Major League Ultimate HYPE

[Ian]

First of all, we hope that everyone at Potlatch 2006 uses every
available opportunity to check out all the incredible action that will
take place on the centrally located MLU field. You are going to love
this!

________EVENT SCHEDULE_______

Saturday

9:00am - 10:45am NE vs. SW
11:00am - 12:45pm NW vs. SE
1:00pm - 2:45pm NW vs. NE
3:00pm - 4:45pm NE vs. SE
5:00pm - 7:00pm NW vs. SW *Potlatch Showcase Game*

Sunday

9:00am - 10:45am SW vs. SE
11:30am - 1:30pm MLU Championship Game
Halftime of Potlatch Finals Awards Ceremony

________NEW RULES________

While the official rules are too long to post here, you'll notice the
following significant changes from the traditional UPA Rules:

· Up to 6 Refs making active calls for violations and fouls
· Two 15-min halves
· 5-min overtimes
· Time stops between points and for ref's whistles
· Field Dimensions: 40 x 80 yards, w/ 20 yard end zones
· 2-point line at 20 yards up from the end zone line
· 4 foul limit (or 2 technical fouls)
· 7-second stall (counted silently by ref)
· 7-second delay-of-game (counted silently by ref)
· 60 seconds between points and for timeouts
· Up to 2 substitutions allowed during timeouts
· Penalty for Travels = O must stop, entire D gets to reset
· Penalty for Picks = O must stop, entire D gets to reset
· New Definition for Pick = Offense gets in way of Defense (D is
responsible for avoiding each other)

Email me at imm110 at yahoo dot com if you want to view a complete
version of the rules.

_______TEAM ROSTERS________

(Updated from last time, mainly due to injuries...)

Northwest Wolves

2 Roger Crafts
4 Ben Wiggins
5 Alex Nord
6 Aaron Richards
7 Mike Grant
9 Andrew Lugsdin
10 Moses Rifkin
12 Al Bob Nichols
14 Lou Burruss
17 Jeremy Cram
19 Jeff Cruickshank
25 Oscar Pottinger
31 Ron Kubalanza
42 Brian Snyder
44 Anthony Maley
91 Kirk Savage
96 Chase Sparling-Beckley

Northeast Nexus

00 Ricky Eikstadt
1 Tim Halt
2 Ryan Morgan
3 Joel Wooten
5 Dan Heckman
6 Dan Miller
7 Josh Ziperstein
8 Fortunat Mueller
9 Matt Wilken
11 Andrew Brown
22 Brian Stout
30 Kevin Kusy
38 John Hassell
42 Berend Van Heuvelen
71 Ian McClellan
81 Caner Cooperrider
89 J Dono

Southwest Entourage

1 Brandon Steets
3 Will Deaver
4 Jeff Eastham
5 Jim Schoettler
7 Hector Valdivia
9 Steven Rouisse
10 Adam Simon
11 Taylor Cascino
17 Jon Zalisk
19 Parker Krug
20 Josh Ackley
23 Mike Payne
24 Bart Watson
26 Mike Namkung
50 Beau Kittredge
60 Jolian Dahl
83 Greg Husak

Southeast Storm

1 Tim Gehret
4 Max Cook
9 Taylor Pope
11 John Hammond
12 Jared Inselmann
13 Matt Sewell
18 Mike Natenberg
19 Sean McCall
20 Kurt Gibson
22 Robbye Brooks
24 Dan DePaul
25 Crawford Shippey
27 Kevin Gaffney
31 AJ Tiarsmith
32 Josh Berkowitz
64 Jason Simpson
78 Dylan Tunnell

I hope you're all as excited as I am to see this great show!

Thanks to Patagonia for sponsoring a great deal of the jersey costs!
We're gonna look sharp, and we have Patagonia to thank!

Thanks to Ultivillage for filming and producing the first exclusive
Major League Ultimate DVD following the competition!

The official website (with all this information and more -- including
the full version of the rules) will be up shortly (I hope).

In the meantime, get ready to go to Potlatch and watch some premier
ultimate that will blow you away!

~ Ian

[jt]

I am seeing some top names missing from the first list to this one. I
do hope the injuries are not significant. Kinda bums me that some
can't make it due to injuries, $$, time.

I am sure it is going to be fantastic and I can't wait to watch these
events on ultiTV. It is going to be on right Rob?

JT

[Ian]

...and don't forget weddings...

I fear the NE region is suffering the biggest celebrity losses for this
event (B.Russell, D.Clark, J.Graham, T.Murray, M.Zalisk, P.Batten,
D.Alexander), and now BVH and B.Stout are injured too...

That's a starting 7 that could conquer a great deal of the world...

Oh well, the rest of us (the short half of the team) will have to just
win this one without them.

Hopefully they'll all be back for the next MLU event...

[La Maldad]

Jesus, all those guys were going to play for the NE and now won't? As
if it wasn't bad enough for that team already. That's like cutting off
Hellen Keller's hands. You were screwed before but now you're just
fucked.

Ian wrote:
> ...and don't forget weddings...
>
> I fear the NE region is suffering the biggest celebrity losses for this
> event (B.Russell, D.Clark, J.Graham, T.Murray, M.Zalisk, P.Batten,
> D.Alexander), and now BVH and B.Stout are injured too...

Ian, I hope you're using the word "celebrity" loosely. About everyone
on all four rosters. Though with shows like "Littlest Groom" and "But
Can They Sing?" everyone's a celebrity these days. Those names up
above are just the KFeds of the Ultimate world.

[Ian]

...Only in our small pond...

Hector... c'mon man... go easy on us in Seattle... maybe it would be
fair if Beau didn't play in the game vs. NE?

LOL

[Rob]

Fantasy MLU is in the works and will be functional by noon today.

We will be including stats from all 7 games.

Prizes to be announced.

Even if you can't make it to Potlatch, you can still get in on the
excitement.

UltiVillage.com and UVtv will do our best to bring the action to you.

Rob

[swill...@yahoo.com]

To the organizers, thank you for putting this together and my best
hopes that things go well this weekend.

[Wagenwheel]

Ian and MLU staff,

Pretty work. Can't wait to see the video. Have fun, play hard, play
Ultimate.

E

[dju...@gmail.com]

Why the silent stall count? Is there anything to let the thrower know
that their time is almost up?

Wiggity

[scoop]

I too am surpised at the silent stall. Why this decision? A counted out
stall would make a lot more sense to me.

[bell...@aol.com]

How about a "stall" clock at the end of each endzone, like basketball.

Ok, maybe next year. But I always figured it was coming.

[scoop]

scoop wrote:
> I too am surpised at the silent stall. Why this decision? A counted out
> stall would make a lot more sense to me.

thought about this some more. I guess the concern is the ref losing his
voice from counting all the stalls. Why not get 3 shot-clocks -- one
for each endzone and one on the mid-line? Then someone just pushes a
button when possession is established and the disc is in play. A little
added expense, of course. Or maybe just one shot clock, which isn't
visible from everywhere but at least a team-mate could keep an eye and
shout out the count.

[Garrett Dyer]

On 29 Jun 2006 03:16:20 -0700, "scoop" <bali_u...@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>Or maybe just one shot clock, which isn't
>visible from everywhere but at least a team-mate could keep an eye and
>shout out the count.

The idea that I had was that there would be a full-time stall-counter
who carried a stop watch (timer) who called it out after it got past
5, so "6...7...8...9...10" The ref would be responsible for calling
whether or not the throw was off in time.

[Ian]

A lot of people have been concerned about this, and we've thought about
a lot of these ideas already.

At least for this event, we ran out of time and money to get
"shotclocks" or a big bright scoreboard. Perhaps at the next event.

The refs will say "stalling" at the beginning of the stall count, and
"no stall" when there's no marker. As the 7 seconds tick away, he will
be counting them with his arm (like they do in basketball).

I think it will be a strange adjustment at first, but I think it's one
that the players will get comfortable with fairly quickly. If not,
then maybe we'll try having the refs give a warning of stall "five."
After all, there isn't a "shotclock" a player can visually check on
their own...

For this rule (and many of the other big changes), we're just going to
see how it goes. We're trying out a lot of new things, and if we have
to change something, we will.

Refs don't want to run around a field counting the integers from 1 to 7
out loud all day long. That would sound pretty silly too, especially
from the perspective of a spectator...

[david...@gmail.com]

The travel/pick rule is fantastic. Calling a travel a turnover seems
too extreme, but allowing the defense to set themselves is a great way
to add a penalty to a travel. I also like all of the clarifications on
the pick.

Many of these rules will tighten the game up considerably, but they'd
really hamper the game if it weren't for the refs. I'm very excited to
see this.

A few questions-

1. Have the teams been practicing with each other using these rules?

2. What's with the rule that prevents players from wearing hats,
visors, or sunglasses? Was that just to make it look more like a
legitimate sport? It's one thing to ban hats and visors in an indoor
sport, but for a game that's played in the elements, why shouldn't the
players be allowed to protect their eyes from sun and rain?

[wiggity]

I doubt that hand counting, like basketball, would be very effective,
as the thrower is/needs to be looking downfield for open cutters,
instead of at the ref. Maybe counting aloud from 4 on would work
better. Another way would be to have the marker stalling, but have the
ref issue fast count penalties and have the say in either upholding or
negating stalls.

Wiggity

[Rob]

I think what the silent stall count will bring to the game is an
urgency to move the disc a little more quickly because you don't know
exactly when stall 7 is coming but as long as the refs are consistent
with the count, you should know approx. when it's coming. Its like the
10 seconds to get the ball over half court in basketball. The players
know they have a defined limit and will push it when they need to, but
in general, they just don't flirt with that limit.

The fact of the matter is that 7 real seconds is within a second of the
average 10 seconds as counted by elite players (they're so good time
moves faster for them). It really is enough time to get rid of the
disc. If not, turn. I like it.

Rob

[mui...@gmail.com]

One interesting affect of the silent stall is there won't be any way
for the thrower to complain that they "got it off" right before 7...
because they won't have any idea. Even if they made a throw there
won't be anyone saying "7" for them to tell if they did in fact get it
off. The throw will just go up and the ref will say "stall" and they
will just have to take it that they didn't get it off in time, whether
they did or not.

[Ian]

Pretty much every rule we're using was designed to enhance the
*spectator's* experience.

The ref isn't giving the arm counts for the thrower. The thrower
should count in his head, not watch the ref.

If the fans can see the ref's arm counts, they can follow along with
the stall (if they want to) without having to count to 7 in their own
heads.

Plus, if a coach can see the ref's arm counts, then, when a stall is
called, it's very hard for him to argue that the ref "made up" or
randomly decided on his own when 7 seconds were up.

[Sam Rapson]

First of all nice work on all of this, I'll be interested to see how it
plays out.

Some questions/comments... Does the double team rule still exist? If so
is it a foul?
Are there any limitations on where the D gets to reset after a
travel/pick?

It would be interesting to develop contingency D sets based on a travel
or pick from the O. Say the O travels/picks late in the count, any
reason not to set an aggresive zone or junk? This gets doubly
interesting if the double team rule is eliminated... Imagine being the
thrower at stall 5, triple teamed. Ouch.

Sam

Ian wrote:
...

> ________NEW RULES________
>
> While the official rules are too long to post here, you'll notice the
> following significant changes from the traditional UPA Rules:
>
> · Up to 6 Refs making active calls for violations and fouls
> · Two 15-min halves
> · 5-min overtimes
> · Time stops between points and for ref's whistles
> · Field Dimensions: 40 x 80 yards, w/ 20 yard end zones
> · 2-point line at 20 yards up from the end zone line
> · 4 foul limit (or 2 technical fouls)
> · 7-second stall (counted silently by ref)
> · 7-second delay-of-game (counted silently by ref)
> · 60 seconds between points and for timeouts
> · Up to 2 substitutions allowed during timeouts
> · Penalty for Travels = O must stop, entire D gets to reset
> · Penalty for Picks = O must stop, entire D gets to reset
> · New Definition for Pick = Offense gets in way of Defense (D is
> responsible for avoiding each other)
>

...

[swill...@yahoo.com]

I think it's prudent and wise to discuss and question specifics
afterwards.

I'd assume it will take some getting used to by both players and
officials. And spectators as well.

Beyond that, we're just speculating. High hopes now, questions later.

True?

[tobes]

so tell me again why this is happening? i don't know about anyone else,
but i don't want to see ultimate turn into this. i'll go and check it
out and let you know what i really think, but i don't have a good
feeling about this.

[Rob]

This is happening because a lot of people, the players included, want
this to happen.

Change is not bad, it's inevitable.

Rob

[Jack]

Hey this is just kind of a random idea, and it may come from watching
too much World Cup, but maybe since the set-up is with two 15-minute
halves (which sounds maybe a bit too short to me; our intramural games
are 20-minute halves, though I suppose that's a running clock), maybe
you should have extra game discs around the field to throw back to
whoever's on the disc in case of a majorly OB pull, a foul on a huck, a
majorly OB huck, etc. I suppose the clock gets stopped during all
these, but maybe it'd help streamline the game a bit anyway. Just the
same way soccer players get soccer balls thrown to them on
throw-ins/corners/goal kicks. Just an idea.

[toad]

I like the idea of about 3 to 4 "disc-boys" or girls up and down each
sideline, but either way....anything to keep the game moving. Good
suggestion.

[tf]

Why have a silent stall count? Shouldn't the thrower, marker and
everyone else need to know when the count starts and when a stall is
about to occur?

Two weeks ago at the Asbury Park Pro Beach Ultimate tournament we used
active observers during the game. Being that the field and number of
players is much smaller than grass Ultimate, we only needed three
observers. Two line observers who watched the lines and receivers and
defenders and the head observer who watched the thrower and mark, as
well as, counted the stall count.

During the three game match there was not one single call made for any
infractions to the rules and only in the last game during the last
point was there a stall called by the head observer.

Had we not counted the stall count out loud, there would have been many
more?

Anyway, good luck with your tournament!

[Ian]

Yeah, we'll have lots of discs positioned all around the field.

[Ian]

Double teams are still illegal.

Before play resumes after any stoppage, the O must come to a stop.
Once that happens, it will be up the official to determine when to give
the disc back to the thrower. It'll probably be long enough to assess
the violations/fouls, make sure the O is stopped, then off they go.....
They're not trying to rush it back to the thrower, but they're not
trying to let the D have all day to set either.

I'm interested to see how it goes...

[toad]

You bring up good points but you have to remember that in b-ball there
are 10, 5 and 3 second violations in which players dont hear a "count"
and have to go by feel. It will be an adjustment for sure but the vast
majority of the time most throws are probably released prior to 5
anyways........which seemed to be the case in your event as well.

[Garrett Dyer]

On 29 Jun 2006 10:03:32 -0700, "tobes" <tbea...@uoregon.edu> wrote:

>i don't have a good feeling about this.

I don't have a good feeling about use of the word "beaver" in a UofO
e-mail address.

[Wagenwheel]

At the NUA event in the 90's we had two to four disc boys that supplied
discs in case of long turnovers or out of bounds pulls. Ordinarily the
"O" and "D" use that "brick time" to catch our breat, set up our "O" or
"D". But with this system, it's GAME TIME!

The silent stall is fantastic. You know after you've held the disc
too long that you need to put it up. Exciting "Hail mary's". Just
like in the NCAA tourney when the inbound passer's team is up by 1
point with 10 seconds left and the defense is playing amazing "D" and
you are at home screaming, "Get it in, get it in!" The only person
that knows when the 5 seconds is truly over is the third party,
impartial observer: aka, the ref. I think you'll love it and major
kudos to all involved for taking the risk. You shall be rewarded.
Warning: IT WON'T BE PERFECT. MSTAKES WILL BE MADE. ACCEPT IT AND
MOVE ON.

E. Wagen.

[His Airness]

I don't like the fact that they are timed games. One of the most
exciting things in Ultimate is when a team can make a big comeback and
win. If you down four and the other team is at gamepoint, you still
have a chance, but when your down four with a minute left why even try?
Teams will be able to stall and that will be boring.( think basketball
before the shotclock) Besides that i like it.

[tf]

However, with the 2-point play it will be more exciting and the team
will have a better chance at catching up when they are down. Timed
games should not be a problem.

[toad]

yes, the 2 point line could act as a deterant against offencive
stalling. We all see what happens in b-ball when teams go into stall
mode at the end of a game.....they often loose their momentum while the
opposing team is in full on attack mode and choke the game away. This
may not be that great of an analogy because in b-ball there is a shot
clock. Anyway, i witnessed, as a ref, one of the greatest, most
exciting comebacks in ultimate at an NUA tourny in a game between DC
and NY (semifinals) in which DC came back from a 4 point deficit with
under a minute to play to win the game as the clock ticked down to
00:00. There is no way this could have happened without the 2-point
line and stopped time.

[Edelman]

having a stall count "shot clock" is ridiculous. now, if you gave the
offense, say, 45 seconds to score total, THAT's exciting.

[toad]

Edelman wrote:
> having a stall count "shot clock" is ridiculous. now, if you gave the
> offense, say, 45 seconds to score total, THAT's exciting.

Yea, no need for a stall count shot clock. As for a 45 sec score clock
that might be tough as wind conditions (which are highly inconsistant)
play a big role in how fast a team can advance the disc towards the
goal for that score attempt. From what i understand MLL(major league
lax) addopted a rule like that to help speed up the game and eliminate
stalling at the games later stages (all in an effort to improve the
entertainment value) yet this rule is not practiced at the college
level..........yet anyways. I guess the big difference with lax is
that wind is not near as big of a factor in advancing their ball.....or
whatever they call it.

[Adam Tarr]

Edelman wrote:

> having a stall count "shot clock" is ridiculous. now, if you gave the
> offense, say, 45 seconds to score total, THAT's exciting.

I tend to agree. I think that a posession clock is a good idea if
you're going to a game clock. I like the purity of the game to score
(people always cite this as a positive in baseball, volleyball, tennis,
and every other unclocked game). But a posession clock could also
bring zone back in the elite game, as you could force more iffy throws
if the time starts to run down.

With a game clock but no posession clock, you do run the risk of
warping the game, where one team is running a lot of short swings to
hold the ball, while the other team is hucking desperately. I guess
some people like the end of basketball games that are played this way,
but I think it's the most annoying part of the game to watch.

[botan...@yahoo.com]

Who masterminded these rule changes? What was the logic of a game
clock?

[neurodancer]

Very interesting points. One factor with game clocks is that (at the
highest levels anyway) you generally need a dedicated timekeeper. It
would be pretty tough for a ref/observer to officiate the game and keep
an exact game clock at the same time.
ND

[toad]

botan...@yahoo.com wrote:
.

.

> Who masterminded these rule changes?

Ian McClellan is ath actual author of the rules but lets just say that
Major League Ultimate is an offshoot of the NUA and leave it at that.

What was the logic of a game
> clock?

Way back in the day ultimate used to be played using stopped time. The
basic rule was that each team would provide one person to assist each
other in monitoring the clock....I guess so there would be no funny
business. As the rules process became more minimalistic and there
werent extra people to provide that facilitation games simply were
played to points. I think it was one of those radical west coast
changes (the brick was another). When the NUA emmerged in the mid
90's we used stoped time as a way to emulate other field/court sports
in an effort to be viewed as more legit. We serendipidously found that
it added certian dynamics that enhanced the overall entertainment
value. One of which was teams urgently setting up for last second
scoring attempts (usually 2 pointers) as the fans would count
down....5,4,3,2,1. Another briliant move by one Andrew Zeldon, that
left most astonished, was a 20 second time out called which enabled a
set play to be run with 4 ticks left. So there you have it.

[mrew...@gmail.com]

there should be a rule that if the disc is in the air when the game
clock expires, it should still be in play until it is caught or turned.
that way, if you get a throw off with a second left, it will be
exciting if it's going towards the end zone and your team's down 1 or 2
points, even though there's 0:00 on the clock. similar to the last
play in football or the last shot in basketball.

[toad]

.

that is the rule

[mpo...@gmail.com]

There could be some system that would prevent holding the ball at the
end of the game. Like in the last 5 minutes, if a possession lasts
more than a certain amount of time then the clock stops?

That's just a random idea, there are definitely other options. Don't
some other sports have different timing rules in the last part of the
game?

[Mimmo]

mpo...@gmail.com wrote:
> There could be some system that would prevent holding the ball at the
> end of the game. Like in the last 5 minutes, if a possession lasts
> more than a certain amount of time then the clock stops?
>
> That's just a random idea, there are definitely other options. Don't
> some other sports have different timing rules in the last part of the
> game?
>

it's interesting, because this came into play somewhat. In the first
NW vs SE game the SE scored with 4 seconds left on the clock, the NW
then was able to put it into overtime on the next point, if the SE had
held the disc for 4 more seconds then they would have won. Although
holding the disc purposely kind of ruins offensive flow.

[toad]

.

Holding the disc (stalling) at the end of the game is a stratagy that
could be implamented with a running clock or even a timecapped game as
well if you really think about it. If there was a visible game clock,
or time keeper counting down the final 10 seconds the SE might have
tried to time their scoring pass so that time ran out as the disc was
in the air........obviously they wanted to get it in the goal and take
the lead. You got to hand it to the NW for being able to not only get
a throw off but to score with only 4 secs left.....you would have
thought the SE would have had a strong prevent defence in that
situation. Anyway, it sure seems like these facilities really helped
to enhance the excitment level of the game.

[La Maldad]

toad wrote:
> You got to hand it to the NW for being able to not only get
> a throw off but to score with only 4 secs left.....you would have
> thought the SE would have had a strong prevent defence in that
> situation.

The fact that there were only 4 seconds left before the start of the
point didn't matter, since once time expired mid-point it was played
out until someone scored.
I don't want people thinking the NW received a pull with a clock
ticking and sent a long bomb into the endzone as time expired. They
worked it in with time, methodically.

Hh