XL Atlantic City Open and a win in the Millennium
mpa Bay Damage nearly died in England from a rare
real...
Tampa Bay Damage. A team that has not
won in many seasons but has new hunger,
motivation and is building momentum
towards a win this season. Playing angry,
fighting through more penalties than the
next few teams combined, we decimated
the completion to get to the finals and only
lost by one point to a very honed Russian
Legion. The whole event was a trip and
quite a high.
Immediately following this event, I flew
home to Tampa, hoped in my car, and drove
five hours south to Miami airport. Along the
way I stopped to grab cleats at London’s
and played with his big dog Cali. We played
the ultimate prank, taking several pictures
hanging out on the couch and I’d send these
periodically on the road to Miami as if I was
still there. My flight was coming up so this
stressed Tuna and the team out to no end,
cursing me out to get on the road and not
miss my flight. Tensions were already high as
our friend Ben Challenger missed his flight,
Elias had an injured foot, Jamie had health
issues, and Zap hurt his shoulder. I was one
of only two front players so if I missed my
flight they would have been in a tough spot.
Of course I got stuck in accident traffic and
almost missed my flight, arriving with a half
hour before departure. I pulled the “Olympic
team” move and was rushed to my gate. I
finally flew out to London, England for the
3rd leg of the Millennium series. It’s been
a while since I’ve been out of the country
and I needed a vacation from America
and a cultural experience. I hoped on the
Tortugas in D2 as my rank doesn’t matter,
and prepared to play m500 with a bunch
of really good friends from last year’s semi
pro team. Kyle Barry, London Lewis, Papi
Elias, Tuna, Mike Zap as coach and my two
British friends J-Birdy and Kelsey were the
crew. It was an absolute blast. The people
were great, the food and sightseeing was
amazing, the format was fun as a front player
and this was set to be a great trip.
I landed after a full day of planes and airports,
expecting rest and was picked up for a 10
hour day of walking around downtown
London, doing the tourist thing and seeing
every landmark. Pubs and fish chippies were
numerous and my exhaustion was flipped
by the energy of my friends. The next day
we went for a nice nature walk in a scenic,
brushy, valley area of Gatwick where I