Monday, January 27, 2025
An action packed Monday that featured American football, a trip to Oviedo's Department of Justice and some inclement weather was on my agenda.
Let's start with the American football news that I received when I awakened today . . .
The Eagles beat the Commanders
easily to claim the NFC Championship
In typical Chiefs fashion this season,
they nipped the Bills to earn the
AFC title and a third straight trip to
the NFL's Super Bowl
The long NFL season now comes
down to two powerhouse teams
and one game
Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans
on Sunday, February 9th
Kansas City Chiefs (17-2)
vs.
Philadelphia Eagles (17-3)
Here in Gijón, the Super Bowl will kickoff at 12:30 a.m. on Monday, February 10th.
That will be another long Super Bowl Monday for American football fans all over the Continent.
Our QB Spencer Moore's mother, Sandra, made the trip from Ohio for the game in Madrid against the Las Rozas Black Demons last Saturday night.
She took a bunch of excellent photos of the action.
These were my favorites.
FEAR THE ANCHOR!
RB Casta's 60 yard burst on the
first scrimmage play of the game
QB Spencer Moore had a great
day slinging it all over the field
These two Defensive Linemen play
every down with HIGH INTENSITY!
#77 is DE Matteo, our Team Captain
who leads by example
His feet never stop
#66 is NT Taye who also had a tremendous
game blocking on the Offensive Line
#2 is FS James Douglas who is
EXCELLENT at both man coverage
and vicious run support
CB Walter is from Colombia
Walter has had two good games in
the secondary for Gijón
Nice job protecting Spencer's blindside
The Mariners tackle blocking #16 is Moha who hails from Tunisia.
The Mariners have a definite international flavor as we have nine men on the roster who are natives of Argentina, Colombia (2), Tunisia, Ukraine, USA (3) and Venezuela added to the 25 Spanish players who make up our 34 man band of gritty warriors.
Is that block legal?
The referee on the spot said it was, so it was.
QB Spencer is not fazed by the pressure
NT Taye about to . . .
. . . RAMPAGE!
RB Casta set the Mariners all-time
scoring record tonight
Our Punt Block team . . .
. . . had great get-off on this play
A Mariners TD reception led to . . .
. . . a celebration!
The Extra-Point was GOOD!
The Black Demos' QB is from
Vancouver, Canada
He is an excellent player in his third season with the Las Rozas eleven. He has led them to back-to-back Spanish National Championships.
The Pit
Our Offensive Line showed great
improvement since our season opener
One BIG Black Demons Offensive Lineman
End of the game Pow-Wow
Thanks again for all of these great photos, Sandra Moore!
So, how bad was the weather today . . .
The wind was strong enough to roll
this huge trash bin about 50 yards
from where it normally sits
It was a wet, blustery day in Asturias make no mistake about it, easily the rawest day since I arrived three weeks ago.
Mariners Team President Kiké Prado Alonso picked me up at 11:00 a.m. for the 30 minute drive to Asturias' provincial capital city of Oviedo.
I had an appointment at the
Department of Justice
Apparently, I needed to prove that I had no criminal background of any sort that would make me be a risk to Spanish society in general and around our underage athletes in particular.
Being even a temporary immigrant in any country is not easy.
After filling out a form and showing the Department of Justice official my passport, he entered all of my information into a data base probably housed at The Hague where Interpol quickly responded that I was clean.
We celebrated my victory with, what else, a quick tour of some of Kike's favorite sites in Oviedo, some included food.
AMAZING . . .
The ornate Hotel de la Reconquista
DANGER SWEETS!
With Woody Allen
They are Oviedo's signature treat
Of course I had to order one, I did not want to be rude to my hosts.
DELICIOUS.
Brass is always good
Another great dessert site
The Rialto is known for Moscovitas that are chocolate dipped cookies.
Did I like them, you ask?
Let's just say that the Girl Scouts need to add these babies to their annual cookie sale menu.
After lunch, a solid chicken sandwich at our first food stop, we drove up into the foothills that surround Oviedo.
Kiké majored in Forest Management and had all sorts of great tidbits to share with me on our drive up the foothills, fascinating.
The large blue structure is
Carlos Tartiere Stadium
Home of the Real Oviedo soccer team
This statue of Jesús overlooks
Oviedo atop Monte Naranco
That is the Cross of Asturias below Him.
When I visited Oviedo two weeks ago, I read about their fine pre-Romanesque churches that lie in the outskirts of the city that were too far away to travel to on foot.
With Kiké at the wheel, we stopped to take a closer look at two of them that were on the road back down from the Monte Naranco statue.
San Miguel de Lillo
It was commissioned in the 9th-century by King Ramiro I as a royal chapel. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
An interesting carving of
a leaf of some sort
The three arches are another symbol
of the Province of Asturias
Over 1,200 years old and
still looking solid
About 200 meters down the road was a second pre-Romanesque church.
We walked.
Santa María del Naranco
Built in 848 A.D., this church was originally used as a royal chamber known as a "aula regia." It was used as a meeting hall where royal councils of the court of King Ramiro I would be held.
It was converted into a church in the 12th-century.
There are those three arches again
A weather beaten carving
I wonder what is inside?
Both of these churches were closed today.
I thought the black was from
a fire, Kiké said it was more likely
from Asturias' constant moisture
Eventually the fun, wet trip to
Oviedo had to end
Kiké had to get back to work and so did I.
I needed to finish grading the Defensive Line and Linebackers performance against the Black Demons.
When I finally finished grading late in the evening, I was pleased.
I add a comment about technique on each play for each player as well as a simple + or - as regard to their effort on each play.
At this point, I am more concerned with effort over technique. My belief is that if we don't take plays off, we always have a chance.
Our goal is to be above 90% with these Effort Grades.
In our first game against the Coslada Camioneros our Front Six operated at an 81% Effort level (249+/306 aggregate plays). Below the standard desired but from my years of experience, not bad for a first game.
The question was now, after two weeks of coaching up Effort, how was our Effort in the Las Rozas game?
AWESOME actually, the Effort was tremendous at 95% (376/396).
Now, as for our technique and playbook knowledge, that's still a work in progress.
Before getting back to work, I headed to our local Alimerka to restock my pantry.
On the walk back to the apartment, I heard an unfamiliar sound, pounding surf on our Playa de Poniente caused by today's weather.
I have mentioned before that the beach in front of our apartment is more like a quiet mountain lake than an ocean front.
Not Today, we had three surfers
looking for a good wave to ride
There goes one on the left
I looked far up the beach to our harbor area and saw a wild sight . . .
. . . waves breaking OVER the
harbor walls!
I had to investigate.
The harbor itself was calm as
those walls did their job
DANGER
(very few)
SHARKS
Good to know.
I still wanted a closer look at those waves crashing into the harbor wall so I headed to a safe spot high above the waves.
Never noticed this building before
Not these stairs either . . .
. . . that are dedicated to rock music
The Beattles 1967 album
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
flooded me with fond college memories
Highway to Hell, not so much.
WAVES CRASHING!
A truly rough day on the Bay of Biscay
Tribute to beloved Gijón singer
Manolo Carrizo
The wind was whipping the
King Pelayo fountain's water
I had to go see what the surfers at the Playa de San Lorenzo were up to today.
Where did the sand go?
Where did the surfers go?
It was REALLY rough!
It was no wonder that what surfers were out today were all at the Playa de Poniente
I headed home as the wind and rain was not letting up.
I've got to try this place
for dinner sometime soon
I guess that Habanero peppers
may be a staple here?
Classic Gijón architecture does
well in the raw weather
A Trip Advisor restaurante dining tip
and a gastronomy club notice
I had been doused and chilled but it was still a great day in Asturias for this law abiding citizen.
No comments:
Post a Comment