June 21, 2023
By Matt Rezin
“Player Chatter” is a new series consisting entirely of player quotes, thoughts, and feelings from around the league. All current AUDL players were sent a handful of prompts earlier this week designed to be as open-ended as possible. Additionally, players were asked to vote in a single-question, multiple choice survey.
Week 9 Survey Results
Who's winning the Week 9 Game of the Week, the Minnesota Wind Chill or Colorado Summit?
Minnesota Wind Chill: 32.4 percent of votes
Colorado Summit: 67.6 percent of votes
Week 8 Reactions
“Zions Bank Stadium: No artificial crowd noise necessary. Marv Kay Stadium: *shrug emoji*” Kyle Weinberg, Salt Lake Shred
“Salt Lake vs. Colorado had all the elements you want in a pro game, so good.” Kyle Henke, Austin Sol
“Has Madison wished us a happy Father’s Day yet?” Josh Klane, Minnesota Wind Chill
“Dan Mooney of the Toronto Rush broadcast is electric. He deserved a "Signed" social media post as much as any of the players that moved from Ottawa (RIP) to Toronto this season. Get him on a Game of the Week call.” Max Charles, Philadelphia Phoenix
“Griffin McKee with a huge game for the Rush this weekend!” Jeremy HIll, Toronto Rush
“Atlanta’s game strategy applies pressure at every level. They have seven guys to guard every position, can put two 6’5” guys on a sideline trap, have center fielders to defend two guys at all times. Props to Tuba and the coaching staff there!” Kevin Richardson, Dallas Legion
“Oakland is legit. Even without Mac [Hecht] and [Chris] Lung they showed up and balled out.” Anonymous AUDL Player (verified)
“Atlanta, your music is too loud if your refs can’t hear timeout calls or communicate during points. It’s probably louder on the visitor side and gives them a good home field advantage.” Kevin Richardson, Dallas Legion
Everyone Wants Detroit To Beat Someone Else
“Let’s set the stage: Detroit down two with 2:00 minutes left on the clock ready to receive a pull. AUDL.TV numbers through the roof as they are pushing to break the streak. They receive the pull and must be ready to score quick right? WRONG. They proceed to take one minute and 59 seconds to score, leaving one second on the clock for the Alleycats, who hold the disc on the next point to win by 1. You just can't make this stuff up.” Anonymous AUDL Player (verified)
“Nothing was more exciting than seeing Detroit almost win one. 'Beat The Streak!!!'” Antoine Davis, New York Empire
“I think the league as a whole is rooting for Detroit, except for the teams that almost lose to them. Some day!” Sean McDougall, Los Angeles Aviators
“Everyone wants Detroit to break the streak except for the seven guys on the field who swung the disc back and forth for two minutes down by two at the end of the game.” Jacob Blackman, Atlanta Hustle
“Dmx played the best ultimate they have all year. They looked great.” Xavier Payne, Indianapolis AlleyCats
“Detroit is definitely winning a game this year. After our game against them last month my roommate immediately said to me, ‘These guys are getting one this year.’ Honestly the way they’re playing it could be more than one when it’s said and done.” Anonymous AUDL Player (verified)
“Detroit might be better than Dallas. I think we need a game at Championship weekend to decide. Maybe throw in Montreal and Portland tournament style.” CJ Colicchio, Philadelphia Phoenix
Midseason Awards Snubs
"It is hilariously sad to see NO mention of community engagement in the mid season awards so I'll just talk my piece. CO Summit has some of the best attendance, game day experience, sponsors, FANS and community engagement in the league. We once again boast that 95 percent or more of our players engaged with the community this year. That includes our coaching staff and executive leadership.” Joe Anderson, Colorado Summit (2022 community engagement MVP)
“Most underrated player: Garrett Martin. Dude straight up transformed his game this year and single handedly willed Seattle's second win. Mad props.” Sean McDougall, Los Angeles Aviators
“Incredible that DC is so good, apparently without any good players, based on the awards.” Raymond Mendoza, Oakland Spiders
“McKay Yorgason is a serious candidate for ROTY. The kid's 21, fits right into the Shred offense and doesn't make mistakes.” Anonymous AUDL Player (verified)
“Brett HULKmeyer is the MVP so far, nobody can guard that guy and is one of 3 players with double digit goals, assists and blocks. I will hold him under 600 receiving yards this Saturday though.” Kevin Richardson, Dallas Legion
“Would love to see more opinions on Midseason Awards; AUDL media is too well aligned! If Justin Burnett keeps playing the way he is I hope to see some all-defense votes for him!” Matt Smith, Atlanta Hustle
Takeaways After Eight Weeks
“Takeaway from the first eight weeks is that for the most part the league feels tighter than ever.” Anonymous AUDL Player (verified)
“If you haven't taken away a disc or some other cool stuff at this point you should probably be more aggressive getting involved in the halftime competitions.” Raymond Mendoza, Oakland Spiders
“I have literally no idea what is going to happen in the Central. Gonna be chaos and I love it. Oakland, LA, Colorado all tied going into Week 9 is crazy, especially since Oakland and LA haven't played each other yet.” Anonymous AUDL Player (verified)
“Spiders looking strong in the West! Such a young team and so fun to watch... The West Division playoff race is going to be down to the wire.” Jeremy Hill, Toronto Rush
“The West playoff race is looking as fun as the Central. Glad I've been buying up Oakland stock all year!” Matt Smith, Atlanta Hustle
“Austin needs to pull their heads out and quit playing down to the competition or they are going to have a rude awakening in the South playoffs against Carolina or Atlanta.” Kevin Richardson, Dallas Legion
Player Shoutouts
“When I see a disc go up, and Asher Lantz is nearby, it is a guaranteed block. Dude is insane in the air.” Jerry Kelly, Chicago Union
“Best warm up teammate: Lukas Ambrose. Not only does he try to talk trash to me during pregame, he actually almost backs it up. Great prep for a real game.” Sean McDougall, Los Angeles Aviators
“Carson Chamberlain is having a sensational rookie season with Detroit and definitely needs to be talked about more. He’s putting in work on both sides of the ball. 15 goals so far this season.” Fletcher Hare, Indianapolis AlleyCats
“Reese Bowman vs. Kevin Richardson on a pickleball court is the matchup we all want to see.” Kevin Richardson, Dallas Legion
“Why don't people like Alex Atkins? Is it the pouting? Childish celebrations? Maybe they are jealous of how many swear words he knows?” Raymond Mendoza, Oakland Spiders
“Pawel got the story wrong. I told him he is exactly as good as I thought he was. Absolute trash. I then proceeded to destroy him in a meaningless winter league game under an LA monsoon. ~sarcasm~” Sean ‘still not a top 25 player’ McDougall, Los Angeles Aviators
On To Week 9
“Week 9 Parlay: Breeze, Union, Alleycats, Hustle, Union, Aviators, Breeze, Hustle, Summit, Rush” Anonymous AUDL Player (verified)
“Atlanta vs. Carolina is going to be exciting to watch. Carolina has the total package to compete with Atlanta’s talent but Atlanta at full strength will be too tall, too fast and coached better to win the South.” Kevin Richardson, Dallas Legion
“Minnesota couldn't have picked a tougher time to go play Colorado. After three straight losses for the Summit, you know they're gonna come out fired up.” Anonymous AUDL Player (verified)
“Minnesota gets walloped by Colorado.” Kyle Henke, Austin Sol
“Colorado about to go 0-2 and somehow rise in the power rankings.” Jacob Blackman, Atlanta Hustle
“Abe Coffin, Connor Olson, Matt Jackson, Kai Marshall, Jay Froude all finish over plus-three in the Game of the Week, reminding everyone that Dallas used to be pretty good with these guys on the starting O-line.” Kevin Richardson, Dallas Legion
“I hope Minnesota doesn't send their A team, because whoever they send may never recover from the beatdown they are about to receive.” Raymond Mendoza, Oakland Spiders
