Happy Birthday Peter : Travis is Alive

Peter Dempsey turns old (23) today. Today, UGA beat Florida in basketball, despite the best efforts of Jeremy Price and Chris Barnes, who tried to lose the game for Georgia. Happy Birthday Peter Dempsey, we hope you have a great celebration.

(Travis is having a great time on those Hawaiian Tsunamis!)

In other Jojah ultimate news, Travis Smith is alive and well. Travis, Jojah's head ultimate coach, is vacationing in Oahu, Hawaii. After surviving the hype of a killer tsunami, Smith was found alive and well after he signed onto Gchat and said "Hey" to me. Travis described the Hawaii scene as ridiculous.

From our Gchat, Travis wrote :

"they closed the roads

all the highways

but planes were still flying in and out

they spent all morning trying to convince surfers that tsunamis aren't surfable waves"

and

"and then they showed video of a fat guy out in the bay swimming despite all the warnings and sirens

he was just splashing around"

Travis will be returning to Athens, GA for Tuesday's practice.

Where Are the Cones?

This afternoon at the Rec Sports Complex, the UGA men's ultimate frisbee team ran out of marker cones during the dump swing drill. Jojah, a team that started the year with more than 90 cones, has lost about 80 cones throughout the season.

"Where are the freakin' cones? I thought we had, like, a million of them," exclaimed 4th year Matthew Bailey, in the middle of the drill. Bailey was "shocked" when he saw team captain Robert Herrig having to take away one of the end zones in order to set up the dump swing drill.

"It's not like the cones can walk away, they don't have legs," said rookie Fletcher Hartline, one of Jojah's defensive players. Fletcher suspects that a stack of our cones were taken by mistake.

To get more information about the Cone Dilemma, we sat down with Brian Walter. Here is the transcription of the interview :

JojahBlog: "Brian, who's responsibility is it to make sure Jojah keeps all of its gear from practice to practice?"
Brian Walter: "Since I have been on the team, it has always been on the rookies to keep up with the disc bag [the disc bag contains both frisbees and cones]. It's not a tough thing to do. Just after every practice, you pick up cones and get all the discs. It's pretty simple."
JB: "Have there been any changes this year with that routine?"
BW: "A little. We now leave a set of cones on the field for the D team, who practice after us. Before we leave the fields, we ask them for a set of cones in return. It's pretty important that we ask them before we leave every practice."
JB: "Where did all of those cones go, Brian?"
BW: "I have no idea, but when we find the guy who took them all, I envision something like that Mel Gibson movie Payback? Yeah, they got it comin' to them"
JB: "Brian, do you have anything to say to the person who stole all of the cones?"
BW: "Na man, I don't have much to say 'bout that."
JB: "Internet sensation Chatroulette: Contender or Pretender?"
BW: "Pretender, weak sauce."

Later in the practice, JojahBlog coverage was able to talk with the Underdawgs [UGA D Team], a suspect in the Jojah Cone case. Nick Hussein, Underdawgs coach, said the following :

"We started the year out with like 6 sets of cones. We now have 3 sets. The B team must have a lot of sets [of cones]."

Our interview with Nick Hussein didn't provide any leads, as we know the B team can't have our cones because they practice right beside us; however, Hussein was able to draw a sketch of a man he saw near our disc bag last week. He said he thought it was Hooten with sunglasses on, but then realized the "guy was like 40 years old."


"If we can't keep track of our cones, how do we expect to be a good team? [slamming a water bottle on the ground] We're running for every cone that is missing" said Peter Dempsey, a Jojah captain, in the team huddle. Coach Kevin Terry and Travis Smith, fresh off their first tournament wins as coaches, declined to comment about the missing cones because they were "shocked to think a team couldn't keep track of the cones."

Since the news of the Cone Dilemma has come out, Cameron Macke was elected Chief Cone Manager. Macke will now be in charge of the Cone Investigation and will be acting as the keeper of the cones. Macke has also been given unlimited resources to get to the bottom of the Cone Dilemma.

"Cam approached me about the position, telling me the theories he had behind the missing cones, which honestly seemed legit," said 4th year David Benkeser. "If there is anybody that will find these cones, it's going to be Cameron."

Macke was unavailable for interview, citing he had "a bunch of math homework and a lab due tomorrow." He was last seen getting in the car with fellow rookie, Nathan Kelly, discussing the use of the team camera as surveillance, buying blue cones for our team and seeing which teams/people end up with them, and Nate's hair.

If you have any information about the location of these cones, please contact Cameron Macke.

Jojah Newsletter 1

Here's the Jojah Ultimate Newsletter for February :

Jojah Ultimate Newsletter

Stats from Queen City Tune Up

We have stats from all day Sunday but only the William and Mary game on Saturday. That was due to the fact that there weren't a whole lot of people there to take stats and people didn't want to take stats. Here are the stats from the weekend that we recorded :

We recorded stats from a total of 5 games (of a total of 7) for a total of 83 points. We played a total of 33 offensive points and 50 defensive points. We were broken 6 times on offense (18.1818% of O Points) and generated 27 breaks on defense (54% of D Points). Our offensive efficiency was 82%, which is our percentage of scoring when we are on Offense. We had a total of 53 goals for the weekend. There were 69 turnovers this weekend. We got 46 defensive blocks for the weekend. The team touched the disc a total of 604 times. There was a ratio of 11.39 touches to 1 goal.

Here are the teams leaders

Points Played :

1. Peter Dempsey - 65 points, 78.31% of team total

2. Robert Herrig - 48 points, 57.83% of team total

3. Max Leonard - 46 points, 55.42% of team total

Goals Caught :

1. Max Leonard - 14 goals, 26.42% of team total

T2. Matt Bailey - 5 goals, 9.43% of team total

T2. David Hooten - 5 goals, 9.43% of team total

Goals Thrown :

1. Peter Dempsey - 20 asissts, 37.73% of team total

2. Matthew Bailey - 7 assists, 13.21% of team total

T3. Davis Waller - 5 assists, 9.43% of team total

T3. Caleb Edwards - 5 assists, 9.43% of team total

T3. Taylor Nilan - 5 assists, 9.43% of team total

D's :

T1. Caleb Edwards - 5 defensive blocks, 10.87% of team total

T1. Max Leonard - 5 defensive blocks, 10.87% of team total

T3. Bailey - 4 defensive blocks, 8.67% of team total

T3. Charlie - 4 defensive blocks, 8.67% of team total

Touches :

1. Peter Dempsey - 86 touches, 14.24% of team total

2. David Benkeser - 80 touches, 13.35% of team total

3. Robert Herrig - 75 touches, 12.42% of team total

Retention Rate (minimum of 20 touches):

• Calculates the % of throws that weren't turnovers
  

1. Davis Waller - 96%

2. David Benkeser - 95%

3. Max Leonard - 94.74%

Fantasy Rating ([Goals Caught+Assists+D's-Turnovers]/Points Played) AND (minimum of 20 touches):

1. Max Leonard .4347

2. Davis Waller .2647

3. David Hooten .2381

Neat Facts :

• Tom Ball, Nathan Kelly, Brad Glisson, Cheese, Steven Hedges had 0 turnovers but didn't have over 20 recorded touches
• Travis Smith and Kevin Terry got their 1st tournament wins as coaches
• Back to back tournament victory

Injured for the weekend : Javid Aceil, Michael Harper, Michael Slade

Jojah Wins Queen City Tune Up

This past weekend, UGA's Jojah upended Michigan State's Burning Couch in the championship game to take the title. In a weekend where most things did not go to plan, we were able to focus on our goal, which was to put ourselves in a position to win a championship. This is the third time in four years that Jojah has won this tournament. Last year, we won this tournament only to go 0-8 at the Stanford Invite. We hope history does not repeat itself.

Jojah alumnus, Alex Deckard, made the trip up to Charlotte to observe the team. Thank you Alex for coming up and supporting your team. It made a huge difference.

Here's a brief recap of the tournament :

FRIDAY NIGHT

5 Hotel rooms, 10 beds, only 11 players and 2 coaches. Most of our team was back in Athens waiting around until the roads cleared up. We also learned that our pool had a team dropped, so we had a 4 team pool while the other pools had 5 team.

SATURDAY

We were supposed to start our first round at 9 am. The start time was pushed back until 11 am so the fields could thaw. We got to the fields and saw that they were covered in about 2 inches of snow. So much for letting them thaw.

East Carolina Irates - East Carolina beat us in Clemson, SC, so we wanted to avenge that loss. We started the game with 11 players because the other cars were either late or had a blown tire. ECU took half on us by about 3 breaks. By about halftime, the rest of our team started showing up, but with very little warm up. At the end of the game, the last car showed up, and Jojah had finally arrived, only to lose this one 10-8. ECU played great, bidding everywhere on defense and moving the disc aggressively on offense.

William and Mary Dogs - Our entire team warmed up before this game, so we were finally all on the same page. With a 10 mph upwind/downwind breeze, we used zone to make it tough on the other team. The couple of zone looks we used were effective. Jojah wins this game 11-0.

Ohio State Leadbelly - This game was awesome. I remember very few things from this game, except for the fact that, by the end of it, we had beaten a worthy opponent. The offense AND defense both played well in this game. Jojah wins this game 11-8.

SUNDAY

Woke up and learned we were going to play Georgia Tech, another team that had beaten us this season already (at the Classic City Classic tournament in December). Also, the start times were pushed again from 9am to 11am. Teams were running laps and doing active warm ups in the parking lots. The first two rounds were to be played to 11 instead of 15, which means early breaks were crucial.

Pre-quarterfinals (game to 11)

Georgia Tech Tribe - We went up 3-0 on Georgia Tech when we got an upwind break. We took GT to half with a score of 6-3. After half, we traded and broke each other. Georgia Tech had some spectacular catches in the endzone. The cap was put on and Jojah put this game away 10-7.

Quarterfinals (game to 11)

UNC Darkside - We went up early on them 2-0, getting a break. There were some shifts in the game, as UNC broke our offense. Jojah responded with another break. The cap was put on and Jojah won this game 7-6. Play of the game : Peter Dempsey jumps over UNC defender for a goal.

Semifinals (game to 13)

Ohio State Leadbelly - This game was all about heart. After playing an exhausting game with UNC Darkside, our legs were almost out of gas. We had a core set of players who played the majority of the points. The game started out with UGA going up 3-2, both offenses trading. Ohio State turned on their defensive pressure and came up with an offensive point and 3 straight breaks to take a 6-3 advantage. We got a couple of breaks before half, 8-7 Leadbelly. OSU took the lead 9-8; however, Jojah D took care of the rest of the game coming up with another break, to take the 10-9 advantage. With one more break at the end of the game, Jojah won this game 12-10.

Finals (game to 15)

Michigan State Burning Couch - Last game....late in the day.... all the other teams left. It was a chilly and windy finals game. Jojah took the early 2-0 advantage after a break by the defense. After Jojah scores again, we are up 3-1. Jojah defense comes up with 2 huge breaks to take the lead 5-1. Both the teams trade until halftime, Jojah up 7-3. Jojah breaks the first point after half and a couple of points later to take the 10-4 lead. Jojah gets 2 more breaks to take a 14-6 lead. After the all rookie line fails to convert their D, Jojah wins this game and tournament 15-7.

After the game, Travis Smith got a celebratory Gatorade bath. Kevin Terry would have received one too, but he was able to escape right after the game. Both of our coaches made timely adjustments in our games throughout the weekend.

Queen City This Weekend

This weekend, Jojah will be heading to Charlotte, NC to face some great competition at the Queen City Tune Up. The last time we were at the Ramblewood Soccer Complex, we had just secured a bid to the College Nationals. The time before that, which was last year's Queen City Tune Up, we left as champions. This weekend, we have the opportunity to play some great teams from both the Atlantic Coast region and some powerhouses from other regions.

Jojah is seeded the 2nd seed overall in the tournament. We have the opportunity to avenge our loss from the Joint Chief Classic in pool play against East Carolina. Also, Jojah is expected to see action from no longer injured players Charlie Herrig, Taylor Nilan, and rookie dime piece, David Hooten.

Big Weekend for Jojah

First of all, Jojah would like to thank the guys who came out to scrimmage on Saturday. It was great seeing a lot of the Jojah veterans and Atlanta club players. The wind was a constant 10-14 mph with gusts of up 22 mph and the temperature never got above 40F. Jojah topped the Athens/Atlanta hodgepodge team 15-14. We hope we can do this again with better weather and field conditions.

We weren't able to videotape the game effectively because one of the rookies forgot to bring the ladder we wasked to bring.

Last night, Jojah went to Atlanta to watch the Hawks face off against Chicago Bull. Here are some pictures from the event :

(Tom Ball and Cameron Macke)

(Javid and Fletcher)

(Team Picture)

(Justin Desandre and Slade)

Jojah Scrimmaging Details

UGA Jojah v. "A Dream Team"

Where : Sandy Creek Park - bring $2 per person for admission into the park


View Larger Map

When : THIS SATURDAY from 2pm to 4pm (Jojah, get there at 1pm to warm up)

Highlight Video - Saturday of Joint Chief Classic 2010

Here is a highlight video from Saturday of the Joint Chief Classic. Yes there are a couple of mistakes. It rained too hard on Sunday to video tape. At the end of the video, there are a couple of pictures from a photographer at the fields.

Herschel Walker

Congratulations Herschel Walker on your MMA debut victory. You are 47 years old. That is quite an accomplishment.