The clouds rolled in, darkening the sky, my soul, and my cubicle. The first game of the season was scheduled to begin in less than two hours, and yet I was looking into the face of an early summer thunderstorm.

I checked the web site for the league, and they claimed that the storm should pass through before games would begin. I was not so optimistic, particularly when the rains began to fall and dance down the nearby windowpane.

I left work and went home to change. My housemate assumed the game was canceled. Nay, I told him, we play on. He said he felt bad because he had talked himself out of working out because he didn't want to drive in the rain. I told him I was figuring it would get canceled, but since this was our first game I could at least meet the rest of my team and get my t-shirt. I changed into my gear, including my cleats. I typically put them on at the field, but I assumed the ground would be wet and didn't feel like sitting in the cold wet grass. Laying out into it is one thing, getting soaked through because you lack foresight is another. You can catch a cold doing something stupid like that.

I drove to the fields and parked. The college we play at is kind of a pain. This year they're making us park a half mile from the fields, and I'm not entirely sure why. It's not like it will stop us from playing, we're Ultimate players for crying out loud. We live to walk a half-mile after doing wind sprints for an hour or two.

On the walk over I talked with a random guy who was going over at the same time. I forget his name, but he was a regular and said he was on the board of the league. Seemed like a nice enough guy. As we neared the field we came across one of the other people running the show; he had his car parked on the side of the road and was giving bags of t-shirts to passing players, presumably so he wouldn't have to haul them over himself in the rain. Alas, both of our team shirts had already been taken. Not long after being told this information, a small group came up behind us. A couple of them were from my team, including our captain. She seemed pretty cool and friendly, so that was a good start.

We wandered over to the field and crashed under a small tent. Eventually our shirts wandered over and, likewise, the clouds dried up while the sun poked its head out for a glimpse. People started to toss and stretch. It was good to be out throwing again.

We played a pretty good game, but not without fault. We had too many turnovers, which never help. Still it was a pretty solid match up. I had one nice play on offense for a point, and got burnt once for a point (I slipped on the play, I swear). Definitely room for improvement. I'm looking forward to our next game in two days.