Any body else excited about the 6 Nations?

[tjwmason]

The world's best annual rugby tournament (and therefore best annual sports tournament) begins tomorrow.

France-Scotland at 2p.m. (G.M.T.),

England-Wales at 5:30 p.m.,

Ireland-Italy on Sunday.

http://www.6nations.net/splash.htm

[rogerashton]

1. Gee, and I thought the Six Nations were

the Lodge Extended Lengthwise -- the Iroquois Confederation.

[KurtNYC]

2. Me too

The people of the Six Nations, also known by the French term, Iroquois <1> Confederacy, call themselves the Hau de no sau nee (ho dee noe sho nee) meaning People Building a Long House. Located in the northeastern region of North America, originally the Six Nations was five and included the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. The sixth nation, the Tuscaroras, migrated into Iroquois country in the early eighteenth century. Together these peoples comprise the oldest living participatory democracy on earth. Their story, and governance truly based on the consent of the governed, contains a great deal of life-promoting intelligence for those of us not familiar with this area of American history. The original United States representative democracy, fashioned by such central authors as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, drew much inspiration from this confederacy of nations. In our present day, we can benefit immensely, in our quest to establish anew a government truly dedicated to all life's liberty and happiness much as has been practiced by the Six Nations for over 800 hundred years

Those were some awesome natives!

http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/

[Bridget Burke]

6. No, THAT Six Nations is into Lacrosse!

Strikingly similar to Hurling.

Question: Did Brendan take hurling to the New World, or did he bring it back from there?

[rogerashton]

13. Politically creative, but

this may go a bit overboard.

[tjwmason]

3. I always thought it was a mistake to let Italy in

Before them it was the 5 Nations (unsurprisingly) which would be less confusing.

Oh and the fact that Italy really is not a rugby playing country and has never had any chance of getting anywhere in the tournament.

[Zuni]

8. I have an Indian friend who is part mohawk

and he has told me some stories about the Mohawks at war that are really shocking. Mohawks were some brutal SOBs. Their name means 'Man Eater' because they ate parts of their dead enemies.
The Mohawks were absolutely ruthless, both at war with whites and in destroying other Indian tribes

[TNDemo]

4. I am about Seven Nations.

Great Celtic group.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

5. I am looking forward to it

The championship is definitely wide-open this year.

[tjwmason]

9. It looks like Wales might be competitive

For the first time in a while. I'll be wearing a white shirt with a rose, but it's always good to have a strong fight on both sides.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

12. I agree. England, Wales, France and Ireland all have a shot at winning it

n/t

[Zuni]

7. I love it when Rugby comes on over here

I don't follow it and know little about it, but damn it is fun to watch

[tjwmason]

10. It has always struck me as more intuitive the American Football

Without knowing the rules, one can still enjoy watching a game.

[Zuni]

15. Yep. It is awesome

To me, it is like watching a combination of your football and American football
And it is very fast paced and never boring
I like American football, but the games are slow and the action is broken up very often

[tjwmason]

17. That sure ain't MY football

I have never actually watched an entire football (soccer) match. :P

I was once told that American football has so many breaks to allow for advertising by the television networks; don't know if that's true, but I prefer the game to be able to flow somewhat.

[Zuni]

19. The game is naturally broken up by the way it is played

each play lasts for a few seconds each, then they huddle, get back in formation---most of the time is spent between plays

But yes, many games have extra time outs so the broadcasters can put in commercials
But the game would still be broken up and slow without commercials
I have gone to non-NFL games that aren't televised and they aren't that different from a big NFL game that is. A lot of standing around, a little bit of play.

[no name no slogan]

11. COOL!!!

I lived in the UK the year that the Rugby Union World Cup was in London (1991). That was the year the NZ Allblacks were supposed to clean up and take the cup. Unfortunately, they got knocked out in the semis by the English team, oddly enough, who were defeated by Australia in the finals.

I worked in a pub with an Australian who was a rugby fanatic, and he in turn got me into it (since I couldn't get any NHL without a satellite dish). After the semis were over, some members of the Irish team actually came into our pub, and my friend got tickets to the final match from them! He begged the boss for the day off, and he got to see the championship match that year, and got to watch his Australian team beat the English on their home turf for the cup.

Yeah, it was a pretty cool year!

[tjwmason]

14. As an Englishman that wasn't my favourite one...

But we got our own back winning the last world cup - beating the Aussies on their home turf.

In both cricket and rugby England and Australia are mortal enemies, we'd loose to the whole world if we could beat each other.

[Zuni]

16. I love long term sports rivalries

the drama makes the matches more exciting

[tjwmason]

18. We're fortunate in that

loads of countries have historical reasons to hate the English, and so want to beat us. The songs which the Welsh will be singing tomorrow afternoon are generally about fighting English invaders a few hundred years ago...

[Zuni]

20. The English---pissing off the world since 1066

:evilgrin:

Just kidding.

[tjwmason]

21. A tad later than that

But by 1600 certainly so.