Emergency Breakside Part 2
Someone please tell me if I'm being unreasonable at this point
Hello everyone, and welcome to the second annual time-sensitive D1 nationals post on this page. Unfortunately, this one is not quite as “fun” as the last one. But hey, there’s still plenty of nationals to go for another pee-related scandal to rock the ultimate world.
As I write this, we are experiencing a widely anticipated1 rain delay as the first round of the DI 2024 College National Championships kicks off. USA Ultimate and Ultiworld have done an excellent job communicating that, and more information will be released as the timeline for resuming play becomes clearer.
However, for some reason, the same level of attention and care was not afforded to the finals of last week’s DIII National Championships. The women’s final was moved up twice2 in the game's lead-up to avoid a lightning delay. The delay hit, and then no information was communicated for roughly 70 minutes. I know because I counted how long it took. This was the last game of the weekend. The only two teams playing in the entire complex were Portland and Carleton, and they were playing for the title.
I’ve been trying to write from a more positive headspace in the past month or two, and I genuinely hope that has shone through in my writing. And I know that will continue after I get this out of my system. But in the meantime, I really do need to state plainly that this is just another part of a deeply frustrating pattern of behavior when it comes to the DIII division and promoting the game of ultimate as a whole.
Communicating a weather delay immediately and accurately during a college final is a bare minimum expectation from both the governing body and the monopoly providing coverage. It is not unreasonable as a fan of the game, teams, and the division to expect that. The fact that Portland’s coach had to break the news each time the delay got extended and the response from our protagonists was to simply retweet is additionally disrespectful, as they outsourced their work and duty to communicate and report on the state of the tournament to someone coaching the national championship game.
USA Ultimate has a duty to grow the game of ultimate as its governing body in the United States. Beyond just praying to make it into the Olympics by the way. And asking them to give a damn about a college final tells a depressing story about the state of our sport. While I have plenty of feelings about how they and Ultiworld allocate resources to the division, I do intellectually understand why they are allocated the way they are. And despite Ultiworld having a smaller presence at the tournament, the fact that during a weather delay, you don’t assign one person to go get info from USAU is actually mindboggling to me.
USAU and Ultiworld can sell this current model of streaming nationals effectively primarily because we have no other great options if we cannot make it to the tournament. This is sold to friends and family looking to follow along as their loved ones achieve the goals they have spent years working towards. Based on their behavior regarding how much effort and energy they put into covering DIII as a division, it certainly seems like the people in charge of both organizations have lost sight of the fact that they are stewards for a largely amateur, small sports community. And their duty, or their product, is based on respect for the community that funds them, not just the sides of the sport they deem most worthy.
If someone involved in the decision-making at either organization feels like I’m being unfair, I want you to tell me. I really do, because while it may streamline my creative process, I don’t enjoy writing mad. However, the fact remains that USAU and Ultiworld have demonstrated today that there is a vast chasm between the amount of effort and care they’re willing to put into events that they view as “top tier” and those that fall outside that category to them.
Event planning 101 is to at least give a shit. Especially as a nonprofit. As a media company, you should work hard no matter what assignment you get. That part is journalism 101. I didn’t go nearly six figures into student loan debt studying journalism to miss the part of class where they said showing the community I’m covering that I care about them and value them is important.
Long live the people’s div. Enjoy the rest of your weather delay.
About The Breakside
If you enjoyed my writing, please consider leaving a like or comment, subscribing, or sharing it with a friend.
This newsletter aims to tackle the gap in present coverage of ultimate as a sport. Commentary, analysis, and community are some of the guiding ideals behind the Breakside.
About the Author
My name is Noam Gumerman (he/him). I am from Chapel Hill, NC, and studied Journalism and American Studies at Brandeis University. I am a journalist by trade and have been playing ultimate for over half my life. I love nothing more than combining those two interests. Contact me for discussions, feedback, story suggestions, and more on Twitter (@noamgum) or email (noamgumerman@gmail.com).
Games were moved up 30 minutes this morning to try to make it through the round before the storm hit