PAN-AM Games Promotional Video

Promotional video from Youtube for the 7s Tournament at the Pan-American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.  The tournament is this weekend October 28-29th.  ESPN won the bid to show the Pan-Am games, no word on how much coverage they will provide for the Rugby Tournament though.

Life Stadium Rendering

In doing a google search I found this image.  It is a rendering that a design firm did for Life University.  Basically, the site said that Life wants to improve its facilities and needed something to show alums and investors to help them see what they would be doing with their donations.

Now, there's not much else on this, so this picture could just be a pipe dream.  But it seems natural for Life to want to expand.  They are the biggest name in the Southeast in Rugby, and they are growing their collegiate side.  This could have a lot of other uses:  hosting rugby events/tournaments/test matches, uses for other sports in the future (soccer or lacrosse).

As of right now, there is only one stadium built specifically for rugby, the stadium at Infinity Park in Glendale, CO.  And, it unfortunately doesn't even have full-sized try zones.  The CPD (now College Rugby Division 1-A) final was staged last year at the home pitch for Real Salt Lake in Salt Lake City, and that, too made some considerations for safety and had to adjust the dimensions.  It would be nice to see something like this, even if it was smaller, in the Southeast, so that not everything had to go out west.  And a legitimate pitch with 100% correct dimensions would be great.

Pro Bull Riders Visit Jesuit HS

It's always good to see others taking an interest in Rugby.  Whether it's unstoppable Sam with the EAS tour or these Bull Riders.

In an unrelated note, I still laugh at the fact that Chad Johnson (I still refuse to call him Chad 85) attempted to ride a bull in Atlanta.  He did so with a bet that if he lasted 8 Seconds, he could rename the bull after his head coach in Cincinnati.  Of course now he is in New England, but I digress.

Check out the video, Jesuit HS is one of the best high school teams in the country.

Rugby World Cup on NBC; Universal Sports

This is actually old news.  We have known for a while that the Rugby World Cup would be shown on NBC and on its affiliate NBC's Universal Sports.  In fact, this article was posted on the IRB's website on June 17, 2010.  But, came across the article again and it has me excited for the RWC '11. 

Unfortunately, I doubt the U.S. will have similar success to the Women's soccer team, or even the men's soccer team for that matter.  Even without the US seriously contending for the title, it will be great to watch more of the RWC and see more of the top tier nations playing some high-level rugby.  Which ultimately seems to be what the IRB and NBC are both looking to accomplish, having said this:

IRB Chief Executive Mike Miller said: "Today's announcement represents a significant milestone in the development of Rugby in the United States. NBC and Universal Sports are globally renowned for quality broadcast delivery of major sports events in the United States and their considerable experience and passion for sport will deliver the widespread platform for Rugby World Cup to truly capture the hearts and minds of American sports fans."

In a random tangent about Universal Sports, I love that they have made rugby content available on their website (http://www.universalsports.com), and the same for ESPN (espn3.com).  I am wondering how long it will take to make this media available in an App for the smart TV or internet ready tvs, and for video game consoles.  I think ESPN3 is already available for Xbox Live, but would like to see it available in the other two formats.  There's always another way to spread the love.

Rugby World Cup Trailer

A great look at the upcoming Rugby Challenge video game. Enjoy!

Also, today is my birthday, Happy Birthday to me!

The College Game

The college game is a popular topic of debate.  Should we invest further in the College Premier Division?  Should we revert back to Division 1 as the top league?  Or should we change it up to a method that is along the lines of the traditional American sports.  What I am referring to is Conferences that mirror the schools current athletic teams.  Are conferences the best way to grow the college game?

Really the biggest draw to me as an alum/fan of a college team is the opportunity to play against traditional rivals. Good or bad at rugby, that is the draw.
People around campus get excited. Not just if Cal beats the University of Spoiled Children or UCLA, but Oregon State or Washington might get pumped up about beating Arizona or AZ State. Same thing in the SEC or ACC. The ACC is really spread out though from Boston College to Miami... so some allowances have been made. Does Florida State want to be in the ACRL? Do they want to have to travel to Maryland?
I get your point. It's a balancing act. Do the traditional rivalries get the attention of the administration? And does that attention get you more financial support? Or other support? As rugby grows, you're going to eventually look at the NCAA getting involved. At least that is what you should want. Baseball is heralded as the 3rd sport in college. While it is played all over, it doesn't necessarily get more coverage than women's hoops, lacrosse or hockey. Probably a little bit more. But Football and Basketball are huge. The CWS is big, but not as big as the former two.
But still, the NCAA gives support to all its championships and gets the attention of athletic directors. That's what we want in college. Well that is really the money and attention will help to foster the competitive environments for rugby that will lead to better domestic competitions and a stronger pool for the Eagles.
You have to ask yourself what your goals are. Do we want to grow the college game? Or are we trying to get better players for the Eagles? Growing the college game the right way and for the right reasons will lead to better players.

A True American Jersey

There have been a lot of complaints about the jerseys worn by the Eagles during the Churchill Cup.  While I personally didn't hate the jersey for the match against Russia as much as I lamented the choice for the match vs Tonga.  It brings to mind a problem that I notice with all the teams for the USA.  The problem is that America doesn't have an identity.  At least not with our competitive uniforms.  It is sad that rugby is not the only American side that suffers from this lack of identity. 

Maybe the problem lies in the way so much of America is pop culture.  They way everyone wants the new thing or the new fashion.  Put simply, America is too flashy.  There, I said it.  Look at the Oregon Ducks and the 1,000 different combinations of helmets, jerseys and pants they have.  The University of Oregon is the USA of college football.  The have a logo that they use and that is the only thing that is consistent.  That and the fact that there uniforms are consistently different.

Let's run down a list.

Rugby
Baseball
Basketball
Soccer

In my opinion all terrible uniforms.  The one major sport with good uniforms?  Hockey.  Consistent.  Whiter shirt, blue shoulders, red and blue stripes at the bottom and USA across the front. 

Compare 1980 to 2010:

1980 Winter Olympics

 

2010 Winter Olympics

I don't love the need to make a logo out of USA.... I mean this one looks better than the Baseball team's attempt, but come on.  I just find these logos to be so cheesy.  It's tacky.  It's awful.  Basketball actually isn't that bad, now that they have moved on from the Dream Team's cheesy USA Basketball logo.  In Soccer and Rugby we just don't have an identity.  I understand subtle changes that may occur, but this is ridiculous.  You can see some of the progression of the USA's rugby kit on RugbyMag's website. 

Someone suggested going with a look like the Cal Golden Bears.  Blue socks, white shorts and thin red, white and blue hoops.  I actually really like this idea.  It gets all the colors in, isn't overly cheesy.  While hoops, may not be a classic look for the Eagles, I really think it could work.  Here is an example of what the Cal uniforms look like.

 It looks good, kinda classic.  Cal is the pinnacle of collegiate rugby in the USA.  So, really it could work.  Not sure about how Cal fans would feel to have their color scheme applied to the national team, and also, not sure how Cal haters would feel about it.  But I do like the kit used lately, including for the match vs the England Saxons.

These with white shorts and Navy socks look good.  And then the inverse of this should be the away, and possibly the hoops for a third kid.  But basically, they should pick a theme and stick with it.  The socks, shorts and jerseys should all be similar with subtle design changes.  When you look at the big teams, the colors are so identifiable.  England in all white, Ireland in green, Italy in the Azzurri shade of blue, France and Mexico have uni's that resemble their flags.  Green/Blue tops, White shorts and Red socks.  The big three of the southern hemisphere have their colors.  The Green and Gold of the Springboks, the All Blacks, the Yellow of Australia.  Even the light blue and white hoops of Argentina.

The USA needs to pick an identity and go with it.  We can't be changing every single year.