The GAA

Yesterday was one of the most important days in Irish Sports. It was the all-Ireland final for men's hurling, and the victors went home with the championship cup and were the heroes of their county. Now... You might be sitting thinking "what in the world is hurling?". Well... Rest be assured that it has nothing to do with being sick.... Nor is it related to that Olympic sport where a team of men furiously work to move a really large disk down the ice (that is curling).... And no... It is not the Scottish game where men throw telephone poles (that is tossing the tabor). Hurling is an ancient Gaelic sport that is still played all across Ireland (I'll tell you more about the rules in another post).
To be honest with you, I find the Gaelic sports very refreshing. Don't get me wrong... I love American sports (I still grieve over not being able to watch baseball), but I cringe at the thought of millionaires playing millionaires who don't seem to have loyalty to a team, or (many times) even a love for the game. There just is something very wrong with that... Well, It is very different here. The Gaelic sports are structured in a way that the emphasis isn't upon money, but rather, on the game. There are no professional players, but rather each team represents a paticular county and is a team made up of local guys (and girls) from that county. So, you really do have our guys playing their guys in the game. This sense of ownership is amazing, and it gives everyone a team. The interesting thing is that you would think that the really big counties (such as Dublin) would be the ones to win everything... It isn't so. Every county really has a shot at winning the title. Yesterday's game, however, saw two power houses battle it out until the very last second. The rebels of Cork beat the tribesmen of Galway by two points.