Sat. & Sun., July 2 & 3, 2022
The start of the Fourth of July holiday weekend was a good one for us.
As usual, EuroBall news was front and center.
First up, it was time for the Italian Bowl, a.k.a., the Super Bowl of Italy's DI circuit compressed of the country's nine best teams.
At the Italian DI level, the top six teams make the playoffs with the top two seeds, the undefeated Milano Seamen (8-0) and the defending champion Parma Panthers (6-2), earning byes from the opening Wild Card round.
This left four teams playing games in the Wild Card weekend as the Ancona Dolphins (5-4) defeated the Modena Vipers (3-6) 42-7 and the Firenze Guelfi (7-2) proved to much for the Bologna Warriors (3-6) 49-0.
In the Semi-Finals, the Guelfi (8-2) surprised the #2 seeded Parma Panthers (6-3) 19-14 while the #1 seeded Milano Seamen (9-0) held serve over the Ancona Dolphins (5-5) 41-21.
Now it must be understood that the Milano Seamen have been the premier program in Italy over the course of the last nine seasons by playing in the Italian Bowl a whopping eight times starting in 2013. They won five Italian DI National Championships in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
With the mighty Seamen joining the European League of Football in 2023, this would be their last shot in the foreseeable future to claim an Italian Bowl title.
Seamen in white, Guelfi in purple
If you are wondering about the Firenze (Florence) squad's unusual nickname, the Guelfi was the name given in medieval times to the people that backed the Roman Catholic Church's Pope in a power struggle against the Holy Roman Empire.
The backers of the Holy Roman Empire were known as the Ghibellines.
In case you are keeping scores in that struggle, the final was Guelfi 1 - Ghibellines 0.
The game was a rip snorter
Can you say . . .
. . . UPSET!
WOW!
The Guelfi under the tutelage of highly controversial, former Baylor University Bears Head Coach Art Briles, pulled off the upset.
When the two clubs met in the regular season in a Week #10 affair, the Seamen took home a 56-47 victory.
Speaking of the European League of Football . . .
The 4-0 Barcelona Dragons
were in action against the
0-4 Istanbul Rams
No matter the records, you still have to play the game.
Staying the course!
The Dragons QB had a BIG day!
a DL's Dream Game!
Their efforts set up a huge marquee game for the ELF next weekend in Barcelona because . . .
. . . the Vienna Vikings are now
also 5-0 in 2022!
The Dragons and Vikings are the last two undefeated teams in the ELF this campaign.
Here is a look at their respective roads to next weekend's clash:
Barcelona Dragons
5 Wins - o Losses
Dragons 38 - Stuttgart Surge (0-5) 9
Dragons 24 - Hamburg Sea Devils (4-1) 21
Dragons 34 - Cologne Centurions (2-3) 32
Dragons 17 - Rhein Fire (3-2) 13
Dragons 41 - Istanbul Rams (0-5) 7
Vienna Vikings
5 Wins - 0 Losses
Vikings 29 - Tirol Raiders (3-2) 23
Vikings 30 - Frankfurt Galaxy (2-3) 10
Vikings 42 - Stuttgart Surge (0-5) 13
Vikings 49 - Istanbul Rams (0-5) 0
Vikings 30 - Wroclaw Panthers (2-3) 6
Then there was one.
The ELF's Week #5 Results
2022 ELF Standings
The Hamburg Sea Devils appear to be
the class of the Northern Conference
The Berlin Thunder, Leipzig Kings and Wroclaw Panthers are all struggling,
The Vienna Vikings are a machine
But don't sleep on the Tirol Raiders. The Frankfurt Galaxy who played in the Championship Game last season have had a rocky start. The Stuttgart Surge are left to attempt an upset or two for team pride at this point after a winless start.
The Barcelona Dragons are easily
the surprise team of the season
The Rhein Fire are still in the playoff hunt. The Cologne Centurions have to improve on defense in order to get back into the playoff picture. The Istanbul Rams are drifting not paddling through the campaign and, no, they are not scheduled to play the also 0-5 Stuttgart Surge.
ELF WEEK #6 SCHEDULE
Vienna Vikings (5-0) at Barcelona Dragons (5-0)
Hamburg Sea Devils (4-1) at Istanbul Rams (0-5)
Berlin Thunder (2-3) at Wroclaw Panthers (2-3)
Leipzig Kings (2-3) at Tirol Raiders (3-2)
Frankfurt Galaxy (2-3) at Stuttgart Surge (0-5)
Cologne Centurions (2-3) at Rhein Fire (3-2)
This is from the ELF's Facebook
page after the Game #5 games
A bit premature if you ask me, there are still seven games left for all of the 12 ELF teams.
Eventually, the ELF playoffs will consist of the three conference champions plus the team rated as the best second place team.
Meanwhile, the jockeying for position continues in college football . . .
The PAC-12 is apparently on
life support after USC and UCLA
left for the Big-10
This chart alludes to the BIG XII possibly adding the PAC-12's Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State.
Reportedly Washington and Oregon have asked the Big-10 to add them to their new mega-conference.
Another rumor has Fresno State and San Diego State joining the Pac-12 to replace USC and UCLA with all ten of the remaining PAC-12 universities.
If the Big XII and additional Big-10 defections do occur, where do Washington State, Oregon State, California and Stanford go?
This is indeed a strange new world on the college sports scene.
Jacob SO much wants to go
down to the UC Irvine campus
to watch a Rams practice
We are definitely going to have to make the trip for him.
Speaking of Jacob, he spent the night at our house on Saturday. When he has a sleep over with us, I usually make him pancakes for breakfast complete with a traditional high in the air flip to his plate of the morning's first hot cake. He always acts as my sous-chef throughout the process.
Today, Jacob opted to trade places, become the Head Chef and I was his sous-chef.
His attempt to "flip"
the first pancake still needs
a little work . . .
. . . but his pancake was DELICIOUS!
We still can't wait to get back to Europe
in general and Italy in particular!
Reading Is FUNdamental!
A book recently BANNED by the
School Board of Wisconsin's
Muskego-Norway School District
When I read about this ban, I immediately headed to the Camarillo Public Library which had a copy that I instantly checked out.
The excellent, heartfelt novel delves into a Japanese-American family's experiences as the U.S. government incarcerated all such families during World War II.
After reading it, I was reminded of something that was told to me by a professor at UCLA while I was taking his class in my Master's program over 50 years ago. His comment was that School Boards are groups of elected officials that often have no valid credentials, backgrounds or first hand experiences in education other than having at one time or another been students. They simply won elections.
After reading this fine book, the Muskego-Norway School Board's recent decision may be a prime example of what that long ago professor was trying to convey.
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