This is in response to Rob Ebert's article, "Blood, sweat and beers," printed April 12. In this article, the author made a point of making the day's festivities secondary to the outcome of the game.
Right from the opening paragraph, it is clear to any sport enthusiast that the author was more interested in happenings on the sideline than the accomplishments and effort of the athletes. In the "sports report," the score of the games was mentioned only twice without mentioning who even scored. Instead, he proceeds to desecrate Marquette rugby by turning four practices a week into a Saturday morning party. This is like going to a men's basketball game and reporting on the freshmen in the stands who are pulling beers from their socks, or reporting on what the inebriated alumni are slurring to the refs. Yes, this goes on but does not take away from the work ethic or competition exhibited on the field.
A sports reporter's job is to report on the sports not the stands. If you are interested in having Jim Gray's job as a sideline analyst go ahead, but do not hide behind the pen of a sports reporter. It is clear you misinterpreted the sport, when a day of rugby was likened to a sexual innuendo found on the back of a T-shirt similar to those sold in Abercrombie and Fitch.
In your defense, rugby would be difficult to understand after one viewing. How can you explain that, win or lose, the host team cooks dinner for the opposition? It's impossible for an outsider to comprehend why we lay our bodies on the line to win a match. It is so much more than meets the eye.
In a final distasteful and unprofessional move, one of the three quotes, all of which did not pertain to the actual game, asked about our players' relationship status. I fail to see the relevance in such a quote. Instead, the space could have been used to report the action on the field.
To all who read that article, I challenge you to come to one of our weekend matches and see for yourself the drive, determination, and work ethic both teams put forth to win the match.
Since the game was not reported on, I took it upon myself to write up a report about the games.
In the first match of the doubleheader, the rugby team came out flat against Notre Dame, scoring only one try in the first half on a long run by scrumhalf Tom Collins. "We started out a bit sloppy. We lost a bunch of line outs and were turning the ball over a lot," said coach Joe Redding of the first half. The slow start didn't stop Marquette from putting together a string of tries in the second half. Fullback Todd Van Haren scored two tries to dampen the spirits of the Irish for good. The game ended at a score of 28-0 with a final try by freshman Kyle Kaczanowski.
Coming off a 45 minute rest and no costume change, the ruggers were set to have another hard battle against SLU. The intensity was evident from the beginning with a scuffle at mid field and a penalty sending the starting SLU center to the sin bin, the equivalent to a penalty box. Bone crushing hits littered the field in a game that balances the continuous play of soccer with football hits. "It looks nasty out there," junior captain Andrew Palmer said, "but the reality is it's an organized chaos that is regulated by a lot of rules."
The defensive battle was broken when Tom Collins left the crowd and his defender standing in awe with a stop-n-go move that was worthy of Chris Berman's Top Ten. Things turned hairy for Marquette when SLU pounded the ball in for a try to tie the game up.
Marquette took the lead off a Patrick Meier penalty kick, a drop kick field goal and never looked back. With a nice run by Drew O'Malley in the waning seconds of the game, Marquette finished their perfect 2-0 day beating SLU 17-7.
Scott Wendell is a sophomore in the College of Health Sciences.
This viewpoint appeared in The Marquette Tribune on April 21 2005.