Spinning the Color Wheel *UPDATED*

So I switched around some/all of my colors on the site....and it looks ok. I'm learning about photo editing etc and hopefully I'll have something cool to post soon (as well as fixing my damn header that's been f'd up for ages now. What else is new...I'll be learning how to edit some video clips tonight...so hopefully some of that will reach fruition....yea just working on technical skills this break. I'm running a bit but I'll definitely need to ramp it up before we go back to school. Pictures to be added and man....my website REALLY comes up when you search random phrases on google. I'll probably edit this post tonight and put up some pics..

so it took longer then a day...but lots of edits and some pics!


Obviously not an ideal lineout...we forgot to teach some of the rookies against stepping too much into the gap

Ye olde standing ruck and forwards milling about in the line of death (don't worry if I was playing I'd be the old fat bat hanging out with the wings too lazy to even walk to the ruck.



Both teams receiving a pep talk from the master



The two teams, our coach, their coach, and the coaches' coach




In totally other news I was flipping through my links skimming for some info (trying to liven up break a bit and I noticed an interesting little factoid). While I'm fairly certain that we were hardly playing Stanford's A side in our little scrimmage against them back in November, their schedule/results say something quite contrary. We were listed as playing their A (which as I said I'm pretty sure that we did not) but it's interesting that we had the second closest score. The only team finished a match closer then us was the Scottsdale Lady Blues (a very respectable DI SoCal women's club) 24-21 with Stanford A coming out ahead. Which all in all is pretty nifty. Their results page is here so check it out for yourself. It's always so difficult navigating the strength of a side especially with D1 teams (with a-sides, mashups, and whatever the hell crawford is) and all of it means diddly squat because pre-season is all about rookie learnin' anyhoo. Oh but while I was looking up info for this I stumbled upon this:

STANFORD Women 27 - UC Santa Cruz 22 Referee: Anna McMahan

On another beautiful day for rugby the UC Santa Cruz women's team met a mixed A/B Stanford side on Stanford's lovely pitch. The game was tied at the half with two tries and one conversion apiece, but Stanford's slightly superior fitness helped them edge ahead by one try in the second half. Both teams played with intensity, and the game was marked by open play and committed defense. Stanford's 8 and 10 stood out, as well as UC Santa Cruz's 1.

At first I was kinda confused because I couldn't remember who was prop that day...yup you guessed it



mwahahahaa...ok so that really puts me in a better mood 'cause I've felt like I've played atrocious this pre-season (and excepting Scrum by the Sea....it's because I HAVE been playing shitty...) but ignoring all the stupid drama, and day to day frustrations...none of it matters.
a) it's pre-season...so woot...now it's time to buckle down and get in shape Season and Post-season is the only shit that matters
b) I was playing out of frickin position (which is useful and had it's reasons but deep down it's demoralizing for hookers to have to play prop...it really is)
c) I love the goddamn sport and so help me I'm going to keep playing till I get better at it and can play it in all its glory
d) after four long years of practice I think I've actually gotten decent at throwing lineouts....imagine that!

So hell yea I'm happy and looking forward to the upcoming season:
Jan 12th we've got our annual camp/scrimmage with UC Berkeley
Jan 19-20 is a stanford tournament
Jan 26 is DII kickoff tournament (whatever the hell that is...I'll check with our coaches)
Feb 2nd our first league game against Santa Clara
Feb 23 against Sac State (always a strong competitor and recently won a round robin match against Davis)
March 1 against San Jose
March 8 against St. Mary's
March 15, our promotional/relegation match against the #6 seed D1 NCRFU team

Nuts schedule eh? I'm glad I'll only be taking 17 creds...incidentally I'm going to be joining the news staff at KZSC....maybe I'll do a feature on norcal women's rugby...maybe on the All Blues and their involvement training collegiate players (with all the camps and sending their senior players out as coaches to local college sides). Or maybe on the folding/merges going on with the rest of the local club sides. etc etc...just ideas.

Yea collegiate ruggers kicking ass...

The U.S. starting lineup is: 1. Farrah Douglas (Chicago North Shore), 2. Lisa Butts (Berkeley All-Blues), 3. Jamie Burke (Berkeley All-Blues), 4. Shaina Turley (San Diego Surfers), 5. Stacey Baker (Philadelphia), 6. Liz Dilley (Washington), 7. Beckett Royce (Oregon Sports Union), 8. Blair Groefsema (Berkeley All-Blues), 9. Kim Magrini (Keystone Rugby Club), 10. Jossy Tseng (Stanford University), 11. Nathalie Marchino (Berkeley All-Blues), 12. Mel Kanuk (Maryland Stingers), 13. San Juanita Moreno (Oregon Sports Union), 14. Vanesha McGee (Philadelphia), 15. Ashley English (Berkeley All-Blues).

>Reserves for the match include: 16. Heather Jennings (Seattle), 17. Jaime Lange (Olde Girls of Glendale), 18. Kati McCormick (Univ. of Wisconsin – Milwaukee), 19. Jillion Potter (Univ. of New Mexico), 20. Rose Whitmore (Berkeley All-Blues), 21. Meg Crapster-Pregont (Cornell), 22. Ashley Kmiecik (Emerald City Mudhens).

Now I don't know about you but I'm a twenty-one year old out of shape lazy ass brute of a hooker who plays for a hippy sport-hating non-violent school for a goofy ridiculous motley DII team. I've only been playing rugby for four years but it's pretty cool that because of our clubs location I've:

played against Jossy Tseng (recent scrimmage against stanford)
played against Lisa Butts (Berkeley 10s scrimmage and maybe at the Chico Holiday Classic a couple years back)
got my ass routinely kicked by Blair Groefsema all summer long at palo alto 7s
trained with Shaina Turley at the Williams Rugby Camp
was coached by Ashley English at the Williams Rugby Camp (oh lord I suck at agility ladders)
had San Juanita Moreno on our sidelines cheering for the other team (PNRFU playoffs)
watched Vanesha McGee do her crazy awesome (when we hosted DII Elite 8s)

I know I've mentioned similar stuff before but eh it's a good motivator to get in shape and stop sucking. I don't have nearly enough talent to keep up with them but I'd love to give them a challenge once I move to a club side.

ps I really need to stop being lazy and learn how to edit video and fix my damn header illustration.

Schooooooools out for ...winter. Yeah!!!

Pelican Ref Report for UCSC vs Fortuna High School Girls Rugby Team

UC SANTA CRUZ women 57 – Fortuna HS SoCal 11 Referee: Rob Hendrickson
Fortuna High School girls drove down to Santa Cruz for a campus tour and friendly against the Slug women minus their seniors. As this is still pre season for the Slugs, and soccer had not yet released their lower pitch, the match was played on the upper field opposite the pool which was hosting a regional youth swim tournament.

Notwithstanding the score, the Fortuna girls played hard and well, consistently exhibiting the best open field tackling this ref has ever observed in HS girls play. The Slugs got a good run and a chance to hone their kick-and-chase game.

I could be experiencing a brain freeze but how would they score 11?
1 try and 2 conversions (ehhhh? why would you have two conversions?)
3 penalty kicks (I don't think thy had any)
3 drop goals (ditto)
ummm yo no se

National Collegiate Rugby Playoff Venue Change

breaking news


April 18-20
USA RUGBY NATIONAL GUARD COLLEGIATE PLAYOFFS: Division I Men and Women, Division II Men and Women (All Pools)
Albuquerque, N.M.: Balloon Fiesta Park
Hosted by: the Albuquerque CVB and USA Rugby

May 2-3
USA RUGBY NATIONAL GUARD COLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Stanford, Calif.: Steuber Rugby Stadium
Hosted by: Stanford University

May 17-18
USA RUGBY SENIOR MEN’S CLUB PLAYOFFS:
Austin, Texas: Zilker Park
Hosted by: the Austin Rugby Club

May 30-June 1st
USA RUGBY NATIONAL GUARD BOY’S HIGH SCHOOL AND BOY’S AND GIRL’S U-19 CHAMPIONSHIPS
Pittsburgh, Pa.: Founders Field
Hosted by: the Pittsburgh Harlequins

May 31- June 1
USA RUGBY SENIOR MEN’S CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
Glendale, Colo.: Infinity Park
Hosted by: City of Glendale

So yea, the solution to screwing over East Coast teams is by making them take TWO transnational trips. That makes sense! Anyhoo I don't really mind, makes things cheaper for me. What else...I'm almost halfway through all my shit......

1 page coversheet for my radio work
edit my journal
1 page paper on radio and civil rights
1 final
1 three page paper on surrealism
1 last meeting with all the radio heads at kzsc

I may actually get this shit done!!! Well ff to do it.
oh an my story on the Second National Food Bank's Holiday Food Drive went well but probably won't see air..sadness oh well I think I'll pass being a TA

ps....I just want to put this down. Queer Butch Asian. Yup, thanks for listening.

Fortuna High School Girl's Rugby Club

Our developmental side did relatively well against a strong High School side but more importantly our team made nice connections with some future collegiate ruggers. They came in at around 10-11 Friday night and we hosted them at various people's houses. The next morning they were taken on a tour of campus while I led the field crew setting up the pitch, the match was a full 80 minutes. I'll post pictures later, they had a large pack with some solid locks that gave our side some things to think about in the scrums. Their lifts were sharp and we were breaking in a new line-out thrower. Their backline was especially dangerous in the last quarter of the match where they repeatedly threatened to score. Both sides drastically improved during the match and yea...it was really hard being on the sidelines. After the match we had sandwichs etc and both teams coaches college coach was there to give away gifts from the South Africa Women's National team which was pretty freaking sweet.
I'll post pics later

I'm Out

For a little bit, we were idle this week but we should be hosting Fortuna High School next weekend for a little camp, scrimmage against our rookies, and tour of the school. Their coach Tina, among being one of our star alumns, is also a u19 forward coach. So it should be a good and telling challenge. Personally I'm out of the rugby loop for the next two weeks. School is my #1 and with 20 creds I have a LOT OF SHIT TO DO.

Side note I took a peek at the PCRFU playoff bracket posted by Theresa Champagne and it looks like it'll consist of the #1 and #2 NCRFU teams (norcal) vs the #1 and #2 PNRFU teams (pac northwest...ie oregon + wash). This is different because the last two playoffs involved only three teams (with Utah always backing out). Sooo yeah. I don't even know who normally gets 2nd in the PNRFU league...I could research it but a) the acronyms up there are hella confusing and b) I could just defer the question to Western Oregon's coach =]

ok peace