Friday, 24 January, 2020
Sometimes, albeit rarely, the speed at which things can happen in the never-ending world of Italian bureaucracy can amaze me.
Today, with FIDAF's swift re-alignment of our 2020 Division II leagues, was a one of those infrequent amazing moments unheard of since the days of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
But first, let's take a look at today's rather mundane happenings.
On the walk back home from shopping
for supplies, these cherries reminded
me that I miss Laurie
I hit the Big Three on my routine morning physical fitness/shopping walk.
First stop, a cappuccino and brioche at Pasticerria Marabelli.
Then, it was on to purchase a loaf of fresh baked bread at the Panificio Ducale.
Finally, one must have delicious red meat in one's diet from the Macelleria Tonino.
All provisions purchased, it was the walk back up the hill to the Villa Skorpion II to complete my circuit.
These are good times as I have now lost 4.5 kilos or about 9.9 lbs. since arriving in Varese 13 days ago thanks to exercise and fresh foods.
In the afternoon, I needed to go into Varese to exchange DVDs at the Public Library for this weekends viewing pleasure.
While in town, I headed to one of
my favorite, old pasticcerias
for a cafe only
None of this for me,
MY BODY IS A TEMPLE!
The Basilica still had a Nativity
scene hanging over its main doorway
I ran into this store that had an
absolute glut of pearls in all colors
Unfortunately, I don't remember where I saw these so I guess I won't be able to show Laurie the store's location when she arrives.
One of the things that I have missed in life in Lombardia the past few years has been toast in the mornings for the simple reason that we've never had a toaster.
That nonsense ended today!
My cut-rate toaster has these two bread holders that sink into the machine only to be plucked out by hand via those large white handles on the right when the timer dings to let me know that my toast is ready.
The non-existent automatic pop-up feature in this early version of a toaster says to me that there are just two less moving parts that could have broken down.
The first to slices of perfect toast
I just couldn't wait until the morning to try some.
Now, as to FIDAF's DII re-leaguing plan . . .
To review, yesterday the
West Coast Raiders unexpectedly
announced that they had opted to
renege on their 2020 DII aspirations
This defection forced FIDAF to take a new look at the 2020 DII season as the former three, seven team leagues just would not work.
Amazingly, FIDAF came up with
a new plan literally overnight
We now had 20 teams in DII so . . .
. . . four, five team leagues it is!
We should be playing our four league opponents home and away to complete the traditional DII eight game regular season schedule.
The actual new schedule of games has yet to be released.
Our beloved Skorpions are now a part of Girone (league) C.
Here is a rundown on our latest Girone C incarnation.
The Monza Brianza Hammers
3-5 in DII in 2019
Did not qualify for the DII Playoffs
The Skorpions won last year's game with the Hammers at home by a score of 35-12.
The Reggio Emilia Hogs
8-2 in DII in 2019
DII Semi-Finalists
The Hogs are a traditional DII Wing-T powerhouse that the Skorpions have not faced in either 2018 or 2019.
The Savona Pirates
7-1 in DIII in 2019
DIII Quarter-Finalists
The Pirates won their nine-man DIII league last year and have been a DIII power that feels ready to step up in 2020. They are the only club from the just voided three league schedule that we are still playing in the new four league configuration.
The Varese Skorpions
7-3 in DII in 2019
DII Quarter-Finalists
You know the Skorpions story . . . a plucky, fun loving, Prosecco drinking group that somehow finds a way to win.
The Modena Vipers
1-7 in DII in 2019
Did not qualify for the DII Playoffs
After a solid 7-3 season in 2018 that included a 40-33 OT Wild Card playoff win over the Skorpions, the Vipers fell on hard times in 2019.
In the final analysis, FIDAF constructed these four leagues with a view at balancing them using Power Rankings based on 2019 results over a more regional, travel cost saving set up.
The biggest disappointment in this new four league configuration is that our cross-town rival Varese Gorillas will not be a part of our Girone. That means no Varese Derby game in 2020.
Unless we meet in the playoffs
Stay tuned . . .
2 comments:
From the outside, I actually think this is a better format. It was inevitable in the unbalanced format of the seven-team leagues that somebody was going to have to play a really tough team twice while another team would get two games against a weaker opponent — and that would decide a playoff berth. The negative is a less variety of opponents; it's sort of too bad they couldn't do two 10-team leagues, with each team meeting once in a nine-game schedule.
Can you at least scrimmage the Gorillas before the season starts?
As to your first point, we were that team that would have had to play DII's #1 overall seed, the Bergamo Lions, twice under the original format. I would love the two ten team league set up but FIDAF is locked into an eight game schedule in DII for some reason.
We are indeed working on a possible scrimmage/friendly against the Gorillas if we can both agree on a date.
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