Sunday, July 31, 2022
As the American football season looms closer and closer here in the USA, thoughts about our great game dance bigger and bigger in my head.
The late 1950s Los Angeles Rams
That's QB Bill Wade sporting the number 9 in those classic looking uniforms from long ago.
I attended my first Rams game at the age of 13 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on October 23, 1960 between the 0-4 Rams and the 3-1 Chicago Bears, the famed and feared "Monsters of the Midway" led by their legendary, cantankerous Head Coach, George Halas.
The score on that glorious Sunday afternoon was
A tie . . .
Despite Danny Villanueva kicking a 12 Field Goal, the Goal Posts were still on the Goal Line back then, and three PATs after TDs by Ollie Matson (1 yard run), Clendon Thomas (12 pass from QB Frank Ryan) and "Little" Eddie Meador (a Fourth Quarter 26 yard interception return), it was still a tie.
Given the two teams' records coming into the game, it was a bit of a moral victory for the Rams.
Who knew the long time frustration that being a Rams fan would bring me starting with this tie game for the coming decades until last season's Super Bowl LVI victory by L.A.'s favorite team over the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20.
No, I do not recognize the franchise's Super Bowl XXXIV 23-16 victory over the Tennessee Titans as the Rams were based in St. Louis at the time.
Meanwhile in EuroBall news . . .
A update from the Women's World
Championship Tournament in Finland
With the second round of games scheduled for this coming Wednesday in the city of Vantaa, the tournament finally has its full field of the original eight national teams.
As you may recall, Team Mexico had to forfeit their opening round game yesterday because of the ineptitude of the Mexican American Football Federation.
When the 60 person Mexican National Team of players, trainers and coaches showed up to depart Mexico City last Wednesday, the Federation had simply not purchased airline tickets for any of them.
INCREDIBLE!
SCANDOLOUS!
EMBARASSING!
This outrage was raked over the coals on all sorts of social media sites and ended up with a large demonstration in front of the Mexican Federation's offices that required the police to insure that all was being done legally and peacefully.
Eventually, the Federation relented and was able to book Team Mexico on three separate flights to Finland, two on Saturday and one today.
Finally, Team Mexico is
IN THE HOUSE!
To review, the forfeit to Team Great Britain last Saturday puts Team Mexico into the Consolation Bracket with no chance for a Medal.
Our 2012 club in Switzerland,
the Thun Tigers, is holding tryouts
at the end of August
Now, a look at how the Week 9 games in the European League of Football turned out . . .
No surprises as all of the favored
teams took care of business
Although they lost 29-26, the 1-7 Istanbul Rams took the 7-1 Hamburg Sea Devils to the limit proving that last week's victory over the 6-2 Barcelona Dragons was no fluke.
Fear the Rams who appear bent on being spoilers down the stretch.
The entire ELF will have byes in Week 10 with a full slate of games scheduled for Week 11 on August 13th and 14th.
Here are the ELF Conference standings with only four games left in the regular campaign for all of the clubs.
The Hamburg Sea Devils with
a solid two game bulge
Week 11 Northern Conference Games
Leipzig Kings (2-6) at Hamburg Sea Devils (7-1)
Berlin Thunder (5-3) at Wroclaw Panthers (3-5)
With the Vienna Vikings three game
lead, the battle in the Central is for
second place and the possible final
playoff spot
Week 11 Central Conference Games
Vienna Vikings (8-0) at Frankfurt Galaxy (5-3)
Stuttgart Surge (0-8) at Tirol Raiders (5-3)
The Barcelona Dragons 33-23 win
over the Rhein Fire yesterday was
HUGE!
Week 11 Southern Conference Games
Barcelona Dragons (6-2) at Cologne Centurions (2-6)
Rhein Fire (4-4) at Istanbul Rams (1-7)
The ELF Playoffs will consist of the
three Conference Champions and
the best second place
At the moment, the seeds would be:
#1 Vienna Vikings (8-0)
#2 Hamburg Sea Devils (7-1)
#3 Barcelona Dragons (6-2)
#4 Tirol Raiders (5-3)
According to the ELF, four other clubs are still, at least mathematically, in the hunt for the one Wild Card spot that the Tirol Raiders currently have in their grasp.
From the Northern Conference, Berlin Thunder (5-3) and Wroclaw Panthers (3-5) are still alive but Wroclaw pretty much has to win out and get some help from other teams.
The Central Conference has, for the moment, the Tirol Raiders (5-3) in the playoffs as the Wild Card but the Frankfurt Galaxy (5-3) is breathing down their necks.
At the moment, the Raiders have two tie breakers over the Galaxy. The first is their week 3 victory over the Galaxy in Frankfurt, 28-16.
The second is their large, season-long advantage in point differential in all games played with Tirol outscoring their opponents by 99 points while Frankfurt has only a 47 point advantage over their rivals.
In the Southern Conference, the Rhein Fire (4-4) are the only team with even an outside shot at that Wild Card spot but again they really can't afford another loss at this point.
Finally, after ten days of Camarillo Stingers Hell Week that only stressed Agility and Conditioning, our grandson Jacob starts learning about the physical, contact side of American football for the first time on Monday.
He's excited and I'm a bit nervous.
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