My Fellow Teammates:
It is with deep regret that I tender my resignation from the Dancing Bears. I'm especially bummed because the summer Ultimate season was turning out to be the most awesome ever. I was telling Gavin over ice-cold Loon Island IPAs last night that the team is really starting to gel. That makes it even harder for me to take a spot on the sidelines.
Hailey (I love your new foot tattoo) and Zander have known all along, but the rest of you may be surprised to learn that I've been playing with a neck injury the past two seasons: a severe C-5 impingement. I zinged it when I was rock climbing with Anson after Telluride in 2006. God, was that a bummer. All the way out there in Anson's BMW and Yonder Mountain canceled.
But as Baird said right after he faceplanted in the second half against the Pasta-farians last week, the show must go on. Leave it to Baird to put it in words on the spot like that. That's the kind of spirit, brothers and sisters, that keeps the Dancing Bears at the very top of the Summer Rec MUFASO-Division IV, Category A, Mixed Roster, Tier I Green League this season.
Now I can just hear Ariella and Ahnnakha roll their eyes. Or maybe I should say I can see it. Don't succumb to that dark vibe! You are two reasons why the Dancing Bears are achieving this year! My never passing to you, or to any of the women on our team, was a test! A test to see if you have what it takes to be out there with the flow, keeping the beat of the game, like you did the night when we played that one team, you remember, the team in the league with a person of color on it.
So keep it up, womyn! The positive vibe of Ultimate Frisbee must be, like a sip of cool water from a scuffed Nalgene, the beacon of light that anchors us. I've seen that light emit from us so many times on the field I can't even count them. Off the field, too.
For example, remember that guy, what was his name? Larry? The guy nobody knew who drove his car to the only game he played and who brought the cooler for the after that night? Not a word was said when that cooler lid popped off and revealed Budweiser. Budweiser!
I was so proud of us at that moment. Did anyone ever follow up with Larry to see why he stopped coming? Portia and Finn and I saw him on the Terrace a week or so ago (standing in the Leinenkugel's line!).
Don't worry. I'll still be coming to cheer the team on. Where else will I ride my new Seven Cycles Axiom SG? Money is tight, so I need to limit my entertainment to watching you guys play and the eight weeks I'll spend this fall cycling in Spain after a week at Palooza-Rooza Fest in Macon, and East Coast stops for Gov't Mule shows.
So carry on. Stack fast and attack the turnovers. Keep to the left of your man on defense, especially against those teams where nobody has a forehand. Be mellow. And aggressive. Mellow. Aggressive. Mellow. Aggressive. Park your bikes only at racks. Pay attention to what co-captains Mariah and Fritz say. Never forget that they were on the victorious NCAA Division III squad at Oberlin.
I'll be there on the sidelines with a cooler of Busch (psych! just kidding!).
Yours,
Schuyler
