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)

New Traditions

Effective immediately, the G:TB editorial staff and community will begin greeting one another in the hongi tradition of the Maori, as demonstrated below by Honk Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang and New Zealand Minister of Maori Affairs Pita Sharples.

Use of the haka in editorial meetings remains optional.

Morning, Sunshine

By the time you soft Americans wake up, New Zealand and France will have battled for 80 minutes to see who claims the Webb Ellis trophy as the winner of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Right-thinking people the world over are rooting for the All Blacks to take their first title since 1987.

One of these days, we'll get around to that top 10 all-time sports traditions post, right after the Chinese Democracy review gets done. I'm quite confident this will make the list: