Hello to all—so far I have heard from the following who have made arrangements for Saranac,
Lance, Lex, Terry Lee, Tommie Old, Mike P., Will Thornton, Hennie, Mike Heron, Tom West, I think that may be it, so just a reminder to you all, (and I may have missed some here), they are holding rooms for us at the Town and Country (rate $98 per night) you need to book these this week because she is only holding them until Mon. of next week---again the number is 518-523-9268, press 0 for the front desk.
We are also playing on Fri, this time so we are arriving Thurs. I assume that we will play again on Sun. but the schedule has not yet been set.
That’s about it, let me know if you have questions.
Have a great rest of the week.
Jc.
Tommie and Mike
Mike Herron:
I also have a room booked. Tom West is planning on rooming with me. Will, we'll make sure you're not solo. If you haven't heard back from anyone else yet...as we approach the date, I'll touch base with you...glad you've got anopther room reserved. See everyone up in C'ville. Best regards to all, Mike Herron. -----Original Message----- From: WILLIAM THORNTON [mailto:WmThornton95@msn.com]
Will Thornton has reserved room w/ double for Thurs, Fri, Sat, If anyone is traveling solo, be glad to split w/ you.
Cheers,
Will
Hello to all, while this note may be a bit early it is important. I spoke to the Town and Country Motor Inn, in Lake Placid and they are ready to have us back for this year, their number is 518-523-9268. They are holding 14 rooms for us for the next two weeks—so it is important that you book within this time frame after that we will lose these rooms and they are booking up fast this year for that time period. Most of these are double doubles—so guys can share—but some are kings and queens for those of you who will be traveling with spouses and or girlfriends---The rate we have is $98 per night. When you call zero out for the front desk and tell them you are with the Virginia Cardinals Rugby Club—I have told them that we will probably need rooms for Fri. Sat. and Sun. nights August 5, 6 and 7. That’s about it, so good luck and send me an email to confirm that you got your room. Thanks to all—Onward toward more winning and fellowship!!!!!! Jc
I had a long talk the other night with Mike Puopolo, our fearless leader, about the upcoming Saranac Lake tournament. We talked about a lot of things but, at my urging, we spent most of the time talking about the lodging for this upcoming Saranac Lake rugby tournament. Starting at last year’s Saranac tourney and continuing through the tourney in Ft. Lauderdale and several spots in between, several people had expressed interest to me for my idea of trying to rent a great camp or lodge on the water for the 2005 tournament weekend. My initial thought was that the rental would probably not be big enough for the entire team (which could be over 30) but big enough for a bunch of people to stay at the designated abode with the idea that we could have a team get-together/dinner/cocktails on either Friday night or Saturday night or both (or maybe Sunday too) with some drinks and food and truly enjoy the water and the wonderful, peaceful and serene ambiance that the Saranac region has to offer. Well, being the travel agent kind of person that I am, I have spent probably the better part of two full working days on line (bidding has been kinda slow lately) and have contacted six realty firms as well as the independent renter’s association in the Saranac region and have come up with the following info.
Number one is that the great camps/lodges go fast and these types of places are definitely expensive. The only available lodging on the waterfront for the August 5-6 weekend that I have been able to track down that has a reasonable number of bathrooms and that can sleep more than six people is Camp Taboo. (Before I do it, you can insert your own thought about that name here.) Anyway, the place can sleep up to 14, has eight bedrooms and seven baths. There is a king, a queen and ten twin beds. It has a TV, washer/dryer, no hot tub. It has a boathouse over the water with a kitchenette, a fireplace, a pool table, a bath and two boat slips at the boathouse and certainly has the views that we were looking for when we first starting kicking around the idea of the place. The kicker is the cost. How about $7500 to $8500 for the week!!! (Haven’t figured out yet why there is a range of $1,000.) Plus a $50 fee to sign up, plus a security deposit of $1000 (assumed to be fully refundable) and maybe a cleaning fee. Plus they need 50% of the money due as a deposit to secure your reservation. (There was one place that was $18,000 for the week.) That is certainly WAY past the threshold that I thought it was going to be but I am willing to kick in my portion of the tab if we have enough others (like 12 more) who felt the same way as Karen and I do. However, I am asking that any such inclined bodies get back to me by NEXT THURSDAY, APRIL 28, BY THE LATEST with your positive and definitive response. If I don’t hear from enough folks, the idea of staying at a place over the water will be dropped pretty fast and Option A will be history.
So that brings us up to Option B. Fair Brother Lodge (insert your own commentary again) in the town of Lake Placid is available for that same time slot of July 31 to August 7. The weekly rental rate is $6,000 with a $1,000 security deposit and a one time handling fee of $50. There is no cleaning fee for a week rental and there is no hotel occupancy tax because it is a lease. (The $900 per day rental rate shown on one of the two attachments for FBL is only available in the off-season). They would need about $3,000 as a down payment on the lease to secure the rental with the balance due by June 1. I just finished talking with the realtor on the phone this morning and the group that is coming in the next week is not getting there until August 9 so we can definitely stay until Monday morning but have to leave by 10 AM. That would give us the opportunity to have a centralized place for our post-match championship celebrations on Sunday afternoon. She would have to talk to the owner but she thought that we could get that extra night for $500 to $600. However, this place is not on the water but they claim that you have a view of Mirror Lake from the deck that is shown on the exterior view of the house. It is above the Olympic Complex at what appears to be the top of the town as related to elevation goes and it is about a block or so away from the Bear something restaurant that a lot of people ate in on Sunday night last year and probably two blocks or so from the LP Post Office. It depends on the realty company but FBL can sleep anywhere from 18 to 26 persons. (My take is that you could get 23 to 24 max if all available spots were taken and each double or queen had two persons.) There are 9 bedrooms, a den with a sleep sofa and either 5.5 or 6.5 baths, depending on the realty companies again. It has a kitchen with all the appliances, large dining room, washer/dryer, a large wood burning fireplace, 2 TV’s, a small deck (part of which is visible in the photo), either a 6 or 8 person hot tub, parking for six cars, a game room (again with different games, but definitely ping pong). The realtor said that it was very nice. You can look down the list of rooms and see that more than a couple of the rooms have more than 1 bed (either twin or double) if single or non-accompanied married guys wanted to bunk down together in a room. One bedroom has a king, three have queens, one has a double and a queen, one has two twins, one has two doubles, one has a bunk bed (definitely for the backs), one has a double and the den has a sofa sleeper. Depending on the walls around the den, I even thought we could maybe move one of the twins or doubles into the den to make that a real life bedroom instead of the sofa sleeper. (There was another house that could house more than 20 but it had only two bathrooms and I said no thanks pretty fast.) So, the same parameter as Option A, let me know if this better suits your taste and pocketbook. I have confirmed with the realtor that our time slot is still open (as of this morning) so we would be looking at a tab of $6,000 for the week plus $600 for Sunday night plus $50 service fee for a total cost of $6,650. If you could get 15 people to go in on this option, the true lodging cost would be about $444 per person total for whatever part of the week that someone would be staying. If we could get 20 people to go in, the total would drop to $333 per person for the same time duration. Plus, you could eat at least some meals at the house (I am thinking more than ‘some’ for myself) and save a little bit of coins there. Try to calculate what the tab was at the Hungry Trout last year for the Saturday night dinner that we had with the drinks and tip – my guess was the tab was well over $1,000. That can buy a lot of steaks, a lot of munchies, a lot of cheese and a whole lot of brewskie. Also think about clean jerseys and kit for the Sunday championship games. And think about the forwards vs. the backs in the ping pong tournament. Go forwards! Let me know by NEXT THURSDAY, APRIL 28, AT THE LATEST if you are alive and well and have any inclination or desire to do this. Let me know even if you don’t. (But this time let’s try and get a better response that what was received for the James Taylor concert ticket requests that I sent out recently via e-mail when only two persons responded back to me.)
Option C is to go with the motel route like we have done in past years. My thought for pushing on this communal (A and B) or non-communal (C) lodging issue is that we all know the Saranac lodging community definitely fills up for the tournament week and that waiting until the last minute can get crazy. This is not Lance’s attempt at Gestapo rule saying that you have to do this but if it is going to happen, we should do it now or just go to fourth down and punt. It doesn’t really matter to me, I just thought it would be a good idea. But I have been wrong before too.
Check out the attachments and photos, they are all clean and come from a trustworthy source. All of the pics are JPEG files. TAKE SOME TIME NOW, THINK ABOUT IT FOR NO MORE THAN FIVE MINUTES (UNLESS YOU NEED TO TALK TO YOUR BETTER HALF), MAKE A DECISION AND THEN LET ME KNOW ONE WAY OR THE OTHER WHAT YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS ARE -- ARE YOU FOR SURE, I DON’T KNOW, MAYBE, IT DEPENDS ON MY WIFE, WHATEVER. THE KEY IS TO COMMUNICATE TO ME WHAT YOU THINK. (Don’t be the last to respond either, Terry Whelan and Keith Wright). If Option A or B does not materialize, we can then work on getting a hotel like we did last year where most of the team stayed – I can’t remember the name of the place but it was where Hennie VZ, Terry W., Mike and Tommy Old, Curtis H., et al stayed. Someone clue me in on that name please so that as a last resort, we get Option C rolling. LET ME KNOW, I certainly have put some time into this one and I would certainly appreciate it.
Thanks,
Lance
Lance Van de Castle
Estimator
Faulconer Construction P.O. Box 7706 Charlottesville, VA 22906-7706 (Ship = 2496 Old Ivy Road, 22903) Desk = 434-295-0033 Mobile = 434-906-5380 Fax = 434-295-0508
Fellows,
Hope you are all doing just fine. I saw Norfolk win the Porter Cup on Sunday and congratulate Hennie for coaching and Keith Wright for playing. The old boys match before the final was good. Painter was a scrum half, and Collin Crawford, Tom Sarisky, Tim Spruill, Cary Kennedy, Greg Robinette, and Tom West all played. I was late.
The update on our fixtures and who among us is available for each is taking shape. I will attach it as a word document to this email. You should be able to open it and see where we stand. I would like to wait on the guys who aren't sure about availability for another week or so before filling in the Commonwealth Cup side with other players.
I spoke to John Ellis a week or so ago and he was planning to check with some of the over 40 Norfolk players, like Billy Wilson, to see if they wanted to play with us in Charlottesville. Let me know if any of them are interested.
Hennie is still nursing his shoulder and it appears that he and Keith will not be available for Charlottesville on May 21 because Norfolk should be in the playoffs.
Jeff Bush tweaked his knee and hopes to be ready for Saranac.
Tom Sarisky is back with us (hopefully for everything the rest of the year).
The forwards (except for the props) have been quite responsive and we are looking strong for Charlottesville's Commonwealth Cup. The backs presently onboard include me, Mike Wright, our two new players that we are bringing up from the JV (Tom Sullivan and Will Thornton). Need to hear from Dane, Terry Lee and Chip Fenn. Can always bring Mike Herron or JK back into the backline but may also be picking up Skip Yeagar (from the Cardinal JV).
If you have any questions, please ask, and otherwise please respond. There is a meeting regarding the Cup this Friday evening but as of now it appears that we will have the party at my house after the matches on Saturday. I expect we will have a pig roast and hope that most of you will stay until Sunday. We are working on places to stay and will let you know.
Mike
Fellows,
Hope you are all well. This email is going to the guys who went to Lauderdale (or couldn't because they were injured). I took Scotty Norris off the list because he is not available to play with us (but will be playing against us) the rest of this year. I have added two of the Cardinals "over 35" backs, Tom Sullivan and Will Thornton, because they are eligible for our side now. Tony Brooks, the forward who played with us at Lauderdale, does not expect to be available any more this year. The list that this email is going to includes:
Mike Puopolo Terry Whelan Collin Crawford Lance Van de Castle John Carr Chip Fenn Tim Spruill Steve Walters Hennie van Zyl Pete Sweet Lex MacCubbin JK Kamouff Dane Cheek Jeff Bush Keith Wright Mike Herron Steve Burgess James Painter Mike Old Cary Kennedy John Ellis Dan Lonergan Tom West Greg Robinette Tom Sullivan Will Thornton Bill Brownley Terry Lee (no email) Mike Wright (no email)
That is 29 players. As of now, I don't know whether John Ellis or Pete Sweet expect to be in playing shape this year. Bill Brownley is still in recovery from a torn patella tendon and is possible later this year (maybe Saranac). Mike Wright has healed and wants to play an active social role and limited playing role. I believe that everyone else is in good shape and able to play if other commitments allow.
First, I would like to thank and congratulate everyone for their contributions to our winning the championship in Lauderdale. I believe that everyone arrived in Lauderdale more fit and better prepared than for Saranac last year. It made a difference and we all enjoyed the difference.
Secondly, I would like to make sure that everyone AND ESPECIALLY THE NEW GUYS keep in mind that we are all aware that sometimes our other responsibilities keep us from being able to participate. You may miss a single fixture or an entire season but we want you back when you are available. We will fill our rosters with the guys that are available from the list above and supplement that list from there. We have been very fortunate to build a special team of great people. It is very important that we protect the essence of the team. All of us realize how rare it is in life to be part of such a team.
Third, I think that we all believe that we are the best "over 45" team in the country. We will have the opportunity to convince everyone else in the country that we are the best. We have a side entered in three more events this year. They are the Commonwealth Cup, Saranac, and Aspen. I will outline each of them below and then ask that each of you let me know whether you will be available for any or all of them.
Commonwealth Cup is May 21 in Charlottesville, VA. It is a four-team one day tournament. We would play one game (probably 30 minute halves) in the morning and another (hopefully the final) in the afternoon. We will play a total of two matches.
The age limit is "over 40" which means that we would get a good test from some players slightly younger than we are. Western Suburbs (Jeff Bush's) club has won the championship each of the last two years. He may need to play with them (let us know Jeff). In the past the SOB's, Virginia Gentlemen and Virginia Old Boys have each entered individual teams. This year, we will enter our Cardinal side and in the middle of the day (between the morning and afternoon matches) the Virginia Old Boys/Virginia Gentlemen/SOB's that are not part of our roster will play a social match.
The other teams coming to the Commonwealth Cup will be Western Suburbs (defending champs), Wild Geese, Cape Fear, and if one of them cancels they will probably be replaced by Tobacco Road.
Saranac Can-Am is August 6-7 We need to win this.
Aspen Ruggerfest is September 15-18 The team that beat us in 2003 (with a little help) also won Aspen last year. Their website says that they will three-peat this year. Also, I believe that Aspen will have a team entered in this division this year for the first time.
I realize that many of you have already spoken to me saying that you could play in particular events. I think I remember most of our conversations but maybe you don't.....just in case, please do get back to me with an email as soon as you can. If you don't or won't know about your availability until some later date, then please tell me that.
I will provide feedback as I get it.
Thanks.
Mike Puopolo