# Is this the real life? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 11, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-real-life/391778 "2007-02-11T23:16:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-real-life/391778/21 "2007-02-12T18:51:00Z")
I remember the very day I first heard this as a newly-released song, while driving around Wilshire Boulevard in L.A… I was first gobsmacked at the beauty of Freddie’s voice, and then I started head-banging right on cue. I guess it just has that effect on people. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-real-life/391778/22 "2007-02-12T19:04:32Z")
[QUOTE=unfinished symphony] btw when i see your name **jjimm** i picture a stutterer [/QUOTE] Oh yeah? Well the lazy composer store called, and they’re fresh out of _you_. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-real-life/391778/23 "2007-02-12T19:05:29Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] In a way: it’s a game played by men with odd shaped balls. [/QUOTE] And women. So sayeth the former tight-head prop. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-real-life/391778/24 "2007-02-12T19:22:20Z")
I’m not the only one who thinks it’s a direct rip off of Stairway to Heaven though, right? (Except STH didn’t have opera. But it starts soft, gathers steam, turns into hard rock, then ends with you groping your high school date’s ass" at the end is similar, right?) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-real-life/391778/25 "2007-02-12T19:28:12Z")
[QUOTE=Quiddity Glomfuster] Does anybody listen to that in their car and not do just a leetle bit of the Wayne’s World head bop? [/QUOTE] I don’t think it’s physically possible NOT to. Not to bop your head, that is, not to not bop your head. What I’m trying to say is, yes, I bop my head, and so does everyone else in the known universe. Sheesh. Having trouble communicating today. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-real-life/391778/26 "2007-02-12T19:43:52Z")
[QUOTE=Pygmy Rugger] Tucks much more nicely under the arm that way. And flies better when kicked, as it has a smaller cross-sectional area to volume ratio than a round ball. [/QUOTE] And you can do the _Jeff Wilson_ grub kick - a low little kick along the ground just faster than the winger can run that pops up into the air on the third bounce, right into his hands at full speed and away to the corner post for a try. Awesome. Seriously, the physics of the oval ball dictate that the popup will actually happen. The skill of the kicker is making it happen reliably. Si ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-real-life/391778/27 "2007-02-12T19:48:33Z")
Did someone mention physics? Fermi…Fermi…Fermi! ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-real-life/391778/28 "2007-02-12T19:54:12Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] In a way: it’s a game played by men with odd shaped balls. [/QUOTE] And even odder shaped ears. Man, those rugby players got some odd ears. But their thighs make up for them. Mmmmm, rugby thighs… ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-real-life/391778/29 "2007-02-12T19:58:59Z")
[QUOTE=Surly Chick] And even odder shaped ears. Man, those rugby players got some odd ears. But their thighs make up for them. Mmmmm, rugby thighs… [/QUOTE] But you know why rugby players have thighs - so other rugby players can wrap their arms round them and try to stick their head up his … How do do you think cauliflower ears happen - mistakes forming the scrum. 😛 Si ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-real-life/391778/30 "2007-02-12T20:02:26Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] It makes sense when you learn the history of the game. At Rugby school they were playing soccer one day. A certain William Webb-Ellis got bored of just using his feet, so picked up the ball and ran it over the goal line, thus winning the match. [/QUOTE] It was a blatant handball. Bastard ref was got at. I hope Webb-Ellis got caned. Across the eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-real-life/391778/31 "2007-02-12T20:03:55Z")
[QUOTE=si\_blakely] But you know why rugby players have thighs - so other rugby players can wrap their arms round them and try to stick their head up his … [/QUOTE] Stop ruining the fantasy! Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-real-life/391778/32 "2007-02-12T20:06:51Z")
When I was at school I sometimes had to play Lock in a scrum. I think this position has now been rescinded. It involved being in the back of the scrum with your head between two people’s arses, with your arm between one of the player’s legs, holding onto the front of his shirt, with his testes resting gently on your upper arm. It wasn’t my favourite position. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-real-life/391778/33 "2007-02-12T20:42:59Z")
To shift to another song reference: _I want to live the real life, I want to live my life close to the bone Just 'cause I’m middle-aged, that don’t mean I wanna sit around the house and watch TV… I want a real life, I want to live the real life_ (-John Mellencamp) ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-real-life/391778/34 "2007-02-12T21:13:10Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] I don’t think it’s physically possible NOT to. Not to bop your head, that is, not to not bop your head. What I’m trying to say is, yes, I bop my head, and so does everyone else in the known universe. Sheesh. Having trouble communicating today. [/QUOTE] You know who never bopped their head to “Boheimian Rhapsody”? That’s right: Hitler! ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-real-life/391778/35 "2007-02-12T22:06:34Z")
> [@](#): > > > [@jjim](#): > > > > In a way: it’s a game played by men with odd shaped balls. > > [QUOTE=ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies] > And women. [/quote] So, single guys aren’t allowed to play? And are the women oddly shaped, too? ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-real-life/391778/36 "2007-02-12T22:19:38Z")
Opinions vary. But it is often possible to catch some cheap thrills a player will commonly peel off her jersey on the sidelines and hand it to her replacement. Blood, sweat, mud and all… ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2007, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-real-life/391778/37 "2007-02-12T22:35:19Z")
By the way, if anyone loves and misses Queen, do check out “Grace Kelly” by new, and slightly odd British artist [Mika](http://www.mikasounds.com/us/). The similarities are great, and it’s not a bad homage. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-real-life/391778.md?page=1)