You Can't Go From 0% to 100%...

...but apparently if you bust your ass enough you can get to 75%! Whoever said front-row can't turn on a dime. Anyyhoo I finally broke my failing streak and my final grades for the quarter are....

Intro to Social Movements CMMU101 C
European Intellectual History HIS178A C+
Global Organization POL160B C


HA!!!! I'm staying in school I'm staying in school! And I didn't even have to petition my provost this time. Which also means I'll be around for post-play.

Which makes it a good thing that I've been doing a little bit of cardio on the side. So yesterday my housemates and I decided to do some lineout practice, so we warmed up, did some sprints and then got to lifting. One of my housemates friend who play for Cal was our jumper. My throws were pretty atrocious, I need to use my core more for my short ball, but it's just so weird 'cause you feel like you're just gonna knuckball it. Plus the wind sucked. I need to practice more....good thing my gf is a lock and we live across the street from a park.

Well anyhoo they decided to go wine tasting after practice and I decided to go for a bike ride up Empire Grade...it was INSANE. I was biking up a mountain and being a stubborn person I didn't want to stop riding till I hit a stopping point. 8.3 miles of uphill mountain climbing...I never felt so ridiculous in my life. Halfway up I got some encouragement from a cyclist and a guy driving a truck in the opposite direction. Ever turn got steeper and steeper. Finally made it to Icecream grade just as my water ran out. There was nothing there, it was a volunteer fire station...ugh so I took a few pictures, turned around, and biked 8.3 miles downhill back. Frickin ridiculous ride on a hybrid.




Oh, lastly our challenge match against the lowest D1 team (Reno) is mandatory this year so we can't skip out. Ughhh another ride to Reno.

NOVA won Nashbash...

um let's see what else...cal played the All Blues and according to a visiting cal scrum-half...well...one of their wingers juked Laura Cabrera (TWICE) and she fell on her butt. Yup, well our Berkeley/bay area kids are doing good keeping in shape. My ass died at kickboxing last night, and my scrum-half housemate was assigned as a LOCK for Pelicans. She's never locked before, is probably...ohhh 5'5" 150 ish of solid muscle and a flanker/scrum-half/utility back. Our house is turning into a tight five! All of this is interesting news as she heads out to Utah for the Grizzly Shield in about five days or so.

On another note....UGH!!! Hurry up and post my grades!!! C and Above C and Above!

So one of my housemates was given an offer to go to a developmental camp for rugby LEAGUE. I had a vague idea what league was about...13 players, uncontested scrums yada yada...well she was curious so I got a rugby league game to watch. OMIGOD it is so weird. It's a major mix of football(US), union, and touch. No flankers, scrums are a fricken formality (not even an engage), tackles are gang bangs, no lineouts, rucks.....it's just weird! You have 6 tackles to get a try or you kick the ball away like football, after the tackle the defense has to move back ten yards (excluding two people who can be up), the tacklers lay on top of the ball carrier till their defense is in position, then they let the ballcarrier get up, roll the ball under his legs and poof the ball is in play again! WHHHHHAAAAT?

Anyhoo...more later...I just want my grades!!!

WHAT?

Ok so I knew goffonrugby was going to be taken over but...but oh the betrayal! erugbynews it now is...ew.

Where to begin...

So you might not know this about me but I'm not just a rugby player, but also an avid rugby fan. Sure I love watching the Heineken Cup and Super 14 and other club sides but watching nations play nations?! That's the stuff that stirs my blood and brings a tear to my eye. The 2005 Six Nations was the first International Rugby Tournament that I had ever seen, Wales staggered me with their brilliant passes, sheer guts, and quirky personality. Needless to say it seems like forever since that fateful Grand Slam...but through all the injuries and influx of new faces...I gotta say...I still love Wales! Can't wait till the World Cup...and while it sure is a long shot for Wales I've a hankering that Argentina can set the world by storm...if I had to choose any team that could touch the All Blacks I'd have to say...give me Argentina!

Ah well, on another note...I want to learn Welsh! Namely so I can sing the Welsh national anthem with the same passion as Alun Wyn Jones (this lovely pic is from their victory over the bloody English). Sorry for this random service announcement. Oh, and I biked 12 miles today (drunk).

Wooo! Finals are over!

MWahahaaaa now all I have to do is finish a team website and get in shape. I'll work on the website later and I'm going to visit all of my teammates at work today (drunk and on a bike of course). Um what else...as posted by Blondie usa rugby updated its site...and it looks AWFUL! I mean more content is great, but frames?!?!? C'mon who the fuck uses frames!??! Plus the resolution of the whole thing looks atrocious, and I'm using firefox...I'd hate to see it in IE. What else...Belmont beat San Diego 60-7 and beat Tucson 69-0 in a b-side game. Goff's top 25 isn't changing much. DII collegiate women's clubs are still getting little press despite a number of articles on DII mens. Not that I'm complaining...I still love Goff cause at least it gives SOME coverage.

Hmm what else...eh I have a few stories I'll leave for later but yea...enjoy this rugby house picture!!! From front to back, Hooker/prop, prop, scrum-half/utility back/flanker, flanker, inside center, our one non-rugger, and finally lock/8-man. It's our Jistmas picture! (Jistmas is Christmas in January...when financial aid checks arrive and presents can be bought). Yup

Well that's some odd news...

So we had an by this weekend (not to mention league play is over for us and everyone else as well) but St. Mary's played Cal's b-side and lost 37-5....quite odd. We beat St. Mary's squarely, we barely lost (by a couple points) to Cal's b-side with some a.....hmm..weird. Grats to everyone who made Pelicans, my housemate and old scrum-half Christie Ravera made the Pelicans senior side at flanker and my other housemate Amara Reddick, our 8-man, made Pelicans U-23 at prop. It's kind of weird how people shift positions for select sides...my old captain Heather Beswick was our old 8 and she switched to lock when she played for the u-23 grizzlies. Meh. It was neat reading the list of who made the team, a number of familiar names and faces (Katie Chou, Naima Reddick, Vix, Cameron Stewart...) maybe I'll get my lard ass fit for next year. Ooo speaking of which I've lost ten pounds in the last month...fun stuff. Right-o working on my last final on Thursday, then I've got nothing on my plate besides riding my bike and working on a website for the team!

News Flash....kind of

Radio Edit: So Goff just posted something about OU (a D1 team) barely beating out Western Oregon 27-24. Supposedly it was a frickin physical game...basically what I've been telling our silly lil' rookies to expect. Man...I'd better make sure my insurance is ready for the match 'cause I have a feeling that if our scrums don't tighten up I'll be coming off the field in a neck cast.

What else...in random rugby info...Humboldt's Old Growth RFC (a DIII club team) has some awesome shirt with "If you can't take a hit Lay off the Grass". It's amazing...and I don't even smoke.

Just wondering if anyone would like to respond on how they deal with low numbers and scrumming? I know DI teams don't have this problem, but are there any creative DII teams out there with solutions? Our locks needed real practice getting into position and driving (and we can't afford balls much less a scrum machine) so we practiced by having the front row facing the second row and them engaging between our legs (the hooker turning sideways so the locks bind on one another stayed tight). Today at practice the locks just went against our goal post with pads on. We're trying to schedule a scrumdown against our men's team but that doesn't look like it's going to happen. I hope I get some comments....

yeah boring post. Old news but in case you missed out...Chico's number 1! Woooo! Um what else...we're hosting PCRFU DII playoffs (women's only I think...but I could be wrong). Utah State and Western Oregon will be there (most likely, both their LAU sites could use a bit of updating). Santa Clara backed out of our game Friday night. All of us have to bust our asses over break to stay fit and mentally in rugby. April 6-7 are playoffs.

I HAVE A FINAL TODAY....ARGH.

Oh and my house embodies drama.

More rugby news when we have rugby news. Over and out.

Testing....Testing 123

for my friend Jo.

I love this music video by the SF Fog Women's RFC.



hmm and in other news...Coach Miller from Belmont Shore passed around this gallery of the Champagne Classic here.

So I've been blogging a lot lately...which means it's nearing finals week

and I'm avoiding studying. Ugh. Don't hate on me...I can't help it...a lot of exciting things have been going on in the PCRFU (Pac Coast RFC). Which had me acting like a net whore and going around various team websites. It's really exciting when teams put up pics and videos but sadly very few teams update these more then once a year. *sigh* every year I say that I'm going to put up a Santa Cruz site and I opt out getting distracted by all sorts of things (like staying in school). This spring break I'm going to do it! Yep! A real website!

*cough*yeahright*cough* anyhoo Cal put up some awesome video compilations on their site that you should check out here. Oh and Naima Reddick was mentioned again for being a beast at the Champagne Classic where Chico won the collegiate competition and Belmont Shore went 5-1 in the senior club division!



Woot. Oh and I found this old picture they put up from the Stanford Rookie Tournament (no one told us that it was a rookie tournament! So you can see a giggling and smirking stack of slug vets on the right side of the pic)

Sooo I have four two page papers due tmorrow along with my final paper (only five pages) for my cmmu class. My politics final is on monday and I have to read a book for it and have a few study sessions. My history class...well I have to go to the library and check out and read five books and bribe a classmate to study with me before the final on thursday. *ugh* I'd rather lock for a week. But I gotta do this shit to....stayinschoolIwillstayinschool!

Ha! yeh baby

Women's Collegiate D2
Name Win Loss Tie Played PF PA PD Pts
1. UC Santa Cruz Women 3 0 0 3 109 24
2. Sacramento State Women 3 1 0 4 133 61
3. San Jose St Spartans Women 2 2 0 4 156 100
4. St. Mary's College Women 1 3 0 4 40 95
5. Santa Clara University Women 0 3 0 3 7 165

The Ref Report

UC SANTA CRUZ women 39 (7) – St. Mary's 5 Referee: Sandy Robertson
The Santa Cruz women dominated all aspects of the game. They won virtually all their own set pieces as well as most of St Mary's scrums and lineouts. They made good use of many opportunities, spinning it wide, exploiting gaps, supporting well, kicking for territory. With just seconds on the clock St Mary's got a penalty on the Santa Cruz 22. They played the ball through several phases, including multiple changes of possession, and movement between the try line and the 22. After a couple of minutes of continuous play a St Mary's woman got the ball about 20 meters out, tight-roped down the left touchline, and scored in the corner.

---from www.pelicanrefs.com

fun stuff, wow I didn't realize that we scored seven tries. At least it was a complimentary report. Ugh I really need to change the colors to this site...maybe I'll give it a shot to avoid writing papers.

oh quick edit...

Woot...so we got some press

There's some video from "highlights" the game

and a pretty sweet article as well

oh and decipher this as you will...ugh seeding charts are confusing
NCRFU is Northern Cal (us), PNRFU (not to be confused with PCRFU is Pacific Northwest IE Western Oregon), and URFU (Utah...Utah State). Supposedly the PCRFU will be getting two seeds for 8s. As far as I know this is just hearsay but who knows...could be true.

WOMEN'S COLLEGIATE D2:

Host: NCRFU
Location: UC Santa Cruz
Dates: 4/7-8/07

Saturday Matches:
Match A: NCRFU 1 v URFU 1/NCRFU 3/PNRFU 2
Match B: PNRFU 1 v NCRFU 2

Sunday Matches:
Match C: Winner A v Winner B
Match D: Loser A v Loser B

PCRFU Seedings for Nationals and 2008 playoffs:

Winner C: PCRFU 1 = USARFU 1
Loser C: PCRFU 2 = USARFU 7
Winner D: PCRFU 3 = N/A
Loser D: PCRFU 4 = N/A

UCSC beats Saint Mary's 41-5 (? our coaches aren't sure)

Woot! I'll admit I was worried coming into this game. St. Mary's is a smart, fast, experienced team. *sigh* we're having forward issues. Our starting hooker (not me) had to go home because of a family emergency and one of our best flankers had to have surgery for a broken metacarpal(?). So you could say we had a less then prime pack. Uh if this post is kind of disjointed I got a pretty solid knock to the head, and again, and again, and one last time. Woo...why do I knock my head up before finals?

Um so we dominated the scrum and stole a ton of lineouts, our backs saved our ass again. We scored six trys and well I'm just happy 'cause I scored another one. Basically I've scored one every league game. Ha! Pretty awesome for a hooker/prop yeah =]

Anyhoo. I played like shit again. Granted my leg/knee made a wet pop at the practice before the game and it hurt to extend it. I'm going to the trainer tmorrow.

If I work hard I should be fine in school. Now.....ugh...time to work.

Oh yea...WE WON THE WOMENS DII COLLEGIATE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA LEAGUE....woot..well we have to play Santa Clara...but they've been playing teams 10s and 13s so it's kinda iffy if the game will count or not. Meh. It was a crappy win but hey we did it. Woot.

Now back to school.

So Sunday...

was supposed to be a rugby day. But y'know what?! I finally experienced burnout and decided not to go to the Pelican's camp. Pelican's is the Northern California LAU select side team and a number of my mates and I were supposed to go. They went, I didn't, cause two games, three practices, a pr event, and a select side camp would be too much friggin rugby for me right now. I'm sore, sick, and behind in school and frankly I need to fix all three. SO I chose this weekend to rest up and have non-rugby thoughts.

In other words I've been drinking some water and playing a lot of Shadow of the Colossus. Amazing game...despite our small screen, the camera is unique, the AI is fairly bright, the gameplay fairly novel. My only issue is I got lost for three hours trying to find the sixth colossus.

But back to sports. Yesterday we had our Women in Sports day event and we had to go to accept a plaque for last year's season (DII National Collegiate Women's Champs....probably the highest sports award to go to our school...the slugs aren't well known for our athletics, education, or partying...but anyways). It ended up being a pretty awesome event, some of the speakers were cringe worthy agenda pushers but we had a few genuine ones that made the event worthwhile. Sissi was there and that was frickin inspirational, not only her story, but actually seeing how many young girls she affected in the pursuit of sports. A number of my teammates remembered being little girls lining up to talk to her after games (she played for the Cyberays from the WSA). One of our rookies was completely adorable as Sissi was her childhood hero. But anyhoo, there was also this great surgeon there....Dr. Allen or something, she was really passionate about her work and just an enthused individual. I dunno, it was just neat listening to two women who really made a career out of sports.

So....about Chico

Well actually I'll start off with this lovely pic of our rucks against Sac State. In other words...high and not coming in through the gate. On the plus side you can see our gorgeous pitch in the background. Yep, good ol' UC Santa Cruz. We'll be hosting the regional playoffs this year and that should be a royal pain in the ass.

Meh. So we left Santa Cruz at 9 o'clock in the morning and arrived in Chico around 3 which left us with half an hour before kick off. The ride...erm...let's just say sitting in a twelve person van with a cold and bad heating was an all around poor decision on my part. I played like utter slop and my team made sure to inform me about it. I made my tackles, threw some decent lineouts, and hooked decently in the scrums. Besides a few runs (and a try that Soooooooo should have counted) I managed to miss every single ruck and was late to every scrum and lineout. So I'm feeling like shit today after a miserable 5 1'2 hour car ride back. Yep.

We held our own against Chico's B-side for most of the first half then proceeded to get trounced all over the field. It was literally tit for tat for the first three trys until they broke away. While we were winning the ball in scrums we couldn't hold them and while we had a number of rookies and new combinations..well our performance was plain shoddy. We haven't taught crabbing to our new rookies yet so we couldn't handle their wheels, luckily they would wheel AFTER regaining possession so we'd keep the put in and re-scrum.

Their fullback and one of their centers looked great and did well running the ball with steam and punching through our defense at a depressing rate. Naima Reddick was playing flanker and plain ol' smacking the crap out our young side and I'm proud to have just slown her down once or twice. Their mauls were really impressive, they had the skill to pass the ball back from the center of it to the back and present it to their scrum-half, they were damn efficient in their long-body rucking, and were the first to every single breakdown. They were aggressive as all hell and I wish our B-side played like that/we had a b-side. Considering that there was only one or two a-side members playing...well I have to say Chico has more depth to their team then goff gives them credit for.

I do have to say I found the game particularly frustrating because if our a-side had been there we could have shown them a bit more of what Santa Cruz can do. But alas it was still a good learning match for our rookies and frankly we needed a good ass kicking and I'm just bitter that we had to drive 9 hours to get it (which beats the 3000 odd mile flight to Florida).