Frosh vs. J.V. Scrimmage and the Husky Opener

WEEK #2 of R.M.H.S. Freshmen Football

This was our first full week in pads and it continued to amaze me with the, shall we say, interesting interactions with these 14 year olds.

Girdles: At Rio Mesa we issue snap-in hip and tail pads. They are red in color and quite stylish. These are a new style to most of our players and a few still want to wear the girdle-style hip and tail pads they were accustomed to in Pop Warner football.

With this as a background, I had a young running back approach me before practice in our locker room and ask me where he could put on his girdle. I responded that, of course, you can change here in the locker room. He looked at me with a puzzled look and said "But they're girdles, where can I change?" Again, I said "Here in the locker room." His response? "But I'll have to get naked!" I resisted the impulse to laugh out loud, told him he would be O.K. and he was able to get them on without incident.

Aroma: It took eight days of practice, but on Tuesday when I opened the freshmen locker room, the uniforms and pads had finally reach their full level of fermentation.

Devil Worshipping: Thursday was Picture Day so we had to issue the game jerseys and game pants to all 71 players on the team. As you may know, according to high school, college and pro rules, offensive linemen must were jerseys numbered between 50 and 79, no exceptions! One of our linemen took number 66, a great number in my opinion.

On Friday, #66 came up to me in the locker room asking to change his number to #85 at his Mom's request. I thought it might be a legacy issue with her, something like it was his Dad's  or uncle's old number. It took about 5 minutes for him to finally understand the 50 to 79 number rule and he finally picked another lineman's number. Only later did I find out that his Mother is very religious and did not want her son wearing the "Devil's Number". I didn't have the heart to tell her that the number she should be concerned about is really "666".

Frosh vs. J.V. Scrimmage: On Friday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. we scrimmaged Rio Mesa's J.V. team for about 90 minutes. We started out slowly as our players were a little flustered playing against their older, somewhat more experienced brethren. After the initial shock, we calmed down and competed quite well the rest of the way but we still have a lot of work to do.

At U.S.C., one of their main program success points is "Competition Tuesdays" where their first offense goes against their first defense for 15 minutes every week of the season. Based on Friday's scrimmage, we will go full bore to a take down, 1's vs. 1's for 15 minutes against the J.V.s every "Competition Monday" the rest of our season.

Freshmen in White, J.V.'s in Black

Freshmen tend to be short

The view from the visiting stands,

R.M. varsity in red to the left

Can you feel the intensity of Frosh football

Offensive Huddle

Offensive Coordinator Brian Fitzgerald, in the white T-shirt, with Line Coach John Reardon instructing the offense, while Linebacker Coach Mike Muro and I discuss my inability to get into a hitting stance.

Sunset at John Reardon Field

Shaking hands after the scrimmage 

"What a BEAUTIFUL day to play American football!"

Afterglow

HATS UP, SPARTANS!

COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS FINALLY HERE!

I love college football SO much more than pro football probably because colleges never move to another city and abandon their fans like the Los Angeles Rams did.

The University of Washington Huskies opened the 2008 season Saturday night with a PAC-10 game at the University of Oregon Ducks. As always, my hopes were high for a Husky return to the top levels of BCS bowldom.

Mike and I preparing Cipolatas to enjoy during the Husky's first victory.

Vanessa and Laurie enjoying a glass of wine during the Husky telecast.

Husky Half-time Meal

UW QB Jake Locker #10

The Huskies competed for the first three quarters trailing 24-10 but were blown out in the 4th quarter finally losing 44-10.

The Dawgs home opener is this coming Saturday at Noon vs. BYU. The Cougars are favored to win the 2008 Mountain West Conference championship.

It may be a REALLY long season for my "Purple Gang".

Another Interesting and Somber Weekend

FROSH DON PADS FOR THE FIRST TIME

We put on the armor for the first time on Friday! Having 68 Freshmen all in pads together for the first time led to some funny moments.

Life with the Freshmen is interesting to say the least. Brian FitzGerald, our Offensive Coordinator was 30 minutes late getting to the practice field and I was about 20 minutes late myself. The reason? We had to teach about a dozen kids how to put on their protective gear on back in the locker room!

The zaniest thing that happened was a youngster who came up to us during our 10 minute, mid-practice water break complaining of trouble breathing because his shoulder pads were hitting his throat. Upon inspection, we instructed him to go into the rest room to turn his shoulder pads around, sure enough they were on BACKWARDS!

Installing Our Punt Formation

Organizing the Frosh Horde

Next Up... Field Goal

Coach Danny Solarez

He loves kids and is a GREAT motivator!

Angle Tackling Station

Brian's Open Field Tackling Station

SATURDAY and SUNDAY MEMORIALS for

J.D. PROBASCO

 

J.D. was laid to rest Saturday.

After the graveside ceremony, a memorial was held for him at the Majestic Ventura Theater where he had worked part-time for several years. The theater was absolutely PACKED! The memorial, which included a great slide show and several touching testimonials on J.D.'s behalf, lasted for almost four hours and could have lasted another four.

He touched so many lives so deeply in such a short time.

Ventura Cronies on Sunday for J.D.

From 1:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, Ventura Cronies donated a significant portion of their revenue to the J.D. Probasco Memorial Fund. Again it was so packed that it took us at least one hour to get our food with overflow people sitting at makeshift tables on the sidewalk.

Grandma Florene's 86th Birthday

Laurie's stepmother, Florene, celebrated her 86th birthday this weekend so we invited her to our home for a BBQ.

Mike and I BBQing cipolata. Note the replica of Mt. Etna to the right.

Mike with his Grandma Florene

Grandpa Bill Gardner

Laurie and her Dad discussing the Dodgers' season.

Laurie hard at work in our kitchen.

The Meal

Chowing Down in Our Dining Room

"Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You..."

A Very Sad Day

J.D. Probasco

The worst part about coaching great young men is when one of them is taken way before their time. This morning the Ventura County Star reported that J.D. Probasco had passed away of a rare blood disorder at the age of 23.

When Rick Scott, the former Buena H.S. Head Coach, asked me to join his staff as defensive coordinator in 2001, J.D. was one of the first guys I noticed. First because he was huge and then because of his infectious spirit and positive attitude. In 2002, J.D. was named the Ventura County Offensive Lineman of the Year for his great performance.

I saw J.D. at the Dallas Cowboys camp in Oxnard two weeks ago and we talked for about 15 minutes about football of course. He looked great and his always positive demeanor gave me absolutely no hint that he was ill.

He was a GREAT young guy and everyone who ever met him was better because of it! I'll miss him.

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/aug/20/buena-highs-gentle-giant-dies-at-23/

First Day of Practice

On Tuesday, August 19th we greeted 68 candidates to the 2008 Rio Mesa H.S. Freshmen Football Team. That is a lot of players indeed! About a third of the kids have no previous football playing experience making for a wide variety of knowledge and skill levels.

We will NOT cut any of these players for lack of ability because we know that players mature at different times. Today's third string player may become an all-leaguer by the time he's a Senior.

Warming up the old necks before practice

Agilities are also a big part of our warm up

The team gathers up for some "fired up" words from Coach Solarez before heading to technique work

It was a very good first day of practice but we do have a very long way to go before our scrimmage vs. Royal H.S. two weeks from this Friday.

Time for Another Season

The last ten days have been ones of experimentation, renewed friendships and preparation.

CIPOLATA, THE GRAND EXPERIMENT

In Sicily, one of my favorite foods was cipolata. This concoction is simply green onions wrapped in bacon, barbequed and swabbed with a mixture of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It is simply DELICIOUS!

We fired up the outdoor gas grill and had at it. They turned out pretty good but not quite up to Sicilian standards. I'll need to keep refining my technique until I get this 100% right!

GOLF

I got the chance to hit the links at The Lakes Golf Course in Ventura one last time before the football season starts. I joined Carl Melhorn and Brian FitzGerald, both Rio Mesa H.S. teachers, for this afternoon of fun and friendship.

The very model of consistency, I shot a 53 - 53 = 106. With a little better luck or skill I could have broken the magic 105 barrier!

Renewed Husky Friendships

Saturday saw us at the home of Mike and Sue D'Antuono for a celebration of their 30th year of home ownership of the old Gillette Hunting Lodge in Altadena, California. That's Mike in red and my MUCH better half Laurie on the left. Mike was wrestler in his college days at the University of Washington where I first met him in the late 1960's.

Mike's maternal grandparents immigrated to the U.S.A. from the Sicilian town of Caltanisetta. Laurie and I visited and took pictures of their family's home town back in February. Apparently they were a big hit with Mike and his mother.

There is nothing like getting together with some ex-Huskies for an afternoon of war stories! On the left is former WR Pete "Spear" Claridge and on the right is DB Loren Brucker whose home in Newport Beach we visited last week. Former OL Paul Sabolic chimed in with some stories of his own about both UW football and his recent 3 week family visit to Europe.

As always it was great time to swap tales, find out "what ever happened to..." and just enjoy people you really care about.

A BIRTHDAY

On Sunday we celebrated my mother's 84th birthday in San Marino at one of her favorite restaurants, The Colonial Kitchen for brunch. Our waitress was Rosa who my sister, Marilyn, who set up the affair specially requested. Next to Rosa is our son Michael's fiancee, Vanessa, and in pink is the belle of the ball, Ascuncion "Chuny" Contreras.

That's my sister Linda on the left.

In Sicily, Jason frequently talked about being a tourist in your own town. This was one of those moments for me. Our family moved into our house on Chelsea Road in San Marino in 1958. The Colonial Kitchen has been in it's location all 50 years and is only one very long block from their house. While everyone else in my family has been frequent visitors to this restaurant, I had never been inside their doors!

Well, once inside I ordered their Titan Breakfast. In great American tradition, it was so much food that I did not finish it!!!

I've been missing this boat for a LONG time.

PREPARATION FOR ANOTHER SEASON OF FOOTBALL

The 2008 Rio Mesa High School Freshmen Football season is just around the corner so we had to have a Frosh Staff meeting at Cronies Sports Grill to prepare. I will be the Head Coach and have 5 GREAT assistants to work with! Together we have OVER 160 years of coaching exoperience.

On the left is John Reardon, former Rio Mesa Head Coach and still the second winningest coach in Ventura County history. John will work with the offensive line and linebackers.

Behind me is Danny Solarez, former Hueneme H.S. Head Coach and a long time Spartan assistant. If Danny can't fire you up then you are emotionless. He will work with our offensive backs and trouble shoot on defense where needed. He is a master at teaching young players how to tackle.

Across from Danny in red is Brian FitzGerald. Brian is our Athletic Director, incredibly successful Head Track Coach and a former Spartan running back. He will be our Offensive Coordinator working with the QB's and DB's.

Across from me is Ralph Lemos another former Spartan player. He is in his 14th year coaching at Rio Mesa and will also work with the OL and DL.

The first coach on the right of the picture is Mike Muro. He has coached at Rio Mesa for over 30 years and is great in his attention to detail. He will work with the OL and Linebackers.

We should have a lot of fun as a staff and hopefully all of this knowledge will get transferred to our players.

Standing is Bob Gregorchuk, Rio Mesa's Head Football Coach, at our program's staff meeting Sunday afternoon. He has to oversee a 17 man coaching staff that will work with about 155 players on 3 teams, NOT AN EASY JOB. Here he is covering many of the last minute details that will have an effect on our 2008 football experiences at yet another BBQ.

HANDING OUT FOOTBALL EQUIPMENT

Monday we started handing out equipment to the Freshmen. The Varsity and the Junior Varsity teams had already handed out their equipment the previous Thursday and Friday so the Equipment Room was a little bare by the time we got to issue gear.

Ask any football coach about his least favorite part of the season and I would bet that 90% will say the day you issue gear! The six of us are in that 90%!

Here Brian FitzGerald is seen recording what equipment each player has been issued, collecting money for Spirit Packs and making sure that each player's Parent Permission/Proof of Insurance/Physical Exam Form has been turned in correctly filled out.

Our Varsity wears the Michigan Wings on their helmet, a tradition started in 1993, John Reardon's last as Head Coach at the school. Only the Varsity gets to wear the Wings with the two lower level teams wearing plain black helmets.

For some reason the helmet company sent us four helmets with Ram's horns. We have to send them back and get the correct ones in exchange but I really wanted to get one for Gregorio back in Catania to top off his practice gear ensemble!

Brian took a moment to relive a typical moment from his Spartan playing days back in the 1970's as a running back.

 

A Weekend in the O.C.

Laurie and I spent a WONDERFUL weekend in the heart of Orange County, Newport Beach.

Sandy and Loren Brucker

I first met them as a sophomore at the University of Washington in the fall of 1966!

Loren was in need of tutoring in a Spanish class and I was in need of a roommate to share expenses after the football season was over and we would no longer be living in the athletic dorm/Crew House on the shore of Lake Washington.

Loren wound up being my roommate for the rest of my college days and Laurie and Sandy would also room together for two years!

They now live in a BEAUTIFUL home on the "Peninsula" of Newport Beach near the Fun Zone.

Sandy and Loren's son Ryan

The main reason for our visit was Ryan's 30th birthday party. How is it possible that he still isn't the "little guy" who used to play with our Andy and Mike? 

Ryan's son Jack and his bride Karli

Ride 'em Cowboy!

At the end of the evening, Jack made the announcement that he was going to be a big brother!

Congratulations Karli and Ryan on your second child due in April!!!

Blessed Brian FitzGerald?

As opposed to Italy, where an area as large as the "Peninsula" would have at least 30 Catholic churches, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is the only Catholic church to be found!

Mass lasted OVER one hour and included a sermon against the International Olympic Committee's choice of Beijing as the site of the 2008 games. I almost became a Protestant...

I was stunned to find this stained glass window as an ode to a known Agnostic.

The Balboa Fun Zone

The Ferris Wheel was closed for repairs, thus the missing seats. The Fun Zone here was a BIG part of my youth hanging out as a teenager back in the '60's. Lots of nostalgia here for me.

We decided to rent a boat and cruise

Balboa Bay.

Duffy Boat

We rented this electric powered, low speed, blue topped Duffy Boat for the adventure!

 

SECURITY!!!

As you may know, Balboa Bay has been a hot bed of pirate activity for years now so we decided to bring a swashbuckling enforcer with us just in case.

The obvious choice was Cameron, who is Loren and Sandy's niece's son. Cameron brought his grandparents, Bob and Lucy along as backup.

NO ONE DARED TO APPROACH US!!!

Loren checking out this HUGE blue yacht.

While Cameron skippered the boat, we came upon this yacht owned by the former Prime Minister of Yugoslavia...NO JOKE!

The Wild Goose belonged to John Wayne

The Wild Goose has three decks.

During World War II, the Wild Goose was actually used as a mine detector because it is made of wood and would not set off Japanese magnetic mines.

A GREAT Day to Work on Your Tan

The orange storm fencing is, IN THEORY, supposed to keep the seals off your boat.

You see all sorts of vessels in the bay.

What the heck is this University of Arizona boat doing here?

Somehow I think Jason had something to do with this...

ROAD TRIP!

It was Wednesday and football practice has not started for Rio Mesa while our son Mike had a day off from his work as a transporter at Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks...

ROAD TRIP!!!

Part 1 - Major League Baseball

The Dodgers were in St. Louis but the Giants were hosting the Atlanta Braves in a 12:45 p.m. National League baseball game. Neither one of us had attended a game in the Giants new AT&T Park so it was GAME ON!

We left Casa Contreras at 5:40 a.m. for the 375 mile drive up the El Camino Real Highway 101 to San Francisco. After a couple of pit stops, we arrived at the Park at 11:30 a.m. and were greeted by a girl with extra parking passes who gave us one for no apparent reason other than being at the right place at the right time thus saving us untold millions in potential parking fees.

On the drive to San Francisco I started to think about all the major league baseball stadiums I have seen games in and upon returning home I have come up with the following list of 23 stadiums in 15 major league cities:

Anaheim - The Big A

Baltimore - Memorial Stadium

Boston - Fenway Park

Chicago - Old Comiskey Park and Wrigley Field

Cleveland - Jacobs Field

Denver - Coors Field

Detroit - Tiger Stadium

Los Angeles - Wrigley Field, Los Angeles Coliseum and Dodger Stadium

New York - Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium

Oakland - Oakland Coliseum

Philadelphia - Veterans Stadium

Phoenix - Bank One Ballpark

San Diego - Jack Murphy Stadium and Petco Park

San Francisco - Candlestick Park and AT&T Park

Seattle - Sicks Stadium, Kingdome and Safeco Field

AT&T Park looked very inviting from the outside.

I liked the way they tied in their history in New York as well as their time in San Francisco. 

McCovey Cove

Located right behind the right field wall, any home runs that land in the Cove are called "Splash Hits". We didn't see one yesterday but they have a scoreboard on the right field wall telling everyone that there have been 45 Splash Hits so far this year.

The statue of Willy McCovey is located across the Cove from AT&T Park

GREAT SEATS!

We were down the right field line, five rows from the Atlanta Braves bullpen.

A sunny day inside AT&T Park

Tim Linecum, #55, pitching for the Giants

With no small level of pride, Mark Johnson has informed me that Tim Linecum was a record setting pitcher at the University of Washington before being picked #1 (10th overall) by the Giants in the 2006 draft! I've been out of the country and am somewhat out of the loop still.

He went 8 innings, struck out 8 batters, scattered 5 hits while running his record to 12-3 on the season. Aaron Rowland drove in all three runs as the Giants won for the 48th time in 2008, by a score of 3-2.

Good game that lasted a quick 2 hours and 14 minutes, beautiful day and a great setting for a ball game!

Part 2 - Major College Football

Because the game ended just before 3:00 p.m., we decided to take a chance and pull off the highway about an hour into our trip home to see if the San Jose State University Spartan's football team was practicing, THEY WERE!

Why not stop at Stanford or California instead? Easy, the Spartan's Head Coach is Dick Tomey who was Jason's Head Coach at the University of Arizona for three years. Also, three former Rio Mesa H.S. play for the Spartan's.

Dick Tomey

What a class act, I first saw him in action when he was an assistant coach at UCLA in the 1970's. Besides Arizona and San Jose State, he was also the Head Coach at the University of Hawaii.

I mentioned Jason and the great season he had in Catania and Dick got a big smile on his face and proceeded to tell me what a great guy Jason was at Arizona and how much he enjoyed coaching him!

It was also nice when he mentioned how much he likes players from Rio Mesa H.S.!!!

Jared Strubeck, Rio Mesa H.S., Class of 2005

Jared is a Senior Place Kicker, #10 kicking a Field Goal above

He is a 4 year starter at SJSU as a kicker and has enjoyed a great career. His kicks were booming over the net behind the goal posts.

Josh Harrison, Rio Mesa H.S., Class of 2007

Josh is a redshirt Freshman Wide Receiver, #1 running a pass route above

Josh is battling for a starting position and had a great practice! He caught a 40 yard pass over a defender, shook him and raced another 30 yards with the ball for a 70 yard TD play, the only score of their 20 minute scrimmage.

Ina Liaina, Rio Mesa H.S., Class of 2008

Ina is a true Freshman Linebacker, in his stance in the middle above

Ina missed most of his Senior season in 2007 due to a broken foot. Like most true Freshmen, he is going through an adjustment period at this point and will have to work much harder to move up the depth chart to avoid red shirting.

Mike, on the left, and I evaluating the Spartans and our ex-players

San Jose State has a VERY positive coaching staff and they are really stressing that the players must learn to compete at a high level every day in every practice!

They open at home on August 39th vs. U.C. Davis and then travel to play Nebraska on September 6th.

We finally arrived back in Camarillo at about midnight after stopping for dinner in Pismo Beach at a very good Italian restaurant, Giuseppe's Cucina Italiana.

WHAT A GREAT DAY!!!

"The Sicilians are coming, the Sicilians are coming..."

GREAT NEWS FROM CATANIA!!!

Peppe, a.k.a. "Coppino" and Valeria

I got an e-mail last night from Peppe Strano that he and the fascinating Valeria are coming to California on August 29th!

They will touchdown in Brandon Bennett's backyard, San Diego, rent a car and work their way up the Pacific coast to Seattle before flying to New York City on September 16th. They are making this a football related trip having already purchased tickets to two college games (Tennessee at UCLA and Oklahoma at Washington) and to two NFL games (Denver at Oakland and San Francisco at Seattle).

Laurie and I can not wait to both see them again and host them in the greater L.A. area portion of their trek. They were both so good to us in Italy, we really want to repay their many kindnesses on their visit to the Golden State.

I have already alerted our good friends, Mark and Susie Johnson, who live in Seattle and visited us in Catania, about the Pacific Northwest part of their excursion. They have already contacted Peppe and Valeria about hosting them for one of their great pre-game tailgates before the Oklahoma game.

GOOD TIMES, INDEED!

The Grandmas and a Great Westlake H.S. Football Alum

Laurie and I joined our friends Brian and Koreen FitzGerald on Sunday night to watch their son Mike perform at a local club called Rock City. His four piece rock band, The Grandmas, is made up of all Rio Mesa H.S. alums (Austin, Niles and Mike's first cousin Ian). They do a great job with their musical instruments but still need to work on their singing. Still, they are very entertaining and have quite a large following locally.

Glenn Wellman, Westlake H.S., Class of 1982 

Glenn was the first player I worked with as a Head Coach to receive a Division I football scholarship. In the spring of 1982 he signed a Letter of Intent to play for the University of Arizona. Glenn was a fast, bruising RB for us and just a great young man who I really enjoyed coaching!

We ran into him outside of Rock City. His oldest daughter just graduated from Buena H.S. in Ventura and his son will be a freshman at Buena this fall. I feel old!

The Grandmas in Action

They got the name because they first started practicing in Mike and Ian's grandmother's house. 

From the left you see Mike, Niles and Austin. I don't know who that is behind Austin walking across the stage. Ian is their drummer and is not visible in this shot.

PYFL Football Clinic

Verne Merrill was an outstanding baseball player on the 1974 Thousand Oaks H.S. freshmen baseball team that was the league co-champions that season. I was the VERY inexperienced coach of that team. His future wife, Debbie, was one of our stat girls and would be our oldest son Andy's first babysitter!

Thirty-four years later, Verne is a Board Member for the Pacific Youth Football League. Commonly referred to as Pop Warner Football, this organization has 17 chapters with various age level teams exposing pre-high schoolers to the great game of American football. The PYFL's 17 chapters are found all over the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County.

Every year Verne hosts a football clinic at Newbury Park H.S. in August to give the PYFL coaches a chance to learn some more about football from high school and community college coaches in the area.

I was invited by Verne to speak today to the PYFL coaches about "Special Teams Organization" and my experiences coaching in Italy. 

David Townsley and Ted Smith

These two former Thousand Oaks H.S. linebackers are now parents and PYFL coaches! They were seniors on our 8-3 1977 team that lost in the quarter-finals 7-3 to traditional powerhouse Long Beach Poly H.S.

David was an outside LB who played at 170 pounds and was All-C.I.F. as well as the Marmonte League and Ventura County Defensive MVP in 1977.

Ted was an all-Marmonte League middle LB playing at a whopping 160 pounds!!!

It was GREAT to see these two guys today and to see that they are still involved in football. They both look like they could still play a few downs if needed!

Some of the PYFL coaches who sat in on my 90 minute talk.

I also talked up the Elephants and put told them to let any of their former players who might still be playing as seniors in college to keep us in mind as an option for their future plans!

During the day, I realized that this upcoming season is my 50th as either a player or coach!!!!!!

Lassen Heads to the Beijing Olympics

David Lassen, long time friend of this blog and the Ace sports reporter for the Ventura County Star newspaper, is on his way to Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics as I write this blog post.

His main assignment is to cover the ten U.S. Olympic team members with Ventura Couty roots. Considering that only about 980,000 people live in Ventura County, that is a very large number of athletes indeed!

The Bryan Twins at Wimbledon

My two favorite people he will cover are two former American Government students of mine at Rio Mesa H.S., tennis doubles partners and twin brothers, Bob and Mike Bryan. In the picture above they have just won the Men's Doubles Championship at Wimbledon in 2006.

In his article today, David expressed concern that, given Chinese governmental attitudes, he may have a hard time trying "... to visit the Web sites of newspapers? ESPN? George Contreras?"

This got me to check the Google Analytics website that has kept track of this blog since Jason Johnson hooked me up to that website on February 1, 2008. In the six months now that the Analytics site has tracked my blog it can report the following:

We've had 21,820 visits

We've had 5,139 different visitors

People in 83 different countries have been on the blog

Not to worry David, we have already had five visits from China to date so you should be O.K. with me... ESPN might be a whole different issue though.

P.S.   THANKS to everybody who has supported the blog, it is VERY gratifying to see these incredible numbers!

A Final Ventura County Star Interview About the 2008 Elephant's Season

David Lassen interviewed me last Monday in order to write a final recap of the experiences I shared with the 2008 Elephants. 

This was the third such interview I have done with David this season for the Ventura County Star newspaper. We did one before when I made the decision to go to Catania back in October and the second one occurred at the mid-season point when I flew home for our son Michael's graduation from California State University-Channel Islands in May.

Thank you David for all of your support and travel tips on the Grand Tour.

David's pre-season article, dated October 18, 2007, can be found at:

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/oct/18/no-headline---sc1fclassen18col-fc/

His mid-season, May 18, 2008 article is available at:

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/may/18/contreras-enjoying-sicilys-slice-of-life/

Today's August 1, 2008 post season can be seen at:

 http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/aug/01/for-contreras-coaching-football-in-sicily-a/

Lassen: For Contreras, coaching football in Sicily a positive experience

By David Lassen (Contact) 
Friday, August 1, 2008

It was never just about football, but football made it possible. And memorable.

George Contreras has returned from his seven-month adventure coaching an American football team in Sicily — discussed here on prior occasions and on his blog "Coaching for Pizza" — and it's safe to say the experience was a good one.

Good enough that, before he left the Catania Elephants, Contreras — who this year served as the team's defensive coordinator — agreed to return in 2009, this time as head coach.

"I'm looking forward to going back," said Contreras. "I'm not sure I'm too crazy about being the head coach."

The long-time local high school coach in Ventura County was in Sicily from January to July, visiting Spain, France, England, the Czech Republic and Austria along the way. Mostly, though, he saw Italy in a way few of us ever will.

"It got to the point where this was home; I'm not visiting any more," Contreras said. "You get into the day-to-day life of things. The biggest thing was just seeing everything and never feeling like we were super rushed."

As allowed by Italian Football League rules, Catania had three North American imports on his roster. One was Jason Johnson, a former University of Arizona, Buffalo Bills and Edmonton Eskimos quarterback who played that position for the Elephants, served as the team's offensive coordinator, and — along with his wife, Christie — shared an apartment with Contreras.

Johnson is not sure he'll return to Catania next year. But he, too, had a great experience.

"I don't think there was a day that went by that we didn't try to absolutely milk it for what it was worth," Johnson said. " For George, it was about having this whole experience of living in another culture, and experiencing football in that culture."

That meant everything from learning to deal with the local style of driving — "All Italian driving is based on greed," asserts Contreras, "what's best for me at this moment" — to the Italian way of doing business (Contreras left, after 199 days, never having received the high-speed Internet connection promised in 10 working days).

The Italian way shows up on the football field in unusual ways — the Elephants played all season in their red home jerseys because the sponsor logos were never sewn on the white road uniforms — and that made for some occasional coaching ups and downs.

Since the Italian players on the roster are playing strictly out of the love of the game (the imports receive a modest salary), practice attendance often took a back seat to job and family commitments. And the team was decimated by injuries, so Contreras had to learn to roll with the punches.

"There were a number of times," said Johnson, "when we would spend an hour or two scripting out practice and making elaborate plans, just to show up and have to throw it all out the window to work with the guys who were able to make it that night.

"It was definitely an adjustment, but I think at the same time, it was a fresh approach for George, dealing with the game through innocent eyes, almost."

Catania — making the jump from the third division of Italian football to the first — went 6-4 and lost in the first round of the playoffs. With the help of his players, Contreras came to appreciate what an accomplishment that was. He recalled a conversation with Marco Raino, a defensive lineman who's been playing for Catania for more than a decade, after the team lost 57-43 in a game at Bologna.

"He said, Coach, did you see what they were doing?' " Contreras recalled.

"Well, yeah, I saw them celebrating.

" Well, you don't understand how great that was.'

"I said, What?' "

Raino explained Catania had played Bologna a number of times over the years, and had always been routed, with Bologna treating the victory like no big deal. They were celebrating, they said, because they didn't think they could win.

"We're just excited to see we can compete with these guys, and make them work for a victory," said Raino. "It's not like the old days."

That the players were excited about the improvement, and felt they'd improved fundamentally, was "an exciting thing," said Contreras. And that he now understands the ways of Italian football is clear when he makes an admission that would be foreign to almost any football coach: the team probably needs to practice less.

"It's really just kind of like street football," he says. "Let's get out there and let the good guys play. You've got to have guys and just let them go."

In his Italian offseason, Contreras will coach at Rio Mesa High and work to recruit players for next season. He'll also speak positively of his Italian football experience to anyone who wants to listen.

"Anybody who's just out of college and still wants to play should go," Contreras said. " It's one of my selling points to guys: You can go right now out of college, or you can wait until you're 60 years old and retired. In between, it's going to be really hard for you to say adios for seven months.

"Every kid coming out of college who can do it, they're missing the boat if they don't."

Contreras didn't do it until he was retired. But he didn't miss the boat.

— Contact columnist David Lassen at dlassen@VenturaCountyStar.com. For more on Contreras' thoughts on football in Europe, as well as a few stories about Contreras from quarterback Jason Johnson, see Lassen's blog athttp://blogs.VenturaCountyStar.com/lassen