Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Honor, Again

I've long respected and admired the haka as performed by New Zealand's athletic teams, mostly the rugby All-Blacks. It's among the most uniquely impressive displays in sports.

I had no idea.


The haka performed in the clip above honors the life of one of three New Zealand soldiers recently killed in action in Afghanistan. The feral, anguished quality of this haka marks it as entirely different than the almost joyous celebration that sporting hakas represent. It's spellbinding, and it's chilling, and it's amazing in its emotion, anger, and honor.

Godspeed, brave warriors.

 (h/t to Teejay's boy Andrew Sullivan)

9 comments:

Dave said...

does TJ speak in the choral voice of G:TB? spooky.

T.J. said...

he does when he's logged in to a different gmail account

Shlara said...

Cooley, wow.
Will be weird to see him play somewhere else.

rob said...

i am officially renouncing my redskins fandom. like chris cooley, i am a free agent. press conference to follow. or maybe a post/rant.

zman said...

If you become a Bills fan you can root for Tavaris Jackson!

Danimal said...

"Billion Dollar Coach" article at Grantland is worth reading.

mayhugh said...

I'm torn on the Cooley thing. The unfeeling fan in me thought they should have traded him last year when they could have gotten something for him, and they waited too long. But it's hard to think of anything like that when you hear the guy's press conference. I have enjoyed his antics through the years and he has always been fiercely loyal yet incredibly candid and pragmatic on the air waves. Today's press conference was no different - the guy is an absolute class act.


Hang in there, Cooley. Things have got to work out for you.

TR said...

Rob- welcome to the world of sports free agency. I have more time to pick a new NBA team than you do to pick a new NFL team, but it's a fun concept to ponder.

T.J. said...

will we be seeing these "sports free agency" posts in this space anytime soon?