Head over to the team gear section of our website to see what’s available. We are selling a limited supply of 2011 jerseys and discs to help fund the trip to Florida, where we’ll wrap up the season with the USA Ultimate club championships. Revolver thanks you all for your support!
Adam Simon 2011
Name:
Adam Simon
*Photo by ? (from ffindr.com).
Nicknames:
Chicken, A-Si
Jersey #
2
Height:
6’0″
Date of birth:
18 November 1982
Place of birth:
Atlanta, GA
Current city of residence:
San Francisco, CA
Occupation:
Physician Assistant
College team(s):
University of Colorado Mamabird (2002-2006)
Former teams:
Chain Lightning (2000)
Johnny Bravo (2004-2008)
Ironside (2009-2010)
Accolades:
National champion (juniors: 2001)
National champion (college: 2004)
Inaugural CU Mamabird scholarship recipient
Callahan top 5 (2006)
World Games alternate (2009)
World champion beach, Team USA open (2011)
How I came to join Revolver:
Many of my old teammates (Beau, Martin, Mac, Bart) are on the team. Martin encouraged me to make it to a tryout if there was any chance that I might take a job in the Bay Area. I came to tryouts in mid-May between interviews and thankfully played somewhat well.
Funniest moment or joke on Revolver:
Playing Haddaway “What is Love?” on the boombox and having all six guys on the insta-bench immediately start doing the sideways head-bob.Favorite game or tournament moment on Revolver:
Sam Kanner’s “Whooooooooooooo!!!!”
Favorite game or tournament moment outside of Revolver:
Teaching Tyler Grant to shuffle in Italy.
Favorite Ultimate player(s) in formative years:
2. Catt Wilson: He taught me to expect more of myself because I was willing to work for it. Catt’s teams are blue collar, scrappy teams that fight for every inch, every cut, every point on the field. That is culture that remains with Mamabird, and it’s so much fun to follow each year.
Favorite tournament:
Club Worlds 2010 in Prague
What makes ___ so dangerous?
Jumpsoles and foam.
Theme song:
John Williams – Superman theme (The Planet Krypton)
Pre-game ritual:
JT in my ears and approximately 2.5 hours of energy.
What I like to eat on Saturday night of a tournament:
Chocolate milk and Endurox at the fields.
If I didn’t play Ultimate, my main pastime outside of work would be:
Music and skiing.
Favorite sports team outside of Ultimate:
Atlanta Braves, Hawks, and Falcons
In terms of Kanners, how tan are you?
0.7 in season, 0.2 during the winter.
Something unknown about me:
I wear a wristband on my left wrist for each gold medal I’ve won. I like being able to touch them when I get nervous before big games — to remind myself that I belong.
Northwest Regionals – Sunday
Revolver – Northwest Regionals – Day 2 (Sunday, October 2, 2011)
A light mist greeted us at the fields and we left trails of footprints in the dew as we congregated at the site of our semifinal against Seattle Sockeye. Next door, Rhino, back at full-strength (though still without captain Tad Jensen) warmed up for their semifinal against Furious George, who had come back from a three-point second half deficit to defeat Sockeye on Saturday morning. Unlike past years at Northwest Regionals, a win in the semifinals would not clinch a bid to Nationals, and a loss would guarantee an exhausting road toward the second berth.
Game 5 – 9:00a v. Sockeye (Seattle, WA) – Semifinal
There were plenty of local teams and fans rooting for Seattle this morning in what felt a little like an away game for Revolver, similar to the 2009 final at Nationals against Atlanta’s Chain Lightning in Florida. Our O-line had practiced against a big, aggressive four-man cup (posed by our D-line the prior weekend) in preparation for this game, but the pleasant weather prompted Sockeye to withhold their trap zone on all but one point — it didn’t really work as Robbie Cahill and Bart Watson threw several easy hammers to slice through. This game therefore featured a lot of man and transitional junk defense, with Sockeye utilizing frequent switches and extreme angles created by the mark’s force. Revolver’s defense had trouble slowing down the frequent give-go action between Seattle’s handlers that took advantage of the briefest hesitations by the marks or defenders.
Revolver started off strong by scoring on offense and then immediately forcing a break for a 2-0 lead, but things soured a few points later. After scoring on offense to make it 3-2, Sockeye’s D-line broke on three consecutive points to take an important early 5-3 lead. We traded out before Sockeye added another emphatic break going into halftime. 5-8 Sockeye.
In the huddle we reminded ourselves that we had known the road would be difficult at times, but that an excellent opportunity lay before us. The Fish’ well-coordinated defense had stymied the O-line through confusion, energy, and elimination of space that we had taken for granted most of the season. The offense needed to settle down but the defense would have to win the game by erasing those early breaks.
Out of half the Revolver D-line forced another break, but a few points later Sockeye grabbed it right back to stretch their lead to 11-7. We broke twice in a row on blocks by Sam Kanner and Mac Taylor to close the gap to 11-10. The teams traded again until Sockeye took a 14-12 lead with their O-line. Do or die time… Sockeye’s call-and-response “Sock! Eye! Spawn! Die!” cheer had been ringing in our ears all game, but with Sockeye receiving on a 14-13 lead, we heard, “Shattered dreams!” echoing between the sidelines. The hard cap sounded during the ensuing point as Revolver broke to tie the game at 14 each and set up universe point. Sockeye turned over the disc on a deep shot attempt but Mac threw a low backhand to Mark Sherwood that Sockeye’s Tim Gehret flew threw for an awesome layout block, regaining them posession about 30 yards away from the victory. A few throws later, our defense stifled the handlers and Nate Castine rifled a shallow inside-out forehand across the field that sailed over the front endzone cone. Back the other direction, Beau Kittredge came down with a bloody mouth (and two chipped front teeth) after an amazing, jostling grab over Matt Rehder on a towering blady backhand. A short throw later the 15-14 comeback was realized, sending Revolver to the finals and Sockeye via the long route to the back door bracket. We had barely escaped against a team that had performed better for most of the game.
We would face a rematch against Rhino, who had taken care of business against Furious George with an efficient 15-9 win in the other semifinal.
Game 6 – 1:30p v. Rhino (Portland, OR) – Final
After the bye round we were surprised when Rhino trotted out their first O-line of the day and, like Saturday, almost none of our pre-determined match-ups materialized. It seemed that Rhino had decided to rest their starters again, but this time in a game-to-go. Still, we were only able to post two breaks in the first half for an 8-5 lead. The D-line managed only four breaks total against a very competent Rhino offense, but our O-line was not broken once. Their stars like Eli Friedman, Seth Wiggins, Timmy Perston, Breeze Strout, Cody Bjorklund, Matt Melius, Dylan Freechild, etc. only played 0-3 points each in the final, but played a great deal and very well in the back door game-to-go against Furious. We are sad to see that we’ll have to look forward to matching up with them next season instead of in Sarasota.
When Revolver’s O-line completed the 15-10 win we were happy to have qualified for Nationals for the fourth straight year, but knew that we had dodged a bullet. We kibitzed the elimination game between Sockeye and Furious George and witnessed another unfortunate late game collapse by a talented Seattle squad, ending their very successful decade-plus streak of Nationals appearances. In some ways it doesn’t seem fair, but when the dust settled on Northwest Regionals only Revolver and Furious George advanced.
Northwest Regionals – Saturday
Revolver – Northwest Regionals – Day 1 (Saturday, October 1, 2011)
Ten teams, including four of the top-ranked teams in North America, fight for two bids to Nationals. The weathermen forecast rain today, but the gray clouds never fell while we played and the wind was negligible until mid-afternoon. The scheduled format was a little unusual, pitting the first and second seeds against each other first. So…
Game 1 – 9:00a v. Rhino (Portland, OR)
A couple of Rhino players were suspended for three games due to roster mishaps from Sectionals and Rhino sat most of their starting line-up almost the entire game. We took half 7-2. Jonathan Hester had a nice double happiness on a deep D and then caught a huck from Mac Taylor out of half. Rhino’s Bryson Uhrig-Fox caught an impressive goal over Patrick Baylis that energized his team. Revolver up 12-5, Rhino finally brought out an O-line with some match-ups that we had planned for, so we sent a zone down on the pull. On an unlucky play, Eric Halverson laid out and snared a catch block on an attempt to swing around the cup but Rhino’s Grant Cole caught his leg underneath. Nobody heard a pop but Cole’s knee was badly injured — we all hope it’s just a sprain. Halverson threw an upline forehand to Nick Chapman for the bittersweet game-winner.
Game 2 – 10:45a v. Dark Star (Eugene, OR)
These guys jumped out to a quick, startling 2-0 lead as Dark Star broke our O-line twice, including a near Callahan. We erased those breaks quickly but then traded out to half for a 7-6 lead. They made unusual throwing choices that we hadn’t expected and caught us unaware several times. We barely recognized any of their players but their athleticism kept them in the game for a long time. Once we got a 9-8 lead we scored the rest of the points and won 13-8 after Eric Greenwood accidentally got a D with his head (it’s hard to describe…), in what would prove our toughest game of the day.
Game 3 – 12:30p v. Boost Mobile (Bay Area, CA)
Vowing not to fall victim to a slow start like the previous game, the D-line broke on the first four points and took half 7-1. Boost usually connects on their deep game but they weren’t today, so we took advantage, partly by pressing them with a zone defense. It turns out that we didn’t require much of the O-line this game as Revolver rolled to a 13-3 win.
Game 4 – 4:00p (scheduled) v. Downpour (Seattle, WA)
These guys were young, athletic, and excited but possessed little experience. We opened the subbing and pushed to a 12-0 lead before Downpour finally punched in a goal using one of their two giants. We staved off the rain just long enough to wrap up the 13-1 win.
As the sky began to sprinkle we left the fields, showered quickly at the hotel, then headed north to Bob’s Burgers for some college football and team dinner. We’ll be resting up tonight in anticipation of a brutal elimination day at Skagit River Park tomorrow, where the weather should be partly cloudy with a high of 62. Somehow we’ve managed to avoid meeting Sockeye all season, but that all changes as the rivalry renews in a breakfast semifinal. Bagels and lox? Time will tell…