The All*Star Thursday Chronicle: Quadruple PLAY Editon

Hello, Hello, Hello, and Hello…

Once I gain I must offer apologies for not keeping up with the time.  The 2011 All*Star Thursday Season has been filled with much fun for the Hard Corps of the Big Apple and our many Guest Jammers.  Some days the weather was great, others cold and blustery, and there was one day where it was quite a combination of gorgeous and pouring rain.  Overall, it’s been wonderful to Spread the Jam.

May 26, 2011

The weather was cooperative on this day, with Doug E. Fresh, Jaime-TJH, and Jestin Heaver arriving early.  There had been a rumor of a New Englander making his way down our way, and no sooner was his name mentioned, we saw Toddy Brodeur making his way across the Meadow.  As always his energy and Flow made a good day even better.  The Ageless Trevor Brown, Bradford T., Ivan-TJH, Jill, Ben ‘n Claire, TedShred and The Lovely Chrissy, JB and Sarah, Barb, Kevin, Cavassa Heaver, Young James, Young Daniel (who are both aging and Shredding on an epic level), The Oracle, Chuck, Jim Fantone, and Richard, and old time Heaver was in from Paris as well.

Toddy B. is just a joy to Jam with.  He bring with him, a tremendous amount of creativity and has embraced the ‘Most Fun Wins’ ethos, to go with his championship pedigree.  He moved from Jam to Jam, making sure than he got a piece of everybody.  I got my little slice of him in a Jam with TedShred and Young James, which was outstanding.  There was a very cool combination featuring Forever Trevor, Young Daniel, Fresh, and Toddy  which was cool because of the age range of the player.  Trevor was had already hit the half-century mark when Daniel entered the world, and there they were crushing together.  This was marvelous to watch, and an inspiration at both ends.  Daniel left the next day for The Jammers (Thanks PK, CK, and Mother o’ PK, for hosting yet another incredible good time!!!!) where he made us all proud!

Certainly Jam of the day honors go to any that included adopted New England representative.  And yes, Alan C. has a Meadow Passport as well.  The Oracle, TedShred, Ivan, and I were the last Jam standing.  After Joey went our with some typically ridiculous combo, and Teddy hit a double spinning Scarecrow to end his evening, the Onus was on Ivan and I to do something special.  I managed to hit and Elevator Down, to under-the-leg pull to a Triple-Fake seal, which is as good as it gets for me.  Not to be undone, Ivan-TJH did some fine disc manipulation, sealing with a very serious Flying Gitis.  The thing that made this one particularly Heinous was his set flat, and his leap was vertical with no running start.  Amazing athleticism and coordination.

I have to check the actually who wore Yella Jersey that day.  Might have been held to honor Freddy, our dearly departed friend.

June 2, 2011

I was kind o Yella for this one as I had to work a CityKids event.  The day was pretty, but the winds were treacherous as I made a late appearance.  The turnout was a bit light, and Fearless Lou heckled me pretty hard when I busted the last Jam standing (Fresh and James) to avoid full-on Yella-ocity.  This was also the day when the Gamboa was not properly seized by anyone.  It had been awarded to the dearly departed Dutch the week before and the committee of between 2 and 69 had trouble forming.  James was Gamboa worthy, but chose not to take it without proper designation.  This showed tremendous discipline and we are proud of this show of discretion.

June 9, 2011

This was an incredible day as we had a Two-fer-One package with Rodney and Bethany Sanchez coming in for their first appearance since 2007, Gary Auerbach made an appearance, and David Fried was in from Germany to boot.  We are so friggin’ lucky and Blessed to have folks come in to help us create new memories each week.

The weather was threatening when I arrived at the Meadow.  James, Rob, Jaime-TJH (who is now a full on Jammer!) and Roger were already on hand as I settled in.  The Oracle, Ben Heaver, Cavassa Heaver, TedShred and The Lovely Chrissy, and Quinn-O rounded out the field.  Rodney complained about his back, and then proceeded to tear it up with Roger.  The Reliable One looked really nice in Yella, by the way.  Mr. Sanchez has a very sweet Flow, and has an arsenal of moves that work like magic.  I was Jammin’ with Bethany and James when TO came in bust.  We saw lighting in the distance, and thunder rolled in about 7-seconds later.  Okay, seven seconds means seven miles according to urban legend, so I figured we had time.  Teddy said, “Some of our best A*T’s have been days at the Bandshell.  Let’s see what happens.”  Oh how right he was.

The rain started with some big fat drops, and then turned into a cloudburst.  There was plenty of lightning that got much closer as packed our gear and headed for the shelter of our concrete winter haven.  There were a bunch of folks inside the Bandshell already, but that didn’t stop a barefooted James, Joey, and then Rob from seizing the moment and putting on a show right there on the stone stage.  The crowd was happy for the entertainment, but we Jammers get antsy watching flying plastic in close quarters.

The rain eased up, so Roger and I got it started, and we joined by Bethany.  Bethany was throwing ambi-DISC-erously, and played with grace and an understated fire which was really refreshing.  James came out and hit it hard with Rob and Rodney.  After playing for a while, I took a brief water break, and then started up with Teddy.  We were going for a while when The Oracle said “I’m comin’ down!”  There are moments when discretion is the better part of valor.  I lost Flow for a moment, looked up and decided to back out and give the masters room to get hot.  Boy, did they ever?!  It’s always fun to watch when the Best of the Best, each with very different styles, take it up a notch.  They went at it

As always, the combinations of players Jamming together was as varied as it was wonderful.  We played until it got dark, with Ted-Shred, Quinn-O, James, and I anchoring the Last Jam Standing.  I do know that on Friday, there was yet another major Jam featuring Bethany, Rodney, Robbie-Rob, James, and The Oracle, with those last three turning in an epic shredfest.  Hoping that our mid-western buddies come back sooner, rather than later.

June 16, 2011

This was yet another excellent day of Jammin’.  Young James, The Ageless Trevor Brown, Robbie-Rob, Roger, Mary-Mary, Ivan-TJH and Amanda, Jestin Heaver, Bradford T., TedShred and The Lovely Chrissy, JB and Sarah, Double-Yella Doug E. Fresh and Chuck rounded out the regulars.  We were joined by Cliff from Boston, who added multiple Daddy-Duty style responsibilities to his quiver since he last visited.

This was a day where I indulged my passion for long tossing to start the day, getting up to throw an actual Frisbee brand 175 with some unknown folks for a while.  It was one of the “Made in China” disc made from a soft red plastic, and it had decent flight characteristics.  When I saw Jestin Heaver standing off to the side, all alone with a Yin-Yang printed Ultra-Star in his hand, I asked “What are you doing?!” (Anyone who has been here will understand the weight of that question) and it was ON!  Jestin has been a regular since the mid-80s, so we locked in at-distance on the first throw.  There is nothing like getting serious Flow while at 60-70 yards.  We even had and audience of folks who watched us doing our thing, inspiring me to do some Jammin’ in the midst of the Heave.  They all groaned when I dropped one after he threw a strike, but followed up with cheers when I hit a nice combo that I sealed with a Triple-Fake and fired is straight back to him on target.  Later on I rejoined Jestin and Ivan-TJH for even more great stuff.

The funniest moment of the day was when took a break and prepared to Jam.  Rob, Roger, and James were playing, Trevor was up with Cliff and Chuck, and Fresh was Jammin’ with TedShred.  I espied that last pair with some lust, but saw the Oracle and asked him if he wanted to play.  He said, “Well, I was lookin’ over there…” indicating TO and Dougie, and I told him to have at it while laughing.  Great minds think alike.

Instead, I subbed in for Roger, and got it going with Rob and James.  This one was kind of strange because Rob was in an “Everything but the Girl” zone, ripping great combos, but he was unable to seal.  That didn’t last long though.  First was a Gitis off of a sweet kick brush, that James answered with a Bodonkadonk (UD Larebs kick to the delay) and his own double spinning Scarecrow seal.  He then hit another Gitis, a spinning scarecrow, and then I believe it was Gitosis.  I let those guys go at it while I went to heave again, and then got me some Cliff.  It’s always really cool to have old friends return, and while he said he was a bit rusty, he got his groove on quickfastinahurry.  Cliff has rolls, brushes, and devastating disc control when he catches the wave and it was great.

Jammers mixed and matched for the rest of the day, and into the darkness.  I got a nice speed-flow Jam with The Oracle, which was cool for me as I hit 4 of 5 Gitis attempts, and hit a couple more while with TedShred.  The cat who was most amazing though was James.  While Daniel is working in Connecticut for the summer, making himself most Yella, James is holding it down for Generation Next Shredders.  His energy and focus, all while kicking butt at Columbia, are truly and inspiration for me and the rest of the hard Corps of the Big Apple.

One Last item – Next week I will be able to report on our first All*Star Thursday Guest Jammer Initiative Designee of 2011:  Richie Regs!  A founding member of the Tribe, Richie is living the life of a retiree in Florida, and we are bringing him home for a real god time.  The weather is NOT cooperating, but hey…you know what’s coming next…say it with me…

CONDITIONS?! WE DON’T NEED NO STINKIN’ CONDITIONS!

Peace Out, Yo!

TP-TJH