JAMAICAN TOUR 1998

In an effort to top the previous year’s Bahamian Tour, the team once again headed to the Caribbean, but this time, it was Mo’ Bay Jamaica where “Hurricane Husker” made landfall during Spring Break. 

The Select Husker Invitational Touring Side (S.H.I.T.S. ) almost did not make it out the states. After everyone was asked to chip in for gas for the charter flight, a mechanical issue with the plane grounded the team for an extended time in the Atlanta Airport.  Apparently, it is a serious offense to run on the tarmac in a stolen airplane life vest.  After an impromptu game of rugby ignited in the terminal, airport police located an officer large enough to halt the game long enough to assure us that he had “room for everyone” in his vehicle. No arrests were made.

After a well-intentioned, yet misunderstood, effort to conduct an in-flight smoke detector test using Mardi Gras beads and a disposable Bic lighter, the grateful flight crew and bystanders could joyfully supported our efforts to drink the plane dry once in international waters.

Tour Highlights included: LOTS of Appleton Rum, Red Stripe Beer, Ting (a grapefruit soda that served as the sole N/A source of hydration), Jamaica goat meat pockets, “Doggie Drags” on white sheets, group Zulus, victorious dance contests, reckless SCUBA diving, Mayan sundials, cliff jumping, bribing a policeman to not take a rookie to jail, beach rugby, hiring a local Rasta named Chino, nearly getting mugged with a switchblade and rusty bike chain, and renting a local guitar player to play for us on the bus as we toured the island and purchased the freshest local agricultural products American money could buy. 

As for rugby, the squad played the junior national team on an active cow pasture near the beach where Chino, our Rasta Sherpa, wandered the field, oblivious to the carnage happening around him, so he could make everyone post-game mushroom tea.  Needless to say, this along with the variety of smoke they provided made for an interesting ride home.  Handicapping our 2X size advantage with a toxic accumulation of Appleton and nitrogen in the team bloodstream left us overmatched by their speed and youth and sobriety.

Some returned with the Jamaican Tour Jersey or a souvenir conch shell….and a select few of the East Campus Ag students brought back enough Jamaican vegetation to last them well into the spring season.