6/30/04

It's Summertime Fellow Ruggers,

I know that it has been quite along time since I have written one of my semi-informative, semi-obnoxious, and semi-obsequious Rugby Rants, but that is how it goes in the springtime. I have rediscovered the overwhelming joy of warm weather. Living in the Northeast you do not take great weather for granted. Well, summer is here and a strange thing has happened. I am really starting to miss rugby. The college team that I coach has been done for more than two months and the Can Am 15's tourney is still 6 weeks away, so I am left with an empty feeling in the pit of my soul. Last weekend I cleaned out my kit bag and much to my chagrin, my mud encased boots looked really lonely. So here is a Rugby Rant that has been long over due.

If you guys are feeling the lack-of-rugby blues, this is probably the best time of year for rugby on Fox Sports World. The last two weekends, good old FSW has been busy with the spring tours of the “Rugby Superpowers”. There have been a few good games there, however the best is yet to come with the Tri Nations tournament. For the last five or so years, the Tri Nations has produced some of the very best rugby the world has ever seen. Pick any one of the last five Tri Nations and then stand it up against any other rugby tournament including the Rugby World Cup (Last year's finals are a rare exception) and I would take those awesome 6 matches any day. What makes the tournament so special is that you only have 6 games with three great teams who happen to hate each other. The RWC, is just too diluted with average teams to make all 43 or so matches exciting.

I would love nothing more than for Fox Sports World to show more Rugby on TV, but I am confident that it will not happen anytime soon. Good press for Rugby in the US is VERY hard to come by. It is easier to videotape yourself with Paris Hilton than to find good rugby coverage North America. Two months ago, while enjoying my morning constitutional, I was perusing the April issue of Maxim magazine, when much to my delight, I found an article with pictures of Rugby. Finally, a rugby article in the magazine that has a built in demographic in rugby players. The name of the Article was called Athens, Here We Come! I was short of breath when I saw the title. Could Rugby be in the next Olympics?

Then I read the byline and disaster struck “For the US Tag Team, a once-improbable trip to the 2004 Olympic Games is Finally within touching distance. A confused Bush-like look came across my face. Then I started to look closer at the great rugby pictures (sorry no pictures online) in the articles. The morons at Maxim had digitally removed the rugby balls and the team logos from the pictures. I could not have been more puzzled. The article was about a fictitious sport, made up to fill a few pages. I have read it twice and I still cannot figure it out. It was without a doubt the most nonsensical piece of crap I have ever read. I have already sent an email to Maxim and told them that I would never read their rag again. Read the article for yourself and then write to the editors, and for the love of god to not spend a dime with Maxim until they right the wrong.

Lastly, If you live in the Northeast, do try to figure out a way to go to see the US Eagles play against France. They are the only national team we have and if we fill a stadium ESPN and the rest of the National Press will follow. Enjoy your summer!

Cheers,

Pat Laczkowski
Front Row Outfitters