Tues.-Sun., June 20-25, 2023
An overall routine week, save for . . .
Sunday's Dance Recital at . . .
. . . Camarillo's Rancho Campana H.S.'s
beautiful Theater Arts facility
Princess Mary was ready to take
part in another top notch production
Princess Mary with the hills
of Camarillo in the background
Part of Mary's Fan Club were
happily in attendance
Mary is the performer on
the far left of this video
I thought that she was GREAT!
She was quite happy
with her performance
We were quite proud of
her in return
Mary and her family
Jacob, back at home after
the performance, showing off
his latest aircraft model from WWII,
the Memphis Belle, a B-17 Flying Fortress
Sunday was a good day.
Most of the week was spent driving to Pasadena to visit my Mother and, of course, continuing my research on good lunch time restaurants in the greater Los Angeles area.
The Pastrami Sandwich at
The Oinkster located at
2005 Colorado Blvd. in Eagle Rock
was a solid choice
The Oinkster's Garlic Parmesan
Tater Tots were AWESOME!
As for my Mother, her health continues to rise and fall almost daily but overall she seems to be doing well.
Our daily Dominoes Tournaments marked the end of their seventh week on Friday. Over the now nearly two months of play, we have had several nurses and residents stop by the facility's Rec Room asking about our games. I explained the rudiments to them stressing the simplicity of the games and how it has made my Mother really focus mentally and visually during our daily 90 minutes of "fierce" competition. At nearly 99 years of age, she still does not like to lose.
I found out this week, that after watching us play, the facility's Activities Director had incorporated Dominoes Tournaments to the general population and that they loved it!
In case you are keeping score at home, this week my Mother won 51 of the 96 games we played.
I was able to save some face by beating her in points 963-897. The points are a tally that goes to the game winner based on the value of the unplayed dominoes that the loser still has in their hand at game's end.
The weekend's EuroBall updates . . .
The Catania Elephants, in white,
playing on their state-of-the-art,
plush home field
This photo is from the Elephants Italian CIF-9 (DIII) Southern Conference Semi-Final Playoff game the week before against the feared Formigine Honey Badgers.
The Elephants' (6-1) 57-28 victory put our old team in . . .
. . . the CIF-9 Southern Conference
Championship Game against the
Pesaro Angels (6-1)
It must be noted that the "9" in CIF-9 stands for the nine-man brand of American football, played on a slightly smaller field, that Italy plays at the DIII level.
Italy does play eleven-man football on the DI and DII levels.
The Elephants on a romp to their
seventh straight victory
A happy group of Elephants after
the game with the Southern Conference
Championship firmly in hand
The question is who do they play next
for the National Championship
in Nine Bowl XXIII on July 7th?
In ever so typical Italian fashion, the answer is,
"Who knows?"
Last Saturday, in what should have been a real slobber-knocker of a Northern Conference Championship Game, the Castelfranco Cavaliers (7-0) were hosting the Brescia Bengals (7-0).
Early in the game, with the score 0-0, a player was injured and had to be taken to the hospital via the ambulance that was stationed by the field as required by the safety rules of the game in Italy.
The safety rules further state that the game can not be resumed until the ambulance returns to the game.
On Saturday, the ambulance never did return to the game.
If memory serves me correctly, which it rarely does any more, after a specified amount of time of about 45 minutes, if there is no ambulance on site, the home team has to forfeit the game.
The result of the game is now in the hands of the FIDAF, the national governing body for American football, Sports Judge who will decide what to do next.
As there are no games scheduled next weekend in either DII or CIF-9, the easiest and fairest thing to me for a game of this magnitude would be to resume play from where they left off next weekend.
In the wonderful world of Italian bureaucracy, things are rarely get resolved easily and fairly.
There is one Italian IFL (DI) game scheduled next weekend but it is not being contested in Italy.
The Hype is getting bigger daily
on the internet for the IFL's
Italian Bowl XLII . . .
. . . which will be played in Toledo,
Ohio on Saturday, July 1st bewteen
the #2 seeded Firenze Guelfi (8-1)
and the #1 seeded Parma Panthers (8-1)
The Panthers won the regular season game between these two traditional IFL powerhouses, 25-7, in Firenze on April 22nd.
The Varese Skorpions had their season ending BBQ this past weekend that included handing out their individual awards.
Ema is a tough RB who had to
overcome injuries the past few seasons
Davide has really blossomed into
an outstanding DE vs. both the
run and the pass
This was GREAT to see!
Ema, Davide and Nicolas were all a joy to coach, great players and even better people off of the gridiron.
So happy and proud for all
three of these men
The Skorpions have undergone major personnel changes, as one would suspect, since my last season with them in the Covid-19 ruined 2020 season.
Nicolas, Davide and Ema were all with us on the 2018 team, my first year in Varese.
It was good to see them all still performing at a high level this year.
In an all French final, Paris'
La Courneuve Flash edged the
Thonon Black Panthers
It was a great accomplishment for the Flash, winning the 18th edition of the Central European Football League tournament that brings together the best teams in Europe.
Unfortunately, the creation of the European League of Football in 2021, has taken some of the luster off of the CEFL championship trophy.
Speaking of the ELF . . .
Only two surprises really
The Stuttgart Surge's (3-0) 6-3 victory over the Tirol Raiders (3-1) was a stunner artistically in what has been a high scoring ELF season.
The expansion Munich Ravens (2-1) road win, 39-15, over the Barcelona Dragons (2-2) was a shocker on two levels for me.
First, it was upsetting to see our favorite ELF club, the Dragons, lose and drop to 2-2 on the campaign.
Second was seeing any expansion team, indeed any expansion team, win a game this season.
For the 2023 season, the ELF added six new expansion teams. The six clubs are the Fehérvár Enthroners (0-4), the Helvetic Guards (0-4), the Milano Seamen (1-2), the surprising Munich Ravens (2-1), the Paris Musketeers (1-3) and the Prague Lions (0-3).
These six 2023 ELF expansion teams are a combined 4-17. Not good.
The Rhein Fire lead the
West comfortably over the
Frankfurt Galaxy
The Stuttgart Surge lead the
Central after beating the second
place Tirol Raiders on Sunday
The defending ELF Vienna Vikings
sit atop the East with the much
improved Wroclaw Panthers in second
ELF WEEK #5 SCHEDULE
Saturday, July 1, 2023
Cologne Centurions (1-3) at Frankfurt Galaxy (2-1)
Helvetic Guards (0-4) at Rhein Fire (4-0)
Hamburg Sea Devils (2-2) at Paris Musketeers (1-3)
Sunday, July 2, 2023
Berlin Thunder (2-2) at Leipzig Kings (2-2)
Stuttgart Surge (3-0) at Munich Ravens (2-1)
Milano Seamen (1-2) at Tirol Raiders (3-1)
Prague Lions (0-3) at Wroclaw Panthers (3-1)
Vienna Vikings (3-0) at Fehérvár Enthroners (0-4)
WEEK #5 BYE: Barcelona Dragons (2-2)
We leave you with this provocative idea from this week's internet . . .
INDEED!
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