Go Hawthorn!

Sunday was an incredible day as we ventured down to the Melbourne Cricket Ground - the official home of Aussie Rules Football - to watch the Hawthorn Hawks with our newfound hero "Buddy" Franklin - battle the Richmond Tigers. Hawthorn is comfortably in the playoffs while Richmond is fighting for a spot in the final eight. We thought we were going to see Hawthorn have an easy time of it but - unfortunately today was not going to be the Hawks day.

After tramming down to Federation Square we walked along the Yarra river toward the MCG. It's a great route that takes you past Rod Laver arena and the grounds for the Australian Open and over the train tracks that take you east out of the city. Melbourne is immensely walkable with lots to see and do along the way - in this case we spotted a cool kids playground that we would make use of on the way home.

We were meeting our friend Simon and his eldest daughter Jess at the game and he would be our official guide to all things "footy". Finding our seats that we had booked online - Simon informed us that we seemed to have secured some of the best seats in the house and right in the heart of the Hawks members club! We were in one of the end zones, to use a North American football term, and the view was amazing! Snacks of beer, chips (fries) and the ubiquitous Aussie meat pie helped ward off a bit of chill and the fact that the Hawks were playing terribly.

It may be a bit obvious to mention, but ARF seems to be a bit non-sensical at first. But as you begin to understand the point, the rules, the athleticism and then you see a game live - you really can become quite addicted. It flows wonderfully with very few stops in play. The skill involved to kick the ball is quite impressive. There is a good deal of strategy to the play and the athletes are in really, really good shape. To top it off there is no shortage of scandal on a weekly basis and thus it has everything you need to qualify as a bonafide professional sport!

Alas, the Hawks were not up to their best on this day and they lost by about 30 points. A disappointing result but definitely an awesome experience that we will want to experience again soon. If only to wear all of the cool Hawthorn Hawk swag we picked up at the merchandise kiosk before the game!