Sin The Fields

Fall is in the air as club Sectionals makes its triumphant return to the calendar. Pat and Tad appreciate a retro, "everyone has to do it," Sectionals and look back at their first ever Sectionals experiences. Important questions get asked: is club Sectionals the purest version of the sport? What is an appropriate amount to freak out about losing on a bad call? And who holds the moral high ground i...

Pat and Tad peel back the onion on one of ultimate's little known "what ifs," the time in 2012 when the elite tier of the men's club division almost left USAU for a NexGen league. How did it happen, what shady cabal was deciding the sport's future, and what impacts did accidentally unionizing elite club teams have on the club division today? Those tears you hear aren't from the onion, they are tea...

Pat reports back from a whirlwind Wildwood/Ow My Knee tournament doubleheader that featured triumph, failure, dubious marriage planning, and ultimately the way of nature asserting its dominance. The guys also discuss how to settle jersey number disputes, the U.S. Open's scheduling elitism, and which single drink has the greatest potential to heal this broken world.

Pat and Tad return to where it all started with their annual Wildwood episode. As they gear up for a weekend that no one's body is in any way ready for, they break down some important questions: is warming up for a beach tournament lame? What is the drink of the Wildwood going to be this year? And most importantly, what is the best team name? An exciting new sponsor joins the team this week, the g...

STF is back, as Pat and Tad examine the rumors swirling around a fight during a Roughnecks-Cascades game and discuss ultimate's history of pretending that fights don't happen. They also talk about the ideal weeknight to play summer league, an out-there idea to make disc golf more like ultimate, and give a salute to everyone both playing and being forced to miss Masters Nationals.

It’s a wild time right now, with league starting up, club tryouts coming to a head, pickup going full steam, and mostly all of it being played by people whose bodies aren’t quite ready. As ultimate comes back to a wider community that might not be as ready to play as they think, Pat and Tad try to reconcile the joy of playing with the oncoming injury crisis.

After a week off, STF is back with hard hitting updates on the Pittsburgh Summer League Draft, the thirsty jokers of Co Cup, and how to perfect the ideal cut off T. It’s all a prelude to the main event - breaking down the ultimate player’s scheduling nightmare: Tournaments v Weddings.

Pat and Tad are getting ready to re-enter the world of pickup as the rest of ultimate comes back to life. They have a few questions, comments, and concerns for everyone getting back out onto the field, mostly involving dudes from New Jersey making up for lost time when it comes to big timing people. All that, plus some talk about whether the AUDL matters, what going back to bars is like, and the c...

STF welcomes back to the program Dr. David Geier to answer all of your burning questions about return to play injury prevention, sketchy supplements, and the medical virtue of tequila on rocks. If you're frantically formulating a plan to get back in playing shape for this summer, this is the show for you. The guys also talk about how to boost your section's size bid numbers, what the ideal alumni...

STF welcomes podcasting guru and PoNY partisan Jody Avirgan back to the program to unveil a new segment: This Day In Esoteric Ultimate History. On the 5th anniversary of MLU commissioner Jeff Snader tweeting a picture of his shoes at the airport, the crew dives into how these pictures explain the rise and fall of the MLU, and what we can learn about the history and future of semi-pro ultimate as a...

As the return of ultimate appears imminent, STF turns toward summer league. To get an edge, they welcome former NFL player and current Pittsburgh sports media guru Dorin Dickerson to the program, and pitch him on baggage-ing with Tad this summer. His answer was genuinely surprising. Dorin talks about his experience as a pro athlete, predicts how some top ultimate players might measure up with NFL...

USAU has a plan for the club season: Make it 2009 again by science or magic. Join STF as they go back to a pre-Triple Crown Tour era. No rankings, no requirements, no spirit! Is this truly the way god intended the sport to be played? And with Masters Nationals now bid-only, what lengths is Tad willing to go to in order to lock up a bid? STF also welcomes Felix Shardlow to the program, giving the E...

After receiving a mountain of responses, Pat and Tad sift through the worst ever tournament experiences from listeners and give their own personal bottom three. If you're nostalgic for ultimate despite horrible weather, incompetent TDs, and weird disqualification scandals, this is the show for you. The guys also welcome Leah Tsinajinnie onto the program to discuss her meteoric rise from notable ul...

On the week that would have seen Pat and Tad convalescing after Nocturnal Decisions instead sees the STF guys get into the hottest not-so-new thing in ultimate: The Hex Offense. Is it the way of the future or just some trumped up European hipster bullshit? Pat and Tad look to both sides of the Atlantic for answers, and weigh in themselves. All that plus deciding the stakes of the ten year bet, int...

It’s an intercontinental pod crossover spectacular as STF welcomes Ravi and Liam from Eurozone to the program. They discuss the differences between European and American party tournaments, and give recommendations for tournaments that post-COVID American ultimate players should check out. All that, plus a very special Eurocentric T/T/F.

It's an all Metro East show this week as Pat and Tad peel back the layers on one of the defining questions of their lives: Is there a method to the madness of the Metro East? To get to the bottom of this, they bring in two heavy hitter guests from the annals of Metro East lore: coach Bryan Jones and the Metro East's lone Callahan winner Lindsey Goldsmith-Markey. There may be no bottom to the Metro...

Isaac Saul -- PoNY Captain, Pitt alum, notable heckler -- bet Frank Huguenard $15,000 in gold that Joe Biden will get inaugurated. He comes on STF to fill Pat and Tad in on all the details of this somehow real wager (and a possibly weirder almost bet that nearly went down). Check out Isaac's daily politics newsletter Tangle News. You can follow him at Twitter @Ike_Saul.

Pat and Tad are snowed in at the STF Subscribers Only Lounge over the holidays. Luckily, several friends are on the way to save their lives, and more importantly, the life of the STF Holiday Party. Ingredients for Katie's cocktails - Rum - Peppermint tea bag - Lime juice - Simple syrup (equal parts sugar & water, boiled until sugar is dissolved) - Amaretto - Flavored creamer (like for coffee), fla...

Following USAU's big announcement, Pat and Tad take a break from staring into the void of Christmas this year to look forward to some actual ultimate that might be played at some point, specifically college ultimate that might be played by 25 year old adults in their seventh year of eligibility. They also discuss the distressing state of online ultimate culture and react to the breaking vaccine ne...

It’s like the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Special, but for the worst Thanksgiving ever. Pat and Tad go over the Thanksgiving dinner table topics you would have to awkwardly navigate if there wasn’t a pandemic, try to replace Turkey Bowl pickup, and feature some special guest stars who are also going through it. The perfect accompaniment for eating your frozen TV dinner alone on Thursday!

The election is over and STF has the scoop live from the ground in Pennsylvania and Georgia. Tad gives his professional opinion on every angle of the Four Seasons Landscaping debacle, before Preston Thompson - Georgia political organizer and member of the Ultiworld family - comes on the program to bask in Georgia's blue state status and send a message out to the haters. All that plus an update on...

Pat and Tad give a quick update on the 2020 Presidential election.

There's no Nationals this weekend, but at least we have this new skills challenge which is just as good! Right! Right? Pat and Tad put their own spin on a skills contest, before bringing Frank Sarbones back on the show to talk about what Club Nationals was like in 1994. All of that plus beer elitism, the frisbee to frat pipeline, and some Staten Island Ferry talk. Just feel that briny air!

We’ve all had them. Ghosts from our old dreams, unicorns roaming the grassy fields of what could have been, avatars of different lives we could have lived. This week Pat and Tad look back at the ones that got away - the best ultimate players from their past who didn't stick with this dumb sport. It's a weird one. All that plus STF tackles the tricky subject of dying at the fields, spends too much...

The summer of 2020 is finally over. Fall may not be much better, but at least we made it. With autumn in the air, the STF guys look at the magic of fall college tournaments and all of the important lessons one can learn from unsanctioned play. Fall isn't just tournament parties and going X/Y, it's also when Canadian teams come down over the border and pillage bids at Sectionals and Regionals. Seri...