Hurling

Let me kick off this post by saying that the two major spectator sports in Ireland are Gaelic Football and Hurling. Gaelic Football is like soccer with more lenient handball rules. Hurling is kind of lacrosse but with huge wooden spoons and the option to score point by throwing the ball thru what is essentially a field goal upright.

They are bizarre to explain. You could even say that they're ridiculous. But in action, both sports are very cool.

I have yet to see Gaelic Football in person. But I'm going in like two weeks. But I did have the option to see the All-Ireland Hurling Final this afternoon. Here is the play-by-play, bullet style:

• Take a bus into downtown Dublin
• Walk for what seemed like an hour (I was not leading the way)
• Pass a TON of people dressed in Galway (maroon) and Kilkenny (yellow/black) colors
• Feel like an outsider and be pressured into buying a scarf/headband/shirt/flag/etc. 
• Sit down in a small, quiet bar
• Get bored instantly
• Walk back towards the stadium
• Haggle with scalpers
• Go to get cash
• Come back and find out that the scalpers no longer have tickets
• Ask the cops for tickets
• Get free tickets from cops (yes, that is a real thing in Ireland)
• Go to the game

And then this happens:

(trying to upload a picture but the wifi here is subpar)

There were 82,000 people in the stadium to watch a sport that is known (by me) as Frying Pan Lacrosse. And it was NUTS. 

I took a video of the game-tying score in the final minute and the stadium exploded. 

And then the game ended. In a tie. And they play again in three weeks to break the tie. It is bizarre, to say the least. But you can bet your ass I will be there for the rematch.