Friday Night Lights

When I moved to Scotland, I knew that I had to leave a lot of my old life behind. There were going to be many changes. The coins didn't have a polar bear on them, the streets would not be lined with Maple trees and there was no baseball team to cheer for. Instead, there was football - the soccer kind. And rugby. And when dating Beans. A LOT of rugby. Accordingly, we set off to My First Rugby Game on Friday night along with friends Skippy, Sab and JellyCake to watch Munster take on the Glasgow Warriors. Mac and I were instructed to cheer for the Irish team while Sabs and Skippy were firmly rooting for the local lads. JellyCake had been bribed into cheering for the Paddys with the loan of the infamous Paddywack Hat. Sabs was not impressed with that! It wasn't a very big crowd, but those that were there were cheering with all that they had. Munster was the far superior team on the pitch (is that a rugby term?) but not that night. Shoddy plays and downright stupid moves made the Warriors into kings.

From a virgin viewer's point of view, I saw a bunch of guys (in very short and tight shorts) run around on a field lovingly embracing the ball and very frequently, each other. Mac made no bones about which side he was supporting. Then again, there wasn't any access to Warrior merchandise! Sabs growled about having to get him some "proper" gear soon. But I'm not sure if rugby jerseys come in a Moose size.

Beans gave me a watery smile for the camera, but we all could tell that he was dying inside at Munster's abysmal performance. Sabs on the other hand had plenty to smile about as his team bull dozered their way to a 29-09 victory.

As I watched the boys play, I wondered why the line out seemed so familiar to me. I had a nagging feeling that I had seen this somewhere before. But where? This was my first rugby game, and I hadn't even watched any on TV. It wasn't until the end of the game that it struck me. Ballet! The line out looked just like a pas de deux in a ballet recital. Don't you think??

Still, that was one observation I kept to myself. I did enjoy my first rugby experience and didn't want to be banned from the sport on my very first time!