Wed. & Thurs., May 24-25, 2023
It has only only been two days since our last post but LOTS has happened.
We'll start with the magical, mystical world of Dominoes.
Calle 8 is the heartbeat area of
Miami, Florida's intense
Cuban-American Community
Cubans, as we've reported before, are deeply into the game of Dominoes. Cuban-Americans are too as it turns out as this wall testifies.
Miami's Máximo Gómez Park,
a.k.a, "Domino Park"
This park is the hotbed hub of Miami's Cuban-American passionate Dominoes playing culture.
Of course, Domino Park has strict rules that all Dominoes players MUST adhere to if they are going to compete.
PROHIBITED
* Being Shirtless
* Throwing Trash on the Floor
* Yelling
* Spitting on the Floor
* Obscene Words (Bad Words)
* Wearing T-Shirts or Flip Flops
* Knives or Firearms
Violators of these rules
will be subject to suspensions
of 2 to 4 weeks
My Mother and I have followed most of these rules while battling in our one-on-one Dominoes Tournament the past two weeks.
As I've reported before, until last Friday's games, she has been dominant. On that last day of competition, I finally broke through with a narrow victory.
On Wednesday, it happened.
Athletes at times talk about being in "The Zone."
This Zone is a mysterious thing where an incredible set of circumstances positively coalesce. Everything seems to slow down and the game becomes incredibly simple as it comes to you in easy to understand, and execute, bits and pieces.
On Wednesday's first day of Week #3 of our Dominoes Tournament, I was inexplicably in "The Zone."
We played 40 games and I won 26 of them. I outscored my Mother 585-218 in these games. It was an interesting feeling and, overall, my Mother took it quite well.
If we had played in Miami's Domino Park, she might have been suspended for a short period of time due to uttering a few . . .
* Obscene Words (Bad Words)
The Tea Mums
On Thursday my Mother's skilled nursing facility hosted a Tea Party/Lunch at Noon.
We enjoyed a classical guitarist who serenaded us all during the entire two hour affair. The food was top notch too, including . . .
. . . Mom's favorite, a rich dessert!
We had a really good time even if we were not able to play Dominoes today.
We'll be back at it on Friday I'm sure.
American Football News from around the Globe . . .
On the way home on Wednesday
I stopped at Thousand Oaks H.S.
The Lancers were in full Spring
Practice mode working on
Zone Blocking Techniques
The Lancers won the 2022
Canyon League Championship with
a sparkling 10-1 record
As with most teams nowadays, the
Lancers were passing most of the time
Nice catch
Looks like I'll be back at
Pacifica H.S. next Tuesday
The Pacifica H.S. Tritons will host the Channel Islands H.S. Raiders, the Ventura H.S. Cougars and the Hueneme H.S. Vikings in this extravaganza.
The European League of Football
rightfully prides itself on having
players and coaches from
45 countries on its 17 teams' rosters
I'd really like to know which club has a Cuban on their team.
Big Game in Girone A of
Italy's CIF-9 Division
Our old club, the Catania Elephants (4-1), close out their regular season at home versus the United Palermo Eagles (5-0) on Sunday.
In their first meeting of this Sicilian Derby to start the 2023 season, the Eagles prevailed in Palermo on March 19th by a final tally of 33-20.
CIF-9 is Italy's third division and plays nine-man football.
Sunday will also be the day that
our Varese Skorpions (3-4) host the
Milano Rhinos (4-3) in a key IFL game
Speaking about Italy's oft times wacky IFL . . .
The IFL had a re-scheduling
issue to deal with because of
the recent floods in the north
Italian Football League
Week #10 Re-Scheduled Game
Wednesday, May 24, 2023
Frogs (3-4) at Stainless Steel Warriors (0-6)
Some background is needed. As far as I can tell, this is what transpired . . .
1. This game was originally scheduled for Sunday, May 14th as an Emilia Stainless Steel Warriors' home game.
2. Due to some unspecified scheduling problem with their home field, the Stainless Steel Warriors belatedly asked to move the game from Sunday, May 14th to Saturday, May 13th.
3. The Legnano Warriors said they could not agree to the change because they could not find an available bus to rent on such short notice to make the 280 mile round trip.
4. The Emilia club found a bus company in Bologna that was available for 2,200 Euros, an exceedingly high amount.
5. The Frogs said fine if the S.S. Warriors picked up the tab for the entire 2,200 Euros.
6. The S.S. Warriors said no and instead counter-proposed to pay for a small part of the recliner bus rental.
7. The Frogs said no to the counter-proposal.
8. The deadly deluge arrived making all of the above a moot point as the game was wisely postponed due to the serious flooding in the Bologna area.
9. FIDAF, Italy's governing body for American football, had to come up with a date for the game's re-scheduling.
10. FIDAF opted for Wednesday, May 24th ay 8:30 p.m. at the S.S. Warriors' home field about 20 miles outside of Bologna.
11. It must be remembered that the vast majority of players on EuroBall teams, regardless of country, are men with jobs and families or are full time high school/college students.
12. The bus trip from Legnano to the S.S. Warriors home field normally takes about 2:30 to cover the 140 miles.
13. With a scheduled 8:30 p.m. kickoff, a team would want to start its entire pre-game routine no later than 7:00 p.m. This would require the Frogs' bus to leave Legnano near Milano no later than 4:30 p.m. which meant that the players would need to leave work/school by about 3:00 p.m.
14. If the game took the usual two hours to play and the players showered after the game as is customary in EuroBall, then the bus would not be leaving the greater Bologna megalopolis until about 11:30 p.m. This return trip would put the team back in Legnano at about 2:00 a.m. on Thursday.
15. Players would face a tough day at work/school on Thursday with little sleep after the game.
16. The Frogs made their concerns known to FIDAF.
17. The IFL schedule has a built in Bye Week on June 3-4, the weekend between the last weekend of regular season games and the first weekend of the playoffs. Couldn't they play the re-scheduled game that weekend?
18. FIDAF's response was IMPOSSIBLE!
19. The Frogs were told by FIDAF that if they did not show up on Wednesday, the game would be forfeited to the S.S. Warriors and that the Frogs would be assessed the usual 5,000 Euro fine that is clearly specified in the FIDAF rules for forfeiting a game before it starts.
20. The Frogs opted to make the trip and play the game even though their American QB was injured in last week's game and would not be able to play.
On line, I went to the FIDAF website
to see the result of the game
Oh my goodness, the Stainless Steel Warriors (1-6) beat the Frogs (3-5) by a score of 6-0.
Then I looked at my watch and realized that something was amiss. The game should have kicked off only about 45 minutes before I checked into the FIDAF website.
I clicked on the blue panel that says "View Details."
This is what I found
Reading from the bottom up it says:
8:32 p.m, Start First Quarter
8:34 p.m., SS Warriors Kickoff Return for a TD from the 22 yd line by #19, STW Vigorito
8:34 p.m., End of Game
WHAT?
21. The Frogs had arrived with only 12 players suited up, the bare minimum allowed under FIDAF rules to safely play a game.
22. On the opening Kickoff of the game that resulted in the stunning S.S. Warriors TD, one of the Frogs got "injured."
23. With only 11 suited up Frogs now healthy enough to play, the FIDAF rules are again clear. The game must be stopped for safety concerns and the Stainless Steel Warriors were awarded their first win of the 2023 season.
24. The Frogs thus miraculously avoided the huge 5,000 Euro fine for forfeiting before the game started.
Yes, Uncle Sam,
my head is spinning too!
American football in Italy is indeed wacky and interesting if nothing else.
Stay tuned, FIDAF is apparently not done looking into the outcome of this game . . .
These IFL shenanigans just would
NOT have flown back in the day!
Italian Football League
Standings
1. Firenze Guelfi 7-1 *+
2. Parma Panthers 6-1 +
3. Ancona Dolphins 6-2 *#
4. Milano Rhinos 4-3 #
5t. Lazio Ducks 3-4
5t. Varese Skorpions 3-4
7. Legnano Frogs 3-5 *
8. Emilia Stainless Steel Warriors 1-6
9. Verona Mastini 0-7
* Regular Season Finished
+ Wild Card Playoff Bye Secured
# Wild Card Playoff Berth Secured
Italian Football League
Week #12 Scheduled Games
Sunday, May 28, 2023
Rhinos (4-3) at Skorpions (3-4)
Mastini (0-7) at Stainless Steel Warriors (1-6)
Ducks (3-4) at Panthers (6-1)
Byes: Guelfi (7-1), Dolphins (6-2) & Frogs (3-5)
Wacky, just plain
WACKY!
Recently, I have experienced this a
LOT!!!
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