YOUR PARTY PROBLEMS SOLVED
Here’s a present to you from some incendiary geniuses. These guys have figured out how to characterize the music that appeals to you from a list of your favorites, and to deliver an endless variety of songs by other groups, many you’ve never heard of, that you will almost certainly enjoy.
It’s free. Here’s hoping you don’t own any stock in satellite radio – it just became worthless…
www.Pandora.com
So here’s the deal: create a new channel, and name it for your party. As your guests arrive, ask them for their favorite group or song, and then enter this information.
You’ll have a custom-designed evening of music, every song of which will appeal specifically to someone in the room.
If it’s a dance party, simply limit the choices to dance bands/tunes.
(We’re assuming everyone has a computer providing input into a stereo system or a wireless home network that includes powered speakers.)
ASSIGNMENTS
There are no games this weekend (January 5-6) of which we are aware.
Referee appointments have been made for January 12 and 19. These have been forwarded to our webmaster and should be up in a day or two.
ATTENTION NORCAL RUGBY CLUBS, COLLEGES, HIGH SCHOOLS:
Please check the Club Contacts (http://www.pelicanrefs.com/ClubContacts.htm) and notify Scott Wood of any changes:
rscottwood@gmail.com
Without current information, referees (and opponents) will have trouble getting in touch with you.
We appreciate your prompt attention to this matter.
SING A SONG OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
The dominance of Northern California rugby teams in national competitions and the prominence of NorCal players in national teams were well-established at the outset, with the first championships and select-sides in the 1970s featuring the Old Blues, Cal, and lots and lots of Pelicans.
Other areas have had successful and legendary sides. But the multiplicity of champions in the NCRFU is incredible.
Let’s look at the colleges:
California has won 23 of 28 division 1 men’s titles. Stanford went to the final four three years in a row. UC Davis also memorably joined Cal and Stanford at the final four – at Witter Field, no less – in 1997.
In men’s D2, Stanford and Sacramento State have won national championships.
Chico State and Humboldt State have come in second. Nevada has also been to the final four.
Women’s D1: Stanford has three titles and Chico State has one. Stanford has four more appearances in the final four, and UC Davis has one.
In division 2, UC Santa Cruz has a championship and a runner-up. Nevada has been runner-up and San Jose State has also made the final four twice.
For those scoring at home, that’s thirty out of sixty-three national titles. That’s six different university teams winning national champions, and thirteen earning appearances at final fours (Stanford men in two different divisions).
Or boys high school:
Four different titlists with seven titles over 27 years: Jesuit (3), Redwood (Marin)(2), Lamorinda and Burlingame. Del Campo and Elsie Allen have finished second. Los Gatos has also been to the final four.
You can play this game at home, given the various websites that list these champions.
These facts attest to the concentration of dedicated rugby folk in Northern California, to the hours and the years they devoted, the practices and the pitch-lining, the work and the washing of kit. The Pelican Refs come from a well-feathered nest, indeed.
ONE THING WE’D LIKE TO SEE…
…would be a breakdown of the number of different teams (clubs, schools) that have produced national players at the various levels. Here’s guessing that there are probably at least forty such in Northern California, and it could easily be fifty.
These ruminations are inspired by the selection of Milemoti Pulu from East Palo Alto for the USA Sevens side that participated in the IRB event in Dubai.
Thinking back to our own playing days, there were two players who captained the Eagles who came out of Monterey: Mike Saunders and Brian Vizard. Others who played for the club include Junior Eagle Mike Minafo, Sevens Eagle Greg Teliczan and women’s World Cup player, Eagle Betsy Hill, not to mention almost a dozen military members who made the national Combined Services team over the years.
Got some time to devote to research?
In fact, we’re willing to bet that a majority of all the colleges and clubs that have fielded teams in the NCRFU over the past thirty years have produced at least one Eagle. There’s no way that any other LAU comes close.
EXPERIMENTAL LAWS
Paddy O’Brien sits down and gives you twenty minutes on the ‘new Laws’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbOA8ff4FQ4
Enjoy learning about them if you will, but remember these are not in effect in the USA.
Thanks to Bjorn Stumer for forwarding the link to this three-part series.
A GOOD, HARD, BLAST OF THE WHISTLE
Tony Latu sends this in:
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A Malaysian referee took out his gun and fired warning shots in the air after a local soccer match turned unruly following the suspension of a player, a newspaper said Tuesday.
The referee, who was also a policeman, ran to his patrol car to get his gun after players mobbed him for showing the red-card to one of them, the New Straits Times said.
"We are investigating as to whether the policeman was justified in taking out his firearm and discharging it, and also why he had it with him during the match," it quoted Hussin Ismail, police chief in the southern Johor state, as saying.
The policeman was taken into custody for suspected misuse of firearms.
Five players, aged between 23 and 40, were also being held for questioning and could be charged for rioting, the paper said.
CIPP AND SOCIETY DUES
Now is the time to register for 2008. You need to renew your CIPP through USA Rugby and pay your NCRRS dues.
When you pay CIPP on the USA Rugby website, list your ‘team’ as the Northern California Rugby Referee Society. Print out the liability waiver, sign it, and mail it with your $10 annual dues to:
Jim Crenshaw
Delta Supply
1248 E. Oak Avenue, #D
Woodland, CA 95776
SAFETY PROTOCOL
All NCRRS referees need to sign and submit the NCRFU Safety Protocol prior to the beginning of the season, in order to receive appointments.
Representatives of all of our teams agree to abide by its provisions by signing it, as do we.
The protocol may be found on our website:
http://www.pelicanrefs.com/forms/Rugby_Safety_Protocol--October_2007.pdf
This needs to be done each year by every referee.
The form can be signed electronically if you have the software to do this and forwarded via e-mail, or you will need to print and sign the last (third) page, then mail it to:
Bruce Carter
18474 Deertrack Place
Salinas, CA 93908
Thank you.
THIS WEEK’S PHOTO
Pelicus Epicurus, his wife Kate and Ron Myers V spent Christmas week in Carmel and took in the always-new Monterey Bay Aquarium with Scriptoris.
HAIL, PELICUS!
For the Senate
Pelicus Scriptoris
