Celtic Festival sports a must-see

I'm posting this a few minutes after 5 on Thursday afternoon, just a few minutes away from the official kickoff of the Saline Celtic Festival's 2008 program of athletic events.

Michelle posted a bit about some of the musical and cultural events below, but believe me, the athletic events are more than worth your time as well. Tonight is Rugby Night at Henne Field, and if you've never watched a match of rugby (or, like me up until last year's event, watched it and thought it made about as much organized sense as the demolition derby) you're in luck. I doubt there's any better way of understanding what on earth's going on than getting an up-close look at the sport and an announcer who knows his audience and is willing to explain what's happening. Not to mention the sport itself is plenty exciting, with lots of tough tackles and sharp passing and impressive athleticism. Plus, the price is pretty nice, what with admission being free. If you don't make it this year, go next.

Tomorrow night is Gaelic football, also at Henne Field. I've never seen a single second of Gaelic football, but a) it's a kind of football, so no compaints there b) I wasn't too familiar with rubgy heading into last year either, and now I'm stoked for tonight's performance c) it should be a nice night outdoors and, again, admission is free ... so why wouldn't you want to give it a shot?

Then on Saturday, it's the main event as Saline hosts the Masters World Championships of Highland Athletics. You can read a ton of reasons why the Highland Games are worth checking out in this week's Reporter's preview of the Championships, but suffice it to say you're going to see some athletic feats you won't see anywhere else done by people who you'd never expect to do the sorts of things they do. It's impossible to watch and not come away impressed. There's more information on the Championships at the official Scottish Masters page here.

See you there!