Good Day to All,

The 2010 A*T Season has started with a bang.  As I entered the Meadow from the Northwest corner, I saw Robbie-Rob engaged in Jam with an unknown figure.  He was crankin’ the Counter Z’s with a hellacious overhand, and playing with abandon, so I figured he was a long lost Brother from somewhere.  When The Oracle joined them for an early shift Jam, I knew he was a player of notable standing.   The gentleman goes by the name of Jason Salkey of London town, and he was here with his son.  He is one of the early devotees to our sport…a fact buttressed by the first Krae Van Sickle sighting of the year!  Yes, it was going to be another good day.

I sat down to nail up, and we already had a sizable gathering of the faithful.  Ralphy-Boy, Jaime-TJH, Barb, and Ivan-TJH were there, as was Sue, James, Daniel, and Bradford T.  I had the honor of getting to warm up with Mr. Van Sickle, who declined to specify the type of plastic when I asked, so I grabbed a Finch 17 Sheep’s Meadow Map 175, and we went for it.  Plastic cognoscenti are well aware that Krae is a tremendous all around player, and Heaving comes as natural as breathing for him.  He’s got every throw, with both hands and tremendous accuracy.  We were throwing for a few minutes when Ivan-TJH, one of our Next Gen Jammers joined in, launching some amazing Lefty backhands.  Not long after that, Zanardi made it a Quadrangle.  Gotta give my ‘paisan’ some grief for a moment—Amazing Z throws with both hands.  Distance?  Not so much….  😀  He surely made up for it later, as I will ‘splain shortly.

We had a tremendous turnout this week.  The Roginator was out, as were TedShred and the Lovely Chrissy, Doug E. Fresh, Chuck, Mary-Mary, JB, Dave and Inga (still here from Deutschland) Fearless Lou, Quinn-O, the Ageless Trevor Brown, along with…drum roll, please…Pat Rabdau, Hannah, and Max making his Meadow debut.  Krae spotted Jason getting up with Daniel and ran to get into his first Jam.  I grabbed Zanardi, James hopped in, and the fun began.  This is where things start getting blurry for your intrepid reporter.  I know that this combo was relatively short lived for some unknown reason.  I do know that Jason subbed in with me and Zanardi, but just as we started to Flow, his progeny–playing the role of Gunga Din—returned with a bunch of water.  He bailed.  At that point, TedShred seized the opportunity to bust in with me and Don Emmanuele.  This is the Jam that crushed all memories of the rest of the day’s activities.

Every Jam I have shared with Zanardi—including an All*Star Tuesday at Washington Square Park with TedShred, The Oracle, and the NextGenners—has be The HEIN.  Those outings did not prepare me for what happened yesterday.  Collectively, we just shredded right from the start.  The Flow was instantaneous (starting with an O’Malley) and sustained with hot moves from every one of us.  We had a dropless sequence that went long enough for Sir Tedley to say “I don’t want to say anything to jinx it, but we’ve been dropless for a while….”

Instead of the disc hitting the ground immediately, we got HOTTER!  The passing was smooth, the combos unique, and plenty of co-ops in between.  I hit my only real ‘signature’ Hi-Diff combo–an Elevator Down, to and under the leg pull, to a zing set Triple-Fake—which TedShred answered with an insane combo that he finished with a double spinning Gitosis.   Zanardi turned on the jets, chasing down a Hi-Z Helicopter from TO, putting on an incredible display of disc-dexterity that he finished with a big air Bad Attitude.  This Jam went on, and on, until Roger called out “Picture Time!  Let’s get one before it gets dark.”  Inside, I felt like a little kid whose Dad said it was time to come in for dinner.

After the picture taking, we picked up right where we left off.  The Three of us Goin’ Off.  We covered an incredible amount of ground, doing a 360 around the Manhole, and Zanardi was EVERYWHERE!!!!  The guy made miraculous saves and sealed damn near with confidence.  I felt honored just to be on the field with my two partners, and it was a pleasure when Trevor joined us, and later Quinn-O put the finishing touches by slippling in for the ‘it’s almost too dark to Jam, Jam.’  Whatta Day!

There were other great combinations, but I could not document any of them for sure because I was having too much fun.  I know that Pat, Krae, and Jason got a late one, and Krae and Zanardi got the Last Jam Standing for the night.  Joey, Roger, and Fresh punched-out the friggin’ clock, while the NextGen’s were all over the place, making the air crackle with energy.  If other attendees want to add their thought, it would be great.

There was no presentation of the “FukenLazy” shirt and the Board reserves the right to make changes in the rules governing the replacement icon, so stay tuned.  Finally, The Gamboa will make its 2010 debut next week.  Who will be the Jammer to say “Ah’m Seizin’ It” and take it home.  Might it be Mr. E. Fresh? The Oracle?  Will Robbie-Rob be so inspired by playing with Mikey Reid in Virginia that he will make mince meat of the competition?  Only time, and a committee of between 2 and 69 will tell.

Peace Out, Yo!

TP-TJH

P.S.  BIG UPS to all our Brethren and Sistren heading to VA.  The field is filled with great teams from all over the place.  I can’t even just root for the Hard Corps of the Big Apple knowing that my Main man, Z is gonna be in the Hizzy, along with many other wonderful friends.  Have fun everyone!

Krae Van Sickle and Jason Salkey