Meat, Rugby, More Meat, More Rugby...

As luck would have it, I have a few days off work before I have my 50th birthday on Monday.

The first part of my half-century birthday weekend was spent with my lovely, red-headed wife on Friday night. She made reservations at Murray's Steak House-an institution in my home town of Minneapolis. http://murraysrestaurant.com/  Every aspect of the meal was top flight: Great Australian wines, a "butter-knife" steak that was expertly grilled with sauteed onions, mushrooms and au gratin potatoes. It was fine way to start the weekend out.

On Saturday, my brother Bill, my son Ian and my grand son Duncan accompanied me to Columbia Park in North East Minneapolis to catch a key rugby match between Metropolis and the Chicago Lions. It was a match that Metropolis had to win to keep it's slim play-off hopes alive. The match was played on a gorgeous fall afternoon in Minneapolis. Brilliant sunshine, leaves at their peak color and temps in the low 60's put a tone of optimism in the air...

Metropolis put themselves into a 14-0 hole. They were able to score a converted try to make it 14-7, but then Chicago put it into overdrive to go up 31-7 at half time. Metropolis did not help their cause with some poor tacking and some missed passes. They played a much better second half, but were not able to overcome their poor first half, losing 36-24. Metropolis was able to match up well in the scrum, but you just cannot spot any team that kind of lead and hope to overcome a 24 point deficit against a decent team.

After the game, we were all pretty hungry. It had been quite some time since I had eaten a White Castle Hamburger, and some comfort food seemed to be just the ticket.  http://www.whitecastle.com/
White Castle burgers are small, square and grilled with onions. They go by the nickname of "Sliders". They are not located in all parts of the US, but you can find them in places like New Jersey, New York, Chicago, Ohio...and the Twin Cities. I have fond memories of my mom taking me to the White Castle in North East Minneapolis when I was a kid. All of us were pretty hungry, so that meant making sure we had enough food after working up an appetite(my grandson Duncan and my son Ian) watching other people being physically active...

After our refueling at White Castle. It was time to let Duncan try to have a nap, then we were joined by Ian's friend Travis, and we took the bus(My brother Bill with Ian and Duncan) from near Ian's place in Saint Paul over to the TCF stadium on the campus of the University of Minnesota to catch the University of Minnesota Men's Rugby team take on the University of Nebraska Rugby Club...

The rugby match between Minnesota and Nebraska was a fundraiser for the U of M rugby club. There was a nice crowd already in place. We just got to our seats and settled in to watch the match.

The University of Minnesota(in the gold) simply put a beat-down on the Cornhuskers. The beat the huskers in the forward play of scrums and line-outs...

As good as the forward play was by the Gopher's, their back play was sublime-particularly their scrum half and their inside halves. I got a shot of their 8 man dishing to the scrum half just as he was taking off on what would be a 60 yard scamper for a try...

The 68-19 win by the Gophers was a tonic for long-suffering Minnesota sports fans this fall, who have seen the Twins(baseball) eliminated by the Yankees, the Vikings(American Football) at 1-3, the Minnesota Wild (Ice Hockey) at 1-3 and the University of Minnesota football team at 1-5(Losing to 1-AA University of South Dakota)

The win by Minnesota in front of a nice crowd would get some much needed funds for the rugby program, and put a smile on everybody's face, on what is shaking up to be a great weekend.

Random Rugby Thoughts for 10-10-10

We have had gorgeous weather in Minneapolis the past week. I have been able to take a boat cruise with my wife on the Mississippi River to see the fall colors and I have been able to walk my dogs Basil and Buddha to enjoy the fall foliage...

Yesterday, my brother Bill and I went and watched the Metropolis DIII side play the Minneapolis Mayhem-the local gay-centric rugby club. It was going to figure to be Christians Vs. lions stuff, and it was. 110-0 for Metropolis. To be honest, when you see a match that is that one-sided, you really feel bad for the other team. It's one thing to lose, but when you are thoroughly and utterly humiliated, it's tough to get anything out of a game like that. The Mayhem did not have the athletes or many people who knew how to play. Metropolis did take a lot of it's top players out of the game 10 minutes in and also half time. I felt bad that I did not get a chance to go to the social. I had a chance to meet some of the Mayhem players when I volunteered at the Bingham Cup back in June. Nice guys...I certainly did not wish that kind of a beat-down on them.

The Metropolis DI side lost a second game in a month to Palmer down in Davenport, Iowa. Metropolis is set to host the Upper Midwest Division I rugby championship during the first weekend in November. If we don't win our last couple of games, we may be hosting a tournament in which we won't be playing.    Augie and his guys have their work cut out for them.

Two big wins on Sunday for French sides in the Heineken Cup. Biarritz showed that their trip to the Heineken Cup finals last June was no fluke by going to Bath to get a 12-11 win. The match that everybody was waiting for all weekend was a good one. Toulouse just ground out a tough 19-18 win at home against London Wasps. The London side actually had a shot to go ahead in the 78th minute, but the penalty attempt sailed wide, and Guy Noves' men held on for the win. Still, Wasps had to feel good about almost snatching a win, and a bonus point loss was not bad. London will have to fancy their chances when they get Toulouse in London. I am curious to see if such a high profile match will make Wasps think about hosting the match at Twickenham.

I have to head off to work. Hope your 10-10-10 goes well-have a favorite beer and enjoy the fall (or the spring for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere).

Last Thoughts on Aspen Ruggerfest-Really

In the television comedy Cheers, there was a character named Cliff Clavin, who was an insufferable know-it-all. Cliff could usually be found at the bar drinking beers(While still in his US Postal worker uniform) with Norm. One of the standing jokes in the show is that after a trip to Florida, Cliff spent many episodes trying to share tales of his Sunshine-State trip-that nobody really wanted to hear.

With that in mind, this will be my last posting about the Aspen Ruggerfest-it's been a couple of weeks since I came back from Colorado, and it's time to move on, and here are my Aspen-related FINAL thoughts:

 Aspen may be the most dog friendly city I have seen in the US. Many of the outdoor cafes and bars had dog bowls to give your dog a drink, and you could chain your dog up and socialize with Fido at your feet. There was everything from purse dogs to really huge dogs like St. Bernard's and Newfoundlands.

Metropolis Old Boy Thor may be the most gifted American-born fly half I have ever seen. He may be pushing 50, but his sleight of hand and no-look passes would make Magic Johnson jealous. It's true that Joe Kiley put in a man of the match performance in the over 45 final for the combined Cardinals/Metropolis?OL's team, but Thor was just able to do ridiculous things with the ball-both in hand and his kicking game to help put them in a position to win.

There is something about a bunch of guys wearing cow suits that just make people smile and makes them want to have their picture taken-and in some cases, tweek the teets of the Holstein-clad ruggers..

You have to hand it to the English. Even by rugby standards, when you have a party, nobody knows as many good rugby songs as English Ruggers. We were lucky to have several members of the Old Laurentian Rugby Club from Rugby England http://www.oldlaurentianrfc.co.uk/join us in Aspen. They are just a great bunch of guys, and on Saturday, they were in fine voice, as witnessed by Deano....

One of the things that strikes me about the children of rugby players, is that they seem very precocious. They seem very comfortable in the company of adults. I've noticed that with the kids of some of my Metropolis teammates, but I had a good conversation with some kids whose dad/uncle played for Aspen. I really liked the jaunty fedora that the one little guy wore...

As great as the rugby action was...

It was tough to beat the great vistas of the mountains out in Colorado....

All in all, a good time was had by all.

I cannot thank my wife and daughter enough for this early 50th Birthday present. It was simply a fantastic trip and experience.

Aspen Part 4: Adventures in the Hot Tub

Our last loss against the Clowns on Friday afternoon meant that our rugby in Aspen was finished.  What this meant was that we had the rest of the weekend to have fun and take in the beautiful scenery.

It also meant that me and my mates in room 302A needed to take some Ibuprofen and take advantage of the hot tub at the Durant Condos for our associated aches and pains inflicted on our middle-aged bodies. On Saturday night, we sauntered down to the hot tub, where we were joined by some members of the Omaha GOATS. One of the GOATS players, Doug was actually a member of the Des Moines, Iowa rugby club who brought his wife Colette down to join the relaxing atmosphere in the hot tub on a beautiful evening.

We were to find out, that not all of the action in Aspen that weekend was going to be taking place on the pitch.

When you have rugby players, beer and a hot tub, it can get loud. Well, we got loud enough for a resident of the condos to come down and ask to quiet down. We invited her to join us...she paused and looked at us, and when she realized that we were sincere with our invitation, she came down to join us at the hot tub.

Her name was Annie. I am going to guess that she was in her mid 70's. She had just finished a long drive from Lake Havasu, Arizona to Aspen that day. She brought some wine down with her as her beverage of choice.  We all had a nice chat. When Annie was ready to leave, my back was turned to her, and then I heard Colette-also a Registered Nurse-call out "Look out!" I turned my head just in time for Annie to fall backwards into the hot tub. Colette was on her in a flash. Doug and I helped Colette to get Annie out of the hot tub. She had swallowed some water, and had been disoriented and flat on her back in the water. She was not unlike a turtle that had flipped over on its back and not able to right itself.

Colette has a lot of geriatric experience and did a quick assessment of Annie. She had been having some other fainting/falling episodes. (Hopefully, Annie went back to her doctor to get checked out to see if this was a case of simple dehydration, or if she was having some TIA or 'mini-stroke' symptoms, or if she was having sinus issues) Colette did her utmost to prevail upon Annie to get in and see her Doctor on Monday. One thing for sure, if Annie had been all alone and had passed out in the Hot Tub, she might have drowned. A  fun night turned serious in a big hurry. One of the ruggers escorted Annie up to her place to make sure she got back to her place in one piece.

 One thing was for sure: Doug's wife Colette is a keeper. Good looking(The picture above does not do her justice), smart, great sense of humor and cool under fire. I think Annie and everybody else in the hot tub was glad Colette was there, too.

Aspen Part 3: Babes, Cows and John Eales

Aspen, Colorado is a place where there is a whole lot of money. If you follow the money, This usually leads to a healthy mix of good looking women. Add to this mix the wives, girlfriends and female fans of oval ball, well, the women watching in Aspen was almost as good as the rugby:

One of the other Metropolis RFC Aspen Ruggerfest traditions has been players dressing up as cows on the last day of the tournament. They parade from their hotel rooms and condos to make an appearance at Wagner Park, where all of Sunday's finals are held. The Cows make their appearance and "graze" on the pitch during half time of the open final. My roomies in Aspen all had their own cow outfits. As I did not have one, John Eichten was nice enough to at least lend me his cow hat for Sunday's fun. Mike even had a cow pattern blazer for the weekend. The over 45 team that had Metropolis, Virginia Cardinal and Old Laurentian Old Boys had cow pattern jersey's for the final(which they won-8-3 with a man-of-the-match performance from "Super Joe" Kiley)

One of my roomates, Dave, or "Double D", had an Elvis Cow costume made up. He had a great time getting his picture taken by tourists and spectators, like the really nice looking MILF in the above shot.

For a lot of the Metropolis Old Boys, the passing of Matt Comstock back in the spring gave an awful lot of us a great deal of resolve in coming to Aspen. He really relished playing, being a part of the cow parade and partying in Aspen. His sudden death made a lot of us realize that you get just one shot at this life, and you have to take advantage of it. I know for me, Aspen was a good goal to help keep me going to the gym to stay in some semblance of playing shape.

One extra benefit of going to Aspen was that I had a chance to meet and talk with a real legend of the game: former Australian Wallaby captain, John Eales-who still looks really, really fit:

I also had a chance to speak with former USA Eagles captain, Brian Vizard.  The only thing that is greater than meeting an athlete whom you admire, is that when you meet them, you find out that they are also really nice people. I don't know if he ever imagined having a bunch of American rugby fans wanting to speak with him and take his picture, but he could not have been nicer. My only regret is that I was so dumbfounded by being able to speak with and get my picture taken with John Eales is that I forgot to remove my sunglasses and my cow hat.

I would encourage any rugby player or fan to try to make it to the Aspen Ruggerfest at least once. You have great rugby, fantastic people-watching, and a fun atmosphere all played out in the most beautiful venue you will ever see:

Aspen Part 2: Send in The Clowns

After going 0-2 without scoring a try against Kansas City and the Harlequins, our combined team of OL's, Metropolis and Omaha GOATS Old Boys had to play it's third, and final game against a bunch of Clowns. That's not meant to be a mean-spirited comment, we REALLY did have to play the Clowns in our last game on Friday. http://clownrugby.com/

We started off well against the Clowns. We had decent pressure on them, and our forward play was better.  I was feeling like I was adapting better and actually making it to some rucks(me with the semi-shaved head rucking a clown). Against KC, my feet felt like I was running in quicksand. At least in the last couple of matches, I was able to at least get to the breakdown, and I felt stronger in the scrum.

We at least scored a try in this game. Kyle, one of the Metropolis Old Boys put the ball down to at least salvage some pride.

The game did have one incident that was maybe the grossest thing I have seen on a rugby  pitch. Towards the end of the game, there was a scrum where the Clown tight head prop and I banged heads, giving me a nice cut on my right ear. This left a large amount of blood on the side of the face of my fellow prop. The young referee wanted to blood bin the other prop, when the hooker said "Don't worry, sir...I'll take care of it!" At this point the hooker grabbed the prop and licked the blood off his face. There was a loud moan of disgust from players on the field, the benches and the spectators at the Rio Grande field. Play did continue until the ref blew his whistle, which meant that our combined side was 0-3 and that our rugby was done for the rest of Ruggerfest.

I had a chance to chat with the Clowns after the game(the other prop to the left of me, the blood-thirsty hooker is shirtless kneeling)-like most people in the sport, they were nice guys, and they told me that one of their mates was going to be getting married on the Wagner Field pitch at the end of all of the rugby on Friday night. A rugby/clown wedding...it sounded so different, that I had to check this out.

After an afternoon of re-hydrating and taking some Ibuprofen for my aches and pains, I went down to the Wagner Field, and sure enough, there were several Clowns players, the kilt-clad preacher and the bride and groom. It was disturbing and romantic all at the same time...

It takes a special woman to be married to a rugger. I know my lovely red-headed bride has been very supportive of me over the last 5 years.  For a woman to sign on to be married to a rugger and a Clown, well, she has to be a good sport.

In my next posting, I will talk about the Running of the Cows at Aspen and my brush with rugby royalty.

Aspen Report Part I: Is it Oxygen Debt or Old Age?

I can finally write about my Aspen Ruggerfest experience. I just got back home to Minnesota after 4 mostly fun-filled days in the Rocky Mountains. I was lucky to have 4 Metropolis Old Boy room-mates who are really nice guys. When you room with people, you never know quite how it is going to go. In my case, sharing a condo with Bruce(to my left), Dave, Mike and John worked out very, very well with our Condo that had a million dollar view, as you can see from above.


On Thursday, I had shared a drive from the Denver Airport with Eric and Kyle to Aspen. In our quintet, I was the first person to make it to the Durant Condo and check in. I had to drag my bags and my prop-shaped physique up the 3 flights of stairs. I could not believe how winded I was doing that. There is a big difference in activity done at sea level and at over 8,000 feet. I don't mind saying that I was more than level nervous about Friday's games. We would have to finish in the top 2 of our pool to play rugby on Sunday.

After a good night sleep, it was off to play Kansas City in our first game on Friday.  I should explain that for the over 35 division, we were a mix of Omaha Goats, Metropolis, and a couple of Old Laurentians from Rugby, England. We knew Kansas City was going to be tough. The game ended up being harder than I even imagined. Their huge, strong, organized pack put a serious beat-down on us. There were a couple of scrums where I had the disquieting sensation of being literally off the ground. I cannot think of any game I have ever played where took such a physical beating at prop. It was the perfect combination of altitude, middle-age and playing very good opposition. We had a little over an hour from that beat-down to get ready for our game against Harlequins. We still did not score any tries, but I felt that at least I was having some success in the scrum(that's me on the left with the short hairdo)

We lost again against Harlequins, and were shut out again. In spite of the pain and fatigue, I have to say that I don't think I will ever play at a more beautiful venue than in Aspen...

After two losses on Friday, we had one more game to try to salvage some honor, or at least score a try. It was time to literally send in the Clowns-and that will be my subject for my next entry.