the other big game

The Super Bowl wasn't the most important sporting event locally last weekend.
Not even close.
The most important even here was a sport you've never even heard of.
The Wellington Sevens - a two-day, international, seven-a-side rugby tournament - took top billing. It wasn't on the strength of the competition, although the game is fast enough for even
the most ADD-addled spectator.
Instead, the Sevens are a crazy social event, one of Wellington's biggest parties. People dress up to go to the games, they drink during the nine hours of play each day, then they go out on the town and drink some more. It's kind of a mini-Mardi Gras here, with all of the drunkenness but not nearly as much of the nudity.
When tickets to the Sevens went on sale before Christmas, the 30,000-seat stadium sold out in less than an hour. (This is not to say 30,000 seats were sold that fast - it was reported less than a third of the tickets were up for grabs by the general public, with the rest going to rugby officials, business partners, and the like.)
No one bought tickets to watch the games. I've never been to an sporting event where the game mattered less. The games go so fast, most of the time the majority of the stadium has no idea who's playing. Hell, most of the time the majority of the stadium has no view of the field - most fans are in the concourses waiting to buy beer, showing off their costume, or checking out others' costumes.
One fellow North American here asked if the experience was anything like tailgating.
No.
For one, this was all happening inside the stadium.
But the biggest difference is this: people come to the stadium for tailgate parties because they know a crowd is going to show up to watch football. People come to watch the Sevens because they know a crowd is going to show up to party. Tailgating sprung up around a popular sporting event; somehow, the party seems to have come first for the Sevens.
The sport itself seems tailor-made for the States (and there was a U.S.A. team here, which was the worst team in the tournament) so it's a too bad no one has ever heard if it over there. And they are playing this weekend in L.A., but I can't imagine more than a couple hundred people are watching.
It's played on a normal size rugby field, but with half the people (normal rugby is 15 a side). Games are split into two seven-minute halves, with a short halftime and break between each game. This, more than anything, is why it would be perfect for America, since it's already broken up into neat commercial breaks.
It's fast-paced and intense. And no one was watching.
Admittedly, I was only there on the first day, when the 16 teams were playing round-robin rounds in preparation for the Saturday's knock-out rounds. And admittedly, the late parts of the day are pretty hazy in my memory.
But I'm pretty sure I had fun.