Football, "football", and rugby.
Last week I tried to watch the Superbowl. I'm not really all that interested in professional football. It's just too pretty when everyone is the best guy on the team, and since I have no professional team to root for, the babbling of the commentators is usually too much for me.
On a side note, my extra-North American anglophone friends think it's hilarious when I say "to root for", but since my audience is largely back in North America, I'm not worried about this.
Anyway, we went to the Cock and Bull, which is an English pub a few blocks from my house, for the 12:30 kick off. It was pretty disappointing because the coverage was coming from the UK, so they kept playing the same Domino's pizza commercial. I'm not usually that interested in Superbowl commercials either, but since there was all the fuss about the Tim Tebow spot, I wanted to see them this time. No such luck. And then the pub closed at 2 a.m., just before the end of the first quarter.
I was disappointed that we didn't get to see the rest of the game, and kind of confused about why we were the only patrons being asked to leave, but we went outside and started discussing our options. We thought maybe we could watch it online. And then it became apparent that leaving had been a very good idea, because the bartenders heaved a man out bodily in front of us, who picked himself up and ran off shouting curses and that he'd be back. I guess they were going to have a private party to watch the rest of the game or something. I didn't ask any questions after that.
A few nights ago I met some Australian kids from Bordeaux 3 through Amy, and yesterday afternoon Bethan and I met them at the Charles Dickens pub to watch some of the Six Nations tournament. For you North American folk who probably have no idea what goes on with rugby, this is the big tournament of the year. The "six nations" are England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Italy and France, and yesterday was Wales v. Scotland (Bethan was psyched that Wales won even though she had to miss the match for a wine tasting) and France v. Ireland. I was with a large group of Irish and French kids, as well as two Australians and one Welsh...person. All the anglophones except me were rooting for Ireland, which was funnier by the moment as France owned Ireland. The final score was 33 to 10.
During the course of the match, I asked a lot of questions and got a lot of explanations. What I learned was that rugby is a pretty cool game. What I have yet to discover is why they insist on wearing white shorts when they know they'll end up covered in mud by the end of the match, or how their medical team thinks it's okay to spray anesthetic on all manner of injuries and send players back in to aggravate the situation. I found the scrums to be a pretty awkward tradition (for the North Americans, it's sort of like, if, instead of lining up individually on the line of scrimmage for the start of play, all the guys linked together and formed a massive tangle of flesh that was only allowed to push forward, and not sideways). Many of the rules were like the football I understand, and some of them weren't. I need to do more research, but I'm sure I'll get more opportunities before the end of the tournament.
After that, I watched some of the Monaco-Marseille soccer match. Marseille won 2-1. I can say that, after having watched the rugby match, the soccer looked kind of boring. Their "injuries" were all mostly players trying to get refs to card the other team, and there was comparatively little action, since there were long stretches for which neither team scored. But that's sort of typical of soccer, I guess. It's still a pretty game to watch.
I'm not sure what else there is to update on. I found this band the Morning Benders, which released an album of covers (Paul Simon, Talking Heads, the Smiths, Velvet Underground, etc), and at the moment it's making me happy. I may go watch the Bordeaux game later tonight, or I may continue to watch the West Wing. I'm still not entirely recovered from my lingering illness, so I'm trying not to have too much fun. Amber's coming to visit on Tuesday, and I'm planning on going back home with her to Clermont-Ferrand for the weekend. I'm interested to see what it's like. I've known a lot of people who've lived there, and I'd like to have a sense of how it was.
On a side note, my extra-North American anglophone friends think it's hilarious when I say "to root for", but since my audience is largely back in North America, I'm not worried about this.
Anyway, we went to the Cock and Bull, which is an English pub a few blocks from my house, for the 12:30 kick off. It was pretty disappointing because the coverage was coming from the UK, so they kept playing the same Domino's pizza commercial. I'm not usually that interested in Superbowl commercials either, but since there was all the fuss about the Tim Tebow spot, I wanted to see them this time. No such luck. And then the pub closed at 2 a.m., just before the end of the first quarter.
I was disappointed that we didn't get to see the rest of the game, and kind of confused about why we were the only patrons being asked to leave, but we went outside and started discussing our options. We thought maybe we could watch it online. And then it became apparent that leaving had been a very good idea, because the bartenders heaved a man out bodily in front of us, who picked himself up and ran off shouting curses and that he'd be back. I guess they were going to have a private party to watch the rest of the game or something. I didn't ask any questions after that.
A few nights ago I met some Australian kids from Bordeaux 3 through Amy, and yesterday afternoon Bethan and I met them at the Charles Dickens pub to watch some of the Six Nations tournament. For you North American folk who probably have no idea what goes on with rugby, this is the big tournament of the year. The "six nations" are England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Italy and France, and yesterday was Wales v. Scotland (Bethan was psyched that Wales won even though she had to miss the match for a wine tasting) and France v. Ireland. I was with a large group of Irish and French kids, as well as two Australians and one Welsh...person. All the anglophones except me were rooting for Ireland, which was funnier by the moment as France owned Ireland. The final score was 33 to 10.
During the course of the match, I asked a lot of questions and got a lot of explanations. What I learned was that rugby is a pretty cool game. What I have yet to discover is why they insist on wearing white shorts when they know they'll end up covered in mud by the end of the match, or how their medical team thinks it's okay to spray anesthetic on all manner of injuries and send players back in to aggravate the situation. I found the scrums to be a pretty awkward tradition (for the North Americans, it's sort of like, if, instead of lining up individually on the line of scrimmage for the start of play, all the guys linked together and formed a massive tangle of flesh that was only allowed to push forward, and not sideways). Many of the rules were like the football I understand, and some of them weren't. I need to do more research, but I'm sure I'll get more opportunities before the end of the tournament.
After that, I watched some of the Monaco-Marseille soccer match. Marseille won 2-1. I can say that, after having watched the rugby match, the soccer looked kind of boring. Their "injuries" were all mostly players trying to get refs to card the other team, and there was comparatively little action, since there were long stretches for which neither team scored. But that's sort of typical of soccer, I guess. It's still a pretty game to watch.
I'm not sure what else there is to update on. I found this band the Morning Benders, which released an album of covers (Paul Simon, Talking Heads, the Smiths, Velvet Underground, etc), and at the moment it's making me happy. I may go watch the Bordeaux game later tonight, or I may continue to watch the West Wing. I'm still not entirely recovered from my lingering illness, so I'm trying not to have too much fun. Amber's coming to visit on Tuesday, and I'm planning on going back home with her to Clermont-Ferrand for the weekend. I'm interested to see what it's like. I've known a lot of people who've lived there, and I'd like to have a sense of how it was.
C-Fd is a pretty cool city. Make time (if you at all can) to head up to the top of Puy de Dome. I found it breathtaking!
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