The local rugby season is now over. I traveled to Seattle over Memorial Day Weekend to assist a few of my players that had traveled up to Seattle for the Magnitude 15s rugby tournament held by the Seattle Quake Rugby Football Club. For the first time in several Magnitude events our club did not take a whole side up to compete and defend our Bowl Championship from the last event. But a few of the guys did not want to miss out on an exceptional tourney, so they went up as 'rugby whores' and played with a barbarian team composed of the San Diego Armada, the San Francisco Fog (B side), and our guys from the Phoenix Storm. The barbarian team was nicknamed, Stogmada! (it should be noted that the Storm won the Bowl Championship by defeating 'Fogmada' in sudden death overtime in the trophy match at the previous tourney. This time we joined our rivals, Fogmada to form Stogmada)
While we did not win any hardware, the Fog A side did win the Cup at the tournament, and wrestled control of this perenial trophy from the host club the Seattle Quake who were attempting to defend it from their biggest rivals.. The Stogmada guys, while not victorius themselves, shared in the victory with their teammates from Fog A Side and drank from the Cup at the tournament party Sunday evening. A Phoenix rugger, Tony, was named Man of the Tournament for Stogmada by the captains. He played a hell of a tournament! But Gabe from the Armada played an awesome tourney too. Either guy could just have easily been named Man of the Tournament. But, I am partial to my team captain here in Phoenix, Tony, who played his best rugby of the season. Our second year player from Phoenix, Sheldon, also tore it up in Seattle, his first tournament away from Arizona. Sheldon played out of this world. I joked with him that he he never played that way for us! He did get a little beat up, not from the other team, but from the artificial turf in Seattle. He lost a ton of skin, mostly on his face! Battle scars we tell him! Andy from the Storm also played exceptional, and played injured most of the tournament, with a strained shoulder from a hard tackle. Also former Storm players Steven (Portland Pigs) and Kenny (ORSU Rugby) also joined us from Oregon to reunite with their former Storm teammates on Stogmada. Finally, Storm alumni Kyle played with his new team Fog A and won the Cup! Former Storm Ruggers, CJ, Sky, Scott and Jeremy played with their new team, the Colorado Rush and came in fourth place.
But I digress from the current trip. Back to Alaska! This trip will complete the list. What list? After this trip, I will now have been to all 50 states of The United States. I have been to 1 state in Mexico and 2 provinces of Canada. I have had the other 49 US States on the DONE THAT list for well over 10 years, but Alaska has alluded me.
Friday afternoon I fly to Anchorage, via San Francisco, and as of 11:30PM will have set foot in all 50 states. Cannot wait. I also may just luck out. As of today, the weather the next 5 days or so is looking to be sunny or mostly sunny, highs in low 70s. So I am hoping that translates into stunning photos and tons of wildlife opportunities.
A few days spent in Anchorage, with 2 days of activities and tours arranged. Then next Monday it is time to board the Norwegian Sun for a 7 day cruise southbound with the end stop being Vancouver and my Candaian province count goes to 3.
Am taking along a new camera, and have rented some high quality lenses to capture what I hope will be stunning views, wildlife and vistas. Hopefully I can get some posted for all to see during the trip here and there. I will try to share a little bit of each stop along the way.
For now, some pictures from Seattle's Magnitude Tourney, including:
- Stogmada team photos - in Black Fog jerseys on Day 1 and Gold Armada Jerseys on Day 2
- Action shot and team circle and Fog A in Championship Match
- Man of the Tournament for Stogmada - Tony standing with Gabe {in hat}from SD. Gabe could have been named Man of the Tournament just as easily. that man is a beast of a rugby player
- Fog A side Cup Photo!
- Group shot with all PHX Storm alumni and their teams after Fog A won the Cup: in the photo is Fog A, Stogmada (Fog B, SD Armada and Phx Storm), and the Colorado Rush
- What do you do after 8 games in 2 days? ICE AND ELEVATE!!!
- And watch more rugby!
No comments:
Post a Comment