The Hourglass

August 24, 2003

A Publication of the Connecticut Grey Rugby Football Club
Click Here for Back Issues of The Hourglass

SPRING SEASON AWARDS BALLOT

Set your minds back to the April snow and ice that nearly kept Berkshire from traveling to a wet and windy Wallingford for what turned out to be a terrific match. With the fall season nearly upon us, the spring season is but a distant memory. Yet we ask you to think back that far – victories over Berkshire, White Plains, the Gentlemen of New York, Mid Hudson, the Toronto XL's and Worcester; losses to Morris, Brockport, Long Island, and the Rhody Old Cocks (TWICE!) – and cast your votes for the following:

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CGRFC Spring 2002 Awards Ballot

MVP - Forwards ___________________________ 
MVP - Backs _____________________________ 
Rugger Hugger Award ______________________ 
John Falatyn Freight Train Award _____________ 
Founders' Award ___________________________

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The "Falatyn Freight Train Award" is given to that individual whose performance, both on and off the pitch, best represents the hard-charging competitive spirit and love of the brotherhood of rugby that was so amply exemplified by John. Recent recipients include Freddy Seeger, Bob Casey, Mike Guzzio (TWICE!), and Louie Casciaro.

The "Founders' Award" is presented on behalf of the founding members of the Grey to the club member whose year-in and year-out dedication to the club has fostered its present strength and helped to insure its continued success. Recent recipients include Guz, "Thurston" Jorgensen, Jimmy Facey, Tom Flynn, and Larry Larocque.

Cut and paste your ballot into an e-mail and send it to Dean.

FALL SCHEDULE

Let's hear it for the Match Secretary. He's done it again.

This is a GREAT card. The Berkshire home-and-away is a tradition and unfortunately for us, the tradition is that the home team wins. Let's break with tradition this year. Morris and Long Island are turning into two more reliable home-and-aways in an era when its getting harder and harder to schedule old boys matches. All Japan (the old All Nippon) is back and no, Bill Earls, this home-and-away doesn't mean a trip to Tokyo in the spring. New London? Who knows but lets travel strong and hope that there's a new team in town. And good on Dave Martin for the effort he's putting into keeping a masters tradition alive in The Big Apple. Who knew it would be this hard? (I see a McSorely's outing in our future).

As in the past, please cut and past the schedule into an e-mail to Dean and let him know "yes," "no," or "maybe" for each of these dates. You asked for the schedule in advance so you could plan your home life around your opportunities to play rugby (or vice versa for the truly whipped among us). Well, here it is, with plenty of mid-season breaks (9/20 and 10/11) for leaf peeping, house painting, or whatever else it is that will keep your stock high on the home front.

TRAINING

The ugly "T" word. Never mind, it'll be a cakewalk given your continued commitment to fitness over the summer recess, right? (You ARE running three miles a day three times a week, aren't you?) No fooling, the Grey exist for those over-35 ruggers who for one reason or another (some of them legitimate) can no longer commit to the rigors of twice-a-week training sessions in order to compete for a slot in the 2nds. We only invite players to join us who already know how to play the game (having demonstrated same by surviving at least five seasons of college or senior club side rugby) in the hopes that you will want to continue to play a competitive brand of football. We don't run organized training sessions, as a concession to our otherwise acknowledged desire to continue playing this foolish game well beyond the age when sane people take up bowling and golf. The onus to be able to RUN around the pitch for 40 or 60 minutes is yours and yours alone. All the same, we do like to get together once before the spring season and once before the fall season just to get ball in hand and review lineouts and back line movements.

This year's jaunt will be on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend (August 31) at PNA Park starting promptly at noon. (Be there and togged up by 11:50.) Captain Fast Eddie Carr will put us through a few loosening up and ball handling sets and then work on situational awareness (like "where's the nearest bottle of Ibuprofen?"). Another 30 minutes of touch sevens and then it's off to The Old Dublin to work on our social skills. We've been attracting 15 to 20 Grey to recent trainings. It's fun and it gets your head into the season. Be there.

DUES ARE DUE

Fall dues of $100 (Playing Member) or $35 (Social Member) are now due and must be paid in full by the second match of the season (Home v. Morris) to ensure your selection. Bring cash or check made payable to "Connecticut Grey Rugby Club" to the training session or any of the matches, or mail your check to Gary Tamburri, 13 Old Purdy Station Rd., Newtown, CT 06470.

EXEC COMM MEETING

The Executive Committee of the Connecticut Grey will be meeting this Thursday evening, August 28, at the home of President Tony Johnson. Exec committee meetings are open to all club members. If you'd like to attend, please shoot Tony an e-mail so we can be sure to have adequate supplies of comestibles on hand.

BARBADOS TOUR

Twenty eight players, one ref, and 25 of the loveliest cheerleaders in the land have officially registered for the Grey's 25th anniversary tour to Barbados in February. Factoid: the average age of the players on tour is 48 years and 7 months. Two of our players will have topped 60 by the time we take off. Six more are in their 50's. Maybe we should have booked our travel through AARP!

Some reminders for those going on tour... Your next installment payment is due on October 1. If you're not sure of the amount, contact Gary. Your order form for player's and supporter's kit is due to Ed by October 15. Your player profile is due to Tony by November 1 and your tour brochure advertising forms and payment are due to Tony by November 13. Factoid No. 2: The operating budget for our tour is just under $90,000. That's a heluva undertaking. Thanks to all the tourists for keeping up with your payments and making the organizers' jobs tolerable.

Now for the kit, the artistic duo of Joe Scandariato and Ed Carr have been working behind the scenes with Gail Nicholson, graphic designer for Anaconda Sports, to develop the tour kit. The short sleeve game jersey is white with maroon trim and features the official 25th anniversary logo – a stylized martini glass with an olive in the shape of a rugby ball – on the back. The tour t-shirt has the logo on the front and club name and tour date and logo on the back.

25th anniversary tour game jerseys and t-shirts are now available to all club members, whether you are participating in the tour or not. Game jerseys are $45 and t-shirts are $10. They come in standard sizes – S (40); M (42); L (44); XL (46); XXL (48); XXXL (50). Add $5 for XXXL game jersey. The game jerseys are 100% cotton and could shrink, so you may want to order up a size. To order, send your requirements (type of shirt, quantity, and size) along with a check in the proper amount made payable to "Connecticut Grey Rugby Club" BEFORE OCTOBER 15 to Ed Carr, 1203 Farmington Ave., West Hartford CT 06107. Questions? Contact Ed directly.

Also, if you are not touring but you or your business would like to sponsor the tour by placing an ad in the official tour brochure, contact Tony BEFORE NOVEMBER 13.

SARANAC LAKE 2003

Did any of you whores go to Saranac this year? Any other mid-summer rugby mayhem to tell us about? Send us your reports for inclusion in the next Hourglass.

I HATE SPAM!

If you would rather not receive these pithy and timely updates on the coming and goings of the Grey, just send an e-mail with Unsubscribe (or similarly descriptive declarative) in the subject line to mailto:greylock5@prodigy.net. We are always striving to keep our e-mail distribution list up to date. Why not? We get $100 every time we sell it to some spammer. (What, you thought we had a privacy policy?) Just kidding. But if you are really annoyed by offers of low-cost Viagra and promises of checks from Bill Gates just for forwarding this e-mail to everyone in your address book, check this out:

www.bordergatewayprotocol.net/~jon/humor/web_animations/may02-smilepop-soapbox4.swf

BUMPER STICKERS WE'D LIKE TO SEE:

18. If you can't feed 'em, don't breed 'em! 
17. Jesus loves you...but everyone else thinks you are an asshole. 
16. Impotence...Nature's way of saying "No hard feelings." 
15. The proctologist called...they found your head. 
14. Everyone has a photographic memory ... some just don't have any film. 
13. Save your breath ... you'll need it to blow up your date. 
12. Your ridiculous little opinion has been noted. 
11. I used to have a handle on life ... but it broke off. 
10. WANTED: Meaningful overnight relationship. 
9. Guys ... just because you have one, doesn't mean you have to be one. 
8. Some people just don't know how to drive ... I call these people "Everybody But Me." 
7. Heart Attacks ... God's revenge for eating His animal friends. 
6. Don't like my driving? Then quit watching me. 5. 
If you can read this ... I can slam on my brakes and sue you. 
4. Some people are only alive because it is illegal to shoot them. 
3. Try not to let your mind wander ... It is too small and fragile to be out by itself. 
2. Hang up and drive!!

AND THE NUMBER ONE BUMPER STICKER YOU'D LIKE TO SEE!!

1. Welcome to America ... now speak English!

THAT IS ALL