Quite the coaching debut for Andrew Roca.
April 2, 2018 by Charlie Eisenhood in News, Opinion with 0 comments
Throughout this AUDL season, Ultiworld will be publishing a weekly Throwaround, a chance for you to catch up on the amazing, funny, and interesting moments that you might have missed from the weekend’s games.
The AUDL kicked off the 2018 season this weekend with just two games: Indy v. Detroit (yuck!) and Tampa Bay v. Raleigh (ok maybe!). Let’s take a look at some of the best moments this weekend.
The Scores1
Indianapolis 24-12 Detroit
Raleigh 27-22 Tampa Bay
Raleigh’s Shane Sisco Flying Onto SportsCenter’s Social Media
Shane Sisco Layout | Raleigh Flyers
Andrew Roca Debuts In Full Mike Ditka Regalia
Long time UCF men’s coach Andrew Roca has taken over coaching duties for the Tampa Bay Cannons this season, and, in true Roca fashion, delivered with this Mike Ditka inspired outfit (and mustache):
Now, wait a minute. What are those signs? WHAT ARE THOSE SIGNS?
You see these bad boys in college football stadiums around the country, and memes have definitely been embraced — Oregon State rocked a Crying Jordan last season. But this is the first time I’ve seen them in the AUDL. Let’s take them one-by-one.
As will quickly become clear, pettiness is the theme here. The Roughnecks knocked the Flyers out of the playoffs last year, and Tampa wanted to make sure they remembered the loss (after they had won the South Division). I originally thought that it was a troll of Dallas for complaining on social media about the Cannons last season, but I was promptly corrected on Twitter by Bobby Ley.
He didn’t miss a chance to snipe Mischa Freystaetter, who, of course, left the Cannons this year to compete with the Flyers, with a dig at his stat line:
Sign #2…
In black: the logo for the UNC Wilmington men’s ultimate team. In green: the logo for an anonymous texting app. Nuff said.
Sign #3…
At first, I didn’t get this one. I asked Roca what the point of this sign was. “Remind Mischa he lost to Pitt in the National Championship game.”
Mischa was one of the stars of the Central Florida team that made the college title game in 2013 and lost to Pittsburgh in a blowout. That UCF team was coached by Roca. “It’s a self burn, but I got over it,” he said.
If the AUDL ever makes it big, these signs should get Hall of Famed. Expect new signs later this season.
Also: not a bad start to the season for the Cannons. A five point road loss to start the season against the #1 ranked team in the league is pretty respectable.
Tune In To The Game
When our reporting crew got back to the hotel in Myrtle Beach after Saturday’s pool play at Easterns, we popped on the TV to tune into the Villanova/Kansas men’s basketball semifinal. As we clicked through the channels, boom, there it was: the Flyers/Cannons game. Live on TV.
With the AUDL’s new broadcast deal with Stadium, their games are aired in dozens of markets around the country for free over the air. You could literally stumble across the game, as we did, and stay for a while. It’s pretty damn cool.
Home Team In Bold ↩
