Indy AlleyCat Brodie Smith

Ultimate has a very important place in my heart; It’s because of Ultimate that I came out when I did, and it’s why Outsports exists today. On a whim, I went to UCLA to play in a pick-up Ultimate game one Saturday in 1996 (I had played in college). It was there I saw one of the most beautiful sites I’d ever laid eyes on: A UCLA player named PJ Henry. Six weeks later I came out (thankfully, PJ was gay too), PJ soon introduced me to Jim and his flag football league, and the rest is history.

Ultimate is an incredibly open, welcoming place for gay athletes. In over 20 years of playing competitive Ultimate, I’ve experienced just one incident of homophobia. It was 10 years ago, and I had just caught a 50-yard score on one of the defending champ’s top players. I did some funky little move in the end zone, to which he said: “Fag dance.” He didn’t know I was gay. It was the only time I physically attacked somebody in sports; I think the only reason I didn’t get ejected was because the other players knew I was gay…and hated the other guy anyway. Still, that was the only incident I ever experienced. Hell, I heard worse in four years of high school cross-country.

So I was thrilled to hear about the creation of the first professional American Ultimate Disc League (they can’t use the word “Frisbee” anymore – that whole trademark thing and all). Last weekend was the league’s kickoff, and the games got some buzz with a key play from the Indy AlleyCats even making SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays (No. 6 in the video below). AlleyCats player Brodie Smith (on the receiving end of the top 10 play) is quickly becoming a star (a video of his crazy non-edited trick shots video is below).

One gay Ultimate player who emailed me this week said an HRC sticker was present on one of the Columbus Cranes player’s equipment “buckets” during their innaugural game last weekend. A spokesperson for the Cranes, Molly Moses, confirmed that the player has had the sticker for years (though she has no knowledge that any of their players is gay). Without being asked, she said:

The Cranes support human rights for all groups and in no way do we discriminate against any group of people.

Aside from it being gay-friendly, Ultimate is the most excited sport I’ve ever seen. No sport has the number of big plays on offense and defense that Ultimate has. “Touchdown” scores of 70 yards — all of it in the air — are not uncommon. And while we see occasional lay-out catches in baseball, Ultimate players do it routinely…with no glove.

Right now the AUDL is only in the Midwest and Northeast, but they’re hoping to expand to other parts of the country soon. Some AUDL games are being broadcast online; You can find more info at the league Web site. You can also see a recap of the game between the Detroit Mechanix and the Blugrass Revolution (Lexington, Ky.) below.

Hat tip to Mark Y.

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Big Gay Frisbee founder Seth Harrington:

I’m really psyched for the tournament, and the chance for everyone to form their own teams! This is really a chance for all our members to step it up a notch.

BGF is excited to be sponsored by MGD64, believes that the Ultimate Frisbee Tournament Fundraiser is just the beginning of bigger and better things to come.The event will be followed by a Pub Crawl Fundraiser at 6pm – starting at GYM bar, and some of the proceeds wil go to the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and its efforts to promote safe schools for everyone, “regardless of gender identity/expression and sexual orientation.”

There is still room for more players. Contact Seth Harrington or Seth Paul Radin on Facebook if you want to be put on a team (I’m still looking for a team too – so maybe we’ll end up playing together!).

As far as we know, this is the first-ever gay Ultimate tournament ever held (please correct us if that’s not the case).

You can learn more about the tournament on the event’s Facebook page. Also check out Big Gay Frisbee on Facebook.

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Fred, today we raise a disc (full of beer) to you!

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Oregon ultimate frisbee captains

The University of Oregon’s ultimate team has had its season ended after members of the team played naked in an April 11 game against Oregon State. The decision was made by a five-member student board that governs club sports.

Team co-captain Dusty Becker apologized to the board, but wasn’t too apologetic.

“Speeding, drinking, nudity – they’re not bad things,” he said. “They’re things a big portion of the community doesn’t think are wrong.”

The team has been under scrutiny for previous complaints about drinking and excess partying and traveled with a chaperon.

Since being placed on probation, the team has traveled with chaperones, team co-captain Steve Kenton said. The adult chaperones were present on the Saturday afternoon at Oregon State, when the club’s A and B teams, scheduled to play each other, decided to play a naked point – a ritual in Ultimate where one team plays without shirts and the other plays without pants or underwear.

“To run around naked is just kind of a hippie, ultimate thing,” Becker said. “We didn’t think there was anything wrong at the time.”

A female trainer complained and this triggered an investigation by the student board. The team, which is a powerhouse in collegiate ultimate, is appealing the decision and it needs to be reinstated to play in a crucial regional tournament this weekend.

“If this had been an isolated incident we would have treated it much differently,” said Jeff Gibb, a member of the club sports executive committee. “I’m not sure I can say that I trust the judgment of the Ultimate team – that’s why it’s so hard for me to give you another chance.”

This decision strikes me as overkill. Anyone who knows about the sport knows that ultimate is freewheeling and draws people who are often free-spirited and non-conformist. In a player Q&A on the team’s site, one was asked to name 10 former presidents without looking it up. His answer? “Morgan Freeman, Bill Pullman, Billy Bob Thornton, James Cromwell, Michael Douglas, Jack Nicholson, Kevin Kline (twice), Harrison Ford, Jack Lemon, James Garner.”

In the absence of evidence that their actions harmed anyone, I say let them play. I loved this comment on the Seattle Times article about the suspension:

Aw, let the hippies have their fun. People who play Ultimate are usually in really good shape and therefore pretty easy on the eyes, even unclad.

Was the board’s decision the correct one, or was it too harsh?

Hat tip to Deadspin.

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