Once again the Young Boys, Old Boys, wives, sweethearts and the lame, crippled and crazy (with one exception) of the Western Suburbs Rugby Football Club gathered for the winter banquet commemorating the year before - in this case, 1999.
This time it was held at the Dulles Holiday Inn, and I have to say the surroundings were nicer than last year. We had more people this time; according to Tom Loesel, approximately 70. There was a strong Old Boys showing - which, of course, notably classed up the affair.
The food was good, and the open bar was appreciated by all.
I was able to borrow an image projector for a Powerpoint presentation consisting of some of the literally hundreds of images I collected from last year’s matches and practice, and, like a homely guy or gal at a bar, these looked better with the more beer one drank.
The same could be said for my narrated slideshow. It seemed by the applause that Forrest White was designated as the St. Valentine’s Day hunk by the women present. (I thought I heard male voices as well - I hope not.) Crazy Eddie was elected the 1999 Macho Man thanks to his, well, all around crazed persona.
(The WSRFC Fashion Show which was premiered at this event can be browsed by clicking
here, by the way.)At the conclusion of the slide show
President Nels "Ned" Erickson made the following awards:1999 Western Suburbs Awards
Best A-Side Forward:
Mark "Radar" HrycayAlso, the Greg Gregory Award was presented by
Kelly Watkins to Jeff Harpold for his many years of dedicated service to the club. (Learn more about this important award here.)
It wouldn't be rugby without the special citations:
The "No Dish Award" for failing to pass the ball when he got it:
Jeff "Bushy" BushThe "Stone Hands Award" for the player who seemed to miss the most ball catches:
Mike "Princess" ClarkThe "Screen Door Award" for the most underwhelming tackling:
Greg "Elvis" Hough.Commemorative jersey for cheerfully playing any position:
Tom "the Colonel" LoeselA whip was presented to
Kelly "Weenie Boy" Watkins for his constant harassment of the slow runners in laps.In all, it was a superlative evening. As you can see by the picture above, a conga line was formed at one point. This is supposed to be a dance movement, but I know better. It's really a way for guys to check out each other's spare tires to see who's going to be hurting the most when spring training resumes.
Respectfully submitted,
Wes "Brigham" Clark, WSRFC Secretary
Click
here for a directory of images, described about as well as can be in the space of a filename.