Sun.-Tue., January 21-23, 2024
While the NFL season is winding down, the American football playing leagues in Europe are beginning to ramp up.
Let's start with Week #2 of
Spain's elite circuit, Serie A
A close game as expected,
The Gijón Mariners are now 1-1 in the Western Conference while the Alcobendas Cavaliers dropped to 0-2.
The defending 2023 Serie A Champion
Black Demons had their way with
the Camioneros
The Las Rozas Black Demons are 1-0 in the West, tied for First Place with the 1-0 Osos Rivas who had a bye this past weekend.
The Coslada Camioneros are now 1-1 for the fledgling 2024 campaign.
Serie A Western Conference Standings
1T. Las Rozas Black Demons 1-0
Osos Rivas 1-0
3T. Coslada Caminoeros 1-1
Gijón Mariners 1-1
5. Alcobendas Cavaliers 0-2
Serie A Western Conference
Week #3 Schedule
Gijón (1-1) at Rivas (1-0)
Alcobendas (0-2) at Las Rozas (1-0)
BYE: Coslada (1-1)
Two of the three Barcelona
teams battled
For the L'Hospitalet Pioners (2-0), it was not luck when they shut out the Barcelona Pagesos (0-2).
The always tough Dracs
started their season angrily
The Badalona Dracs (1-0) sent a message to the rest of the Eastern Conference with this dominating effort over the Zaragoza Hurricanes (0-2).
Serie A Eastern Conference Standings
1. L'Hospitalet Pioners 2-0
2T. Badalona Dracs 1-0
Mallorca Voltors 1-0
4T. Barcelona Pagesos 0-2
Zaragoza Hurricanes 0-2
Serie A Eastern Conference
Week #3 Schedule
Barcelona (0-2) at Badalona (1-0)
L'Hospitalet (2-0) at Mallorca (1-0)
BYE: Zaragoza (0-2)
This was also the start of play
in Spain's second division,
Serie B
This season Serie B enjoys a 16 team, three conference set up.
In past years I have helped coach two of these Serie B squads, the Guadalajara Stings located in the suburbs northeast of Madrid and the Murcia Cobras based in the southeast of Spain.
A tough day for both of my
old teammates
The Stings had to forfeit their game to the Pinto Goldbats because after a last minute change in the playing date from Sunday to Saturday, the home team Stings failed to have the required ambulance at the field for the kickoff. They had 30 minutes to rectify the situation or forfeit the season opener.
The ambulance arrived 40 minutes after the scheduled kickoff.
The Cobras simply got manhandled by the Terrassa Reds, 49-0.
Speaking of the Guadalajara Stings . . .
On Monday I received a message from the Stings Alejandro Altisent concerning the rapid growth of the Stings program far exceeding the club's equipment inventory.
I helped coach the Stings for two months in their 2016-17 preseason. At the time they were a Serie C developmental squad for the Serie A Osos Rivas. I was busy those eight weeks coaching the Osos two night a week and then working with the Stings two additional evenings from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
In those days the Stings were playing nine-man football with a Senior team only. The squad was a small one back then with it being a great turnout for practice if we had 15 players dressed out.
Now, a mere eight seasons later, the Stings Senior team competes in the 11-man Serie B level. Guadalajara's growth sees the team also fielding a Junior team that plays nine-man football.
The Stings have branched out to also
include a Women's tackle football team
Where did they get those gray Westlake jerseys I wonder?
Alejandro's cry for help to me was in regard to the club's need for helmets. The Stings have nine first year players who do not have helmets of their own. Thus they are forced to share helmets during practice.
Furthermore, Alejandro reminded me that the fallout after the NFL's Super Bowl in three weeks is that even more rookies tend to join the team. It is tough to encourage all of these potential athletes when you do not have helmets for them.
So, on Tuesday, I reached out to the coaches in Ventura County to see if they had a surplus of helmets that would allow for a single helmet donation.
The agricultural city of Santa Paula
has lots of murals scattered throughout
the city which is home to the
Santa Paula H.S. Cardinals
The Cardinals were able to donate
four helmets to the Stings!
The Fillmore H.S. Flashes also
responded to our plea
They donated these ten white helmets!
The Stings were now the proud
owners of 14 more helmets
Looking GOOD!
I was able to pack ten of them
into an X-Large shipping box
Relief is almost on the way. This box will start its journey to Spain on Wednesday.
It's good to have friends.
The Varese Skorpions in Italy
are hard at work preparing for
their 2024 opener on March 3rd
The Skorpions will be at home for their Division I game against the always dangerous Firenze Guelfi.
A big win for the Cambridge Pythons
of the British Collegiate League
Our friend Steve Guy guided the Pythons to their first win of the season, a 22-0 victory on Sunday over Leicester's De Montfort University Lions.
As for the NFL's big weekend of Divisional games, here is what I thought and what actually happened.
In this AFC game I liked the #1 seeded
Ravens (13-4) to beat the Texans (11-7)
They did easily
Here I believed that the Bills (12-6)
would finally beat the Chiefs (12-6)
in the other AFC contest
Great game but I was wrong
I picked the NFC's #1 seeded
49ers (12-5) over the Packers (10-8)
Another good game that
proved me correct again
The NFC's feel good story has been
the Lions (13-5) season, I picked them
to beat the Buccaneers (10-8)
I felt good about the Detroit club
trying to win their first NFL
crown since 1957
Only three games left in the
NFL season
NFC Championship Game
Detroit (14-5) at San Francisco (13-5)
AFC Championship Game
Kansas City (13-6) at Baltimore (14-4)
I'm predicting it to be the Detroit Lions vs. the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl LVIII.
Notes from the net . . .
About 40 minutes outside of
Seattle, the Snoqualmie Falls Lodge
used to serve a truly AMAZING
breakfast back in the day
I wonder if they still do?
If true, I may still become an
extremely wealthy man some day
Laurie and I had excellent tacos as usual today, Taco Tuesday, at Ruby's Mexican Restaurant in Camarillo.
Go Lions!
A win over the 49ers on Sunday would propel the Detroit organization into their first ever Super Bowl appearance.
I believe that they can do this and keep their magical season alive for another week.
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