Football v Rugby

Last spring (Northern Hemisphere for 'autumn'), I pitted Baseball against Cricket to decide once and for all which is the greatest ball and stick game. The coming of the Northern fall brings with it football, rugby and the definitive battle for supremacy among these contact sports.

But first, the ground rules. For the purposes of this comparison, I will be using the NFL, the pinnacle of American football, and Rugby Union, the more popular, and in my opinion, superior form of that game. Ten categories will be considered, worth ten points each, plus a five point bonus category. Let the best game win.

Best Team
Football (7) - Cameragate notwithstanding, the New England Patriots have been the team to beat for the past six years. However, due to free agency and the salary cap, the Pats pale in comparison to the great teams of the past.
Rugby (9) - According to the IRB World Rankings, New Zealand is the current world's best, and it isn't for a lack of opposition. They dominate on the world scene, despite the best efforts of Australia, South Africa, England and France.

Best Historical Team
Football (9) - This is always good for a debate, but I'll go with the Cowboys. They are tied for the most Super Bowl wins, and I'd put the Boys of the early 90's up against anyone.
Rugby (9) - This one is a little tougher, but I'll go with the All Blacks again. Their 1925 squad was referred to as 'The Invincibles', and that's good enough for me.

Best Rivalry
Football (7) - The best rivalries are in college, but the Cowboys/Redskins rivalry isn't bad, followed closely by Chicago/Green Bay, Denver/Oakland, Denver/Kansas City, and Dallas/Philly.
Rugby (9) - There are some good options here, but I've got to go with New Zealand/Australia. Seems to usually come down to these two teams and they are currently the top two teams in the world.

Outcomes
Football (9) - Ties are possible but highly unlikely. Overtime rules cost it a point though--I don't like the fact that the losing team might never touch the ball.
Rugby (6) - Again, ties are possible but unlikely in league competition, although they do happen more than in the NFL. In tournaments such as the World Cup, overtime rules include two ten minute periods. Better than a tie, but sudden death would be better.

Big Play Potential
Football (10) - This is football's moment to shine. You never know when the QB is going to throw a deep pass, a RB is going to break through for a huge gain or even when a safely is going to drop a WR cutting across the middle. Good times.
Rugby (8) - You get some big plays, but no forward pass removes lots of opportunity.

Specialization
Football (3) - And this is football's weak point. You've got offensive and defensive units, linemen, skill position players, etc. All it takes is the ability to do one thing well.
Rugby (8) - Some specialization, but for the most part, every player on the pitch needs to excel as an all-round player.

Sportsmanship
Football (5) - Rules have to be written to enforce sportsmanlike behavior. Shameful.
Rugby (9) - Tana Umaga, former All Blacks captain, once abandoned a favorable play to check on the Welsh captain who had been knocked unconscious. Pure class. It's a rough game, but the players respect their opponent.

Best Trophy
Football (5) - Not really a fan of the Lombardi Trophy. Kinda boring.
Rugby (6) - The Webb Ellis Cup. What is there to say? It's a nice enough cup.

Popularity
Football (6) - A good deal of the world watches the Super Bowl, but no one else seriously plays football. The American Football World Cup could only attract ten participants, and until this year, when the US first entered the World Cup, Japan had been a two-time champion. Japan!
Rugby (7) - It's not yet soccer's equal on the world scene, but rugby enjoys fairly widespread popularity, although it has been dominated by a handful of countries for most of its history.

Toughness
Football (9) - I get questions about this all the time from rugby fans, but I still give footballers credit despite the pads. As we learned two weeks ago from Kevin Everett, injuries still happen, even with a helmet and big shoulder pads. Football's hits and collisions are too big to try this game without protection.
Rugby (10) - Some players wear padded headgear, but otherwise players play without protection. And the hits are almost on par with the NFL. High speed collisions aren't as common and tackling rules help, but this is still a violent sport.

Bonus: Best Tradition
Football (3) - I'll go with the Lambeau Leap. Nice to get the fans involved.
Rugby (5) - New Zealand's haka is both a cultural celebration and fierce intimidation. That's Tana Umaga leading the haka in the video below.


Add it all up and rugby takes down American football and it isn't even close: 86-73. Football is a great game, but give rugby a try during the World Cup, shown on Versus.

Protesting APEC

September 8-9 was the annual APEC forum, and it was big news in Sydney. It was such a big deal that Sydney was basically shut down on Friday for a declared holiday.

Why was it such a big deal? Because APEC brought George W Bush to town, and people wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to protest the war, globalisation, climate change, human rights violations and just about everything else. Leading up to the big weekend, the Stop Bush Coalition planned a major protest and attempted to get their plans approved by the police. The two groups didn't exactly see eye to eye on the protest, though—during the last week, the protesters were forced to alter their protest route. The police promised a strong showing and even purchased a $700,000 water cannon. I had planned on attending the protest, but decided in the last week to stay away.
However, as the protest began Saturday morning, the news coverage revealed no problems. I decided to join the protest rally at Hyde Park, their destination. Reports later in the day revealed 3500 police and either 10,000 (protester count), 5000 (police count), or 3000 (media count) protesters. There were only 17 arrests, 14 of which were quickly released, some within minutes of being cuffed, and two policemen were injured. All in all, it was a rather tame rally, especially compared to what the police were predicting.

Post-rally, both sides claimed victory and questioned the other side. The police claimed their strong showing prevented trouble, while the protesters said they planned a peaceful rally all along and wondered aloud why the police felt it necessary to bring such numbers.

Personally, I thought both sides came off as foolish. I understand the police's need for safety, but I felt they were heavy-handed. A water cannon? 3500 officers? Snipers on rooftops and in choppers? A little much. But I also thought the protesters came off as petulant attention seekers, a least the ones on the news. I suppose the media shares some guilt in this as well. Too many of the protesters I saw in the park appeared either misguided or disinterested in the cause.

All in all, I left the rally dejected. The police and the government seemed oppressive and the protesters' message was lost in their chase for attention. On a good note, I'm going to turn this into a paper. We have to write about a conflict for my Peace and Conflict Studies class. I'm not going to discuss the rally itself, but rather the planning, or lack thereof, between the protesters and the police. Without having done too much research yet, I think the truth lies somewhere in between.

Lucky Sevens: APEC

Sydney is in lockdown because of APEC this weekend. Heather and I, along with everyone else who works in the city, got a holiday today in an attempt to clear some traffic out of the city. This month's Lucky Sevens question: What does APEC stand for?

City2Surf 2007 results

City2Surf was a few weeks back. I didn't get to train like I should have given our recent move and starting my Development Studies program. Plus, after running the marathon in May, I didn't exactly take the 14K seriously. Halfway through the run, though, I realized that 14K is still a little more than your average morning stroll. Especially when you get to Heartbreak Hill. But I finished in about 85 minutes, which beat my goal and beats last year's time. If I run it next year, I'd like to cut that down to sub 75 to qualify for the front of the pack seedings.

More important is the other goal that I beat. As I posted before, City2Surf encouraged runners to raise money for a charity this year. I was running for UNICEF and hoped to raise $250. Thanks to your generous donations, $365 was raised. In total, City2Surf runners raised just over a million dollars. Kudos to City2Surf for making this possible and thanks to you for making a difference for kids around the world.

Australian advertisements

Here are two commercials getting airtime here right now. The first is from the Rapid Transit Authority, the same people who remind you to 'Look Right' when crossing the street.

This ad is taking some heat right now—Heather saw somewhere that they get one complaint per day from men claiming that it is sexist. Her response is that nearly everything else on TV is sexist to women. Either way, I'm pretty sure that the guys complaining are the ones driving like this.

This commercial is for Pura Milk. I thought the 'Got Milk?' campaign was good, but this one gives it a good run.

Lucky Sevens: University of Sydney

Sorry I'm a day late—I guess that makes this Lucky Eights. Been busy with school this week. If anyone can help me find some articles about Cuban language policy, let me know.

Which brings me to this week's question, which should require some research for you, too: Where does the University of Sydney's Faculty of Arts and Humanities rank in the world? Hint: dig around the University website.

City2Surf 2007

The 2007 City2Surf 14K is next Sunday. As always, the run begins at Hyde Park, very near our apartment, and finishes at Bondi Beach. A new twist has been added this year: participants are allowed to designate a charity to raise money for. I have chosen UNICEF, which I thought was appropriate given that I have just begun my Masters in Development Studies. My fundraising page can be found here.

Please consider making a donation to UNICEF. I chose this charity because it benefits kids around the world who don't have any of the things that I took for granted when I was a kid. It is a United Nations run organisation and I have the utmost confidence that the money donated will be well spent. Any amount would be greatly appreciated.

Long time, no blog

Hi! My name is Chris and this is my blog about living in Sydney, Australia. I feel like I have to introduce myself again since it has been so long since my last post. Things have been busy around here. I have started my Development Studies program at the University of Sydney and all the homework and projects that goes with that. I have to make a fifteen minute presentation about Cuba in two weeks. Apparently, there really is no easing into a masters degree program.

Let’s see, what else is going on? Oh yeah, we moved. That was a shock to us. One day we got a call that our landlord put our apartment on the market, but didn’t really expect it to sell given his asking price. Next thing we know, it’s sold and we have to be out by August 20 when our lease expires. Apartment hunting in Sydney is a major pain, and quite a bit more expensive than it was two years ago when we moved here. There are lots of potential renters and not enough properties, so getting a lease signed is a competitive sport. We found a place we liked two and a half weeks ago, but were the second application in, even though we went straight from the apartment to the leasing office. The breaks went our way, though and we got the apartment. We signed the lease a week later and moved in this past weekend.

In case you didn’t know, moving is a pain, even if it is only one kilometre as this move was. All that saves you is a long drive. In fact, this move was harder than our move from the US to here in some ways. At least then, our stuff was picked up and dropped off at our front door. You still have to disassemble and package everything. Addresses still need to be updated. Utilities still need to be changed. That has been the worst part—I have gone round and round about our telephone and internet service. All is finally settled, although we still have to wait 7-21 days for our broadband to be activated, and the temporary dial-up connection is slow as.

I never got pictures of our old place up, but I hope to do that next week in the form of a ‘before and after’ post. While we were happy there, we have upgraded by moving into this new apartment. Details and pictures of those upgrades coming soon.

Plan B is in effect

Heather and I had planned on going back to Dallas for Christmas this year then taking a trip through South America, visiting Mexico City, Machu Picchu and Rio de Janeiro. However, after talking with a travel agent last Friday, we have come to the realisation that that is economically prohibitive. We'll have to save that trip for when we are living in the US again. In the meantime, we have come up with a pretty nice Plan B. Four words: around the world tickets.

From Dallas, we will travel to London, which has been on my list for ten years. Then it is off to Delhi, India, Heather's hot spot of the moment. From there, we will see Bangkok, Thailand. Three stops, three very different experiences. Not too shabby for a back up plan, and it's all because it is cheaper to fly around the world than it is to fly around South America. In fact, it's cheaper to fly around the world than it is to fly to Dallas and back. Airlines are crazy like that.

Lucky Sevens: Cafe de Wheels

This is the first in a monthly series I'm starting here called Lucky Sevens, that will appear on the seventh of each month. It will consist of some facts or trivia about Australia, along with a question for you to answer. First to give the correct answer in the comments wins. I'll add a Lucky Sevens scoreboard to the sidebar to keep track of all winners. I'm also going to go back through my archives and add winners to some questions I've had previously, so nobody misses out.

Harry's Cafe de Wheels is a pie stand in Sydney that has got to be the best place to eat for under seven dollars. The pies are hot, made from quality ingredients, and are great on cold, windy day. I recommend the cheese and bacon pie, with cheese sauce on top.

Harry's opened in 1945 as a food service cart in Woolloomooloo near the harbour. As the story goes, city regulations required that mobile food carts had to move a minimum of 12 inches each so, so Harry's was nudged back and forth each day to comply with the mandate. Since then, three other locations have opened, including on in Haymarket, which I frequent.

Any Amazing Race fans? Harry's was also featured there in 2002 as a Fast Forward where racers had to eat pies. Heather talks about going on the show, and while I am not interested, that is one task I could handle.

Lucky Sevens question: Shouldn't be too hard. Who is the man eating a pie from Harry's in the above picture?

Be a Pepper

In the past two years, I have had access to Dr Pepper for a total of three weeks, and that was thanks to my parents and in-laws keeping the fridge stocked on my visit last year. I occasionally hear from someone that you can get it at this or that particular convenience store, but I've never seen it. I was starting to feel as desperate as Indy here to get my hands on a Dr Pepper.

And then Heather found Sugar Fix. Turns out, Dr Pepper is about a ten minute walk from our flat. I am enjoying the 'authentic blend of 23 flavors' as I type this.

So how much does heaven in a can cost Down Under? Thirty bucks for a twelve pack—and it's worth every bit of it.

Big night at the Opera

Today was a big day for the Sydney Opera House. A television news teaser just announced that the SOH has been named a World Heritage site. Opened in October 1973, it is the youngest to be included on the World Heritage list. It was considered for the list because it represents 'a masterpiece of human creative genius'. It is only the second Australian building to make the list, and seventeenth Australian site overall. Today's nominations bring the total up to 843 sites worldwide.

This is big news for Australia. World Heritage status is a tourism boom, even for a site like the Opera House that had over four million visitors last year. It also provides protection for the SOH, including a 2.5km radius barrier around it protecting views to and from the site.

It's too bad this announcement didn't come a week earlier. My year 7 geography class just began an assessment task requiring research on a World Heritage site. Several of them thought they were going to do the Opera House, only to check the list and find out it wasn't there. They have since moved on to other sites.

So how many sites have you been to? With today's addition, I'm up to seven—only 836 more to go.

Qantas Wallabies commercial

This is the Qantas Wallabies commercial that aired during last week's game versus South Africa.

Full moon

The Wallabies played the Springboks of South Africa last night in Cape Town. The Wallabies lost 22-19, but there was a funny incident at the end of the first half.

One of the South African players broke through the Wallabies line for a nice gain before being caught from behind. As he was tackled, his shorts were yanked down to mid-thigh, revealing bare white South African bum. This was punctuated by the announcer's 'Ohhhh!!!!', followed a few seconds later with 'well, there's a crack in the Wallabies defense.'

Skypin'

Thanks to the miracle of the internet, and specifically Skype, we now have a Dallas area local phone number. So if you are in Dallas, you can call us Down Under for nothing from your home phone. Or if you have nationwide calling on your cell phone (does anyone not?), that's a free call, too. Shoot me an email if you want the number.

Also, we finally got a webcam, so if you are on Skype we can make a video call and you can remember how good looking I am. Search for me on Skype or send me an email and I can give you that username, too.

Just remember, we are fifteen hours ahead of you, so when it's noon in Dallas, it's three in the morning here!

Back to school

When I was in eleventh grade, my high school was just starting a 'write across the curriculum' program. Some of the subjects, in this case math, got a little creative with writing, since writing was not a regular part of the class. Ms. Voss, my math teacher, had us write three letters to universities, requesting information packets. She wanted us to choose one school we were confident we could get into, one school that would be a challenge, and one that would be a dream application. I chose the University of Sydney as my dream app. I'm not really sure why. Maybe it was because my parents had been to Australia a few years earlier and it seemed exotic. Like most American kids, I considered anything foreign to be exotic. I never actually applied to Sydney back then—it was just a letter I wrote because my teacher told me to.

Well, sixteen years later, I will actually be a student at the University of Sydney. I recently submitted an application for the Master of Development Studies program and got the call today that I'm in. Basically, it is a study in developing countries and, as the department head describes it, the program allows the freedom to 'cherry pick' your classes. I'll be able to choose courses in human rights, peace and conflict studies, globalisation, communication and indigenous issues, to name just a few. My problem will be choosing only eight classes. Click here to see more about the program.

Classes are offered in the evening, so this won't affect my work. It should take me two years to complete the degree, assuming that I take two classes a semester. I start at the end of July.

I'm excited. Nervous, but excited. I went to an information expo a month ago promoting the program, and it was nice being on a campus again, talking to professors, being 'academic'. It will be particularly exciting studying topics that I am very interested in.

So what's next? Well, I don't know exactly. Maybe nothing other than a pay raise for earning a master's degree. But what I would really like to do is work for the Carter Center, the United Nations, or some similar organisation that would enable me to work as an advocate for a developing country. How about that, Dad? Jimmy Carter, my boss. Heather is taking Spanish now, and I'll start next term, too, just in case. Gotta brush up a bit on my español if I want Jimmy Carter to be mi jefe.

I've got time to figure all that out. For now, it's time to hit the books. Ms. Voss, thanks for the writing assignment—it took a while, but I got into my dream school.

Wilco show iMix

I finally put the previously promised Wilco iMix together, consisting of the playlist from their concert at Enmore Theatre. I tried to include tracks from their live album Kicking Television, but my US iTunes account doesn't recognise my Australian CD. That's really too bad, because it makes sense to use live tracks when recreating a concert playlist, plus some of the live songs are better than the studio versions—more energy. So in addition to my iMix, I also recommend Kicking Television.
I'm trying to put together more iMix setlists for concerts I've been to. I have ready to post in the next few weeks, but if anyone knows where I can find Ben Folds setlists on the World Wide Web, let me know.

Surfing 50 States

If there is one thing I have learned in our time here, it is that Australians are a crazy bunch. I found something today that further confirmed this: Surfing 50 States.
These two Aussies took a seven month trip, driving across all 50 states in search of something in each one to surf. And they were successful. Your first question is this: how did they find a place to surf in the inland states? Answer: no one said it had to be water. 'Surfing' was defined as standing on a surfboard with forward momentum.
Looks to me like they had quite an adventure, and I freely admit that I am jealous. This sounds like a great trip. Congrats to the Surfing 50 States boys. Check out this sampler video of their adventures.

The Great Ocean Road Marathon

I ran a 10K on Sunday in 58:30. Not to bad, considering I still had nearly 32K to go.

Add it all up, and I participated in the Great Ocean Road Marathon, a leisurely stroll from Lorne to Apollo Bay. The run is shown on the map above. To view the full map at Google Maps, click here. Check out the satellite view and zoom in on parts to get an idea what I saw. As you can see here, my final time was 4:29:17. For my first marathon, I'll take it.

Especially considering how difficult training has been for me this year. My training runs have been significantly slower than in the past and I have been dealing with nagging injuries the whole time. To be honest, I was pretty discouraged heading into the race, and had resigned myself to enjoying the ocean views and trying to finish before the road opened back up. I had originally set a goal of 4:30, so to actually beat that after all the difficulties felt great.

And the views were great—the road traces the ocean the entire way, weaving back and forth. The only exception is a stretch about 500 metres surrounded by eucalypts, but that is where the koalas are hiding. I spotted five. If you look at the elevation chart further down, you'll notice that some parts of the road are almost at sea level, while others are quite high up, so you enjoy both the sounds and spray of the surf and the wide, panoramic views. It's almost enough to make you forget that your knees are killing you.

Because of my difficulties during training, I did not intend to run the entire distance. So I was quite surprised when I did, excepting brief walks (30-60 seconds) through the drink stations every 5K and walking up two steep climbs at about 27K and 33K, about two minutes each.

Of course, I don't mean to imply that I didn't want to walk, or that I wasn't hurting. At the end of the race, I rated my body pain like this:

1. hips
2. left big toe (blisters)
3. knees
4. feet

Other than that, I felt great.

After three days, I am pretty well healed. My only remaining concern is the toe. Turns out, the blisters on the side were nothing. The real problem is the blister that developed under the nail—I think I'm going to lose it. Pictures, anyone?

Below are a couple of my charts from the race. The first is my 'lap time' for each kilometre and the second is the previously mentioned elevation chart. These charts (and many others) and the map at the top are courtesy of my Garmin Forerunner 205 (also pictured above) and MotionBased. If you run or cycle, I would highly recommend one of these. Yeah, they are a little pricey, but absolutely worth it. It tracks your distance, time, pace, bearing, elevation, calories burned, etc. You can set it to auto pause when you slow down or stop. You can 'race' yourself against a previous run or a preset pace. It can auto lap at preset distances, times or points. Basically, it's like having a state-of-the-art treadmill on your wrist with one exception: while it is a little bigger than a standard watch, it is definitely smaller than a treadmill.

Plus, you can load all that data onto your computer, get all these charts, graphs and maps. You can create specialised training sessions or trails on your computer and load them to the Forerunner. I could go on and on—just go to the websites and check it out yourself. And tell them Chris sent you.

Time chart

Elevation chart
Key stats from the race:
Distance: 41.66K
Time: 4:29:17
Minimum elevation: 1 m
Maximum elevation: 72 m
Temperature: 12-16°C
Koalas: 5

Finally, supersportimages.com already has pictures from the race up. Click the link and select 'view photos' under the May 20 Great Ocean Road International Marathon—my bib number was 139. In one picture I show a five for the koalas. In another, I flash a 'hook 'em Horns'. There are a few other good shots with ocean backgrounds.

I said I was discouraged before the race, but I'm glad I did it. I didn't expect it, but I do have a sense of pride and accomplishment about it. Will I run another marathon? I don't know—we'll see after my toenail grows back.

Railway reading: City Weekly

Thursday is City Weekly day. This is more of a food/style/culture publication. For example, the cover story this week is Bellissimo!, a piece about Sydney's Italian Festival (May 22-June 11). Also included are TV, music and DVD recommendations and various small style pieces. Mostly though, it's a collection of ads for hotels, restaurants and boutiques.

And that's about it. I know it doesn't sound like much, and it is a lot of filler. But this is one that I'll pick up every once in a while if the cover seems interesting.

Rating: Two trains.