Hearing the Music

So many great moments today. I don’t know where to start. Really. I’m sitting here, watching Pretty Woman and I have no idea where to start. Ok. Practice—let’s start there.

We had a good one—not too demanding but productive. While working on our kick offs, Primo fell trying to field one. It was one of those spills that is funnier, because the faller doesn’t actually acknowledge that she’s falling, because she’s still trying to complete whatever task she set out upon. Unfortunately, Primo didn’t catch the ball, but ate it instead. And that wasn’t even the fall of the day. Patch took care of that one.

After practice, after taking our ice baths in the babbling brook behind the pitch, we came across an abandoned football (you guys like all of that alliteration?). Patch, all set to launch one, took an errant step onto some loose gravel and bit it. Her fall was that limbs-flailing-dust-flying-graceless-thud kind of fall. It was awesome.

We figure we’d get all of that out of our systems before taking the pitch tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be the time for grace and balance, so we’re risking a little embarrassment now, so that we’ll have plenty stored up tomorrow.

We also took time to bond and fuel our bodies in preparation for tomorrow, though we had a little more bonding time than we had planned at the restaurant. Food was appetizing. Service was slooow. Dipping sauce was magic. We ate at Emilia’s Garden, which was more like Emilia’s living room, with Emilia’s grunge grandson waiting on us. Though we apparently caught the kitchen “off guard” with our reservation that we’d set two weeks prior and a couple of preliminary phone calls to ensure that everything would be set for us, we used some of the down time to give our coaches and managers some props, so it wasn’t a bust.

The rookies capped off the night with their skit, which was pretty good, though no one can do a Richard impression quite like Mo. Now, I’m ready to dream sweet dreams about taking home some hardware tomorrow. I mean, I think we’ll get some hardware regardless of the outcome. Again, I don’t want to mess with karma, or a jinx, or a fuku, a curse, summon locusts, or a flood, or anything along those lines, so I’m not going to try to predict outcomes.

I will say that we are ready. Just like the NRU match, we will bite and claw. The Midwest better expect to get hit hard, to receive stiff arms, to be uncomfortable. This MARFU team is pretty special. We are a team of all-stars that play as a team. That’s not so very easy to find. Mostly you see all-star teams that don’t quite gel, or that are full of individual play that is never soluble, never harmonious. 

For the most part, we hear the music. We play the same tune, and it’s beautiful when we hit all the notes too, because we wind up beating defending championships and surprising everyone. We’re going to bring that tomorrow, and hopefully we’ll give everyone a good song or two.

"Hey Remember That Time We Beat NRU"

What did I say?

I feel like that sums it up, but I will elaborate. We beat NRU today. 14-10. Close. Tough. A battle. An assault. A campaign. They scored in the first. We didn’t. We went up in the second. Scored again. And then they evened the try tally. But we made our kicks. And we won. If you didn’t know, NRU has won the NASCs four years in a row. I don’t even know when MARFU beat them last (that is before 6 hours ago).

This was one of the sweetest victories of which I’ve ever had the unbelievable chance to be a part. I knew we were ready for a grueling physical clash in the humid Pennsylvania heat, and I knew NRU would have to man up to beat us. They wouldn’t be able to mosey on past us, with a casual brushing of the shoulder, on their way to defending their crown—they would have to defend it against us first. However, I didn’t know that we would beat them, although I wanted it, and I knew we were capable of it. It feels amazing to have done it.

A few match-related notes, and then I’m off to bed. This MARFU team is awesome—from our hard-hitting pack to our speedy wings—and we had to put together an amazing game to beat an extremely tough NRU team.

Did anyone notice that we played most of the match in the end closest to the parking lot? I didn’t mind it so much in the second half, but it was a killer defending our end for a majority of the first half. Speaking of killers, what about the effin’ heat, and the fact that we didn’t get any water (after that first, quick try) until about five minutes left in the first half. That sucked.

Also, all of you players, make a mental note that the scoreboard clock is not, in fact, the official game clock. I made the mistake of assuming it was and kicking the ball out at, what I thought was, the end of the first half. Mea culpa. Actually, mea culpa for about three of my kicks for touch, plus the first one.

Lastly, I am offering a reward to anyone who can show me where running out is explicitly prohibited and results in a penalty. Seriously. I haven’t decided the reward yet—maybe an ice cream cone at the little parlor on the corner, or the ten dollars that I will inevitably owe someone for our coaches gifts, or maybe a sweet MARFU visor…no, strike that, not the visor.

Anyway, I’m off to sleep now. Can’t wait for another 5-star continental breakfast…we had danishes, guys.

**Title ©Eli White

NASCs in Pittsburgh

Here in Pittsburgh. NASC tournament 2012, though our (MARFU) shorts say 2010. Seriously, if you’re here and you’re not MARFU, take a gander at our otherwise very comfortable, stylish shorts. “MARFU All-Stars 2010.” Anywhere I can find a DeLorean with a flux capacitor and some plutonium?

We play the NRU tomorrow. They beat us two weeks ago—they put up a lot of points and we put a few. It won’t happen again. Don’t misread that. I didn’t say we’re going to beat the NRU—I won’t chance a jinx or mix arrogance with karma. I’m just saying that we are ready, capable, and anxious to redress our mistakes. This match will be closer. They will be uncomfortable at least. At most, their discomfort will reflect on the scoreboard and we will upset last year’s champs.

NRU and tomorrow’s match aside, I’m digging Pittsburgh (or the area outside Pittsburgh). The people are pleasant, the produce is cheap, the hills are bucolic, and the weather is nearly perfect, save the humidity and a chance of rain. I’m also digging the water pressure in the shower at the Days Inn in Pittsburgh/outskirts of Pittsburgh. Last year, in Chula Vista, the water pressure was similar to that of the mizzle from a dollar store water gun. There were also bed bugs, or aphids, or fleas, or chiggers, or something in a couple of the beds in Chula Vista, and a family of illegal aliens, or the homeless, or pygmies, or something living in the back parking lot, which are all delightfully absent here.

In our back parking lot is a grassy knoll, not the infamous one, where we will do yoga tomorrow morning after our continental breakfast, which (and I’m saying this not as a jab, but as someone who is familiar with the continental breakfasts of Days Inns, and Quality Inns, and other budget motels) will amount to a modicum of fruit, some sort of carbs (bagels, if we’re lucky, toast, if not), perhaps some instant oatmeal, and, if we’re really lucky and have hit the jackpot of budget motels, a waffle maker. But that’s better than nothing at all, and the economical benefits will surely accentuate the savoriness.

Now, I’m off to dreamland where I hope to visualize some positive rugby stuff. My mom always said that you play better when you have good dreams.