so, what happened last weekend...
last weekend there was an indoor ultimate tournament in Rottenburg, Germany - a small town about halfway in between Hamburg and Bremen in Northwest Germany. the town is a nice little town and has a very beautiful little cobblestoned street in the center of the town. in the middle of said cobblestoned street there is a statue that looks like half of a giant ball-bearing sticking out of the ground - or, in other words, a large silver dome.
the tournament featured many great teams from Northern Europe - in particular, many from Germany, a few from Denmark, one from the Netherlands and a few from non-Northern Europe (Italy and the Czech Republic, in particular).
we took 8 people to the tournament, split between two cars - four per car. or, at least, on the way there...
the drive there was uneventful, really. we stopped at b.k. - i didn't eat anything there, but my friend (and the driver) insists on stopping at any b.k. he can because all the Czech Republic has are McD's. the other car was on our tale and arrived about 30 min after us. it was about a 7 hours drive.
on saturday, we won two out of three of our first games and that allowed us to advance into the upper pool. we played two more games (including the last game of the day at 19:30) after that on Saturday. after our last game, as is tradition at all frisbee tournaments, there was a party. before the party, however, was dinner at an italian restaurant...
how this smallish town managed to attract native italians is beyond me, but it did mean a good, genuine italian meal. some of us had shots of grapa with the meal, including the driver of the other car.
and then came the party, which was comprised of standing around at a bar and matching our morning challengers in shots... or, at least, for some people it was. i didn't volunteer my shot matching services past the second round. the other driver, however, did.
within two and a half hours of being at the bar, he (the other driver) was absolutely blottoed. i mean you could see it in his eyes. we left for the sleeping hall.
along the way, we passed the big silver dome. i tried to climb on top but it was a little two wet and therefore slippery for me to actually make it. the other driver (TOD) told me that i wasn't doing it right and took a running try at it...
but his intention was not to climb but rather was to slide over it. he went limp when he hit the dome and looked like a ragdoll sliding over the dome.
he wasn't hurt. no. he just looked hilarious doing it. that's why i note it. for my benefit, really...
or, at least, that's what i would've hoped.
we stumbled the rest of the way back to the hall and promptly went to sleep.
we woke up the next day, ready for another day of fierce competition...
but sometime before the first game, TOD came up to me and asked: "have you seen my car keys?"
"um, sorry, TOD, but i haven't."
"shit."
we played our first game and beat our opponents by sheer will - after all, a majority of our team had been matching them in shots the night before. we were more prepared for the alcohol, i guess.
we won our next game and ended up playing the 5th place game to finish off the tournament. unfortunately, we lost that game and ended up in 6th place. but that's really irrelevant...
since when we left, we left with full knowledge that the other car would not be leaving that day at the minimum. the keys were still missing.
so we ended up taking one of the other people from TOD's car and stuffing him in the middle seat in the back of our car. it was a nice tight squeeze...
for about 7 hours.
the worst thing about tournaments, especially difficult ones, is a long drive home. and this one was no exception. anybody who exercizes should know that after a strenuous workout, you like to stretch and lie around, be spread out and comfortable.
well, frisbee tournaments with long drives are the opposite, especially if you need to force an extra person into your car. (oh, and one of the players in my car happens to be about 7 feet tall, so he automatically got the passenger seat.)
so i cramped up in under an hour and had a few, rare opportunities to stretch it out. i did a half sleep thing for about half of the ride. and went to bed almost immediately upon arriving home.
as for TOD... his dad had to drive to Rottenburg to deliver the second key to the car... which still wasn't enough, because the car was immobilized by the original key ring. and it, the original key ring that was now lost, was the only thing that could undo the immobilization.
anyway, he ended up arriving home two days later with the other two players who we had also left behind in tow.
Posted by iain at February 17, 2005 01:03 PM