Oh we're from Tigerland...

G'day! I've got to get used to saying that more often.  As soon as I say Hi! they immediately know I'm from America.  I actually like G'day and brekkie and other nicknames I can't think off the top of my head right now.  But it's really driving me crazy that no one says any running shoe company name like we say them.  They really like putting the emphasis on weird syllables and pronouncing them like I would never imagine.  Some examples for you:  Adidas = ADD-di-daz,  Saucony = Saw-CONE-eee,  Asics = Ah-SEEKS   I'll be anxious to see how people are saying Nike this weekend.  I've heard some say Nike like bike.  Huh?

On Saturday morning we walked over to Moore Park to watch a friends son play footy.  That's Australian Rules Football for those of you not paying attention.  I've been watching AFL on TV so I was anxious to see if it was as chaotic.  We are talking about 8 year old boys here.  Controlled chaos pretty much explains everything you hope to achieve with them.

I had taken him to practice a couple weeks ago so I'd already seen a little bit of the madness.  Actually, it's quite fun.  They have a barbecue every Saturday morning for all of the players and families to enjoy after the games.  Although we missed out on it this weekend due to the ANZAC holiday on Thursday.  Holidays screw everything up here.  Holiday lands on a Thursday?  Let's just take the rest of the weekend now everybody.  Anyway,  footy games are a very festive atmosphere with about 5 games spread out on the regulation AFL field.  It's that big!  Every club has attached themselves to an AFL club like the US does with little league and MLB teams.  Moore Park Aussie Rules is affiliated with the Richmond Tigers from Melbourne so it's the yellow and black Tigerland.

Jump ball begins the madness

Kicking a goal like a champ!

My favorite part is at the end of each practice or game they all join in a circle and sing the team song.  Awesome!  I'm going to suggest that all American little league, soccer and the like have a team song.  It's fantastic fun.  Below is a video of the Tigers singing their song after the game.

Here is a video of the actual song:

Here is a video of the kids singing on Saturday.  There's a lot of words to remember! :)