Montreal Ultimate: Covered in Spirit Sauce!

While I have enjoyed teaching the undergrads at McGill, the amazing restaurants in town, and the annual comedy festival, there is no doubt that my favorite part of Montreal has been its incredibly vibrant ultimate frisbee community.  I have played a bit less the last couple of years--1-2 nights a week due to my frustration with traffic and due to, well, a body that heals slower, but it will be missed greatly even though there is ultimate in Ottawa.  So, I am posting some pics this morning to mark my last night of Montreal ultimate tonight.

Spanking Monkeys 2003

I have played on many teams and in many leagues and tournaments.  I started out playing indoors with Spanking Monkeys.  We were lousy but had good spirit.

BMFHard 2006

I picked up with BMFHard for my Tuesday nights for the first several summers.  I learned a lot playing with these folks as Bobby Lee was the most focused captain I ever had, getting us to learn a series of tactics and strategies.

Ultimate Angels 2004

Ultimate Angels was my Thursday team for many summers.  Great spirit, mostly Francophone so my French improved (as much as it could). 

Ultimate Angels 2007

In the summer of 2011, the Montreal Ultimate Association started a new league on the very western edge of the island.  This meant much easier driving, so I grabbed this opportunity with both hands.  It started out quite small with only four teams, with many folks who were relatively new to ultimate.  I started out with Rhubarb--who had great spirit and deceptive talent.  I was switched to a less successful team (whose name now escapes me) to help make it more competitive.  We were always short players, but had fun.  I played with Rhubarb again in the fall league.

2011 West Island Summer Team

Rhubarb 2011: Original WI Team

Swingers, Comedy fest 2008

I played in a heap of tournaments.  Most were beginning and end of the season tourneys with my various summer league teams.  I did play for a few teams that competed in the more competitive tournaments that the AUM hosted in Montreal with teams from all over Canada and the Northeastern US:  the Just for Laughs tourney and Jazzfest, including this one:



My favorite experience was with the Montreal Grandmasters (over 40 years old) team in the annual tourney.  In 2009, we ran the table and won the tourney pretty handily.  I learned that beer tastes far better when sipped from a championship cup.

My absolute favorite experience has been playing with General Admission for the past six or so years.  We played in the Concordia U intramural league (almost entirely taken over by non-Concordia students) including the past couple of winters in their temporary dome.  This team, with its changing personnel, combined the best of both elements: competitive and spirit.  It was always a smart, competitive team that played hard and when we played in the GA-style,we won much of the time.  It was also a very silly, spirited team, so we had a lot of fun with each other.  Tonight is my last game with GA.  I will miss quite a bit all the folks who cycled through that team 

GA 2011: Fall Champions: Moo!

My other post has some pics of some of my favorite people and moments (I don't want to crash your page or mine with too many pics).