Last night, I experienced my first Australian Football League game, or "footy." I was lucky to get tickets since it was a playoff game. Carol (a co-worker) is a member of the MCG so she had dibs to the tickets. It was between Collingwood (a Melbourne suburb) and Sydney. The Collingwood Magpies and the Sydney Swans, that is. Yeah... Anyway, I hear that Collingwood is the team that everyone loves to hate and I figured being an LSU fan, I could relate :) So, I went out and bought a Collingwood scarf. The game is more different from rugby than i expected. It's like a combination of soccer and football. They basically run up and down the field trying to kick the ball between the uprights. They pass the ball to each other by kicking it or punching it. If the ball hits the ground, it's basically a free-for-all and whoever comes out of the pile with the ball gets it. It was easy to keep up with and MUCH less boring than soccer. They actually scored! :) Collingwood won 125-90 or something like that. Way fun.
I planned on spending the day today in Melbourne, but I woke up with a nasty head cold this morning, so I figured it'd be best to stay in. I guess I'll have to put off my Melbourne excursions til next weekend.
I tried to watch the LSU game today over Skype. David faced the webcam toward the TV, but it was too jumpy and I couldn't see what was going on. I couldn't find a way to get live video online, so I have to settle for listening to it online. I'm talking to David on Skype while he's watching the game. It's like we're watching the game together, awww.... I think I'm turning him into a Tiger fan, MWAHAHAHAHA! (evil grin)
Interesting Australia fact of the day: Kangaroos are like deer. They get stunned in headlights, get hit by cars, and the car ends up more injured than the kangaroo. I have yet to see one of these animals in real life.
Listening to: LSU kicking Virginia Tech booty
4 comments:
Geaux.
I remember seeing dead kangaroos on the side of the road when I was there. You're right about them being like deer. Our group actually had a couple conversations about that! I saw a few alive in the wild (when we were on a farm.) But we went to a Billabong Sanctuary in Caines and saw several just running around. They don't put them in cages and you can walk right up and pet them, even feed them! So cool! :)
Seeing the games of other cultures is quite interesting. I liked rugby and can't figure out why it didn't take off here.
Aussie Rules players are just about the hottest group of guys I've ever seen. I miss Australia.
~SN
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