1500+ athletes took to the beach this morning under sunny skies to churn up the sands and cast off the red wine induced haze from last night's incredible showing of flame, fun and fireworks that opened the festival of Ultimate.
It can often be said that there is a certain comfort that can be derived from predictability. Thursdays at Paganello have a tendency to progress in a very forseeable way and thus leave us begging for that dark horse team that has been underseeded for any number of reasons. If we look across the divisions in search of some of the more interesting results, the morning started off with JetSet sneaking out an unexpected victory over Cheek in the mixed division. We also saw the Slovakian/London contingent Golden Ants bring their A-game to the Clan to secure their position as a potential rising star.
The biggest news of the tournament in the minds and hearts of the Rimini locals was the tragic loss suffered by the highly seeded Cota Rica at the hands of neighbouring Italian squad CUSB La Fotta in probably the most heated battle that took place in the Arena pitch today. Perhaps they were missing some of the wisdom and patience from the older Cota mem-bers that are representing as Cota Gold at this years Paganello. Cota Rica will be a team to watch tomorrow as every game will now be critical to keep in contention for a place in the quarter finals and the guys from Bologna will be looking to continue their winning streak and potentially have a record performance.
Last years junior finalists Willy & de Shekelles are proving strength and maturity beyond their years today. In there first day at Paganello in the open division they have managed to sweep aside the oversized Dutch squad Cambo Cakes and only loose in a sudden death point to Stolichnaya. Friday will be an interesting day as they should provide surprising resistance to Los Tiger who (like UTI) strolled through all matches today visibly unhindered.
The womens division has without question provided the most interesting results for today. The pool of The Have, Copenhagen, Tequila Boom Boom and Hot Beaches has been turned completely upside down. The Have, lost in a surprisingly convincing way to Copenhagen in the early afternoon showcase match in the Arena while on the adjacent pitch 7 the lower seeded locals Tequila boom boom were busy making up for Cota Rica by shutting down Hot Beaches. Both of these underdogs later met each other for what should have been the battle for bottom. With the added new found intensity of two teams now playing for the top of the pool both clearly brought every-thing into this one. When sand settled it was Tequila Boom Boom, previously seeded 4th in the pool who have come out on top. What remains to be seen is whether The Have can recover and if Tequila have got enough in the tank to go all the way.
Report by Steve Giguere - reproduced from the "Roar of the Talking Fish"
Friday, 2 April 2010
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
xEUCF on Blockstack
xEUCF was simply wonderful. Quote "The most civilised tournament ever seen in the UK". Sure the weather was a big part of that, back to back cloudless days tend to have a positive effect on the mood of a tournament. However, I'd argue that the logistics, volunteers, facilities, food, care and preparation that went into xEUCF had a bigger part to play.
The highlights were many, but the sight of the age old European rivals Clapham and Skogs squaring up in the fading sun and floodlights on Thursday evening, the sidelines thronged, the atmosphere electric, will remain a vivid memory.
Blockstack have produced two shows to cover the event, the first follows a single player, ex GB Junior Women's captain Anna Lisa Stone on her journey to the tournament. It was a departure from our conventional style of coverage for big tournaments, we're quite proud of the story we were able to tell, and we hope you enjoy it. Drop us a comment or email to let us know what you thought.
The first episode also has a few interviews and the two of us couching it up at one of the airport hotel bars, to bring you our take on the event.
The second episode is all action. Quarter finals, semi finals, and finals, interviews with all the teams involved, presentation footage, an interview with Si Hill, the tournament director, and some nutritional advice from our friends at Pulsin.
With both of us being so involved in the running of the actual tournament, and having such a large amount of editing to do we've slipped behind our usual prompt output schedule but we think it's worth it. ETA is PM Thursday 1st Oct.
Tom is now off on paternity leave for a while, but no doubt he'll return for more shows before too long. Here's hoping that starting a family goes as smoothly as the tournament did.
The highlights were many, but the sight of the age old European rivals Clapham and Skogs squaring up in the fading sun and floodlights on Thursday evening, the sidelines thronged, the atmosphere electric, will remain a vivid memory.
Blockstack have produced two shows to cover the event, the first follows a single player, ex GB Junior Women's captain Anna Lisa Stone on her journey to the tournament. It was a departure from our conventional style of coverage for big tournaments, we're quite proud of the story we were able to tell, and we hope you enjoy it. Drop us a comment or email to let us know what you thought.
The first episode also has a few interviews and the two of us couching it up at one of the airport hotel bars, to bring you our take on the event.
The second episode is all action. Quarter finals, semi finals, and finals, interviews with all the teams involved, presentation footage, an interview with Si Hill, the tournament director, and some nutritional advice from our friends at Pulsin.
With both of us being so involved in the running of the actual tournament, and having such a large amount of editing to do we've slipped behind our usual prompt output schedule but we think it's worth it. ETA is PM Thursday 1st Oct.
Tom is now off on paternity leave for a while, but no doubt he'll return for more shows before too long. Here's hoping that starting a family goes as smoothly as the tournament did.
Friday, 18 September 2009
Episode 8 - EYUC and Copa Cabana
It's been a long wet summer in the UK and myself and Steve have not
done as much Blockstack stuff as we have in previous years, but we are
finishing with a bang.
Our latest episode covers:-
- European Youth Ultimate Championships, Steve's report and the
trailer from the official DVD. (Which is awesome)
- Report and Interviews from Copa Cabana 2009 plus news about the
plans for the 2010 tournament.
- Fundrazr, a new way to organise your teams money and payments.
- Our plans for XEUCF
- All wrapped up with our witty banter on the new lux leather couch.
We'll be doing two episodes from the eXtended European Ultimate
Championship Finals in London. So watch out for those next week.
Cheers
Tom and Steve
done as much Blockstack stuff as we have in previous years, but we are
finishing with a bang.
Our latest episode covers:-
- European Youth Ultimate Championships, Steve's report and the
trailer from the official DVD. (Which is awesome)
- Report and Interviews from Copa Cabana 2009 plus news about the
plans for the 2010 tournament.
- Fundrazr, a new way to organise your teams money and payments.
- Our plans for XEUCF
- All wrapped up with our witty banter on the new lux leather couch.
We'll be doing two episodes from the eXtended European Ultimate
Championship Finals in London. So watch out for those next week.
Cheers
Tom and Steve
Thursday, 13 August 2009
CUC Nationals Stream!
Our good friend Tushar over in Canada is perfecting some killer streaming technology and we're helping! Below we've embedded a player for his CUC live game camera! CUC is the Canadian Ultimate Championships. The finals are going to be broadcast this Sunday starting around 3 GMT (9am Central) as it's being held in Winnipeg Manitoba. The absolute middle of Canada.
Tune in...
(Tushar at iamultimate.com sends his apologies for the trouble with the feed it's a learning experience. Thanks to everyone for their patience)
Tune in...
(Tushar at iamultimate.com sends his apologies for the trouble with the feed it's a learning experience. Thanks to everyone for their patience)
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Signing off from Paganello 2009
Myself and Steve have been back in the UK for a couple of days. As is
customary with these things our final Paganello episode took quite a
lot of putting together. But it is live now and we both agree it's one
of the best episodes of blockstack.tv we've ever made.
If you have trouble explaining to your buddies at work why you look
tired, tanned, but ultimately content on the Wednesday after Easter,
sending them a link to blockstack.tv should make things much
easier.
As always we'd love to hear your feedback. show@blockstack.tv is the
email for all your comments.
There are a few people we need to say thank you to. Firstly our
partners in crime Linz Wilkinson and Tony Leonardo for their hard work
and support. The whole Paganello family, Jumpi, Bunny, Rambo, Rafa,
and the whole Rimini ultimate scene, for their support and assistance. To Mick
Mengucci, for the use of his music. myspace.com/misturpura To
all the players and teams who gave us interviews, and encouragement.
Blockstack.tv will be back in the summer.
So long until then.
Tom and Steve
customary with these things our final Paganello episode took quite a
lot of putting together. But it is live now and we both agree it's one
of the best episodes of blockstack.tv we've ever made.
If you have trouble explaining to your buddies at work why you look
tired, tanned, but ultimately content on the Wednesday after Easter,
sending them a link to blockstack.tv should make things much
easier.
As always we'd love to hear your feedback. show@blockstack.tv is the
email for all your comments.
There are a few people we need to say thank you to. Firstly our
partners in crime Linz Wilkinson and Tony Leonardo for their hard work
and support. The whole Paganello family, Jumpi, Bunny, Rambo, Rafa,
and the whole Rimini ultimate scene, for their support and assistance. To Mick
Mengucci, for the use of his music. myspace.com/misturpura To
all the players and teams who gave us interviews, and encouragement.
Blockstack.tv will be back in the summer.
So long until then.
Tom and Steve
Friday, 10 April 2009
Paganello 2009 Friday
Officially, Jumpi apologizes for not having enough Vino Rosso on Thursday night, suggesting that the plebians under him failed to satisfy the thirsty crowds and will be executed.
For anyone who came to Paganello last year, today was an apology for the weather of the 2008 event. A tad foggy but generally we were all blessed with what could be arguably called perfect Ultimate weather.
The Open division went to plan unfortunately making a slow news day for us. The crowd were enthused and baying for an upset in the early Boracay vs Scandal clash. The match started off close to 5s before Scandal was able to pull away without difficulty. The Dragons did still provide a fulfilling dose of the dynamic style of play for the cheering crowd, complimented by Paga love child and Ulti-Author Tony Leonardo’s freakish height and facial fur. The Dragons first created interest with their unexpected finals appearance more than a year ago in Maceio Brazil. Seeded an almost intentionally humble 25th they will continue to be the official dark horse throughout the early stages of the tournament. Meanwhile, Jumpi is pregnant with a bambino Paga, again.
Also in the Arena fans got to see the French Friselis take an 11-9 over the Finns on Hattitwat until Hattitwat brought it to 11s, next point wins. After a Friselis turnover, Hatti had the disc to win but could not and Friselis escaped to win. Tomorrow they will move up to play Los Ox and UTI.
In the Women’s division, the favourites stayed on top, although fourth seeded The Have needed double game point to escape the Spanish-Japanese Nadeshiko. The Have are a phoenix from the ashes of a series of top British female Paganello champions including Bliss and Cake or Death. Top seed “That’s It” remained on top and even recruited a young bambina, 12 years old, from Bologna to play with them. However the girl decided to stay with the Bologna juniors team. Word from Fatima on “That’s It” is that their name comes from the comedian/musicians Flight of the Conchords’ song Business Time. The girls of Super Hot Pot would like to make it crystal clear that the word Pot is NOT short for Potato. Under no circumstances should anyone refer to them as this delicious food or shout from the sideline “Go Potatos!”.
One of the Tanias from the Ukrainian Dyki Krali normally plays for a team in Bagdad and regularly has practice during extreme dust storms that normally keep regular dwellers of Iraq sealed into their homes. We’re thinking she’ll be the one to watch if our sunny Paga weather takes a turn for the worst.
In Mixed, Czech’s Yellow Fever had the upset of the day over the Arrrrr pirates. Ireland’s 23rd seed Binge nearly pulled off a move to the upper pools by beating Ah Ou Puc, but point differential with them and Sugar Mix favored the Germans by a single point, and so Sugar Mix and Ah Ou Puc advanced and Ireland was relegated. Disc-O-Fever seeded bottom of their pool at an unassuming 28th seed managed to rock the boat upsetting Shocker and Morning Glory to finish one below regulars Huck Finn. Their green and yellow jump suits are apparently the source of their power. The 13th seeded Lamantino Tonante embraced the spirit of Paganello far earlier that most plummeting down to the 29th position.
Tech Noir fought hard by overcoming a three-goal deficit to tie Flugsaurier at game point before a patient Austrian team worked the disc in effectively for the win. Both teams now face the defending champions Huck Finn in the upper pool.
The Russian Shadows surprised eight-seeded Hardfisch with a 12-18 win. Their women’s team Sharks also played well.
Myself and Steve have been hard it since we arrived and will be uploading the fruits of work so far tomorrow morning. Steve wrote this article I'm just posting it.
For anyone who came to Paganello last year, today was an apology for the weather of the 2008 event. A tad foggy but generally we were all blessed with what could be arguably called perfect Ultimate weather.
The Open division went to plan unfortunately making a slow news day for us. The crowd were enthused and baying for an upset in the early Boracay vs Scandal clash. The match started off close to 5s before Scandal was able to pull away without difficulty. The Dragons did still provide a fulfilling dose of the dynamic style of play for the cheering crowd, complimented by Paga love child and Ulti-Author Tony Leonardo’s freakish height and facial fur. The Dragons first created interest with their unexpected finals appearance more than a year ago in Maceio Brazil. Seeded an almost intentionally humble 25th they will continue to be the official dark horse throughout the early stages of the tournament. Meanwhile, Jumpi is pregnant with a bambino Paga, again.
Also in the Arena fans got to see the French Friselis take an 11-9 over the Finns on Hattitwat until Hattitwat brought it to 11s, next point wins. After a Friselis turnover, Hatti had the disc to win but could not and Friselis escaped to win. Tomorrow they will move up to play Los Ox and UTI.
In the Women’s division, the favourites stayed on top, although fourth seeded The Have needed double game point to escape the Spanish-Japanese Nadeshiko. The Have are a phoenix from the ashes of a series of top British female Paganello champions including Bliss and Cake or Death. Top seed “That’s It” remained on top and even recruited a young bambina, 12 years old, from Bologna to play with them. However the girl decided to stay with the Bologna juniors team. Word from Fatima on “That’s It” is that their name comes from the comedian/musicians Flight of the Conchords’ song Business Time. The girls of Super Hot Pot would like to make it crystal clear that the word Pot is NOT short for Potato. Under no circumstances should anyone refer to them as this delicious food or shout from the sideline “Go Potatos!”.
One of the Tanias from the Ukrainian Dyki Krali normally plays for a team in Bagdad and regularly has practice during extreme dust storms that normally keep regular dwellers of Iraq sealed into their homes. We’re thinking she’ll be the one to watch if our sunny Paga weather takes a turn for the worst.
In Mixed, Czech’s Yellow Fever had the upset of the day over the Arrrrr pirates. Ireland’s 23rd seed Binge nearly pulled off a move to the upper pools by beating Ah Ou Puc, but point differential with them and Sugar Mix favored the Germans by a single point, and so Sugar Mix and Ah Ou Puc advanced and Ireland was relegated. Disc-O-Fever seeded bottom of their pool at an unassuming 28th seed managed to rock the boat upsetting Shocker and Morning Glory to finish one below regulars Huck Finn. Their green and yellow jump suits are apparently the source of their power. The 13th seeded Lamantino Tonante embraced the spirit of Paganello far earlier that most plummeting down to the 29th position.
Tech Noir fought hard by overcoming a three-goal deficit to tie Flugsaurier at game point before a patient Austrian team worked the disc in effectively for the win. Both teams now face the defending champions Huck Finn in the upper pool.
The Russian Shadows surprised eight-seeded Hardfisch with a 12-18 win. Their women’s team Sharks also played well.
Myself and Steve have been hard it since we arrived and will be uploading the fruits of work so far tomorrow morning. Steve wrote this article I'm just posting it.
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Blockstack at Paganello 2009
It's almost Easter and while many of you will be happily munching your way through your 4th chocolate egg, myself and Steve will be working to bring you all the best bits of the greatest show on sand. Paganello MMIX promises to be an event to remember. We'll be there every step of the way.
As you know Blockstack TV is the hottest ultimate internet TV show ever to rock your digital world. We make video podcasts about Ultimate.
This year Blockstack has a bigger crew, we've recruited the tallest camera girl we could find in the shape of the lovely Linz Wilkinson, and we're also going to be working with the legend that is Tony Leonardo. Tony is playing with the much fancied Boracay Dragons so we'll be sure to bring you the inside track on their progress through the tournament.
4 days of Ultimate, 4 nights of parties, and 4 podcasts to showcase all the action.
You can subscribe to Blockstack TV via iTunes, RSS or you can put our show player on your team's website. Visit our subscribe page for more information.
Lastly we really want to make sure we deliver what you want out of the show, if you have any ideas, requests or comments, please email show@blockstack.tv.
As you know Blockstack TV is the hottest ultimate internet TV show ever to rock your digital world. We make video podcasts about Ultimate.
This year Blockstack has a bigger crew, we've recruited the tallest camera girl we could find in the shape of the lovely Linz Wilkinson, and we're also going to be working with the legend that is Tony Leonardo. Tony is playing with the much fancied Boracay Dragons so we'll be sure to bring you the inside track on their progress through the tournament.
4 days of Ultimate, 4 nights of parties, and 4 podcasts to showcase all the action.
You can subscribe to Blockstack TV via iTunes, RSS or you can put our show player on your team's website. Visit our subscribe page for more information.
Lastly we really want to make sure we deliver what you want out of the show, if you have any ideas, requests or comments, please email show@blockstack.tv.
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