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AUDL Week 7 Preview: Sub .500 Teams Hunting For Wins
Photo by Alex Fraser — UltiPhotos.com
Many of the teams under .500 have big games this weekend as they claw back towards playoff hopes in the AUDL. The big guns are also matched up against some of those teams, which could make for blowout wins or wild upsets. Read more →
Round One Recap: 2013 D-I College Championships
Here’s a roundup of the day’s first round:
OPEN
In the 1 v. 5 matchup in Pool B, Wisconsin took down Cornell 15-9 in a sloppy game from both teams. The teams traded points with one break each to 5-5, with each team playing aggressively and fast. That high energy translated into multiple turnover points on every point in the first half.
“We want to come out aggressive in the start of all our games,” said Wisconsin coach Hector Valdivia, who wasn’t worried about the turnovers.
Jordan O’Neill had three goals and Colin Camp added three assists to help the Hodags pull away on a 10-4 run to close out the game. Read more →
2013 D-I Open Championships: Ultiworld’s Pool Predictions
Photo by Kevin Leclaire — UltiPhotos.com
It’s one of the most difficult years in recent memory to pick winners at the College Championships. The parity this year is going to make for a wild tournament. But, after a season of traversing the country and reporting on these teams, here are our predictions for how the pools will shake out.
POOL A
Oregon and Colorado are heads and shoulders above the rest of this pool. We doubt that any of the bottom three teams in this pool have the horses to take down either of the the top two. That means that the first round in this pool is going to be incredibly important. Not only do Oregon and Colorado begin the day with the 1 v. 2 matchup but Georgia and Dartmouth square off in the 3 v. 4 game. Much of the direction of this pool will already be decided by 2:00 p.m. on Friday. Read more →
Light, Dark, and Cleats: 5/23
Seven on the Green Line raised $5000 for Boston bombing victims, but they aren’t done yet. They’re auctioning off some gear on eBay — here, here, and here. Go bid to support their cause.
This cool Kickstarter project to explore the subculture of ultimate through a web series just got fully funded. But you can still donate.
The week’s best plays from the AUDL and MLU.
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Scouting Report: Wisconsin Hodags
Here is Ultiworld’s video scouting report of the Wisconsin Hodags:
The New York Rumble’s Lucas Murphy Makes The ESPN SportsCenter Top 10
This morning, the New York Rumble’s Lucas Murphy’s full-extension layout score placed at #8 on the ESPN SportsCenter Top 10 plays. That score was the pivotal moment in a tight game against the DC Current.
The best moment from this Top 10 clip? The anchor saying, “Did I hear you correctly? Did you say Major League Ultimate frisbee?”
“Yes I did!” replied the co-anchor. “Money to be made!”
Murphy’s appearance on the top 10 is the third clip this season from Major League Ultimate. His follows in the footsteps of Jeff Graham’s, who was briefly #1 last week before falling to #2.
Niche Warfare: Can Two Professional Ultimate Leagues Coexist?
You don’t have to dig deep in the history of professional sports to notice a simple fact: every major league in the United States has undergone a merger at some point in its history.
Major League Baseball formed in 1903 with the merger of the National and American leagues. The National Hockey League absorbed the World Hockey Association in 1979, bringing on four of the six remaining WHA teams, after a period of nasty years where the two leagues frequently fought in court. In 1967, the American Basketball Association was formed explicitly to merge with the National Basketball Association; they did so in 1976.
There are, of course, huge advantages to monopoly — singular market control — in professional sports1. You don’t have to compete for athletes, you can comfortably plan expansion without the threat of an insurgent league “taking” a city, and you can drive up profits by leveraging economies of scale and controlling prices. Many argue that sports leagues are “natural monopolies,” because it allows fans to see all the best players in one league. Read more →
- It’s more accurate to call sports leagues cartels, since they are technically oligopolies, not monopolies [↩]
AUDL Week 6 Recap: Rush Still Perfect, Alleycats Back In The Hunt
Photo by Brandon Wu — UltiPhotos.com
Six games of action this week in the AUDL — let’s get right to it.
EASTERN DIVISION
Philadelphia Phoenix 18 – 17 DC Breeze
The Philadelphia Phoenix (3-1) maintain their half game lead over the Empire for 2nd place in the Eastern Division after a tight win over the DC Breeze (2-4) on the road.
The Phoenix trailed the majority of the game, but tied the game late in the third quarter at 13-13 and extended that into a 6-0 run to pull ahead 16-13. The Breeze got back to within one, but couldn’t convert a handful of scoring opportunities in the final minute and fell to the Phoenix for the second time this season. Read more →
MLU Week 5 Recap: Rumble Shut Out The Lights On The Current
Photo by Sean Carpenter — UltiPhotos.com
At the midway point of the Major League Ultimate season, it is time to acknowledge a few things. First, Seattle and San Francisco are going to advance to the playoffs out of the West. Second, Boston will take the one seed in the East. And third, the DC Current are done.
Yes, mathematically, the Current still have a shot. Yes, they have three remaining home games. But after their loss to the Rumble this weekend — a game they knew was a must-win — can they recover?
Their offense — the lowest-scoring in the league — has deteriorated since the beginning of the season. But with Alan Kolick steadily running the offense with an outstanding 94% completion rate (Ultiworld’s analysis shows that 90%+ is good; 94% is exemplary), what’s the problem? Read more →
DIII Championships Women’s Finals: Bowdoin v. Williams
Two New England Regional foes — Bowdoin and Williams — met in the finals of the USA Ultimate DIII College Championships this weekend in Milwaukee. The teams, who faced off twice at Regionals, knew what to expect. Bowdoin won the first two contests by six and five points, respectively, and brought the same game plan into a much bigger stage.
Check out the recap of the game and Bowdoin’s incredible season, and watch the finals below:
