RugbyHair goes cross-code on location in Las Vegas

RugbyHair went on location in Las Vegas to check out the venue for the USA event in the 2010 IRB Sevens World Series – Sam Boyd Stadium, home of the UNLV ‘Rebels’ college football team.

What better way to experience a venue than to watch a game, all be it from a different code.

Sam Boyd Stadium (taken with 'Panorama' from the iFone Guys)

View the full size panorama of Sam Boyd Stadium on Flikr

The UNLV Rebels were playing the Utah ‘Utes’ and we were seated firmly in the away fans camp.

Utes fans from the university, known as 'The MUSS' (taken with a panorama application)

View the full size panorama of The MUSS on Flikr

With players wearing helmets there aren’t a lot of hair follicles on show but we did see these two.

UNLV Rebels – Michael Johnson

Utah Utes Kepa Gaison – Hair tail under the helmet

Of far greater interest was the sub-set of fans from Utah University known as ‘The Muss’.

In Utah, this stands for The Mighty Utah Student Section – a bunch of committed fans.

In New Zealand (and in places where people have seen – and been moved by – the movie Once Were Warriors) it means something else entirely.

When they hear the phrase ‘The Muss’ they think of the main character – Jake The Muss, played by Kiwi actor Temuera Morrison.

Morrison worked out and adopted a reasonably scary persona for the role.

In the opening scene of the movie, Jake is seen here introducing himself.

The students of Utah University are nice people enjoying their football so I didn’t want to get into too much detail around the antics of Jake The Muss.

The good thing for me is that now when I hear the term ‘The Muss’, I get to think of The Mighty Utah Student Section and the great time I had on my first visit to Sam Boyd Stadium – Go Utes!

'The (other) MUSS'