2001 GRADA Night Flight Fall League

 

            Here is the schedule, format, and rules for this year’s league.  Contact Doug Singer, League Director, with any questions at 477-6781 or doug@grada.org.  The Brighton Town Park fields are at 777 Westfall Road.  The South Ave fields are at Duffy School #12 on South Avenue across from Highland Hospital.

 

UPDATE 10/29 from Doug:

 

     Well, we made it through another Fall League.  Congratulations to The Gang for going undefeated and winning the league again!  Who's gonna stop these guys?
     The overall final standings are:  1. Gang;  2. Salamanders;  3. HammerHens;  4. Compost;  5. O'Loughlins;  6. Dirt;  7. Gift Horse;  8. Jammers;  9. Spudheds;  10. Piggies;  11. Melting Pot;  12. Large Dicky's.  

     Big thanks go out to Danielle Merritt and Eric Milligan for always being there to have the fields set up and LINED (very cool) and keep games on track.

     I'm interested in your feedback on any aspect of how the league was run.  I've heard from several of you and I appreciate it all.  I made changes this year because of past feedback, so here's your chance to steer the course for next year.  I'm at doug@grada.org or 477-6781.  Tell me the good, the bad, and the ugly.  I can take it.  Hope you all had fun.  I know I did!

UPDATE 10/21  from Doug:

 

The last week of the GRADA Fall Friday league is coming up this Friday.  While the new format I introduced this year may have been different from the past, I hope it's led to the kinds of improvements people wanted. There are certainly no meaningless games or discarded bottom bracket of repeat opponents.  In the upper playoff division, each of the three games will be clearly matching up Gang and Salamanders for 1st and 2nd, HammerHens and Compost for 3rd and 4th, and Dirt and O'Loughlins for 5th and 6th. The winner of each game gets the higher final spot outright. This is exactly how this kind of format is supposed to work out.  In the lower playoff division, the only thing that is certain is that the Jammers control their fate and will place 7th if they beat Gift Horse.  After that, the matchups of Melting Pot versus Spudheds and Large Dicky's versus Piggies could result in some playoff record logjams at 3-2, 2-3, or even 1-4 which will need to be settled by head to head and point differential tie breakers. The cause of the suspense is upsets during playoff weeks 1 and 2: Melting Pot over Gift Horse; Large Dicky's over Spudheds; then Piggies over Melting Pot. I'll have a large printout at the South Ave fields to help unravel the mystery as each game is played. We're getting down to the wire, and even this last game matters for every team.  Good luck to everyone.

 

 

Schedule

 

	South Ave			Brighton Town Park
START	6:15	7:50	9:25	6:00	7:25	8:50
SOFT CAP	7:45	9:20	10:55	7:20	8:45	10:10
Sept 7	O'Loughlins 15 Large Dicky's 12	Gang 15 Jammers 3	Compost 15 Melting Pot 1	Salamanders 14 Spudheds 12	HammerHens 15 Piggies 7	Dirt 15 Gift Horse 8
Sept 14	HammerHens 12 Salamanders 15	Dirt 15 Spudheds 2	Piggies 9 Gift Horse 15	Gang 15 O'Loughlins 5	Compost 15 Large Dicky's 4	Jammers 15 Melting Pot 11
Sept 21	Compost 15 Jammers 8	O'Loughlins 15 Melting Pot 8	Gang 15 Large Dicky's 3	Dirt 15 Piggies 4	Salamanders 15 Gift Horse 4	HammerHens 15 Spudheds 3
Sept 28	HammerHens 15 Gift Horse 6	Piggies 8 Spudheds 15	Salamanders 15 Dirt 10	Gang 15 Melting Pot 0	Jammers 15 Large Dicky's 7	O'Loughlins 5 Compost 15
Oct 5	Large Dicky's 12 Melting Pot 15	Gang 15 Compost 3	O'Loughlins 15 Jammers 13	Spudheds 9 Gift Horse 15	HammerHens 15 Dirt 5	Salamanders 15 Piggies 4
Oct 12	Jammers 12 Piggies 11	Melting Pot 15 Gift Horse 14	Large Dicky’s 15 Spudheds 14	Gang 15 Dirt 6	Compost 11 Salamanders 14	O'Loughlins 5 HammerHens 15
Oct 19	Gang 16 HammerHens 15	O'Loughlins 3 Salamanders 15	Compost 15 Dirt 13	Jammers 15 Spudheds 13	Large Dicky’s 9 Gift Horse 12	Melting Pot 11 Piggies 13
Oct 26	Melting Pot 0 Spudheds 15	Jammers 11 Gift Horse 15	Large Dicky’s 3 Piggies 15	Compost 4 HammerHens 15	Gang 15 Salamanders 8	O'Loughlins 15 Dirt 6

 

 

Teams

 

            Pre-season seeding is APPROXIMATE, based on a weighted average of last three BYOT season performances (Spring00, Fall00, Spring01).  Don’t get your egos too bent; they’re just used to split pools roughly evenly.

 

                                                                   

 

Safety First!

 

1.       If you see any minor field hazards, cover them with a marker disc.

2.       If you see any serious field hazards, stop play and notify the field marshal.

3.       Any player who has blood visible anywhere on his/her body or uniform must leave the field immediately - using injury sub rules - until appropriate bandaging or uniform change is completed.

4.       No players under the age of eighteen (18) years may take the field.

5.       The policies of Brighton Town Park and the City of Rochester prohibit alcohol at the fields.

 

 

Format

 

            To address format concerns from past years, I have introduced a new structure which is based on an official UPA Sectionals/Regionals tournament format modified to meet our needs.

“Regular Season”:    Teams will be split into two equal pools of six teams (not an upper and lower division).  During the first five weeks, each team will play the other five teams in its pool.  Within each pool, teams will then be ranked purely by won-loss record and tie-breakers.  In Pool A, the best team will be called X1 and the worst X6.  In Pool B, the best team will be called Y1 and the worst Y6.

            “Playoffs”:  During the final three weeks of the season, a new group of six will be formed from the top three teams in each pool (X1, X2, X3, Y1, Y2, Y3).  Each team in the group will play all three opponents from the other pool (ex. X1 plays Y1, Y2, and Y3; Y3 plays X1, X2, and X3; X3 plays Y1, Y2, and Y3, etc.).  The final season standings will be based on each team’s won-loss record against the other five teams in this group, since by now, every team in this group has played every other team in this group either during regular pool play or during the final three weeks.  The best possible “playoff” record would be 5‑0.  This would determine the final standings for spots 1 through 6.

                        This format is used identically for teams four through six in each regular season pool (X4, X5, X6, Y4, Y5, Y6) to determine final standings in spots 7 through 12.

 

I know the familiar eight team championship bracket is absent, but, in fact, that was what caused some of the past problems.  It is likely that after the first week of playoffs, we’ll know which game in week 7 or 8 will be the one game that ultimately determines the overall champion.  E.g. If there are never any upsets during the season, then the championship would be the week 8 game between X1 and Y1.

Hopefully this format solves the problems often voiced in the past.  It also matches all the desires that teams expressed during the captains meeting.  This format guarantees that every team will play eight different opponents during the eight weeks of the season.  There are no byes and no meaningless games.  There is no discarded group of bottom four teams playing each other again during the last three weeks.  It minimizes the effect of any team missing, or having a poor showing in, any one game.  The ranking process is completely objective.  And the format does result in competitive ranking which crowns a champion and lets everyone else know where they stand in line.

 

            Tie-breakers:  The following rules will be used in any instance where a tie in won‑loss record needs to be broken.  A more detailed explanation is available at http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/ferguson/ultimate/upa-formats/upa-formats-basic.html#S2.6.

 

1.       Won-loss record in games among tied teams.

2.       Point Differential in games among tied teams.

3.       Point Differential among all common opponents of tied teams.

4.       More, if we need them….

 

 

Rules

 

            We’ll be using the rules of ultimate which have been modified to reflect the minor variations we use in Rochester.  The full set of rules is at www.GRADA.org in the menu list along the left side of the page.

 

Items of Note:

1.   All games are played to 15 points - win by two - during Regulation.  There is a Point Cap at 17, no win by two.

2.   Games are 7 on 7 unless a team has only 6 or 7 players, in which case the game will be 6 on 6.  Teams must have at least 6 players to begin the game.  Any team with fewer than 6 players 15 minutes after start time automatically forfeits.

3.   Pull.

A.      Any disc landing in-bounds must be put into play from WHERE IT IS CAUGHT.  This includes discs caught or coming to rest in the endzone.

B.      The Brick for pulls landing out of bounds is 20 yards.

4.   One Time Out per half PLUS one floater.

5.   Continuation is in effect.  If a violation is called (pick, travel, etc.) while the disc is in the air, or the offense throws the pass after the call is made, then the disc is still live.  If the offense committed the violation and does not complete the pass, it is a turnover.

6.   When Time Cap is called by the Field Marshal:
     A.   Complete the current scoring attempt in Regulation (Note that the "current scoring attempt" begins immediately after the previous point was scored and includes the line-switch time before a pull).  If this results in a team achievi