Spoiler Alert!

By Ryan Thompson
Posted: August 28, 2008

Revolver's 2007 season ended abruptly. In Stevinson, a blast of the cap horn sent Rhino to Sarasota and Revolver back to the Bay Area with nothing to show for a year where they had hoped to build on their 5th place finish in 2006. But having failed to equal that feat in 2007, Revolver has maintained their team spirit and chemistry, while adding several potential game-changers to their roster for 2008. With only three bids to Nationals from the stacked Northwest Region, this is the year for Revolver to show that they have what it takes to be counted among the nation's elite teams.

To those outside of the region, it may have seemed like Revolver came out of nowhere to take the third bid to Nationals in their first season. Revolver was born in 2006, the year when Jam dissolved into Justice League and Kaos (Santa Cruz) had finally run its course. Essentially, every elite player in the Bay Area had become a free agent, and there were two burgeoning elite teams ready to make an assault on the Northwest Region. Revolver was started by Kaos captain Nick Handler, who recruited two former Kaos players, Chris McManus and Marc Weinberger, to help him run the new team. "My approach was to bring together different groups of players who were familiar with each other and who had played together before. I also wanted to balance older, experienced players with young talent out of our strong local college programs. I felt that this was the best approach to building a team on a foundation of trust, hard work, selfless play and having fun," Handler says. The new team was younger, and it had an increased focus on both winning and player improvement.

When the dust cleared, Justice League looked a lot like Jam, and Revolver looked a lot like Kaos. But both teams had the feeling of new beginnings and a fresh start, and the tryout process had allowed both teams to cut old stalwarts and pick up new players who could take them forward. For Revolver, everything looked bright, and Handler pinpoints Colorado Cup in 2006 as a tournament where the players realized, "We had something special - a group of hard-working, unselfish players who were excited to improve, make their teammates better, and play whatever role it took to help the team win." Revolver went 6-1 in pool play and came second to Johnny Bravo overall. Justice League took a different approach, and with good but not great results at the Emerald City Classic and Labor Day, despite bagging a universe-point win over Revolver. The rest is history - Justice League won Sectionals, but at Regionals Revolver beat Justice League and Rhino in the 2nd place bracket before losing to Sockeye to take the 3rd bid to Nationals. In the game to go, Rhino beat Justice League for the final bid to Nationals, ending their season and prompting a return to the Jam name.

It was a similar story in 2007, although roles were reversed. After coming second at Colorado Cup, Jam finished second at Sectionals but managed to win Regionals over Furious George, while Revolver, coming in as the second seed, crashed out to Rhino on hard cap in the game to go. New-look Jam looked a lot like old Jam, with the return of Damien Scott, and the addition of ex-Condors Greg Husak, Brandon Steets, and Mike Namkung brought some spark and fire to the team, although a semifinals exit was disappointing and familiar.

But 2008 promises to be another exciting season in the Northwest. With Furious and Rhino tanking at Nationals and failing to bring back the second strength bid, the second-smallest region will be extremely competitive yet again, as Sockeye, Furious, Jam, and Revolver battle for only three spots to Nationals, with Rhino, Thompson High, YR, Santa Cruz, Invictus, and Voodoo looking to play spoiler. Furious and Sockeye are both losing important players from their gold and silver medal-winning teams, respectively, and it remains to be seen whether or not they can replicate their 2006 form. The stage is set for Revolver to establish themselves as a premier team, and this may be the team that will make it to the semis in Sarasota.

This new-look Revolver team adds Mischief star Tyler Grant to the offense, with the defense bolstered by Martin Cochran of Colorado Mamabird and Seth Wiggins of Sockeye. Also new to Revolver are veteran club players James Herbert, Alex "Dutchy" Ghesquire, Josh Greenough, David "Fetch" Janinis, and fiddle-playing Chuck Kindred. They're joined by some relative newcomers, such as Carleton's Adam Fagin, Cal's Joel Schlachet, and UCSC's Conor Ranahan. Former captain Handler picks out Schlachet as making an immediate impact. "He has surpassed all expectations and become an indispensable cutter on the O line. He is one of the youngest players on the team and has an incredibly bright future." Current captain Mike Payne says, "The last few years we worked really well together as a team. We were able to beat our own and others expectations with perhaps less talent. Now we are one of most athletic teams in country, and our new players bring the skills and the mindset we need."

Revolver's O line will feature several players who are dominant receivers and great throwers. Robbie Cahill and Eric Halverson hope to find 6'1" Tyler Grant and 5'8" Josh Wiseman in the endzone, but the entire team is comfortable cutting downfield or coming back behind the disc. Revolver's D line features the most improvement, as they finally add some height to their roster. Martin Cochran, Seth Wiggins, Mark Sherwood, and Jon Levy are all excellent defenders who can play smart team defense against other teams' dominant cutters. Named by Handler as a spark plug on the D line, Payne agrees that Jit Bhattacharyya will be an important member of the D team as a handler defender and handler on the turn. Cal coach Ryo Kawaoka and Stanford player Tom James are also defensive standouts who can jump-start the offense after a turnover.

At the elite level, consistency and mental fortitude are equally as precious as athleticism and individual skills. Payne, a former captain of Jam, states the team goals are simply improving over the course of the season and doing better than last year, without the pressure of winning any specific tournaments hanging over their heads. But doing better than 2007 means qualifying for Nationals, where Payne admits that he believes the team can compete. "Making Nationals will be tough, but my goal is to make at least quarters, if not semis."

The overwhelming impression from Revolver players is that they are extremely happy with their team. No Bay Area team has won Nationals since Tsunami in 1988, but Revolver players will not even entertain thoughts of merging with Jam. With Death or Glory and Twisted Metal combining to form Boston Ultimate in 2007, many followers of elite club ultimate across the country wondered what a Bay Area "superteam" would look like. But there is no first team and second team dynamic, unlike in Boston and other areas, and Payne describes their attitude as competitive. When asked his thoughts about a potential merger, Handler responded, "While it's possible that we will pick up a few Jam guys in the coming years (depending on what happens with their team), I think that the Revolver squad is too happy with our team culture to disturb it with a merger and roster shake-up." Payne agrees. "Revolver was founded on a team concept that is very different from Jam's approach when I was a captain. Everyone on Revolver agrees with it. We believe in Revolver's mentality."

Many Revolver and Jam players are friends off the field, and some are even roommates. The geographic differences attributed to the two teams are exaggerated, as both teams draw players from all over the Bay Area, and they're not separated by subsection of the Bay Area or which local college players went to. But the general feeling on Revolver is that in the near future, Revolver will be considered the premier Bay Area team. Payne points out that the median age of Revolver is around 25 or 26, while Jam's is closer to 29 or 30. "When you look at the Jam roster, it's very similar to the 2004 [UPA Club Championship] finals team," he adds. He also has the final word on a merger. "We tried that before - it was called Jam. And it didn't work."

Below Jam and Revolver are the other open club teams in the Bay Area. So far this season, the section has only seen four other teams with reported results. YR has been the third Bay Area team for the past two years, and they look set to continue this year. They too have strengthened, but it's not enough to reach the levels of Jam or Revolver. More likely is that they will be overtaken by a new club team from Santa Cruz, composed of players cut from the top teams and students at UCSC and Stanford. Payne takes pride in the fact that most players tried out for Revolver over Jam, attributing it to an age and familiarity affinity. But he doesn't want to see the teams remain on a second tier - "I hope they raise their level and challenge Revolver more and more, competitively rather than as a second team, so that we all get better together."

YR (short for Yeah Right) does not see themselves as second tier or a feeder team for the big boys. Handler acknowledges that. "I respect that YR is building a program with a long-term vision. They have a lot of solid players, yet none of them have left YR to try out for either Revolver or Jam. They recognize the value of sticking together as a unit and I think that it will pay off for them down the line." YR runs their own distinct handler-motion offense, and they have a set of team goals and strategies aimed at moving as far up the ladder as their potential will take them. As Jam continues to age, a merger with the much younger YR team seems more and more likely than any Revolver merger.

But it's not all rosy in the Northern California Section. For an area home to such a high concentration of ultimate talent, with recent National champions in the Womens and Mixed divisions, the low number of Open club teams is shocking. College sectionals, in a smaller section, draws 14 teams. In the last four years, the Northern California Section has had 8, 10, 8, and 11 teams. The lack of numbers is similar throughout the Northwest Region, which only had 26 Open teams participate in the club series, compared to 45 teams in the college series. By contrast, the Founders Section (New Jersey and Pennsylvania) has 30 club teams compete each year, which is a staggering difference.

Payne attributes the lack of teams to two factors. "Mixed has grown and drawn from the Open division, and two to four teams have been monopolizing the bids to Nationals, which means that the incentives to form second tier mens teams have reduced." Without the attraction of a possible bid to Nationals, many players in the Bay Area have turned to Mixed, in both the Open and Womens divisions. A once-robust section with 20 teams at sectionals will struggle to field eight teams this year. By contrast, Mixed sectionals will likely feature 16 teams again, and Mixed Northwest Regionals will not struggle to field 16 teams, like the Open division did last year.

Despite the lack of depth in the region, no-one is denying that the region has talent. With only three bids from the Northwest and at least four teams capable of making the quarters or semis at Nationals, critics of the UPA's bid allocation system have pointed to the Northwest Region as a prime example of a flawed system. Handler agrees somewhat, and said, "I do think that there are 4 teams in the NW that could finish within the top 8 at Nationals. There is not question that Furious, Sockeye, Jam and Revolver could all go deep into Nationals." But he did not go so far as to criticize the bid allocation system. Payne, who doubles as the president of the UPA Board of Directors, dismissed claims that the Northwest deserved another bid or two. "Not this year we don't," he responded. "Almost any system used to allocate bids will have plusses and minuses. Rhino earned the fourth bid and did very poorly, so no; I don't think the Northwest deserves more bids than it has this year. It will primarily be Revolver, Jam, Furious and Sockeye fighting for three bids."

With Sockeye and Furious reeling from an exhausting World Championships, Revolver will be looking to make their statement this weekend at Labor Day. They have a challenging pool, which includes the team that came out of nowhere in 2006 to knock them out in the quarters, Chain Lightning. There are also testing matchups against GOAT and Ring of Fire, two huck-happy and extremely athletic east coast teams that will put Revolver's new, taller D team to the test. Another test will come Sunday, when they are pitted against Johnny Bravo in a crossover that will likely determine whether they make it to the championship bracket. A 5-1 record will put them right on track for another bid to Nationals, although what will be more telling is how they compare on the weekend to the other four Northwest Region teams in attendance - Sockeye, Furious George, Jam, and Rhino. For Revolver, there has never been a better year to upset the stranglehold that Sockeye, Furious, and Jam have had on the region. What that remains to be seen is whether their system and teamwork, combined with their new talent, can propel them to newfound heights.

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