Sports Heaven, Rugby and the World Series

On not being a Sports Guy:

I'm not a "sports guy".  I don't watch ESPN, I don't do fantasy leagues, I don't leave large blocks of time in my schedule to make sure I am free to watch my team's game.  I don't talk sports and depending on what sports/teams/players you want to talk about, I can't talk sports.

However, there are certain times of the year when I am a big sports fan.  Lisa was totally caught off guard the first March that we were married, because March Madness has always been a big deal for me.  I run the family bracket pool, and friends that I hardly ever communicate with and haven't seen in years still come to play my pool.  In college my friends would stagger their class and viewing time so that we always had someone to call to get the scores.  I try to tell Texans that the way Texans are about football is the way we are about college basketball where I am from.

I never had a whole lot of football loyalty.  I grew up in St. Louis between the Cardinals and the Rams at the time when I should have been forming loyalties.  When we got the Rams and they became "the greatest show on turf", that was exciting, but I was already an NFL free agent fan.  I am starting to enjoy and watch football again since I have gotten to know the family of a talented NFL player.  Suddenly I feel like I have a stake in a team and I can find the game exciting.


On Rugby
If there is a single sport that I absolutely love, it's Rugby Union.  Just for the record, there are three types of rugby.  Rugby Union is the original and still the best, and what people are talking about when they just say "rugby".  Rugby League exists because for a long time Rugby Union was an amateur only sport and could not be played professionally and is like Rugby Union, but has a defined number of downs in which to get down the field (like football).  Rugby 7s is a faster paced higher scoring game with 7 players (as opposed to 15) on either side, the games are short and a full tournament is played in a day or two.  Rugby 7s is to Rugby Union sort of as arena football is to football.

The rugby fan in the US has had a bit of a tough plight.  We used to have a channel called Fox Sports World.  It largely showed soccer but also showed rugby, Aussie rules football, cricket, Irish Hurling, shinty, etc.  This is how I learned about and started watching rugby.  Fox Sports World later became Fox Soccer Channel.  When I was in college I decided to play some and played prop for the Chicago Westside Condors b-side and social side, and would have loved to continue watching the major rugby tournaments, but the rights to broadcast rugby belonged to a company called Setana Sports.  They weren't available on any cable or satellite service, but rather were a pay per view service for bars.  In order to watch rugby you had to go to a bar that carried it, and pay $20 directly to Setana.  If you wanted to eat or drink anything while you were at the bar watching rugby, a day's rugby watching got expensive quickly.

Fast forward to now.  It is a Rugby World Cup year (it happens every four years like the soccer world cup), and NBC Universal bought the rights to show the world cup!  For the first time ever the World Cup final was shown on broadcast TV.  I watched it right there on my own TV sitting on my own couch for free.  Also, I purchased a package from universalsports.com allowing me to stream every one of the 48 games in the World Cup online.  I got my Rugby Union fill to a level that I never would have been able to if it was still on Setana (and while still expensive, for far less).

Best of all, my team, the New Zealand All Blacks won the entire tournament!  It was not a pretty tournament for them and several key players were injured, but they won and I got to watch every game of it!

Other upsides:
I discovered Welsh rugby, I had never really watched them, but they are a blast to watch and play a hard-hitting smash and go game.
Scotland, my country of heritage played some really great pool matches
Some "minor" rugby countries played some great games, Fiji, Tonga, Georgia, and Romania each turned in at least one stellar performance

It was the most fun month and a half of sports watching that I have ever experienced.  It really makes me want to play again, but rugby requires a lot of money and time neither of which is something I have right now.

On the World Series
 One sport that I have always loved is Baseball.  It is as much nostalgia as an issue of enjoying the game.  I grew up going to Cardinals games and living in one of the greatest baseball towns on earth.  I loved watching Ozzie Smith, Vince Coleman, and Willie McGee playing and enjoyed going to Cardinals games.  I have always been a Cardinals fan except for a short period of child-rebellion where I decided to defy my family by being a Cubs fan... misguided I know.

So this year, somehow, the Cardinals have made it to the World Series.  We've had a pretty miserable season, but we pulled it together at the right time.  Now I get to watch a full series (on my new awesome TV that makes me feel like I'm sitting field level) and root for the Cards with everything on the line.  As I type we are one down in the series but going back to St. Louis for games 6 and (hopefully) 7.  Since the Rangers pulled ahead yesterday, the Rangers fans have suddenly discovered their swagger and brag.  I'll admit, I was very worried that we would get humiliated this series, but I lived through getting swept by Boston and I could get through being dominated by the Rangers (though admittedly, I wasn't living in Boston when we got swept).  Here are the simple facts of it though: we had a rough season, but we've shown that we deserve to be here.  After barely making it in on the wild card each of the games has been close with a lot of admirable play on both sides.  Most of all, every game has been close and suspenseful and the only major defeat handed out was handed out by the redbirds!



Even for a non "sports guy", I have been in sports heaven for the last month and a half.  Getting to sit on the couch holding my baby dressed in his Cardinals onesie while I watch the game is just icing on the cake.

Now if only March Madness could start as soon as the World Series is over......

Flightpath Coffee House

For a while now I have been riding my bike down Duval on my way to work.  I have been going past Flightpath Coffee House every morning thinking I ought to go try it, but worried that if it was good I would go broke riding past it every day.  That's not going to be a worry.

I got a cappuccino and a single shot of espresso.  The foam on my cappuchino was rich and thick and there was plenty of it, but it was hardly a microfroth.  Instead it was composed of fairly large coarse bubbles.  It was tasty but the real problem was the espresso.  The espresso tasted like coffee grounds rather than coffee.  It was weak, like a strong french roast, but nothing like a true espresso.  The only thing that marked it as espresso was a nice thick, but still bland, crema.

Does that mean I wouldn't go back?  I would most happily, but not for the coffee.  They have a large open space filled with Austinesque kitsch.  There are a lot of tables generously spaced around the shop's several rooms and deck.  It would be a great place to meet up with someone or hang out and read.  They offer a lot of other beverages and a lot of tasty looking food.  Next time I go back it will be to enjoy a book, drink a Boddington's (something else I have experienced and highly recommend), and eat a slice of quiche.

In short, this would be a great hangout location, like Mozart's Coffee on Lake Austin with less outdoor seating, lacking the great house roasted drip coffee, but with a beer selection, less of a crowd, and a very Austin atmosphere.  For my hardcore snobby espresso needs I will be sticking with Houndstooth Coffee.