Ultimate Glory

What a great name for a memoir, right?

No, it's not about Valhalla, but in some ways it might as well be.

This is a thing and I'm #reading it. #ultimate

A post shared by Caitlin Buxbaum (@chitlinfork) on Jun 30, 2017 at 2:01pm PDT

I discovered this book after I had sprained my ankle this summer, two days before an Ultimate tournament I had been looking forward to for weeks. There was no way I could play, so naturally, I threw myself into living vicariously through any means necessary and available. I do this when I can't do a thing, like sing or play guitar or run or ski or play ultimate — I must suddenly become an expert on the subject by all my book learnin'. (I did also find a documentary on Ultimate's beginnings, narrated by Alec Baldwin, which I have yet to watch.)

My searching expanded from Facebook, where a friend posted an article about one of the greatest Ultimate players of the day, who I later found out hailed from my home state of Alaska! Then of course I read more articles and discovered that Joel Silver, the guy who produced "The Matrix" (AND "V for Vendetta," "Die Hard," and the first RDJ Sherlock movie) is also credited with the invention of Ultimate Frisbee! On the east coast, in 1968/69 (the latter year claimed by stereotypical college-age Ultimate players who prefer dirty humor). Look it up.

"The author, wallowing."

The above photo depicts David Gessner, the author of Ultimate Glory: Frisbee, Obsession, and My Wild Youth. The other photos you see in this post also are from the book (screenshots from the e-version), and offer a taste of the sport for those unfamiliar with it.

What these images don't show you, however, is the utter artistry of Gessner's writing, his dedication to the craft of composing sentences that describe the spiritual — yes, I said spiritual — side of Ultimate. Few amateur players, I think, experience Ultimate in the way Gessner has; few professionals, even, might share his mystical view of what some still deem a ridiculous sport. But I'm telling you, this guy nails it.

Ultimate Glory, as Gessner says early on, is not a history of Ultimate. There are pieces of that within the story, but the book is really about Gessner's journey through life, of which Ultimate was (is?) a big part. He made a lot of mistakes, pulled a lot of pranks, spent a lot of his time under the influence and depressed, but along the way he managed to be a respectable player (in terms of skill, maybe not personality...) and an amazing writer.

Honestly, I'm amazed I didn't dogear more of the pages with all it's poetic prose and witty wisdom (is that a thing?), but here are a few of my favorite passages — see if you can guess why:

From "East Coker" by T.S. Eliot

So, lots of different kinds of highlights you can see here (hopefully). Maybe less about Ultimate than you expected?
In any case, if you are a literary type or a Frisbee fanatic (or, preferably, both), you should read this book. Or if you're just curious about this mythic sport thing! Give it a go. See what you think. And then let me know!