Just a reminder that the banquet is coming up this Saturday, so I expect to see you all their in your finery.
Part of the reason for having the banquet is to recognize those who made an outstanding contribution to the club both on and off the field. Since it's always difficult to be certain that we've e-mailed everyone in the club, this is just another gentle reminder to get your votes in to Jerry McQueeney as soon as possible.
In case you didn't know, the categories up for grabs are:
Most Valuable Player
Most Improved Player
Biggest Contribution to the Club
Hit Jerry up here with your votes as soon as possible so he has time to put your name on the huge trophy.
Thank-you.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Coat Check Payola
While the rest of the club was draining the funds last weekend, a select few were hard at work earning us some cash at the Brewfest coat check. I won't go in to specific amounts lest you think that the club is all of a sudden flush with cash and that you need to find something to spend it on, but lets just say it was a tidy little sum that we desparately needed.
Since nothing says "thank-you" like a mention on the website, next time you see any of the following folks, be sure to point out to them that you saw their name on the site, and that you're grateful for their efforts. Or you could just comment that below. Give it up for:
Matt Winch
Freddy Hayman
Marcos Miller
Joe Loring
Rick Scala
Art Gaffer
Zach (from the Deli)
John Gartland
Matt Burgess
Tony Cox
Nice going lads!
Since nothing says "thank-you" like a mention on the website, next time you see any of the following folks, be sure to point out to them that you saw their name on the site, and that you're grateful for their efforts. Or you could just comment that below. Give it up for:
Matt Winch
Freddy Hayman
Marcos Miller
Joe Loring
Rick Scala
Art Gaffer
Zach (from the Deli)
John Gartland
Matt Burgess
Tony Cox
Nice going lads!
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
How we be rollin' at the banquet
It's that time of year again.
Time to get dressed up, have a few drinks, and get all sentimental about each other.
So, kind of like a regular Saturday then, but in nicer clothes.
It all goes off at the Sheraton on the 18th, with a fine spread courtesy of J-Wil, who runs the show over there. Good food, cheap booze - he plans to show you what it means to "Belong" at the Sheraton.
The assigned hours are 5 - 10 pm, with a program that goes something like this:
5 to 6:30 - Happy Hour
6:30 to 8 - Dinner
8 to 9 - Awards, Speeches and Hilarity
9 to 10 - Wind Down
Or for those of you more familiar with the banquet:
5 to 6 - Happy Hour
6 to 7 - Happier Hour
7 to 7:30 - Happiest Half-Hour
7:30 to 8 - Over Stimulated Half-Hour
8 - Hit The Wall
8:05 to 9 - Surly & Beligerent Hour
9 to 10 - Remorseful & Crying Hour
10 on - Begging For Forgiveness
As you can imagine, such a good time doesn't come for free, but thanks to our connections we're able to pull the whole thing off for just $25 per head. "Sweet!" you say, "I'll pay you on the night". Sure, just like you paid for the bus. Well, since the club can't support your sorry ass forever, you should take this opportunity to pay up early to avoid being tipped upside down and shaken in front of your girlfriend.
Time to get yourself paid.
For those particularly high rollers amongst you, our good pal Jay has also been able to set up a special room rate for the night so that you can crash out there, rather than into a telegraph pole on the way home. Click here to be whisked to the special page for PRFC and get booking. Act quickly though - rooms are filling up fast.
So there you have it. More fun than ought to be legal for just $25. Get your skates on to secure your spot.
Time to get dressed up, have a few drinks, and get all sentimental about each other.
So, kind of like a regular Saturday then, but in nicer clothes.
It all goes off at the Sheraton on the 18th, with a fine spread courtesy of J-Wil, who runs the show over there. Good food, cheap booze - he plans to show you what it means to "Belong" at the Sheraton.
The assigned hours are 5 - 10 pm, with a program that goes something like this:
5 to 6:30 - Happy Hour
6:30 to 8 - Dinner
8 to 9 - Awards, Speeches and Hilarity
9 to 10 - Wind Down
Or for those of you more familiar with the banquet:
5 to 6 - Happy Hour
6 to 7 - Happier Hour
7 to 7:30 - Happiest Half-Hour
7:30 to 8 - Over Stimulated Half-Hour
8 - Hit The Wall
8:05 to 9 - Surly & Beligerent Hour
9 to 10 - Remorseful & Crying Hour
10 on - Begging For Forgiveness
As you can imagine, such a good time doesn't come for free, but thanks to our connections we're able to pull the whole thing off for just $25 per head. "Sweet!" you say, "I'll pay you on the night". Sure, just like you paid for the bus. Well, since the club can't support your sorry ass forever, you should take this opportunity to pay up early to avoid being tipped upside down and shaken in front of your girlfriend.
Time to get yourself paid.
For those particularly high rollers amongst you, our good pal Jay has also been able to set up a special room rate for the night so that you can crash out there, rather than into a telegraph pole on the way home. Click here to be whisked to the special page for PRFC and get booking. Act quickly though - rooms are filling up fast.
So there you have it. More fun than ought to be legal for just $25. Get your skates on to secure your spot.
Nearly Men not so nearly this time
The Red Tide wrapped up its Fall league season this past weekend with the longest of road trips to Hartford. Normally you couldn't imagine a greater a greater strain on the club than a 4-hour road trip in November at the end of a losing campaign. But not so this year, with 25 guys boarding the bus in Portland with several others traveling directly. Whatever the outcome, by this measure alone I do declare the state of our union to be in robust health.
Four hours on the bus gave us plenty of time to cover all of the pressing issues of the day, including TABOR, Evangelical hypocrisy, and whether we were better off taking sides with the Aliens or the Predators. With such weighty issues to occupy our minds the trip flew by and we soon found ourselves pulling up at the very pleasant Irish Cultural Center in Glastonbury.
Despite the long ride, Portland uncharacteristically came out of the gates at a blistering pace, no doubt proving to be a bit more of a handful than Hartford was expecting. WTF Hartford, don't you read the match reports? Just because we were 1-6, it didn't mean we were going to be a pushover.
Sure enough Portland took an early lead, after piling on the pressure and stringing together some good passes to send Dan Joyce over for the first score. Andy Nelson made the tough conversion, and Portland opened a 7-point lead.
The visitors were soon at it again, this time seeing Scotty Derrig hauled down by his collar just feet short of the line and earning us a penalty try. The conversion was a formality, and before you knew what was going on Portland had a 14-0 lead. Unfamiliar territory for a side that has more often than not been giving up early points rather than scoring them.
Hartford were clearly stung to life by this early onslaught, and soon registered their first points thanks to some confusion on a goal line clearance. They soon followed up with another score, and Portland were able to cling on to a slender lead thanks only to a missed conversion from Hartford.
Portland showed some character and struck back themselves, with Jerry Alves intercepting a midfield pass and running it back for a try under the posts. With that the scoreline stood at 21-12 in Portland's favor, although it wasn't to remain that way for long as Hartford scored again on the stroke of full time, and again only that missed conversion separated the two sides.
After the break both sides traded penalties to maintain the points gap, and then tempers that had been on a low simmer all day finally boiled over and a big fight broke out. I wont incriminate anyone by speculating as to whofrom Hartford started it, but everyone felt the need to join in, and several sub-fights broke out across the field. Clearly the ref had no idea who started it, and even after consulting with his mentor on the sidelines, he decided that both sides were equally to blame and handed out a yellow card to the Hartford Captain (oh, the shame) and Mike DeSalle. Both had five minutes to stand under the goalposts and cool off.
Whatever the body count, Portland seemed a little shell shocked after the brawl, while the Hartford side became emboldened and began running the ball hard both in the forwards and along their backline. Injuries and inexperience began to take their toll as Portland's defense fell away, ultimately yielding 22 unanswered points in the final third of the match. A disappointing end to a game that had started with such promise.
Once again it was left to the B-side to lift our spirits, who fought their way out of a two-try hole in the first half to come back and win by a score. After seemingly being out of it at half time, the Killer B's dug deep and continued to hold on to the ball well; keeping faith in their good handling and support play. The crowning moment came with just seconds to spare when Josh fed the ball to Tractor, who broke a couple of tackles before being held up and dishing to Frenchy for the final score.
Post match honors went to Evan Harding in the A Game, for being the catalyst for our first half offense, and to Murph for his B Side performance that included his first Portland try.
After driving round in circles for an hour to find Spyder a liquor store we finally hit the road for the long trek home. Thanks to Jeff Keating as always for the musical accompaniment, which always helps the trip slip by. Thanks also to the Predators for coming back to Earth to eliminate the Alien scourge, even if only for about 175 years until that run in with the Nostromo.
But I digress.
So that closes the book on another season, and another year for Portland Rugby Club. Some recent disappointments but also plenty of highs to look back on from earlier in the year. It's been a fun time, but to paraphrase Mark Twain, the longest decade of my life was the year I spent as Portland captain. It's been an honor, and I miss you all already.
Stay tuned here for news about the banquet, other club goings-on, and of course, whatever else pops into my head.
Cheers.
Four hours on the bus gave us plenty of time to cover all of the pressing issues of the day, including TABOR, Evangelical hypocrisy, and whether we were better off taking sides with the Aliens or the Predators. With such weighty issues to occupy our minds the trip flew by and we soon found ourselves pulling up at the very pleasant Irish Cultural Center in Glastonbury.
Despite the long ride, Portland uncharacteristically came out of the gates at a blistering pace, no doubt proving to be a bit more of a handful than Hartford was expecting. WTF Hartford, don't you read the match reports? Just because we were 1-6, it didn't mean we were going to be a pushover.
Sure enough Portland took an early lead, after piling on the pressure and stringing together some good passes to send Dan Joyce over for the first score. Andy Nelson made the tough conversion, and Portland opened a 7-point lead.
The visitors were soon at it again, this time seeing Scotty Derrig hauled down by his collar just feet short of the line and earning us a penalty try. The conversion was a formality, and before you knew what was going on Portland had a 14-0 lead. Unfamiliar territory for a side that has more often than not been giving up early points rather than scoring them.
Hartford were clearly stung to life by this early onslaught, and soon registered their first points thanks to some confusion on a goal line clearance. They soon followed up with another score, and Portland were able to cling on to a slender lead thanks only to a missed conversion from Hartford.
Portland showed some character and struck back themselves, with Jerry Alves intercepting a midfield pass and running it back for a try under the posts. With that the scoreline stood at 21-12 in Portland's favor, although it wasn't to remain that way for long as Hartford scored again on the stroke of full time, and again only that missed conversion separated the two sides.
After the break both sides traded penalties to maintain the points gap, and then tempers that had been on a low simmer all day finally boiled over and a big fight broke out. I wont incriminate anyone by speculating as to who
Whatever the body count, Portland seemed a little shell shocked after the brawl, while the Hartford side became emboldened and began running the ball hard both in the forwards and along their backline. Injuries and inexperience began to take their toll as Portland's defense fell away, ultimately yielding 22 unanswered points in the final third of the match. A disappointing end to a game that had started with such promise.
Once again it was left to the B-side to lift our spirits, who fought their way out of a two-try hole in the first half to come back and win by a score. After seemingly being out of it at half time, the Killer B's dug deep and continued to hold on to the ball well; keeping faith in their good handling and support play. The crowning moment came with just seconds to spare when Josh fed the ball to Tractor, who broke a couple of tackles before being held up and dishing to Frenchy for the final score.
Post match honors went to Evan Harding in the A Game, for being the catalyst for our first half offense, and to Murph for his B Side performance that included his first Portland try.
After driving round in circles for an hour to find Spyder a liquor store we finally hit the road for the long trek home. Thanks to Jeff Keating as always for the musical accompaniment, which always helps the trip slip by. Thanks also to the Predators for coming back to Earth to eliminate the Alien scourge, even if only for about 175 years until that run in with the Nostromo.
But I digress.
So that closes the book on another season, and another year for Portland Rugby Club. Some recent disappointments but also plenty of highs to look back on from earlier in the year. It's been a fun time, but to paraphrase Mark Twain, the longest decade of my life was the year I spent as Portland captain. It's been an honor, and I miss you all already.
Stay tuned here for news about the banquet, other club goings-on, and of course, whatever else pops into my head.
Cheers.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Another side receives mandatory Portland scare
The woulda, coulda, shouldas were being rolled out again this past Saturday night as league leaders Burlington escaped with a 15-11 win, and Portland collected another solitary "near miss" bonus point to add to its tally.
Given the late Fall monsoon that was blowing by, the games had been moved to the Fairgrounds; scene of plenty of past Portland heroics. The Pulling Shed once again served as changing room / warm up facility, but I use the term "warm up" in only a figurative sense.
The first half was dominated by Burlington, as they scored three tries due to some lackluster defense and some strong running by the visiting forwards. Portland managed to stay in touch however, thanks to a couple of penalty kicks from Matt Winch and three missed conversions by Burlington. 15-6 the score at half time.
A number of substitutions were made at half time that brought some added strength to the Portland pack, along with a little more beef (and pork) in the midfield. With these in place, Portland was able to guarantee a more reliable supply of ball from the scrum, although lineouts remained a crapshoot in the howling gale.
Portland soon began to pressure the Burlington line, although for a while the slippery conditions meant that a knock-on was more likely to occur before any breakthrough. Eventually however a stable platform was established from a scrum under the Burlington posts, and the ball was worked weak to find itself in the hands of Scotty Derrig, who slipped through to score. The conversion attempt was, not surprisingly, held up in the wind, so the scoreline crept only to 15-11.
Sensing some hesitation from Burlington, the home side continued to pile on the pressure, although again, given the conditions, moving the ball about with any fluency proved impossible. To their credit, despite many goal line mauls that Portland tried to push in, Burlington held them all up and turned them away. In the end, with a limited number of attacking options this saga of immeasurable force meeting immovable object ground to a stalemate and time ran out before either side was able to come up with any other ideas.
Another weekend, and another day pushing that rock up hill. Sisyphus would have been proud.
Once again however, the ray of metaphorical sunshine came from the Killer B's, who took the field with such excitement that you'd have no idea they'd been standing in the rain getting soaked for the preceding 80 minutes.
Burlington however did not display the same enthusiasm, and started the game with only 9-10 players, as the rest had all disappeared indoors to get dry. Gradually their consciences got the better of them, and they filtered back on to the field, only to encounter the fired up B's.
Despite the fact that the game was shortened to what seemed like 10-minute halves, Josh managed a brace of tries and Ryan scored another, while Burlington seemed more interested in when it was all going to be over. Another strong performance from the B's, which only bodes well for the future of the club.
Once everyone had dried off as best they could, it was back to Bleachers to share a pint with our opponents. Oh, wait...that's right, Burlington split before anyone could say goodbye, no doubt still mad about that biting incident from a hundred years ago.
So, for once, there was enough food to go around, and plenty of room to mingle. A side man-of-the-match went to Mike DeSalle, who came on at the half and proved that the game still needs him. B side honors and special mention went to Josh for his strong performance in both games, but he was out in the car, ahem..."medicating" at the time, so his shot went elsewhere.
Portland take the long trip to Hartford this weekend for their final game of the year. A bus has been laid on, so all fans and friends are welcome to tag along. Watch this space for more details.
Given the late Fall monsoon that was blowing by, the games had been moved to the Fairgrounds; scene of plenty of past Portland heroics. The Pulling Shed once again served as changing room / warm up facility, but I use the term "warm up" in only a figurative sense.
The first half was dominated by Burlington, as they scored three tries due to some lackluster defense and some strong running by the visiting forwards. Portland managed to stay in touch however, thanks to a couple of penalty kicks from Matt Winch and three missed conversions by Burlington. 15-6 the score at half time.
A number of substitutions were made at half time that brought some added strength to the Portland pack, along with a little more beef (and pork) in the midfield. With these in place, Portland was able to guarantee a more reliable supply of ball from the scrum, although lineouts remained a crapshoot in the howling gale.
Portland soon began to pressure the Burlington line, although for a while the slippery conditions meant that a knock-on was more likely to occur before any breakthrough. Eventually however a stable platform was established from a scrum under the Burlington posts, and the ball was worked weak to find itself in the hands of Scotty Derrig, who slipped through to score. The conversion attempt was, not surprisingly, held up in the wind, so the scoreline crept only to 15-11.
Sensing some hesitation from Burlington, the home side continued to pile on the pressure, although again, given the conditions, moving the ball about with any fluency proved impossible. To their credit, despite many goal line mauls that Portland tried to push in, Burlington held them all up and turned them away. In the end, with a limited number of attacking options this saga of immeasurable force meeting immovable object ground to a stalemate and time ran out before either side was able to come up with any other ideas.
Another weekend, and another day pushing that rock up hill. Sisyphus would have been proud.
Once again however, the ray of metaphorical sunshine came from the Killer B's, who took the field with such excitement that you'd have no idea they'd been standing in the rain getting soaked for the preceding 80 minutes.
Burlington however did not display the same enthusiasm, and started the game with only 9-10 players, as the rest had all disappeared indoors to get dry. Gradually their consciences got the better of them, and they filtered back on to the field, only to encounter the fired up B's.
Despite the fact that the game was shortened to what seemed like 10-minute halves, Josh managed a brace of tries and Ryan scored another, while Burlington seemed more interested in when it was all going to be over. Another strong performance from the B's, which only bodes well for the future of the club.
Once everyone had dried off as best they could, it was back to Bleachers to share a pint with our opponents. Oh, wait...that's right, Burlington split before anyone could say goodbye, no doubt still mad about that biting incident from a hundred years ago.
So, for once, there was enough food to go around, and plenty of room to mingle. A side man-of-the-match went to Mike DeSalle, who came on at the half and proved that the game still needs him. B side honors and special mention went to Josh for his strong performance in both games, but he was out in the car, ahem..."medicating" at the time, so his shot went elsewhere.
Portland take the long trip to Hartford this weekend for their final game of the year. A bus has been laid on, so all fans and friends are welcome to tag along. Watch this space for more details.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Normal Service to resume ASAP
Phew! Been sooooo busy at the office, as you can see. There's just been no time for a match report.
Strike!
Also, a slight misunderstanding with the censors has kept me under house arrest for a few days, but that all seems to have been cleared up now. Thank goodness - almost a whole week without spouting off and I was beginning to go into limelight withdrawls.
So let freedom ring! Yes, I will blog you your blog sir, one more time. Just don't mention the you-know-what in the comments. K?
Strike!
Also, a slight misunderstanding with the censors has kept me under house arrest for a few days, but that all seems to have been cleared up now. Thank goodness - almost a whole week without spouting off and I was beginning to go into limelight withdrawls.
So let freedom ring! Yes, I will blog you your blog sir, one more time. Just don't mention the you-know-what in the comments. K?
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