Fri.-Mon., August 2-5, 2024
It is with joy and a touch of trepidation that we celebrated the arrival of our grandson Kevin's thirteenth birthday over the weekend.
This little fellow is now a
TEENAGER!
How the time flies by
Proud to say that he is
still a good student . . .
. . . and a sharp dresser too!
He also continues to be a good athlete
Most of all, he brings joy to us all
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KEVIN!
On to the wonderful world of football . . .
Jacob running one of many
Fly routes at Friday's practice
Those Fly routes set up this good
Stop pattern a bit later
Looking it in all the way
Secure it, turn and
ACCELERATE upfield and . . .
. . . then put a move on the CB
Now at Outside Linebacker for . . .
. . . a Pursuit Drill
Jacob continues to make big,
positive strides at each practice
Cool logo for a New York state
Arena League team
Usually it is Mexico our Brazil Onças
club hopes to challenge in the near future
Laurie and I enjoyed watching a live stream on YouTube of a game from Brazil on Saturday morning.
in the South Conference of the
Liga Brasil Futebol Americano
The Santa Maria Soldiers at . . .
. . . the Timbó Rex
It was a tense, hard fought game marred by too many penalties by both squads.
The difference in the game was poor long-snapping on PATs by both teams. The Soldiers had two of them while the T-Rex only had one.
Final Score
Timbó (1-0) 13 - Santa Maria (0-1) 12
Coach Michael Wood's Helsinki
Roosters (8-1) did it again!
After this weekend's games, the
Roosters are cruising atop
the Maple League standings
Our old club, the Wäsby Warriors,
were in the Finals of Sweden's
prestigious Dukes Tournament
on Sunday against the Täby Flyers
The Warriors won the
GOLD MEDAL!
Final Score
Wäsby 12 - Täby 6
Big, upcoming Flag Tournament
in Santander, Spain
Great Britain announced their
team for their IFAF European
Championships Qualifying Tournament
If our Brasil Onças team and the Great Britain Lions make it through our IFAF Continent Qualifying Tournaments, then we could face each other in Germany at the IFAF World Championships next Summer.
Great Britain's DI Championship
Tournament is about to kickoff
Week 11 in the 14 week ELF
schedule is now in the books
Each of the 17 teams play 12 games during the Summer's regular season slate.
Another absolute ELF boat race,
Vienna (11-0) over Switzerland's
Helvetic Mercenaries (1-9)
The Vikings currently hold the ELF's #1 playoff seed. With byes in Week's 12 and 14 plus a home game against Hungary's struggling Ferhérvár Enthroners (2-7) in Week 13, their path to a First Round Bye seems secure.
The Mercenaries were eliminated
from playoff contention long ago
Madrid posted two posters this week,
one with a human side . . .
. . . and another with bold logos
Another nearly patented rout,
Madrid (7-2) over Hamburg (2-7)
to no one's surprise
Let's take a closer look at these weekly lop sided victories in the ELF. For clarification, I arbitrarily picked a 20 point+ victory margin as "lop sided" game.
In the first 11 weeks of ELF play, there have been 80 games.
In breaking down the final scores, here is what I found:
20-29 Point Wins - 10 Games
30-39 Point Wins - 19 Games
40-49 Point Wins - 9 Games
50-59 Point Wins - 5 Games
60-69 Point Wins - 1 Game
That is a total of 44 games won by 20 or WAY MORE points.
Doing the math, 44 routs divided by 80 games played means that 55% of the EFL's games have been, to a lesser or greater degree, non-competitive.
This is not a good look for the ELF and its growth in the future.
I do like what one ELF coach proposed to address this problem. His solution was for the teams with losing records in 2024 to be allowed two extra import players on their 2025 rosters, preferably Offensive Linemen he said.
I like this idea other than the extra expenses incurred by these clubs in order to bring this plan to fruition.
Another club playing for
pride the next three weeks
Saturday's third rout,
Stuttgart (9-0) over Milano (3-7)
Once again, no surprise.
Currently holding the #2 seed
Soon to be on vacation
Subdued pre-game poster
Cologne (4-5), in a good game
finally, over Frankfurt (3-6)
Another team playing out the string
The Cologne Centurions still have a mathematical chance to make the post-season.
France vs. Germany
always a historic match-up
Another good game!
Paris (7-2) edges Berlin (4-6)
Both of these clubs still have playoff hopes.
Prague's game poster
Munich's more whimsical
poster for the same game
A lop sided result as expected,
Munich (6-3) sprints past Prague (0-10)
Laurie and I both love the city of Prague regardless of the Lions' fortunes.
Another club who is now only
three weeks from being done
The Week 11 recap
What about the playoff possibilities for the three teams that had byes?
The Fire (9-1) are in for sure
The Dragons (2-7) are out
Same fate for the Enthroners (2-7)
If the playoffs started today, these
would be the six teams involved
But they don't.
These four clubs are still
IN THE HUNT for the playoffs!
They will all need some help though down the stretch.
Still, seven teams with winning
records and ten with losing ones
ELF Week 12 Schedule
Saturday, August 10, 2024
Prague (0-10) at Ferhérvár (2-7)
Madrid (7-2) at Frankfurt (3-6)
Sunday, August 11, 2024
Tirol (6-3) at Stuttgart (9-0)
Paris (7-2) at Cologne (4-5)
Barcelona (2-7) at Munich (6-3)
Wroclaw (4-5) at Berlin (4-6)
Hamburg (2-7) at Rhein (9-1)
ELF Week 12 Byes
Vienna (11-0), Milano (3-7)
and Helvetic (1-9)
While I believe that four of this week's games could be competitive, three others portend to be "lop sided" ones, in my opinion.
Random samplings from the net . . .
The old/original BIG 10 Conference
Back Row, L. to R.: Ohio State Buckeyes, Northwestern Wildcats, Purdue Boilermakers, Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans
Front Row, L. to R.: Minnesota Golden Gophers, Illinois Fighting Illini, Wisconsin Badgers, Indiana Hoosiers and Iowa Hawkeyes
The eight newest BIG 10 Conference additions not shown in this portrait: Maryland Terrapins, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oregon Ducks, Penn State Nittany Lions, Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Southern California Trojans, UCLA Bruins and Washington Huskies
Interesting if true
We live in the Golden State
A view to the past as we continue
to watch the Paris Olympics
The Olympic Games will come to Los Angeles once again in 2028.
Add the 1932 Games and it will be Los Angeles' third time hosting this always entertaining international sporting event.
100% Agree!
273% Agree
Now, let's move on to the Sicilian version of "The Floor is Lava!" game.
We lived in Catania in 2008 and 2009, literally at the foot of one of the world's most active volcanos, Mt. Etna.
The scary thing was that it was seemingly always belching out smoke, steam and, even at times, molten and extremely red hot lava.
The locals told us not to worry as all of this volcanic activity relieved the potentially dangerous build up of pressure deep inside Mt. Etna.
Thus, the likelihood of a Mt. Saint Helens type catastrophe was constantly being reduced by Mother Nature herself.
Of course, on some days, like today, Mt. Etna's lava flow can be absolutely . . .
. . . FANTASTIC!
I'm not sure what it means but only 180km/110 miles north of Mt. Etna in the Tyrrhenian Sea sits the Aeolian Islands. They are a string of seven lovely islands where Laurie and I once spent a wonderful weekend vacation.
One of those Aeolian Islands, Stromboli, has an active volcano of its own.
Stromboli was also flowing in
spectacular fashion this weekend!
Hopefully all of this pressure relieving on both islands, Sicily and Stromboli, will lead to the avoidance of any further disasters.
A good weekend indeed!
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