Erin Hughes.com

I was trying to explain to someone the other day what I get out of playing rugby. This little 4 seconds slice of one year of rugby I think sums it up. I just run cross the field chasing someone when the ball goes out of bounds. I am panting, out of breath, it will be good time for a little breather. I look around for Dave to lift him for the throw in. I turn back and look at Toru our hooker standing on the sidelines. He nods at me and then pitches the ball too me. "WAIT my brain screams as the ball flies towards me, is this legal?" Too late for questions now the ball is in my hands, I do not hear a whistle. I tuck the ball into my chest. SMASH through 2 guys standing together. WTF I am still standing RUNNING! I run harder at the time there is nothing but go forward and run harder going through my mind. I can see the try line, I can feel it this is the one. When I replay the whole thing through my mind my skin gets goosebumps, and my hair tingles. I can hear everything, I can feel my hand pushing against the third guys jaw as he comes in too high on the tackle. I can hear Andy's voice over the everything screaming "Go Erin RUNNN!" Everyone else is screaming hysterically, like at a Pentecostal Church. I cant hear it as much as I feel it. I hope my Eric is watching, I wish his mom could see this.

Wow, Tokyo Cup is over and for the first time in 6 or 7 years we made it all the way to the finals, and for the first time, I started and played 60 minutes out of 80 in possibly the biggest game of the season. E-mails were flying back and forth on the list all week about what we should do, what needed to get done, who would do it and how. I added my usual motivation that I am sure some could do with out. But still when it came down to it, it was just another game. For most of us. For some, like me it was probably the biggest game of my short career, and I was starting. I couldn't sleep the night before because it had been raining all night and continued to rain throught the day. My stomac was a mess all the way up till I arrived at the station where we met. Several of the guys came up and asked me how I felt about starting. "I thought you guys wanted to win?" was my typical response. We got to the stadium and it was a a stadium with bleachers and astro-turf. We changed in a real locker room and got outside to warm up. The rain continued to pour down. Our competition was a the last place team from first division Rokko East. If we win we would get a promotion to Division 1 the highest ranked Tokyo based team competition. The pressure was on, full on. We did a quick dress check and went into the locker room and had a quick team meeting. Almost everyone spoke about what this meant to them and what we had to do. I said the same thing I had said all week. "We need to execute." "Execute the basics of rugby." After warming up I felt a bit better and was really ready to play. We passed around the ball a bit more and then it was time to get started. It was still raining lightly when the first shot got fired down range. The kickoff went over my head into Murrays hands and it was on, FULL ON! Like with most games I do not recall what happened minute to minute and now as I write this it is almost 2 weeks ago. What I do remember is the emotion and the physical feeling of playing. The hits. Joe plowing into a guy so hard the guy dropped the ball and I picked it up and started running. Seeing Al fighting to get the ball out of the ruck and me charging in and rucking out some one or 2 guys. Kevin sprinting away from me and every one else in a run away try. Watching Ken as he sprinted down the sideline for his try. Matt kicking the ball away time and again to when we got to deep in our own territory. Joffa tackling EVERYONE who had the ball.

Ya so Kid Rock. Love him or hate him, he has some tonge and cheek things to say about downloading music. Me I might have downloaded a song or 2 in my day, I will say "Do not follow all his advice!" There are a couple of reasons for this, and while most of my ideas are not well thought out, I think this one is pretty sound. When you steal a iPod a laptop or a tank of gas all your doing is inconvenience someone ... just like YOU! Rock and I are almost the same age and while I do not make as much as he does, I will be dammed if I am gonna inconvenience myself with a run in with the popo cause I think "Well Bill and Steve got lots of dough they wont miss this stuff." They won't ... heck they probably cant even quote accurate sales figures of the latest Windows Pitsa or iCrap w/o 20 assistants telling them where, when, and how. They are so far removed from the sale of each device that it is .... sad. The people who will feel it are you neighbor who works at the local PC place who gets laid off cause PC sales are slacking, or your other mate who works at the Apple Store, or finally your best friend who washes cars at the Toyota dealership for minimum wage. While I totally feel where Rock is coming from and I think he has a valid point that "Corporate America is raping the lower and middle class." Stealing from you Steve and Bill is not going to fix the problem. They will never feel it. Your friends will.

Man Eric is getting big. He lost his 2 bottom teeth about a month ago and his top 2 in the last 2 weeks. Sorry I am so slow with the pics I am working on a remedy for this. Here is my not so little 6 year old all 122 centimeters {= 4 feet} with out any teeth. He is skinny like me when he was I a kid and just as wild. I am a little worried about him just cause he just can't sit still unless he is watching Shawn the Sheep. We play soccer as much as we can when I get home but sometimes it does not turn out so good. Here is a shot of him getting ready to play. Sorry I have not posted so much about him or anything else but I am planning to make up for it allot in the very near future. E./