Resonant Constellation

It’s about time I mentioned my favorite sport, Hurling, here. Hurling is the national sport of Ireland, an incredibly fast paced and skill-intensive game. I won’t go into the rules here (there’s a lot-look them up on wikipedia), but suffice to say, this is an incredibly entertaining game. I first saw a match when I was on vacation in Ireland with my family in (I believe) the summer of 2004.  Now that I think back on this, I believe I may have been exceptionally lucky.  We were in Munster at precisely the time the epic 2004 Munster Senior Hurling Final was being played-by all accounts one of the most incredible games played in modern times.  I’ve watched it myself since and I certainly can’t argue. I was instantly entranced.

Since then, I’ve been curious about the sport, but I hadn’t been able to find a way to watch any games here in the U.S. until just last year. I found a few websites offering downloads of several games (including the aforementioned MSHF from 2004) and watched them three or four times each. I was again entranced and decided to get further into the sport.

Of course, I’d have to pick a team to cheer for-this was no easy task. Waterford, Cork, and Tipperary are all entertaining teams that have great players I enjoy watching, but in the end my Irish ancestors were from county Clare (as far as I can tell), and so I chose the banner county (Clare’s nickname). Sometimes I regret this decision-Clare haven’t won the All-Ireland since 1997-but I’ll stand by my team.

As I’m writing this, I’m watching the 2008 All Ireland Senior Hurling Quarterfinal between Clare and Cork. Here’s a great example of why Hurling is so awesome:

Clare Forward, Dermot McMahon has the Sliotar (the ball, a little bigger than a baseball) in the box, runs at the goal. Seán Óg Ó hAilpín (great Cork defenseman) bats at him with his hurley (big stick). The ball falls loose, rolling forwards towards the goal, excruciatingly slow, the Cork keeper lunges for it but…it rolls in! An incredible goal, to be sure (just to let you know, teams can score points and goals; a point is scored when the ball goes between the goalposts above the net-think an American football field goal. A goal is worth three points and is scored when the ball goes into the net below the goalposts. Scores are then tabulated goals-points to goals-points).

Yes, Hurling is an awesome sport, but you don’t need to take my word for it. Follow this link to YouTube to watch the 2004 Munster Senior Hurling championship (the link goes to part 1 of 8, there are subsequent links in the videos). You won’t regret it.

Note: Even though they started out great in the game I was watching, Clare lost 2-17 to 2-19. Arg.