The New Ultimate Time

By the time I got involved with serious ultimate, Ultimate Time was mostly a thing of the past. Games start (pretty much) on time these days, and tournaments don't have to adjust round times as they go. The "new" Ultimate Time relates more to increasingly professionalized aspects of ultimate. Here I am talking about Sockeye, the UPA, and Ultivillage.
Sockeye has begun to present itself as a professional style team. They have advertising on their uniforms, they put their numbers on the front of their jerseys as well as their back to increase recognition, they self cover their own team news, and even sell team merchandise online. They've also begun to make promises that they haven't come through on (I promising I am not bashing them or any others, just pointing out an observation I've made). I consider myself to be one of the biggest ultimate fans out there, so it was with great anticipation that I awaited the news about who made the team and who was cut: "Personnel decisions will be made immediately after play ends on Sunday. The full 2008 roster should be announced by Tuesday, June 3rd" (From the Sockeye website).
The UPA undertook its most ambitious project since I've been aware of them with their Revolution. Of course, the conclusions of their survey were not released any time close to the deadline announced by the UPA. This is the most troubling of my three examples, because they are only organization that is expected to serve an audience well, as an organizing body.
Ultivillage has made numerous promises of "coverage of ___ will begin ___," and frequently doesn't follow through with those promises. The great thing about Ultivillage, though, is that you will eventually get what you pay for, no matter the timing. And it was great to see the same-day coverage Rob provided at college nationals.
I just want to re-iterate that despite these timing shortcomings, I am a huge supporter of all three of these groups, and wish them the best (along with a little punctuality!).