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8 October 2007 - These All-Blacks sit in the front of the bus

Well the Niners are now 2-3 after dropping a close game (that they never should have be in to begin with) to the Ravens. Normally I'd make some kind of petty excuse about how the team isn't even trying, or the fact that they're still 2-1 against the NFC West, or that in some other parallel world in the multiverse they're 5-0.
But not today. Week 5 is different, since both Alex Smith and Vernon Davis are out with injuries. Vernon sprained his knee and Smith is down with a grade 3 shoulder separation.
I'm not proud to admit this, but for the first time since Edgar Stiles choked on nerve gas, I cried. I cried like a big, dumb homo.

And even though I can't watch the NFL or the World Series (since MLB.tv costs far too much for international clients), I had adopted the New Zealand All-Blacks as my surrogate sports team. And if you haven't seen the haka, click that link immediately 2007 is the year of the Rugby World Cup, and as opposed to the soccer world cup, I can actually stand to watch more than 10 minutes of this one without slamming my head into the coffee table in the hopes that bludgeoning myself might stop the monotony for one damn second.

(Sidebar: I've finally found the definitive, Tyler Florence's Ultimate analogy when it comes to the United States and Soccer.
It's the exact same battle between Men and Jane Austen. Think about it. In both Soccer and "Pride and Prejudice" absolutely nothing happens and nobody ever scores. And women/Europe always complain that we don't give it a chance, that we don't understand the intricacies or the subtleties. Well, we do, and we just don't want to be bored to death while Mr. Darcy kicks the ball to the midfielder and holds....holds....holds...)

They take Rugby a little bit seriously down here, and I was quickly swept up in the fever.

Prior to coming to Auckland, the only rugby experience I had was watching Jack and Aisaka play hours upon hours of Rugby '06 on XBox. But now, I'm even collecting the commemorative All-Blacks action figures that they sell at Mobil for $4 when you fill up.

The All-Blacks haven't won the world cup in 20 years, but 2007 was their year...or supposed to be, since this past Saturday in quarterfinals action in Cardiff, they went down 20-18 to the host French team. This is an All-Blacks team that ran wild through their pool like Bruce Willis with a samurai sword. And then they got halted by...France.
I'm not sure what New Zealand has to look forward to anymore. It's a pretty small country so it isn't a major player on the global scene. And it's not like Peter Jackson's going to win another Oscar anytime soon.
But the only person who I feel worse for is ME. Every team that I root for turns to crap. Remember how in Bull Durham whomever Susan Sarandon banged got called up to the Show? Well with my luck, if I were sleeping with Tim Robbins he would have stayed in Triple A his whole career. I'm her Bizarro opposite.
Ummmm, that came out very very very very wrong. I went in a very scary direction with that one, and I'd really hope that we all pretended that never happened.

So now the Niners are folding faster than Superman on laundry day, the Dodgers tanked in September, Mitt Romney's falling in the polls, and the All-Blacks lost to FRANCE. Does anyone realize the last time that France won anything? You'd have to go back to 1066 when the Normans invaded at the Battle of Hastings. I'm trying my hardest to avoid jumping on the Rockies' bandwagon, but at this point they might be my last chance to root for a winner.


Happy Birthday, Dad.

-MGD

Max Davison is a Junior at CMC. He is currently abroad in Auckland, NZ, majoring in Bungy jumping with a concentration in Steinlager. After graduation, he plans on being that guy outside of Dodger Stadium who sells peanuts for $3 a bag. He currently spends his free time counting down the years, months and days until Dakota Fanning turns 18.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Dakota Fanning, indeed! You should be ashamed of yourself.

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