"Hurricanes fortsätter satsa amerikanskt"

This post's title is the headline of an article today in one of Sweden's newspapers. It translates into "Hurricanes continue to invest American".

I'm now officially a Swedish investment property!

I was contacted by Tomas Gustavsson, a sports writer for the newspaper NorraSkåne that services the greater Hässleholm, Sweden megalopolis. He wanted a little background information on the Hurricanes new "Amerikanskt" Head Coach from "Kalifornien".

If you want to see his article click on the website below.

http://www.nsk.se/article/20091106/SPORT/711069943/1127/sport/*/hurricanes-fortsatter-satsa-amerikanskt

On a weather note, the Hurricanes Uffe Palmbrink e-mailed me that the first snow of the season fell in Hässleholm yesterday. Camarillo was also chilly with a high of 69˚F = 20.5˚C and a low of 51˚F = 10.5˚C. . .BRRRR!!!

Oxnard Frosh Game

Thursday saw us suiting up for our last home game of the 2009 season for a contest with the Oxnard Yellowjackets. They would be a formidable opponent coming into the game with a solid 6-2 record that included SIX shutouts!

Brian FitzGerald and I strategizing before the opening kickoff.

The Spartans on offense running the Option

Our offense has been a trouble spot all season long so points, yards, even inches would all be hard to earn vs. the 'Jackets defense.

The Topa Topa Mountains

Always a beautiful backdrop to John Reardon Field this time of the year.

Spartan Defense Played TOUGH!

I could not be prouder of our kids on defense as we forced Oxnard into four "3 and out" punts and held them on downs on three other possesions! The 'Jackets had been scoring a ton of points this year and our defense held them to only 7 points!

Unfortunately, Oxnard would return a punt about 40 yards for a second TD to up their lead to 14-0 half way through the third quarter.

Again, Fall Sunsets are just plain gorgeous

in El Rio!

Post Game Talk

Oxnard improved to 7-2 on the season and 3-1 in Pacific View League play as they notched their seventh shutout of the campaign in beating us 14-0.

We are now 3-6 for the season, 2-2 in PVL play.

We have one more game left on our schedule at cross-town rival Camarillo who is now 8-1 and alone in first place in the PVL at 4-0. Kickoff next Thursday is set for 5:30 p.m.

Young Coach Michael Contreras was cold

It was indeed California cold which is nothing like Swedish cold I'm sure!!!

Sunset in El Rio

Monday night was our first day of practice after the time change back to Pacific Standard Time. This means that we have one less hour of daylight in the evening so our practices these last two weeks of the season have to be very efficient to beat the sunset.

As I walked out to my car after our workday was done I caught sight of this spectacular sunset.

The mountains on the horizon to the left are actually part of the Channel Islands National Park located about 20 miles off the California coastline.

Colors like these are part of the charm of

El Rio, California

Weekly College Football Report

It is time for my weekly report on college football games of interest to our Swedish and Italian blogophiles.

HURRICANE WARNING!!!

It was a split weekend for the fans in Hässleholm, Sweden.

The Miami Hurricanes won a thriller 28-27 over Wake Forest to improve to 6-2 on the season.

Unfortunately, the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes lost to SMU 13-27 to drop to 4-4 on the campaign.

TEAMS OF INTEREST IN CATANIA

Hardin-Simmons Wins Again!

Hardin-Simmons beat always tough Texas Lutheran 38-22 to raise their record to 5-4.

Nebraska-Omaha (6-4) beat the Pittsburg State GORILLAS 31-28 in overtime. . .

GREAT NICKNAME!

Wabash is now 7-1 after defeating Oberlin 41-9.

San Diego (3-5) lost to Dayton 14-21.

BYE WEEKS

Three of Sicily's favorite teams enjoyed BYE weeks on the Halloween weekend.

Willamette (6-2), Arizona (5-2) and Washington (3-5) all got a week to heal and prepare for next week's games.

Halloween Party

About a month ago, as Laurie was opening her EIGHT orange and black plastic crates of Halloween ornaments, she suddenly got the bright idea to have us host a Halloween party.

I was initially not very excited by the prospect but I must admit, we wound up having a lot of fun as people arrived in costume. The fact that while the party was going on we also watched Oregon defeat USC 47-20 may have added to the evening's festive mood.

Our Hostess, Witch Laurie

"Wayne's World, Party On!"

Scott as Garth and Angie as Wayne

Star Wars meets a Disney Movie

Elizabeth as Princess Leia, Luke as. . . well Luke, Vanessa as Dopey and Mike as Snow White. . .

Good Grief!

DON'T TAKE A BITE OF THAT APPLE!

Bufford here definitely stepped up in class tonight

Koreen as a retired Playboy Bunny (I think she could still hang in there quite nicely at the Mansion) and Brian as Bufford, the Earl of Skunk Hollow, Mississippi

Parties always mean good munchies!

Dopey,

are the other six Dwarfs coming over too?

Trick or Treaters a little stunned by

Snow White's beauty

The seedy side of Halloween

Gonzo as The Pimp Daddy of Camarillo and Pam as one of his "co-workers"

God Help Us!

Lorenzo as The Terminator and Lauren as Sister Mary Thomas Sadistic

"But We're Cousins. . ."

Yoda's in the House!

Carlos as Anakin Skywalker with his son Nicholas as Yoda

Group Party Picture

GOOD TIMES INDEED!

Pacifica JV and Varsity Games

Friday night means another series of high school football games in America. We'll start with the Rio Mesa JV game.

JV Defense

This has been the strength of our JV team in '09 and today would be more of the same.

You MUST control the line of scrimmage!

A lot of pink on our uniforms tonight in honor of those who are battling or have battled cancer.

JV Toss Sweep

The JVs surged to a 34-0 lead before cruising to a 34-13 victory. The JVs are now 8-0 on the season and 3-0 in the Pacific View League.

The Run Through Sign

A staple of high school Varsity pre-games all over the USA. The Cheerleaders make 'em. . .

. . . and the Varsity breaks 'em!

Bombs Away Spartans!

The varsity got off to a quick start but Pacifica just played a more physical game and wore down the Spartans in the end.

Pacifica prevailed 35-14 making the Spartans 5-3 overall and 2-1 in PVL action.

Just before halftime I took this picture of an apparent Hurricane on the field.

Wouldn't you know it, it was an omen because. . .

. . .Two students from Sweden were in the stands!

Introducing Caroline Sjoqvist and Anton Eldh from Sweden. Theses two teenagers are going to observe classes at Rio Mesa for the next two weeks and I am going to be asking them a ton of questions during their stay here.

They are both from a town, whose name I should have written down, that is about 200 miles north of Stockholm which puts them approximately 600 miles from Hässleholm. Still, they both knew where the Home of the Hurricanes was located. Two nice young people indeed!

Cat Conti at Cronies

We ran into young Ms. Conti after our game last night. She was fresh off working the Camarillo vs. Channel Islands football game.

When I first met Cat about a dozen years ago, she was working at Camarillo's Cronies Sports Grill and working on getting her Teaching Credential.

She professed an interest in becoming a high school football referee, a first for a woman in our area and a rarity in the USA in general. Brian FitzGerald and I got her in touch with the head of our area's referee association and the rest as they say is history.

Cat is now an English teacher at Westlake H.S and is in her TENTH YEAR as a ref! She has gradually worked her way up to working NCAA Division II games in the Northwest Conference featuring teams in Oregon and Washington. Additionally, she has also been assigned to work one of the five California State Championship Bowl games at the end of this season.

A remarkable young lady don't you think!

Meanwhile 100 miles north of us. . .

Templeton Eagles 41 - Cabrillo Conquistadores 14

Riccardo Conticello's team dropped another one to sink to 1-7 on the campaign. We are going to try to drive up to Morro Bay for his game next Friday.

Pacifica Frosh Game

Thursday the Spartan Frosh team played at home against the Pacifica Tritons. Going into the game we believed that this would be a very close contest and, as it turned out, we were correct.

Defensive Line warming up with Angle Tackling

Opening Kickoff of the Game

It was pretty much downhill for us after this point as we could not stop hurting ourselves.

Our micues included a Kickoff Return where the kick ricocheted off of one of our front five players and right back into the waiting arms of a Triton at midfield. How common is this? It is only the second time that I've seen this happen in 42 seasons of coaching!

Our more conventional turnovers were three lost fumbles (one at the 2 yard line on 1st and goal) and a game ending interception in the end zone.

It is hard to win a close contest when we commit FIVE TURNOVERS!

Final Score: Pacifica 12 - Rio Mesa 6

This disappointing day dropped our record to 3-5 on the season and 2-1 in Pacific View League games.

I was very proud of our defense's effort in only allowing one TD off of these five turnovers and of our team's never say die attitude in the face of adversity. Our kids fought hard and we had a chance to win it in the closing minute of the game as we drove down to the 15 yard line before throwing a pick.

After the game,

Mike with Vanessa and his In-Laws

The Perez family showed up to the game in support of their new Son-in-Law/Brother-in-Law.

NFL Sunday Results

We watched the New Orleans Saints play at the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. . . GREAT GAME!

Saints QB Drew Brees

We are currently Saints fans because our God Son, Scott Fujita, is their starting Outside Linebacker. When he played for the Kansas City Chiefs for three years, we were Chief fans, when he spent a season with the Dallas Cowboys we were Cowboy fans and for the last four years it has been "GO SAINTS!".

For more on Scott go to http://www.nflplayers.com/REAL/#/all-players Scott is #55 on the bottom row of the pictures that will pop up for you.

The Dolphins were SMOKIN', taking a commanding 24-3 lead before Drew Brees ran a QB sneak with 2 seconds left in the first half to make it Dolphins 24-10 at the intermission.

Back and forth in the 3rd quarter with the Dolphins still leading 34-24 with 15 minutes left in the game.

The Fourth Quarter? The Saints went wild scoring 22 unanswered points to win 46-34!

The Saints are now 6-0 and the Dolphins dropped to 2-4. WHAT A GAME!

Only the 6-0 Indianapolis Colts and 6-0 Denver Broncos can match the saints record at this time. By the way, this is the first time in NFL history that three teams are still undefeated this late in a season.

Patriot Defense Swarming in London

Meanwhile, across the pond, the New England Patriots (5-2) hammered the Tampa Bay Bucaneers (0-7) 35-7 in front of 84,254 fans at Wembley Stadium in London.

College Football Results of Interest

Another great

College Football Saturday!

Here are the results of interest to my friends in Sweden and Sicily.

Hurricane Watch

It was a bad weekend for Hässleholm's two favorite Division I teams.

Clemson (4-3) 40 - Miami (5-2) 37

The Hurricanes lost in overtime

UTEP (3-4) 28 - Tulsa (4-3) 24

The Golden Hurricanes played Wednesday night for BIG TV money

Now it is on to teams

of interest in Catania

First, the winners:

Arizona (5-2) 27 - UCLA (3-4) 13

Jason was at the game and quite happy I'm sure!

Hardin-Simmons (4-4) 29 - Sul Ross

State (2-5) 6

Matt's Cowboys are finishing strong.

Wabash (6-1) 37 - Wooster (4-3) 27

Denver's team rebounds nicely from last week's heart breaking loss.

And now for aturday's Silver Medal Winners:

Oregon (6-1) 43 - Washington (3-5) 19

My Dawgs keep competing which is good but we also keep losing which is bad. We've now dropped two straight since the miracle against Arizona.

Jacksonville (4-3) 34 - San Diego (3-4) 16

Taber's team losses two in a row for the first time this season.

Central Missouri State (7-2) 49 - Nebraska-Omaha (5-4) 31

Second straight loss for Larry's team as well.

Linfield (7-0) 30 - Willamette (6-2) 27

A huge Northwest Conference game did not go Brandon's way.

The NFL is playing

in London Today!

The annual NFL regular season game in London's historic Wembly Stadium is today between the 4-2 Patriots and the 0-6 Bucaneers.

I'm guessing that several Hässleholm Hurricanes and Catania Elephants are in attendance enjoying an up close look at American football at the highest level.

O.K., maybe I stretched the truth with the Tampa Bay playing at the highest level reference.

New Hässleholm Hurricanes Website

I'm happy to announce that your Hässleholm Hurricanes of the Swedish American Football League, officially the VERY cool

"Sveriges Amerikanska Fotbollförbund"

have a new and improved website that you can find at

http://hässleholm-hurricanes.se:/text2_13.html

NJUT, which is "ENJOY" in Swedish. . . I think.