| Author | Message | ||
     M2statz |
there is going to be the North American County Board of the GAA(Gaelic Atheletic Association). What that means is that there will be over 25 clubs competing in 3 different Irish sports at the Chicago Gaelic Park. This is the largest Irish games out side of New York and Boston. Just an FYI. My hurling club will be competing in the Junior C division. First match is Friday morning at 0830 against St. Louis.  | ||
| Cyclonedon |
Hurling, does that require drinking large amounts of alcohol prior to the event? I use to do that when I was much younger, I can't drink like that anymore.  | ||
| M2statz |
The club saying is "Real men hurl before they drink!!" Hurling is a 3000 year old Irish game involving a sliotar which is similar to a baseball, hurls which are like ax handles, a pitch which is 140 meters by 80 meters. Wikipedia does a good job of explaining it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurling It is often called the fastest game on grass. Youtube, of course has some great video of it also. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Hurling is to Hockey, what Rugby is to NFL. More or less anyway. Fast, dangerous & bloody good fun to watch. One can't help but wonder though, what suicidal impulse gets people to play. | ||
| M2statz |
I play because I can. It is fun, fast, and just enough contact to make it seem dangerous. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
d :-) | ||
| Delta_one |
oh my god! why have I never heard of this game before?!?! that looks AWESOME! it looks like a crazy cross between soccer rugby lacrosse hockey and a bit of insanity my kind of game! | ||
| M2statz |
Delta, come to Chicago this weekend and watch. Some of the best hurling in North America is going to be seen there. Shoot me a PM to let me know where you are located and I will check to see if there is a local or club close by. Oh and by the way, helmets are the only required safety equipment, HOWEVER, at our last match a member from the other team was way out of position and took a sliotar to the testicles. He had surgery the following Saturday to remove the ruptured third of the left testicle. So....other safety devices are strongly suggested. | ||
| Whatever |
Will you be wearing a skirt?  Do you have an address on that park so I can look it up... I might be up for a ride down there if the Piglet isn't getting fitted with the hard bags...  | ||
| Whatever |
South side not far from the Superfund I used to work at... man that place was a sh*ithole... | ||
| Whatever |
There it is, about six to eight blocks from your park... THE SHITHOLE... otherwise known as Premcor/ Valero... like hell on earth...  That is a bad neighborhood too... don't wanna be out after dark down there... Where are you staying Michael? | ||
| Whisperstealth |
Looks to me like a drunk Irishmen put a bunch of sports in a blender, and out popped Hurling. The Mick in me likes it  | ||
| M2statz |
Char-the Doubletree in Alsip. The kilt is from the Scotish side. Whisper-Or, everybody else took their sports from Hurling. It is said that it has been around for more than 3000 years. | ||
| M2statz |
Char-sorry here is the address for the park Chicago Gaelic Park 6119 147th Street Oak Forest, IL 60452-1087 (708) 687-9323 | ||
| Delta_one |
I was planing on going till I crashed today, but now I am staying home  good luck on the match! wish I could watch and cheer for you. | ||
| Whatever |
One of my best gal friends just moved back to Chicago... lets see what she is up to... if she has a space to crash I am in... Doubletree is very nice down there... at least what I saw of it... I was stuck at the Baymont across the highway... | ||
| Whatever |
Delta... I hope you are ok... | ||
| M2statz |
Char-PM me if you need my phone #. Would love to see a cheering section for us. We play Friday morning at 830. If we win we play Friday afternoon at 1430. If we loose that first game we play Saturday morning about 1030. | ||
| Niceguyeddy |
Let's not forget the All Ireland Hurling finals taking place at the Croker this weekend. Sunday the 5th, throw in at 3:30 Dub time. It could be an unprecedented 5th in a row for Killkenny. | ||
| M2statz |
GO Tip!!  | ||
| Niceguyeddy |
M2, if you haven't, you need to get yourself to Jones Rd. Nothing like it. On another note, I say the Cats take it, Henry will be on the pitch. Up the R.O.I! | ||
| M2statz |
Eddy you may be a nice guy but the Cats reign will come to an end! I fore see the best match in quite some time!! | ||
| Niceguyeddy |
Should be a great match as you said. Have fun yourself this wknd, sounds like a blast. | ||
| M2statz |
We should do OK. It is our first time competing in the NACB so we have the lowest seed, therefore we play the highest seed. There is also a Shield Competion(losers bracket) so we have at least 2 games. Really quite excited about the whole thing. This will be my last year as the Manager so I hope we do well. Thanks for the encouragement!! | ||
| Niceguyeddy |
Well Michael, the fekkers did it. Well done Tipp, was a fun one to watch. I hope you did well yourself this weekend. All the best... | ||
| M2statz |
Thanks Eddy!! We did well this weekend. The first game against the number one seed went way better better than expected. We played way above ourselves and had a great showing but lost 2-3 for 9 to 1-9 for 12. I had two points. In Saturday's shield game we played a really tough panel that lacked experience and tried to make up for it physical play. We sunk to their level of play in the first half but snapped out of in the second just scored points at will. The final was 0-12 to 0-1. I had two more points in that game as well. For our next game on Sunday, we had to with draw because of injuries and a couple of the guys had family stuff to take care. But over all it was a great weekend of hurling. Some of the Junior A competition was amazing to watch. Way to go TIPP!!!! | ||
| Niceguyeddy |
Excellent! If you'd like a bit of high quality G.A.A. related gear, p.m. me. I'll send you a link. | ||
| M2statz |
Thanks Eddy! PM on the way! | ||
| M2statz |
A fellow hurler and hurley maker, Steve Quigley(American Hurling) playing with the club from Indianapolis, suffered a C-6 fracture during play. He is expected to make a full recovery and has full use of his extremities but has a long recovery in front of him. Please send positive thoughts his way!! |
