Corporate
---------

Longwood "Sudden Death" withstood a furious second half comeback from
GE "GE" to win the Boston Corporate League (formally, BUDACOL) for the
second year in a row, 15-11, before a capacity beer-drinking,
Fantasy-Frisbee-playing, heckling crowd this weekend in Wrentham,
Massachusetts.  The favored (but not favorite) Longwood team,
featuring 7 or 8 present and past club players, had an easy path to
the finals, allowing fewer than 10 goals in their 3 earlier
elimination games (well, 2 games and a forfeit) and looking quite
unbeatable in doing so.  GE, on the other hand, had struggled all
year, posting a 5-9 record during the regular season, several of those
losses quite embarrassing (we're talking 15-3, 15-4), and had to
avenge two of those losses to make it to the finals.  

GE's quarterfinal game was against pre-tournament favorite BBN "Beyond
BBN", which had cruised through the regular season undefeated before
being upset in pool play by Cambridge Communications "Spawning
Alewifes".  BBN, featuring 6 or 7 present or past club players
including Pablo "Cinema is my Life" Martinez and part-time Tea
Partyers Justin and Judy as well as Mike "Best Player in the Game
Within the Next Two Years" Cooper, came out flat against GE's
innovative Tea Cup defense, another in the long line of offensive and
defensive strategic masterpieces popularized by full-time Tea Party
member Dennis "Thinking is my Life, Well, That and Telling People What
I've Thought Of" McCarthy, and found themselves down 10-5 in a game to
13.  Well, comebacks happen, and eventually BBN found themselves yards
away from being up 12-11, but a controversial travel and subsequent
throwaway gave the advantage to GE, and GE showed why it has racked up
a 29-6 record in tournament play by chalking up the game winners.
Incidentally, a tape of the travel is being submitted to the Spirit of
the Game Committee.  Travels are perhaps the most frequently occurring
violation, and probably the most misunderstood.  Players do not "get
three steps", the rules say any pass "after the third ground contact"
is a travel, if the player continues moving forward.  Whatever.

This set the stage for a semifinal matchup between arch-rivals GE and
Spawning Alewifes, although the rivalry has cooled down a bit since John
Huggett left town.  Again, though, GE's corporate players came through
in the Tea Cup defense, blanketing Alewife's star handlers and forcing
up bad pass after bad pass to be knocked away by Jim "New Sheriff in
Town" Parinella, and GE cruised 13-6.  Longwood, meanwhile, had
knocked off DG easily in their semifinal and were intently studying
GE's defense for hints of weakness.

Well, they found them and exploited them early in the finals, taking a
halftime lead of 8-3.  Joey "Team Player" Giampino was leading his
team in cheers of "7 beats 3", perhaps a reference to the number of GE
players his team would cover, poaching off their less experienced
corporate players and clamping down and aggressively marking them when
they did receive the disc.  GE revamped their game plan, and a
wonderful team effort brought the team back to tie it at 8, 9, 10 and
11.  Jordan "One of Six Club Players on His Corporate Team" Haskell
was heard to remark at this point, "Seven Beats Three?  Not THESE
Three".  McCarthy eventually succumbed to his annual leg cramps,
though, and Al "I Can Put It Anywhere On the Field, If You Can Catch
It" deFrondeville's hammers weren't enough as Longwood claimed the
championship again by running off the game's four final goals.
Longwood has been GE's nemesis in the Corporate Tournament, knocking
them out of the tournament in three of the five years.  Looking at
their deep roster gives one a clue.  Said one of GE's corporate
players, "The sidelines were pissing us off.  They're yelling "Throw
to your women!  Throw to your corporate players!"  Listen, it's tough
getting open when a fresh club player is riding you the whole time.
Hey, we caught more than our share of goals.  I bet if you looked at OUR
corporate players' share of goals caught or points played or any other
stat, and compared that to any of the other semifinalists or
quarterfinalists, you'd find us WAY ahead of them.  But Longwood
played well, though.  You have to give them credit."  Three-peat,
anyone?

Jim "Yet ANOTHER Tournament Fairly and Accurately Reported" Parinella