A Hawk-Shaped Rabbit Hole
Thanks to the Olympics (and Bad Bunny), I'm Looking At My Rugby Prospects
It’s only February and the ride that is 2026 has been pretty wild so far. Days removed from Bad Bunny’s Benito Bowl, (As an entertainer, I thought Benito was great. As a Caribbean-American, I thought the show was important), we are firmly into the run of the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina. I haven’t actually sat down and watched the coverage—I’ve tapped into my inner Gen Z and just watched clips online—there always seems to be a bit of pride when things like this come around. You want to see your country represented and represented well. And in the span of a couple of days, both the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony and Super Bowl 60 Halftime show literally had flags on parade.
I found myself wondering if it would be possible to represent my country (or countries) of origin in an athletic competition of some kind. I’m not young, fit, or have any baked-in skills in anything, “but imagine the GLORY, Flobito!”
Enter Rugby League.
So those long-term followers of this site know that I was an American who fell into Australian Rugby League, NRL, a couple of years ago. And while I had the chance to be at the first AND second NRL: Vegas competitions, this will be the first year I will be sitting the festivities out
Last year, I had a chance to see some of the off-site events, primarily the United States Rugby League Team (codenamed The Hawks) compete on a high school field some 11 miles from the main event. Gotta start somewhere, USA!
And let me tell you, if you haven’t seen NRL (or any kind of rugby league before), it’s kind of wild.
So I got the thinking:
I believe I have the size for rugby, I’m practically as American as apple pie and overpriced health insurance, and I bet I can rock the hell out of a stars and stripes uniform. Plus the “National Team” is small enough that they have to play on a high school field in the desert while the organization that invited them out to play is living it up crosstown. Do I…have a chance? Then I saw this:
The LA Roosters are a club team (supported by the Australian club of the same name) that plays, perhaps hilariously, forty miles away from Los Angeles in Anaheim, California. The LA Roosters hold open practices and tryouts twice a week. The thought goes that if I roll up to the team and get signed. In theory, I, too, would be able to be a National Level athlete. Bad Bunny could theoretically be singing at halftime shows for MY games!
Let me tell you that I am not prime-athlete-years old. Even ChatGPT, an AI that’s so agreeable, people are choosing it over their own therapists, tried to warn me:
I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS, CHATGPT! <sobs>
But let’s say I get the drive, determination, and a fresh set of knees to take on the world. What if I became the best dang over-the-age-of-30 athlete to ever play rugby? What could be? What. Could. Be?!
On second thought, maybe ChatGPT is right.