This Wednesday, my lovely Red-Head and I will celebrate 25 years of marriage. (The enclosed picture is from our engagement picture in the paper)  I know I am a couple of days early, but I thought I would reflect on this impending milestone in our life. For starters, I am off today, and will be working evening shifts all the rest of this week. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I actually have access to the computer. (Sometimes it is hard to get access to the computer as it is the TIVO, so I can see the rugby games that I have recorded)

It is VERY rare when I write about pop-culture and reality TV.  Not surprisingly, sport is my favorite form of reality TV-particularly rugby, soccer, ice hockey and the Olympics. 

Susan Boyle, a woman, who by her own admission “has never been kissed”, is an unempolyed Scotswoman who lives outside of Glasgow with her cat. She also idolized Elaine Page. As she stood before the judges and the audience, a dowdy, 47 year old woman, you you could see that neither the judging panel, nor the audience expected much from Ms. Boyle. 

My Back is sore. My legs are stiff. My cheeks are a bit wind burned. My face and upper torso have cuts and scratch marks on them… yet, I am smiling as I write this, as I got home a couple of hours ago from playing rugby with my Metropolis Rugby Club at the All Saints Tournament in Saint Cloud, Minnesota for my first game action of this spring.I did not ay in our first game that we lost against the Saint Cloud Bottom Feeders  10-5. I did not have a chance to play in that game. I did start the next game against the Faribault Boksprings, I played 3/4 of that game, a really chippy affair, where there wewere some cheap shots and some trash talking going on from the team from southern Minnesota. Their fly half sucker punched one of our other props and gave him a concussion in action that was behind the play as it looked like one of our flankers was about to score a try. We ended up winning 22-5. Our next game was against the Saint Paul Pigs, a rival team of ours from the Twin Cities, with a a lof of players on each team knowing each other from previous games over the years. I played prop in the second half. I had a really good hit in tackling one of their players where he had to leave the game-a game we ended up winning 24-5.  I hope he’s OK, but I admit it, after a really crappy day at work yesterday, it felt good to hit some people today.

Went to rugby practice tonight with Metropolis. I was told that I would be welcome to come along and play this weekend, so it will be nice to have a chance to suit up and play.

With the Metropolis Division I side playing this weekend in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the Division III side (A/K/A “The Killer B’s”) playing at the All Saints tournament in Saint Cloud, Minnesota this weekend, and the fact that some regular players are injured, I actually might get a chance to play some rugby this weekend in Saint Cloud. Here is what our schedule looks like for the weekend: 

Here is hoping your Easter Sunday is a good one. My family and I are going to go to my dad’s house, where he and his wife are making Easter Dinner.

 I normally don’t follow the ERC Challenge Cup, European club rugby’s version of soccer/football’s UEFA Cup, but this match was on TV yesterday, and it was just a stunner: Bourgoin, 11th out of the 14 teams who make up the French Top 14 went into London, and and in a pulsating match that went back and forth, the club  located on the road almost halfway between Lyon and Grenoble shocked London Irish-a team that is third in the Guinness Premiership, 30-32. Irish scored a try at the end, and could have sent it into overtime, had England International Delon Armitage converted the try at the end of the game. The above shot showing his dejection at not hitting the conversion and Bourgoin’s joy sums up a very surprising Thursday in London.

In a season where French rugby has not had much in the way of good news as evidenced by France’s beat-down by England in the Six Nations, and only one French club, Toulouse, making it to the quarterfinals of the Heineken Cup (Where they have to play the #1 seed Cardiff Blues this weekend in Cardiff), Bourgoin’s shocking win against the highly favored London Irish was a shot in the arm that French club rugby needed in a big way. It will be interesting to see this weekend if Bourgoin can take this form into it’s Top 14 match against Bayonne, who is fighting to keep a Heineken cup spot and stay in the top 6. You have to think that either they are going to be flat emotionally after such a huge win, or they can take their game up a notch against the Basques.

Let it be said that the people at the LNR (Ligue Nationale de Rugby) are not afraid of shaking things up a bit and changing things in the French domestic game in the Top 14 and Pro 2, the two highest club leagues in France. The news will have a huge impact on teams who have been dependent on foriegn players-think of a team like Toulouse with Byron Kelleher.

Clearly, this is big for keeping fan interest alive, because now, for a team to finish 5th or 6th meant making sure they qualified for the Heineken Cup, now, a team finishing in those positions can dream of lifting Le Bouclier de Brennus.

I could talk about President Obama’s first trip to the UK and France as US President- and the warm welcome Madame Sarkozy had for Mrs. Obama while several thousand protesters fought it out with French cops during the demonstrations during  the NATO summit in Strasbourg…Nah! Let’s talk about rugby, instead. 

Bayonne lost a close one at home in the Basque derby against their hated rivals from Biarritz, 15-19. In beating Bayonne, Biarritz is clawing it’s way back into the race for the 6th and final Heineken Cup spot. 

In another match with major H-Cup implications, Stade Français is now 0-3 at Le Stade de France, after losing at home against Clermont Auvergne on a last minute penalty by Brock James-overcoming another strong performance from the new sensation in French Rugby, Basteraud, who scored a try against the men in gold. Stade maybe counting a lot of money when they fill up Le Stade de France, but they have now lost against Harlequins, Toulouse, and now Clermont Auvergne in their home away from home in St. Denis…  Maybe they should stick to regular home ground. 

Rachel is doing OK her first day after getting her wisdom teeth removed. She wanted to check in on her horse, Maverick, to see how he was recovering after his laceration the day before yesterday. (40 stitches and over 400 dollars we owe to the vet, who did really nice work)

Since Rachel cannot do much work, I had to learn a new trick today: cleaning out Maverick’s hooves. Rachel informed me that horses need this as a way to not just keep them clean, but it prevents horses from getting a whole host of hoove related problems that can become serious. I was a bit nervous about doing it, because Maverick had been an abused horse before my daughter bought him and worked with him. He was really skittish around men, but he is doing better around me.

I have to report that the whole thing went suprisingly well-it probably didin’t hurt that Rachel was nearby. He was a good boy, and didn’t give me any problems raising his hooves up to scrape them out.

It never hurts to learn new skills-who knows if somebody needs a rugby-playing nurses who is willing to work as a groomsman or stablehand.

If nothing else, the visit was a big help for Rachel. If she can get through tomorrow without any major issues, she should be home-free as far as any major complications after her wisdom teeth removal.