We received an e-mail yesterday morning from our Athletic Director for this weekend asking if we could give a little demo in the morning for the upcoming Wisconsin Highland Games. I say of course (and tell Bigg about it later;) and ask for details. When I was told to just come on down and meet around 6:30, I thought uhhhhh, A.M??? Ugh. Morning tv. Hokay sure.
Even though it was very early and we woke up late so didn’t have time to stop for coffee, it was a blast. We brought some of our gear and grabbed a caber from the storage shed. Getting in around 10 caber toss’ before 7am was actually pretty cool. Matt did an awesome job with host, Chip Brewster (is that his real name? I have no idea, I don’t watch morning news) going through the 56# weight for distance throw. I thought ‘ol Chip was going to forget to release and take a ride with the weight but seemed to remember at the last second. He and Matt had a great rapport and the spot went flawlessly. Here’s the video.
Since there were other event coordinators that showed up, I got to FINALLY have some fun with the battle Ax’s. I’ve seen these guys year after year and never had the chance to go throw so I took advantage of down time this morning and got some quick lessons from Jenny (who in turn threw the 21# weight for distance and attempted to pick the caber in full skirts. Jennie is awesome.) It took a bit but I finally found my groove and on one toss, hit the handle of another Ax. I was quite impressed with myself.
From there, we got to watch Chip have high tea with Mary, Queen of Scots and one of her ladies in waiting. Now, I’ve seen plenty of pictures of our Texan Belle Brittney Boswell in these outfits but have never seen them live. The Queen was in good spirits this morning and gave me some history on herself. For instance, did you know that Mary, Queen of Scots was a huge sports fan? In fact, she would dress as a commoner to be able to participate in sports without being known. I thought that was pretty cool. So we made plans for the Queen to visit the field at some point and I’ll prep the athletes to make sure we give a proper bow to her. Heh.
OH! We also found out that Matt’s picture was being used on all of the Promo materials, including a digital Billboard off Hwy 94. Hilarious. They gave us a printout of it…
We’re going to grab some beer and chips later and just go sit on the side of the highway and watch a supersized Bigg click on every 8 seconds. Cuz that sounds fun.
Overall it was a very fun morning. To be able to hang a little bit with others from the Games that we don’t get to visit since we’re on the field all day was a huge treasure. We also had Haggis and were told where we can get Haggis pasties. Let me say that again. Haggis. Pasties. We know what’s for dinner tonight. Giddyup.
We’re thankful to finish the summer throwing right here in our backyard. Waking up and driving 15 minutes to a Games, especially one of this size with a throwing group that includes Craig Smith and the Burchett boys to name just a few is a treat. Promoting the Games was lots of fun, but I think I’ll stick to my day job. I was too nervous for that television stuff.
Me & Chip Brewster. SRSLY, is that his real name?
Every man’s life is a fairy tale written by God’s fingers.
Hans Christian Andersen
tosabarbell 
