Hey, Hey, Hey…Wha’cha Got ta Say? (Give me the Title and Artist for that lyric and you get a special mention in the next A*T Chronicle)

So a few days have passed since an eventful A*T. The first item of interest came when I received an e-mail from one Suzy Allman*, a Sports Photographer from New York’s Paper of Record. She had an idea to do a shoot featuring guys playing Frisbee in business attire and her first attempt didn’t work out as she wished. Through the magical conduit of the Internet she found the original A*T article on the Frisbee.com website and contacted your intrepid reporter to see if there were any players who could Bee of service. Always one to accomodate if possible, I put out the word to the crew in the hopes that some of the Hard Corps of the Big Apple might be willing to play in civilian garb. She decided to come down to shoot an actual A*T and thus our story begins…

* – Check out her website to see some really amazing images–she also shot some cool stuff from yesterday’s NYC Triathalon in today’s Times (print version only…pffffft!) http://www.suzyallman.com

I arrived at Sheeps Meadow at about 4:30pm carrying dress slacks, a dress shirt, dress shoes, and in a nod to our traditional noncomformity, a Jerry Garcia signature tie. My daughter Carina was in tow and we bumped into Suzy whom I recognized because of her beautiful smile and camera equipment. When I introduced myself she said “I was expecting a geeky looking White Guy” and I said, “well you have a geeky lookin’ Black guy–I hope that will suffice”. 😉

We found Phil (our resident Martial Artiste) seated about 15 yards from the manhole and shortly thereafter came Teddy Ballgame fresh from closing on his new NYC digs (Congrats TO & Chrissy…God Bless You Both) with a full-on business suit in his garment bag. Moments later, Frisbee Dan (Dang! I forgot his last name) and his girlfriend Lisa made a suprise NYC visit from Florida and then Gary Auerbach made a special guest appearance as well. Yes, this would be a good day.

Ted changed, Brad in casual but cool attire got up to join him as I finished getting my shoes on, and Suzy began shooting. I have to tell you that I got amped up right away and our flow was almost immediate. Truth be told, with TO in the Jam it is easy to catch on because he gets to everything and makes the properly heinous play. Brad too was at the top of his game, playing hard and accounting for camera placement so Suzy could snap away. Carina even shot some cel phone video (very well framed I must say, which I promise to upload as soon as I can figure out how!) so I won’t go into a detailed description now. I can tell you we hit an 8-pass O’Malley, Ted nailed consecutive double leg-overs (right to left, left to right) and a crazy barrel seal, and Brad did a sequence which I just watched 15 times and still can’t describe with mere words–GO BRADFORD T.!!!! I vaguely recall hitting a Tall Paul/Statue of Liberty sky drop combo with a foot brush that left a scuff mark on the disc reminiscent of Cleon Jones in the ’69 World Series. Suzy shot for about 40 minutes and by the time she was finished Teddy had a Rohrschach test pattern of sweat on the back of his suit and I was so drenched I could barely get my JG tie off. YEAH BABY!!! It was a good day and just getting started!

While all that was going on we were joined by the Lovely Chrissy, Mary, Fearless Lou (who came with civilian garb but chickened out), Joey, Kevin, Fast Eddie Bennett, Jestin Heaver, Mighty Mike Heaver with his expectant wife Nicole (Congrats to YOU BOTH!), and John Burke. Gary and Trevor started Jamming and Brad joined those gents while Ted and I changed into the proper gear. Joey said “When I was walking in I was wonder who that guy was shredding in a suit?” drawing laughs from all. After that (literally) hot Jam, I needed to get my long distance groove on, so I got up with Mike. With all due respect to all of the many talented Heavers, Huckers, and very long chuckers I have shared the field with, Mike Mena is the BEST I HAVE EVER PLAYED WITH. His Back-hand is so strong that I have to return with a forehand and play the wind like a violin to get it back within 15 yards. We got a tremendous flow going with Big Hooks, Helixes, and extended flights of fancy which defied biomechanical limitations.

When we finished and went to hydrate, I joined Gary, TO, and Joey in what became known as the Everything But the Girl Jam. There were a number of truly remarkable sequences with Gary in particular doing some Houdini type of, er, stuff only to have the young lady in question exit the vehicle without a word.

Of course that didn’t stop us from shredding away with Fearless Lou and Kevin rotating in when anyone needed Mexican Ambrosia from the Lovely Chrissy’s cooler. As dusk settled in there was a feeling of real camaraderie and some accomplishment for all of us. Spreading the Jam and having fun is what it is all about and that is ‘Zackly what we all did!

If only because of the amount of sweat that poured out fom our respective pores, the Jam of the Day Honors go to the Businesman Jammers. It is my fervent hope that Suzy got the type of images she needed for this assignment. The wearer of the Yella Jersey for this week was none other than Carina Mondesire who became Yella-gible with two consecutive appearances. My daughter was practically giddy to be included in our ritual and Daddy was really proud of his Best Girl! The battle for next weeks designee was a tough race among Fresh, Rob, Quinn-O, and Roger who all are deserving of the Cowardly Coverlet having CHOSEN to attend a String Cheese Incident concert. The Board was far from unanimous in bestowing the rag this week and I will report the final dispensation in the next issue.

Until then,

Tall Paul, The Jammin’ Heaver

P.S. Big Ups to John Burke who organized a picnic for us all on Friday which took place on Frisbee Hill just North of the Meadow. Joey & Rob (aka Bluefish) performed, there was a MY-T-FINE mob-op jam (in which I took much well deserved grief for a FLAMING ‘THE’), which was topped off with Mango/Cranberry/Blackberry Mojitos provided by Mary, and Jay, the Meadow’s finest entrepreneur. Whatta great night. P.P.S. The BIGGEST THANK YOU goes to my daughter Carina who made my 46th birthday (July 16th) weekend nothing short of spectacular. I Love You Kiddo!!!!