Wednesday, 29 May, 2019
Today was mostly dedicated to breaking down videos of our playoff opponents, the #10 ranked, 3-5 Palermo Sharks.
Before starting on our task, we strolled down the hill for our usual morning nourishment at the Pasticceria Marabelli.
Today's Giro d'Italia culinary guide
Today the bicycle race went from Commezzadura to Anterselva, munching on cassolet and speck.
After the recent rains, our surrounding gardens were in full bloom.
Love those red leaves
Pink baby roses at
the Villa Skorpion II
More Villa Skorpion II flora
Now as for our playoff game . . .
A date and time for our Wild Card
Playoff game have been set
The game will be played at Skorpion Field on Saturday, June 8th at 9:30 p.m.
My first reaction upon hearing that our game would not kickoff until 21:30 was "Why?"
The answer was both simple and straight forward. It also showed the pains that dedicated teams like the Sharks have to go through in order to play American football.
The first issue for the Sharks was scheduling a flight to Milan in June. You see, June is the start of the busy Summer season for Sicily's booming travel industry thus making last second plane flights to or from the island both expensive and difficult to book just two weeks in advance as is necessary during the playoffs.
As a result, the Sharks could not find a flight to Milan from Palermo that could accommodate the entire team. Instead they will come on two different flights, one landing at Milan's Malpensa Airport and the other at Milan's Lainate Airport.
The next issue for the Sharks is that the second of their two planes flies out of at 6:00 p.m. If it is on time it will touchdown in Milan at about 7:40 p.m. just an hour and fifty minutes before kickoff.
The final issue for the Sharks is ground transportation. The two airports are about 45 minutes apart by bus on the base of a triangle, if you will. At the apex of this travel triangle lies Skorpion Field which is 25 miles from Malpensa Airport on one side of the triangle and 40 miles from Lainate Airport on the other. Will the Sharks incur the costs of two busses? Will one bus be used to pick up both? Will the planes and bus or busses arrive on time?
When we played the Sharks back in March at Skorpion Field, we had to delay the start of the game about 40 minutes because their scheduled bus was late getting to the airport to pick them up.
This saga just shows the dedication and financial wherewithal needed to play American football as the lone DII team south of Rome.
If nothing else, the DII playoffs can be both wacky and interesting!
Tickets for our playoff game can be purchased on StubHub I believe but be prepared for a possible long night before buying.
WR Mozza on a screen pass in our
first Sharks game back in March,
a wild 28-21 victory for the Skorpions
4 comments:
Given all that, my money is on 2230 as the starting time. At the earliest.
David,
You are probably more than correct as I just found out that Sharks plane #2 does not leave Palermo until 18:15 Game Night.
Ah the joys of EuroBall!
Just wondering: Is there a curfew? Is there a point after which it would be too late to start?
Curfew?
No such word in the Italian language.
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