gdp's Comments

Skyd Magazine : ECBU 2013 Quarters and Semis Recap – Open

Mon, 1 Jul 2013 22:24:48 +0000

Note: the video of the play in question is available here (starting at 4:34): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1q0tg5TDN4&t=... The relavent WFDF rules are: From Definition of Possession of the disc: "A disc in the possession of a player is considered part of that player." "17.4.1. A Defensive Throwing Foul occurs when: ... 17.4.1.2. A defensive player initiates contact with the thrower, or a part of their body was moving and contacted the thrower, prior to the release." Looking at the frame-by-frame video, I see that the marker's hand was moving, and the marker's hand makes contact with the disc before the thrower released the throw. By the above rules, that is a foul. That's with the benefit of frame-by-frame video. It was a very close play, and I don't think contesting the foul call showed poor spirit. I did hear some people at the tournament say that Ukraine had cheated to win the game. I felt like it was important to point out that the Ukraine player made the right call on this play.

Skyd Magazine : Rostering NexGen: Why Them?

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:21:09 +0000

FYI for anonymous commenters: Nothing on the internet is truly anonymous. For example: As a moderator, I can see that, in this thread, both "guest" and "ChipMcGee7" are posting from the same IP address in Wilmington, NC.

Skyd Magazine : Bates Motel: A Rankings Story

Fri, 5 Apr 2013 17:50:39 +0000

I can't think of any reason there couldn't be three different cutoffs for the three different sets of rankings. For example, teams need 14 games to be ranked in the overall D1 rankings, 12 games to be ranked in D3, and 10 games to be ranked in their region. 14 games seems reasonable to earn a D1 bid. There are only two teams earning D1 bids this year who didn't get 14 games: 1. Whitman Open (13 games) could have easily played a sixth game at Stanford Invite to get to 14. 2. Victoria Women (10 games) who dropped out of PLU BBQ after they had the strength bid locked up.

Skyd Magazine : DIII Warmup 2013: St. John's v. Puget Sound (Video)

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:41:47 +0000

I coach Puget Sound. 1. Here's the opposite angle. To me, it looks like the marker's right knee bumps the thrower. #7 is the player who suggested the foul call. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/66166/UPSfoul.mov 2. Regardless of whether it was a foul and whether the rules allow doing so, telling a teammate to make that call is lame. 3. It seemed like the St. John's players were only making the argument that one player couldn't tell another to call a foul, not that it wasn't a foul. I had assumed that the observer upheld the foul call. From the video, it looks like the St. John's player didn't ask the observer for a ruling and just contested the call.

Skyd Magazine : DIII Disjunction

Sat, 1 Dec 2012 23:22:10 +0000

They are placed in D-I conferences by default, but can choose to move back to D-III. "D-III Conference schools that have qualified for the D-I College Championships in any of the prior 4 years will be placed into a D-I Conference by default and thus, in regions where there are D-III Conferences, will not be eligible for the D-III post-season. Those schools may apply by Dec 15, 2012 to stay in a D-III Conference if that is their preference."

Skyd Magazine : DIII Disjunction

Sat, 1 Dec 2012 16:53:32 +0000

We had to make the choice to either: 1. Decline the D-III Championships bid and attend D-I Regionals. 2. Accept the D-III Championships bid and not play at Regionals. In 2011, Puget Sound was ranked #4 in D-III at the end of the regular season. We earned a bid to D-III Champies at our conference tournament, but decided to attend D-I Regionals. In 2012, Puget Sound would have been seeded 4th at NW Regionals if we had attended. We chose to attend D-III Champies instead. We would have loved the opportunity to compete at 2011 D-III Champies and at 2012 NW Regionals, and both would have been more competitive tournaments if Puget Sound had been able to participate.

Skyd Magazine : First Crack at Seeding (Women's)

Thu, 10 May 2012 05:23:41 +0000

Post-Regionals rankings are up on Score Reporter: http://scores.usaultimate.org/scores/#college-wom... Just for fun, if you only looked at USAU ranking and regional finish, you'd get something like: 1. Oregon 2. Washington 3. British Columbia 4. California 5. Humboldt State 6. Sonoma State 7. UCLA 8. Stanford 9. Michigan 10. Iowa 11. Wisconsin 12. Iowa State 13. Virginia 14. North Carolina 15. Texas 16. Ohio State 17. Tufts 18. Delaware 19. Florida 20. Ottawa

Skyd Magazine : First Crack at Seeding (Women's)

Tue, 8 May 2012 19:47:45 +0000

UBC is the only team I'm not really happy with no matter where I put them. You could make the case for putting them at #4 (#2 in RRI, #3 in USAU rankings, 2-0 vs. Cal), or you could have them as low as 12 or 13.

Skyd Magazine : First Crack at Seeding (Women's)

Tue, 8 May 2012 17:01:02 +0000

I think you have to take into account how good we thought each region was heading into the series. At the end of the regular season, the SW had 4 of the top 11 teams. UNC and Virginia were 7 and 14. I'd say: 1. Oregon 2. Michigan 3. Washington 4. Cal 5. Iowa 6. Wisconsin 7. Iowa State 8. British Columbia 9. Humboldt State 10. Sonoma State 11. Virginia 12. North Carolina 13. UCLA 14. Texas 15. Stanford 16. Tufts 17. Ohio State 18. Delaware 19. Florida 20. Ottawa

Skyd Magazine : North Central Regionals 2012: Open Preview

Tue, 1 May 2012 16:25:34 +0000

UBC, Oregon, and UW all qualified from Cascadia last year.

Skyd Magazine : Breaking: 2012 NW Women's CC Postponed

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 22:48:55 +0000

It is the normal format, but the schedule was modified because of only having 2 fields and the late start on Saturday. Teams should play 4 pool games on Saturday, then 2 pool games and up to 2 bracket games on Sunday. NW Regionals had a similar 7-team format last year: http://scores.usaultimate.org/scores2011/#college...

Skyd Magazine : Breaking: 2012 NW Women's CC Postponed

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 22:09:34 +0000

My understanding is that the problem was mostly the Sunday schedule. Were the Oregon and BC teams going to be able to play until 8:30pm Sunday night?

Skyd Magazine : The Forfeit Conundrum

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:35:07 +0000

I can believe that the stall count should be 8 without thinking there's a norm that says players who throw at stall 9 are cheaters. I think the college season would be a better product if we got rid of incentives that discourage teams from playing (and that doesn't necessarily mean directly penalizing forfeits). Rather than repeat myself, I'll just say that I haven't changed my mind about what I wrote here: http://skydmagazine.com/2012/03/walla-walla-invit... Also, I was writing about Whitman and forfeits before it was cool: http://skydmagazine.com/2012/03/2011-rankings-whi...

Skyd Magazine : The Forfeit Conundrum

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 00:17:00 +0000

I didn't have a whole lot of space in the Staff poll to explain myself, so I'll do it here. Speaking only for myself, I definitely didn't intend to make the argument you say I was making. Whether written or unwritten, some rules are a matter of moral right/wrong (or SOTG, if you prefer). I have no problem saying it's wrong for a team to lose a game intentionally in order to help their region earn a strength bid. It's also wrong to make bad travel calls (to use two examples that have come up in the comments). But we also have lots of rules that have no moral weight behind them. A stall count is to 10 because we like the result it creates, not because a stall count of 8 or 12 would be "wrong." I think that "forfeits are allowed" vs. "forfeits are not allowed" fits better in this second category. I disagree that there is an unwritten norm that forfeits are wrong. The Formats Manual has a section on allowable forfeits. I've seen plenty of forfeits as a player and as a coach, and I can't ever remember anyone getting upset with the forfeiting team. To summarize what I think: 1. A "win at all costs" mentality is bad. 2. If we can figure out a good way to do it, the guidelines should be changed next year to encourage teams to play more and forfeit less. 3. Whitman played completely within the rules this year and didn't do anything morally questionable. The rule you quoted (II.A.4.e) looks like it only applies to player eligibility. I don't think that it is even slightly arguable that Whitman violated anything in the season guidelines.

Skyd Magazine : Bid Watch 2012: College Women's (4/4 Update)

Fri, 6 Apr 2012 18:07:49 +0000

See update. Looks like Sonoma State fixed the problem with their roster.

Skyd Magazine : Thursday Dumps: Captaining, PE, SI Tour Guy

Thu, 5 Apr 2012 20:51:17 +0000

Coaching barefoot at the College Champies is now banned by USAU: "Flip flops, open toed sandals and bare feet are not considered professional coaching attire." "USA Ultimate reserves the right to remove from the sideline/field and/or fine coaches who fail to meet the uniform requirements." http://www.usaultimate.org/competition/college_di...

Skyd Magazine : Bid Watch 2012 - College Open (Update 3/21)

Wed, 4 Apr 2012 23:07:53 +0000

It looks like the roster eligibility checks are up on Score Reporter. As things are right now, Stanford men and Sonoma State women won't be included in the final rankings.

Skyd Magazine : Women's Centex 2012: Highlight/Dance-Off Video

Wed, 4 Apr 2012 19:15:13 +0000

I'm going to be uploading all the footage I got of the dance-off. If someone could help me out with identifying teams by where they appear in the video, that would be awesome. For example: 1:01 - USC

Skyd Magazine : Skyd Power Rankings: College Women’s (03/30/12)

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 18:22:17 +0000

Bids look to be pretty much locked in as they are in the latest rankings. 5 for SW, 3 for NW, NC, and AC, 1 for everyone else. #16 UNC-Wilmington (1610) is the last team earning a strength bid. #18 Carleton (1573) is the first team out. #22 Northwestern (1473) is the highest bubble team with games this weekend. Did UNC-Wilmington really lose 13-0 to Virginia at Easterns, or was that game a forfeit?

Skyd Magazine : Walla Walla Invite Invite: Non-Preview

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:08:41 +0000

The tournament isn't happening because Walla Walla is really far away from the other schools. Oregon decided the drive wasn't worth it to play three games, then Puget Sound decided it wasn't worth it for two games, then UW decided it wasn't worth it for one game. If UW had been able to find fields in Seattle, a different version of this tournament very likely would have happened.