Rugby World Cup

[Guest pyell]

For those of you wanting to know how the USA is going in the biggest international sporting event being held this year (the Rugby World Cup):

 

Fiji 19, USA 18.

 

(Fiji is a group of islands in the South Pacific, with a population about the size of Rhode Island).

 

Just thought I'd keep you posted.

 

Oh, and in late news:

Australia 90, Romania 8

[VaHawk]

"For those of us inside the USA, the line from Gone With The Wind sums it up:

Frankly, my dear.....(and you can fill in the rest)"

 

 

:o

[trilingual]

Of course, lately the rest of the world feels that way about US! :-( Wonder why that might be?

 

And can anyone explain how Romania made it into the Rugby World Cup? Isn't this a bit like the Jamaican Olympic bobsled team?

[duke37]

Any guess on how many Americans play rugby? At any level? Probably Fiji has more people who play.

 

I do know that there are 112 nation federations for baseball ranking it 10th among Olympic sports. Rugby isn't an Olympic sport as of yet.

 

Among the teams in the World Series there are representatives of 7 other countries outside of the U.S.; 19 of the 50 players do not call the US their place of origin.

 

So you might not like baseball. Thats okay. But you can't say Americans are the only ones watching.

 

Jeff

[VaHawk]

AT LAST A VOICE OF REASON!!! I think this guy looks at baseball only in the terms of the U.S. World Series. Has he not heard of the Little League World Series? How many nations have teams in that venue?

 

The last time I looked there are amatuer, not to mention professional, baseball leagues/clubs/teams, in many, many nations, including, but not limited to, Japan, Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Canada, Phillipines, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and China!

[Trixie]

True enough, neither Rugby nor Baseball are cultivated on a truly international level. And who would want to play Rugby in Fiji anyway? It's much too humid!

Pyell, if you want to turn the yanks here on to rugby, suggest they visit the Dieux du Stade website. There they can buy a calender featuring the Paris Rugby team (and a few other french athletes) posing quite nude... that should make fans of them.

PS... A few Octobers ago I spent a Spring touring the Wildflowers in soutwest WA. Stirling Range, Fitzgerald River, Kalbarri, Shark Bay... It's quite a coutry there you have. I'm envious!

La Trix

[Guest pyell]

Remind me again: how many countries take part each year in the World Series of baseball? There's the USA and there's......

 

Personally I find rugby pretty boring. But it's endlessly fascinating compared to baseball, which must count as one of the most boring games on the planet. Not to mention the most over-hyped.

 

On a less offensive aside, is there an historical reason why the USA's major sports are not major sports internationally? Why did soccer became the universal version of football, for example, rather than gridiron (or rugby for that matter)? Why is baseball a curiosity everywhere except for the USA (and before somebody repeats the table of countries who play baseball, it has about as much interest abroad as rugby does in the USA).

 

The only exception I can see is basketball, which the USA has successfully exported to many countries, including my own. Soccer is making inroads into the USA, but it's still well short of being the major sporting interest. So why didn't the USA join everybody else's sports or vice versa? I think it's very strange.