World Cup 12: Game day vs. Oz

So, as par for the course I'm writing this as a distraction from the impending match versus Australia that will kick off in 3.5 hours. Carrie and I just came up from a pre-game weigh-in down in the fitness center. Unfortunately the scale didn't work so we're left without numbers. So now I'm up here getting ready for the game and writing this and sort of getting distracted by the fact that Carrie is watching 'Ellen'.

Yesterday was a very low-key day. We had a morning lineout practice down at a local high school. Then several of us who were running out of clothes went to a laundromat and did some laundry. It was a fun little foray where we sat playing cards, reading, etc.

After laundry it was time for lunch and then I took a little nap before heading to the pitch in St Albert for the Captain's practice. It was interesting because we weren't allowed to run on the field, which sort of takes aways from the name 'captain's run'. SO instead we moved to a side field to practice at pace. After the practice we came back to the hotel and lounged around watching CSI (our addiction) before dinner. Dinner was a fun adventure because we wound up involved in a rousing game of 'Who's line is it anyway?'. We got the coaches up for a dating game, where Krista had to decide between a Trekkie Liz, a Bronx Hair-dresser with a tic Candi, and an alcoholic T-rex Kathy. It was really funny. Kathy may have missed her calling.

After dinner we had the jersey ceremony. I was a little surprised that there were still so many friends and family here, after the mass exodus of NY players left earlier in the week. My mom and step-dad were there again. There seemed to be more parents and family there this time than before. Kathy's pre-presentation speech this time was reading all the good-luck messages from the womeneagles site. It was really great to have all those messages read to us.

After the ceremony I hung out with Jen until it was my time to go see Doc and Andrea. I was in there longer than anticipated because I git sucked into an episode of CSI (do you sense a recurring theme?)... then I came back and watched some US Open before heading to bed. This morning we had breakfast and then had a meeting with Kathy to talk about what she learned from her meeting with the head referee from the tournament. We need to be really conservative and play squeaky clean because the refs are going to be watching for infringements. After that we all spent some time relaxing (i.e. writing this) before we head to the game. Now we have 20 min until we leave, so it's time to wind it down. This match dtermines where we go with this tourney, so hopefully I'll have godd things to write next.