Story of the Season!

Last night on Field 2 at AJFC, 6 DojoMojo players took to the field against 14 UQ Passion boys and won convincingly. Easy to write, not at all easy to do.

The final scoreline was 15-9, and despite being down two points early and playing savage-minus-one the whole time, we managed to take the half, see off an early second-half challenge from the men in pink (which brought the score to 8-8), and somehow find the legs & lungs to pull away and win by 6. And this against a team which features undoubtedly the two best throwers in Queensland and a fleet of top-shelf receivers.

How did we do it? Steve Hjelm admitted after the game that at the outset he would have been happy just to get more than the 2 points the 6-man Messy scored against us last week. He wasn't the only one who thought it might get ugly for the kenshi. But we went into the game realising that we couldn't hope for anyone else to turn up (Watto for instance was busy watching synchronised swimming in the Olympics) and resolved to play a very simple game involving lots of quick disc movement on offence and a zone D which aimed at first taking away the long throws and second clogging up the middle.

It probably wasn't until the halftime break that we realised that we were actually the better team on the night and could win if our legs & hearts could hold out. So the 6 of us gritted our teeth, generated blocks all over the field, forced Passion to make risky throws and didn't allow them to effectively set up any form of defensive structure. It was simple doggedness and commitment.

All sounds a bit serious for a Dojo story, doesn't it? But the truth is that it was one of those very rare moments when a team becomes completely, intuitively cohesive and plays with an intensity and fluency that they themselves find surprising. The game didn't quite turn into a descending array of information, but a threshold was definitely crossed, and it's an experience those involved will be able to draw on in the future when things get tight.

For this writer, it's impossible to make an MVP call between Dan Walls, Steve Pettit, Matt Eastburn, Steve Hjelm, Andy Lankowski and Stephen Cameron (a group henceforth known within the Dojo as "The Several Steve Subset") this week. Every player worked every position, zipped the disc short, sent it or pulled it down long and made the D plays stick. Nonetheless, our MVP poll is a tradition not to be broken so you'll find this week's on the right. Voting for multiple players is possible and very likely.

With any luck, we'll resume our usual light-hearted service with a ringside chat with John "The Cheese" McNaughton at our monthly Dojo sumo contest over the weekend. Perhaps we'll hear John's views on Buzz's call of the night in the post-game huddle...? Oh yes, and even though we had the video camera at the field last night, there was no-one to hold it so no film this week... The near-Homeric odyssey above will have to suffice this time.

And lastly, we've discovered that commenting for non-blogger types had been disabled here at the DojoMojo Blog, so those with something to say will be pleased to know that this situation has now been rectified and commenting is encouraged from one & all, anonymous or otherwise...

[PS - MVP standings updated again with Dave Watson taking out the honours last week, so it's: Matt E (3.5), Stefan (2), Dave W (1), Mike (1), Stephen C (0.5).]

It got Messy...

For the second week in a row, DojoMojo used its new shirt-colour-change tactic to devastating effect, leading to a what must have been a BPL record-breaking blowout win of 15-2 (!) over an unfortunately short-handed MBB: Messy crew.

The Messy lads were missing their top guns, currently on assignment overseas representing Australia at the WUGC in Vancouver, and attending some sort of medical junket in Ireland. Reduced as they were to 6 players, Messy had no answer to the Dojo's unrelenting defence and patient offence (which produced only 3 or 4 turnovers all night).

But why just read about it when you can watch some actual footage and see for yourself? Big thanks especially to Mrs Dan Walls for holding the camera whilst under a blanket on the sideline (and for keeping the footage of Dan looking manly between points to a minimum...).

This first clip is from an early point in the match where a contested block was quickly followed by a simple throwaway, setting DojoMojo up with an early break-point opportunity that wasn't wasted:



Dave Watson managed to complete a spectacular thumb hammer goal (just off camera) to Hjelmie a few points later. Here he is making do with your run-of-the-mill, over-the-top scoober option:



And yes, that's Matt Eastburn and Wetnose busily diminishing the Spirit scores for both teams in the endzone. After that little venting session (unfortunate as it was) the prevalence of heavy, accidental/negligent contact from earlier in the game thankfully dried right up.

Messy had no option but to play zone defence all night, which, if there had been even the slightest breeze, might have generated a few more turnovers. But as it was, the Dojo handlers (yes - that really is Steve Hjelm in the back 3 for a while) were able to patiently dump & swing their way to the goal with cutters finding holes through the middle of the zone.



How about that pull just making it past the halfway line (not to mention the force-anywhere defence)? At least Dan wound up catching the goal...

The last point of the game was typical of all the others, with Dojo earning a turnover on D, then steadily taking the disc all the way downfield to score. Not spectacular, but it worked.



With any luck we'll track down Wetnose himself and invite him around in the next few days for a contemplative Shakuhachi recital beside our miniature waterfall and a chat about the game.

And of course the MVP Standings are now: Matt E (3.5), Stefan (2), Mike (1) and Stephen C (0.5). Stefan is away for the rest of the season, and with 4 games still to go we could still see the likes of Dan Walls or Dave Watson emerge from the shadows to steal the season MVP title. Vote for this week's MVP (voting for multiple players is just fine) in the poll to the right!

Roll the videotape!

Well, the title of this post may allude to jurassic technology, but here at the DojoMojo Blog we're not about to hide out in our immaculately groomed gardens and carefully polished timber shoji-screened rooms pretending that Gen Y never happened (although most agree we'd all be better off without it...). Nope - we're embracing the magnificence of YouTube for the entertainment of all. Below is our first attempt at posting some video footage of Dojo action - shot last Thursday night during our stampeding of Rawhide. Will it work? What does "embed html" mean? Let's find out:




[It might be a bit naughty to edit posts once they're on the blog - who doesn't hate Greedo shooting first? - but it was noticed that the point below is in fact a "hack" point. For the uninitiated, this means that every Dojo player on the field handles the disc at least once before the goal is scored. Nice.]




And here is why Dave Watson won't be allowed near the Dojo video camera again any time soon:

Whippin' It Good

It was an unmitigated delight to spend an evening at the Dojo's very own sushi bar with Jon Good last night, knocking back the unagi-don, yasai tempura and a big sukiyaki number. Whilst polishing off the last of our warm Otokayama sake, Jon was at his loquacious best as we recounted the events from last Thursday night. Here's how it went:

DojoMojo Blog: Jon, it's a delight to have you here at our brand new sushi bar. I can't believe how much grilled eel and warm sake a lean chap like yourself can put away. You truly are a man of many talents. But enough idle flattery - how about our game last week? What a turnaround from our previous "clash of the boutique teams" round! What happened, Jon?

Jon Good: I think the biggest factor was that Dojo seemed to have finetuned their email-based warm up, whereas Rawhide didn’t have a full line until the very start of the game. It’s a sign of our age range: too many baby and work related duties - I am one of the youngest players on the team!

DMB: Yes - many have conjectured that the team name "Rawhide" is derived from the sparseness of hair on the scalps of many of the players. Indeed - you sport the rawest hide of all, Jon! It's all a clever ruse, I'm sure, to make the younger teams take it easy against you until BLAM! - you layout right past them. Of course, these smoke-and-mirrors tricks were perfected by the Dojo ninja forebears hundreds of years ago. What did you think of our new pre-game psych-out strategy of lining up in white shirts, only to switch to black when "game on" was called?

JG: I don’t know what washing powder the kenshi use, but the brilliance of the white burned out my corneas; then switching to black rendered the whole team invisible to me. You were truly the silent assassins.

DMB: Excellent. But enough about us - how are Stu Ausin, Sean Flanagan and Joel Smith being punished during the week for leaving a team full of semi-rookies to fight it out against Dojo with just a few experienced hands for guidance? Oh yeah - and does Tim Ferguson still play for Rawhide??? Haven't seen him an a while...

JG: Stu, Flan, and Joel are all married and/or heavily hen-pecked, so the Rawhide collective rest safe in the knowledge that the women will do all the work for us on this front – similar to our cutting on Thursday night, where Beth seemed to be the only one doing the hard work. Ferg decided to opt out of this season: some may say that family prevented him from committing to the team; others may say that a wording change in the concessional league fees rule prevented him from only paying $15, claiming he was travelling from Airlie Beach each week. I think those who know our friendly capitalist know where I stand!

DMB: Hmmm - sounds like another Ferg-gate scandal brewing there. That man certainly has a bamboozling spreadsheet for every occasion... But it was good to see Stew McGoo adopting the position of wise old mentor for the newer guys. What is it about Stew that makes him the perfect man for this delicate job?

JG: As you know Stephen, McGoo was the main driving force behind Leo Baekeland inventing plastic back in 1905: McGoo had already been working on tactics in anticipation of the sport finally being invented by those New Jersey school kids decades later. You simply can’t buy that level of experience. Also, without JDR, Joel, and Ferg there on Thursday night, there were no other people to talk over during timeouts – a rarity for Rawhide.

DMB: Ahh yes - if only we feeble-minded non-fluid-dynamicists could understand a word Dr McGoo was saying we would all see the game as it truly is, just a descending array of numbers... But anyway, my last question, and it's a critical one for all those following this BPL season, is how is Rawhide going to win back the growing support it was finding on the Brisbane Ultimate Blog tipping competition?

JG: As the regular season draws to a close, those needing to gain ground on the tipping leaders may be forced to back the underdog. I am also thinking of bringing in a rule for next season involving some kind of collective age handicap – this will make us much more competitive in the tipping competition!

DMB: Well, some underdog-backing would certainly mix things up a bit, and amazingly Pete Allen managed to get one tip right (out of 6 from the past two rounds) when his Lovers team somehow managed to roll Passion last week. John McNaughton once again has some serious explaining to do...

Anyway, thanks again Jon for sparing us some of your time and pithy comments here at the DojoMojo Blog.

Keep them doggies movin' Rawhide!

It was a case of move 'em on, head 'em up, set 'em out and ride 'em in at AJFC Field 2 last Thursday night, when the Dojo "roped, threw & branded" an under-strength Rawhide crew.

The Rawhide boys sorely missed playmakers Stu Austin and Sean Flanagan (despite the best efforts of stalwarts Jon Good & Shawn Robb), struggling to put solid points together on offence and then finding the new Dojo Way of jealously holding the disc on offence too much to rope in...

As ever with matchups between these two so-called "boutique teams", the spirit was high with many high-fives shared between opponents for quality play and the couple of contentious foul calls resolved without incident. We've also captured some video of the game, so once we work out how to use the technology we'll have some key points posted right here for the amusement of all.

Anyway, we all know Rawhide can play much better than this and we're looking forward to a much rougher ride against them next time. By why wait until then to have a chat over some specialty-of-the-dojo unagi-don and miso with Rawhide impresario and BPL boss-man Jon Good? Check back shortly to read what he has to say about Joel Smith's cooking and Tim Ferguson's party-planning expertise...

Oh yes, and Matt Eastburn took out the MVP again for our game vs. UQ Lovers, so that leaves him out in front of the standings (3), ahead of Stefan (2) and Mike (1). He is an electrical engineer, so it's only natural that he knows how to rig these votes... This week's poll on the right.

Look how far they've come...

Even though he still hasn't dropped by the Dojo kendo hall for a nice chat, Dave Watson AKA the Golden Boy of Queensland Ultimate has managed to find the time to dig through his immense photographic archives to track down some of the earliest recorded images of some current (and not-so-current) Dojo stars.

We're going back to the days of UQ's Field 7 being the solitary home of Brisbane ultimate circa early 2000's. See if you can recognise a blonde-headed, Danish-descended kenshi with a funny surname in this image:



Yes, that's right - it's a much younger (and Dave claims faster) Steve Hjelm. Looking good Hjelmie, and happy to keep a low profile looking slightly shifty in the back row as usual. But speaking of shifty, have a look at Sean Flanagan second from the right in the back row (behind Jay Sansness of whom more shortly). There's something very "Today Tonight" about his look back then, wouldn't you agree? Also looking happy in the front left is Helen Spurling who stopped smiling (and playing) only a year or so after this photo was taken and pretty much immediately after she was struck in the sternum at point-blank range by a Buzz Burwell huck. Ouch.



The question here is not why Jay Sansness is in every team photo, but who that mysterious and goofy-happy looking Dojo-er is at the right-hand rear. And the answer is Dan Blacklock. You'd think that after all these years he'd have stopped living in a share house with other frisbee players, but no - not Dan.



Sansness again. But of greater note is that this image not only contains every male McNaughton that's ever thrown a frisbee but it also contains a younger, happier Andy McLean. That's him with the question mark over his head to the right hand side. Note that he's showing a lot of big hair promise even in these early days. Also, Dave has noted that the individual to the front left of the photo is in fact a much younger-looking Matt Eastburn. Hasn't Matt changed.

Ever the frisbee historian, Dave leads us to believe that this particular winter league, fought out on the cold, dark, pre-desertified UQ fields, was won by a team chock full of Dojo talent...

Like Ninjas in the Night

A pared-down, GC-free Dojo hit squad quickly took apart the fresh, fast, but highly inexperienced group of UQ Lovers on the suitably dark AJFC Field 3 last night. The UQ lads played with all the enthusiasm and rapid running one would expect from a bunch of boys who are smack in the middle of Zoo Magazine's target market, but it wasn't enough to get close to the newly-clinical Dojo Way.

An early tussle saw plenty of quick UQ popping through the Dojo fence, but a switch to our patented "Wax-on Wax-off" D saw the flow of UQ goals stop dead. From there it was just a matter of completing passes on O and baiting throws on D to see Dojo walk away with an easy 15-6 win.

UQ were very much missing the Vancouver-bound Al Don, as well as the experienced hands and leaping legs of Chris Cunliffe (will he ever turn up?), leaving just Pete Allen, not exactly a veteran himself, to run the show and whip the rookies into shape. And that's way too much to ask for with BPL as competitive as it now is.

So, next week we're fronting up against Rawhide, a team which dealt with the old huck-happy Dojo ways in brutal style last time round. It seems they lost out to Messy Bugs last night though, and with all that disciplined car-polishing the Dojo lads have been doing of late we're expecting a much different outcome this time round.

This week's MVP poll is on the right, as usual, with the standings now at Matt E (2), Stefan (2) and Mike (1). It's going to be tough this week as this writer can't think of a single player not deserving of recognition.