Rugby: The Greatest Sport Ever Devised

I feel that over the years my favorite sport is rugby union. I grew up as a football fan, but when I became disappointed when I finally played football in high school over the pads I decided to play on the school's rugby team. From then on I was hooked.

A few important things about rugby. Rugby is like football, except you can't pass forward (but you can kick forward), or block When a player is tackled he can get up and run unless the opposing player wraps him up. If he is, he must release the ball. Then, other players "ruck," or drive over each other, for possession of the ball. A "scrum half" then picks the ball up from the back of the ruck, releases to a player (usually the "fly half") and play ensues.

Also in rugby, players score similar to football: one can kick "penalty goals" or "drop goals" through the uprights for 3 points, or a "try" and successful conversion for 7 points. A try is like a touchdown, except that you physically make the ball touch the ground in your possession. It is worth 5 points. Then a conversion, much like football's "extra point," must be kicked from the angle of the part of the try zone in which you touched the ball down. Typically players who get a break-away try to run towards the middle so that their kickers can have the easiest kick.

These are the positions in a typical rugby union match. There are two types of players: The forwards, the bulky players who grapple and secure possession of the ball, and the backs, speedier players who use passes and plays to move the ball down the field. Forwards, however, can also get the ball; likewise, backs can also contest for possession of the ball. But the biggest difference between the two is that forwards are the ones who participate in the "set pieces," or the methods with which play is restarted that isn't kicking for points or tapping the ball with your foot and running with it.

There are two types of set pieces: the "scrum" and the "line out". In the scrum, the eight forwards bind together and smash against one another. Then the ball is inserted into the scrum and the teams battle for possession. A scrum half (or 8-man) can then pick the ball up from the rear of the scrum and then either run or pass it out to the backs. A line out is similar to the throw-in in soccer, except that when the player throws the ball in he's throwing it in the center of two lines of opposing players that lift each other up to get the ball. If they so choose these players can also bring the ball down, mash together and drive forward in what is called a "maul." Pretty crazy stuff.

There are two main types of rugby: rugby union and rugby league. Rugby union is the more popular and original version. Rugby league has only 13 players a side and no "rucks", instead they have "downs" much like football. Rugby union is better though, trust me.

Although no forward passes seems like an odd and limiting aspect of rugby it allows for much more creative, exciting scores. Don't believe me? Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIUaKZWJKqY&list=FLlfcfI2ljYN06AUfjP_sdyg&index=20&feature=plpp_video

Take that, Santonio Holmes.

My Definition of Reality

Anyone reading this ever played a video game? Watched a movie? Read a book?

The general assumption, assuming you are a normal citizen of a developed country, is that you have done at least the latter two. But what makes any of those things so appealing to a reader or player or movie-watcher? Why can't we find our own lives as appealing? Why do we have to immerse ourselves into another world of realms and possibilities?

The answer (and definition of reality) lies within the difference between fact and fiction. In those movies, those books, those video games, we watch and observe those characters live and breathe. We don't really know what it's like to be them. We play God. We watch them save the day, or kiss the girl, or become massacred by a serial killer. In the end, we usually can see other perspectives and become aware of things the character has yet to discover. Save for a few plot twists, we (usually) can figure out what will happen.

But in reality, we're the characters. We're the ones who live and breathe and fight and kiss and die! And that's not us watching a boob tube out there; this time, that's God playing God. We don't see other people's perspectives of anything, nothing beyond the worries of our own mind. We're limited, jammed in betwixt the cramped walls of mortality and time. We don't know if it will turn out good or bad. All we know is that wheel will keep on turning, regardless of whether we want it to or not.

But therein lies our opportunity. In spite of our limitations we have the chance to rise from the ashes and become something truly marvelous. We can mold our lives into something worth publishing on tabloids. We can make ourselves worthy of having such a burden as reality thrust upon our shoulders! So that one day we may become something people want to base their video games, or books, or movies off of. Carpe diem: Seize the day!

Man, I ran a lot deeper with that than I thought I would. Maybe I should become a preacher.

Pedigree Light makes a strong case

Yikes, Pup got a gut!

This is quite an interesting ad from Pedigree, a dog food company attempting to sell its dog diet-friendly product. In it a dog is seen entering through his doggy door, yet something goes amiss. It seems, embarrassingly enough, that the poor pooch has packed on a few pounds and cannot enter his comfortable home! To make matters worse, it seems the neighborhood cat has a bone (no pun intended) to pick with him. He casually struts and smirks by, but not before jamming a beautiful yellow sunflower right in the dog's behind! And now the pitiful chap has to spend his day stuck midway into a doggy door with a sunflower in his butt for all the neighborhood poodles to see!

Dog owners of the world hear what Pedigree has to say! What the ad warns is, this could very well be your dog. By playing on the public perception of cats and dogs as rivals for a frame of reference, the picture provides a parody to express a problem. The deeper meaning is, if your dog is packing on a few pounds or overeating (or both), then you should switch to a light-calorie alternative for your pup! So that way your dog does not fall victim to the cat across the street.

First Post

Hello everyone! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Andrew Bryan Clement. I'm a freshman at Clemson University. I play rugby, eat a lot, and have the easiest username in Clemson's history (abc). This is my first-ever blog so I'm not really sure what to do here. Not to mention I've only been in college for little more than a week. But I'll figure it all out!

It's been a wild week at that. In only about 10 days I've met all sorts of people in all sorts of places. I think I doubled the size of the contacts list on my phone. My roommate and I feel like we've been friends for years despite meeting him on move-in day. I went to my first rugby meeting for the season, with my first practice coming tonight. My head is still swimming over all the information I've absorbed in such little time! I feel like I've done more in the past few days than I've done all summer to be honest.

More about me: I'm from Lake Wylie, South Carolina. That's about two and a half hours from Clemson. But I moved there from Rehoboth, Massachusetts about 5 or so years ago. That's a good 18+ hours at least from Clemson. So needless to say, I'm a big Boston sports fanatic. It's in my bones.

Well, that's all I can think to say for now. I gotta get some more homework done for some other classes and eventually, go to class! So thanks for everyone following me. This is Andrew Clement, signing off....