We are still COLD here in Middle Tennessee and I am getting increasingly whiney about it. I mean Monday is March 1 and really, I should be at least thinking about wearing shorts by now. But with night-time lows in the low twenties and highs during the day just barely making it to 40 . . . sorry, all of you who are more accustomed to all of this, but I am tired of being cold. I'll be sure to come back and read this during summer when I'm complaining about the heat.
In the midst of these frigid temperatures I attended my first rugby game tonight. That's right, rugby. At Younger Son's school it is a "club" sport which means it's a team that has the name of his school but it's not subsidized and they don't play on the school grounds. Younger Son is playing this year.
So at 5:30 this afternoon Wife and I, along with Older Son and his girlfriend, bundled up and went to watch the first game.
I have much to learn. In my feeble mind, I had this idea it was just football without pads. Not at all. It's played on a similar type field and each team defends and runs toward an end zone, but the ball's in constant motion. If the guy with the ball gets tackled, he can hand it off to one of his teammates. But a guy from the other team can pick it up and run with it too, which makes it kind of like soccer.
But like I said, I have a lot to learn. Younger Son played the entire game and seemed to enjoy himself. He's a "prop" which means, in addition to running all over the place with everyone else, at points during the game he and another "prop" face each other and lift one of their teammates up in the air, kind of like a cheerleader formation (don't tell him that's how I described it) while two props from the other team are right next to them lifting one of their guys at the same time. Then it's kind of a "jump ball" situation.
It's really wild, but fun, and Younger Son's team won. I won't even try to explain the scoring because I don't understand it myself.
I look forward to learning more about rugby and I really look forward to warmer games.