Monday, November 28, 2005

"You have to catch that, Bitch"

I was walking past Frisbee Central at Devens Field a few years ago during Easterns. I was going to get one of those steak tip sandwiches that they sell at the Boston Invite. As I walked past field 8, I noticed that Ring was playing Dog B (or X....whatever). Just as I approached the end zone, Ring put up a huge huck to one of their young, tall, fast guys. I remember thinking "there's a goal". The young guy was just past half field as the disc went over his head in that nice, floaty, "go get the goal" kind of way, but, just at this moment, a nice gust of wind took the disc quickly toward the end zone. It became clear that the catch was not going to be certain at all. The young kid, and Ray Parrish, who was about 10 yeards behind the young kid, both realized that he was going to run FAST. I guess in order to provide motivation, Parrish started to yell at the kid "Go get that, bitch", and "You have to run that down, bitch". It seemed to help as the kid shifted into another gear. He reaches the end zone line as the disc starts to die, and goes fully horizontal about waist high. His fingertips touch the disc, but both the disc and the kid crash to the earth. No catch. No goal. Ray, who is trailing the kid, straddles the kid, leans over, and yells "You have to catch that, Bitch!"

I brought this story back to my humble little div 2 corporate team a few days later. We decided, after much debate about cross-gender bitch calling, that we would work in "You have to catch that, Bitch" as much as possible over the course of the season. I think folks took us a lot more seriously as a result.

2 comments:

gcooke said...

Hey Vassar,

Thanks for the comments. I appreciate your perspective. I do like having players that will "keep me honest". In 03, Johnny Luv was great as he reminded me to keep things in check, and got pissed if I made bad decisions.

I agree that no comments or feedback is not helpful.

In terms of your question, I am not sure. It was such an over the top moment. I hope the kid was able to get back on the horse.

Edward Lee said...

Vassar's comment reminds me of a paragraph from DoG's playbook:

"For many people, screaming at them is an effective motivator, but for others, it's a spirit crusher. We should all have thicker skins, but that's not the way some people work. Just be a little thoughtful when you're calling one of your teammates an asshole."