When I have been asked to do a tourney summary, and even though it is late. I know it is late, but what the hay.

magnUM travelled to University of Georgia for the classic city classic for the big end of the fall pre-season tourney. Half of us flew. The other half drove. So some of us got there at a reasonable hour. THe others pulled in like 30 minutes before game time or something.

Well, we had a first round bye, that was good. It was pretty cold for Georgia, that was bad. Our first game was against the hosts. UGA. They boast a really good thorwers a bunch of runners and poachers, which we fell victim to early. the game was close early as they would pull out 1-3 on us. After a timeout, we came right back taking the lead 5-4 and taking half 8-6. The second half saw us pull away winning something like 13-8/9. The turning point in the game was when we realized that we were wearing blue and they were wearing gray. Our theme of the weekend came out early, huck. Including a phenomenial grab by one of the youngsters Colin D. Moore after a quick turn he went deep. I cashed in my "I am a 5th year player card" and sent it deep with encouragement from the voice of reason, Gus. He skiied his guy. We win and have a bye.

After that bye, we would play the team from Gainesville, University of Florida. Although we would take the early lead, we were a little incosistent on O and gave them the disc a couple of times on their endzone. They take half 6-8. We were upset, but realized if we do not drop the disc we win. That is what we did. Max was huge in the air pulling down multiple scores. A Dave S. hammer to Rook was pretty. Even Karl tookshowed his receiver ability with some beauty catches long. DP also saved Rook with a one handed stab on our goalline to save the score. Scooter ended the game by playing great d on their tall guy and then taking him deep for the win. In the end, our deep bench and deep game was too much for them. We win 15-12.

Our last game of the day was against North Carolina-Wilmington, the 2nd seed in our pool. If we win we get a bye until noon, sleepy. If we do not win, we play at 9. Not sleepy. So what do we do, go down 0-4. Uf. Not good. That is ok, we finally score on a me to max bomb, put our d out there. We then go up 5-4 and then 8-5 at half. After we got over our laziness and their call-ness, we did alright. We would begin to pull away after 2 very long points (both of which we scored and they made approximately 15 calls). In the end, we would win 14-10.

Day 1 ended with us 3-0 and in the quarters, awaiting the winner of the Duke-NC State game. SPecial mention on Saturday was Rook and Karl leading the team in d's. Hales, Gus, Joe, Brix, and Nick E. working the disc a ton. And the depth of our cutters and defenders which we used to our advantage.

Sunday saw us with good old Duke on Sunday morning. SInce this was not bball, we were not as scared. But we needed to play well to beat this team. Again we flexed our muscle with our deep game and deep bench. Multiple people were involved in the scoring and d-getting. We got the lead early and hung onto the whole game. 13-9 would be the final. I do not remember much from that game as the next game was an epic battle

We now faced the #1 seed in the tourney Colorado. We played them at nationals last year and got our buttocks handed to us. Anyway, we came there to make it to finals and we were fired up. They broke us on the first point. But after a long second point upwind, we would tie it up with Joe-me-dp for the score. 1-1. The first half we had control of. 2 beautiful grabs stick out in my mind. Max skieed 3 Colorado guys on a flaoty hammer from Hales and Zac caught a hammer thorwn by me over another Colorado defender. OUr d was on fire with great team d. karl, Rook, and DP led the way, but Sean, Scooter, Zac, Craig, Andy, and Max chimed in with some timely d. We took half 8-5. We were psyched, but we preached, one more half. We pulled to them. They scored. They scored again 8-7. We scored. 9-7. But they would rattle off 5 in a row. Uh oh. 9-12 and we were going upwind. But that was not the end of it. 10-12 upwind. We stop their attempt at a 3-man 11-12. Then the game was soft capped. Meaning game to 14, with hard acp at 16. Uh oh. They score downwind. 11-13. They spike it "You aren't gonna come back at us". Hmmm. Hales to Joe. 12-13. Joe spike. A silent little "Fuck you". Gamepoint Colorado. After a long point, we score and I completely forget how. 13-13. They score. 13-14. We are going upwind. Long tough point, but Hales finds me deep 14-14. 0-0 game to 2. We are going downwind. A very long point. Hales bomb to me, but I am out the back and layout into a hill. Ouch. The guy who spiked it on Rook, gets d'd. We do not score again. Sean gives a hard mark on his man, high stall turn. We march it down to the end-zone. Timeout. Hales to me. score. 15-14. Colorado, downwind scores after a couple of passes 15-15 . 0-0 game to 1. Play is called. Joe-Gus-Hales-to me looking deep. Joe-Gus-Hales, max is poached goes deep, leaving me wind open underneath. I get it. Everyone is concerned about Max (for good reason) and Dave S.'s man leaves him a little open. Forehand, score, game. (Oh, the 13-13 score I believe was Zac saving my butt on a huck and then throwing to DP for the score. THanks)

Hooray we win, now we are in the finals against Brown 10 minutes later. Needless to say we were a little tired and showed it. A couple of early drops allowed them a quick break. 3-1 Brown I believe. But we would come back, again on the strength of our deep game and our d. 6-5 our lead, but they make a 3-0 run at the half. 6-8. Brown. Alright we are tired, but one more half. They were getting too many easy scores. They build the lead to 4. 6-10 and we trade points. At 8-12, cap is called, game to 14. Hmmm, we have been here before. We score on an easy deep play 9-12. We get a d and Karl pulls one of the air into the endzone, I think, 10-12. We get another d. DP with an amazing layout grab, get up, throws the score 11-12. They score 11-13. We score 12-13. ALright we have to do it now. But, we did not. Just too exhausted I guess. We played well and we showed we can hang, but we can get into better shape. Special mention to Reek and Sean who had some big d in that game as well as Dave S. who had a beautiful backhand in that game.

I know, I know this was not my usual quality, but I will try to do better next time. It is weird, now we get to the finals and i can't remember as much. I will trade for that. Oh, if you ever want to see that Brown game it was videotaped and I know I will get a copy of it sometime soon. Just let me know.

Thanks for reading. Take care

TIM

1. Rook/Karl --> exceptional defense and nice offense

2. Max --> "best receiver in the game"

3. Craig --> Outstanding performance by a young buck

What others are saying about Michigan at the CCC

Adam Tarr, Georgia Tech:

Michigan over Colorado: yes the big upset of the tournament. This game was just a highlight reel of big plays. I picked up the action about halfway through the game with the two teams neck and neck. Tim Murray was doing a great job of mixing up handling and going deep, and the rest of his supporting cast (Rook, #17, and the faceless mob of big receivers) have done a good job of defining their roles. These guys make as many big deep grabs as about any team I've seen. That said, I still expected Mamabird to pull it out. There's so many talented players on that squad, with a ton of good throws, speed, and great conditioning. They space it out and run you all day, taking short and deep as it presents itself.

Colorado pulled ahead 14-12 in a game to 15, and seemed to be in control. MagnUM scored downwind to take it to 13-14. Colorado had a turn about 2/3 of the way down the field, and MagnUM moved it for a bit before dropping in the deep strike to tie it up. The cap was on, so game to 16. MagnUM scored the downwinder to get 15-14 despite a turnover or two, and Colorado answered in like fashion. 15-15 and the sidelines were stoked. Michigan seemed to have a Timmy-for-the-game deep play drawn up, but the defense played behind so he went underneath and kept it moving. A couple passes later MagnUM got the upset win on an improbable up high, trailing edge, defender-on-his-back grab by one of the Michigan big men. The finals were on.

Brown over Michigan: maybe it was that Michigan had to be tired after the semis, or maybe it's because Brown seemed to have its championship aura back, or maybe it's just because I'm biased, but this game seemed to be in Brown's hands from early on. The first half was very tight. Brown took an early lead but gave it back on some unforced turns. Michigan seemed to be gaining momentum, but Brown bounced back and took half by one. In the second half Brown started to pull away immediately. The deep strikes were clicking for Brown with alarming frequency, most of them off the flicks of Moses and Harper. Moses played dogged defense on Tim and seemed to wear him down the same way he had seemed to wear down Crawford from Georgia and Dan from Florida. Brown cruised with a 4-ish point lead for most of the second half and took their third concecutive CCC championship.

Charles Kerr, Jinx:

	The Michigan / Colorado game really was fantastic, but sideline to Murray -- "take a timeout!" I'm not sure I've ever seen so many end of game situations that cried for a timeout. Does Michigan have philosophical problems with the idea to stopping play?
	But without a doubt, there can't be another person playing on a national caliber team that's as important to his team as Tim Murray is to Michigan. He can do it all on the field and he's built Michigan into legitimate contenders for a national title. I'm not sure who #17 is for Michigan, but he's got silky long throws that let Tim be a legitimate deep threat.

Mike G, Wilmington:

	On Sunday...Mama Bird lead Michigan by a few.... Michigan got to within 1 late... Colorado scored and spiked and asked "did you really think you could come back?" Michigan, everyone's favorite #9 team, replied.......... with three straight to win.
	Colorado may have dropped to the #5 spot...and Michigan might be a top 4 preseason team.
	Being #9 for a few years will really make you want to do better than #9.

Charles Kerr, Jinx:

#2 Michigan: Proved they could play with anyone in the country. They have depth and a solid core of handlers. Murray cements early season lead for 2001 Callahan with an great tournament. Hopefully this is the beginning of a deep and difficult schedule for them. The Michigan / Florida (15-12) game I Observed was non-stop fun.

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