Tuesday, March 11, 2025

It was a day to finally start getting back into our normal routine because it was . . .

. . . Time for Mariners Football!

After not having played a game in 17 days, we had entered the final difficult part of our schedule where we play our last games of the season on three successive weekends.

First up is a home game this coming Saturday at 4:00 p.m. against the best team in Serie A, the two-time defending National Champion Las Rozas Black Demons (6-0).

Our first game against the Black Demons played at Las Rozas, a suburb of Madrid, saw the Mariners 

(1-4) on the short end of a 49-27 score.

After this tough game, Gijón has a seven hour bus ride on Sunday, March 23rd for an 11:00 a.m. contest taking on the Zaragoza Hurricanes (0-5). The Mariners won the previous tilt between the two clubs in Gijón by a score of 13-7.

The final game of the season will be fought in Gijón's cozy Stadio Las Mestas against the Osos Rivas eleven (4-2) who beat the Mariners 38-0 in Madrid back in mid-February. This game will take place on Saturday, March 29th at 4:00 p.m.

Julien Urgenti came to the blog's rescue

I posted this picture of a, to me, unknown flag that I spotted in Bilbao yesterday morning.

Julien tracked it down as being the flag of the Galician Separatist Movement.

The three northern provinces of Galicia, País Vasco and Catalonia have all had strong feelings for years about each breaking away from Spain to become their own nations.

At times these sentiments have turned into acts of terrorism but things along these lines have been discussed peacefully in recent years.

Merci, Julien!

Great Physical Fitness News

Until you realize that you are told that all of this walking is only burning 676 calories per day.

An average sized Snickers bar is but 280 calories.

I wonder how many calories are to be found in an order of churros?

Seen on the way to practice

I know that because of the rain in our area that our coastline has earned to soubriquet La Costa Verde, but this car is ridiculous!

At practice a little early as

a local hamburger restaurant wanted

to do a photo shoot with the team

MARINERS ON THREE!

After that loud break each player got

a promotional hamburger to enjoy

Nothing quite like a cheeseburger on the practice field 15 minutes before the start of a workout.

The players all gave the burgers

their stamp of approval

OH MY GOD!

We wound up with 24 players at practice!

We were able to work our Special Teams and scrimmage 11-on-11 for the first time since our last game.

The only draw back to this joy was that our starting QB was not with us. He had taken a trip over the weekend to parts unknown and was scheduled to be back in town late this afternoon until his flight was cancelled.

Nobody said this season was going to be easy.

Defensive Line Drill

Our Field Goal team about

to spring into action 

It was an overall rewarding evening both gastronomically and athletically.

100% True!

This is worth doing

And Laurie arrives in Gijón

TOMORROW!