Rugby.....My favorite sport of all time(next to figure skating). The pic was taken earlier this year when I played on the Los Angeles Rebellion.
My out there sister from San Francisco was the one who was into rugby before me. Must have been that Irish guy she was with for a while. But , never knew what the big deal was. Until one fateful, 2005 Memorial day afternoon some little guy at the Abbey was yelling at me to see if I was an islander. I said that I was and he asked if I have ever considered playing rugby. Now mind you I had never ever did organized sports before like football , I was in marching band ( cymbals of all the weak ass instruments) so never considered it. It was hard enough to get behind organized religon than try to get behind organized sports. Well, to cut a long story short got totally hooked, made some great friends, drank alot of beer, got injured, & had a lot of fun. The only thing is I wish I had discovered this game earlier in life when I was younger and was more of a whore...lol So kidding okay not by much though.
Some things I miss like the cameraderie , the effort of pushing your body to it's limits. One thing though when you play on a gay rugby team is how much drama there is that can ensue. Today I went and watched my old team play another out of town gay team.Memories of my other friends that went on to other things was going through my mind. Granted I am not playing any more because I got a promotion and my world has turned upside down hour wise and responbility wise. But when we did play it was fun and I learned what rugby was all about from them and some straight friends who I played with last summer. But, the one thing that was still there was the drama.
There is this guy on the team we'll call him Kim, Kim was playing in the same position as me. When I went out injured . I got a little jealous because he got a lot of the glory for very little effort.Being the Capricorn I am I believe in how hard you work to earn your respect. To the point , he was lazy and he was on the board so the bitch had an opinon about everything. Now ,in the gay rugby world you have 2 types of guys , guys who want to play rugby because they like to play and guys who basically like to say at the bar "I play rugby" but on the field are just a hot mess. He would be in the latter. For some reason he approached me today and told me that he was thrown out of the first half for fighting. Mainly because the other team was throwing punches. Now, I havn't claimed that I played rugby all my life but, I do know that if guys fuck around on the field you don't whine about it you just get even. This is more of a mental game as well as physical. Believe me I had my share of nose raps , punches from a giant Tongan, etc. , but always figured out a way to outplay them in scrums.I actually gained a lot of respect from other teams tight five because of that. Had to explain to this photographer guy who was defending him that you just deal and you play. He was clutching his pearls when I said this for some reason as if I had just told them they were fake or something.
But , as I watched the second half, Kim went back in and he got all drama again with another of the visiting teams guys . I rolled my eyes, figuring he wanted to get thrown out so he wouldn't have to play the rest of the half. Made me wonder if I want to come back to this team.It is a great game to play, but too much drama on this team. But hey I love the coach dearly and he has taught me alot about the game and the more technical side of it . So would love to come train under him again. I've talked to some of the teams around the country and granted they all have Kim's on them. But, they all deal with them in their own ways...I think if I ever do come back to this team, and hear him whine about or not putting practice to good use( usually stands around), I will take my own advice and I will roll my eyes , sing a chorus of Hung Up and think about my friends who I had so much fun playing with before. ...... and in the end just deal.
