...We're The Mighty Adelaide Crows.
So says the club song of the Australian Rules Football side. The Crows won an exciting Elimination Finals match against the Western Bulldogs last weekend. Since I am a graduate student (whose nose should be in a book) and half a world away, I just learned this information about 15 minutes ago, several days after the fact.
I DVR'd three AFL matches last week and just now got the last one watched. As long as I stay away from the @AFL Twitter feed, the risk of spoiler alerts is minimal.
Adelaide somehow made it through a very rough patch during the season, as their head coach was allegedly killed by his son during a domestic dispute. That they've made it this far is truly remarkable.
Given the unique structure of the AFL Finals Series, Adelaide plays Hawthorn, which lost its Qualifying Final match to West Coast. HFC placed in the top four during the home and away season, so they were playing for a bye in the next round. So were the Fremantle Dockers as they played Sydney. Freo won a great game, so the Swans now play North Melbourne, after the Kangas beat Richmond. This was the only match I missed.
The top eight qualify for the playoffs. 1 plays 4 and 2 vs. 3 in order to determine who gets a bye into the semifinals. Winners (Fremantle and West Coast) get a chance to rest, losers play the winners of the 5 vs. 8/7 vs. 6 games. Losers of this round are done.
So it starts with eight sides, now we're at six. After Hawthorn/Adelaide and North/Sydney, we'll be left with four through to the league semifinals. Then it's the Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
I'm not really sure why I like watching matches of a weird sport in a league half a world away, I just know that I do.
