Go the All Blacks!

Every four years twenty teams from around the globe compete in the Rugby World Cup (RWC) for the rights to the Ellis Cup. The tournament is only surpassed in viewership by the Soccer World Cup, the Olympics and the Tour de France. This amazingly rough and exciting sport is viewed in more than 200 countries by millions of viewers, but most of the people in the US don't even know of its existence. This year, the RWC was hosted in New Zealand which is a huge ordeal and great opportunity to show off the country. And, even better, the New Zealand team (the All Blacks), were playing well too! It was looking to be a good year for New Zealand rugby fans.

My new flat screen tv for the RWC

In September, just after moving into my apartment in Chicago the RWC kicked off with an amazing opening ceremony. I stayed up late to watch it on my new flat screen tv, purchased so that I would have it in time to view the event. There were several hakas performed and some beautiful effects. Little did I know, this would be the last rugby game I would be able to watch live during the tournament.

I kept up with the news, I tracked my friends' updates on Facebook, I followed my teams as best as I could from the other side of the world (the time difference didn't help as most games were played at 11p and 2a). The United States didn't make it out of the first round. But the All Blacks were still looking strong winning games and showing promise.


In this video the All Blacks perform the haka before playing Australia in the semi-finals.

After years of preparation and speculation, and seven weeks of games the All Blacks made it to the final round. The game was slated for 9pm in Auckland at Eden Park against France. That meant it was a 4am kick off time in the Eastern United States, where I was staying in Tampa. After a fruitless search of the sports channels, I resigned myself to the fact that I would not be able to watch the game. I was wrong. Thanks to Skype, amazing friends, and my uncle's internet connection, I was video skypped (is that a word?) into the viewing party at my friend Daniel's house. Daniel, his girlfriend, and 10 other people were watching the game and were more than happy to include me (via Daniel's laptop) in the party.

Bright and early (3:45am), with my hair in a rough ponytail, my glasses on, no makeup and a sleepy glaze over my eyes, I waited on Skype to say hello to many of the friends I left over 8 months ago. Aside from the occasional nudity (courtesy of my friends in the room having a little too much fun with the computer cam), I had an awesome view and was able to watch the game in a prime seat (a table directly in front of the flat screen) for the entire game.

The haka took on a new excitement when I was around my Kiwi friends again. And then as the game progressed, I could hear the shouting and cheering as the time ticked down and the All Blacks scraped out a win against the French (final score NZ 8 v France 7). The raucous singing of "We Are the Champions" was the perfect end to my night (or morning) and it reminded me of how wonderful that country and the people that live there truly are... one more great memory to add to an incredibly long list.

NZI Sevens: Rugby, Drinking, General Mayhem

Wow, the Sevens weekend in Wellington.  Where do I begin to describe the mayhem that I have now had the privilege of experiencing.  Not since college have I had such a full weekend of sports, camaraderie, drinking, shenanigans and randomness.

First I should explain a bit about the sports side of it:  The sevens is an abbreviated rugby game (20 min long) played in several cities across the world, including Las Vegas.  International teams compete in a two-day tournament to be the winner.  It's a great two days of games but most of them aren't watched by the ticket holders...in Wellington it's just one big party.

Second, I should note here the obsession that Kiwis have with dressing up.  They don’t celebrate Halloween to the same extent that we do in the States but they spend the rest of the year making up for it with non-stop fancy dress parties.  The Wellington Sevens is the biggest of them all.  31,000 people packed the stands and I think only four people weren’t dressed in costume (this isn’t an exaggeration – everyone dresses up).

Kiwis have an unbiased sense of humour

Costumes range from simple to really elaborate (box of crayons, police officers, sports players, cavemen, railroad crossing signals complete with lights and bells) and others were more trendy (LOTS of Katy Perry outfits and Black Swan ballerinas).  Some of the best were good purely because of their sheer numbers:  A group of about 30 guys dressed as trolls (the kind with the jewel in their bellies from the 90s).

The games started on Friday afternoon and so we made our way through the masses of costume clad people to the stadium (milling about when there were people jumping off of a pier into the water – costume and all) or when an entire bar waited in apprehension as girl after girl was asked to flash an on-looking crowd…and many did it.  It was sensory overload.  Costumes, drinking, partying, people, drinking…. Too many places to look!

The stadium was equally as intense.  Although we had tickets we never actually sat in our assigned seats…in fact, I’m not sure that anyone did, but the games take such a back seat to the partying that it didn’t matter.  Each section was supposed to support one of the countries at the tournament.  We started in the American section (by chance) and ended up spending 90% of our time in the Canadian one.  But I’m not sure that anyone in any of the sections really was from the country they were supporting.  The Kiwis took it all on board and cheered loudly anyway.

Giving high-fives to the US Team

Saturday had the better games as we reached the final rounds of the match.  But the costumes were a bit worse for the wear as they tried to make it through two days of partying.  By the end of the night the stands were fully packed for the last few games.  The US took third, which was awesome (I gave high-fives to all of the players as they walked by).  But the best part was when New Zealand won the entire tournament.  The stands went nuts.  The team went around the stadium and performed the Haka over and over again.  The energy was contagious!

As we all piled back out onto the streets we again followed the mobs into the city where they closed the roads down turning it into a street party.  Costume pieces were now laying abandoned across the city, people were wandering and swaggering around everywhere into the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday was a good day for different reasons.  The masses had dispersed and everyone walked around in a bit of a sleep-deprived, hungover coma state.  Every once in awhile someone in our group would perk up and say “remember when…” as the images and memories slowly made their way back into our minds.

• Convincing a guy sitting next to us to streak across the field (he made it about half way before the security guards smashed him into the ground
• G chucking an entire hotdog (bun, ketchup, mustard and all) at someone only after he smashed into her
• Watching the racewalkers race right into the water without stopping…then watching them shiver for the next three hours as they tried to dry off again
• Bumping into a fellow Chicagoan, who was sitting in the Canadian section waving an American flag.  He lives 1/2 mile from my old apartment in Lakeview
• People making out with random strangers

And now I’m off, on my way to the South Island with the rest of the tourists carrying a Lonely Planet NZ book and a backpack.  Still feeling a bit sleep deprived, with a sore throat that makes it difficult to even talk let alone eat or drink.  I probably won’t have another weekend like the one I just had in a long time, maybe that’s not a bad thing, but right now the fun memories are still fresh.

Thanks to the girls and the racewalkers for such a memorable and great weekend – you know who you are.

New Favorite Game: Rugby

I went to my first rugby game two weeks ago and I can now say I am convinced rugby is a great game.  I'm told there are people out there that try to make a strong case that American football is a tougher sport than rugby...they would be wrong.

While the Soccer World Cup was popular here, it is really a country of rugby fans.  I haven't quite nailed down all of the rules of the game but I understand enough to appreciate a good sport.  It combines the entertainment of American football, testosterone of hockey fights, and the padding of soccer players.  How can you go wrong? 

We boarded a train in downtown Auckland to head to the stadium with the rest of the fans on Saturday evening.  A 30-minute train ride proved to be nearly as entertaining as the game.  Half of the train car sang the New Zealand national anthem and the other half started up with the South African anthem immediately afterwards.  (We were going to the first game of the tri-nations tournament between New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.)  One Springboks fan carried a vuvuzela and did his part to increase the level of noise and chanting.  By the end of the ride, the entire car was singing a New Zealand pub song - a song that is so thrashed at bars, more than one visitor has mistaken it for the national song.

We got off the train and followed the masses to the Eden Park Stadium.  The Haka was amazing and was finished off by spurts of fire that erupted just in front of us - a nice warm up for the cold evening.  Based on the bantering and commentary before the game we assumed it would be a close game and a fun one to watch live.  It was a fun one to watch but it was definitely not close.  The final score was 32-12, All Blacks.  It was a great way to start off the tournament.

Editor's Note: For those that aren't familiar with the Haka, it is part of the Maori culture.  Performed before every All Blacks game, the most common All Blacks Haka (which is actually any type of Maori dance) is called "Ka Mate, Ka Mate".  The wide eyes and tongues sticking out are to show their passion and scare their opponents before battle.  The entire audience goes crazy after it concludes.  Even when the All Blacks play in other stadiums the crowd loves to watch the Haka.  Although I took a video at the game, it's not very clear and the players are far away so instead check out this video from the All Blacks website: 

Things to be thankful for:
- Great flatmates (my flatmates, plus one neighbor, are in the first picture above)
- The thrill of a sporting event and the atmosphere that goes with it
- Another activity crossed off my list of things to do