Wednesday, June 5, 2013

The Greatest

Ultimate is chock full of its own jargon. Some of it varies from place to place (they tend to call a backwards short pass a bail in Ottawa rather than a dump everywhere else I have played).  Some of the lingo is very consistent.  For instance, if one intercepts a pass in the opponent's endzone, it is called a Callahan and counts as a point.  I have managed a few of these over the years.

I have not managed to be on either end of a "Greatest."  A greatest is when a pass goes out of bounds but is caught by a player who has leapt from the field of play, then tossed back into the field before the player lands out of bounds to be caught by a teammate.  Here is the best illustration I have seen of this:

(H/T to Sparta for posting this on her FB page)

Why have I never pulled off this feat?  I can and do dive on a regular basis, but usually a greatest involves a person jumping up and out, and I have never had any "ups" that would allow me sufficient hangtime to pull it off.  This video shows the athleticism needed to pull it off.  Even in my prime, I never had this much athleticism.

Anyhow, what this really shows is that the depth of talent in Montreal ultimate (the teams in the video are two of the best teams in the province/country) is mighty impressive.

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