Aussie Rules!

So that cricket night was rather good because now I'm becoming friends with a bunch of people on that floor (p-middle). Wednesday night was Angelo's birthday, and before everyone headed to the Lighty, p-middle hosted him a party, which meant blindfolding him, taping him to a chair, and carrying him to McDonald's ("Mackers"). They even reserved the party room and bought ice cream cakes, the leftovers of which went to two teenagers dressed in black with crazy haircuts and spiked jewelry, who joined our party successfully because no one realized that no one else knew them.

Friday night a bunch of us went ice skating. I DIDN'T FALL! I DIDN'T FALL!!!

Today there was an AFL game in Canberra - Australian Rules Football, that is. Vic, one of the P-middle guys, took Madeleine and I to the game. Canberra doesn't have an AFL team, but, as Vic explained, some of the clubs in Victoria are having financial trouble, so they sell some of the games to third party locations. Today's game was the Sydney Swans against the Melbourne Demons. It was definitely a Swans crowd. We got there early, found a place on the grass about 5 feet from the edge of the field. Had lunch - a steak and onion sanger (sanger=sandwich. And I was being adventurous in choosing the steak and onion over my usual sausage and onion, haha) and then Vic explained the game to us. I had seen it twice on TV before (while that guy who cheers for the Kangaroos freaked out at the screen), and I discovered it was much easier to understand than I thought it would be.

Aussie rules is played on an oval instead of a rectangular field. There are 4 goal posts at either end. The ball is like a rugby ball. If you kick the ball between the 2 center posts, it's worth 6 points. If you run it through the center, kick it between the outter posts, kick it off one of the center posts, or back up into the opposing team's goal, it's worth 1 point. "Kickoff" in the beginning of the game isn't a kick - the ref bounces it off the ground and high into the air. The ball is moved by kicking it or hitting it off your fist (handballing, I think is what it's called), so the ball is never really thrown. When tackled, they try to get the ball off to a teammate because there is penalty for holding on too long. The game is played in 20-minute quarters. No time outs or commercial breaks, whoo!! Swans demolished Melbourne, 112-68. Vic said it could be worse - his favorite team lost by 157 points one time.

Lachlan from my floor rode with us as well. He was working at the game, doing computer support for a sports statistics company. Vic actually does a similar thing, doing computer support for the graphics systems for Fox Sports and ABC, and he actually helps design graphics for them as well.

And get this - they told me there's an AFL league in the US! Lachlan showed me the website. There are teams in Philadelphia, Lehigh Valley, and Baltimore-DC! WHO KNEW! They also said the NFL is really interested in AFL players because they're such good punters. Apparently a big kicker from the Jets was previously in the AFL.

And a year ago, I didn't even know this sport existed.