2015 Rugby World Cup Tickets: Good News and Bad News

Looking forward to meeting up with other Scotland fans in Newcastle.

It is 3:40 AM in Los Angeles. I woke up at 1:50 AM, along with my travel partner to Rugby World Cups-my wife (AKA "Da Redhead") as we sat on idle for over an hour to access the Rugby World Cup site to try get any type of tickets for a match or matches for next year's Rugby World Cup in England, as we got shut out a few weeks back in our bidding process to get match tickets. Remaining tickets for matches were put on sail at 10 AM GMT, or 2 AM my time.

After being on hold for the web site, because of the volume of other fans of the oval ball trying to buy tickets, I first tried to get any tickets for USA matches. I got shut out, there were no more tickets to be had for any USA Eagle matches. I looked up Scotland as a second choice, and found there were some tickets left for the October 10th match at St. James' Park in Newcastle for Scotland and Samoa. After keying in my information, and 169 Pounds Sterling(265 American Dollars) later, I got my confirmation that I got my tickets for my wife and I to see Vern Cotter's re-vamped Scottish side to take on crowd favorites Samoa.

I am bit disappointed that I got shut out trying to see the USA Eagles play, but I am thankful to at least see ANY match at the Rugby World Cup.

The good news is that now I can start planning our trip to the UK next fall in earnest.

I am a little irritated with this entire process, and why couldn't the ticket buying process for this Rugby World Cup be as straight forward as in 2007 and 2011?

At this point, I have more pressing matters...like going back to bed to get some sleep as I have to be up at 6:45 AM so that I can get ready for work.

A Shameless Plug to End Epilepsy

With some fellow members of my Neurology Clinic at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles

http://efgla.convio.net/site/TR/Events/General?px=1042922&pg=personal&fr_id=1050
As the title of my blog would indicate, I am a Registered Nurse in the Neurology Clinic at Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles. I work with kids with neurological ailments like Muscular Dystrophy, Multiple Sclerosis, and headaches-but by far and away, about 3/4 of our clientele are kids who suffer from Epilepsy.

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Epilepsy is the world’s most common, serious brain disorder. Seizures steal moments and memories, can change lives, impact development, affect learning and can even result in death. There is no cure.



For the reasons above and many more, I am participating in the Walk to End Epilepsy on Sunday, November 16, 2014 at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena to join in the fight to END EPILEPSY.



Please support my efforts by making a donation. Your involvement provides care, advocacy and education today while investing in research and hope for tomorrow.



Your contribution makes a difference. Thank you!

All Blacks-USA Eagles in Chicago: All Black and Blue

The Largest crowd to ever see a rugby game in the USA this past weekend:65,000 at Soldier Field to see the USA-All Blacks.

It was a blustery day at Soldier Field.

The All Blacks doing the Haka. One of the most Iconic things in all of sport.

Sweet Home Chicago - Less than 48 Hours to go before I leave for Chicago.

I am very keen for rugby, ribs and Pizza this weekend as I anticipate Saturday's match between the All Blacks and the USA Eagles.


As I sit here packing on Tuesday night, less than 48 hours before I leave on Thursday for Chicago, I could not help but to think of the song "Sweet Home Chicago." It has a lot of meanings for me. I am married to a woman who grew up on the South Side of Chicago, by 107th and Western-You cannot swing a cat without hitting an Irish pub by where my wife grew up. I lived in the Chicago area as a kid from 1971-75 and as a family, my wife and my kids and I lived with my in laws for almost two years on the South Side. I have found out that some very good friends of mine from the New Mexico rugby community, Wally Minoli, Chee and Timaris Montano will be in Chicago for the game. Several members of the Metropolis RFC from Minnesota, my first club, will be in Chicago as well.

In the midst of taking in the rugby, it will be great to catch up with old friends, and also introducing my travel mate and frequent partner in watching sporting events, Tom Daniels to areas I know in the Windy City.

It's a city that may have some of it's issues, but I will always have a warm spot in my heart for Chicago for a variety of reasons-none the least of which is that Chicagoans are not fair weather fans-they live and die with their teams, and also the food is fantastic. Particularly ribs, deep dish pizza, the Italian Roast beef sandwich and Portillo's hot dogs.

I can hardly wait.

2015 Rugby World Cup Tickets: Thanks for Nothing!

I have been on pins and needles waiting to hear word of my bid for tickets for next years Rugby World Cup that I applied for at the beginning of the month. I have not been very happy with this process compared to the very straight forward process in obtaining tickets for the Rugby World Cups in France and New Zealand. I smelled a rat with the process of bidding-and today I got an email that confirmed that something is rotten with the "Bidding Process" for tickets:

Your Rugby World Cup 2015 Ticket Application  Dear Steve Adams We are writing to let you know that your application for tickets to Rugby World Cup 2015 has not been successful. We received very strong demand for tickets and the matches which you applied for were balloted. Remaining tickets will go back on sale in November and to show our appreciation for your support of the tournament we will be inviting you to be part of a priority sale. We will be in touch with you over the next couple of weeks to confirm all details. Thank you again for taking the time to submit your application and if you have any further questions please visit our Frequently Asked Questions. Kind regards Rugby World Cup 2015 Ticketing Team Well, this just sucked. The matches that I bid for were for Scotland-USA and Italy-Canada in Leeds, and Wales-Fiji in Cardiff. You cannot tell me that there was that much demand for a ticket for Italy and Canada. Interesting to note that there are a ton of tickets available now on secondary sites, like Stub Hub. I thought that this process was supposed to prevent this sort of thing from happening. I am so disgusted with the whole thing, that I think I will just boycott the whole thing and just go to Scotland and Northern Wales. My buddy Tom got a similar message on the matches that he bid on too. It takes a lot to alienate two huge rugby fans like my buddy Tom and me, but the ticketing people at Rugby World Cup 2015 have us in a really piss poor mood.

54

Hard to believe I am now in my mid-fifities- I keep wondering when I am going to grow up?

My wife and Grandson being goofy at the USS Iowa Tour in Long Beach, California.

I have had several phone calls today and several happy birthday wishes.

So much has happened since I started blogging back in 2007: I survived a pulmonary embolism, I became a grandfather(Duncan is 6 now), I have been to two rugby World Cups, have been able to travel with my wife to some pretty cool places like Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, France, England, Italy, Thailand, Texas, New Mexico, the East Coast and out here to California. My wife suffered a head injury that she has been able to have enough improvement to where she is back working. I have been able to still get a run in at the occasional rugby game and I just tried competing in my first Highland Games last weekend.

Me, Da Redhead and our daughter in front of Children's Hosptial-Los Angeles.

I'm very thankful to be in great health, to have a wonderful wife, to have fantastic adult children

With my son and grandson at the Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota.

and a wonderful grandson. If I drop dead tomorrow, I have no regrets, but to borrow a line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, "I'm not dead yet."

With Tom Daniels at the USA-Uruguay RWC qualifier-where the Eagles punched their  ticket to England for the 2015 RWC.

RWC QUALIFICATION: Uruguay v Russia Highlights

I was glad to see Uruguay make it to the Rugby World Cup after winning the home and away series against Russia. I found match highlights from the return leg in Montevideo. You can say what you want about Latin American Sports Commentators, but they do not keep the stiff upper lip-or ANY hint of neutrality when their team is playing well. Even if you don't understand Spanish, You have to appreciate how happy these Uruguayan announcers are that the Teros punched their ticket to go to the orgy of rugby, otherwise known as the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

I thought their fans were very nice in Atlanta, when the USA beat them in the second game to qualify. I was really hoping to see Uruguay go through. A whole lot of Tero fans showed up in Atlanta, and they were in full voice. In looking at the video, it was nice to see them pack the stadium in Montevideo.

See you in England!

Trying the Scottish Highland Games: Maybe Tougher Than Rugby

Ok, I'm not afraid of a challenge. I started playing rugby when I was in my mid-forties.  I have met a lot of great people through the sport, and it gives me a good reason to keep hitting the weights and the cross-trainer: So I don't get killed when the odd old-boys game pops up, or if the Pasadena B side needs a spare prop.

Well, a week before my 54th birthday, I had to try something else completely different: Participating in the over 50 division at the Seaside Highland Games and Scottish Festival this past weekend in Ventura, California. I have to admit two days after competing, I am probably more sore than after some rugby games. I will say that my fellow competitors could not have been nicer or more supportive. It reminded me a great deal how some of the guys with Metropolis RFC back in Minnesota and how much they took a 45 year old guy under their wing back in 2006, and showed a great deal of patience in trying to teach me the game.

As you can see in the picture below, I was competing with some BIG guys. I was probably the smallest guy in the group. I confess that I could not get a good handle and get a decent toss in on trying to throw the caber. I had never had a chance to practice, and I can see this is going to take more practice. The hard part is going to be finding a spare phone poll lying around. I was relieved that I did not kill anybody in the hammer toss, but I was happy I was able to at least get a couple of tosses that were successful in the weight over bar. I was able to at least get one toss of the 44 pound weight over the 10 foot mark, and just missed 11 feet. Well below the 16 feet that won it.

I will say that the guys who do the Scottish heavy athletics are very nice guys-they reminded me a great deal of the rugby community. Now, as I finish writing this, I only have one thing on my mind: Some Tylenol and some sleep.

With some of my fellow 50 and over contestants at the Seaside Highland Games at Ventura, California.

Throwing the 44 pound weight over the bar.

On the bright side, at least I did not kill anybody in the hammer throw....

Ruggerfest, a Car Accident and a Head Injury: How My Wife and I ended up in Los Angeles

While I was on Facebook the other day, I saw some pictures posted of a couple of Metropolis RFC Old Boys at Ruggerfest in Aspen, Colorado.  In looking at the pictures of Pedro and Super Joe, it got me to thinking about when I was out at Ruggerfest 4 years ago

At the Aspen Ruggerfest in 2010.

, and what a bittersweet weekend it was, and how the events of that weekend lead me to where I am writing this posting: Los Angeles, California.

While I was having a good time in Aspen, my wife, AKA, "Da Redhead" was going meet some of her friends with a Twins Cities group of Star War Aficionados at the Birthday party for a child with cancer who was hoping to see some Star Wars Characters. (My wife has costumes as an Imperial Officer and a Jedi)

Da Redhead in her Jedi Robe welding a light saber

My wife never made it.

While in route to the party, she was at a stop light on Highway 169 in Maple Grove, Minnesota. A driver in an SUV did not notice my wife stopped at the light in our minivan. His car hit my wife's car at about 55 miles an hour, it knocked loose all the seats in the back of the minivan, and my wife got tagged in the head. She was brought to the hospital via Ambulance, treated and released. Somehow during the assessment by paramedics and the ER doctors, they missed the symptoms of head injury. My wife had really no other visible marks. She told me about the accident by phone. She sounded very tired and somewhat vague about the accident.  The accident was on Saturday. I got home late Sunday and to be honest, we did not say much to each other before we went to bed, because we were both pretty exhausted.

On Monday morning, I got up-before my wife, which does not happen very often. When she got up and was starting to get ready for work and she was talking to me, I was dumbstruck: My wife was making absolutely no sense in what she was talking about. She was speaking random words, and was not able to really keep track of conversation. As a nurse who has worked in neurology and spinal cord units, I was very concerned about symptoms of head injury and concussion-and shocked that nobody really noticed this on Saturday. My only explanation is that in the time after the accident, she might have had some inflammation of the brain that was making the symptoms finally surface. Needless to say, I brought my wife over to the emergency room to get assessed again, where they gave her the diagnosis of a concussion from a closed head injury.

In the meantime, It became apparent that the affects from the head injury were going to keep my wife from working in her job as a funeral director. It's a job where you have to have an eye for detail and multi-task. My wife was in no condition to do her job. She was still officially on the books at work, but the funeral home she was working at needed to hire another director. 

With a head injury, there is no exact time table of when you are going to be healthy and functional.  Many times, you have to deal with "The New Normal". 

At the time, I was working as a nurse on a spinal cord unit at the VA in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I liked  my job and I liked my co-workers, but here I had a wife who was now unable to work and the brutal Minnesota winter was going to approach very soon…The thought of my brain-injured, unemployed wife being homebound in the long Minnesota winter was more than I could bear. I did a little research and found out that the VA health system has a travel nurse corps, to do temporary assignments at VA Medical centers throughout the USA and Puerto Rico. One day I discussed the topic with my wife and I said "Sweetheart, you can be unemployed in a warmer climate".  Since our kids were now adults, I thought that trying to do some travel assignments in some different areas of the country might be helpful in my wife's healing process. I thought checking out different parts of the USA while my wife's melon healed would be a way to make the best of a bad situation. 

I was hired in the VA Travel Nurse Corps, and my first assignment was in Dallas, Texas, where I worked on the Spinal Cord Unit at the North Texas VA Medical Center. 

We were set up in a great apartment in downtown Dallas, that was within walking distance to the light rail so I could get to work, the Uptown area of Dallas, and some great restaurants right in our neighborhood. No doubt that I worked hard in Dallas, but in my off time, we played hard.

At Toulouse, my favorite French Restaurant in Dallas with Da Redhead.

At this point, she was starting to get better-there were still some issues with focus and my wife had a harder time in multi-tasking, but while I was at work, she was able to keep track of the finances, deal with the bank and essentially be my secretary. 

With Kne-Bah Montano at her Kinaalda near Gallup, New Mexico

While in Dallas, I was able to save per diem money over the 9 months I worked there, that allowed us to make a great trip to Australia and New Zealand in September of 2011, where we ended up seeing 3 Rugby World Cup games in Wellington and Nelson.

Before Australia-USA at RWC 2011 in Wellington, New Zealand

When we got back to the USA, we packed our gear and our Bulldog Buddha and headed off to Wilmington, Delaware. It was tough work in the nursing home unit, and to be honest, Wilmington was kind of a dive-BUT, it was close to places that were cool like South Philly, New York City, and Washington DC.

During that winter of 2011-12, I really did not want to extend in Delaware, and the VA did not have anything interesting for me, so I took a job at the Northern Navajo Medical Center in Shiprock, New Mexico. It was an interesting time working on The Rez, and we were really enjoying the lifestyle in New Mexico. 

One of the constants of the moving around is that rugby helped us meet people in all of the different locations: The Dallas Harlequins, Wilmington RFC and the Albuquerque Aardvarks made us feel welcome at a variety of games and get togethers. Rugby helped me meet Wally Minoli and his place "The Gecko" in Albuqurque, and Chee and Timaris Montano and their family while in Farmington-I even had a chance to get a run in a game while I was in New Mexico with the San Juan Silverbacks.

In Farmington, New Mexico

While we were in New Mexico, my wife and I were really enjoying he lifestyle. We liked the high desert and we thought the people were really nice. It was becoming apparent that my wife's health was improving. I felt at that point she was at about 90%, and was getting enough focus back, where I thought we could look at her getting back in the job market. But a funny thing happened to our plans on staying in New Mexico, I got a message from Linkedin that would change our lives.

I think everybody has gotten those scam emails where you are offered something that sounds too good to be true. Well, one evening I had a message in Linkedin about a job at  Children's Hospital of Los Angeles offering me a job in their "Access Center"-kind of an air traffic control center for getting kids transferred to CHLA and then keeping track of patient movement within the hospital. I almost deleted the message-my right index finger was literally inches away from deleting the message when my wife said "NO! WAIT!…Why don't you apply for it? It can't hurt to try."

Long story short, I interviewed for the job and was offered the position. My wife had finally gotten a settlement from her car accident, and we decided that when I was done with my contract in New Mexico, we would do a one month trip to Europe that included a stay in Barcelona, a western Mediterranean cruise, travel through Southern France, then finishing the trip in England, where I had a chance to go to Twickenham and the city of Rugby-the birthplace of the sport I love.

With Da Redhead in London, May 2012

When we came back from Europe, we packed our gear, and put it, along with our road-warrior Bulldog Buddha and drove from Minneapolis to Los Angeles.

Buddha, the Road Warrior Bulldog was a huge comfort to my wife while she was healing up.

You have heard of the expression, "one good turn deserves another"? Well, we had only been in LA for a couple of days. We were apartment hunting up in North Hollywood, when I noticed a funeral home across the street. "Hey Honey, let's go check this funeral home out…maybe they are looking for help." To say my wife was aghast would be an understatement. She was clad in t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops-hardly professional attire for any funeral director. I persisted: "Come on, it will only take a couple of minutes-you gotta start taking a look at the lay of the land here in LA for your line of work!'.  When we entered the funeral home, a man came out and asked if he could help us,  I explained to him that we had just moved to Los Angeles from Minnesota, but that my wife is a funeral director and wondering if they might be needing a funeral director. To our amazement, he said that they were looking for a funeral director, as one had recently quit. My wife ended up applying for the job. They called her for the interview, and they offered her a job. After almost two years of being unemployed, my wife was back doing what she loves: Helping people in their time of need. 

Well, we have been here in Los Angeles for two years now. My wife is with the same funeral group. I am still at CHLA, but now in the neurology clinic. We both love the lifestyle here in Los Angeles, and rugby has allowed me to meet some fantastic people in the LA area between the Pasadena Rugby Club and the Springbok Bar and Grill.

Yeah, life in California does not suck...

It's all hard to believe that the genesis of all of this was a head injury to my wife. I guess you can say that in the end, we made lemonade out of lemons and were able to overcome a really tough break in our lives.

Up Early Trying to Buy Rugby World Cup Tickets….

It's 2:40 AM right now in Los Angeles. I am trying to apply for my tickets for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. I should not be surprised that there are a lot of other fans crashing the web site to apply for tickets for the matches of their choice.  I'm on a holding pattern for about the last 40 minutes. At this point, I am looking at getting tickets for the September 26th and 27th matches that will take place in Leeds. The first one will be Canada-Italy and the second one will be Scotland-USA.  The thing that is different with buying tickets for this World Cup compared to 2007 and 2011 is that it will be weeks before my purchase will actually be confirmed.

My wife and I are planning on being in the UK next year-well, I don't know how United the United Kingdom will be, as they will be going to the polls in Scotland next Thursday to see if the Scots want to break away from the UK to be an independent nation. At any rate, we plan on being in Scotland for a week and England for a week next year. I will know more of what our itinerary will be once I am able to buy tickets and get my purchase confirmed. In the meantime…I am still in a holding pattern to try to buy the tickets on line.

Waratahs Dump Crusaders for their first Super Rugby Crown

I guess it's a good thing I don't bet on sporting events. After what I saw of the Crusaders beat down on the Sharks last week, and with all of the experienced All Blacks playing with the Crusaders. I really expected them to win another Super Rugby crown. I was mistaken.



In what was probably the most dramatic Super Rugby Final since Bryan Habana's miracle try for the Bulls against the Sharks in stoppage time in 2007, the New South Wales Waratahs grabbed a last minute win over the Crusaders in a back and forth contest, with some great tries scored by both sides, including a brace from that Swiss Army Knife of a back for the Wallaby's and the Waratahs, Adam Ashley Cooper.



With The Rugby Championship(the former Tri Nations) about to start, a lot of rugby fans wonder if this 2014 version is going to be another stroll for the almighty All Blacks. The Waratahs dumped a Crusaders side that is laden with All Blacks like Ritchie McCaw and Dan Carter, to name but a few.

Can this loss be a sign for the Wallabies, Springboks and Pumas that New Zealand may be ripe for the taking? Time will tell-but in the meantime, a massive pat on the back for the Waratahs for winning their first ever Super Rugby crown.

Super Bowl Champs Learning from Rugby



Logo for the Super Bowl Champs of American Football, the Seattle Seahawks


Word is out the the Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks have a training video out, and that part of it is that they are teaching tackling in such a way as to try to make it safer for NFL players"

How we teach this system of tackling was recently inspired by those who play rugby around the world. Rugby players have taken the head out of the game and truly exemplified shoulder tackling." - Pete Carroll



Super Rugby Semi-finals: Sharks Crunched in Christchurch

Geography can be a cruel thing. My apartment in Los Angeles has a northern exposure, which means I cannot get Direct TV, which means I cannot get any Southern Hemisphere Rugby. (Unless it's rugby league on Fox) All of this means that whatever I have seen of Super Rugby this season has been either on You Tube, or the New Zealand Herald.

As luck would have it, we have a place called the Springbok Bar and Grill http://www.springbokbarandgrill.comthat is over in Van Nuys, where the South African ownership tries to get some Super Rugby on TV when they are open-the problem is that most of the matches are in the middle of the night here on the left coast, which means even the Bok cannot show too many games.

As luck would have it, when I noticed that the start time of the Crusaders-Sharks Super Rugby Semi-final would take place at half past midnight here on the left coast. This gave me a chance to actually watch a game.

I expected a few South African expats in LA to show up to watch the Sharks try to replicate an earlier season win in Christchurch. I think the SoCal Saffas knew the Sharks just would not have it in them. I was the only person there to watch the game.

What I saw on a super-large screen TV was an utter mauling. The Crusaders, playing in front of a full house on a cold night in Christchurch, just did not let their foot off the pedal. They dominated possession, territory, the line outs…hell, you name it. The Sharks did not look like they were going to get a whiff of the try line. Crusader pressure paid off early as Kieran Read scored a nice try after breaking a tackle.

Nadolo, wearing the 11 shirt for the Crusaders played a helluva match for the Crusaders. He ran hard all night whenever he had ball in hand.

Patrick Lamby, on the other hand, did not have a great night either with ball in hand or kicking for the Sharks.

Crusader dominance was capped off by Todd scoring on a totally dominant maul by the Crusaders-an homage to a front line who had played an utterly dominant match.

From what I saw last night, I think this Crusader team can go to Sydney and beat the Waratahs, and win back the Super Rugby title-which they have won a record 7 times already. In watching the 38-6 drubbing, I think after two years of the Chiefs winning the Super Rugby title, I think the Super Rugby title will stay in Kiwi hands.

Namibia Nail a 5th Straight Rugby World Cup appearance.

I think a lot of rugby fans, myself included, thought that this would be the year where Kenya would transfer some of the success they have had in the 7 man game of rugby and translate it to their 15 man game. God knows Kenya has a ton of talent and some players with great pace and are very athletic.

In the recent tournament in Madagascar which would give the Rugby World Cup it's second qualifier from the African Continent that was played in Madagascar, it would seem that stars were aligned for Kenya to finally punch their ticket for the first time. They really had to believe in their chances after they beat Namibia 29-22 in the first game. All they needed was to avoid a decisive defeat to Zimbabwe, and they could pack their luggage for England.

It was not meant to be. Zimbabwe smoked the Kenyans and then Namibia-the plucky country from Southwest Africa punched their ticket for England-the 5th straight time they will participate in the big show. http://www.namibianrugby.com - with a 89-10 drubbing of Madagascar.

All this means that Kenya is out, and Zimbabwe will play the Russians in the Semifinals of the Repechage tournament. The winner gets the winner of Uruguay Vs Hong Kong to decide who will be the last team to fill out the field for Rugby World Cup 2015 in England.

Namibia has never won a game at the Rugby World Cup, and will be in the same group as Georgia, Tonga, Argentina and New Zealand. In their previous four World Cup, the vastly outmanned and outgunned Namibians have not won a single world Cup game. Can this be their time next year in England?

For Zimbabwe, a rugby team that has has to overcome much, given the travails it has been through playing in a country with a malevolent leader in President Mugabe, can this be the first time that Zimbabwe can punch it's ticket to the Rugby World Cup for the first time since 1991? http://www.zimbabwerugby.com

Time will tell.

My 2014 FIFA World Cup Confession

For my friends in the rugby blogosphere, it's rare when I write about the round ball as opposed to the oval ball, but I was a soccer/football fan before I ever discovered rugby, so please excuse me while I digress about the current FIFA World Cup.

I may stand like a rock-but I am not infallible.

Before the World Cup Started, I had a lot of thoughts and predictions. As the round of 16 matches ended today with victories by Belgium and Argentina, I have to admit that there is much about this World Cup where I have been mistaken.

-I did not think the USA would get out of the "Group of Death" with Germany, Ghana and Portugal. American and Everton Goalkeeper Tim Howard helped the Americans stay in every game with some heroic goalkeeping.

-I thought there would be two African teams that would make it to the round of 16, but I was wrong about the countries. I thought Ghana and the Ivory Coast would go through, instead Algeria and Nigeria made it.

-I never would have imagined little Costa Rica, not only make the second round, but they would win their group that had former World Cup Champs Uruguay, Italy and England. The Ticos would also, for good measure, make it to the quarterfinals for the first time in that countries history.(They get Holland in the Quarterfinals).

-I never thought CONCACAF would produce 3 round of 16 participants in the USA, Mexico and Costa Rica.

I never thought I would find myself actually rooting for Mexico and their boisterous, colorful coach, Señor Herrera. I usually hate "El Tri", but I really liked this Latino version of the late comedian, Chris Farley.

_ I did not  think that England, Italy and Spain would ALL crash out the first round.

-I did not think that Julian Green would even get on the field during this World Cup, but the young American born, German-raised forward scored a great goal after coming on as a sub for the Yanks to make the game interesting against Belgium.

-When French and Bayern Munich forward Franck Ribéry  had to forfeit for this world cup because of a sore back, I really wondered if Les Bleus would be able to be a factor. Well, they play Germany in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

-I thought that a FIFA World Cup played in tropical Brazil, with day time start times to cater to European TV, would be a yawn fest of boring games. What we ended up with was  a World Cup that has had the most goals since the 1958 World Cup in Sweden that introduced the world to Pélé and Frenchman Just Fointaine and his 13 goals in that World Cup-a record that will probably be never broken in my lifetime. There have been some seriously entertaining matches in this World Cup.

My son Ian(Named after Ian Rush) and my Grandson Duncan play some ball.

Twenty some years ago, It would have been impossible to imagine a couple of thousand people in Omaha, Nebraska gathered around multiple TV screens at a bar/Restaurant watching, cheering and holding their breath as the USA and Portugal played out their drama in 4 parts that ended with Portugal tying the game with about 30 seconds left in the match, after some pulsating end-to-end action. But yet, my son Ian and I were part of the fun at World Cup watch parties in Omaha, Denver, Montrose, Colorado and Los Angeles. The game has come a long way in my country.

There. I feel so much better after getting all of this off my chest.

The Horsefly Brewing Company in Montrose, Colorado-one of several places  my son  Ian and I  caught World Cup action as we drove from Minnesota to Los Angeles.

This World Cup shows what can be great in sport. Even if you have been a long time fan, you can still be pleasantly surprised.

Japan Beats the USA Eagles-again-in LA.

After last week's 24-6 loss to Scotland in Houston, the USA Eagles brought their road show to Carson, California and the Stub Hub center for an IRB Pacific Nations Cup match against Japan. A crowd of 5,100 fans showed up at the Stub Hub Center to see the Eagles and Cherry Blossoms lock horns on a very pleasant Saturday evening in SoCal.

A Couple of friendly volunteers from the Cal-State Fullerton Women's Rugby Team.

The match started off well for the Yanks, as 8 man Cam Dolan intercepted an errant Japanese pass and rumbled in for the try, which Chris Wyles converted to give the Americans an early 7-0 lead.

Wyles with an early conversion to make it 7-0.

The Japanese did not panic. In the past few years, the Japanese have brought in some of the best coaching New Zealand has to offer, and having a professional league has also really helped in developing their game. They just looked better at almost every aspect of the game. The passes sharper, the Japanese hit the gain line with pace, and it ripped the USA defense to shreds….

Japanese Wing Akihito Yamada breaks the USA Defense on his way to a try.

The USA were fighting back the entire second half. With time running out, they scored a try in the corner to make things interesting for the USA Faithful….

After the try from Blaine Scully, the Eagles tried to keep the heat on the Japanese defense…

Late USA Scrum deep in Japanese territory with time running out...

The Cherry Blossoms held on to win the game, and the Japanese players thanked the crowd for doing their part to support international rugby in the USA. 

The scoreboard doesn't lie...

A good game by the Japanese. Back to the drawing board for the Eagles.

Japan now owns the USA Eagles, which is bad news, as we will be seeing them again next year at the Rugby World Cup in England, as they will be in the same group as the Americans. Next up for the Americans is a game up the I-5 in Sacramento next weekend against the Auld Enemy from north of the border, who gave the Scots a really tough game in losing 19-17 in Toronto.

Got My Tickets to See the All Blacks in Chicago.

Will get a chance to see the more modern All Black's Jersey in Chicago

Yesterday was the day that USA Rugby opened up sales to see the USA Eagles host the New Zealand All Blacks in an international match to played in my wife's home town of Chicago, where it will be played on the first Saturday in November at Soldiers Field-a venue more known as the home of the Chicago Bears of the NFL.

As I am about to go to Minnesota for a week to see my kids and grandson, and then swing by Colorado to check on my ailing mom, the budget was a little tight. As much as I would have liked to have gotten some really top flight tickets, I went towards the lower end of the scale, and got two tickets for my buddy Tom Daniels and I to go witness the Eagles-All Blacks game in what will probably be colder conditions than the All Blacks are used to playing in during the first weekend in November in the Midwest.

Kiwi fans better bring their cold weather gear if they plan on coming to Chicago in November.

So, I have a weekend to look forward to getting some top-flight ribs and pizza, and see the USA Eagles  face the unenviable challenge of hosting the defending Rugby World Cup Champs, and number one ranked All Blacks, as they work their way towards Europe for the November internationals.

At any rate, I am very psyched to see the All Blacks live.

The All Blacks should be prepared to see a lot of cows on their trip to the Midwest.

As for today, Tom and I are going to see the USA take on Japan at the Stub Hub center in Carson. The Cherry Blossoms have owned the Eagles in the last 4-5 matches they have played. I will settle for an improved performance today after last weekend's  24-6 loss to Scotland in Houston.

Pasadena loses a tough one to Oceanside

Going into yesterday's championship game for the Division II for the Southern California Rugby title, everybody knew it was going to be a tough and intense match. What the fans got was a lot of drama, hard-hitting, and an unbelievable amount of trash talking from Oceanside. Pasadena had a great deal of the ball possession, and they owned the scrum against a predominantly South Pacific Oceanside squad. Oceanside was able to take advantage of Pasadena mistakes, and their eight-man had several linebreaks and ran with a great deal of speed and power. Pasadena scored a last minute try and make a particularly difficult conversion, to send the game into overtime. In the and Oceanside prevailed, 43 -36. Pasadena season is now done, with Oceanside advancing to Arizona next weekend for the next round of Division II playoffs.

Pasadena coach Aaron Tanner probably something up the best, when he told his charges that he would rather lose with class than win with the trash talking theatrics and poor sportsmanship exhibited by Oceanside . It's too bad because they obviously have some very good players, Who showed a lot of heart in spite of being outplayed for long stretches of the game. For Pasadena, a national quarterfinalist last year, it's wait until next year-but what a game.

USA to Host Japan in Southern California in June….

After getting back from Atlanta a couple of weeks ago to see the USA Eagles beat Uruguay, I got a second bit of good news in the last week after I found out that I will be able to see the USA Eagles play again-without having to spend a ton of money on airfare and hotel-just a car trip down to Carson, just south of Los Angeles to see the Eagles host Japan in a Pacific Nations Cup match.

It's great news for USA rugby fans here in Southern California. Given the number of Japanese citizens who live and work in California, there should be a good number of Cherry Blossom fans at the Stub hub Center

The Stub Hub Center in Carson, California will host Rugby instead of soccer….

as well. I have Saturday, June 14th marked off on my calendar to catch some more international rugby.

The Eagles will play Canada the following week up the I-5 in Sacramento, the California State Capital-a game I will have to miss, as I plan on being in Minnesota to see my kids, my grandson and some other dear friends.

Sometimes rugby has to take a back seat to more important things.

USA Eagles Punch Their Ticket to Rugby World Cup 2015 Against Uruguay.

Uruguay lined up for the National Anthem.

My buddy Tom Daniels and I made it out to Georgia for the second leg between Uruguay and the USA Eagles in Kennesaw Georgia. In match played in front of a little over 6,000 fans in conditions that went from wet and windy to dry with some sporadic sun, most of the crowd was hoping the Eagles would get a good start out of the gate. We were disappointed.

The Teros showed a lot of heart-particularly in their scrum.

The USA had to endure yellow cards to Olive Kilfi and Andrew Suniula. Playing a couple of men short, Joaquin Prada scored a try for the Teros. American Captain Todd Clever also had to leave the field to get medical treatment.

An audible sense of relief when Clever came back from inury.

Uruguay continued to give the USA scrum all kinds of troubles in the first half. Berchesi kicked two LONG penalties for Uruguay. Saracens fullback Chris Wyles hit a lone penalty for the USA. At half time the USA trailed 13-3. The big crowd that had started boisterous was very quiet. In a winner take all match, the Eagles were laying a big goose egg. The prospect of losing at home to Uruguay and having to play repechage matches to qualify for next years Rugby World Cup was unsettling, to say the least.

The second half would prove to be a massive reversal for the Eagles.

All of the sudden, Eagle physicality kept the Teros deep in their own territory. The Americans finally got a great push out of a scrum and Fry, one of the props, scored. a few minutes later, off a Uruguay penalty at their own two, American fly half Petri took the quick tap, and out raced the Teros to plant the ball down for a try. With the very pro-American crowd sensing blood, the eagles continued to dominate at the breakdown

, In a 10 minute period, they would score two more tries, care of the Suniula brothers. (Shalom scored his first Eagle try in his second cap) Wyles scored one more penalty for the Yanks, and the USA punched their ticket to next years Rugby World Cup.

The Eagles celebrate.

The Eagles took a well deserved lap of honor, glad handing American rugby fans and basking in the glow of a 32-13 win, that was really a tougher game than the score would indicate.

American Captain Todd Clever all smiles after the Eagle win.

What this means, is that now I can start planning my trip to England next year

Honey, we are going to England...

.

Petri shares the moment with his baby.

USA-Uruguay Rugby World Cup Qualifier in Georgia: The Fan Pictures.

Cammo seemed to be a common theme..well, we were in the Deep South...

Young fan ready to go Teco hunting….

Elvis showing a hunk of hunk of burning love for the Eagles….

Some tongue in cheek humor directed towards the visitors from South America….

Don't ask this guy where he has been keeping his rubber hand….

Little guy with the great haircut and USA temp tattoo on his cheek….

Some USA Fans letting it all hang out….

I will have more to comment on Saturday's USA Eagle win against Uruguay in Kennesaw, Georgia. I just got back to LA and downloaded my pictures. As they say, a Picture is worth a thousand words, and there were a lot of American Rugby Fans having a good time before and after the Eagles Punched their ticket to next years Rugby Orgy that will be Rugby World Cup 2015….

Elvis was in the house, too...