Ultimate Glory: Frisbee, Obsession, and My Wild Youth

by David Gessner

A story of obsession, glory, and the wild early days of Ultimate Frisbee.

Before he made a name for himself as an acclaimed essayist and nature writer, David Gessner devoted his twenties to a cultish sport called Ultimate Frisbee. Like his teammates and rivals, he trained for countless hours, sacrificing his body and potential career for a chance at fleeting glory without fortune or fame. His only to win Nationals and go down in Ultimate history as one of the greatest athletes no one has ever heard of.

Today Ultimate is played by millions of people around the world, with professional teams in more than two dozen cities. In the 1980s, it was an obscure sport with a (mostly) undeserved stoner reputation. Its early heroes, key players like Kenny Dobyns, Steve Mooney, Tom Kennedy, and David Barkan, were as scrappy as the sport they loved, driven by fierce competition, intense rivalries, epic parties, and the noble ideals of the Spirit of the Game.

Ultimate Glory is a portrait of the artist as a young ruffian. Driven by ambition, whimsy, love, and vanity, Gessner lives for those moments when he loses himself completely in the game. He shares the field and his seemingly insane obsession with a cast of closely knit, larger-than-life characters. As his sport grows up, so does he, and eventually he gives up chasing flying discs to pursue a career as a writer. But he never forgets his love for this misunderstood sport and the rare sense of purpose he attained as a member of its priesthood.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Memoir

338 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 6, 2017

About the author

David Gessner is the author of fourteen books that blend a love of nature, humor, memoir, and environmentalism, including the New York Times bestselling, All the Wild That Remains, Return of the Osprey, Sick of Nature and Leave It As It Is: A Journey Through Theodore Roosevelt’s American Wilderness.

Gessner is the Thomas S. Kenan III Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where he is also the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the literary magazine, Ecotone. His own magazine publications include pieces in the New York Times Magazine, Outside, Sierra, Audubon, Orion, and many other magazines, and his prizes include a Pushcart Prize and the John Burroughs Award for Best Nature Essay for his essay “Learning to Surf.” He has also won the Association for Study of Literature and the Environment’s award for best book of creative writing, and the Reed Award for Best Book on the Southern Environment. In 2017 he hosted the National Geographic Explorer show, "The Call of the Wild."

He is married to the novelist Nina de Gramont, whose latest book is The Christie Affair.

“A master essayist.” –Booklist

“For nature-writing enthusiasts, Gessner needs no introduction. His books and essays have in many ways redefined what it means to write about the natural world, coaxing the genre from a staid, sometimes wonky practice to one that is lively and often raucous.”—Washington Post.

“David Gessner has been a font of creativity ever since the 1980s, when he published provocative political cartoons in that famous campus magazine, the Harvard Crimson. These days he’s a naturalist, a professor and a master of the art of telling humorous and thought-provoking narratives about unusual people in out-of-the way-places."
--The San Francisco Chronicle

Reviews

[Layne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciated receiving the book as a gift from someone who knows my love of ultimate. Ultimate Glory is a tromp through Gessner's formative years as the title suggests. His devotion to the sport and it's role in his life is evident in the rich details of the games and the players that built the legends.

All that said, I didn't particularly enjoy the read. I found his descriptions of the women, both those casually mentioned for their role in ultimate and those who played larger roles in his life, fairly shallow and reductive. I feel like I've encountered this kind of player on the field and not enjoyed the interaction.

In the end, I wasn't amused or surprised by this read. Possibly unfair to say of an account of another's life, but it is in the vein of the wandering young man who finds his way despite years of poor but not terminal choices. He finds his craft both through sport and through art.

Hopefully the start of many more books on ultimate and the role the sport has in the lives of those who choose to chase a plastic circle.

[Brad Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

For once I’m very happy that I put a book off till later in my life. I think that reading this while in college would have caused it to hit less close to home. As I struggle to find where I want to fall in the realms of Ultimate Frisbee (do I just sit content at my current ability or like the author should I strive to go and play for the national championship). The problem lies in loving a sport that gives nothing back beyond the field of play and the relationships built there, unlike mainstream sports where someone may reward you for playing the game or at least not equate it with the thing that dogs catch. Being part of the Ultimate community really shaped my time in college as it did for Gessner. Whether it be my friends, where I lived, my relationships, or how I spent my weekends, much of it was concerned with a sport I had almost no knowledge of before my first day trying out for the team at GWU. Trying to convince my parents of its merits always seemed like an uphill battle, something that Gessner describes, especially when it comes to Kenny Dobyns and his father. But that almost makes the sport purer, we know that we won’t be held in high regard for the time spent practicing and playing. We will go to work the day after a tournament and will not discuss it with coworkers.
Having my twin pick up the sport as well was amazing as I had someone in my house who understood the love of the game, although I think she sided more with the relationships built, while I was headstrong about playing all the time. Gessner put off his career to play the sport at a time when it was much less recognized than it is today, which makes his choice both more admirable and a little bit crazier. His stories reminded me why I played the sport and loved it, which hopefully can take me out of the downward trend of lack of motivation to play the sport. Something just feels different now.
The draw of winning it all never really appealed to me in college (I knew we never had a chance in hell). So, my only goal was making regionals, after two years of COVID taking away two seasons of Ultimate, I finally got a chance at regionals with a team made up of five years’ worth of players, which honestly was a nice silver lining. However, since then I’ve been stuck in limbo. I’m competitive enough to want to win a national championship, I just don’t know if I truly have the time or commitment to put in the work to do so. Therefore, whenever I step out onto the field now, it seems a little hollow, without a team that I am dedicated to, the only reason to play is to get better and I’ve hit what feels like an insurmountable plateau. If I was Gessner I would take a job with fewer hours, convert the Vermont camps into a home base and devote myself to training. But that’s an impossibility. So here I am, trying to change the love of the game along the lines that Gessner did after he ended his run at the national championship, find a team which I can truly call friends and not just fellow competitors.
I know that this kind of rambled on and became a personal narrative, but these are the thoughts that surfaced while reading Gessner’s story. I would recommend this book to any player out of college and especially to any parent of an Ultimate Frisbee player who is trying to understand why their child gave up a more “real” sport to throw around a piece of plastic.

[Jim Mallon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! David Gessner captures perfectly the conflicting inner glories and insecurities of 1980s era Ultimate players. We were playing the Greatest Sport of All Time, while being dismissed by colleagues, friends and family for pursuing a passion Gessner rightly compares, in the minds of the public, to "Professional Tiddley-winks." [True revelation: My family never diminished the beauty of Ultimate, nor my passion for it, and for that I am ever grateful.]

This book feels like it could have been my autobiography, the book that I, a far less accomplished Ultimate player and a far more unaccomplished and unfulfilled writer than David Gessner, might have written if I'd ever had the dedication, memory and determination of the author.

For that, in fact, I am thankful. I am thankful that someone with the skill and talent of "Gersh" found it in his soul and his fingertips to share with the world what it was like to actually live within a cult that never ~really~ harmed anyone, although it did derail more than a few life paths, relationships and nascent careers, not to mention minimum wage jobs abandoned for the lure of one more thousand-mile road trip to chase a plastic disc around and commune with a few hundred like-minded lunatics.

That said, the real, undeniable, reward of Ultimate was that the sport gave us all a chance to feel like brothers and sisters in something very secret and very special. In the best of times, if we got that block or caught that goal, or better yet were on that team that won that tournament, we might even feel like gods.

Ultimate Glory is filled with stories not only of desire, obsession and that fleeting, temporary, but oh so satisfying sense of greatness on the field, but also the tales of depravity and self-destruction beyond. Yes, indeed, we had a wild and sometimes reckless sense of fun.

I could go on at length about all of this, but Mr. Gessner covers it comprehensively in the book. I was a West Coast recruit, he was from the East. Our time-in-service was nearly identical, though to the best I my knowledge and memory we never met on the field (certainly not in the fall, due to my own team's struggles in bettering the likes of Tsunami and Iguana). We shared many many teammates however, more than a few of whom remain my lifelong friends.

What this book makes it clear is the undeniable awe the flight of a flying disc ignites. It's a flame that burns within all Ultimate players. And the visceral joy that comes from chasing down a piece of plastic and laying out and clasping it at the last moment is a sensation that can never be equaled.

It is the Ultimate sensation. It is what makes lifers of us all.

The sport is growing at an astonishing rate these days, with pro leagues and TV coverage and salaries and the like....but we were there for the explosion.

[Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book when it was first released and I was playing more ultimate. I must have seen a post about it on Ultiworld or r/ultimate and I went to a book signing. I finally picked it up off my shelf this year. I thought this book did a good job detailing the rivalry between the Boston and New York men's teams during the early years of ultimate, and the author's life during that time. Although it meandered for a little bit in the middle, I thought this book was simple to get through. There are a lot of stopping places so you can pick it up when you have a minute (or in between games at a tournament). As someone who played ultimate for a while (and watched the Flatball documentary), I was able to follow the story. If I hadn't played before, I doubt I would have been interested in this book.

[Ron S · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Isn't that the thing you do with dogs?" Not so much. Environmental writer and essayist Gessner details the rise of Ultimate, a somewhat modified form of football played with Frisbees, which he stumbled into in the early days of the sport. As much a memoir of Gessner's struggles to become a writer, his philosophical internal struggles with trying to figure out how to live, as a record of competitive battles on the field. Anyone that has played Ultimate will love this fast paced read; those that have not, such as myself, but struggled through their 20s and obsessions of their own, will enjoy it equally. Put it this way: if you enjoyed William Finnegan's Barbarian Days but don't surf, you're going to love this. Gessner's other books include All the Wild that Remains.

[Soo · Rating 1 out of 5]

It’s a book about Ultimate Frisbee. Enough said.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read some of Gessner's excellent natural history writing, I was intrigued by this book. You don't have to be an Ultimate player to enjoy it, although it would help to be or have been passionate about a sporting activity.

The title captures the themes here -- not only the history of Ultimate Frisbee, but Gessner's obsession with playing Ultimate and his struggles through his twenties with his life's direction. There is a fair bit of wild behavior thrown in for good measure.

[Josh P · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book can be categorized into 3 different genres. It tells the story of David Gessner and his life in Ultimate, but it also tells the stories of many other Ultimate players who helped pave the way for the sport and their part in making it a worldwide phenomenon. This is why it manages to be a biography, autobiography, and memoir all at the same time. Without spoiling much of the book I will share why I enjoyed it and a few of my favorite moments.

The author constantly acknowledges the lack of seriousness that Ultimate receives from people outside the community, he even opens the book with “As you will see in these pages it isn’t always easy to commit fully to something that many regard as ridiculous.” I liked reading this because most Ultimate players including Gessner know that many outsiders disregard it as a sport, but we don’t care, we have our community which is full of support and encouragement. For example, to those only just entering the community, the book is simple enough to read for anyone interested in Ultimate. Although it is easier to comprehend if you have a background in the sport. Gessner makes sure to provide a definition and easy to understand explanation every time a new term or slang is introduced.

The biography does a wonderful job of providing a history of the sport while smoothly mixing it with stories from the author’s life. These tellings often bounce between decades and constantly keep the reader interested in two separate topics. One part is about how the author develops as a college student with a growing interest in Ultimate and how it became one of his passions and affected his life. Secondly, the book flashbacks occasionally and retells the story of the creation and growth of Ultimate in an exciting way. It always has reminders of the time period you are reading about by either description of players such as having long hair and smoking marijuana or quotes from characters in the book talking about what is popular or the current politics of the time. Occasionally there are rare photos from the stories that are being told that help you see the origins of Ultimate were just started by average people, most of which are not even that athletic.

This book is special because it does not have the blandness of a history textbook, but rather makes you feel present with what is happening at that moment, by telling history in a story form and introducing you to each and every important pioneer of the game and how they advanced the timeline. A great example of this is when the reader gets to follow the personality of Joel Silver. He spread the game majorly after learning about it at summer camp and introduced it to his school. With his leadership, he planned and partook in the first recorded game of Ultimate. You learn that he treated the sport as a gag and didn’t take it very seriously, but still wanted it to grow. A fascinating moment in the book is when they were creating terms for the rulebook. “This would become known as the “pull,” a name coined by Silver, who lifted it from the skeet-shooting scene in the James Bond movie Thunderball.” The amazing part about this is that throughout the book you learn that Silver eventually grew up and became a famous movie producer and you can see that his passion for movies was present in high school and even spread to help create a term in a sport.

Lastly, the autobiography perfectly encapsulates every Ultimate Frisbee addict’s feelings while joining and playing the sport. Throughout the chapters, you learn of many individuals and how they fell in love with playing Ultimate. Most players reading the narratives are bound to relate to one of the stories. Also, Gessner talks about the strong emotions one can get during a match such as feeling primal or indomitable. This was easy to understand as I could recall times where I was in those situations. One retelling that really stuck with me and helped me appreciate the writing was how he excited the reader by talking about how he was running down the field wide open on a game-winning point “And then Bobby does something extraordinary… Bobby Harding calls a time-out.” This felt extremely personal because my coach in high school constantly reminded us to call time-outs. It is a very hard thing to remember with all the adrenaline running through your body, but when my teammates had to restraint and called timeout we were all proud of the decision. I really adored how I’ve had so many identical experiences with the snippets from players’ lives.

The book is filled with many more anecdotes and electrifying stories that keep you wanting to learn about the next steps Ultimate took into becoming known worldwide or how David Gessner was going to keep advancing his personal skills in the sport all while being a student at Harvard and where his life will take him after.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

terrific read. mostly a memoir of his 20s and early 30s as a very serious [in those days there were no professionals] ultimate player, working part-time and temp jobs and living in group houses to keep most of his time free to train. Played on excellent teams that competed regularly at national champs tournament.

He covers the evolution of the sport, mainly through lens of NY/Boston rivalry. Ties it in well with his own burgeoning writing career, attempt to improve his relationship with his father, turbulent relationship with a girlfriend, and more. Ultimate really does provide apt metaphors for life!

"obsession" is a good word in the subtitle. He gives lots of consideration to the obvious question of whether devoting so much time and physical and mental energy to becoming great at a frisbee game makes sense. As I may have mentioned once or twice to my kids, you think you have a hobby, but you come to find out that it has you, and that was certainly the author's experience.

"ultimately" I guess his answer, never bottom-lined as such, would be that the rewards of pursuing excellence at something you love, coupled with the intense family-like relations with teammates, made it worthwhile for him.

Even if you couldn't care less about ultimate, it's an absorbing story about college and post-college life including a sad sidebar about becoming close to and then decisively estranged from a literature professor he admired.

I got this after seeing favorable newspaper review, in part for the "what a coincidence" effect. Although I've played ultimate probably fewer than a dozen times in my life, I figured I could relate to the author -- he was my classmate in college [though to my knowledge we never met] and my brother in the sense that we're both testicular cancer survivors. But his book made a much greater impression than just the "hey I know that song you're talking about, and I got snacks from that same convenience store you mention, and......" I'll keep an eye out for his other books, I gather mostly in the environmentalist realm.

[Ian Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

As few stories as there are involving ultimate frisbee, I am slightly biased in my enjoyment of this book, having played the sport for so long. This book is two stories in one: a nonfiction, quasi-history lesson on the beginnings of the sport, the teams, the towns, and the legends through the years, and a personal reflection from the author on his time playing the sport, what it means to be obsessed, and how every decision can ripple through your life.
The author’s focus on Boston - a verifiable hub of ultimate - and Boston teams was yet another pleasant surprise for me. He frequently mentioned the schools, streets, and neighborhoods of his friends and teammates that I also was familiar with, and discussed historic (in his eyes) games played in parks I have also played on as well. It was fun to read how the sport grew and evolved in a place so close to home. Players and teams are elevated to mythical status in the author’s retelling of his experiences with them, complete with gods, devils, underdogs, and overindulgence.
For ultimate players past or present, this book will resonate with you. The author is liberal in his usage of terminology from the sport, and the kinds of antics and cheers from the sidelines he describes would be very familiar to anyone who has been to even one tournament. It’s fun that, even still today, the Spirit of the Game is the same kind of unserious sportsmanship as it ever was. In fact, I think this book is relatable for an athlete of any sport who had committed serious years of their life to being great at it. I think you’d agree that the author’s passion is infectious and he exudes it as well as any group of has-been athletes would while they’re sitting in the garage, drinking beers, reminiscing on all their wins and losses.

Stall 4/5

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great read if you love frisbee. I would rate it 5 stars for a frisbee player, 4 stars for everyone else. There's a lot of stories about frisbee that will not sing for many who are not lovers of disc. But there is also a moving story of a man trying to find his way as a human being as a writer. The prose truly sings in the last 4 chapters, when he experiences a health crisis, loses a testicle to cancer, ends the tumultuous relationship with a frisbee playing woman that has gone up and down for ten years, and gets into a masters program in writing after a cataclysmic interaction with a famous Harvard professor/writer.

Remarkably, the acknowledgements thank everyone but the woman who is portrayed as a saint and a toxic philanderer during their relationship, someone who cheated on the author recklessly and repeatedly. I guess the message is don't have relationships with aspiring writers, and if you, definitely don't cheat on them with a series of European flings. He names and shames, although he also depicts her as the angel who got him through testicular cancer.

What lingers after you read it is the remarkable commitment to a ridiculed sport, and what it taught him about life.

[Christian Schwoerke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd read some of Gessner's chapters more than a decade before he brought them together in this book. (notably, "I Had a Notion," about teammate Nathan Salwen and his own relation with his father). His writing uniquely captures what it is to play this particular amateur sport at a national competitive club level. In Gessner's day (80s and early 90s), the sport was in its infancy, but the rivalries were already virulent. Gessner does a great job of explaining the world of ultimate frisbee at this time, and he makes clear what it meant to be an avid, obsessed player. I've lived some of it, so am probably blind to this book's limitations (if there are any) in making this clear to those outside the sport.

Gessner's does a good job of showing in his personal example the number of factors that made it possible to seek renown in a sport no one knew, much less respected. To his credit, his sporting obsession and energies were eventually channeled in this 30s into making of himself a published writer and teacher of writing.

[amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's one lens on ultimate; there are so many more. Reading this has helped me articulate my own experience with the sport, in part through contrast. For example, Gessner and many of his peers seem to have been able to bring their whole, messy selves to the sport in ways that others haven't. My experience in ultimate has often involved sublimating difference towards a team-level or sport-level narrative, including the assumption of all kinds of shared values.

I do recognize the combination of ambition and self-loathing involved in surviving season after season; appreciate the distinction between winning and wanting to win as meaningful processes; and find much more to mull over in the later chapters on leaving (slash not actually leaving) ultimate than I would have a few years ago when there was no question I would play until my limbs fell off.

[Fred Frisbee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obviously given my name this was a book that I would like.

It's the life of someone growing up from a rowdy misspent twenties with the prism of frisbee. Parts of the book obviously could relate to, the obsession which went the top of everything, the animal side you can be, the friends and comradeship and the joy about caring about something.

I imagine most people probably won't like it as the person was not especially likeable in his 20s, but I personally loved it. I think there is something around the lessons learnt, the obsessive element how to manage yourself and be a better person.

I also like the bravery of people who go against everything and everyone to devote themselves to a sport that no one cares about.

[Ken Hunt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Must read for Ultimate Frisbee community. Lots of interesting history of the sport, early characters, development of the uniqueness of the game we love so much. A dose of east coast bias, but book was meant to be more of than an educational piece of a sport, so it traced where the author played. Gessner is an accomplished author/writer (I have some of his other work on my to read list) and writes about his personal journey and how it has been impacted and enhanced by his years of Ultimate, the game, the relationships, the life lessons.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author's description of his twenties was very good, and filled with pathos. He mentioned how he was part of an underappreciated sport, and didn't receive any pay. His father was unhappy with his life's choices, particularly since he graduated from an ivy league school. If the book was simply autobiographical, I would have given it 4 or 5 stars. The problem is the author seemingly couldn't seem to decide if this was an autobiography or a history book on Ultimate Frisbee. The history part seems to run a bit too lon.

[David Kassay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific book about Ultimate Frisbee in the 70s, 80s and 90s. I played ultimate in college in the late 70s and early 80s and the descriptions of the "spirit of the game" ring true for me. The descriptions of the wildness of the game and its players at that time also remind me of my time playing. I didn't play after college but some of my teammates did, including one who gets mentioned in the book (Steve Goodwin). It was funny to read about him in the role of a "bad cop" after having been with him during many of his pranks in his younger years.

[David W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great coming of age story wrapped in some Ultimate history. The history portions are definitely more male centric than I would have liked, but this is more of a personal history than actual history of Ultimate, so it’s a bit of a mixed bag in that way. There are some great, profound moments that really strike a compelling chord. This book is definitely for Ultimate players and it plays out vividly well when you know how games of Ultimate actually go, but Gessner is an incredibly good writer and that really shines through.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gessner writes well, and his sometimes sardonic tone fits well with the sport of Ultimate and process of memoir. I think he does well balancing the passions of youth with the perspective of middle age, and he directly confronts the challenges of trying to create a narrative from a real life with actual people. He makes the book accessible to people from outside the world of Ultimate, but I don't know if I would have liked the book as much without my own connection to the sport. On the other hand, I've never been whaling, and I still thought Moby Dick was pretty good.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not an Ultimate player, but I live with one (and he has played for 30+ years). This book is combination of a history of the sport, a history of the author's involvement with the sport, and an accounting of the author's life outside of Ultimate (as if that's possible). It's engaging and informative, and the photos are great.

I always say that one day Ultimate players will run the world. As long as Spirit of the Game is part of their world domination platform, I'm all for it.

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A memoir that's heavy on Ultimate history, or an overly personal sports history book, depending on how you look at it. The writer confides early that the book, in some part, is an effort to salvage an abortive first effort at writing such a history. His generous style make it work, however, even as he revealing painful painful episodes such as a cheating girlfriend (who, consistent with the book's structure, is also an important figure in the history of the sport). Recommended.

[Gabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book because it really connected with me. A guy growing up in Boston, really into ultimate and trying to figure out how to balance that with pursuing a career. I would recommend it to anyone who plays ultimate, but don't think it would be very intriguing to someone outside the sport. I really enjoyed learning about the history of the sport and what it was like in the early years, even though the author seemed like kind of a jerk. At least he was honest!

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This history/memoir (read by him) was actually interesting and I enjoyed hearing it all – having always wondered about ultimate (aka ultimate frisbee), and also his story. The history of Ultimate as he tells it is detailed and thorough from its invention through to the mid-20teens. Although I’m still a tad bitter I wasn’t accepted into his MFA program in Wilmington NC, that’s ok. He’s a good dude.

[Kent Archie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting personal history of Ultimate on the East Coast.
Occasional references tp Chicago and LA but mostly Massachusetts.
It overlaps slightly with the time I was playing Ultimate in Madison WI.
His descriptions of the joy of the game and the camaraderie of the players rings true but we were mostly college students and didn't have the time to get addicted like the author was.
If you played Ultimate, you might find this memoir interesting.

[Marissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A memoir and history of the sport of Ultimate Frisbee with an emphasis on the Northeast and the rivalry between the New York and Boston club teams. I found it to be generously written. The author reveals some truths of his young adulthood and the maturation, however suspended, he experienced through his embrace of an oddly obsession-producing sport.

[Kevin Archer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good read about the birth of ultimate through the eyes of one of its participants. It also charts the arc of the author's youth when the fire burns the hottest. I immensely enjoyed the writing as well as the story. I also like how he dealt with motivations for himself and others and was very candid, when the outcomes didn't always paint him in the best light. I'll read other of his writing.

[Bradley Bartholomew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wild journey back in time. Some of the qualities Gessner writes of still exist in the younger arenas of Ultimate. which filled the book with moments of nostalgia as it will for any reader who was the played the game on team. In Gessner and his teammates, all ultimate players will see a piece of themselves as the glory hunters of plastic that they were.

[Nick Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just awesome. One of my favorite reads of the year by miles so endearing and personal and very relatable I feel grateful to have found this book right now. Just smack in the middle of it all, a great artful and tasteful journey through life’s glamorized pile of ordinary. Super memorable, awesome. Read again

[Bret Warner · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever lost yourself in Ultimate culture, college (go Air Squids) or club, then this is closer to five stars, but if not then its still a great read and a cool insight into one of the more insular sports subcultures I have ever encountered.

[Alpha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 - A fun read about ultimate in the 80's (-ish). Definitely worth checking out if you're into ultimate, but I don't know if it would be interesting for non-players...