Posted to rec.sport.disc on November 18, 1994:

Some miscellaneous comments about Nationals:

The fields were prime---flat, well-maintained polo fields at the Horse Park outside Lexington, KY. The grass was brownish rather than green (or blue ;), but the fields felt as nice as you can possibly imagine.

Masters play was separated somewhat (well, by a couple of hundred yards) from the other fields, but women's and men's games were dispersed evenly across the fields---I don't know why that isn't done at all tourneys.

The tournament ran extremely smoothly, thanks to the advance work done by T.D. Rick "sluggo" Rydz, the UPA staff, and a slew of volunteers from Black Lung Ultimate (the host team) and from around the country.

I heard only two complaints about the tournament itself during the whole week: one player complained that one of the fields was 36 yards wide instead of 40 yards (he was wrong), and there wasn't enough water for some of the Masters fields for the first game (quickly remedied).

Question for the masses: why weren't there more female volunteers? Other than a few women from the UPA hierarchy, and a smattering of women from Lexington, I did not see ANY women helping to run the tourney. (There may have been one or two, but a very small number compared to the pool of male volunteers.)

In a turn of events that brought a smile to my face, a bad-spirited team of dicks, Rhino Slam from Oregon (seeded second in their pool), went 0-fer in the tourney. Sometimes justice is served. Let's hear it for karma.

Ultimate paraphenalia was extremely popular. Luke "Grumpy" Morgan, who did a great job of organizing the concessions, was told by last year's Nationals staff that they sold 400 shirts by the end of Nationals last year. Thinking to do a little better this year, he ordered 450. They were gone within 4 hours on Thursday, except for a few white shirts and sweatshirts that hung on for another day or so. Discs, hats, headbands, etc, all sold well. By the end, everything had sold out. Part of the popularity is due, no doubt, to the cool neo-representationalist design by Rick "Space" Gersony, and the other part to....I dunno, the recovering economy, maybe?

There were also free Ultimate photo calendars, courtesy of Discraft, with photos from Worlds. Big drawback: Only 2 of the 12 main photos feature women. What's going on here?

The party Saturday night was terrific, except for the wait to get in: the hotel staff went by the book in following room capacity guidelines, so there was a long wait for some people. The party had decent live music, a mosh pit...and also ping-pong, basketball, pool, and air hockey. The hotel security staff was uptight and edgy, but didn't hassle people except for the most obnoxious. One of them--the head of security--- was actually OK, trying to be flexible and keep his minions from being overzealous. Unfortunately, some asshole from Rhino (oh, sorry, redundant) pushed this guy into the swimming pool, ruining his walkie-talkie ($700) and his leather shoes, and earning the emnity of the Holiday Inn forever.

Most games that I watched were reasonably good-spirited, with few shouting matches or drawn-out arguments. There were exceptions, but most games were a pleasure to watch.

Congratulations to all competitors, and thanks to all volunteers!

--Phil Price