March 10th, 2014 | Uncategorized
On Saturday, my good friend Mairead and I took a day trip to Dublin. I had been asked to do guest commentary for one of the Superleague playoff games, so Mairead kindly offered to make a day trip out of it. On our way to Dublin, we stopped in County Meath to see Newgrange. To be honest, it was my first time hearing about the history of Newgrange, and also the Battle of the Boyne. Mairead is so full of knowledge we didn’t even need a tour guide!
Newgrange was built 5,000 years ago during the Neolithic period. It is a monument known as a “passage-tomb.” I have never seen anything like it. There were shapes and names carved into all of the stones. It’s amazing to think that it was all man-made. I was not expecting it to be such a tight space inside, which made me feel quite claustrophobic, but it was well worth it.
The views for the day were also incredible. The prehistoric monument is north of the River Boyne. The Battle of the Boyne, a major battle in Irish history, took place along this river. It looked amazing with all the greenery on a beautiful Saturday day. I definitely suggest anyone traveling to Ireland to stop by this place, because it was well worth seeing.
From there, we had dinner at Clontarf Castle. Where I’m from, it’s pretty abnormal to have the chance to eat inside an actual castle! We sat and watched some Rugby, as Mairead tried to help me learn all of the Irish names I needed to know for the game. I definitely embarrassed her a bit with my pronunciations of the Irish names, but we had some great laughs over it.
We then ended the day at the playoff game, where I commentated from the sidelines on Killester’s Live broadcast. I’ve never done anything like it before, but it’s something I grew up watching my mom do. I think the coolest part was realizing how much I am like my mother, with my tone of voice and my basketball sayings that I picked up from her. It ended up being a great game to watch. I’m really happy I took advantage of the opportunity because I really enjoyed myself. It’s a career I am definitely going to look into. Thanks to Killester for the opportunity, to Mairead for a great day and to my father for tuning in all the way from Philly!
