UNITED STATES QUAD RUGBY ASSOCIATION
February, 2004
2004 Demolition Derby - “Athens Here We Come…”
By
John Ershek
They were all in town for the Demolition Derby. Kevin, Joe, Terry, Grant, Gumbie and Ershek all together for two weekends back-to-back. The best coaches in the world for the best competition this side of the 2004 Paralympics in Athens. Rugby is not going to see anything this good (no dis meant towards the USQRA Nationals) until then.
They all met secretly on
Thursday night in Birmingham. The first ever international coaches
conference. No one could understand anything the Japanese and Germans had
to say (or the French Canadians for that matter). The New Zealand brain
trust finally made it for the end of the meeting. So thank goodness there
is nothing but mutual respect between them all.
Kevin starts the meeting. “ We have lots of great international teams here this weekend. NZ…GB…USA…Canada…Australia…Germany…Japan. Not to mention Lakeshore, TNT and Texas. I get to coach two teams this weekend. This ought to be a chore. “
“ I know what you mean,” says Ershek, “ I got to referee and coach in Tampa. It’s a lot of concentration and hard work, so thank goodness everyone appreciates the effort and doesn’t have a problem with a coach in a tournament his team is playing in being a referee, too, especially when the tournament is short refs. “
“ Too bad you suck at both, “ chimes in Vinny and Joe in harmony.
“ I’m sorry I got you in any games, “ echoes Gumbie.
“ I can’t say much, “ says Grant, “ One of my crew was a ref in Tampa, too. Cheers to you mates, you both walk a thin line. At least my ref won the golden whistle. “
“ He might not have if he’d have ever blown it, “ Ershek pleads defending himself.
“ Enough of this petty jealousy, “ states Kevin, “ Let’s talk about who is gonna do what, where, when and why. This seeding is just a crapshoot anyway. What do you think, Gumbie? "
“ I don’t see any real upsets the first day. I’m sure Team USA and the all duce lineup will give New Zealand a run for their money. I think it will be a one or two point game. “
“ I’ll bet all takers $5.00 that Japan takes out TNT, “ says Joe.
“
With Romero, Chunn and Crouch, “ Vinny chuckles, “ You’re on Joe. TNT will
win that by double figures since Japan is missing a top player. So we go
into Saturday pretty much in tack. Germany could be a dark horse, though,
giving a depleted Texas team a run for their money. “
“ Saturday is bound to be full of a lot of very close games. I see a lot of one point games possible since the top eight will all deserve to be there. Although the international teams should outclass the club teams somewhat, “ prognosticates Grant, “ That Team USA is certainly bound to be a sleeper. I believe they will take out somebody to move up to the top four by Sunday. “
“ My pick has to be Canada and New Zealand in the finals, “ predicts Ershek, “ And I never miss a call that easy. Right, Vinny? “
“ You wish. What are you
doing dissing my mates from down under? What are we, wombat meat? “
“ Not at all. New Zealand is coming off a great run in the Southern Hemisphere, not to mention a win in Tampa. Canada is the defending World Champions and at full strength for the first time this year. I’ll bet that your game with Joe will be very close. I just hope we play well against Lakeshore and Germany. “
“ Listen to him Vinny. My Canadian boys are hungry for more of the success we have tasted recently. Speaking of tasting, it is gonna taste awful sweet when we beat you and your mates, “ Joe retorts, “ I’ll need some payback for you winning the $5.00 anyway. “
“ I’ll go with New Zealand and Canada in the final, “ states Grant, “I see a whole lot of close games again Sunday. One and two point, hard fought, closely contested games for the most part. Team USA might be out of gas by then. TNT is likely to end up being the best club team, but Lakeshore might just do it, too. So what about this Super Bowl. Any predictions? “
“
We can only hope it will be as close as the final should be. Let’s see if
it ends up being better than the half time entertainment usually is. I’ll
go out on a limb and predict a narrow Kiwi Win. As well as a narrow
victory by the Panthers in the Super Bowl, “ says Ershek smugly, “ I can
certainly call the easy ones, right Vinny? “
“ Whatever. As long as Joe goes down in the finals. And losers buy the beer. “
“ And someone legitimate wins the sportsmanship award. “
What a zoo. No (Flemish) lions this time, though. As was said. There is nothing but loads of mutual respect among them all. Act two takes place in Athens this September. See you there?
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