Tuesday, June 17, 2008

SEVEN IS A PRIME NUMBER

HAIL, PELICUS!

THAT TIME OF YEAR

The most fun you can have on two feet, Summer Sevens begins soon.

This weekend will find at least four Pelicans in Las Vegas for the Midnight Sevens. The NorCal season begins at Cubberley in Palo Alto the next weekend.

Palo Alto Summer Sevens
June 28
July 12
July 26

For those of you who are new to the society, this event provides our society with a chance to picnic! Bring a chair, a cooler, and some food to share. We tend to shy away from standard picnic fare – exotic/unusual is fine. The idea is to inspire envy in others as they see how much fun it is to hang out with the Pelican Refs.

The Pacific Coast qualifier for the nationals will also be held on July 26, either at Cubberley or Treasure Island.

USA Sevens club championships will be hosted by SF/Golden Gate at Rocca Field on August 9.

We’ll need to fill out the teams of five for these last two events, which means we need to practice our Sevens touch-judging and in-goal-judging at Palo Alto. This is quite different from merely running touch for mob rugby. If you would like to work the nationals, you’ll have a chance to demonstrate your merit over the next two months.

COLLEGE MEN GRIZZLIES ROAR

The Grizzlies, coached by Jonathan Griffin and Chris O’Brien of Stanford, won the all-star championships in Glendale, Colorado, this past weekend.

Congratulations to Pete Smith for his appointment to referee the final, and his further appointments as a touch judge for the NA4 games in British Columbia next month.

AVE PELICAE!

Keith Seaber is one of the leading lights of American rugby. A member of the committee that founded USARFU, he went on to serve in many different executive capacities, including national referee chairman.

Keith is a recipient of the highest honor bestowed in USA rugby refereeing, which is named after one of NorCal’s own, the Denis Shanagher Award. He’s also had the best job in USA Rugby, directing the Sevens program.

You can imagine our delight to find that Keith reads Hail, Pelicus!

“Please pass on my congratulations to Bryan Porter for being the first recipient of the award bearing his name. I think the award is a good and necessary one and it is natural and right that my old friend and fellow member of the Denis Shanagher Award club, Bryan, should be the first to receive it.

“I enjoy reading your website, Hail Pelicus; keep up the good work. Incidentally, I agree with Bryan's comments that the NCRFU Referees Society is the best in the country.

“Best regards
Keith Seaber”

FROM THE EARLIEST EDITION OF THE LAW BOOK

The Gospel according to John, Chapter 10, verse 1 and 2 (International Standard Version):

Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

Thanks to Brother Brian Gildea for his Sunday diligence in bringing this to our notice.

CHURCHILL CUP QUIP

It’s not for nothing that the annual competition involving the USA, Canada and England is named after a man voted as The Greatest Briton by listeners to the BBC, over such competition as Newton, Nelson and Shakespeare.

Once when attending a gridiron football game in the United States, Winston Churchill was asked what he thought of the sport.

“Actually is it somewhat like rugby,” he said. “But why do you have all these committee meetings?”

THIS WEEK’S PHOTO
Sevens Number Ones
Here are two versions of Sevens Number Ones, modeled by Mike Gadoua and Nikola Talemo.

HAIL, PELICUS!

For the Senate
Pelicus Scriptoris