Long Island Rugby Tournament

Next up, photos from the Long Island Rugby Tournament. Normally, this is a great event, as it's a multi-team event (so we get to see a smorgasbord of men) and it's held at the beach (not on the sand, but on fields right next to the beach). Unfortunately, this year, the location and weather conditions brought overcast and fog for portions of the day. Even so, I got some decent photos which I will begin sharing now...










Hmmm. That looks like they might be having fun. And the fog is almost romantic, no? :)






Rugby mind meld













I love that last photo (actually, the second-to-last isn't hard to look at, either--that's Richard--so many hot men on the team). That's Simmy (his nickname, of course) in the last photo. He's been serving as interim coach, and his thoughtful look is great. That and you get a glimpse at the pretty color of those eyes if you click on it for a larger version. Simmy is quite easy on the eyes, as well as being a very nice man.

Stay tuned! More to come!

I need some advice

Okay, my friends, I need some advice. I'm trying to decide if Marc and I should support a new charity (he generally lets me handle these things). We support a number of good charities, including some that help members of the military, because we believe in helping the people who are defending our country. It doesn't matter if we agree with the particular actions the military is ordered to take (the Iraq war comes immediately to mind)--we still support the troops who are going in harm's way for the country.

So here's why I want your opinion. This weekend, watching a TV show, I learned about something called Operation Mend. This is a program that provides surgery to try to repair some of the horrific damage done to our troops by things like roadside bombs. Horribly disfigured military personnel have the opportunity to get plastic surgery to make their lives more liveable. This is complex stuff, usually taking many surgeries to get to a decent outcome. For people so terribly injured, the damage will never be completely gone, but it's definitely made better.

So you may now be wondering why there's a question about giving to this program. Why the hesitation? Well, here's the thing: I've read about the program online, and I'm not sure exactly what difference my money will make.

I haven't seen anything that says the number of surgeries is dependent upon the amount donated, or that UCLA (where this program is based) is losing lots of money on the program, or that the surgeon is taking no pay (or less than his usual pay) for this work. Not that he doesn't deserve to earn a living, but I can think of more needy people to support.

I also feel like this is something the government should pay for--how can they not, since these are people who were wounded in service to their country? Even so, we've never let that stop us before--we regularly give to the USO and also have given to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, and the government should have those covered but don't.

Really, the question is whether we're helping the wounded with this one or just sending money to people who already are well paid. There is government involvement (the program info says it's "a unique partnership between Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, and the V.A.-Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System"). Even so, the program asks for donations, saying the donations help cover related costs, like travel, counseling, etc.

I'm just not sure if I buy it. What do you think? I'm especially interested in feedback from military families, like a certain blogger I know, but I value feedback from all of you. So what do you think?

So have you seen the new Star Trek movie yet?

It was fabulous. The actors handled their characters well, and the entire movie struck an excellent balance between paying homage to a storyline that is as much a part of American life as many "real life" things and starting the whole thing over, so that new life was breathed into Star Trek.

While I was quite happy with the movie--so happy we saw it twice (see Marc's blog entry for more on that--one of three entries he did over the past few days)--this post isn't really about the movie. Rather, it's about the eye candy in the movie. Specifically, one particular piece of eye candy (and there are several very handsome specimens to choose from). I had seen most of the hotties in this movie in prior movies or TV shows, but one man who appears right at the beginning of the film got my attention. As in "WHO IT THAT?!" In the film, he plays George Kirk, father of Jim Kirk. The actor who plays him is an Australian named Chris Hemsworth. I found a few photos online. In case you haven't seen the movie, have a gander...


A little scruffy, but he was very clean-cut in the movie (befitting an officer, I suppose).



Of course, while he's handsome, he's not too well built. ;)





Too bad he won't be in the sequel. I guess I'll just have to look for him in other movies!

This day in history

Today is the 165th anniversary of Samuel Morse sending the first telegraph message, "What hath God wrought?"

With that, I would like to share this semi-relevant quote from Albert Einstein: "You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."

You have to love a man who is so off-the-charts smart and also can bring a smile!

Picking up where we left off

Continuing from where the last set of rugby photos (two posts ago) finished...













By the way, the helmets a few of the guys wear (as in that last photo) aren't hard like football helmets. They are what they look like in the photos, just a head covering. So why wear them? Well, one of the main reasons is to protect the ears. You see, guys have gotten their ears torn in this game. Yes, torn, as in separated (at least part of the way) from their heads. I've known a number of ruggers who needed to have such injuries repaired surgically.

All in all, it's just a gentle, friendly game. ;)












The tall guy in the middle is Paul. He was the guy profiled in the NY Times piece I linked to in my last post.








Two of the nicest guys you could meet


Another nice guy, and you should see the build on him--wow!

That should do it for that match. If you want to see all of the photos, go here.

I still have photos to share from the Long Island Rugby Tournament, but we can start those another time. I hope you liked these!

One of our favorite straight guys

If you read this blog, you've seen Paul. He's one of Gotham's star players. He's a sweet guy, and he's also gorgeous. Sadly for the gay boys, he's straight--but that's a very common affliction. ;) We love him just the same.

This week, The New York Times did a profile of him. It's beautifully done. Take a look.

More rugby

Am I burning you out on rugby? I hope not, since I have lots more photos to share!

By the way, sorry for the delay. Things have been busy!

























I'll stop there, in case your eyes are glazing over. More to come!

A few more photos from the Gotham rugby match against Brooklyn

It's not a rugby match unless guys are limping off the pitch.






This one is definitely worth clicking on, so you can get a better look at the guy holding the ball. That's Christian, and Christian is very easy on the eyes!
















This guy had changed shirts earlier, and I'm very sorry I didn't get a shot then!

That's it for this post and this match. Not to worry, if you like rugby photos, as there are more from the match this past Saturday (these were from the week before), and we have a tournament this weekend!