Not In The Face

In between trips to Kirwan's (a top-notch Irish pub in DC's Wharf district), several Gheorghies took in what turned out to be a historic rugby match between our Eagles and the All Blacks of New Zealand. Historic, in the sense that the Eagles scored two tries - the first time the U.S. has dented the All Blacks' try zone.

Right before the opening kickoff, Dave asked me how long I thought the match would remain competitive. "Six minutes," I responded.

The All Blacks had other ideas, taking the opening kick and scoring a try in 28 seconds. And that was about that. New Zealand was remarkable, and it was a privilege to see the world's best do their thing. Some highlights follow:

Rugby's on the come up in America, and the match was both a celebration of that fact and an object lesson in how much work is still to be done. 

The whole day, though, was a reminder of how important and fulfilling fellowship twixt old friends can be. Can't wait to do it again.

Official G:TB Rugby World Cup Preview

"There’s going to be some sort of drama that unfolds that changes whatever the popularly accepted narrative is about the winner or who’s going to be in the semifinals or who’s even going to be in the quarterfinals.”

Hightower takes the game very seriously.

So sayeth no less a sage than our own Brian Hightower on the eve of the 2019 Rugby World Cup. That may seem like anodyne stuff put out by NBC as part of the pre-tournament publicity package. But Hightower doesn't do anodyne. I think he's picking the USA Eagles to make a run to the Final Four. And I'm right beside him.

Though the Eagles are ranked a modest 13th in the world, they did win the Olympic gold medal. In 1924, but that's hardly relevant. Coach Gary Gold's squad recorded the US's first-ever tier 1 win last summer, knocking off Scotland, 30-29. The team followed that up with a win over Samoa. Most observers believe that the Americans find themselves in the World Cup's Group of Death, where they'll face France, Argentina, England, and Tonga. (As an aside, the Tonga Toast at Disney's Polynesian resort is absurdly good, especially accompanied by french press coffee, and has the added benefit of carrying enough calories to get you through an entire day.)

Those observers believe that the U.S.A. will be lucky to get one win out of the event, most likely against Tonga. I think we all know what Brian Hightower thinks of that conventional wisdom. The Eagles play England in Kobe on September 26 to kick off their tournament.

As for the rest of the entrants in the 20-team tournament, USA Eagle legend Dan Lyle frames it this way, "I call this the five-five-and-five. You’ve got five teams who can absolutely win it. You’ve got five teams who have beaten those five, and then you’ve got five more below that that have beaten those five."

That first five consists of the legendary All-Blacks of New Zealand, Ireland, England, South Africa, and Wales. A punter putting cash down on any of the other 15 sides is in it for a lark.

Your likely winners.

The tournament starts today, with hosts Japan taking on Russia in Tokyo. Ireland are actually the top-ranked side in the world rankings, narrowly ahead of New Zealand. The All-Blacks are the betting favorite at 6/4, having won the previous two World Cups. Ireland's fly half, Jonathan Sexton, was the 2018 world player of the year, but he's battled injuries recently. With him healthy, the Irish are dangerous. Without him, they may not get out of their group. Wales briefly occupied the top spot in the world rankings earlier this year, though they fell to Ireland, 22-17 just a few weeks ago.

Our fearless (and clueless) prognosticators have pooled their limited mental resources. Here's the official G:TB Rugby World Cup prediction:

Pool A: (Ireland, Scotland, Japan, Samoa, Russia)
Winner: Scotland
Runner-Up: Ireland
Faux-knowledgeable Commentary: The hosts are an up-and-comer, and could give the Scots and Irish a tumble, but there's too much quality from the traditional powers.

Pool B: (New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, Canada, Namibia)
Winner: South Africa
Runner-Up: New Zealand
Faux-knowledgeable Commentary: They really needn't bother play out all the matches in this one. The drop in quality from the top two teams to the rest is river deep and ocean wide. New Zealand will rest their best players against South Africa, which will give the Springboks a chance to take the group.

Pool C: (England, France, Argentina, USA, Tonga)
Winner: England
Runner-Up: France
Faux-knowledgeable Commentary: What was all that crap about the USA making the semi-finals? Turns out we've never won more than one match in a World Cup, but this year we're gonna beat Tonga and upset Argentina, so...progress! And Remember 1924!

Pool D: (Wales, Australia, Fiji, Georgia, Uruguay)
Winner: Wales
Runner-Up: Fiji
Faux-knowledgeable Commentary: We're going a little out on a limb here. The Fijians are playing (sort of) close to home, they're fast and creative, and we really feel bad about picking chalk in all the rest of the pools. Vei Lomani!

Quarterfinals:
England over Fiji
Ireland over South Africa
Wales over France
New Zealand over Scotland

Semifinals:
Ireland over England
New Zealand over Wales

Finals:
New Zealand over Ireland

And if the All-Blacks do lift their fourth Webb Ellis trophy, the guy second from left in the shot below won't be all that happy. Drunk, but not all that happy:

If you get Fairfax County Public Access television, you can watch Mr. KQ
wax knowledgeable about all things Rugby World Cup while wearing that hat.

In keeping with our tradition of finding the important things about sports, we'll also call your attention to a cool review of the kits worn by each of the teams. Rugby shirts sure have come a long way from when they were de rigueur for high school preppy kids. I had a few.

Follow this space for plenty of coverage from Japan. (Note: not likely to be plenty, and probably not from Japan, unless Zman or TR makes another trip there.) There will be plenty of Hightower references here over the next few weeks, though.

I Know It When I See It, and I See You Austin Murphy!

"I know it when I see it" isn't a particularly impressive legal test--it's possibly the most subjective line of reasoning anyone could put forth to justify an outcome. But sometimes it just works.

For example, when I introduced "Blurred Lines" to G:TB just over three years ago, I said "If 'Blurred Lines' doesn't sample Michael Jackson's 'Whew!' and rip off Marvin Gaye's 'Got to Give it Up' then I'm Quincy Jones." Marvin Gaye's kids probably read G:TB because they sued Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for copyright infringement and won. I knew it when I saw it!

When the New York Times reported on the case, they said "the music industry has been gripped by a lawsuit over whether Robin Thicke’s 2013 hit 'Blurred Lines' was merely reminiscent of a song by Marvin Gaye, or had crossed the line into plagiarism." The line between reminiscence and plagiarism has again been blurred at G:TB.



Three and a half years ago, rob wrote a post about rubgy and the NFL. To call it a post doesn't do the piece justice. It's like calling David a statue of a naked guy. It's so good that one particularly erudite commenter said "This is fucking brilliant."

The piece is set in 2030 and it opens with the contrivance that rubgy has passed the NFL in popularity. Although the NFL still exists, more people watch the rugby championship than they do the Super Bowl. Along the way it quotes Ta-Nehisi Coates, cites various concussion-related events that took place before the real date on which the piece was written, and references the fictitious "upstart American Rugby League."

Three days ago, Austin Murphy wrote a piece for www.si.com about the future of football. The piece is set in 2036 and it opens with the contrivance that rugby has passed the NFL in popularity. The NFL no longer exists, so instead of watching the Super Bowl people watch rugby. Along the way it quotes Ta-Nehisi Coates, cites various concussion-related events that took place before the real date on which the piece was written, and references the fictitious "American Rugby League."

Blurred lines indeed. I know it when I see it.

Gheorghe, Ghenius, America

The revolution we predicted may not be televised, but it's underway. (Actually, it'll certainly be televised. It already is, thanks to FOGTB Beans Hightower.)

We've already seen Aussie rugby star Jarryd Hayne make the leap to the NFL, offering an object lesson in the uni-directional transferability of skillsets from one sport to the other. And we've seen speedsters like Carlin Isles and Perry Baker transition from football to rugby, at least the sevens version. The Seattle Seahawks made news two years ago as they publicly adopted rugby tackling techniques and fielded one of the NFL's most effective defensive units.

Now, one more step towards assimilation, as New England Patriots safety and erstwhile Ohio State rugger Nate Ebner is taking a summer break from the NFL to train with the USA Eagles in the run-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics.

I find several things about this news interesting. First, Bill Belichick and his staff are obviously readers of this blog. More importantly, the Patriots clearly see benefit (or at least limited risk) in allowing one of their key players (New England recently re-signed Ebner) to participate in a non-football contact sport. The Patriots are widely known as one of the more creative NFL teams - this move may well open the eyes of other teams, and open doors to other potential cross-sport athletes. Also, while Ebner's clearly fast, he's not in the Isles/Baker mold. He came up in rugby as a 15s fly half - he's not a dilettante by any stretch. Finally, if Ebner makes the Olympic team (which is by no means guaranteed), this will be one more high-visibility story for rugby in 2016.



The ball, oblong as it may be, is rolling. Our genius is soon to be so obvious to the masses that we'll be unable to go for a beer in public without disguises. I'm planning to get tattoos all over my body and pretend to be Mark.

Giant, Awakening

Some of you may have seen this, but there was a reasonably big event in international sports this weekend featuring an American breakthrough.

The U.S. Rugby Sevens squad thumped Australia, 45-22, in the championship match of the final HSBC Sevens World Series, marking the Americans' first-ever series victory. The U.S. reached the final match with a thorough 43-12 dismantling of England, made the more impressive by the fact that the match was held in the Lions' home country.



Speedster Carlin Isles gets a lot of press (and he scored a pair of ridiculous tries against England), but this win was a comprehensive one by the Eagles. Danny Barrett registered a pair of first-half tries in the final, and Madison Hughes and Maka Unufe added singles to pace the big, physical U.S. side to a 26-10 lead.

Next for the Americans is an attempt to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics. There's a single spot available at next month's North American and Caribbean qualifying tournament, where we'll be huge favorites. After the performance in Twickenham, which clinched a best-ever 6th-place finish in the World Series, the U.S. will be taken seriously if they make it to Rio.

Dogs and cats, living in sin.

Shoot the Boot Saturday

Monday night we got to watch a fantastic and fairly stunning upset, that of our beloved Washington American Football Club over the universally loathed Dallas Cowboys.  That was nothing.

On Saturday at 3:30 EST, a contest will kick off that has far less of a real chance for underdog victory.  No matter,  It will be fun to watch, anyway.

Okay, sports fans, here's a chance to show some nationalistic pride, wow your significant other with your international cultural literacy, and watch top athletes smashing into each other while throwing and kicking a ball.

Your USA Eagles take on the single most recognizable international rugby side in the world, New Zealand's All Blacks.  

The match is at Soldier Field in Chicago in front of a sold out crowd of 61,500.
I used to work in Chicago at the old department store.
I used to work in Chicago, I don't work there any more.

And our old roommate Brian Hightower will be calling the game. Not bad, Highcheese. Father Abraham had seven sons, and one of them was Hightower.  And he never passed the ball.  All he did was go like this.

This article quotes US coach Mike Tolkin saying this is just the start for rugby in the US.  Rob may tell him it started with his blogpost, but they may agree on where it's headed.  In an Australian publication, the author writes:

Yes, the All Blacks will win handily, but the match is seen as a stepping stone in the USA’s progression from second tier rugby playing nation to first tier.

The haka in Chi-town with our buddy on TV?  We'll take that.  Tune in.

3:30 PM, Saturday, November 1.  NBC.  

U-S-A

Good Shot, Mate

I've never donned short shorts and strapped tape around my dome, but I've long been a rugby fan. Partly because a number of my best friends played the game in college, and partly because it's a sport, and if it's a sport, I'm constitutionally inclined to enjoy it.

One of the great things about the game is the camaraderie and esprit de corps demonstrated by even the fiercest opponents. Some of my favorite memories of my days in Williamsburg involve sweaty, dirty men in different-colored jerseys locked arm in arm, singing and drinking post match. (Note: that sentence may need a rewrite.)

Via various Twitter sources yesterday, an example of what I mean - Northampton's Salesi Ma'afu smoked Leicester's Tom Youngs with a hard left hand during the Saints' 21-20 victory. Ma'afu was ejected, while Youngs spent time in the sin bin. But after the match, this exchange ensued:

Good on both of you.

Your 2030 Super Cup Champions

While we've seen the numbers in black and white, and the trend's been unavoidable, it's still hard for the older observers among us to believe that the 2030 American Rugby Football Union (ARFU) Super Cup got higher ratings than the NFL's Super Bowl LXIV. More than 115 million viewers watched as Denver Barbarians wing Oz Hightower scored a last-minute try to cap a thrilling comeback and beat Old Blue of New York, 20-18 in last week's Super Cup match.

As recently as the early 2010s, rugby was an afterthought in American sports, something played by collegians and small handfuls of old-timers chasing past glory and a great party. But the long-germinating seeds of the NFL's decline took root in early 2013 when a UCLA study found signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in living retired professional football players. On the heels of several high-profile suicides by retired NFL players like Junior Seau and in the midst of a number of lawsuits by former players, the UCLA study triggered a national debate about football and our tolerance for violence as entertainment. The Atlantic columnist Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote presciently at the time,

This is when you start thinking about football and an existential crisis. I don't know what the adults will do. But you tell a parent that their kid has a five percent chance of developing crippling brain damage through playing a sport, and you will see the end of Pop Warner and probably the end of high school football. Colleges would likely follow. (How common are college boxing teams these days?)

After that, I don't know how pro football can stand for long.

Baltimore safety Bernard Pollard put a player's face on Coates' argument before Super Bowl XLVII, predicting that the NFL would be out of existence within 30 years. He was unavailable for comment after the game as a result of the concussion he suffered during his team's 31-20 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

If the UCLA study was a significant public relations blow for the NFL, the 2015 legal ruling awarding $1.2 billion in damages to the families of players injured during their careers was an economic gutpunch. Shortly thereafter, the league outlawed high tackles, ironically borrowing a rule from rugby, but the NFL's popularity would never again reach its 2012 peak.

While the NFL struggled with the obvious tension between its celebration of violent hits and claims to emphasize player safety (in one particularly memorable juxtaposition, the league fined Pittsburgh Steeler James Harrison $75,000 for a 2010 hit on Cleveland's Mohamed Massaquoi - and then sold pictures of the hit on its website), rugby began to grow steadily. International and college sevens matches made for compelling television, and the 2016 Rio Olympics were a significant stage for the game - enough so that the ARFU was founded shortly after the Games, with eight teams in traditional rugby hotbeds like San Francisco, New York, and Boston.

By 2022, the NFL had experienced six consecutive years of ratings declines, which hurt the league significantly as it negotiated new television deals with its broadcast partners. At the same time, the ARFU inked its first national television contract, with NBC Sports Network signing to broadcast a Match of the Week and the entire playoffs.

Though President Barack Obama talked about football's need to address its concussion issue as far back as 2013, the tragic on-field death of USC wide receiver Torey Butler in 2025 spurred a theretofore slow-moving Congress into action. Led by Massachusetts Senator Tom Brady, a bipartisan effort in both chambers resulted in significant new player safety and equipment rules for football at all levels. Decried by hard-liners as the Mark Kelsoization of the game, the legislation stopped short of banning the sport, but had a material impact on how it was played.

Two years later, the NFL awarded a new television contract to TNT and Apple after no major networks bid on the package. Meanwhile, ESPN joined NBC Sports Network as a broadcast partner for the ARFU, which increased to 16 teams. All of the rugby league's games were now televised nationally.

In  2028, Jonathan James, the top pick in NFL draft, spurned the league to sign with the ARFU Dallas Harlequins. The Cal grad starred at running back for the Bears' gridiron squad while doing double duty as a wing on their national champion rugby squad.

Just this year, in a move rumored for some time, the NFL contracted to 24 teams while the ARFU expanded to 20. Commissioner Tim Tebow (and quite a story his ascension was, to be sure) is rumored to be in talks with the upstart American Rugby League to develop a hybrid football/rugby game to compete with the ARFU.

And now, we see ARFU ratings exceed those of the NFL for the first time. We still like our violence, it seems, but we're increasingly unwilling to let it come at such cost. Like boxing before it, American football seems destined to decline slowly, but absolutely surely, until it becomes a quaintly barbaric anachronism.

It was fun while it lasted, though.

Fast Filler

Before Day 4 of Gmas gets its finishing touches and is unleashed on our unsuspecting readers, here's some quick filler.  Some incredibly quick filler. 



This fellow is fun to watch.  The IRB Sevens Series is underway.  Vegas in early February.

Happy Weekend

Here's a little joy for you on this holiday weekend morn. Irish rugby star Brian O'Driscoll recently brought the Heineken Cup to visit a young girl in the hospital. Awesome ensued:

Cupping

Yes, it’s that time once again, when the warriors strap it on, take the field, and commence another march to the coveted trophy.

Except that there isn’t much to strap on, it’s a pitch, and the trophy is the Webb Ellis, not the Lombardi. Yeah, it’s Rugby World Cup time. It’s 3:30 AM EDT, and the first match of the 2011 Cup is about to kick off in Auckland, New Zealand. New Zealand versus Tonga. Crouch, together, engage.

Here’s a highly uninformed preview to brief you with just enough backstory so that, hopefully, you will develop some rooting interest and follow along. I’m guessing that the only regular reader who will be watching any of the Cup might be Jerry, and he probably knows as much or more, but here goes.

Your Cliffs Notes Rugby World Cup Preview

The Rugby World Cup

• Founded all the way back in 1987

Previous Winners:
1987 – New Zealand
1991 – Australia
1995 – South Africa (spoiler alert: you know, like in Invictus)
1999 – Australia
2003 – England
2007 – South Africa, defending champs
You sense a domination of just a few nations. It’s true. Only France has been a consistent contender outside this list.

The Format
If you watch World Cup soccer, you sort of know the drill. We begin with a group stage, except that instead of eight groups of four teams, there are four groups of five, so 20 nations make the tournament. You play everyone in your pool, so you have four pool matches, with two teams from each pool advancing to the knock-out stage.

How The Game Is Played
Okay, you probably kind of already know, and none of us wants me to transcribe the book of laws here, but here are a few basic facts as you watch:

• 15 dudes on a side (in this variety; sevens is the more lively nephew of this game)
• 40 minute halves
• Lots of running-about advancing behavior, as it’s a game of possession with the goal of touching the ball down in the try zone or kicking it through the uprights. Sound familiar?
• Can’t pass the ball forward, can’t even drop it or hit it forward accidentally. This is called a knock-on, and it results in a change of possession. Americans changed it so you can throw it forward and therefore not get hit so much. Some say smart, ruggers say lazy and sissy.

The mass of dudes binding onto each other and pushing has different names:

• Scrum – general term, but the organized variety is a scrumdown, after a knock-on, tie-up, or whenever the ref doesn’t know what to do.
• Ruck – ball’s on the ground; push the pack over it, and when it’s free, grab it
• Maul – ball’s in your team’s hands; push forward, pass it back ‘til it’s free

Positions:

• The pack has eight guys, the back line has seven.
• Big dudes in the pack, smaller/faster dudes (not always in either case) are backs

I played in the pack for four years in college, eventually working my way to 8-man, the most fun position I played. Back of the pack, you can either ruck over the ball and let the scrum-half kick it out to the backs or take it yourself. Most enjoyable was when Hightower was the scrum-half and I was 8, as we rarely passed it and got yelled at plenty. I retired from the pack my 5th year and played outside center in the back line. Don’t let any back fool you, it’s slack as shit back there.

Scoring:

• 5 points for a try, 2 for the conversion, BUT, you kick the conversion from wherever you touched the ball down, latitudinally speaking. Meaning if you dive for a try in the corner, your kicker takes aim from anywhere he chooses... along the sideline. Hence people running into the center of the try zone when they can.
• 3 points for a kick, either a drop-kick in mid-play or via a penalty.

Penalties… ugh, too much typing. Oversimplified:
There are obvious ones (taking a bloke’s head off, tackling / holding / obstructing a man without the ball) and less obvious ones (hands in a ruck, not releasing the ball when tackled – this is very grey, as a ruck can form around you -- and a whole lot of offsides). Offsides: basically if there’s a scrum/ruck/maul, or if someone on your team kicks it, mind your advancement, there’s a good chance you’ll be whistled.

Kicking:
Big part of the game (not mine), if you punt it on a penalty or from behind your own 22-meter line and it goes into touch (out of bounds), the other side throws a lineout in from there. But outside your 22, back to where you kicked it.
You kicked it and it stays inbounds, you better get on your bleedin’ horse, mate. No one who was in front of you when you kicked it can touch the fellow who caught it until you pass them and make them onside.
Pop kick: you’re running towards the zone, man comes at you, pop-kick it over his head, run around him, retrieve the ball, run in. Sounds a hell of a lot easier than it is.

Lineouts: ball goes out, throw it back in straight. Come on, dummy.

Oh… when you score, they kick off to you. Which is excellent unless they pop it up and drill you, which happened a lot to us in undergrad.

Questions?


So who’s gonna win?

New Zealand. Or so say the oddsmakers, who give them roughly 4:6 odds. Bodog gives them 8/13, while the US of A is 1000:1. Some have the Americans at 5000:1.

So you’re tellin’ me there’s a chance.

The aforementioned Wallabies, Springboks, and Limeys are a respective 3:1, 8:1, and 10:1. Jerry likes the Aussies. I don’t care. I just like to watch. (That’s right.)

Here are the pools:

• Pool A – Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand, Tonga
• Pool B – Argentina, England, Georgia, Romania, Scotland
• Pool C – Australia, Italy, Ireland, Russia, USA
• Pool D – Fiji, Namibia, Samoa, South Africa, Wales

No draw would be easy for us, but that’s rough. At least we get Russia. Miracle on sooty grass.

There are plenty of subplots and familiar adversaries. The historic grudge matches and annual bouts via Tri-Nations (NZ, SA, Australia), Six Nations (England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Italy), etc., now take a back seat to the world title. Giddyup.

So that’s enough of a backdrop for now; pick your rooting interest (beyond the Yanks) based on your heritage (England and Ireland for me), underdogs, most fun to watch (Fiji, Samoa), or random interest. I like Wales as my (pasty, toothless) dark horse, and in the meantime, I’m excited that it’s even getting a little bit of airplay. Try to tune in. I know NBC is airing the US/Ireland bludgeoning on Sunday at 1:00 PM. My party guests should be amused when I switch over to that game. I think.

Our man on the pitch continues to be old W&M chum Brian Hightower, though he's covering this Cup for the network in LA, not Wellington. Give a listen out for him in case he gloms his way into some broadcasts. In the meantime, check out his coverage on the bloggy website The Scrum, especially his article entitled “Hightower's 5 must-watch Rugby World Cup games.”

Game on. Enjoy.

GTB: The Interview...Brian Hightower

In 2008 and again in 2010, I was part of an assemblage of rugby-alum degenerates who traveled out to the western part of the country to watch the International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens World Series, an eight-city world tour wherein a weekend international rugby tournament is played in each venue. Our old coach Cary spearheaded the drunken outing in San Diego three years ago and took a few pictures; the highlight that trip, perhaps, was learning about the shot "The Stuntman."

Last year, as you may recall, it took a ridiculous journey to get to the same tournament in Las Vegas, but it was all worth it. The US stop is in Vegas again this year – this weekend.

The cool part for us rugby idiots is that it’s on live television this year. NBC is airing matches beginning at 3:30 EST on Saturday and resuming coverage for the Cup Final Sunday at 4:30; their subsidiary Universal Sports, for those who get it, will have even more of the action at various times. The full schedule is here.

Even cooler for those of us who played Tribe Rugby (now known as Wren Wrugby) is that Brian Hightower, who lived, drank, puked, rucked and mauled with several Gheorghers way back when, is providing color commentary for the broadcast. This could be the beginning of a long and distinguished career for him if all goes well – and if rubgy continues its ascension in American popularity. We’ll see; in the meantime, tune in this weekend to catch some of the play.

Highcheese has also been tasked with writing some rugby-related pieces for a webpage called The Scrum on UniversalSports.com. Take a gander and learn a bit more if you're interested.

Oh… in unrelated news, Hightower was also DangerMan (almost).

In recognition of our old friend’s presence at the event that kicks off Saturday, I rang up The Thumb (also known as The Fireplug, The Glom, a Random Idiot, or simply Cheese) and borrowed 20 minutes of his time with a flurry of questions serious and less serious on behalf of Gheorghe: The Blog. Here was the result. (Brian sounds that way because I keep him in a little tin can.)

highcheeseinterview by whitneygtb

Tune in if you can. Sevens rugby is an awesome spectator sport, good for fans and ADHD sufferers alike. (7-minute halves, lots of scoring.) Enjoy.