Now, most of you may not realize this, but the Rugby World Cup is being played in France right now. Actually, they have just finished Pool play and the quarter finals start this weekend.
Now my favorite rugby team has been the New Zealand All Blacks (ranked #1 in the world) since that is where I first learned about rugby. However, the Argentina Los Pumas, ranked #4, have won a place in my heart. It could be because I've seen roughly 1500 commercials for them. Let's say they are a little big at the moment. After watching too many interviews with them that I don't actually understand, I'm starting to feel like I know them personally. There's Juan, the fly half, who one of my students has declared as her future husband, Augustin, the super popular, team captain and scrum half, and Omar, the baritone prop. There is a commercial in which they show lots of slow motion tackles to Omar singing "Ave Marie."
While I enjoy watching rugby, my favorite part has been listening to the refs. They are super polite. It seems like with such a rough sport the refs would be mean and loud. But here are some of my favorite comments I've heard them make:
"Don't be silly boys!" (Always better when said to men over 6 feet tall and over 250 lbs.
At the end of the Argentina-Georgia (the country not the state) match, 2 players started fighting. The ref says, "Now let's not ruin it at the end." Then he pulls them aside and says, "Is this your first World Cup? Well, you don’t want to make it your last." Then he said something about not fighting and playing nice. Then he had them shake hands.
In another match, at the end of the game, they were having trouble with getting the scrum set, and the ref says, "Now I know its the last couple of minutes and you all are getting tired..." in a very comforting voice like he was talking to children.
Oh and if you are wondering, the U.S. team (The Eagles) did actually make the World Cup, but... um... well... they didn't win a game. But, hey, they made the tournament!
Anyway... I'm really enjoying it. I'm hoping for an All Blacks - Los Pumas final.
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