The End of an Era for Footbag
I surfed on over to the Footbag.org Forums for the first time in a while this evening and found a post from Eric Wulff about Peter Irish perform[ing] his last routine in competition. He posted about his experience on Chaos Footbag (“generally report[ing] exclusively on the happenings in the world of footbag net”). For those too lazy to click the link, Eric wrote:
Peter Irish performed his final competitive singles freestyle routine this past Sunday at the East Coast Footbag Championships in College Park, MD; the same event where he first competed 20 years ago.
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Peter is the greatest competitive footbag freestyle player of his time. He set the standard for the world both in the shred circle and with his competitive routines, and I dont doubt he has somehow inspired every player of todays freestyle generation. Even after 20 years of competition and at the ripe old freestyle age of 36 he is among the best shredders in the world.
So at about midnight on Saturday June 10th Eric Ironman Wulff and Tuan Disco Ninja Vu briefly came out of freestyle retirement along with Sunil Tsunami Jani to join Peter The Executioner Irish for one last shred session in honor of his grand finale. These four east coast freestyle legends are also best of friends and they made up the only shred circle on Saturday night. It was a classic freestyle scene in the basement of tournament director Vince Bradleys house except for the fact that many of the greatest freestyle players of the todays generation who were present, such as Gordon Flash Bevier, chose to sit this one out instead taking the role as spectator. Perhaps they were simply respecting their elders smile. In any case, for a little over an hour, with AC/DCs Back In Black serving as the soundtrack (perfect!) and with Vinces band, Boxcar Collision, warming up with a live drum and bass accompaniment to the driving AD/DC rhythm, The Foundation of East Coast freestyle took a trip back in time and threw down with authority and style partying like it was 1999. I think everyone who packed into Vinces basement – spectator, partyer, and shredders alike came away with a similar feeling it was an epic flashback session. Just a great time!
Thank you for the head’s up, Eric. And thank you Peter Irish for the years of exhilarating performances. I hope we get to kick together again soon.
Peace, Love, and Footbag.