Nash Bash 2008

Nash Bash 2008 - The recap you've all been waiting for! John, Patty, Dan and I arrived in Nashville around 730-8, and it was exactly like the last few times we've been there. Dark & Rainy.
The Preforming Arts Center through a rainy window:
Finally we got settled in at the hotel and headed down to the strip. There's Flick in all his glory. The Kelts named this weekend "Stashe Bash" and most of them grew moustashes, and well, some took creative hairstyles to the next level.
So we're walking down the street, and we see this car with all this...sh*t all over it. What's the first thing out of my mouth? "Look at THAT CAR!"....What do you think the License Plate says? "That Car". But it wasnt some weird Nashville thing, It was from OHIO!!! Had a few indicators that it might be from Columbus. Anyone seen this monstrosity??
The Kelts headed out in a massive pack to find a place to eat. Not easy with 18-20 people. John and I soon broke off from the crowd and found our selves at the Wheel, a typical Nashville bar on Broadway. Long and narrow, full of locals and tourists alike, and of course, great live country music being played right by the front door. I imagine country music is to the Nashville strip what prostitution is to Amsterdam. Its always going on right at the front window, enticing you to come in, and a greeter/bouncer stands outside with a smile, looking to boot scoot you right into the establishment:



Friday was kind of a lay low night, so we headed back to the hotel with out getting too wild...

Oops...we're out of order. Here's another picture....a blurry strip:
EBeth, John & Misti at the Sommet Center, home of the Nashville Predators:
Uh-Oh, looks like we headed back to the Wheel with Misti & EBeth...wow. I really hate those moustaches!!!
There's me & Lorna. Lorna and her friend were in town from Wisconson for a work event. Definitely getting the most out of their trip!
Saturday we headed to the fields. John did bring his boots but wasnt too gung ho on playing...but you know how rugby works. Someone is inevitably going to come out, need a blood sub...and there he went. I think this might be the first time he's played in kelts match in years!

My favorite sound in the whole wide world. The collective grunt of a colliding scrum:
YES! Kelts score!
Awww....KJ and Watts looking mighty dapper. Nice face, Aaron.
Kelts have the post-match chit chat while I annoyingly skip around taking pictures after a hard fought loss:
"Please go away Psycho"

That was mens & ladies home base- thanks to Dan & Patty for supplying the tent. Definitely useful on a day like that.
There we are with our hotel roomies:
Look who we found! Other OU ruggers! me, Kyra, Jeff (Came down from Chicago), Watts & KJ. Good times.
Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock, Thats the clock ticking on the life of my camera. I noticed both teams were hanging out and rounded everyone up for a group photos. Seconds later my camera hit the mud, never to function correctly again!!!!

So there's your Nash Bash recap. I also wanted to share with you my latest frustrating encounter with the local morning news.

Cincinnati's Channel 9 & Capital One bamboozle viewers into watching hokey "Reportad".

Im calling it a "Reportad" because thats what it was. It was an advertisement headlined as an actual report. Shame on you!!

It's Opening Day in Cincinnati on Monday. For those of you who arent from around here, Opening day in Cincinnati has the same reverence as any religous holiday. Work absences are excused, Huge parades take place, and of course, local media gets even more excited about it than they were the year before. And this year, a new kind of curve ball was about to get thrown at the audience.

Before the morning commericial break, the newscasters leave you with, ..."and when we come back, we're going to talk to an ACTUAL sports PSYCOLOGIST who claims there REALLY IS something such as "OPENING DAY-ITIS!!" Whooooahh!! What rediculous ground breaking information is this guy going to spew onto the city? I could hardly wait for the news to come back on so I shake my head at this shameless slow news day time filler. "Bring on the cliches", I thought.

I was right. Sort of. They introduce this "Legitimate" Sports Psycologist who starts talking about "opening day itis" and unloads some of the most SHOCKING information:

• Sports fans love to identify themselves with their favorite team
• Sports fans will wear team gear to show this affiliation with their team
• Sports fans emotions are based on how well their team is doing.
• Wow. This guy went to school to learn this? He is a respected DOCTOR with knowledge like this? I could have given the same speech in the fifth grade, along with any other of my CYO basketball or volleyball teammates.

But he goes on!!! Thats not it!

The respected doctor then goes on to let us all know that "Some sports fans are even getting CREDIT CARDS with their favorite team logo on it! Just like the one capital one is offering!"

He then goes on detailed analysis of the new Capital One credit card being offered with your favorite team logo on it! And all about the great rates on balance transfers! And the low introductory interest rate!! Wow! What I was watching as a legitimate report has magically turned into an annoying ad! But its not even commercial time yet!!!

He wraps up and the camera is back on poor Catherine Nero, who I can tell is mortified and embarassed at the whole thing. (She was hiding it well, but I could see it in her eyes. She's got journalistic integrity and I could just tell she wasnt comfortable with selling her soul to the credit card devil) She's all, "So, yeah. We'd like to thank Capital One for submitting that report"...or something to that effect. She was basically saying, "Yeah, we know we tricked you. Its beneath me, but I gotta pay the bills, you know." I felt bad for her. I really got the feeling she was embarassed over the whole thing.

So anyway. Thats my latest beef with local news. I was discussing this with some of my new co-workers and it was suggested that maybe this was done because of the new DVR everyones got (we dont have it yet) and how the advertisers arent getting the views since everyone is fast forwarding through commercials nowadays. And its only going to get worse.

But I can tell you one thing. I wont stand for shameless plugs during an actual newscast. Throw in some product placement during the Hills, and Grey's a la the Truman show if you must, but leave the news alone. Remember the boy who cried wolf? Eventually we wont be able to discern between whats real and what you're selling.

whew!

Baby update! Mere is still at the hospital. Little Drew is just hanging out, no hurry to get out of there apparently. The apples dont fall to far from the tree, in case you've ever seen my brother on a couch, its no surprise his son doesnt want to get movin either.

Expect pics this weekend!!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!