I couldn’t help but write a little something about this picture.  It was taken in Kilkenny, Ireland, by Sam Lambson, and whether he intended to or not, he found a whole lot of Irish flair.  In the foreground you can see some coaches looking anxiously at the Kilkenny County Championship Hurling match.  The two teams are St. Martins and Shamrock.  In the background over their heads you can see a rainbow.  In a lot of ways, the Irish are a very superstitious people and luck charms and curses abound in most of the country, and this particular day seems to be no exception.

Hurling is a Gaelic game that is played in both Scotland and Ireland, but is played primarily in Ireland.  It has prehistoric roots, and is the world’s fastest team field game.  The object of the game is to take the axe-shaped stick called a ‘hurl’ or ‘hurley’ and hit a small ball called a ’sliotar’ (pronounced slitt-er) in between the goal posts of the other team.  Without going into too much detail, the sport sounds pretty awesome and I’d like to get into it.  However, with only shoulder checking allowed, I might draw some bad calls, because as a former lacrosse player, I’m a fan of the full body check.