September 17, 2005

• I broke my neck playing rugby. I hate the game. It's true.
• That's disturbingly common, HW. There are a number of paraplegics in NZ who've been put in wheelchairs by a bad tackle. But that's a lovely photo of our beloved Fitzy on the main page. It's a nice kiwi-centric site. Ah, Fitzy, you big teddy bear.
• I'll just note here that today was a very good day for watching rugby. England beat Australia, against all predictions. And France beat New Zealand, against most predictions. There's been a lot of shite spoken recently about the southern hemisphere's "unassailable" superiority over northern hemisphere teams. I hope today puts an end to that shite. At least we're finally getting around to acknowledging our "north - south" conflict. even if it has to start with rugby.
• It's a shame I've never followed the only sport England have been any good at these past few years.
• Well, I wouldn't say England have been any good since 2003. But they beat the Aussies today nevertheless. I'm still gobsmacked by this. Less so by the FR-NZ game. I just read again what I wrote above and realised that I'm somewhat stroppy drunk...
• Allez Les Bleus!
• Hey, it could have been worse...
• I'm certainly gobsmacked by the England-Oz thing. I'd expected an Australia-South Africa final (didn't expect the ABs to make it, honestly). Damn ref! If he hadn't missed that forward pass, which was as blatant as a brick to the face... If he hadn't sinbinned one of the ABs for a non-existent dangerous tackle... Grr. I wouldn't mind that they lost if it wasn't for the obvious errors by the referee.
• I'm gutted, but some Ozzie bet $5mil on the ABs. My only hope for redemption is the Fijians beating the Boks.
• I learned rugby when I was studying abroad as a junior in college. Then I came back and won a spot on the University of Arkansas team just from the street cred of having played in England--albeit for the 2nd XV of college whose 1st XV was none too good either. It's a brilliant game to watch, though, and I wish it were bigger in the US. Of course the fact that our national team is largely amateur and never does well hurts the sport's popularity...it's taken years and years to get people marginally interested in soccer around here, though that's changing. I hope Rugger is the next big thing. It's been great for me being able to download the World Cup matches, though, and now I'll be looking for regular season matches from around the world as well to get my fix. I've been impressed with Argentina, and they're my dark horse team--I think they could pull off an upset against SA, honestly. And I like France's style of play as well. Great stuff, great sport.
• Oh, and for rugby reading, I got this book as a gift from my English friends before I left the country in 92: Take the Ball and Run: a Rugby Anthology. I'm sure it's out of print, but there's some great stuff there. I've been re-reading it during the Cup.
• I loved how the Eagles got a ton of credit for having arrived on the world stage by losing to England by less than 25 points.
• Now now, let's not be catty. And for the record, they lost to England by 18 points. And unlike England, they were actually able to SCORE on South Africa. But let's not be catty.
• > and now I'll be looking for regular season matches > from around the world as well to get my fix. There are some very good resources for accessing archived matches. Let me know if you're interested in an invite.
• I am interested, roryk. I am WAAAAAAAAY interested. I don't even care who's playing. I just want to watch.
• Check your gmail account.
• What's going on here? Very shifty!
• I'll have to once I'm home. Thanks, tho!
• Jaysus H. on a crutch. What the hell England? The team does nothing for four years then suddenly makes it to the finals of the RWC? I can only hope the pumas beat the boks tomorrow night; that'd make for an interesting final.
• That. Was. Awesome.
• That. Was. Not. Worth. The. Price. Of. Admission.
• How much did you pay? It wasn't pretty, but I thought it was quite exciting.
• I am continuing to ignore England, as its seems to be helping.
• > How much did you pay? I didn't pay. I was thinking about the unfortunate Aussies and Kiwis who'd already bought their tickets and hung around in the expectation of at least a decent match. I thought the game was interesting for supporters but not for the quality of play. *Still bitter over Ireland's performance.*
• A rugby-mad parrot called Severiano Ballesteros has learned to chant for his favourite team - and does it with a Gloucester accent.
• It's vengeance time in both the final and the consolation game. Can France prove Argentina's opening win was a fluke, or the Pumas that it wasn't? Can England put points on the board this time? Can the Boks be the only team to live up to expectations and take the cup? I won't know till Tuesday (voices carry) since I'll be visiting in-laws and away from broadband. Unless of course the Arkansas paper carries an item about it. HA!
• I'm travelling to the U.S. tomorrow to visit in-laws but someone has been assigned to bring me to something called a "sport bar" on Saturday afternoon. It's likely I'll miss the Fr-Arg game.
• Gloucester accents are one of the nicer English ones. I managed to turn on the telly while England were winning the footy last night only to see them chuck it away, so I shan't watch the rugby and they'll win.
• Having watched the video, I couldn't help thinking of my occasional experience down in the West Country of nice old ladies talking to you in that charming accent (the way it rises at the end even when it's not a question) and then saying something really unexpected and shocking, like "but then you can't trust those black people, can you?" Always caught you on the hop.
• It's likely I'll miss the Fr-Arg game. In an American sports bar? That's pretty much a guar-an-tee, my friend.
• If anyone is confused as to what all the excitement is about, Auntie Beeb brings you All you need to know about rugby
• I never knew before what caused cauliflower ears...
• Sorta related to the World Cup: Brits less popular after Europeans get to know them.
• They'll like me even less when I smack 'em in the chops, the cheeky foreign gits! I mean, oh dear, what a shame. We must work harder to build constructive partnerships with our European cousins.
• Well, a respectable defence of the title, anyway. And jolly well done to all the losers.
• Rugby strip show caught on video