I've just returned from a day spent at the footy in Kansas City. The US Footy Nationals tournament was held in Kansas City on October 19-20, 2002. I was only able to spend part of a day at the tournament but it was one of the highlights of my football weekend, and it was with much regret that I had to leave without seeing it all!

Since my favorite team in the AFL is Richmond, I decided to be loyal to my Tiges and barrack for the Yellow and Black! That turned out to be the North Carolina Tigers, so I bought the t-shirts in advance from their website and off we went to cheer on the team whose members we'd never met!

It was Friday night when we happened to be walking through the lobby of the hotel just as the NC Tigers were registering for the event. My friend Jeanie was wearing her Tiger shirt, proof that we're Tiger fans! We introduced ourselves as their cheer squad, had a brief chat with them right then and there, stole a bit of airtime on their video camera, and wished them lots of luck! Doesn't take long to find fun at the footy!

The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn to head to the footy fields. It was sooooooo c-c-c-old!! The wind was blowing, the grounds were wet from rain the previous day, and the temperature had dropped just in time for the opening bounce! PERFECT footy weather, really! :-)

Karyn had flown in from Spokane, Washington, and Cousin Jeanie had flown in from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho for the games. Neither had ever seen an AFL game before and between you and me, I don't think they'd read the AFL handbooks I'd provided for them the day before (!!!) so we spent some time going over the rules. Then we headed waaaaaaaaaay out yonder to the Field 3 where our Tigers were playing! They were sensational! We were very proud of the boys we didn't really know! They made it very easy to be their fans! They ended up winning the game and even sang the Tigerland song for us! It was a wonderful time!! We loved every frigid moment of it! (How do the players wear shorts when it's that c-c-c-old outside?!?)

We went back to Fields 1 and 2 to watch some more footy, and then warmed up with an awesome meat pie!

Or two.

YUM, I love meat pies! Karyn preferred the sausage rolls but for mine, you can't beat a $4.00 meat pie!

All too soon we had to be on our way to St. Louis for more football action, this time NFL football. The rest of the story is here if you'd like to read about our Most Awesome St. Louis adventure; in the meantime let's get to the piccies, shall we?!?

BIG thanks to Wheels and Kirkie for all the work they put into the event to make the Nationals competition as great as it was! I can't speak for players, but as a spectator it was awesome! Thanks to all the players who made the sacrifice to come to KC for the weekend! The tournament would be nothing without your willingness to use vacation time and hard earned money to make the trip. THANK YOU! To the NC Tigers, you guys are awesome! Thanks for humoring your cheer squad, particularly with the Tigerland song!

I'll see you guys at the next KC tournament (Spring, right?) and I'll try to round up some more newbies who haven't yet been introduced to the sport. And who knows, I might even make a vacation out of nationals next year, wherever it may be!

Comments? E-mail me! I love talking footy!!!

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