Date: Tue, 4 Jun 2013 10:56:41 -0700
From: Charles Wolfe <c.sportswolfe@gmail.com>
Subject: The Ultimate Challenge Chapter 15

      Tournament Number 2. I had a great feeling about this competition,
the idea that we could possibly take this as we had in the past. I was
happy that Kyle and I were able to play against each other, the thought of
actually seeing my boyfriend in action making me excited. I'm not going to
lie, I was still a little apprehensive about Northridge, especially since
it was at their home turf. Something about hosting your own tournament
always seems to give you the upper hand, be it the supporters that come
out, the knowledge of where the potholes or slipper spots are in the field,
or just the confidence that you get from the spirit of the campus.

      Arriving, I could tell that Northridge was ready and set to compete.
The way they walked around their turf fields gave away their demeanor, the
confidence of their perfect stances and the faultlessness of their strides.
As Bryan and Zach and I looked for a perfect location, we watched as other
teams arrived as well. It was interesting how the air shifted more towards
Northridge as the teams arrived, the confidence of other teams slowly
dropping as more players arrived.

      Looking at Bryan I toss out the comment, "I think people are actually
taking Northridge seriously. But really? I mean come on, they were lucky at
San Bernardino." I tossed my gear bag down at what we had decided to be a
great spot.

      The shaken confidence had gotten to Bryan and was slowly sneaking
into Zach as they both responded. Bryan looked around at the other teams
then at Northridge. "Were they? I mean they full on obliterated the other
teams. Kyle and his team weren't so lucky either. We were lucky to escape
unscathed."

      Zach backed him up on it, "Bryan does have a point. Look at them
Chris. They have a stronger assurance to them than the first time. Keep it
up and we might actually have a battle for the wins this year." They both
set down their bags and waited for the rest of Long Beach to arrive.

      Fullerton arrived before Long Beach, the entire team, plus my
boyfriend caravanning in together. While Victoria signed them in, the rest
of the team unconsciously gravitated towards the three of us, Kyle leading
the way with no questions asked. It was almost as if they didn't question
his judgment and had just accepted the fact that slowly, our two teams were
becoming one. Granted we still played for our own team but on the surface
of it all, the players of both Long Beach and Fullerton were starting to
talk more and fraternize with each other.

      Kyle came up and gave me a small kiss on the lips before asking how
early I had gotten here. Rubbing his arm slightly, I answer him knowing
that he was slightly concerned for me. "We got here about 30 minutes
ago. It's kinda a tradition that Bryan, Zach, and I have. We always arrive
early to get the best spots." I chuckled as the two of them looked at us
and shrugged then went back to doing their own things.

      Kyle set down his stuff and looked back at his team as they had
already started unpacking. "Nervous for today?" Oh come on, even he was
having his doubts.

      I did my best to stand tall but it was starting to grind on me. "To
be honest, I don't know. I think we will do well but everyone has this
mentality like they've already lost. I think it's a bit of bull but
whatever. I know I will give it my best and make sure that Northridge works
for every point they get."

      Kyle got a little riled up for that, something that I was happy to
finally see out of him. His former dislike of Parker started to show
through as he looked at the Northridge players and cast Parkers image onto
each of them.

      Speaking of the devil, our two teams watched as Northridge's star
player came onto the field. Parker's golden eyes scanned the field, the
glimmer reflecting the lust he had for beating each team before him. Then
he locked onto Kyle and I, or probably more likely Fullerton and Long
Beach. Either way when he saw us a slight grin appeared on his face, the
slight coating of facial hair adding a bit of a demonizing look to him. I
observed him move around his team, his own gaze seemingly never waiving off
the two teams of competition for him.

      Turning my back to him, I gave up the battle of stares, looking for
better things to do to occupy my time. It was a foolish mistake because
while I had my back to him, he snaked his way over to our campout. The
sound of his voice made my skin crawl as he startled me and a few of the
other players, "Combining the two teams now? That's cute."

      Turning around to look at him with a "What the fuck?" face, I try to
catch Kyle before he confronts Parker. It was an effort made too late as
Kyle stumbles over the bags to stand before Parker, "What do you want
Parker?" The cynicism in his voice was all too apparent as Kyle crossed his
arms to bolster himself up against the threat standing before him.

      Parker shrugged his shoulders and looked past Kyle as if he wasn't
even there. "I came by to wish you guys good luck for today's game." He
scanned us over like inventory, looking to see who the biggest threats were
that needed to be addressed.

      Kyle blurted out in a very muttered voice, "The hell you did." Kyle
stood like a wolf challenging a mountain lion, the two of them not wanting
to back down.

      Parker shot his eyes back at Kyle and put on the most vicious smile I
had seen in a long time. The curl of his lips as he spoke made me shiver in
the sun, "Kyle, here I was trying to be civil. But if you want the truth,
we beat you once, we will beat you again." Did he really just call out Kyle
and Fullerton? I was shocked that Parker had the audacity to pull such a
ballsy move.

      Then he turned to me and continued on with the barrage.  "It's not
like Long Beach is any better. All we need to do is draw some blood and
then the other teams will see how weak you really are. One loss by a team,
other than Fullerton, and they will pounce."

      Everyone was getting infuriated by the crap that spewing out of
Parker's mouth. Jumping up to hold them back, I approach Parker and pull
back Kyle as he moves to defend my honor. "Let him talk guys. He's just
bullshitting. The real battle will be on the field, not in the words. I
could fight back but it's clear that you're unarmed in the battle of
wits. You're just poking the bear trying to elicit a response."

      Parker stood back a little stunned that I deflected his blows like
swatting a fly. I didn't give the response he was hoping for. Regaining his
composure he merely commented then walked off. "We'll see about that. Watch
your back Chris." The last thing he did before turning his back as wink at
me, a movement that made Kyle want to lash out at him.

      As Parker left to go back, the rest of our teams arrived and they
were confused at what had us all riled up. After Pike had signed in he did
his best to calm us all down and get us into our game modes, which we
slowly began to do, but a few of us still lingered in irritation and anger.

      *****

      Our first games went extremely well, mostly because we had been built
up by Parker and wanted to make it known that we meant business. To be
honest we probably went a little hard on the teams; CSULA, and San
Bernardino all falling hard. Fullerton came out strong as well, them taking
on CSULA and San Dominguez and almost beating them single handedly. During
our buy game while Fullerton played San Dominguez, I went over to a
separate field to watch Northridge play, and from the looks of it,
obliterate San Bernardino.

      The way that Northridge was playing was, and while I hated to admit
it, superb. They had such coordination going on that it was almost
impressive to watch. They were one of those teams that you had to respect
for how they operated, regardless of if you liked them or not. And trust
me, at this point, I did not like them much, especially Parker.

      The cuts in the turf that they pulled seemed to tear up the black
plastic dirt pieces, the throws of the disk zipping left and right through
the air, at times even breaking a chirp out to give notice of its flight.

       I tried to stay in the crowds so that Parker wouldn't notice me but
it was a futile endeavor as he became aware of my presence.  With
Northridge holding the disk near their own end zone, Parker received the
disk and paused for a second, looked at me, pointed to me, then looked down
the field. A player broke loose of his mark and sprinted to the end
zone. This guy was short so he managed to sneak past San Bernardino along
the sideline then cut inward. Parker took note of the player and threw a
hammer over his own mark, all efforts to stop the disk now futile.

      It whizzed through the air and seemed to hang there as the player
looked at the disk falling towards him. With a simple catch, the player
held it in the air as if it were a trophy. Catch. Set. Point. Shaking my
head, I turned and headed back to my team, having enough of Parker's
egotistical aura.

      Pike was there waiting for me when I returned, his arms crossed. "You
know he's starting to get into your head right?" He looked a little worried
that I was starting to over think this all, which I think I probably was.

      "I know. I'm trying my best to not get distracted by him but it's
been a while since I have seen one guy captivate a team the way he has." I
look at Pike as I subtly make the comparison. Not that Parker could every
be Pike but the similarities could be seen. Shaking my head, I try to focus
on the main issue at hand, out own games that we needed to win.

       After Fullerton had beaten San Dominguez they had a buy time to take
a break. It was our turn to take them on and the game went smoothly. Unlike
Northridge which seemed to be taking its opponents on with no mercy, we did
allow for them to gain a few points, at least enough for them to feel as if
they were not losing too bad. As was to be expected we won but we did it
with grace, not brutality. After shaking hands with their team, they made
the note that we had been probably one of the better teams to have played
this day so far.

      Walking off the field I saw Fullerton walk up, their dual with
Northridge about to commence. Moving over to Kyle, I gave him a quick
massage on the shoulders and told him he's got this. It was a small gesture
that I had hoped would give him the strength to beat Parker. Watching them
walk out onto the field, a colossal swell started to form in my stomach, a
sign to myself that this wasn't going to go the way I wanted it to.

      Right off the bat, Northridge came off strong. Fullerton was caught
off guard by intensity of their moves, the fluidity of Northridge cutting
left and right making it hard at times for Northridge to keep up. I
couldn't bear to look at it as the scene started to unfold into a
massacre. Point by point Northridge stacked them on, inching more into the
winning zone.

      At halftime, I wanted to talk with Kyle and Victoria on what to do
but Pike advised me not to, since it wasn't my team. I felt so helpless as
Victoria tried to formulate a plan out on how to effectively combat the
threat. When halftime ended, I figured I could at least call out the
players for Kyle to watch so I moved to the sidelines and watched over the
game, playing the sideline eyes for their team, not that they really needed
it since they had their own teammates calling out the players for them.

      Watching two players cut down the field long, I shouted out to Kyle,
"Kyle behind you! They're going long!" I saw it start to unfold before me,
the two runners making for a dual play for a point.

      Kyle looked over to me, frustration dripping off the sweat on his
forehead. "I see them Chris!" He runs after the players but it was a futile
effort as the team captain lobbed a flick to the left side into one of the
players. I was not surprised so much at the point as I was by Kyle's
outburst. The tone that he had behind it was clearly aggravation but it
also seemed to have annoyance mixed in as well, almost as if my help was
unappreciated. Shutting up, I watched from the lines, figuring Pike was
right that it was their game and they needed to learn on their own.

      Kyle came off a point later to grab some water and while I would have
normally came up and talked with him, this time I kept a wide berth,
letting him vent and fume to his fellow teammates. Realizing that I wasn't
near him, he got up and made his way towards me, holding his head slightly
lower than normal. "Sorry for snapping at you. Northridge is playing dirty
out there. It's not your fault. Thank you for the help." He kisses me
slightly on the lips and then heads back in, the apology taking a little of
his chest.

      Shouting out to Kyle, I offer what support I could think of, "You can
do this Kyle! Keep your heads up Fullerton!" If my boyfriend played for a
different team I was going to help that team in any way I possibly
could. Fuck policies and regulations.

      Watching Northridge play, particularly Parker, Kyle was right that
they were playing dirty. Ultimate Frisbee was supposed to be a noncontact
sport but Parker was giving the cold shoulder so many times it was verging
on excessive. He knew the limit he could go to and didn't go much further
than that but even still, some of the travels he pulled were so slight the
mark didn't know but those on the sidelines saw it.

      In the end, Northridge beat Fullerton by one point. I was happy that
Fullerton had managed to come back the way they did but still that point
had cost them the game. The onlookers from the sidelines erupted in anger
and boos as Northridge walked off the field holding their heads
high. Fullerton did their best to hold their heads high as well but it was
a hard loss for them, especially since they were so close to almost
catching Northridge.

      Walking onto the field, I hug Kyle and try to assure him, "You did
your best babe."

      Walking back to the area where we were hanging out, Kyle tossed down
the disk and quickly kicked off his cleats. "I just want to sock that
prick." He muttered to me, trying not to make a big scene of it all.

      Looking around for my own team, I was shocked to see Parker strut
over to us, his brunette hair hanging over his head in a sloppy manner. In
what could possibly be heard as the most mocking manner ever, Parker
uttered out a simple word that stung like fire, "Sorry."

      Jumping on Kyle to hold him down, I pull him down to the ground to
stop him from fighting. Moving to my feet, I get in Parkers face and speak
for Kyle, echoing every word that is going through Kyle's brain. "You have
serious balls coming over here. Get to your team Parker before you make a
mistake you'll regret."

      Parker laughs cynically, "I just wanted to let you know you're next
Chris." With that he walked away back to his team to prep for the next
battle.

=====================================================================

Well now this will be interesting. What is Parkers deal? How will the next
tournament go? What I can tell is that there will be blood.... I hope
you're all doing alright.