In Which We Get Fired Up

This weekend we're headed to Tacoma to check out the US Quad Rugby Pacific Sectionals!  It's a major tournament that will determine which team from the Pacific Northwest will be headed to Nationals in March.  We'll be rooting on the Seattle Slam, our local team, and I'm super excited about taking the kids.  Eden has really enjoyed the roller derby bouts I've taken her to, and I suspect quad rugby (AKA murderball) is going to be right up her alley as well.

I think there's a general attitude in the United States that disabled sports can't possibly be as interesting or exciting to watch as typical sports teams, which explains the pathetic lack of media coverage of the Paralympics in past years.  It also explains why we've spent a bunch of time explaining that the Special Olympics and the Paralympics, while both awesome for different reasons, are definitely not the same thing.  That gets old really quickly.

So this year I am thrilled that NBC will be covering the Paralympics in a much more complete fashion, and for the first time it will be possible to actually see the events live!  It's about time someone in the media world figured out what a bunch of us already know-- that not only are Paralympic athletes every bit as elite and legitimate as their Olympic brothers and sisters, but also that the sports they play are, pardon my French, completely badass.

I mean, seriously.  Look at this and tell me you don't want to see it live:



Of course, quad rugby isn't played at the Winter Paralympics-- we'll have to wait until the Rio games for that.  Instead, there's ice sledge hockey.  This is every bit as fun to watch as ice hockey, I assure you.  Also, we won the gold back in 2010, though I couldn't watch the dang game until after it was over.

So hooray for more coverage this year!  I can't wait for the games to begin!

~Jess