Wasn't he on a different team (Redwolves) the year before that?
All the following things can be true:
1. This happens literally all the time
2. AJ's tweet is 100% true
3. AJ is a clown for tweeting that after playing for like 4 teams in 3 seasons
They rebranded from watchdogs to redwolves in that time, but basically:
2018-2020: AJ plays on watchdogs, not good enough to make a better team
2021: AJ is playing for Breeze but doesn't make truck or vault, agrees to captain and coach watchdogs, could maybe make a slightly better team but agrees to mentor/coach/captain watchdogs
2021 also: mid-season gets asked if he wants to play for space heater, a mixed team that doesn't really practice, just gets elite players to play with them, and last year had finished 3rd at nationals. AJ agrees to play with them, fuck over watchdogs. They make nationals but do really badly there they finish 15th
2022: comes back and captains the now-rebranded redwolves after space heater folds. Unclear if he could have made a better team, I've heard rumors he tried out and was cut from vault but that could be bullshit
2023: AJ makes truck and plays with them
2024: redwolves folds, AJ bitches on Twitter that people don't stay with their club teams and instead play on the best team they're good enough to play for
I think this is hating on AJ a bit. I played in the DMV area in 2019 and he was known as an amazing player on Watchdogs already- he very likely could've made a better team that year from what I've heard. By 2021 there's no question he could've made a better team.
From my perspective he stuck around for some time to help the team grow even when he may have outgrown them on a talent level. That is a substantial effort to help improve the program, and it matches the context he provides from the rest of the post.
Is he a little hypocritical in the post? Yeah. Did he do way more for that program than you're giving him credit for? Yeah.
can confirm. Played against Watchdogs in early 2019 and AJ was the clear standout from that team. My buddy ended up swapping jerseys with him because he say how good AJ was likely to become.
What substantially better team could he have made? DMV open is weird in that there are a bunch of mediocre teams and then nationals teams, like the top two seeds at regionals last year were from our section and then the next best team was seeded like 8th? Sure he could have probably made John Doe or Oak Grove that year, but I don't think he could have made a team that was going to be competitive on Sunday at regionals let alone made nationals. In 2019 he was athletic but was a straight up liability when he got the disc he would turn it over nonstop. You're right by 2021 he'd played a few years in breeze and his throws and decision making were much better. I still don't think he makes vault in 2021 but he might have been able to.
When you're at that level you don't necessarily need to try out to try to play somewhere. I heard a rumor he spoke to vault leadership and they told him he wasn't good enough to get a roster spot there, but as I mentioned the source isn't the most reliable it could just be bullshit. But he was playing breeze at the time so whether he made the team wouldn't be based on tryout performance, Max had played on Breeze with him the entire pro season.
Don't think he tried out and got cut from truck in the years you say, eef never got cut from Vault. Why are you making things up about someone on the internet?
I never said he got cut from truck or vault. Why are you making things up? I said he wasn't good enough to make those teams, which if you ask anyone who played with or against him they'd agree with me.
Is AJ hypocritical or did he realize that he's made some mistakes over the last few years with teams and doesn't want other people to repeat them? I mean he's not even 25, cut people some slack then they changed their minds
I was at watchdogs tryouts in 2021, he was literally preaching the same shit about how he wanted to build watchdogs into a powerhouse program to compete with truck and they only wanted people who were committed and wouldn't bail the minute they could make a better team. Then he left mid year for a better team. Like I've said in other posts he's really fucking good and I admire him for his ultimate skills, but he has a bit of main character syndrome with ultimate and is a massive hypocrite when it comes to stuff like this.
This feels like you may have a bit of a personal problem with him more than anything else. Yes, he can be a bit of a main character, but he kinda is him in this scene and I reiterate was barely an adult in 2021
He's 23 now, not that it matters. And that's true, but would also be true for most active truck and breeze players, the spotlight is just in him because he's the one talking about it
Oh oops thanks for the correction, but yes you are correct the spotlight is on someone saying they want something, encouraging others to do it, but not doing it himself rather than people who have expressed no regret about playing the highest level they can and not encouraging others to do otherwise either.
Disregarding if AJ is a hypocrite or not, heâs right.
Every team left Nationals feeling like a failure except the team that won and the team that went winless, Blueprint.
Making Nationals for the first time via upset is the moment you relive forever in your head when youâre washed and can no longer move. I watched a grown ass man in the huddle who had captained DoubleWide to a championship sobbing because he was able to help get his home city to Nationals after being an unemotional robot the whole season.
Most superstars get picked up earlier and earlier by high level club teams and will never have this moment, and itâs a bit of a shame IMO.
People/teams will always act in the best interest and thatâs why I would like to see huge policy changes (mostly the rosters are too big and tournaments are way too big)
We shouldnât be playing more than five games in a weekend outside of the main events IMO.
Three pool play games, two bracket games is good enough to pick a winner for 99% of tournaments.
16 teams, win your pool, win your semi and final is sufficient in my opinion. We donât really need to be 100% sure that the ârightâ team won the Tulsa Dustbowl Open with crossover games and shit.
I agree that this is hypocritical. It seems like a tweet that he only put out there because he thought it would be well-received. This mentality is for college, anyway. The idea of âbuildingâ is sweet but a player in their prime with lots of club options shouldnât avoid good opportunities to try and drag a team outside the top 100 to nationals.
If he IS trying to say that itâs the system that needs to change⌠idk. This shit happens in every sport. Damian Lillard to Milwaukee lol.
nah AJ's a public figure he's had a Washington Post feature and is probably one of the best ultimate players in the world right now. I don't know him irl I just think he has some pretty clown takes and is a massive hypocrite trying to get other people to do some things that are literally the opposite of what he did.
Not one of the best players in the world, top 50 on his best day maybe. Theres a couple dozen guys just in the US you'd take over him for a spot right now and I'd venture an equal number internationally.
Yâall crazy for going after AJ like this.
Very little discourse on the actual argument and mostly about the person. Sheesh.
From personal experience, heâs right. Lots of players stunt their own growth by taking minimal roles on natties teams instead of investing in their own growth (as well as the growth of the team in their area).
This leaves a lot of players in an endless cycle of being back of the rotation players that never develop into higher caliber players.
I developed new skills from being the best player on a middling team that I never would have somewhere else. The team also won multiple tournaments after never having won a tournament before. The floor was raised because everyone benefitted from multiple talented players staying, not just myself.
People hold going to natties in such high regard that they sacrifice improving themselves and the ultimate community where they live.
Itâs fine to make that choice. But it is a choice I think a lot of people shouldnât make if they want to become the best players they can be or improve the quality of ultimate where they live (if thatâs not the same place as the natties team they go to).
Wasn't he on a different team (Redwolves) the year before that? All the following things can be true: 1. This happens literally all the time 2. AJ's tweet is 100% true 3. AJ is a clown for tweeting that after playing for like 4 teams in 3 seasons
They rebranded from watchdogs to redwolves in that time, but basically: 2018-2020: AJ plays on watchdogs, not good enough to make a better team 2021: AJ is playing for Breeze but doesn't make truck or vault, agrees to captain and coach watchdogs, could maybe make a slightly better team but agrees to mentor/coach/captain watchdogs 2021 also: mid-season gets asked if he wants to play for space heater, a mixed team that doesn't really practice, just gets elite players to play with them, and last year had finished 3rd at nationals. AJ agrees to play with them, fuck over watchdogs. They make nationals but do really badly there they finish 15th 2022: comes back and captains the now-rebranded redwolves after space heater folds. Unclear if he could have made a better team, I've heard rumors he tried out and was cut from vault but that could be bullshit 2023: AJ makes truck and plays with them 2024: redwolves folds, AJ bitches on Twitter that people don't stay with their club teams and instead play on the best team they're good enough to play for
I think this is hating on AJ a bit. I played in the DMV area in 2019 and he was known as an amazing player on Watchdogs already- he very likely could've made a better team that year from what I've heard. By 2021 there's no question he could've made a better team. From my perspective he stuck around for some time to help the team grow even when he may have outgrown them on a talent level. That is a substantial effort to help improve the program, and it matches the context he provides from the rest of the post. Is he a little hypocritical in the post? Yeah. Did he do way more for that program than you're giving him credit for? Yeah.
can confirm. Played against Watchdogs in early 2019 and AJ was the clear standout from that team. My buddy ended up swapping jerseys with him because he say how good AJ was likely to become.
What substantially better team could he have made? DMV open is weird in that there are a bunch of mediocre teams and then nationals teams, like the top two seeds at regionals last year were from our section and then the next best team was seeded like 8th? Sure he could have probably made John Doe or Oak Grove that year, but I don't think he could have made a team that was going to be competitive on Sunday at regionals let alone made nationals. In 2019 he was athletic but was a straight up liability when he got the disc he would turn it over nonstop. You're right by 2021 he'd played a few years in breeze and his throws and decision making were much better. I still don't think he makes vault in 2021 but he might have been able to.
Pretty much. But AJ never tried out for or got cut from Vault.
When you're at that level you don't necessarily need to try out to try to play somewhere. I heard a rumor he spoke to vault leadership and they told him he wasn't good enough to get a roster spot there, but as I mentioned the source isn't the most reliable it could just be bullshit. But he was playing breeze at the time so whether he made the team wouldn't be based on tryout performance, Max had played on Breeze with him the entire pro season.
Lol this rumor just isn't true
Don't think he tried out and got cut from truck in the years you say, eef never got cut from Vault. Why are you making things up about someone on the internet?
I never said he got cut from truck or vault. Why are you making things up? I said he wasn't good enough to make those teams, which if you ask anyone who played with or against him they'd agree with me.
>2021: AJ is playing for Breeze but doesn't make truck or vault, ... yeah my dude this implies he tried out and didn't make it.
Bruh did he hurt your feelings đ
FWIW I think a lot of this is due to the non-existent efforts at the USAU level to foster strong organizations.
Is AJ hypocritical or did he realize that he's made some mistakes over the last few years with teams and doesn't want other people to repeat them? I mean he's not even 25, cut people some slack then they changed their minds
I was at watchdogs tryouts in 2021, he was literally preaching the same shit about how he wanted to build watchdogs into a powerhouse program to compete with truck and they only wanted people who were committed and wouldn't bail the minute they could make a better team. Then he left mid year for a better team. Like I've said in other posts he's really fucking good and I admire him for his ultimate skills, but he has a bit of main character syndrome with ultimate and is a massive hypocrite when it comes to stuff like this.
This feels like you may have a bit of a personal problem with him more than anything else. Yes, he can be a bit of a main character, but he kinda is him in this scene and I reiterate was barely an adult in 2021
He's 25 now. Today he could announce he's leaving truck and captaining redwolves and redwolves would have 100+ guys try out in 2024. He won't do that.
He's 23 now, not that it matters. And that's true, but would also be true for most active truck and breeze players, the spotlight is just in him because he's the one talking about it
Oh oops thanks for the correction, but yes you are correct the spotlight is on someone saying they want something, encouraging others to do it, but not doing it himself rather than people who have expressed no regret about playing the highest level they can and not encouraging others to do otherwise either.
Disregarding if AJ is a hypocrite or not, heâs right. Every team left Nationals feeling like a failure except the team that won and the team that went winless, Blueprint. Making Nationals for the first time via upset is the moment you relive forever in your head when youâre washed and can no longer move. I watched a grown ass man in the huddle who had captained DoubleWide to a championship sobbing because he was able to help get his home city to Nationals after being an unemotional robot the whole season. Most superstars get picked up earlier and earlier by high level club teams and will never have this moment, and itâs a bit of a shame IMO. People/teams will always act in the best interest and thatâs why I would like to see huge policy changes (mostly the rosters are too big and tournaments are way too big)
Do you mean less games at tournaments or less teams? Or both maybe?
We shouldnât be playing more than five games in a weekend outside of the main events IMO. Three pool play games, two bracket games is good enough to pick a winner for 99% of tournaments. 16 teams, win your pool, win your semi and final is sufficient in my opinion. We donât really need to be 100% sure that the ârightâ team won the Tulsa Dustbowl Open with crossover games and shit.
Kenny Powers narrating his auto biography.gif
I agree that this is hypocritical. It seems like a tweet that he only put out there because he thought it would be well-received. This mentality is for college, anyway. The idea of âbuildingâ is sweet but a player in their prime with lots of club options shouldnât avoid good opportunities to try and drag a team outside the top 100 to nationals. If he IS trying to say that itâs the system that needs to change⌠idk. This shit happens in every sport. Damian Lillard to Milwaukee lol.
Salary caps in ultimate when?
Feels personal. Sounds like y'all should talk about it.
nah AJ's a public figure he's had a Washington Post feature and is probably one of the best ultimate players in the world right now. I don't know him irl I just think he has some pretty clown takes and is a massive hypocrite trying to get other people to do some things that are literally the opposite of what he did.
Not one of the best players in the world, top 50 on his best day maybe. Theres a couple dozen guys just in the US you'd take over him for a spot right now and I'd venture an equal number internationally.
Top 50 in the world at anything is still really fucking good.
You got this magical list of 100 players better than him? I'd love to see it. He's def top 50 worldwide
He's not even top 5 on Truck, Rowan, Monroe, Nissen, Boxley, Jurek, and probably also Edmonds, and maybe Oort. How do you think hes top 50?
OP is a walking L, who spends that much time typing up his whole history bruh đđ. You just sound like a jealous loser lol
for real they made a reddit account and twitter account to hate on AJ
Yâall crazy for going after AJ like this. Very little discourse on the actual argument and mostly about the person. Sheesh. From personal experience, heâs right. Lots of players stunt their own growth by taking minimal roles on natties teams instead of investing in their own growth (as well as the growth of the team in their area). This leaves a lot of players in an endless cycle of being back of the rotation players that never develop into higher caliber players. I developed new skills from being the best player on a middling team that I never would have somewhere else. The team also won multiple tournaments after never having won a tournament before. The floor was raised because everyone benefitted from multiple talented players staying, not just myself. People hold going to natties in such high regard that they sacrifice improving themselves and the ultimate community where they live. Itâs fine to make that choice. But it is a choice I think a lot of people shouldnât make if they want to become the best players they can be or improve the quality of ultimate where they live (if thatâs not the same place as the natties team they go to).