In science, the term Brownian motion refers to the random movement of tiny particles suspended in a liquid. On College Hill, however, Brownian Motion is the name of Brown's men's club ultimate Frisbee team - and the defending national champions.
Saturday afternoon was a perfect spring day and the Main Green was alive with activity. Some students tossed a football, some swung plastic bats at a wiffle ball and others lounged in the grass, soaking up the sunshine.
A small black lab, napping in the middle of the field, was disrupted from his slumber by a flash of orange across the sky above his head. A young man on the east side of the grass had lobbed a Frisbee to his friend across the way, right over the dozing dog.
"When I tell people I play ultimate Frisbee, a lot of the time I hear, 'Oh is that the sport with the dogs?'" Reid Hopkins '06 said, laughing. "They think it's when you train a dog to catch things while doing flips and jumps."
While the majority of the student body used the exceptionally warm weekend to recharge and relax in various sunny spots on College Hill, Hopkins and the rest of the men's ultimate Frisbee team were 100 miles to the west, competing against the top New England squads at the Yale Cup. The men of Brownian Motion took second overall at the two-day, eight-game tournament, posting a 6-2 record for the weekend.
Brownian Motion, or B-Mo, entered the weekend's competition with a much less impressive record than would be expected of the squad that ended last year as the top team in the country. However, graduation losses, especially that of national MVP Josh Ziperstein '05, has proven to be a tough obstacle early in 2006. Brown entered the tournament at sixth-seed.
Sixth place would not satisfy Brown, and B-Mo, under the direction of co-captains Hopkins and Colin Mahoney '07, reestablished itself as a team to watch in the New England section by snatching silver.
Brown trounced formidable opponents throughout the tournament's early rounds, including third-seed Tufts (13-11), Boston University (12-7), Connecticut College (13-6), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (13-3) and Princeton (13-6).
The most impressive win came in the semi-final round. B-Mo beat perennial rival and top seed Harvard in a dramatic, come-from-behind victory.
Harvard came out of the gates ready to dominate the contest, with an aggressive playing style matching Brown's in the tournament's early rounds. At the end of the first half, Harvard's men led B-Mo 8-6, and continued the momentum early in the second to make it 10-7.
Brown called a quick timeout to regroup and refocus, leading to two back-to-back points for B-Mo to bring the squad within one at 10-9. But Harvard refused to go without a fight and earned the next pull and scored again. Up 11-9, the Harvard men needed only one point to secure the win.
"We followed with an (offensive) line goal and a break, tying the game at 11," wrote Jonathan Greer '04 MD '08 in an e-mail newsletter. "We pulled to Harvard and what follows was actually quite amazing. Ben Saper '07 had a huge (defensive play) followed by Colin Mahoney's ridiculous grab in the end zone over (Harvard's) Jack Marsh. With that grab, we established ourselves as a serious threat to make nationals this year."
Though Brown lost to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst 15-7 in the final round of the Yale Cup, the men of B-Mo believe the performance is perfect momentum going into next weekend's regional competition.
"It was epic ... going on a 5-1 run and eventually winning on double game point 12-11," Reid said.
The team, which relies heavily on donations from supporters to attend such tournaments, organizes and provides its own transportation and lodging on trips. The team does not recruit players from high school, and most of the players on B-Mo picked up the sport at college. But the captains think the necessary dedication and sacrifices have helped the team hit new levels of success in the past few years.
"It attracts a certain type of person. There's no scholarship, nothing forcing you to play," Hopkins said. "It takes passion and intensity. Colin and I basically run the team, but the more you invest, the more you care."
The ultimate Frisbee team will continue its quest to defend its national title next weekend at the Ultimate Players Association Sectional Championships. The men will need to advance from the competitive New England section to Northeast Regionals to keep the dream alive.
And back on the Main Green, one bright pink disc wobbled through the air, nose-diving long before reaching the intended receiver on three successive attempts.
"The hardest part is having to chastise myself and hold myself back from going over and showing them how to throw it right," Hopkins said, laughing.
"But people are enjoying doing what we enjoy doing," Mahoney added. "They are having fun, and that's what this is about."
