Fri.-Sun., July 21-23, 2023
The weekend started with another trip to Pasadena to visit my Mother and continue our Dominoes "competition."
I use the word "competition" loosely as she once again exhibited her superior Dominoes skills at my ego's expense.
We had been battling now for 30 days over the past 11 weeks and had played 1,042 games in that span going into Friday's games.
My Mother's Margins of Victory
were 530 to 512 in games and
8,584 to 8,119 in points
On Friday, we added a competitive twist to our games, Three Player Dominoes.
Who was our third player you ask?
None other than our son Michael!
She toyed with us until the last few games when she decided to "get serious!"
Final Scores on Friday after playing 35 games were:
Games Won
Mom 13
George 13
Michael 9
Points
Mom 402
George 331
Michael 276
She never stops being both ruthless and relentless playing Dominoes.
On Friday evening, Jacob had his last Pop Warner "Hell Week" practice in helmets, t-shirts and shorts.
Next Monday, "Hell Week" will continue in full pads but with no contact. The coaches just want the players to get used to wearing full gear for the next ten hours before starting full contact practices on July 31st.
Lots of agility drills again tonight
Jacob going over the bags
Jacob carrying the ball on this
Pursuit Drill
Saturday we were off to Thousand Oaks
The Bank of America Performing Arts Center was the site of a revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1957 made for television musical play Cinderella.
Laurie and I were taking young Mary to the play to celebrate her upcoming eighth birthday.
The Three Amigos about to
set off on another Adventure
Mary and her pet unicorn
were both excited to be there!
Mary having fun in the Lobby
area before the play
Yes, we bought her a tiara
and magic wand
The play lasted for two and a half hours, had terrific production values and featured a cast of well prepared dancers, actors and singers.
It turned out to be a great event that everyone in attendance absolutely loved!
On to EuroBall news from the ELF . . .
The European League of Football's
Week #8 schedule seemed
straightforward enough
Until we take a closer look at that last game on the bottom right, the Prague Lions (1-5) at the Fehérvár Enthroners (0-6).
While the Lions certainly look
good in their uniforms . . .
Their financial situation sounds
absolutely abysmal
It has been reported that several of the Prague players have still not been paid their salaries for the month of May and that none of them had received any of their contracted salaries for the months of June or July.
This past week was a tough one as, in response to these negative money matters, the Lions Head Coach resigned, their American QB went home at the direction of his agent, no practices were held and then on Friday, the players voted not to play their scheduled game in Hungary on Sunday.
The forfeit will go down as a 35-0
win for the Enthroners
Both of these teams are now officially 1-6 on the season with both of their first ever franchise victories coming via forfeit.
The Leipzig Kings forfeited their game to the Lions a two weeks ago.
About six weeks before the start of the 2023 ELF season, the erstwhile continental super league's third Summer of play, there were 18 teams set to do battle.
Then the Istanbul Rams opted not to play their second ELF season due to financial issues.
The ELF was down to 17 clubs.
The ELF successfully scrambled to re-schedule the season quickly.
Then the Leipzig Kings, an original three year ELF franchise, officially dropped out of the ELF for financial issues after first forfeiting that game to the Prague Lions.
The ELF was down to 16 teams.
After forfeiting this week's game, without a Head Coach or an import QB and proclaiming those two deadly words "financial issues" again, most believe that the Lions will officially be dropping out of the ELF in the next few days.
Then there were 15?
On a positive note, there was news this week that an ownership group in Madrid is looking to secure an ELF franchise for the 2024 season.
There were many good,
competitive games this weekend
The Helvetic Guards (3-5) 31-24 overtime win over the Milano Seamen (1-6) was one of them.
The Rhein Fires (8-0) 62-3 victory at the expense of the Cologne Centurions (2-5) was not!
The Rhein Fire (8-0) and
Frankfurt Galaxy (6-1) both look
playoff bound from the West
The Stuttgart Surge (6-1) and
Tirol Raiders (6-2) will be tough
to overtake for the Central's
two playoff spots
The ELF defending champion
Vienna Vikings (7-0) look to be
the class of the East
The second Eastern Conference playoff spot is still up for grabs between the Berlin Thunder (5-3) and Wroclaw Panthers (5-3).
If the Prague Lions do indeed fold as expected, the Eastern Conference will be down to just four teams. The defunct Leipzig Kings were originally an Eastern franchise as well.
The ELF's rapid growth from just eight teams in 2021, to 12 clubs in 2022 and then 16 squads before the start of the 2023 campaign was just too rapid in my opinion.
I fear that there soon may be another club or two declaring the dreaded phrase "financial issues."
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
European League of Football
Week #9 Schedule
Saturday, July 29, 2023
Paris Musketters (2-6) at Barcelona Dragons (2-5)
Stuttgart Surge (6-1) at Milano Seamen (1-6)
Wroclaw Panthers (5-3) at Prague Lions (1-6)*
* Don't hold your breath on this one
Sunday, July 30, 2023
Fehérvár Enthroners (1-6) at Frankfurt Galaxy (6-1)
Cologne Centurions (2-5) at Hamburg Sea Devils (3-4)
Helvetic Guards (3-5) at Munich Ravens (3-4)
BYES
Rhein Fire (8-0)
Vienna Vikings (7-0)
Tirol Raiders (6-2)
Berlin Thunder (5-3)
Decidedly, not a great slate of ELF games this week.
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