Senior Moment and Baseball Cards

Tuesday, August 4, 2026

I must apologize for what can only be described as a Senior Moment in writing yesterday's blog post.

Grandson Kevin enjoying a good

looking birthday steak dinner

Yes, Monday was Kevin's 15th birthday and I forgot to mention his special day on Monday's post, unforgivable.

Fortunately, we did call Kevin on his birthday to sing him our stirring rendition of the traditional Happy Birthday song.

Shades of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Happy Birthday, Kevin!

With Patrick FitzGerald

Patrick is a new but avid aficionado of sports card collecting.

His father, Brian, knew of my long standing card collecting proclivities, thus we all met at our home to share our love of the hobby and view some old cards from the 1950s.

It made for a fun and nostalgic morning to be sure.

Later in the day, I met with Pacifica H.S. Head Football Coach Mike Moon for lunch at Cronies Sports Grill in Camarillo. It was great to catch up with Mike and discuss the status of high school football in Ventura County.

I had a great day after the shock of that Senior Moment had subsided.

Two college football notes . . .

The Dawgs start the 2026 season

at #19 in the Coaches Poll

There are six fellow Big Ten Conference teams ranked ahead of Washington.

Those six universities are #1 Ohio State, #2 Oregon, #6 Indiana, #14 Southern California, #16 Michigan and #17 Penn State.

Iowa, #22 in these rankings, is also a Big Ten club, tough league.

Pierce College in Woodland Hills

is dropping its football program

The Brahmas are folding their football program for the second time in the past 30 years. Pierce's last winning football season came in 2013.

This decision makes it difficult for their players to find a new home on another J.C.'s roster at this late date.

Pierce joins Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa as a California J.C. suspending its football program in 2026. OCC had announced their decision months ago.

Sad to see both of these programs go by the wayside along with a combined 100+ roster spots for young men to pursue their love of the sport.

The times we live in . . .

MLB Trading Deadline Day

Monday, August 3, 2026

Monday was an important day on the baseball calendar.

It was Major League Baseball's

Trading Deadline Day

A chance for teams still in contention to trade away prospects to underperforming clubs for their future improvement for proven, quality players to help these contenders NOW!

The Los Angeles Dodgers made four key

moves in search of a third consecutive

World Series Championship

With the Dodgers two best Catchers

on the injured list, picking up Catcher

Ben Rortvedt from the Mets was a

solid move to improve depth on the roster

 

A team can never have enough pitching,

getting Pitcher Kris Bubic from the

Kansas City Royals made sense

These first two moves were solid ones to fill Dodgers needs but they had more up their sleeves before the Trading Deadline.

Trading for two-time Cy Young Award

winning Starting Pitcher Tarik

Skubal from the Detroit Tigers was

GREAT!

But the Dodgers were not done, they had one more blockbuster move to get by far the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim's best player.

Welcome to the Dodger's

This is an historic addition to the Dodgers to say the least in their quest for a third consecutive World Series Championship.

No National League team has ever won three World Series titles in a row.

Four American League teams have won three or more consecutive World Series.

The New York Yankees won four in a row from 1936-1939, then five more from 1949-1953 and another three straight from 1998-2000.

The Oakland A's turned the trick with a three-peat in 1972-1974.

On to the gridiron . . .

It is good to see that USC and

Notre Dame will resume their

storied rivalry in 2030

I've only dined at the Camellia
Grill in New Orleans near the
Tulane Campus

Hard to believe that Seattle's Beth's Cafe and their famed 12 egg omelet was not the choice for the Washington Huskies.

Mike Moon's Pacifica H.S. Tritons

are ranked #13 in the Golden State

to start the year

Laurie and I love this BBC show seen

on PBS's Masterpiece Mystery series

Last night we viewed the last episode of the show's 11th and final season.

Great show with a fine ending episode in our shared opinions.

Playa Poniente in

Gijón, Asturias, Spain

This photo randomly popped up on Facebook today.

Our apartment was on the ground floor of the top building, facing the beach and next to the three "boat" buildings.

What a great place to live!

I would look

SO GOOD

driving this baby!

Finally . . .

A photo of Michael and Jacob's

weekend doings in Yucaipa, CA

Christ on a bike, the Dodgers last

two Trading Deadline moves were

AWESOME!

A Foodie Weekend

Fri.-Sun., July 31-Aug.2, 2026

We start this post with two photos from the grandkids' recent camping trip at the Leo Carrillo State Beach in nearby Malibu.

Jacob relaxing

Mary who discovered

skateboarding this Summer

On Saturday night we drove

North to Carpinteria for dinner

A left wing, "communist" enclave it appears.

My kind of town.

Giannfranco's Trattoria

666 Linden Ave.

Carpinteria, CA 93013

(805) 684-0720

The Italian food at this small trattoria is delightful, especially if you are dining on their refreshing back patio on a hot August evening.

Anna, our server and part owner, was a hoot adding some smiles to our meal to be sure.

On Sunday, we made a Costco run to their store in Westlake Village to buy all sorts of treasures.

Actually, it was all a ruse to have another good lunch out on the town with my bride.

Seen near our Sunday lunch spot

More left wing propaganda against, as the Superman intro would say, "The American Way of Life."

Bad Ass Street Tacos

2951 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd.

Thousand Oaks, CA 91362

(805) 370-8226

Lunch here is always a treat.

Laurie had two street tacos and I opted for three.

Tasty.

I LOVE my stomach!

Football updates from around the globe . . .

Jacob's revised 2026 Camarillo H.S.

Frosh Football Schedule

All ten games are to be played on Thursdays with Kickoffs at 4:00 p.m.

See you there.

The American Football League of Europe

Week 11 Results

The Paris Lights (3-6) outlasted

the Firenze Red Lions (0-9)

The Rhein Fire (7-2) swamped

the Alpine Rams (1-8)

The London Warriors (5-4) won their

fourth straight game by outscoring

the Berlin Thunder (4-5)

The four worst teams only have

a total of eight wins between them

Their combined record of 8-28 is not a good look for the AFLE.

A full slate of games in the AFLE

next weekend

There are still three weekends left in the AFLE's season.

Each AFLE team plays 12 games in the regular season.

European Football Alliance

Week 12 Results

The Nordic Storm (8-1) dominated

the Frankfurt Galaxy (3-6)

The Tirol Raiders (2-7) now have a

modest two game winning streak

after beating the Prague Lions (2-7)

Another strong showing by the

Munich Ravens (9-0) over the

Paris Musketeers (3-6)

If I ever become a Head Coach again,

I'm ordering a set of these argyle

game jerseys that the Munich Ravens

sported this weekend!

The EFA has a competitive

balance issue as well

The bottom four EFA teams have a combined record of 10-26, again, not a good look in just a six club circuit.

Next weekend is the last one

of the EFA's 2026 regular season

Will the Munich Ravens (9-0) at Nordic Storm (8-1) game be a precursor of the EFA's Championship Game?

The Ravens nipped the Storm, 37-34, in Germany in their first encounter on June 28th.

Well, I'm a Grandpa and,

yes, I talk about all of these

gridiron luminaries

Finally . . .

These are all 100% accurate

and were often used by my

maternal grandfather Evaristo

Those were good times indeed!

The Camarillo Scorpions Frosh Team's First Day in Full Pads

Tues.-Thurs., July 28-30, 2026

I received a message from long time friend Mark Johnson regarding a list ranking the best hamburgers offered by chain restaurants.

This dubious list ranked the Double Char Burger at The Habit as its top pick.

In-N-Out's Double-Double Burger, my personal favorite if one adds cheese and grilled onions, was ranked just behind The Habit's signature offering.

Thus on Wednesday, Laurie and I headed to our local The Habit to give the Double Char Burger a fair shake. To be fair in my evaluation, I did add cheese to my order.

One of those spots that has been in

Camarillo for years but that we do

not frequent at all on a regular basis

My Double Char Cheeseburger

looked good

I found it to be a quite good burger but it was not as delicious as the Double-Double at In-N-Out in my opinion.

Thursday was another milestone day for the 2026 Camarillo H.S. Scorpions Frosh Football team.

Jacob about to leave his home

for the Scorpions' First Day in

Full Pads on Thursday

Jacob catching a pass in

Pre-Practice warm-ups

Setting the mood for the day

Dynamic Stretching

The Theme of the Day was

CONTACT!

LB agility . . .

. . . led to taking on a blocker . . .

. . . and then making a tackle

Shedding a blocker

DL doing DL things

The DB version of the

Hit-Shed-Tackle Drill

Defender holding on for dear life

Hit-Shed-Tackle Drill

DL style

 

Jacob on Defense

Good body lean

LB Vice Tackle Drill

Hit . . .

. . . and Shed

"BIRD!"

Run your feet

Feet Before Hands

Good leg drive but . . .

. . . tackling is now taught with the

head BEHIND the ball carrier

as seen here

Stay off your knees, Jacob

Eyes on the Grass = Missed Tackles

Feet before Hands again . . .

. . . if you want to secure the tackle

THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!

Breaking out these

Snazzy Scrimmage Caps

Jacob at WR Stalk Blocking

The most vital position on Offense

is always the QB

Zone Read Drill

Throwing the Ten Yard Out

About to get HECTIC at the LOS!

Getting to the Edge

Breaking an attempted

Hands Before Feet Tackle

Low Pad Wins

Run your feet THROUGH the RB

End of practice "Indian Run"

for conditioning

To sum it up, it was a solid first

day for these young Scorpions

Only a little news from the net today . . .

We're #7,

WE'RE #7!

A Gazillion percent

TRUE statement

To conclude this post, may I say . . .

In-N-Out Now

In-N-Out Tomorrow

In-N-Out FOREVER!