No, I was stationed between the New England Patriots and the NY Giants / Jets. I was stationed in Groton, Connecticut. By near, meaning about a 6 hour drive? eh...yeah, I guess. I grew up a Patriots fan my entire life. Even back when pats fans were ashamed to talk about football. We'd avoid the conversation as though a cultural taboo, lol. TRUE pats fans never talk smack. We're too scared to. We know we're ALWAYS teetering on dynamic perfection and disaster each and every game. When it's disaster, it becomes not just a loss, it is a form of art studied for years to come, LOL! That's a pats fan. The band wagon guys, don't mind them. They didn't grow up in the whole upbringing of it all, LOL!
Now when I watch football, it's weird because I had this buddy of mine, an aussie native (killed a year ago) we were best buds in the Navy, went outside the wire together on patrols, deployed overseas together, etc. He was HUGE into rugby & he said always back your native team. Well that was easy for me being a Pats fan. There when the chips are down & when the superbowl rings come raining in. So I have been watching the AMNRL, the Eagles, & some international games of interest. (7's tourneys, shield tourneys, Springboks, All Blacks, maybe some sharks, eels, tigers, US vs Canada, etc.) He got me into it & when I watch NFL games, when a guy gets tackled I'm always thinking I'm seeing a ruck. Football isn't the same for me anymore, lol. I'm like, "if they just take off the pads & grow some wings!"
I think I'm one of the few yanks you'll come across that can say the Kamate haka. I was so in awe of that when I first saw it, I had to learn it. I'm nowhere close to being kiwi, but there's something innately human about the haka that brings up "the man" in ya (wherever he is) & gets you in the mood to knock heads together. I don't know the movements, but I know how it goes & think it is the coolest thing I've ever seen. What's nice to see is the white kiwis doing it. It belongs to them as well. I like that. It's cohesive. Anyhow, yeah. Sometimes I think when the All Blacks do the haka, it sounds like they leave out a ka ora. That or they say it fast, but I think it's the 1st one. I'll be watching them play the springboks this weekend. I'll be sure to turn the TV up when they do the Haka. It would be cool if some nation did some similar war dance in response. Some day if the US ever gets it together & gets to the level of playing them, I'd love to see an Apache dance or a Sioux war song done in response.
Here's a war dance from the local tribe in my area, the Cherokee. Not as many people in the kiwi hakas, it was a demonstration, but it can get much larger than that. Reminded me of the haka. Check it out, tell me what you think. It's more song-like than shouted, but there is shouting.
