Almost Too Much

The 2007 rugby year began last night, with the Super 14 kicking off in NZ. Funnily enough, while the Crusaders were playing the Blues in Auckland, Australia was taking on England in a one-day cricket match in Sydney. This is pretty strange, since last time I looked these two sports are from completely different seasons. Rugby is certainly starting early, and building throughout the year to the world cup in France in September. The Six Nations starts this Sunday too, which means that if I wanted to catch all the games available, I'd have to quit my job, break up with my girlfriend and move the television into the bathroom. I've talked about rugby overload before, and I may resort to viewing methods of the torrential persuasion to time-shift things a bit, but it's probably easier to use more traditional tools, such as a visit to a local pub or the mighty VCR. If I could pay someone a reasonable amount to have the games delivered to me via some kind of mystical cable or beam technology I probably would, but that option isn't available right now. What are available are package deals with twenty cable channels of Paris Hilton and reality shows, and they really should be paying ME for that shit.

Being in Sydney means that there's a certain expectation to support the NSW Waratahs, and although I will probably toddle along to the some of their games with my sky blue pom poms, my Super 14 allegiences are a little more complex. Since I was born in Canterbury, I naturally support the Crusaders, but I grew up in Queensland, which also makes me a supporter of the Reds. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Wellington and Auckland because of their All Black players, but Otago and Waikato I don't really care about. The Brumbies annoy me sometimes, but they play pretty good rugby, and although The Western Force have a pretty strong team this year, they're still new to the scene, which means they get no love. I'd support them in a pinch over any of the the South African teams though, as those guys can all go to hell.