a great performance?

now that i'm somewhat relevant again maybe i'll start blogging to try to compete with my worlds teammates for self-aggrandizing ink.  having beers with those guys at their condo during worlds was a great way to get my name in lights.  anyway, this season provided so many ideas for posts, but i don't have the time or energy to properly organize, so maybe i'll jsut fire from the hip on a few of them over the next month or two.  

i think jam's run to the national championship was a bit of a surprise by many involved, and i can only imagine that not many people thought we had more than an outside chance at winning.  however, i think there hasn't bene enough made of how well the team played down the stretch...so let me try to let everyone know how great we were.  but first i'll try to take a stab at the discrediting way to view our victory.  

jam had a very mediocre first two days at nationals.  beating the teams they were supposed to (those seeded below them: bodhi, condors, goat) and losing to the teams above them (ironside, sockeye).  they were fortunate to play a team they were very familiar with who had played an exhausting first two days in quarterfinals, and then get to play the winner of last year's final after what was certain to be a physically and mentally exhausting game.  jam was able to pick up the wins against these beaten up teams and then get a relatively inexperienced (again, not a claim i would make, but some might) boston team in the finals where a solid performance was good enough to take the trophy, and that was exactly what jam turned in.  

here's the alternative view.  jam had a mediocre first two days at nationals, efficiently taking care of the teams they were supposed to, and efficiently losing to the teams they were supposed to.  jam's offense was playing well, and the defense wasn't exerting themselves.  as reward for this average play we were drawn into a half of the bracket against 3 teams that we had a combined 2-4 record against, and were 1-3 against in the series (one sectionals win over relolver).  in the quarters we came out and got a few early breaks and the offense really started finding its rhythm, giving up zero breaks in the game.  the confidence was growing and an attitude was forming that we were ready for the game that ended our season last year, losing to the eventual champions in overtime.  we came out strong at the start and got a few breaks of some uncharacteristic bravo mistakes, but to our credit we made those mistakes hurt them.  we were getting good matchups and making bravo work hard to trade goals, maybe that extra game on friday and a tough one saturday morning were catching up to them, but jam was making sure that they were feeling every point.  while jam didn't pull away convincingly, i think it never got closer than 2 points in the second half and we won with our offense having given up only 2 breaks against a very athletic and physical defensive team.  our defense generated 6 breaks against a team that i think we may have only forced into 6 turns when we previously played them in colorado.  in the finals we played an ironside team that was having a strong tournament, and had steamed through their half of the draw to get to the finals.  after squandering a few early break chances our defense finally got one in upwind and consolidated with the downwinder.  the defense's legs were fresh, and the offense was playing pretty efficiently.  despite a few too many turns, the offense was able to get the disc back and wound up giving up only 2 breaks.  the defense converted 6 breaks on the game, a great performance against what had been a fairly stingy offense when we played them earlier in the weekend (one break on the first point of the game).  

the truth might be somewhere in between, but probably closer to the latter.  the truth is that jam battled injuries and attendance issues all season (14 at boulder, maybe 17 healthy at labor day), and played without damien at sectionals and regionals.  having him back was a huge confidence boost to the team, but especially the offense.  also, after a pretty loose first half of the season, there was a little more expectation put on performance in the latter part of the season and a more regimented system was installed that called for particular discipline.  the result was one of the more convincing finals victories (biggest margin since furious/ring in 2002 if memory serves), and a subtly exceptional performance on the final two days of the tournament (18 breaks for, 4 against in the three biggest games of the season).

so there it is...i'm back.  back on top.  of the last 11 nationals i've played in six finals, having won three of them, but this was the first final since 2003.