Tues.-Sun., July 22-27
What a fun six days for us . . .
It all started with the arrival of our son Andrew's Las Vegas tribe on Tuesday evening.
Grandson Kevin had grown
taller yet again
During their stay, Andrew and Jill took their kids, in order of age, Emma, Max, Kevin and Savannah, to the beach twice and to Universal Studios. An action packed few days for them to be sure.
Friday night dinner at El Tecolote
I took the photo, from Left to Right around the table we have Jacob, Michael, Laurie, Andrew, Jill, Savannah, Emma, Max and Kevin.
Michael and Vanessa's family had just returned from attending an administrator's conference in Anaheim across the way from Disneyland all this week. If you recall, Vanessa is a Principal of an elementary school in Ventura.
Thus, it was our first chance to get everyone together, almost.
Vanessa had committed a long time ago to meet with a colleague for dinner with Mary in tow. We missed both of them on this night.
On Saturday, before they headed home to Las Vegas, we did our traditional thing, one last meal at Cronies in Camarillo.
Kevin, George and Andrew all opted
for the Blackened Chicken Caesar Salad
for lunch on this fine day
A healthy meal was a good idea.
The boys in front of Cronies after
a solid meal and, for us, a
FUN WEEK!
Left to Right: Kevin, George, Jacob, Max, Andrew and Michael
This time Vanessa joined us for lunch, but where was Mary?
Mary was at rehearsals for her
upcoming performance as Pepper
in the musical play Annie
I'm not sure that a mustache is her best look.
Annie opens up on Thursday, July 31st in Camarillo.
News from the net . . .
Finally, a solution for the
postponed game in the troubled
European League of Football
Originally, the game had to be postponed due to a paucity of Zurich, Switzerland's Helvetic Mercenaries players being healthy enough to participate.
The ELF continues to struggle with travel costs, payrolls, sponsorships and leadership combined with blowout scores and attendance issues with several franchises.
The new standings after the forfeit
The revised ELF playoff picture
after the forfeit propelled
Copenhagen Denmark's Nordic Storm
to the #1 seed
Later this week, the only Commissioner
that the ELF has ever known in
its five year history resigned
effective after the championship game
The ELF Death Watch continues . . .
The first thing that I wanted to check when the weekend's ELF results were posted was the fate of the three 0-9 teams, could any of them get that first win of the season?
The answer was a resounding "NO!"
Budapest, Hungary's
Fehérvár Enthroners are now 0-10
after a 37 point loss
The Enthreoners have lost their ten games by an average score of 37.8 to 11.4, a spread of 26.4 points per game.
The Enthroners' last two games are on August 9th vs. the Berlin Thunder (3-7) and on August 16th vs. the Stuttgart Surge (8-2).
Maybe they can upset the Thunder.
Zurich, Switzerland's
Helvetic Mercenaries are now 0-10
after a 40 point loss
The Mercenaries have lost their ten games by an average score of 44.1 to 10.5, a spread of 33.6 points per game.
The Mercenaries' last two games are on August 9th at the Paris Musketeers (6-4) and a rematch on August 17th at the Prague Lions (6-4).
The Mercenaries finishing 0-12 is a distinct possibility.
Germany's hapless
Cologne Centurions are now 0-10
after a 67 point loss
The Centurions have lost their ten games by an average score of 55.8 to 5.3, an unbelievable spread of 50.5 points per game.
The Centurions' last two games are on August 9th vs. the Stuttgart Surge (8-2) and on August 17th at the Tirol Raiders (5-5).
The anemic Centurions finishing 0-12 is almost a certainty.
All of the ELF Week #11 scores
Non-competitive scoring differentials of 67, 62, 48, 40 and 37 points were again part of the ELF's image problem this week.
The three somewhat closer games, with competitive scoring differentials of 26, 20, 15 points, was more like one would hope for from supposedly Europe's best circuit.
Two more games left in the
ELF's 2025 regular season
The playoff picture was shaken
up after the Nordic Storm suffered
their first loss of the campaign
The entire ELF has a bye
next weekend before the
final fortnight of 2025
Uh-Oh
It looks more and more like this will be the final season for the ELF.
These nine current, solvent and competitive ELF clubs (a combined 58-32 in 2025) are taking steps to reform in 2026 in an all-around stronger new league.
If this happens, the following seven clubs would be left behind for mostly financial reasons I'm led to believe: the Berlin Thunder, Cologne Centurions, Fehévár Enthroners, Hamburg Sea Devils, Helvetic Mercenaries, Munich Ravens, Stuttgart Surge. These clubs are a combined 22-48 in 2025.
Despite all of these issues, the Prague Lions continue to produce . . .
. . . GREAT game posters!
This one foreshadowed their 60-20 victory over the Mercenaries last Sunday.
The Munich Ravens controversial
alternate jerseys
So bad that they are good, kind of like cable TV's Tulsa King.
Poland crowned their
National Champion on Saturday
The Eagles have now won
five of the twenty Polish Bowls
Any Wolverine fans out there want
to head to Germany with the team?
The Green Bay Packers throwback
"leather" helmets look awesome to me
On to news from baseball . . .
This A's rookie had perhaps
the all-time best single game
performance in MLB victory
Our ever popular President's
policies stuck again this week
What the HELL are we doing?
Maybe he is not as popular
as he thinks he is
Spain calling our names
once again
I hope that they will keep their borders open to us.
Reading Is FUNdamental!
Repetitive
This book would be fine to read chapter by chapter over a few weeks.
Unfortunately, I read it all at once and found actually little on Cincinnati Negro Baseball and a constant rewording of the same facts, figures and people associated with Negro Baseball in general.
If you have an interest in sports history, read it. If not, forget about it.
Life is still amazingly GREAT!
