Matrix Tournament

(PICTURE: I should have taken off my Jets hat if I wanted to win.)


(PICTURE: Teams Green, Orange and White.)

About a month ago, an email went out to all the Hanoi Ultimate Club saying we would have a "Matrix Tournament" that weekend. I'm not exactly sure what the tournament had to do with the Matrix but it sure was a lot of fun. We divided all of our players up into three teams. Whenever a team would score two points, the other team would have to leave the field. After about ten games, two teams went to the finals. Sadly, my team was the one that didn't make it to the finals. I put the blame solely on my shoulders.

I actually played really well that day although all my good plays were eradicated when my buddy Dave more or less out-jumped me for a winning score in our last game. I should mention that I probably have about five inches on Dave. It felt sort of like when John Starks dunked over Horace Grant and Michael Jordan. I'd like to say that I'm Jordan in this scenario but hell, I'll take Horace Grant comparisons any day of the week.

I like to think that I'm a very competitive person but know when to turn off the competitive juices. Meaning, I shouldn't care when I lose in a pick-up ultimate frisbee game. Generally I don't care but for some reason on this afternoon I was totally bummed out when my team lost. Is this some sort of aging thing? You know, like I can't make up for the high school championships I never won so it stings even more when I'm 31 and can't win a friendly frisbee match? Dammit, I'm still bitter that my high school soccer team lost to Westfield in 1995! Oh god, 1995?! That was sixteen years ago!