A moment of silence for the end of one of the mixed division's longest Nationals streaks
October 16, 2024 by Josh Katz in News with 0 comments
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Well, it finally happened.
For the first time in 19 years, Philadelphia AMP are not headed to Nationals. It was a year marked by departures for Philadelphia’s premier ultimate club, notably head coach of more than a decade Patrick Sherlock and multi-time US national team member Raha Mozaffari. Incredibly, AMP’s streak wasn’t even the longest active streak in the division1, but a streak of this duration deserves to be memorialized. To put the sheer magnitude of this legacy into perspective, consider this: the last time AMP missed Nationals, the iPhone was still over a year away from being announced, “We Belong Together” by Mariah Carey was the number one song in the US, and YouTube was just six months old. Most first year college students this fall weren’t even alive in 2005! It’s been a long time since AMP weren’t in attendance at Club Nationals.
In many cases, the end of a near two decade-long streak is a slow burn, and you’re not too surprised when it finally ends. Over the course of a couple years, a team goes from finalists, to quarters contenders, to pool play fodder, before falling out entirely. For AMP, this couldn’t be further from the case. They lost on universe point to eventual champions Fort Collins shame. in quarters last year and, despite one writer’s predictions of a step backwards, they still finished the regular season inside the top-16 according to USAU’s algorithm and our Power Rankings. And yet, anything can happen come Sunday at Regionals, when everyone’s playing their hearts out for the chance to keep playing. And for AMP, they had the misfortune of coming up against a DC Rally team that did just enough to upset the odds.
The streak featured chaos and controversy, championships and calamity, and so much more. There was The Bobble (and a five years later retrospective), the Championship Collapse, and the subsequent dominance that led to title number one. Title number two similarly featured a dominant championship performance but was preceded by a champions-caliber comeback. There was drama and tension throughout it all; in both of AMP’s title runs, they dropped at least one game in pool play. The craziness extended even to Worlds, where AMP were part of arguably the oddest day in club ultimate, ever. There were surely plenty more moments worth a mention, but those predate the existence of Ultiworld and this writer’s knowledge of ultimate.
In the end, AMP won just the two back-to-back titles, and made the final three times in three consecutive years. They made semis four times, the yet unmentioned appearance way back in 2007.2 But they made quarters an astonishing thirteen times, and were, for the most part, a safe bet to be in the bracket every year, in a division known for being anything but predictable. Amidst all the chaos, AMP were the comfort for many.
Later this month, the 2024 Club Championships will kick off in San Diego. AMP won’t be there; for many who will be following along live, it will be the first time they’ll pull up USAU’s score reporter and not see AMP somewhere on their screen. So as the reality of an AMP-less Nationals sets in, remember how great it was to have them there, the iconic plays they gifted us with, and hope that someone else will step up in their place as the center of chaos.
