THURSDAY NIGHT IN SUMMER LEAGUE

Written by Andy Bandit.

First, before I get to the games, a quick trivia quiz.  Who made this very bold statement last night?  “Since Matt Welsh has moved, there’s noone in L.A. now who can cover me.”

vs.

In their last year of existence in Winter League, Yoda won two games when they only had 5 players.  I think they even won one of the games 17-3 or something like that.  Of course, the teams they beat were terrible, so it wasn’t really that surprising.  Why am I telling you this?

Last night I came to the park looking forward to the Aqua vs. Black game in Co-ed, mostly because of the standings implications and how it affected my team Gold, because I’m selfish like that.  But I wound up spending most of my time watching the undercard.  Silver Surfer was 0-9, hadn’t scored more than 11 points in any game yet, and they had already beaten the record for worst point differential in Summer League history.  By 10 points!  With 3 games to go!  Now they had to play 5-4 Deep Purple who was coming off three straight wins.  A blow out in the making right?

Well, there was a slight problem in plans.  Apparently Thursday night is a really popular night to do anything but play frisbee.  To be fair, it IS Nympho Night at Sky Sushi on Thursdays.  That could explain it.

Purple brought only 5 players to the game.  Led by Patrick Hagan and Dan Oettinger.  NOW we’re looking at an interesting game.  What zone do you run?  How do you get open on offense?  How do you pace yourself?  But I guess most importantly, if you’re Silver, how do you NOT score?

Sure enough, Silver began quickly answering that question, as they turned over their very first two throws.  But Purple couldn’t quite capitalize, and on their 4th attempt, Silver made it 1-0.  Purple came back to tie it 1-1, and again at 2-2, and you had to crack a smile, thinking how are they getting open?  It’s gotta be one of those Nightcrawler things from X-Men.  Teleportation.  Unfair maybe, but effective.

Silver began to make a run, taking it 5-2 after Colin Campbell’s two consecutive end zone D’s.  Patrick Hagan had one of his own for Purple, but Silver scored again after a few tries and made it 6-2.  That was how most points went for Silver.  They scored, but only after a few turnovers.  I was thinking, man, if Purple just had a 6th player, they could win this game.

Then, off in the distance, a little purple speck on the horizon, jogging towards the field.  Everyone turned to look, like Tom Cruise spotting the alien tripod in “War of the Worlds”.  I swear I heard Guns and Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” playing.  Was it Eric Gagne to close out the 9th?  As the metaphorical fog began to clear, there was Brent Martinez, cleats in hand, the potential game changer.  Like Agamemnon calling on Achilles.  Now at 6 on 7, surely Purple had the troops to compete.  They called a wise time out to let their savior prepare for battle.

And like a bad 80’s teen movie, he makes an immediate impact.  An Andrew Worley backhand missed it’s target, but Brent was right there to scoop up the errant toss just inches from the ground, and promptly spiked it as if to make clear he would be the only conduit between plastic and grass.

But that score would be Purple’s last for quite some time.  Silver, somehow improving their play despite Purple adding a player, reeled off 9 straight points to make it 16-3.  At one point I heard someone on Silver shout, “he’s open, he’s open”, a classic understatement that should have applied all night long.  Silver played inspired D, including Colin Campbell’s leap over two players, and Yosh’s double block like Dennis Rodman tipping to himself on rebounds.  Purple salvaged a couple final points but finally succumbed 17-5.  The missing player was indeed a detriment afterall.  It was the first Silver Surfer win of the season, and the 12 point win actually took them out of the record for worst point differential.  An astounding task.

vs.

Don’t you hate it when the needle gets stuck on the record, and it just keeps repeating and repeating the same line?  Wait, wait, wait.  I’m sorry.  Let me rephrase that so most of you can understand what I’m talking about.  Don’t you get :-@ when your MP3 is on shuffle, and it’s all pon de replay w/ J.T.’s Sexyback and you’re like WTF!?!?  Last night was kinda like that.

Aqualung and Black Sabbath came into this game with similar records, and this looked to be a really strong game.  But when I saw that Black only had one sub, and Aqua had most of their team, I thought this could get ugly fast.  And it did.  But, you know, obviously in the other direction because I’m terrible at foreshadowing.

The game started late, because of traffic on the 405, and because for awhile noone had cones.  They started looking for shoes, as I flashed right back to high school.  There was even a delay as most of the Black players started watching Purple’s first point in their 5 on 7 game on the other field.  But eventually, it got underway with Black taking the lead 1-0, followed by a Frankie Rho huck to Darren Janger en route to 1-1.  Bofa then followed with a deep huck to Cyd Zeigler, covered by Sean Cushing.  This will NOT be the last time I write that line.

Cyd put a pretty hammer up to Charlin Wang and it was 3-1 Black.  After another Black score, Sean hucked it to Darren to make it 4-2.  Bofa then followed with a deep huck to Cyd Zeigler, covered by Sean Cushing.  5-2 Black.

At 7-2, Bofa took a score away from Frankie with an over-the-head grab, but Sean countered with a sweet layout D.  At that moment, Brad Rosen did his best Joe Namath impression circa 1969, guaranteeing an Aqua comeback and win.  30 seconds later Aqua turns it over.  But on a Bofa huck to his wife Cheyanne, Nicole Belle Isle got position in the end zone, and knocked it down.  Sean showed how you huck it to your wife, hitting Amila Ferron in stride to make it 7-3.  On the next point, Diggs (who played like a freakin’ rock star) sent a laser cross-field to a hustling Michael Schwartz and Black took half 8-3.

It wouldn’t get any closer than that.  Black scored, and then an Aqua turnover.  Bofa then followed with a deep huck to Cyd Zeigler, covered by Sean Cushing.  10-3.  A few points later Chad Woodard sent it deep to a spot most couldn’t get to, but Fast Eddie Cotner, living up to his name like a prized stallion flashing one final brilliant gallop before he’s put out to stud, caught up to the mammoth pass and it was 13-5.  Bofa then followed with a deep huck to Cyd Zeigler, covered by Sean Cushing.  My head is spinning.

Final comeback time for Aqua at game point.  Sarah Woodard sent a huck to Sean, who hit Amila to make it 14-6.  Another Black turnover and David Conlon found Sarah on another huck, and two throws later it was 14-7.  But… and stop me if you’ve heard this one before… Bofa then followed with a deep huck to Cyd Zeigler, covered by Sean Cushing.  15-7.  Game over.  Brad Rosen, you will not be mistaken for Nostradamus anytime soon.

My favorite moments in this game were watching Bofa wind up for his huck.  You’re guarding him, and you think, I’ll just cheat over to the left to take that throw away, and he just stretches further and further out.  I swear his limbs begin to elongate, like Reed Richards.  By the time he releases the throw, he’s 15 feet long.  No bones are connected to other bones.  And you just hope the throw wasn’t to Cyd, because, well, did I mention the MP3 player?

Trivia anwer: Jeff Chai

Previous Recap          Next Recap

Back to Summer League page.