Thread by @TJMitchellWS

A #rugby thread.

1/x I'm living in #Aoteoroa New Zealand, but am a native of the sports-addled USA city of #Boston. I am not as fanatical for the home teams as most of my bruthiznsistiz in that place, but I do enjoy live, in-person stadium sports events very much indeed.

2/x #NZ is one of the only places on the face of the Earth right now where you can attend live, in-person stadium sports events. Specifically, rugby. Specifically, the national team—the world-famous @AllBlacks.

3/x I've been to precisely one rugby game, at @skystadium here in #Wellington, NZ's capital city. I enjoyed it immensely. Yes, it's true, I had little clue what was going on down on the field (pitch?), but it sure seemed exciting, and the other fans seemed thrilled. So, all good.

4/x That was a home game (match?) for the #SuperRugby team, the Hurricanes. (Super rugby differs from rugby union, the game the All Blacks play in ways that I find difficult to parse; it's kinda like the designated-hitter rule.) I followed along, after I surmounted one problem:

5/x I didn't know which team on the field was the @Hurricanesrugby. I had only lived in Wellington a couple of weeks, and didn't take close enough note of the team colors.

6/x I figured it out quick enough, of course—and just as quick figured out that we were sitting in a mixed section to fans from the opposing team. Everyone was much more cordial—and much less vocally, um, demonstrative—than I had been used to seeing in my homeland.

7/x So now, today, I'm preparing excitedly to go again to a real, live, butts-in-the-seats rugby match (game?). This time, I told myself, do your homework. Figure out which team is wearing which colors, so you don't end up going into the stadium a total rube.

8/x Or, as they apparently say round here, an egg.

9/x Not wanting to be an egg, I set out to Google the home colors for the @AllBlacks, which they will be wearing today as they play the world's first international match since March, against Australia's national team, who are called—I shit you not—the #Wallabies.

(9a x) (I'm sure we will find today that Australia's national team are a fine group of skilled sportsmen, and just as single-minded in pursuit of victory as you would expect from the comically pouchy mini-roo for which they are named.)

10x/ Where was I?

11x/ Oh—right: The #AllBlacks, and their uniform. So, as I said, I went to Google to look for the home colors the All Blacks would be wearing today.

12x/ Think about it. Be better than me: Think about it.

13x/ Try saying the name out loud.

14x/ They're the

All

Blacks.

15x/ That's right.

16x/ #ImAnIgnorantEgg. /end

#AllBlack enough?