Latest European Heineken Cup Results (Spoiler warning if you don't have Setanta or Sky Sports!)

Congratulations to the Lianelli Scarlets for whupping Munster's ass in today's quarterfinal match in the Heineken Cup. You can see all of the results and fixtures Here.

Its Rugby season, and I can't sleep.

Another season of club rugby is upon us, and I can't sleep. It's not because I'm worried about how well my teams are doing. Well, not really, as my Hurricanes who are(of Wellington, NZ, Super 14 for all of those not washed in the proverbial blood of the rugby lamb) currently in 11th place and staring longingly into the toilet at the moment. Its the damn time difference. As you probably well know rugby isn't the biggest sport in America, so most of the true-believers here are relegated to the English and Irish "Pubs" in a hopefully close city to catch delayed repeats of Heineken Cup, Magner's League or Six Nations rugby (Here, Here, and Here), matches that take place in the UK or Europe. And then there's Super 14, the Air New Zealand Cup and Tri Nations Rugby, all in the southern hemisphere, and with games played in locations between 6 (South Africa) and 16 (New Zealand) hours ahead of us on the east coast. Thank the gods for Directv and Setanta Sports. Now I can watch live rugby & Australian Rules Football matches until my eyes bleed, albeit typically at 3:30 or 5:30 in the morning. So, come rugby season, if its the weekend and the pub's closed I'll be up watching my hometown team hopefully pulling its season out of the W.C.

Why do I like Friday Night Lights so damn much?

I just watched Friday Night Lights yesterday evening (I'm trying to get better about actually watching the shows I record on my tivo-it becomes too much like work when I'm watching shows weeks, if not months after I record them). I am nuts about that show; Not Galactica, or Deadwood "nuts", mind you, but I do enjoy it a great deal. It doesn't make much sense, really. I can't stand watching American football, especially NFL and college ball, what with their constant interruption of play for advertising dollars, the overpaid pantywaists such as T O, and of course, the bloody bowl system (shite, I tell you-pure shite!), so it certainly isn't for blind love of the game. I should give a brief synopsis of the show. The show takes place in Dillon, Texas- a small (er) town in central Texas, and follows the trials and tribulations of the fictitious Dillon Panthers, as coached by Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler, of the series Early Edition during the late 90's) as they make their way to State. It generally follows 10 or so principle characters as they deal with love, sex, racism, bills, life changing injury (the starting QB was paralyzed in a game early in the season), small town America, and of course, next Friday's game. So, it takes the movie, which was based on the 1988 season of the real-life Permian Panthers and adds more layers and runs them to conclusions that don't necessarily focus on "Friday night." The football games are wild-total nail biters in the all or nothing, the "game" is life played out on a field. Everything is on the line on this very play. Nothing else matters, because it'll all be fixed when we win this game. the ends of Poverty, racism, and hunger are hanging in the balance, and are yours to end-if you can run this pigskin into the endzone. Alas, if it were only that easy. Perhaps that is why I enjoy this show so much. I grew up just outside of a small town where the only things that mattered were football, wrestling, July 4th, and Christmas, in that very order. Every character within this show and all of their personal "issues" lived in my town. Alcoholism, absent/abusive parents, paying bills when your factory just closed, alternative lifestyles in a forest full of God and tradition or you're in hell zealots. It was all there. And then there was the football-the great uniter-where everyone could come together as "one" to fight a common foe-the visiting team. Of course at the end of the day I think I like the show for the same reason I'll watch a high school football game now, or along those same lines March Madness; The intensity of play seems to more often come from a more honest place, where love of the game means more than love of a paycheck. If you've got an hour to burn on a Wednesday evening at 8pm check it out, on NBC.

Is it April 1st yet?

Please tell me that it is. It has to be, when I come across items such as this. It would seem that any terrorist worth his salt would have absorbed all of the secrets for first world destruction that TRON had to offer what-10, 15 years ago? Unless, of course they were waiting for the 25th Anniversary HD-DVD version to come out.