2008 Labor Day Championships
Sub-Zero
I used to think this in basketball, and I think I'm not the only one: left-handed players are more left-handed than righties are right-handed. The advantages that lefty-ness gives you tend to make lefties more dependent on one strong throw. In basketball, lots of righties go left well. But how many lefties go right well? In Ultimate, I think this translates to lefties having, in general, extremely sharp backhands and potentially weaker forehands (assuming that the majority of Ultimate players develop where the major D played is force-forehand.
We played Sub-Zero on a field with a pronounced difference between the sides; one was extremely muddy, the other mostly pristine. The discussion followed; would it be an advantage to offensive or defensive players to be in more mud, or less? On every cut, the O gets an advantage as the D footwork is more difficult....but on any given cut, the wrong slip leads to a turnover. Lots of little advantages, or infrequent but catastrophic mistakes?
Also about the mud; I know very good players that can effectively set up their cuts by placing their defender in a muddier spot than the one the cutter is in. Especially on a stoppage of play, the offensive player can check the ground and see how far their set-up steps need to move to stay on good ground, but to place the defenders optimal positioning in the gunk.
We found success throwing long passes downwind against Sub-Zero's zone D. Would having 2 deeps on defense have helped, or would the corresponding holes in the D have been worse. Are those shots that Sub wants to invite (and we were just hitting them on that particular day)?
Andrew Brown is very, very good. I think I've mentioned this somewhere before, but it bears repeating. I'd happily put money on Sub winning their region, and on making serious noise at Nationals as their young players continue to impress and mature. They have more than enough athleticism (Hohenstein in particular) to dominate, and little mistakes now will be ironed out by Nationals.