rugby practice starts next week, training starts now

For all of you mean queens who say unkind things about Tilda - Renegades forwards Josh, Chris and Frank the Tank send their regards:

Photo by Brettie taken on 5/25/2006 at the 2006 Bingham Cup in May on Randall's Island in New York City. Good times. We are bringing two full teams to compete in the 2008 Bingham Cup in Dublin, Ireland this June.

Rugby practice starts next week on March 4th from from 6:45-8:45 p.m. at Cardozo High School, 1300 Clifton St. NW DC, hopefully to resume in a few weeks at Stead Field, located on P Street, N.W. (between 16th and 17th streets). I've been to one conditioning training and have started to run on the treadmill, and hope to get to another conditioning session on Thursday. Last Sunday we did some recruiting and socializing at Fadó Irish Pub while watching the 6 Nations rugby semifinals. I think I managed to pull in my first Renegades recruit - we'll see if the bug bites him. This Saturday, March 8 starting at 8:15am you'll see Ireland vs. Wales followed by Scotland vs. England. We'll be there, stop by and enjoy the fun and beer.

Excerpts from tonight's case study assignment on the policy and practice regarding television program-length commercials (PLCs) marketed towards children:

The question of “which came first – the toy or the show?” often guided many of the FCC rulings during the development of PLC definitions. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Transformers toys and action figures preceded the cartoon programs by only a few years. Conversely, many years passed before toys and product lines based on Sesame Street and Disney characters appeared on the shelves. In most cases, the FCC avoided any clear definition between these shows and products, aside from banning the airing of product advertisements related to the shows during the television programs (Colby, 1993).

In this part of the paper, I admit to being a total geek:

But children love toys, and watching them come alive on the screen constitutes entertainment. Product manufacturers cannot be blamed for stimulating the inherent imagination in a child’s mind. From personal experience, I watched the Transformers first as a television cartoon program, had a few of the toys well into my teens, and thoroughly enjoyed the 2007 feature-length live-action film based on the product line. If the product marketing was an insidious invasion of my mind, I must admit that I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

It's for my Legal and Ethical Issues in Global Communication class, which I am enjoying. All the boring requisite classes are done, with only 3 more classes to go to complete an M.S. in management, at the rate of one class per semester. At this point I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, which is a good feeling .