rugby.

today i went to go watch a rugby game for free, thanks to NYU. It was a Guinness Premiership league game between Saracens Sarries v. Worcester Warriors. Saracens are in first place, and worcester second from last. I didn't know anything about rugby before going, so I did some research the night before, but that still didn't help much in terms of understanding the game.

they say american football is a contact sport, but it's NOTHING compared to rugby. they wear no helmets and no particular protective gear whatsoever. they must think american football is such a sissy sport for wearing ginormous helmets and tons and tons of padding. here are a few other cool things that I learned about rugby while watching the game.

1. players aren't allowed the pass the ball forward. so they pass horizontally while running in a diagonal, which is pretty cool.

2. when the ball is thrown in from the sideline, players can lift their teammate up to catch the ball. it's pretty incredible how high they can lift their 200 lbs teammates.

3. SCRUM! I think this is the epitome of a contact sport, where the two teams bind together in rows and go literally head to head. the front line of the two teams interlock their heads and shoulders while trying to gain possession of the ball.

4. lots and lots of blood on the players faces and one of them got carried out on a stretcher.

in terms of today's game, even I, a complete newbie in rugby, could tell that it was NOT a good game. lots of fumble, and not very exciting moments during the game. a lot of it was just brutish fighting over the ball. However, there was ONE AMAZING play in the second half where a saracens player named Neil de Kock scored a legit goal, as opposed to all the other goals which were penalties.

perhaps the most interesting part of the game was just being in the sea of british people. they were all drinking their guinnesses, joking around in their fun accents and cheering for their team. there were around 40,000 people there! lots of families were there too, and it was great seeing the parents explain the game to the children, while they enthusiastically wave their teams' flags. I also got to see the british pop bad, The Saturdays, perform during halftime.

All in all it was a fun experience, except for the fact that I was freezing by the end of the two hours. Also, watching a rugby game got me more excited to see a football game, by which I mean soccer, by which i mean FOOTBALL.