In an all too familiar theme, the girl in my arms in this photo is going away for a little while until I can convince her to come back. We lost the Caledonia Cup 14-8 to a Valley Bulldogs team that played their game better than we played ours and, in all honesty, seemed to want it more than we did. I have lost this game 3 times now and each time it was on the road in Nova Scotia. Importantly, I have never lost two years in a row.
We're all pretty pissed off right now and the work to get the cup back starts tomorrow. Like I said the other day, this means it will be a long off-season questioning things we could have done differently and, more forward-looking, what we can do to get back on top. It does make for great motivation.
In what has (happily) become an almost yearly ritual, we are heading to Kentville, Nova Scotia tomorrow to defend the Caledonia Cup. 9 years ago next week my generation of rugby Loyalists won our first Cup after a 20 year drought at the club. It was an incredible day in 1999 but after tasting alot of success since then, and winning the Cup 5 more times since then, what gets me the most is how much all of the boys still care about this game, this trophy. It means as much now as it did 10 or 15 years ago when we hadn't won it yet.
Every year we bring in a host of new players and we preach to them about how hard we worked to become the best team around here. And then if we do the work to get to this game all of the old boys come out of the wood work and send out inspirational messages that really hammer the message of how much this means into all of us. It gives me chills reading them and it's great for all those young guys to know what we are playing for. Besides, it's a pretty simple formula to this game; win and you get a happy off-season, lose and your pissed off all winter. It's really in everyone's best interest if we win.
So since I was kid I have wanted to play and win the Caledonia Cup; just like Dad, right. And since I turned 13 I was a fan of The Band. So when I went searching for Caledonia Cup songs I found The Band's Caledonia Mission and it blew my mind that I never made the connection. I knew the song, just not the title. It's too bad too because that song would have helped explain the fixation I've had with the Cup, and keeping it close, since I started playing rugby.
Fortunately, there is no need to roll out a new theme song for Lady Caledonia; she's had one almost since the Cup was forged. It's been covered by everyone from Matt Minglewood to BB King but I found a couple of good ones on the tube and here is the best:
We've had the Minglewood version at the club forever and I hope to hear it tomorrow if all goes well. The weather doesn't look like it's going to cooperate as Hurricane Noel's front end will be appearing sometime around kickoff. One of the girls at work asked me today if you can play rugby in a hurricane. I said I guess we'll find out. If that's what it takes...
"Shes my baby and I love her just the same Crazy bout that woman cause Caledonia is her name"
In an all too familiar theme, the girl in my arms in this photo is going away for a little while until I can convince her to come back. We lost the Caledonia Cup 14-8 to a Valley Bulldogs team that played their game better than we played ours and, in all honesty, seemed to want it more than we did. I have lost this game 3 times now and each time it was on the road in Nova Scotia. Importantly, I have never lost two years in a row. 
