UPA Article and Callahan Talk

PREVIEW ARTICLE

The UPA article finally came out this week. I turned in the original draft shortly after the Stanford Invite expecting that the issue would come out before the end of the month. When the UPA got back to me about a couple changes, the wildcard race had already been settled and about half of my article was outdated. Sigh. I revised the article and expected the issue would be published before Regionals. Not so. Double sigh.

I'm guessing part of this had to do with the changeover from Chuck Menke to Andy Lee, but any reasons I can conjure up for the delay in publication are completely speculative. The bulk of my interaction with the UPA has been really positive and this was definitely the case while writing the women's college preview. Having the publication date shift was difficult because it definitely affected the content, but such is life.

A couple specific disclaimers that I feel are necessary to make:

- I didn't make the silly pun about Fugue (Fugue't about it). It's corny and it doesn't really make sense. My point was that Fugue is the favorite going into Nationals and was the team to beat during the season. Someone was trying to be cute, but personally, I didn't get it.

- I deliberated quite a bit over who to profile for the Q&A. The UPA wanted more of a personal, feature feel to the article and specifically recommended doing a rundown of the top Callahan candidates and doing a Q&A. For me, it came down to three people: Cree, Georgia Bosscher and Mary Kate Hogan. I ruled out Mary Kate because it would be clear favoritism since I'm her coach. Still, people just don't seem to appreciate enough how good she is as a handler (no juniors experience) and how much she has improved the Hellions. How many other teams have risen as much as the Hellions have over the past four years?

Julia James helped me with the Q&A and we both liked the idea of interviewing Cree. She's a phenomenal player and being the only college player on the Worlds roster makes her a very intriguing player. We had already gotten in touch with her by the time I thought that this might impact the Callahan voting. For this reason, doing a Q&A with Georgia might have made more sense (or at least been fairer). Callahan MVP winner and best player on one of the top contenders for this year's title... what's not to like?

In the past, I've leaned against profiling players who I thought were already very well known. Part of my personal agenda has been to highlight players and teams who aren't known to the general public. Georgia's already synonymous with women's Ultimate. On the flip side, I'm amazed by how relatively few people (even within the women's college division) know who Cree is. That said, I do think it would have been fairer to profile Georgia. Of course, it didn't really end up mattering since the article came out much later than expected.

I'd love to hear feedback on the article, good and bad. If I write more of these things in the future, getting a wide range of feedback will help me tailor the article to provide better content.

CALLAHAN

Before I elaborate on the Callahan race, I'm going to toss up a Frankie Rho specialty and contradict myself. I think too much is made of the Callahan race. I think I'm definitely guilty of that. I also think the voting process remains absurdly flawed. Moving on.

Players I Left Off the Callahan Candidate List:

Shannon O'Malley (Washington) - Great player. Undoubtedly one of the two best players on her team (other being Lindsey Wilson). A 1st team All-Region player in the region with the greatest number of elite-level players. She coaches younger kids who clearly admire and respect her. So why not in the top ten?

I'm a big fan of her game and have been for a while. I know that what I write here will run the risk of alienating some people. So be it. The sport needs more constructive agitators (not idiot agitators like Toad). First, Shannon doesn't measure up to the other candidates listed on the level of being a team player. Let me emphasize that this is relative to the other top candidates.

Second, her relationship with other teams leaves something to be desired. I've seen this on multiple occasions (last year's Nationals vs. Michigan and Stanford, this year in both of our games). After we upset Element at Pres Day, Shannon was less than a good sport about it. I can understand being upset, but when you're the leader of your team, you hold yourself to a higher standard. In our second game, Element was up big on us when Shannon made one of the most shameful foul calls I've seen all season. On a big huck to her, Lindsey Cross was on defense and skied the shit out of her. Shannon called a foul, refused to look Screech in the eyes and avoided any attempt to discuss the call.

I encourage anyone who supports Shannon to defend her on this point. Yes, I admit to having a bitter taste from that one play. Remember that I've seen examples of this from her when it didn't involve us. This moment sealed the deal. I also challenge anyone who saw this play to refute my take on it. It was an embarrassment, and a player of Shannon's abilities, experience and talent should never stoop to this level.

Alyssa Weatherford (Western Washington) - I really like what Alyssa has done this year for Chaos. From my limited perspective, I think she has matured a lot and become a much better leader for her team. The problem with her candidacy is that she is in an absurdly loaded Northwest. With Cree, Shannon, Julia Sherwood and Emily Damon around, there was essentially no room for another Northwest candidate, especially since I wanted to have a list incorporating players from multiple regions.

Jasmine Draper (Iowa State) - I actually went back and forth over who to include on my list: Jasmine, Robyn Fennig or Anna Snyder. It probably made more sense to include both Jasmine and Robyn (especially since Anna is a junior), but I had just seen Anna at Pres Day and was really impressed with her play and leadership. Of course, this ended up being a month or so before my final version of the article. Sighsighsigh.

Laura Bitterman (Wisconsin) - I really like her game. Anyone who game plans against Wisconsin usually starts with Georgia and Emilie McKain. In a matchup between two elite-level teams, it's often not the top one or two players who make the biggest difference in the first half. It's a player like Bitterman who often emerges as the X-factor in tight games.

Unfortunately for her, if there is already a Callahan winner on a team, how crucial is her leadership and her play? Last year, I made this argument (a bit tongue-in-cheek) as the one major flaw in Georgia Bosscher's candidacy. Of course, anyone with a pulse knows that Georgia is an ideal Callahan candidate. I'm definitely not questioning Bitterman's abilities. But as I opined with her former teammate Courtney Kiesow, if you aren't the best player on your team, your leadership skills and intangibles must be exceptional to be a serious Callahan candidate.

Kelly Tidwell (UNC-Wilmington) - Another very strong player who has led her team to new heights. I've only seen her play a few times, but she's certainly the leader on Seaweed and deserves a lot of credit for bringing Wilmington back to the national picture. I'm not sold on her intangibles, especially on the sportsmanship side, but again, I've been limited in what I've seen of her and Seaweed.

Christie Lawry (Pittsburgh) - Unfortunately, my lack of familiarity with Pitt Ultimate left Christie off the radar. I wish that I could have seen Pitt more often to give Lawry a fairer shake. It would be awesome if someone from the Metro East stepped up to bring more light to the Western PA programs.

Charlie Mercer (Maryland) - Mercer is really great and just missed the cutoff for me. If I had known that Anne Mercier was not going to be nominated, Charlie would likely have filled that spot. Very similar type of player and candidate to Leila Tunnell and Mary Kate Hogan.

Octavia Payne (Penn) - Awesome player, but her candidacy is hurt by being a junior and her team not reaching the same level of success promised by last year.

Marisa 'Jolie' Mead (UCLA) - Jolie has been big this year for an injury-riddled BLU. She's a rock solid handler and tough defender. Like Loryn, she is in a crowded Southwest field, and as strong as she is, she doesn't stand out in the same way that Uzi, Kaela or Coug does.

Loryn Kanemaru (UCSD) - The same thing that hurts Weatherford hurts Kanemaru. There are a lot of great players and Callahan candidates in the Southwest. With Hogan, Jorgenson and Verhaalen around, there was no room for Kanemaru on the list.

Julia Sherwood (Oregon) - Okay, this is a technicality because I picked Molly instead of Julia. Since Sherwood was their candidate last year, I rolled the dice and guessed that Suver would be the candidate this time. Either of them would have been awesome candidates... in fact...

My top 5 candidates (in alphabetic order)
Mary Kate Hogan (USC)
Cree Howard (Cal)
Julia Sherwood (Oregon)
Leila Tunnell (UNC)
Courtney Verhaalen (Colorado)

Kaela Jorgenson just misses this cut for me. Part of this is because of Finney's presence and leadership slightly undercuts Kaela's candidacy. It's all very close and they are all very deserving. I think Tunnell has the best chances of winning the award because of the sizable voting bloc that will be in support of her. The West Coast candidates will hurt each other's chances. That's the way it goes.