outside to play in the rain or something. In all seriousness though, it has been good to offload that duty to Reece. With my duties on the highly prestigious BUB and running the Firestorm books, it was good to have one less thing to do while I'm at work, other than work which tends to get left till last.

DMB: Hmmm - perhaps we might hear from Reece in the comments about that? And speaking of intra-Cobras communication issues, there were lots of Cobra discs going to ground last Thursday night due to what appeared to be a lack of communication or even just thrower/receiver eye contact. Do you think this is a problem, and if so do you have any plans to address it?

LG: There was a bit of a lack of peripheral vision from the players. Often the disc was thrown correctly and to the right player, but either the thrower didn't see a defender, or the cutter was only making a fake and was not aware of where the disc was. That's probably more a result of the youth and inexperience of some of our players - it will come with time.

DMB: Well time is certainly something your youngsters have plenty of, along with that classic youthful combo of individual confidence and collective misdirection... Any truth to the rumours that you're having to implement a special series of face-to-face communication seminars to assist your younger players deal with the problems of talking to each other in person rather than just sending a txt or tweet?

LG: I dnt no wat ur tlkn bout.

DMB: Indeed. Let's continue. Plenty of big Pete-to-Leon and Leon-to-Pete connections for the Dojo, especially when you were playing man-on-man D. Your late change to zone seemed to improve things a little from a Cobras perspective - reckon you'll be developing this option into the future (for instance against the huck-o-matic Bugs)?

LG: That Leon-Pete combo really hurt us. The switch to zone was more out of desperation against what is generally regarded as a very strong handling team, and it worked quite well. I think against the youth of the Bugs we will just need to keep switching things up to not let them get used to things and get into a rhythm. Will be an interesting game.

DMB: It sure will be - I'd say nearly as interesting as this week's much-anticipated Dojo v Slamtown grudge match... Sticking with our game last week though, is there any moment from the game that sticks in your mind as the "play of the night"?

LG: There was a shocking foul call from the Dojo player who "claimed" to be stationary whilst attempting to catch an equally shocking hammer. That sticks pretty strong. Also, one of the afore mentioned hucks from Pete to Leon (as seen on video) was pretty sweet. It was inch perfect and needed to be, because Leon was outnumbered 2-to-1 and would have had to work for it if it had floated or been slightly off line.

DMB: Ahh, the highs and lows of Ultimate... Which brings us to the highs and lows of the BPL ladder. Based on current form, what teams are you currently tipping for the semis, and who do you think is going to pick up the wooden spoon?

LG: I'm going to put Passion, Dojo and Slamtown in the semis. Lovers to finish 6th with Heroes 7th. Bugs and Cobras to fight it out for the 4th spot with a late season absence from Mr Neild giving the edge to Cobras.

DMB: Liam - it sounds like you've got it all figured out. Now we'd better get you fitted up with those Geta sandals you were wanting to go with your flying-crane kimono...

Sensei (right) discusses wedding arrangements with Wetnose (left) and Grace (centre, and clearly grateful that You Only Live Twice...)

Return of the Video

Yes - that's right. There's no need for us to waffle on about frisbee this week, thanks to a young chap by the name of Alex (of UQ Passion fame, we believe) who happened to be spending his bye week spectating the Dojo v Cobras clash. Oh - by the way Alex, if you happen to be reading this could you let us know what you did with all the mini DVDs? Wetnose really wants to see the footage of his (failed) layout, so please get in touch.

Anyway, there was one DVD with 20 minutes worth of footage on it still in the camera when we returned to the Dojo Gardens late Thursday night, so we can now present most of the second half of the game, kicked off by a sensational 75 metre flick huck to score from Pete Allen.

Oh, and we've also experimented with a soundtrack for a bit of extra Dojo Way ambience this time (language warnings all round...). We've chosen some vintage Ice Cube (hi Jad), and for all those Gen Z Cobras out there, you'll note that Mr Cube mentions the year of 1993 in his opening line of rap. Because a large contingent of the BPL youth were quite possibly still in nappies at this point, we feel obliged to add that this 1993 recording followed on from Tone Loc's assertion that "'88 was great, but '89 is mine", after which 1990 was "time for the Guru". Around this time, a small cohort of young LA chaps formed a rap group called NWA, and after saying some very unkind things about their local constabulary they quickly went their separate ways. Ice Cube was one of these Compton lads, and he went on to a stellar solo career (where he also said some very unkind things about not only the law enforcement fraternity, but also his former collaborators). Feel free to let us know if you find this entertaining or just plain annoying:



What can we add to that? It's pretty obvious that many of the young Cobras are simply not on the same page as their teammates, with lots of passes going astray or straight into Dojo hands. From our point of view it's also comforting to see the Dojo roll that game in with plenty to spare, even though we were missing a third of our roster. Probably not so great from the Cobra pit, but hopefully they'll be using this, and other recent results (someone say "Heroes"?), as motivation to start realising their great potential.

There's a fresh Above&Beyond poll ready for voting on the right.

The Five Rings of Ultimate with Al Don

It's been raining since Christmas here at the Dojo Gardens, and the sound of the burbling creeks can be heard even from under the deep eaves of our delightful southern verandah. The outline of the ancient pine trees can be made out only as a faint, distant silhouette amidst the constantly changing mists. Indeed, it is only when one hears the primal screech of black cockatoos passing overhead, and realises that those ancient pines are actually Bunya pines, that the illusion of living in Heian-period Japan starts to fade.

But then out of that very same mist emerges a figure with all the fierce athleticism of the great Musashi Miyamoto and you're right back there in the feudal golden age. The approaching figure bounds over the arched bridge, leaps over the stepping stones (set just below the surface of the pond), and vaults straight over the timber balustrade and into the vacant seat to our right, somehow leaving the steaming pot of green tea by our side completely undisturbed.

And in fact the only difference between our guest today and that legendary double-sworded duelist is that the man on our right is wearing a Doughboy Allstars shirt. It's the only shirt he owns, and his name is Al Don.

DojoMojo Blog: Ohaiyoo Gozaimashita, Al. Thanks for dropping by. Before we embark on a stroll through the mist, let's enjoy a nice cup of sen-cha and re-visit our game from Thursday night. Firstly I must say there are a lot of guys I've never seen before on the Lovers team this season (and they all look pretty handy). Have you got a lot of BPL rookies on the roster, or have I just not been paying attention?

Al Don: I'd hate to suggest that the Sensei hasn't been paying attention.... But there were only two new faces on the roster this season that weren't there when the Dojo scraped it home against us in the semis last season.. And for varied reasons neither of those two will be hanging around for the rest of the season..

DMB: Hmmm - seems I'd better start putting some names to faces then, so I know who I'm chasing around next time... I'm also curious to know how you would rate the Lovers' performance (eeew!) in that game, relative to what you're aiming for this season?

AD: Ummmmm.. If I was to rate it in one word I would have to say "pretty poor".. That's two words I know but I'm sure you get the point.. If we were to move towards a more numerical, say a standard scale of 1 - 10 with 10 being where I think we can reasonably be expecting to aim for over the season I'd struggle to bring us in with anything more than a 5.. Showed some fighting spirit and played a few pretty good points but in the schema of a whole game it was a pretty disappointing effort on the whole. Too many drops, too little intensity in the cuts, too many times being beaten on the open side downfield.. Was pretty happy with the way our attempt at taking the 2:3:2 defence to the BPL's major proponents of funny looking zone D's went though.

DMB: Room for improvement, then. One thing that probably couldn't have been done better on Thursday night was Coops' incredible catch of a pretty wild cross-field thumb-hammer from Watto (his second thumber of the night, after a sensational first effort resulted in a goal that no-one saw coming). Imagine if Coops hadn't managed to hold onto it - shortly after halftime, close to the Dojo goal line - reckon there might have been an opening there for a UQ comeback if that outrageous throw had gone to ground, as it very nearly did?

AD: Interesting question.. Fantastic catch on Andy's part and from where I was standing it was completely unexpected from the time the thumber left Watto's hand. It came at a point in the game where we had managed to put a couple of points together.. Think that it could probably be said that the Dojo at that point may have, somewhat understandably, relaxed into the game a little.. Would it have got us truly back into the game? Would like to say yes but honestly don't think that was the case.

DMB: Fair enough. We're always conscious of momentum in games, and while you're probably right about that instance we've seen teams (including ours) lose all their steam after seemingly minor incidents. And on the subject of momentum, no Dojo player has ever been more expert at this vague "science" than our erstwhile colleage Andy McLean. Last Thursday was Andy's last game in a Dojo jersey, and he's going to be sorely missed. Any "Magic McLean Moments" you can recall from your years playing and/or partying alongside him around the country?

AD: Hmmm.. A couple of fairly drunken evenings in Brazil pre-wedding where I saw him shaking it on the dance floor like I'd never seen the man do on home soil were certainly memorable for me. Andy was one of a fairly short list of what you might call "the quiet men" of Brisbane frisbee.. Always to be relied on to give a hundred percent on the field and almost guaranteed to never to get up in anyone's face about it. Also possessed of a very nice, and in my opinion somewhat underutilised forehand flick.. Someone who was always willing to lend a hand whenever asked off-field as well. A member of the community who will be missed by all after the transition to Melbourne.

DMB: Yes, getting used to all those great bars and fantastic cultural institutions is going to take some transitioning for poor old Andy. Bet he'll hate it. Sigh. Ah well - what are your thoughts on the other two games from Round 3? Both very interesting results...

AD: Very interesting results indeed. I'll start with the Passion/Buggers game. I don't think that anyone who's taken a look at the Passion roster and results so far should really have been surprised by the way this one went. Though the final scoreline was perhaps more than most tipsters might have had down for the split... The passion team are a very solid line with characters like Cheese, Gref, Jules and new kid on the block Daniel Henbest to name a few. If you don't know who this guy is yet you certainly will by the end of the season. Though if he keeps changing his haircut and general appearance at the rate he's been going since arriving in Brisbane you may not actually recognise him. The rest of the Passion roster are looking fast and fit as well. At this point, without wanting to put the kiss of death on them they are certainly my pick for the title this season. The Buggers are obviously still a solid line but it's different this season without the classic get out of jail that they've had in the back pocket for as many seasons as I can remember. You just know that they'll continue to dig deep and keep on coming up with exciting new recruits to add into the very reliable Buggers mould, and it would be a brave tip to say they won't make the finals.

And now for the Heroes/Cobras match. Fantastic result for the other new team in the comp. One I'm sure wasn't picked by many (any?) in the BPL tipping comp this week. I do know that there were many pundits out there suggesting at the beginning of the season that "they wouldn't win a game", that maybe "they shouldn't be allowed into the league" for fear of dragging down the level. Many of those same pundits were also suggesting that this might be the season for the Cobras to come flying out off the blocks and perhaps be strong contenders this time round for their first championship. Would be interesting to see what those folks are saying this week.

Heroes have a bunch of young, enthusiastic, albeit fairly inexperienced players along with a couple of more experienced blokes being given the chance to come into their own as playmakers and leaders at a BPL level. Watch this space for some more upsets from the men in green over this season.

On paper the Cobras look great with a roster full of talented players. They've got the throwers, the receivers and some great defenders as well. Somehow it just seems that the "whole" at this point, rather than being greater than the sum of the parts, is actually somehow far less than the sum of its' individual parts. If they can find a way to harness the energy and talent they've got towards playing good Ultimate rather than whatever they're turning it into at the moment then they might still turn it around and make a dash into the finals..

DMB: Indeed. And while we're talking about the Finals, which teams are you currently tipping to make it to the semis, and why?

AD: Like I said above, my pick at this point in time to take the Championship is the boys of the fist - Passion. Think they're closest to the complete package with some of the best throwers and receivers in the game in Brisbane at the moment and the rest of the squad looking fighting fit. From what I've seen they're also looking like they're really enjoying playing together at the moment. Think they're going to be tough to beat. I'm picking them to win the Minor Premiership and then go on to take the finals.

After that though it gets a whole lot more interesting. Will list below the order I'm picking to finish the season up to finals:

2) Dojo - can't go past the experienced line you've got going there. I do think that the absence of Andy McLean will affect the Dojo more than some may expect. Beware the quiet man.

3) Buggers - they've got enough experience there and a good simple system to slot a couple of exciting looking prospects into to make this slot their own. Think that they'll also show enough mongrel fighting spirit to get them into a Final for I dunno the hundred and seventeenth time or something on the trot?

The battle for fourth.. As some bloke once said, this one's harder to pick than a broken nose..

4) Slamtown FC - They're rough around the edges but they've got the athleticism and the heart to edge out the rest for the last spot in the semis I think. They're also the only team in the long history of BPL to run regular training sessions. Way to lift the standard Slamtown.

5) Got to put my boys the Lovers down here. Think as per last season we're going to improve week to week and will have enough to get this far but, and it saddens my heart to say it, you'd have to give me some pretty impressive odds to get me putting down much money on us making the semis this season. Love to see you prove me wrong, Lovers..

6) Cobras.. Great on paper but yet to show it where it counts.

7) Heroes. They're going to be better each week. And had a fantastic result this round. Think the lack of experience will keep them here for this season..

DMB: Al, as usual you've thought of everything, and said even more. Thanks for spending a quiet Sunday afternoon here with us at the Dojo Gardens - must be time for a stroll past our roaring waterfall.

AD: It's been a pleasure chatting, Sensei.. Though for next time I'm really more an espresso than green tea sort of man.

Natural Enemies

No, not DojoMojo and UQ Lovers. We're talking about the big news from Round 3 of the Brisbane Premier League: Heroes upset win over Cobras!

Sure, not many people tipped that outcome. In fact nobody did. Even the Heroes themselves are so stoked that they've posted about it not once, not twice, but thrice already on their blog. And why not.

Ah, but with the benefit of hindsight we really should've seen this coming. Anybody with even the slightest historical perspective knows that the Heroes (i.e. the good guys) always beat the Cobras (i.e. the perennial bad guys). You only had to be a child in the 80's (surely there are still some BPL players who were, not including children of the 70's like Buzz & Sean?) to know that the Cobras always lose out to the Heroes. Take for example that legendary heroic organisation the Mobile Armored Strike Kommand (aka M.A.S.K.). Episode after episode, Matt Tracker and his buddies stuck it to those inexplicably nasty characters from the Vicious Evil Network Of Mayhem (aka V.E.N.O.M.), later re-written into the GI Joe storyline as stooges of the fiendish - wait for it - Cobra Command!!!

Ryan Black has often lamented the tendency of the modern-day Dojo to lean more toward the teachings of Mr Miyagi than those of Ryan's beloved Cobra Kai crew, but we do it for a very simple reason - winning.

Which presumably brings us to a quick wrap-up of last night's game between Dojo and UQ Lovers. We'll keep it brief, as we'll be taking a stroll around the Dojo gardens with UQ legend Al Don shortly. But what we can say is that Dojo pretty much walked away with a comfy 15-8 win, helped along by some incredibly rare off-target throws from the Cornerstone of Queensland Ultimate himself, Buzza Burwell. We won't be seeing that again anytime soon.

Anyway, more on that later. In the meantime, we'd very much like to read what the new Cobras frontman Reece has to say about things, and of course we're keenly awaiting news of the other Thursday night shocker, the perhaps equally controversial caning of the MBB unit by the current #1 BPL team UQ Passion. Sadly, we fear we could be waiting some time, as the Bugs are known more for their "hail-Mike" offence than for having an up-to-the-minute blogosphere presence, and the Passion boys don't bother having a blog at all...

The Above&Beyond poll is ready to roll on the right.

Smells Like Team Spirit

Hey here's something that came to our attention recently. Looking back over last season's wrapup, we noticed that DojoMojo was placed 5th (i.e. last) for Spirit, so we figured it might be time to see if anyone out there in the BPL community wants to help shed some light on what is supposed to be the most valued, and yet is also the most mysterious aspect of Ultimate - Spirit of the Game.

Woohoo - time for some controversy (hopefully)!

What we're looking for here is some comments from our BPL peers, especially those people who actually assigned the spirit scores, letting us know what it was that made the Dojo seem the worst-spirited team in the league last season. To make sure this is useful, we've also turned OFF anonymous commenting. Yes, this might make some more reluctant to come forward, but really we're just tired of getting the usual snide comments from people who lack the cahones to put their own name next to their words (ps we love the comments from people who do let us all know who they are, even when they're bagging us). And anyway, everyone knows who is writing this blog, so fair's fair.

Now, Spirit of the Game comes in at rule #1 in the WFDF Rules of Ultimate, and it's got quite a detailed description. That's exactly how it should be in a self-refereed sport where the constant co-operation of opponents is required in a fast-paced, physically and mentally demanding environment. The problem with this, however, is that there is absolutely no feedback mechanism (at least in the BPL) for teams and players other than a simple, dumb numeric ranking that you don't see until the very end of the season. And then we only see rankings rather than even just a basic points average. What can be learned from that?

What we would very much like to see is a change in policy, at least in the BPL, where Spirit scores are openly reported each week, just like the game scores. But this is just for starters. We'd also like the actual content of Spirit scoring to be much more detailed and defined, probably in a tick-a-box format to keep it quick - the lights always go out so soon after the game!

So we're seeking comments from anyone that's man (or woman) enough to put their name to their opinion regarding:

1. Why do you think the Dojo scored lowest for Spirit last season?

2. What do you think about our proposal for regular, transparent & detailed Spirit reporting?

Battle of Who Could Care Less

Another borrowed-lyrics intro? Oh yes!

Will you never rest
Fighting the battle of who could care less
Every day you wake up late
Sometimes I wish I was that way

It's not that we're trying harder this year to appeal to pop music trivia nerds (hi Joel Smith), it's just that sometimes Ben Folds can describe in a few irony-laden lines and with a fat, fuzz-bass and crash symbal accompaniment, what is about to take us a whole blog post to ramble on about...

Okay - first the facts. UQ Passion beat DojoMojo by 1 point last night in a game that, for people that weren't there, would presumably have been an intensely hard-fought scrap for a single point victory at the top of the BPL ladder. What actually happened was a festival of slack Ultimate, with neither team appearing to really care too much about winning or losing. Even the ever-hardcore JMac didn't really seem to be too concerned when a disc was dropped or a pass went astray. Weird.

Maybe it was just the sheer quantity of lazy or poor-option turnovers that dulled the players' enthusiasm last night? Sure, it was wet & windy by Brisbane standards, but nothing that people from less gentle climes would find upsetting. It was certainly an evening where hammers were a bit harder to catch, and with Dojo playing zone there were plenty of UQ hammers going astray. Needless to add that the hammer is pretty much the default throw for half the kenshi, and perhaps a little bit of adjustment to the conditions might have helped...

But really, it wasn't the sort of game that can be analysed technically or strategically. It was more just the vibe on the field where someone would get a great block and then one of their teammates would run over to the disc, pick it up and huck it straight out of bounds. Doesn't get much more careless than that.

Anyway, as Mr Folds knew all too well, not giving a damn is an attitude that is usually adopted to conceal one's caring a whole lot about something - summarised thus:

This should cheer you up for sure
See I've got your old ID
And you're all dressed up like The Cure

What the Dojo needs to do now is dare to show that we actually do care about the block our teammate just got, or even just the situation on the scoreboard. We're not going to win games this season without trying a bit, even though last night's game happened to also be the Dojo's first regular season loss since October 2008 (!!!). With 7 teams now in the league, gaining a spot in the semis is by no means a given, and a lot of the other teams in the league have plenty of reasons to care, such as ambitious newcomers Slamtown FC and last season's great underperformers, the Cobras. Time to take it all the way back to wax-on wax-off basics.

Vote away for above&beyond on the right.

Like Kryptonite

Last night was the first BPL outing for both the new-look Dojo squad and the new-to-the-league Heroes team. The result was a pretty brutal 15-2 to the Dojo, and we think we know why: the Heroes shirts are the same colour as Kryptonite!

Is the head of Heroes' merchandising possessed of a deeply ironic sense of humour? Or perhaps they're styling themselves more as the Greenzo sort of modern eco-hero? Either way, one thing we know for sure is that there was no colour more feared by the original man of steel than green. OMG - man of steel hating anything green? Superman was the original comic-book poster boy for environment-destroying industrialists!

Anyway, at least the Heroes have gone for a colour that no other team already had (a simple concept that has eluded the Cobras and even MBB in the past), and they certainly looked a lot more unified than the anything-white-will-do Dojo. With all the roster shakeups of late, a new batch of Dojo shirts can't arrive soon enough.

Anything worth noting about the game? Well, rather than participating last night, this writer observed the first half from a comfortable seat atop the field-side esky, and what was clear even from there was that the Heroes have a lot settling in to do before they start to seriously challenge in the BPL. LD Stu could be heard on the sideline criticising the Dojo's use of zone defence against a rookie team, but really - it's not the Brisbane Preparatory League, and everyone knows that when you play the Dojo you will face zone D. Best get used to it early.

No doubt the Heroes will be much improved by the time we meet again in the second half of the season, and after all they are the only BPL team ever to have a dedicated, non-player coach (one Mr Matt Boevink), but the new additions to the Dojo roster will be much more firmly embedded by then as well...

Ah well. After what can only be described as a poor blogging effort last season, we've resolved to return to our usual up-to-the-minute standards this season. As such, the first round of Above&Beyond voting is now open - vote away on the right. Maybe next week we'll even return with the video camera...

Our McLeans Are No Longer Showing

We've been meaning to make mention of the departure of Andy McLean, one of the founding DojoMojo players, for quite a while now, and it's simply a sign of our summer slackness that it took our descent on the BUB blog list to a position below even the Cobras to get us typing. This should put things straight, and be a good early test for Reece's commitment.

Ah - if only we had a suitably dorky photo of Andy to put with this post. No doubt Dave Watson or Ryan Black or Jay Sansness will have one hidden away somewhere. We certainly hope they do, as writing 1000 words in lieu of an image of Andy will take us most of the night. But fear not - we'll keep our recollections of Andy's glittering Dojo career brief enough that even Lee O'Dwyer might make it to the end of the post. Then again he would probably have stopped reading already, even if he had managed to drag himself away from the internet's other attractions...

So - Andy McLean. Here at the Dojo Gardens, we'll remember lots of things about Andy's game, including his delightful flick hucks, his honest defence (something you can't say about that many kenshi - although thankfully most of the slackers are now Slamtowners...), his speed, agility and most of all his graceful style. Indeed, it was that very gracefulness that made Andy the winner he is both on and off the field. Despite being seen wearing white waistcoats over black shirts, Andy is one of those guys who transcends the nerdiness inherent in his daytime profession of Town Planning (although calling it a profession is something of a stretch) and ends up marrying a ridiculously hot Brazilian lady. Yes - he's got it all figured out.

Andy McLean - kampai!

The Joys of Autocracy

Our battery indicator shows we have 15 minutes to write this post, which some may not be surprised to find is precious little for this laboriously loquacious alliterator (Blogger seems to believe we just made that word up!).

So why did we waste the first two precious minutes with that totally unnecessary introductory diversion when we could've just straight-out announced that Leon McIntyre has earned himself a spot on the DojoMojo Honour Board by winning last season's Above&Beyond award?

Yes, we just decided on that all by ourselves without consulting anyone or following any due process. However, the poll votes from the season back up this decision 100%, as did Leon's unfailing excellence throughout the season and especially in the Final.

So well done Leon - your first season back at the Dojo and just like that you're immortalised right here at the DojoMojo blog. There'll be a whole new crew vying for votes a few weeks (hopefully) from now.

This Is A Call

Visiting is pretty
Visiting is good
Seems that all they ever wanted was a brother

This can be a secret
We can keep it good
Even all the ever wanting had a problem

Yes, this is a call, but not to any of Dave's past resignations (or to any of the many angry, angry youtube commenters below that clip - why do they get so nasty, and why can we not resist morbidly reading them?).

This is in fact a call to any would-be Dojo kenshi out there, and it's a very serious call at that. Why? Well, there's a plan afoot, and it's a very good plan if it works, to get a Gold Coast based team into the Brisbane Premier League. Clearly, a coastal expansion team would be a great thing for the BPL, but sadly it isn't such a good thing for DojoMojo. You see, half a dozen or so of our kenshi are Gold Coasters themselves, and they've been making the trip to play the Dojo Way in Brisbane every week for years. But starting next season, our old chums Stefan, Mike, Lee, Phil & Darren aim to be wearing GC jerseys and we wish them all the best. Including the best and most humiliating defeats upon each encounter with the Dojo...

But all of that is assuming there will still be a Dojo for the Gold Coasters, and all you other SE Qld frisbophiles to play against, once nearly half our players have departed. So - have you ever wished you could feel for yourself the quality fabric of the world famous Dojo shirt? And have one in black AND white? And have your name mentioned regularly on the only local team blog that ever gets updated (shame, Wetnose, shame)? And not have to do any training ever (assuming here that you're already 6'5" with unmatched natural talent)? Well, now is the time to turn those fantasies into reality, even if you're none of the above! It's a pretty simple story - DojoMojo needs YOU (no, not you Cupcake), and needs you NOW. Feel free to email stephen (at) ark (dot) net (dot) au and demand your spot on the team.

Oh yeah, while we're here we might as well add in a quick recap of the Grand Final that we lost last season. It would be really quick and easy to say that the final was won by Mike Neild, but in actual fact the final was lost by DojoMojo. We were ahead by a lot with not much time left, and managed to lose the game despite being handed multiple J-Ray turnover gifts - sometimes several in one point.

To be fair, Jason also threw most of the goals that Mike caught, but his real impact came down to two throws, both of which were pulls in consecutive points in the dying moments of the game, when Bugs were 3 points down and all Dojo had to do to win was score 1 measly point. After a nervy Dojo turnover and Bug score, Jason proceeded to put the next two pulls deep into the back corner of the endzone with plenty of hangtime, giving his defending teammates plenty of time to set up and forcing the Dojo to go for risky throws over and around the Bug D, leading to back-to-back turnovers within 20m of our own endzone. Anyone that plays team sport can tell you that this change in momentum is all the Bugs needed to tip the game in their favour, especially when Mike was there to grab what swill he could get near (the turnover count was sky high in every sense) and accept the victory that the Dojo seemed so keen to hand over.

Gotta say - watching all this happen from the sideline with both calves cramped as usual was all the inspiration this team blogger and occasional frisbee player needed to make getting back into proper shape a high-priority New Year's resolution, alongside "win BPL". The kenshi kernel you know and love/loathe will be there to have another crack at the leaden R.C. Dog Cup this season, but only if we can find some new teammates to walk the Dojo Way with. Drop us a line if you reckon that might be you.