10TH ANNUAL TRUDGE - FRISBEE THANKSGIVING

posted Monday, 14 November 2005

So every year, for the past 10 years, a group of misfits gathers in troy, ny, to celebrate each other and give thanks for friendship & frisbee. The event was born in 1996, when 10 or 15 of gathered at the first "frisbee house", with laura k, spaeth, alicia and fritz (the rookies) dressed as little kids, while we all decked out for the "frisbee formal". Natale, in true turkey-day style, prepared a feast fit for kings... Steeto said Grace... and we ate, drank and made merry.

Each year, saw the addition of new players, new events and new traditions. Some favorites:


• the year that tate et al told maura, wong and i that we would again be formal... and then everyone else dressed as if headed to a halloween party
• old school vs new school frisbee game in 1997
• alumni vs the undergrads game in 1998 -
• round robin "hat" tourney
• turtle race & boat race added on Friday night
• skillz competition
• t-shirts: designs included "wife-beater" tank tops with super-spaeth, triple boob-sanda/vogel/steeto, old doods
• Tina Shield does a fantastic job filling the large shoes of Matt Natale in the kitchen

This year saw perhaps the largest crowd ever. Friday night was a "rubik's cube mixer", where everyone wore articles of clothing in red, yellow, orange, green, blue & white. During the party, everyone traded clothes, attempting to wind up all in one color. Our team for the hat tourney appeared stacked, with Jim, Rich, Vogel, Pete, Meg & myself... plus some undergrads...but we let brandon's team win, for fear that they would sulk all night. The alumni suited up (me in my fabulous 4 costume) for the alumni vs undergrads game. Historically, the alumni clobber the undergrads. At my last event (2003), we won 15-4. But over time, more and more of the sucky undergrads graduated, becoming alumni... and the day had come that the alumni team had collected critical mass of sucky young doods. The undergrads had finally put together a team with some skill... and it showed. I'm sure that someone has the final score, but I don't (selective memory). I am embarassed to say that the undergrads won the game this year.... perhaps I will see them at regionals this spring (good luck trudge!)

I will not dwell on the loss though... we headed home to shower and then over to the Sage dining hall for dinner. The event has grown so large (and Matt & Tina are no longer around to coordinate the kitchen activities), so the dinner is now catered. I must say, RPI did a nice job with the dinner, and it was nice that nobody had to cook/clean/etc.

Unbeknownst to me, Vogel/Tate/Natale organized a collection and trudge kicked in just over $1,000 for NJ Race for the Cure. Amazing generosity, from alumni & undergrads alike. I was extremely touched & thankful for this gesture. trudge is the best!