It has been basically quiet in Ventura County but let's do a bit of catching up.
Koreen and Brian FitzGerald
at Casa Contreras
We got together with our long-time friends and Mike, Vanessa and Jacob for a Valentine's Dinner last Friday.
Spaghetti was the Main Course
Jacob opted for other food groups
After Dinner Catch
It's Super Terror
On Saturday, we were off to San Marino to visit with my Mother, Aunt and Sisters.
My sister Linda with Jacob
Great-Grandmother Chuny and Jacob
My sister Marilyn and I discussing the why
her USC Trojans are going down in 2014
Vanessa and Jacob
No, he did not break anything.
Marilyn, Mike and Aunt Katie
watching the Sochi Winter Olympics
I think that I had a good weekend
Romania's Baia Mare Mariners
About two months ago, I was contacted via EuroPlayers.com by a representative of a fledgling American football team in the city of Baia Mare in beautiful Transylvania, a region of Romania.
I had no clue as to who he was and I had never heard of his team. He had a simple request, could I possibly secure some used but free American football team to get his newly founded team started?
I looked his team up and found this informational video about their plight on YouTube:
OK, I smiled too, but in my heart I knew that I had to at least try to help them with the aid of some fellow high school coaches at Alemany, Carpinteria, Channel Islands, Fillmore and Rio Mesa High Schools.
So, how did we do for the Miners?
A Total of Nine Boxes of Gear
Ready to Ship to Romania
It took a lot of driving around Southern California but we came up with a lot of good, used gear to help the Miners get started.
Fortunately, the Miners found a Romanian export company that is based in Chicago that will send the nine boxes to Baia Mare for a mere $.90/pound. The cost of mailing the boxes from Camarillo to Chicago is actually just a bit more than the trans-Atlantic shipping costs.
Thanks to all of the coaches who found the time to go through their inventory and donate their excess used equipment to a very worthy cause . . . "Feeding the EuroBall Passion for American Football One Team at a Time"
Speaking of EuroBall, the French Division II season started today. As you may recall, by virtue of winning the 47 team 2013 French Division III National Championship, your Bron-Villeurbanne Falcons were promoted to the 18 team Division II French season in 2014.
Today in Aix-en-Provence, the Falcons (0-1) fell 41-38, in a hard fought battle, to the Southern Conference favorite Argonautes (1-0). Up next is a home game next Sunday against the Toulouse Ours (1-0).
As for the other EuroBall teams I have coached, here is a list of their opening games:
March 2nd in Italy
Palermo Sharks at Catania Elephants
March 30th in Switzerland
Thun Tigers at Geneva Seahawks
May 25 in Sweden
Hässleholm Hurricanes at Ystad Rockets
I am really starting to miss not living and coaching in Europe this Spring/Summer.
Reading Is FUNdamental
The Nazi occupy the French region of Aquitaine in 1943 when a beautiful, young French woman is found brutally murdered near the Bergerac Prefecture.
The Chief of Vichy Police in the town suspects that the city's German SD Police Major is the killer.
Thus begins a soul searching transformation from an unwilling collaborator to an avenging Frenchman for our Police Chief hero.
It was a good read about survival in one of France's most difficult times.
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