The Mad Cow!

Alistair Blevins (aka Mad Cow) was born on February 2, 1976 in Crawley, England. He first came to America in 1999 to work for an asset management group as a marketing executive. Here, Alistair did two very important things. First, he took a job that was within walking distance of nearly everything he wanted to do… eat, drink, play, and sleep. Second, he went to Pep Boys, but that is a different story.

Alistair began playing rugby at the tender age of eight and played competitively with the University of Plymouth, the Royal Air Force Cadets, and the Crawley Town RFC. Finally, playing for Pasadena RFC, which he serendipitously found on the Internet. Recently, Alistair has taken up training for Marathons, but he true love has been “to go fast.” Ricky Bob…er Alistair loves watching Formula UUUN, tinkering with his vintage Mustang and talking about his time in a Jet as a Cadet.

Alistair now resides Cape Town, South Africa where, as an Englishmen, he is constantly defending the play of England’s Rugby team. Yet he finds solace in being genetically superior in nearly every way to his new countrymen.

Alistair played inside and outside center as well as a brief, and ill-advised, stint at flanker and one horrific trip to flyhalf. On a more positive note, Alistair is most remembered for a “blinder” of a game he played against the North County Gurkhas where he scored three tries to help the maroon and black overcome a 33-point deficit in the second half. That year, 2000, Alistair was named the teams MVP. The Second most memorable…errr…memory (as well as his third, fourth, fifth ad nauseam) was any time he dropped the ball, which was a lot by most accounts. It was Allen the surmised that there is a very sad clown missing his pie plates, because it was apparent that Alistair had stolen them and taped them to his hands when playing.

All kidding aside, Alistair was a perfect example of what Pasadena Rugby is about. He embodied what rugby is supposed to be both on and off the field. He was one of the most solid players to have graced our field. He was the type of teammate that would help change a tire at 11:00 pm or share his last hotdog and Budweiser (usually in a can) when you arrived unannounced.

The following is a recap penned by an old boy, Martin Jimenez (with some redactions), from Alistair’s 25th birthday party….

…[Alistair began and ended the night] consuming liquor like a Biafra child devouring rice. His ensuing alcohol-induced antics are legendary. After annoying the North Woods Inn dinner guests with his incessant offerings of friendship and birthday cake that he continuously dropped en route to their tables, he and Mark Frazier stormed the stage and forced the hired piano player into submission. The two then proceeded with their renditions of classic rock favorites, the most memorable being Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Their cacophony was complimented by the sound of shattering glass from the bottle of tequila that Club president “Hands” Angelica had smuggled in, and in an uncanny moment of life imitating rugby, juggled and dropped. If that wasn’t enough, after relocating to the Crown City for a night cap(s), Alistair initiated a break-dancing war and later felt compelled to chase the female patrons around the pub with his twig and berries exposed as he exclaimed, “I’ve got a small willy! I’ve got a small willy!” When the dust cleared and he finally tired, he walked up the stairs to the second level of the Brewery with a full pint, looked down upon the crowd and proceeded to empty its contents in one swift chug. In a sudden flash of Greek-ness, he heaved the empty glass down to the floor as the already stunned crowd watched in horror! In typical limy fashion, he could not finish the job and the glass lay unbroken. He spent the rest of the morning on his knees regurgitating about $150.00 worth of steak, potato and liquor…

Alistair has a brother, who lives in the States and a Mum and Dad that live in England. Alistair shares his love of Port Wine with his father, but not his mother’s extreme love of washing clothes. He constantly promises to return to the States some day, but until that happens we all wish him well in whatever adventure he has taken to…this year.

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