August 20, 2002
And The NYCPUL summer 2002 champions are The Nomads! They decisively defeated the Drewids 17-5 by utilizing a devestating short pass strategy and excellent team work. It was a tough game for the Drewids and passions ran as hot as the weather but afterwards everybody cooled off with a great party organized by Deborah Blake, Steve Mcbride and Jason Pain.
A real special thanks to goes out to Deborah who took care of purchasing almost all of the food and has been helpful from the very beggining in organizing this league. She was instrumental in recruiting more women in the first weeks when it turned out that not enough had signed up to make it real Co-ed and has been vigilant ever since in ensuring that the league maintain the proper tone: one in which “spirit of the game” is prized above winning and teamwork over competitiveness. In my opinion, she, more than anyone else, represents the spirit of the game for the selfless, thankless work she has put in behind the scenes. It is only fitting therefore, that Deborah Blake be named the recipient of the first annual NYCPUL spirit award [applause and hurrahs].
I would also like to especially thank Rich Ting for designing the great t-shirts and the trophies. Not only is he is a great graphic artist, he is also one of the best players in the league. Luckily, he is so good that he helped lead the Nomads to Ultimate victory and won one of his own trophies.
Special thanks also goes to the seven NYCPUL captains for running their teams as well as they did. There was not a single cancelled game this season and hardly any player complaints thanks to their good work.
Even though all of our captains are great, special recognition goes to Spaz Grangaard, the recipient of this summers Best Captain award. Testimony to his great leadership is the fact that, despite a last place start, Spastic Plastic improved to the point where they won three of their last six games. Spastic Plastic demostrated great spirit both on the field with their play and off the field with their great cheers. Also, they had one of the best male & female attendance rates in the league. In this category, Rocky also deserves an honorable mention for leading the very spirited Nomads to victory with the almost perfect atttendance of his players. Unfortunately though, Rocky lost points for being absolutely one of the most vociferously opinionated persons I have ever had the pleasure to know.
Another key factor in the Nomad’s dominance was Doug “Air” Propp, this summer’s Male MVP. Probably, the most experienced player in the league, Doug played and led with a competence that raised the level of everyone else on his team.
The Female MVP, and undoubtably a huge factor in the Drewids strong showing, was Carrie Prophet. The Drewids were a hard to please team but in their All-Star balloting they almost unanimously selected her as their top-choice making her the leading vote getter in the whole league. Congratulations Carrie.
Thank you all for a great season!
-amir