Best “7 Teammates On the Line” in College from 1996-1997
Best "7 Teammates On the Line" in Club from 1998-2004
by Joe Seidler

There are many great individuals who have played Ultimate. This is the story of a group of 7 who have had great success in the sport starting in college and continuing together into the club division from 1996-2004. These 7 guys and their UCSB team dominated the open college division winning back-to-back national championships in '96 & ’97. The same 7 then joined the Santa Barbara Condors and won back-to-back club national championships in ’00 & ’01. I think these 7 teammates have demonstrated their remarkable Ultimate talent and earned the title of one of the “Best 7 Teammates On The Line” especially crossing from college to club and spanning so long a time period. (Please note that this is not a statement of the best individual players, but rather the best group of 7 that played together on the same team during the timeframe indicated.)

The U.C. Santa Barbara Black Tide were the best open college team from 1996-1998 winning the national championship three years in a row; a feat only accomplished once before in the college open division by none other than the same UCSB in 1988-1990. There were others that helped make the ’96-’98 run happen, including players like Lefevre, Hall, Burfeind, Glimme, et al. But the “Best 7 Teammates On the Line” formed a bond that especially drove the wins in ’96 and ’97.

These “Best 7 Teammates On the Line” went on to re-ignite the Santa Barbara Condors to become a club Nationals finalist in ’98 and ’99. And just as in college where they were learning and improving in their early years to subsequently become national champions, they repeated that feat and became Club National Champions in ’00 and ’01 and World Club Champions in ’02. Other players important to these Condor wins included Dugan, Ramberg, Lobue Jr, Steets, et al.

The accomplishments of these “Best 7 Teammates” from 1996-2004 are notable in the sport of Ultimate:

Throughout their years playing together, these “Best 7 Teammates On the Line” have always driven their team to become champions in the Ultimate community.

Note: There are some who may disagree with my selection of these "Best 7 Teammates On the Line" during 1998-2004, and that is not surprising since choosing a 'best' is often somewhat subjective. To further support my claim, here is some additional information from the club division from 1998-2004:

Here are two different methods of ranking the results of club nationals in those years (1998-2004):
1.) 6 points for winning finals and 3 points for being the losing finalist.
2.) 6 points for winning finals and subtracting the point differential from 6 for the loser. This method gives the loser more points if they only lost by a small amount.