For the first time in years, my wife and I missed attending the Aspen Ruggerfest, one of the premier amateur sporting events in the country. It occurs the third weekend of September when the Aspen trees are shimmering gold, the high peaks are crowned with snow and the weather is almost always lovely. For years I played with the Kansas City Blues and when I got into my fifties continued to participate with a great group of mountain men called the Colorado Ol’ Pokes. I’ve traveled with them to France, New Zealand, Scotland and Australia to play in the Golden Oldies Rugby tournaments sponsored by Air New Zealand. My wife and I were attending the Bouchercon Mystery Writers conference in St. Louis and couldn’t go to Aspen this year, but we got word that one of our new players who is age 50-something suffered two broken leg bones in his first old boys game. Another, after competing in an over 55 age match against a Virginia side, had a heart attack as he walked off the field. He was air-lifted to Denver, received an angioplasty and is reported doing well.
As for the “rookie” with the broken leg, he emailed his new teammates last week that he was doing fine also and couldn’t wait to be ready to get on the pitch next year.
What a lovely bunch of coconuts. The kind of guys who’ll live til’ they die.
Tom Shawver's Blog 