No Guts No Glory

Yoopers invented Guts Frisbee way back in 1958. Today folks are whipping the saucers at one another all over the world, but the game's U.P. DNA still guides the action.

Jun 10, 2008 Lynda Twardowski

(page 1 of 4)

Barb Thorton

On a steamy night in late June, inside Michigan Technological University's Wadsworth Hall, a banquet is underway. White tablecloths cover tables. Bright orange napkins, folded to resemble flowers, perch beside plates. Platters of cheese, crudités and various speckled dips sweat atop trays packed with ice. Banquet guests--attended to by waiters in starched white shirts--sip wine and beer, clink glasses, mingle.

A few women wear dresses; some men, sport coats. Others wear T-shirts--many stained with grass, dirt or rusty splatters of blood. A man near the crackers lifts his shirt to reveal a raspberry-colored scrape on his belly. The guy next to him has a fat, bloodied lip. A third man limps up. The trio laughs, shakes hands, pats shoulders. Most of their fingertips and knuckles hide under thick white bandages.

The occasion? The 50th annual Guts International Frisbee Tournament (IFT). The players here tonight have survived day one of the competition. Guts, a kind of hybrid between red rover and murder ball, is played like this: two five-man teams line up, facing each other about 15 yards apart. A member of one team whips a Frisbee, at speeds averaging between 50 and 75 miles per hour, at the opposing team members, who must catch it--using only one hand--before it touches the ground. If they fail, the throwing team gets a point. If they succeed, they get to throw. Whichever team scores 21 points first, wins.

At tonight's banquet, decades of players from around the United States, Canada and Japan will honor and induct into the Guts Hall of Fame some of the game's most storied competitors. Tomorrow, the teams will resume the weekend's objective: to win, and in so doing, to fight to the death. Or, judging from the walking wounded hobbling around the banquet hall tonight, something darn close to it.

 

Reader Comments:
Jul 2, 2008 12:23 pm
 Posted by  skids

There really is nothing like Guts in the U.P.! Excellent article!

Add your comment:

Create an instant account, or please log in if you have an account. Anonymous comments are enabled.
Verification Question. (This is so we know you are a human and not a spam robot.)

What is 4 + 5 ? 

Download our Best Docs Up North PDF to have a handy print version of the Northern Michigan Medical Resource Guide, as well as our articles on the Best Docs Up North.

Download Filmgoer
(4.6MB PDF)



Subscribe Now
 
Marketplace Links