e-News #5

Greetings everyone,

For this issue Tony Leonardo has provided a write-up on the greatest beach tournament on the planet, Paganello, while Derek Gottlieb provided a talk about the College season and the upcoming College Championships. You'll also find a look at our new photo discs, and you'll see the new posters we have available.

13th Annual Paganello 2003 - Rimini, Italy
The penultimate beach tournament with 96 teams from 20+ countries competing over four days of play and party. Timed games and 5 on 5 means fast-paced and exciting.

Weather variable, changing between cold and drizzling, sunny and warm, and terrifically windy. In the 48-team men's division, Houston's No Tsu Oh with Mike Grant defended their title with a victory over London's UTI with Alex Nord, 14-8. Semifinalists were San Francisco's easily offended beach pros Pele Mana and England's Catch22 behind Si Hill.

London's Bliss easily took the women's division with a 14-8 win over defending champions Coastal Tendencies from Southern California, Denmark, France and North Carolina. Semifinalists were first-time German-Aussie combo Wodda Lodda Hooda and Helsinki/Espoo's Maitotytot (Milke Maidens).

Mixed division went to last year's bridesmaids Horned Melons from Philadelphia, led by captain Big Ethan Schlenker. They defeated Tucson's Lick My Love Pump, a surprise contender rising to attention from the 13th
seed. Defending champions Poughkeepsie from London fell to 4th behind San Fran's Huck Finn.

The parties were mostly discotheque based, as the outdoor Sunday night street fest was moved indoors due to rain.

Notes:
-- tournament competition steadily increases, matching the price of a beer at the clubs. Much drinking, as usual, and the seafood salad at the tournament is
still among the best in Italy.
-- sponsors included Citroen, Xbox, and Coca Cola.
--Again held over Easter Weekend when the Adriatic beach town is packed with Italians getting away from the cities for a break.

— Tony Leonardo

The Real College Nationals Preview
The Open division is full of great storylines, from N.C. State's improbable top seeding to Carleton and Colorado set to square off in pool play yet again. A number of hungry teams are making their first Nationals appearance in several years and looking to unseat some of the old standbys. And with the defending national champions absent, the field is wide open.
The lowest seed that can conceivably win the whole thing is Colorado. Seeded eleventh despite battling their way to a notoriously tough region's only bid, this team feels very little weight on their shoulders. With a genuine but vastly under-appreciated superstar in Richter, a host of great throwers and at long last, the proven ability to win when it counts, Mamabird will beat teams that look past them.
The highest seed that doesn't have a prayer to win is Texas. Despite great coaching, and despite fielding a better, more athletic team than the South has produced in years, Texas has been consistently mediocre all season, never evincing the dominance it will take to beat any one of the top four seeds at Nationals.
The favorite, as if this were news, is Oregon. N.C. State hasn't had the competition it needs to instill the fear that a one-seed should. State beat Brown and Oregon two months ago, and since then has faced real competition only at Regionals. Oregon, meanwhile, fought through superlative competition to take the Northwest's only bid to Nationals. The Ducks have more experience winning big games than anyone they will face in Austin; they have a regimented offense to go with their trademark play-making ability; and they have a supreme confidence in themselves.
Look out for the Central region teams. Before Carleton upset Wisconsin in the regional final, Wisconsin was widely considered second only to Stanford. As three- and four-seeds, respectively, Carleton and Wisconsin could very well meet on Sunday for the national title.

On the women's side, the story is Stanford: Which Superfly team will show up, the one who lost in the regional finals or the one who didn't drop a single game prior to that? The smart money is on the latter. Stanford has been so dominant all season long - except for the one recent blemish - that to bet against them is a profoundly foolish thing to do. They lost in the title game last year, and they have come back even stronger this year with a single-minded focus on the championship. They will win this tournament. But then again, they are 0-1 in their most recent game.
Should Stanford blink, however, there are a few other teams with both the skills and the depth to go the distance. Berkeley has already proven that it can win long, arduous tournaments, and that it can take down Stanford. San Diego, the defending champions, aren't going to roll over either. They know what it's like to win and have enough talent, if less so than last year, to make it two in a row.
Beyond the top three, parity is the order of the day. Wisconsin, the twelve-seed, could earn the bye on Saturday morning or just as easily lose every game on Friday. Look for Georgia to make semis, and for Brown to fall short of expectations.

— Derek Gottlieb

New Photo Print
Not only do we have a new photo print, but for no apparent reason all photo print posters are on sale, 20% off, until June 2.

The new photo print we have available:

"D-Block" photo print.

To order these or other products go to www.chasingplastic.com/merchandise.htm