All Blacks Rugby

I've been meaning to write this for awhile.

I think we should get into rugby. I know, it's strange to post it right in the beginning of the football season - but it took week 1 for me to remember the joy of watching large dudes pummel each other all afternoon.

First reason to watch: For hits, rugby is just as good as football.



(I do realize that all of these players are cabbage-eared and probably heavily concussed. I still think the NFL and rugby authorities should pay more attention to long term problems from concussions, but Rand's comment cured me of fretting over it too much).

Second reason to watch: It's international. Like with soccer, there's a Rugby World Cup every four years. In between, there are all sorts of qualifying whatevers and tournaments that are fun to watch.

Third, it's easy to understand. The teams line up, run at each other until the ball hits the ground, scramble for it, and hit each other some more. Here's an EA Sports introduction to it:



There are plenty of teams to root for (though it usually comes down to South Africa, England, Australia and New Zealand) it's fun to watch, easy to understand, and the hits are as big as football. The games are intense (a game I saw in New Zealand vs. England drew about 100,000 maniacs). I like New Zealand, because that's where I was introduced to rugby and they do the haka before games to intimidate their opponents. I should also add that the NCAA's Western Athletic Conference effectively banned Hawaii from doing this before games, because they called it "Unsportsmanlike Conduct". Pussies.



The only downside is that it can be hard to find a place to watch. But with the plethora of sports bars in all of our cities, it's certainly doable.

But, seriously, check out these highlights and honestly say you don't want to get into it.



And let's do it now. The World Cup is on right now and hardly ever - if ever - on Sundays. Here's the schedule. And, it's still in pool stages and will be done by the end of October. It's a quick hit of easy-to-understand violence and international passion to get us started on the game.

Here's an intro to the 2007 World Cup: