Last Year's Callahan Award

This year's winner: Greg Swanson.

Just Kidding, Greg wanted me to say that.

Now on to the meat and potatoes of this article. I wanted to share my experience with Ultimate's Heisman candidates and winners last year. This drunk guy at Nationals told me to interview the different candidates. So, I chased down some big names from every team and took pictures with them. Here is a picture of the award being given out last year in Columbus, Ohio.


1. Dan Heijman - Wisconsin - I saw Dan for the first time when we played Wisconsin at CCC two years ago (when it was in Athens, GA). Other players on my team said there were three people to look out for Heijman, Man Bear Pig, and Muffin. I was more interested in Man Bear Pig and Muffin because of their funny names and because they were larger than Heijman. Heijman ended up being the star of that game, leading his defensive offense to break Jojah's offense last year. For the record, Dan Heijman was athletic as balls.

On a personal note, I always thought Dan looked more like Popeye the Sailor Man rather than an ultimate frisbee player. Check out the difference between him and Popeye. Congratulations to Dan for last year's victory.

Above: Popeye
Below: Dan Heijman on the right

2. Dylan Tunnell - UGA - Dylan was two different people. Off the field, he was like a competitive older brother who wanted to always prove people differently with his athleticism. I really enjoyed testing Dylan's athleticism. For example, we told Dylan that he couldn't lay out on this dirt mound in Orlando. Also, we told him that it would he couldn't do a flip either. Here are some pictures of the results.

Pictures of Dylan doing weird things courtesy of Chad Borer.
Dylan Laying Out
Dylan doing a flip - This looks like a Calvin and Hobbes pose when they were falling off a cliff after going down a mountain on a wagon.

On the field, he was focused entirely on the game. Dylan has been playing ultimate since he was like 7. He was a poster child for Paideia, playing ultimate all four years, playing Chain, etc. Dylan could take control of every game he played in. I enjoyed playing with him.

3. Kurt Rook Gibson - UF - This year, I helped Gibson warm up his throws for our game against Florida in Orlando. While throwing with him, I realized that he was wearing gloves. It was a little bit cold, but I remember how much crap people gave me for wearing gloves to a cold tournament on the B Team. Also, I remember Travis Smith saying, "If you ever wear gloves, I will throw a disc at your face."

So, I said to Rook, "Hey man, do people make fun of you for wearing gloves?" He responded, "No why?" And I said, "Because if you did at Georgia, you would get made fun of."

I think Kurt Gibson is a nice guy. I didn't get a picture of him unfortunately.

4. Beaufort Kittredge - Colorado - Beaufort was like my dad who died in a war. Let me try to explain that statement. I never knew Beau personally, but everyone I knew told me crazy stories about him. All I had were the stories to try and figure out what this guy was like. One story was - Beau tried a year of being a magician in Ireland. After a year, he came back to Ultimate. I think someone told me Beau went out for the track team telling the coach, "I want to be on the track team. I will race your fastest person. After beating their fastest person in the 400 or 200 or 100 or something like that, the coach let him on." That story was fascinating. When I first saw the "Bo jumps over a guy" video, I was amazed once again.



Here's a picture with Beau and I. He was tall, goofy, and couldn't figure out how to react after I revealed that I was his long lost son.


5. Robbie Cahill - Stanford - Robbie looks like an older man. I'm tired of writing. Here's a picture of me a K Hill. I noticed his shoe needed tying. I honestly think I scared him. Oh well.


Also, I wanted to mention Jojah's favorite person at Nationals last year - Matt Lane. First of all, if you don't know Matt Lane, you can read about him and his work here:

http://www.mattlanephotos.com/

Matt Lane, one of the best photographers in the world, wears a yellow shirt with his name on the back. He travels to ultimate tournaments for those sweet action shots. Believe me, they are sweet. After chanting Matt Lane enough, he had someone take a picture of him with our entire team. Here is Matt Lane, making us happy:


Notice the shirtless kid. That's called "one beer too many".

To come, predictions for Callahan 2008, Nationals 2008, and AC Regionals 2008.