Black Tide Alumni Comments

Jason 'redbeard' Backlund (94-97)
My wife had little baby girl June 17, 2004. Her name is Alia Ann Backlund. You can see more of the Backlunds at our blog. http://www.backlundbrief.blogspot.com . We are living in Chicago where I am attending Graduate School, completing a Masters of Divinity. I'm in the last year of my program, after which we hope to return to the West coast!

Shaun Bagai (99)
I am currently working for a startup medical device company in Menlo Park, TransVascular, Inc. (www.transvacular.com) California managing clinical trials. Our company is involved with less invasive catheter based technologies and our spotlight procedure is a closed chest heart vessel bypass procedure. Most of our clinical trials take place in Europe, so most of my time is spent in Europe managing our trials. In my frequent "visits" home, I reside in Mountain View. Unfortunately with my work and travel schedule, ultimate can no longer be a priority in my life, but I try to remain involved in various leagues and pick up games in the Bay Area and Santa Barbara (where my heart remains) as time permits.

Chris Ballard (95)
Working with Charles Schwab. If anyone wants any investment advice, start by e-mailing me.

Vince 'Fortress' Bertsch (86-88)
I'm over in Europe on sabbatical from my college job (thru July 2001). Life's great, my wife and I (and children ages 8 8, and 4) are in Paris right now for a few weeks. We've already spent 2 months in Germany & Switzerland, and another 2 months in Spain. We have another month in the south of France; then it's Holland, England, and Ireland by the end of July. I actually brought cleats, but haven't been able to play frisbee yet. I did spend over a month practicing basketball with a club team in Mainz, Germany. They were very nice to let an old dude run with them.

Todd 'Toddles' Blacher (90-91&93-94)
(Oct. 2002)
I am still working in the shrimp aquaculture business for my 6th year now. After a great two years in Ecuador, I have moved to greener pastures (the industry in Ecuador has taken a nosedive as a result of widespread virus problems) as of last February to Hainan Island, China for a new job. I am the Production Manager of a upstart high tech, water re-use, no antibiotic, shrimp aquaculture business. The idea is to produce an environmentally friendly product in all the major cities in China. Just have to make the Pilot project a success and we will expand in Shanghai and Tsingdao (where they make the good Chinese beer that you see and drink in all the Chinese restaurants in the US).

As for Ultimate...I would have to say retired...the body has given out! Anybody travelling in Asia should come on by for a visit. Hainan is "China's Hawaii"......my information is below.

Todd Blacher
Production Manager
Hainan Houston Aquaculture Co. Ltd.
18 Wen Hua Lu
Mandarin Hotel, Room 601
Haikou, Hainan Province, 570105
Peoples Republic of China
Tel:86-139-76559955
Fax:86-898-62341222

Jeff 'Nuthead' Cutler (86)
Born on 11/20/00, to Carina and Jeff "nuthead" Cutler... Nathaniel Wolf Cutler...he's already laying out!

Andy 'Duke' Drake (94-95p)
I'm living in Walnut Creek and currently work for the Clear Channel Radio in San Francisco as their webmaster. I also play in a band (http://www.lindyskitchen.com). Other than that, I miss playing Ultimate, and I always brag when people ask me who I played for, "Well, heard of the Black Tide?" 9 times out of 10 they've heard of us. Anyway, that's about it.

Jay Higgins (89-91)
5/31/02
I recently saw the movie "I Bleed Black," an extremely well done documentary about the Black Tide's '01 season. It brought back so many memories of my college ultimate career, I found myself sleeping in the gutter outside of Sams-to-Go the next morning.

Other than battling my mortgage, weight, fragile economy, old habits and wife for the pants every morning, I enjoy living in SB and ever so often strap on the turf shoes that I claim are cleats, for a rousing game of Goaltimate. It's a great game for those with suppressed anger and an unwillingness to play defense. I still haven't played any organized ultimate since my retirement from the Condors in Scotland, '99.

Dan Irving (85-87)
I was on the Black Tide on its very first year of existence (1985) and we weren't very good (we were eliminated at Regionals on the first day). But we improved rapidly and went to Nationals the next year (1986) and placed third (we lost to Stanford in the semis and UMass ended up winning). In '87 we lost to the Chabot/Las Positas scumbag/cheaters in the finals of nationals by two points. It's still a sore point for me......

Black Tide brings back some great memories. I haven't played any serious Ultimate in years, but I'd love to strap on the old cleats again if there are any reunion/tournament happenings.

Mike Keran (91-92)
I've been in Seattle since I left Santa Barbara in '92. I've been playing men's Ultimate with Seattle's Kodiak (#2 team) until it fell apart a couple years ago. The last few years, I've been playing co-ed, travelling, and generally bumming around...

Joe 'Pooch' Marckx (91-92)
After living in the Czech Republic for 7 years, I moved to Northern Portugal in 2000. I live in Vila do Conde (near Oporto). I also got married to my Czech girlfriend last September. I am currently managing my own business in Portugal. My company owns the license in the European market for a major American streetwear brand. I am the general manager overseeing merchandising and production as well as handling sales and marketing.

I was playing on a club team in the Czech Republic for 7 years, but I haven't picked up the disc since the move last summer. I plan on participating in a few pickup tourneys here and there until the Ultimate scene grows in Portugal. There is a great beach tourney near Lisbon at the end of June. If anyone happens to be in Northern Portugal and wants to throw a disc, give me a call (011-351-91-731-5530). The beach is right down the street.

Ivar Reimanis (87-89)
After leaving Santa Barbara in 1990 (unfortunately, in a knee brace), I moved to Germany with my wife Cathy (Champion Condors player aka Cathy Lamoureux) where we lived for a year, getting into the German Ultimate scene. We moved to Los Alamos, New Mexico in 1991, and then to Golden, Colorado in 1994 where we are now based. A few years of Colorado Ultimate was fun, but the two decades of Ultimate has taken enough of a toll on my body to seriously attempt retirement. As of spring 2002, we have 3 kids - 10, 8 and 7 years old, and are currently living in Perth, Australia, on sabbatical.
June 2002

Matthew Shaff (95 -96i)
951-600-3959
I have lived and worked in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Jacksonville for Zurich Insurance. I am currently the Marketing Director for Zurich Insurance in Murrieta, CA. I married my girlfriend from UCSB, Katie, on the Fourth of July of 1998, in Las Vegas (Elvis was in the building!). I have played in leagues and on club teams in Philly, LA, and Jax, and get to do a lot of traveling where I pickup with games all over the country. When I step out onto the field wearing my old Black Tide jersey, a certain level of respect is always present.
May 2002

Announcing the birth of Owen Matthew Shaff to Katie and Matthew Shaff. Although not named after Matt Owen, maybe his nickname will be 'Little Scrappy' when he masters the flick!
November 2003

Bob Steinke (93-94 & 97)
I'm still living in Boulder, CO working on my PhD in computer science. Expected graduation, Spring 2001. The big news is that I just got married August 19, 2000 to Mollie Hand originally of Laramie Wyoming, but now also a grad student in Boulder studying Linguistics.