My wife and I leave for Portugal on Wednesday, and will arrive in Lisbon on
Thursday for our 6 day stay with our former exchange student Rodrigo and his
parents. With cold temperatures and snow here in Minneapolis,
http://www.startribune.com/weather/?elr=KArks%3ADCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiacyKUQ7c4E7ME5U
going to Lisbon where it might be rainy, with temps in the high 50's to low 60's
during the day sound very inviting. The weather should be decent here, and some rain
in Lisbon. The big question mark on this trip will be the snowstorm that is bearing
down on New York City and Northern New Jersey, as our connecting flight will be
in Newark.

I won't get a chance to see Rodrigo play rugby, as with Carnival approaching,
his team, CDUL http://cdul.blogspot.com/    won't have a game.

Rodrigo did leave me a message that he will try to get us tickets to see
Portugal http://www.fpr.pt/ host Georgia this Saturday, in what will be a key
game for Portugal, as they lost this past weekend in Russia 14-10, meaning that
the Russians swept their two games against Portugal, leaving Portugal 3rd in the
standings, behind Russia and ahead of Romania.


Georgia put a 77-3 beating in on Germany to solidify their spot at the top of
the table. The top two countries will qualify for New Zealand, with the third
place team having to qualify for the Rugby World Cup via a playoff. This
weekend, Portugal will need to beat the Georgians and hope that somehow Spain
can slow down the improving Russians as they charge towards a first-ever
qualification to the Rugby World Cup(The Russians beat qualifiers Namibia a
couple of weeks back, by the way) At the very, very least, Portugal needs to at
least keep a firm hold on 3rd place to show that their qualification for France
2007 was no fluke.

For those rugby fans who are also into numbers, here are some figures for rugby
in Portugal:
Number Of Clubs:
44
Number Of Registered Players:
5940
Number of Referees:
47
Pre-teen Male Players:
1886
Pre-teen Female Player:
0
Teen Male Player:
2693
Teen Female Player:
256
Senior Male Player:
1105
Senior Female Player:
0
Total Male Player:
5684
Total Female Player:
256

I may not be able to see any of the Six Nations this coming weekend...but
between Portugal-Georgia, Carnivale, hanging out with Rodrigo and his parents,
some great Portuguese wines, seafood and soaking in the scenery with my lovely
red-headed bride...
.I think I will be OK. I am also hoping
to be able to meet some of Rodrigo's teamates and members of his CDUL club.

Until then....Até Logo!

Saturday was a rugby day for me. It started out with my friend Jacques coming over to
my house to watch England and Wales do battle. He brought along his 4 year old
daughter Annelize. To be honest, I was having almost as much fun watching her
unbridled play with my grandson and my dogs Basil and Buddha.

Since having my pulmonary embolism last May, it threw a real monkey wrench into
my ability to play rugby. a big reason why it did so, was that I was put on the
blood thinner, Coumadin. It makes contact sports kind of an ill-advised activity.

I don't mind telling you that it more than sucked not being
able to get a run in during any of the fall Division III games or any Old
Boys/Veterans games. Back in December, a different doctor put me on a class of
drugs called Beta Blockers, because my Atrial Fibrillation came back to point
where I was actually in the hospital for a couple of days in December.  I had a
bad experience with Beta Blockers 6 years ago, and I really did not want to go
back on them. My Doctor said that he would prescribe the lowest dose that he
could.

Well, after almost two full months on the drugs, I gained 10 pounds(most
decidedly NOT muscle), my energy level dropped, I felt like I needed 10 hours of
sleep, and I was having muscle aches that had nothing to do with my job or
working out. When I spoke with Dr Taylor, I was blunt on told him that I felt
like shit, and wanted to change the medication regimen. To my pleasant surprise,
he was very open to getting me off the beta-blockers and to try a different
medication. 

Medicine also can take different forms. As in Oval, like a rugby ball.

We have some of our Metropolis Rugby members who coach local high school teams.
One of these teams from Edina is about to embark on a tour to Rugby's Mecca, IN
Rugby, England. http://edinarugby.org/index.html  coach, Mark Dalton, put
out an SOS looking for people to scrimmage against his high school kids. I
thought about my semi-out of shape body and my semi-depressed and burned out
state, and I told myself that getting a chance to knock the rust off and get a
run in and play some rugby would do me a world of good, blood thinners and 49
year old joints, be damned. 

As it turned it, we had a really good time playing at the Minnetonka Dome. The
Edina kids were very spirited and have some really good athletes and I was very
impressed with their courage in how they went after and tackled these adult
Metropolis players. We had plenty of players young and old who were willing to
come and be live tackle dummies for the high school kids. 

I am sure that my doctor would have a stroke if he knew I was playing rugby on
Saturday, but you know what? As I sit here writing this sore and cut up from
playing, this is the best mood I have been in for a long time. I know that part
of it maybe my impending trip to Portugal later this week, but being around my
friends with Metropolis and having a chance to get a run in was a serious balm
for my middle-aged soul.

Guinness Ale has advertisements that say "Guinness is Good For You."
http://www.gigfy.com/reassign.html

It that's true, the corollary to that is "Rugby is good for what ails you."

The madness that is the 6 Nations Rugby Tournament kicks off this weekend.
 Luckily, I will be able
to watch England-Wales live on BBC America. My buddy Jacques should be along as
a neutral South African observer to take in the game from Twickenham. The other
two games this weekend will have Ireland hosting Italy and Scotland hosting
France.

It might easy to read too much into results from the past year, particularly the
November internationals. Ireland had a year for the ages in winning their first
Grand Slam in over 60 years, and finished undefeated in all internationals, with
only the home draw to Australia being the only game that the men in green did
not win in 2009.

Perennial Wooden Spoon candidate Italy must feel like the jilted girlfriend with
something to prove, after the Celtic League recently rebuffed a proposal to add
two Italian clubs to the Magner's League. Italy's strong front row might create
a few problems for the Irish, but with Ireland playing at home, and with a
formidable group of backs including the incomparable  O'Driscoll, it is
tough to imagine Ireland finding a way to lose the match.  I think the Italians
can keep it close the first 20-30 minutes, but the Irish just have too many
weapons to use in front of the green-clad faithful at the Irish temple of sport,
Croke Park.

With all of England's troubles during the November internationals, it is easy to
forget that they did actually finish second in last years edition of the 6
Nations. England gets Delon Armitage and Riki Flutey back from injury-they were
sorely missed in November. England Coach Martin Johnson has signaled that this
England side will be a more attack-minded side against the Welsh by picking
Matthew Tait at Outside Center and Danny Care at the number 9 jersey to play the
scrum half role, as England looks to win it's first 6 Nations since 2003.


Wales, Grand Slam winners two years ago, got some bad news before the England
match with Lions prop Gethin Jenkins being ruled out for Saturday's clash at
Twickenham. Warren Gatland, the Welsh Coach, did get some good news in that
fullback Lee Byrne had a potential two week suspension rescinded this past week
in Glasgow. This gives the Welsh a vital cog in their red machine as it goes for
4 wins in a row against the English.

Scotland has never won the 6 Nations tournament. Their last win was in the last
year of the 5 Nations Tournament was in 1999, when Wales' Scot Gibbs' late try
broke English hearts and handed the 5 Nations Trophy to the Scots. This weekend
the Scots get to host France- my pick to win this years tournament after their
stellar play in the autumn internationals and the very robust form of French
Clubs in the Heineken Cup.

Just because France will be heavily favored at Murrayfield does not mean that
the Scots cannot present a notable Banana peel to Marc Lievremont's side.
Glasgow is atop of the Magner's League, with 9  Glasgow players lining up for
Scotland on Saturday, including captain Chris Cusiter, who knows a thing or two
about French rugby after having played a couple of seasons at Perpignan. He also
has pegged the French as the team to beat in this 2010 Six Nations tournament.

French Coach Marc Lievremont had to replace Toulouse's injured Jean-Baptiste
Ellisalde with his teamate, Freddie Michalak on the roster. He also won't have
Racing Metro caveman-in-residence Sebastien Chabal at his call, as he is out due
to a back injury. Uncapped Toulouse lock Yoann Maestri will start in place of
the bearded one. France will start with Clermont scrum half Morgan Parra and
Montpellier fly half Francois Trinh-Duc. Stade Francais' center Mathieu
Bastareaud will be welcomed back to the squad and will bring his unique physical
gifts to the French back-line.  Lievremont will also have some weapons that he
did not have at his disposal back in November, with Poitrenaud, Rougerie and
Ouedraogo will be back at Fullback, wing, and flanker, respectively.

In spite of the injuries, France still has, on paper, a very formidable looking
side. France has a bad habit of playing to the level of their opposition, and
Scotland can turn a running game into a street fight, like they did in their
shocking win over Australia back in November. I think if France can get by this
potential banana peel of a match, a win in Edinburgh will give them the
confidence they will need the rest of their way. A loss will give the French
those recurring self doubts that has kept them from winning the Six Nations
since 2007.

My Predictions for 2010:
1. France
2. Ireland
3. England
4.Wales
5.Scotland
6.Italy

Between my work schedule and my son needing the computer for his school work and projects, it has been tough getting

to a computer to post anything…

We just finished Groundhog day here in the USA. Every year on February 2nd,
America's favorite weather prognosticating rodent, Puxatwony Phil gives his
prediction on if we will have a shorter or longer winter.http://www.punxsutawneyphil.com/


Well, bad news for those of us in the upper Midwest: It looks like we are going
to have 6 more weeks of winter. (I'm glad I am going to Portugal next week)

Some people remember the movie "Groundhog Day" with Bill Murray, where his
character re-lives the same day, over and over again.
 http://www.answers.com/topic/groundhog-day-movie


There are certain things this time of year where I feel almost like Bill
Murray's cynical meteorologist, and living the same day over and over. One of
them is every January and February, we are reminded of how overweight we are as
a nation in the United States. The TV is FLOODED with commercials advertising
weight loss programs, gyms, healthier eating and newscasts giving us an almost
daily warning of the road to hell in the USA that is paved with corn syrup and
trans-fatty acids. 

The other thing that you see this time of year is replacement shows for canceled
TV series. It seems like this year, there has been an inordinate number of these
hospital and emergency shows that have the, what I call, "Nurse as a Sex-kitten"
character. For awhile, it seemed like TV producers tried to portray nurses as
professionals. That seems to be a distant memory with what I have seen lately. I
cannot even begin to tell you how much I hate that stereotype. I think it's
demeaning to the women of my profession who do a difficult and necessary job.

I recently heard about a restaurant in Arizona that combines these two recurrent
nightmares of gluttony and sexist stereotype into a nasty witch's brew of
unhealthy food where it is brought to tables by servers dressed as sexy or
naughty nurses: http://www.heartattackgrill.com/ The owner of this Arizona
eating establishment is totally unrepentant about serving over-the-top unhealthy
food with hooters-type servers representing my profession.  

Like Bill Murray in Ground Hog Day, I have to get over my initial irritation and
make peace with the situation: continue to go to the gym, try to watch what I
eat, and educate people about the nursing profession and what we do...and never
go to the Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, Arizona.

One of my contacts from an old boys rugby group shared the following (bad)news
release the other day:

http://www.setanta.com/us/Customer- Info-Articles/ SETANTA-SPORTS- USA-AGREES-
TO-TERMS- WITH-FOX- SOCCER-CHANNEL/ gnid-59836/

Like any news story, there is always what the journalist, the late Paul Harvey
would say "There is the REST of the story".  Here is my "rest of the story" as
an American who has tried to follow the sport of rugby in my country for the
past several years.

About 10 Christmases ago, my wife surprised me with Direct TV, as I could not
get my regular fix of rugby or English soccer/football watching cable TV. In the
beginning, I was able to watch a lot of rugby on Fox Sports World: 6 Nations,
Super 12 (at the time), Tri Nations and the Rugby World Cup. For somebody who
had to follow rugby by having news clippings sent from my Beziers-born friend
Jean-Paul in France, this was a MAJOR step in the right direction.

Life was good.

Over time, it seemed like Fox Sports World was showing rugby less and less. To
the point where "The Rugby Club", with Max Bretos holding court was on only once
a week...at 4 AM. Finally, the break was complete and Fox Sports World sold
their souls and became Fox Soccer Channel. My disappointment could only have
been more complete had my lovely red-headed bride decided to tell me she
preferred women.

Then I found out that Direct TV had Setanta Sports, which offered 6 Nations,
Tri-Nations, Heineken Cup, The Guiness Premiership, The Magners League, The New
Zealand and South African Domestic competitions, and all of the World Cup
matches back in 2007. I was able to watch as much rugby as I could watch and
record.

Life was good, again.

Good news, like fame, is a fleeting thing. The decision by Setanta sports to
throw American rugby fans under the bus and sell out it's USA programming to FSC
may not have been as catostrophic as the events in Haiti and the Middle
East...but it was still a very bitter pill to swallow that programming on
Setanta will stop in the USA at the end of February. The key to the Setanta
kingdom is their rights to the EPL and SPL in soccer-that FSC surely coveted.
The question in all of this will be if FSC will exercise the option to show any
of the rugby that was shown on Setanta.

One little bit of good news is that BBC America announced that they will show
some of the 6 Nations matches starting the first weekend in February with
England-Wales.
http://www.bbcamerica.com/comingsoon.jsp 

Still, for those of us who love the game of rugby in the USA, the loss of
Setanta Sports and it's rugby programming is a huge blow to us all, and we are
very much in a state of flux.

To be continued....

In last year's Heineken Cup, Toulouse was the only French side to make it
through to the quarterfinal, where they were eliminated right away by #1 seed
Cardiff.

2009-10 seems to be a different vintage for French rugby, both at the national
team level and the club level, where four Top 14 clubs (Clermont Auvergne,
Toulouse, Stade Francais and Biarritz) will be playing in the quarter finals
with the following matchups: Munster-Northampton(the only English
Club),Leinster-Clermont Auvergne, Biarritz-Ospreys and the most interesting
match up of the lot: Toulouse hosting the Auld Enemy, Stade Francais.

Spare a thought for "Les Jaunards". Poor Clermont Auvergne... After years of
being stuck in "Groups of Death", where they played entertaining rugby, but
always came up short for making it out of pool play, the Michelin men finally
make it to the quarter finals...where Leinster, last years champs (loaded with
talent from the Irish National Team), will be playing Clermont at Croke Park.
The winner of Leinster-Clermont will get the winner in the fratricidal
quarterfinal between Toulouse and Stade Français.

In the other half of the draw, Munster will have to like it's chances of hosting
the lone English club left in Northampton. Munster has looked very good, indeed,
during Heineken Cup play. The winner of that quarterfinal will get the winner of
Biarritz-Ospreys, with that match to be played in the Spanish side
of Basque country in Saint Sebastien. Good to see Takudzwa Ngwenya showing
good form with Biarritz, scoring a try against Edinburgh. For USA Rugby
to continue to improve, having American rugby players able to play
at the highest level is a great thing for the development of our players, and
The Heineken Cup is a very high level.

 From a neutral point of view, If I'm Munster, I have to like
my chances of making it through to the final to played in Paris in May. As good
as Leinster is, you have to think that one of the 3 French Clubs will make it
out of that end of the draw to make the final in Paris. At this point, I think
if Clermont can survive it's tough quarterfinal with Leinster, they just might
be able to dump either Toulouse or Stade Francais. Sometimes I think it might be
too easy to read too much into a club's domestic form, but Toulouse seems to
find a way to play at a higher level when they get into Heineken Cup
competition, no matter what they are doing in the Top 14. 

One thing for sure. There is a lot of rugby to be played before the final at le
Stade France in St. Denis in May. I would love to see Munster play either Clermont
or Toulouse in the final. I think a match up like that would produce some very
compelling rugby.

I have to apologize for a rare jotting on American Football, but you have to
understand that I am still in a really good mood after the Minnesota Vikings
gave the Dallas Cowboys a major 34-3
mauling at the Metrodome in Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon.

Being a Minnesota Vikings fan means that you are used to being disappointed- not
too unlike a Leeds Carnegie fan in rugby, or a Manchester City fan in
football/soccer. In the 50 years that the Vikings have been in the NFL, they
have been to and lost 4 Super Bowls. They have not even been to a Super Bowl
since I was a sophomore in high school, back in 1977.

I confess, I used to dislike the Cowboys, particularly after Drew Pearson's
infamous offensive pass interference against Nate Wright back in the 1975
playoffs when he hauled in Roger Staubach's "Hail Mary Pass" and broke Viking
hearts back at the old Metropolitan Stadium(where the Mall of America sits now).
I loved living in Texas during the 4 years I lived in San Antonio when I was in
the Air Force back in the 80's-but I confess I grew to hate the Dallas Cowboys
during my time in the Lone Star State. The reason was the Cowboy fans were just
insufferable. They were gloating winners and on the rare chance when they lost,
their fans could never give your team credit for playing a good game, they would
invariably drawl "Well, you know, that was not the REAL Dallas Cowboys that lost
the game."

It should be said that in American Football, the Dallas Cowboys are in the rare
group of teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49'ers, who have
won the Super Bowl 5 times. It's a team that oozes money(The just built a new
Billion dollar stadium in the Dallas area) and sex appeal(The Dallas Cowboy
Cheerleaders were the first group of NFL cheerleaders to take on a life of their
own beyond the football team) The Cowboys are an NFL team that transcends sport,
and has a national following in the USA.

That means that I enjoyed yesterday's Cowboy  beat-down at the hands of the
Vikings...immensely.


The Vikings played a very complete game in beating the Cowboys. Brett Favre
threw 4 Touchdown passes, 3 of them to Sidney Rice, who until this season had
not done very much wearing the Viking purple, but has played very, very well
this season with Brett Favre getting the ball to him. As impressive as the
offense was, the Viking Defense played an even better game, holding the pokes to
no touchdowns and just a field goal. The defense gave the type of beating to
Cowboy offense that one usually associates with Elin Nordegren laying out on her
soon-to-be ex-husband, Tiger Woods.

The Cowboys, not used to such a throttling on national TV, took umbrage with a
late touchdown pass that Favre threw to Visanthe Shiancoe with two minutes left
with the Vikings with a 4th down with 3 yards to go, and the Vikings leading
27-3. Immediately after the score Cowboy linebacker Keith Brooking sprinted over
to the Viking bench to accuse the Vikings of trying to run up the score. I guess
he would have been happier if the Vikings had just gone for he Field Goal. What
a whiner...

The Vikings are a game away from making it back to the Super Bowl, This year to
be played in Miami. To do that, the Vikings will have to go down to the New
Orleans Superdome and hope that they can bring their A game again against a
very, very good New Orleans Saints team-a team that in over 40 years has never
been to a single Super Bowl. It's a city that can use a shot of good news after
it was all but obliterated and flooded out during Hurricane Katrina back in
2005.

 It's been tough sledding for the people of New Orleans recovering from
that disaster. As much as I would like the Vikings to win, I can honestly say
that I would not be that heart-broken if the Saints win next Sunday.

There is a more than a Super Bowl riding on next Sunday's game. Way back when
the Minnesota Vikings signed Favre this summer, I was very skeptical about
having the 39(now 40) year old quarterback wearing purple. For starters, he had
played many, many years for the Green Packers, the arch-rival of the Vikings.
Rooting for Favre was going to be like having an ex-girlfriend marry your
brother. You want to be happy, but you feel really conflicted about it. The
other part of my concern was how poorly he played last year for the New York
Jets-particularly in the last month. I made a bet with my work on the Spinal
Cord Unit a the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis that if Favre could bring the
Vikings to the Super Bowl, I would wear a dress-of my co-worker's choice- to
work for my co-workers and the patients to see.

If the Vikings win and I end up wearing a dress to work, my embarrassment will
be worth it. To be continued...

The above question is “How are you feeling today?” in Portuguese. My answer: Feliz (Happy)

The reason for my joy is multi-fold:

1. My wife and I just confirmed our plane tickets to go to Lisbon, Portugal next month

2. We spent less than we thought we would (less than 900 dollars round trip for both me and my wife)

3. We will be able to stay with our former exchange student, Rodrigo and his parents. (no hotel fees!)

4. We will be able to see Rodrigo, who have not seen in almost two years.

5. I will be able to see some rugby, as Portugal will be hosting a Rugby World Cup qualifier against Georgia-in a pivotal game for both teams.

6. The weather should be around 60 degrees, Fahrenheit (about 15 degrees Celsius)-that is a helluva lot warmer than my hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

7. I know for many of my British friends, there are many of their compatriots who go to Portugal. Very few of my fellow Americans even know where Portugal is…many think that it’s a part of Spain or in South America. (Rodrigo got to see just how ignorant many of my compatriots are about the world) not as many Americans take the opportunity to check out Portugal.

8. I might get a chance to see Benfica play a football/soccer match at the Estadio Da Luz.  On previous trips to Europe, I have seen Aston Villa lose to Fulham in an FA Cup match in England, and Marseille and Bordeaux play to a 1-1 tie at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille.

9. Having a chance to sample Portuguese cuisine and wines…

What a difference 24 hours can make. My mood is SO much better.

If anybody has suggestions of what to do or see in the Lisbon area, I am open to suggestions.

Winter in Minnesota and dealing with some insufferable people at my phone triage job have me looking to get out of the Upper Midwest for a few days in February. I have been studying air-fares like mad for the past few weeks. By the end of the weekend, I should know where my wife and I are headed next month.It’s tough, because our budget is tight, but I need a change of scenary in a bad way.

This picture of my bulldog Buddha sums up my mood this week.

Stay tuned…

This past Saturday, my rugby club  http://metropolisrugby.com/ had it's annual
banquet at Jax in northeast Minneapolis. http://jaxcafe.com/

Since joining up with Metropolis RFC back in 2006, it's one of my favorite times
of the year. It's great to see everybody all decked out Some of the guys have
some kilts and cool blazers and things they have picked up on their travels to
England with Metropolis. It's even BETTER to see all of the wives and
girlfriends who are dressed to the nines-and mind you, in spite of some beat-up
and gnarly looking guys on our club, there are a lot of really fine looking
wives and significant others, who are dressed to kill every year for the
banquet-including my own lovely red-headed bride.


This year, along with the usual awards, the board came up with a unanimous
decision to induct a new member into the Metropolis RFC hall of fame-it's first
induction in 5 years. The club picked an  "Old Boy" who I thought was the
perfect choice to give the induction speech: Anton Demytrenko was a hooker for
the club back in the 80's and 90's. His very Ukrainian name belies an English
upbringing, accent and  demeanor that would not be out of place as a lecturer  at
Oxford or Cambridge or giving political commentary on the BBC World Service.
Anton gave a very moving and eloquent introduction of the newest member of the
Metropolis RFC Hall of Fame: Joe "Super Joe" Kiley.

Joe Kiley and I are both the same age. We are both guys. We both belong to
Metropolis RFC...that's where the similarities end. When Joe Kiley hits the
rugby pitch, he is not just "good for an old guy"-Joe can still bring it-period.
I have seen it myself more times than I can count when I have had the privilege
of being on the field while he's out there, particularly a couple of years ago
on the Green Bay trip, when he left more than a few much younger players
grasping at air. He's a helluva tackler, too. But like a lot of good players in
the sport of rugby, as good a player as Joe is, he is an even better person in a
social setting.

This was really a fun time at the banquet-but
seeing Super Joe(to left of me in this shot) inducted into the
Metropolis Hall of Fame was a wonderful thing to witness.

.