Mon.-Thurs., August 7-10, 2023
I was completely taken aback Thursday afternoon when I received this terribly sad notice from Mexico via Facebook . . .
One of the very best persons
that I ever got to coach and
coach with was gone
Luis was a gentle giant
I first met him in August of 2017 when I was coaching the Offensive Line for our original Europe Warriors Men's team for a game in Mexico City.
Luis was our starting Offensive Tackle and had a great game against the UNAM Pumas team. That battle was played in Mexico City's Olympic Stadium in front of a crowd of 30,000 fans.
After just one day of practice with him, all of us knew that Luis was much more than a great football player. He was an even better person, humble and polite and always trying to brighten everyone's day.
After our game, Luis was happy
to spend lots of time with kids
who were in attendance
Luis was our Europe Warriors
Offensive Line Coach in a U19 game
Now it was a game at the University of Chapingo in Texcoco, Mexico just outside of Mexico City.
Our Europe Warriors U19 squad was facing an extremely strong opponent, the Mexican National U19 Team.
Again, Luis stepped up and handled his coaching job professionally, efficiently and with huge amounts of joy.
I expected nothing less from him.
During those days, people would ask me about Luis and I always responded with this simple but truly heartfelt answer,
"I LOVE Luis Rodarte!"
Que descanses en paz, mi amigo.
We have been fortunate to visit the idyllic Hawaiian island of Maui on several occasions over the years.
It is truly a relaxing, beautiful and tranquil dot in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean with varied spots to lounge on gorgeous beaches, sightsee and/or enjoy great dining experiences from fine to hole-in-the-wall depending on your tastes.
Then on Wednesday we heard the news.
What the beautiful, historic city of
Lahaina looked like Tuesday morning
What Lahaina looks like now
The combination of dry weather and 80 mph wind gusts led to raging wildfires that hit this former capital city of the Royal Hawaiians with little warning.
At least 50 people were killed unfortunately, with more to be found in the rubble I'm sure.
Devastating . . .
On Thursday morning we had granddaughter Mary over at our home and got to talking about the Maui wildfires. Mary's family has spent two or three Summer vacations on Maui staying near Lahaina each time. With the innocent wonder that only an eight year old can have, she asked "I got my favorite doll from a store in Lahaina. Do you think that they got all of the other dolls out safely before the fire hit the toy store?"
Probably not.
We need something positive.
On Monday, Kevin started his first
day of 6th Grade Middle School in
Las Vegas in his soccer kit
Good Luck, Kevin!
This Friday night I'll join Paul Sabolic
to watch the El Camino Real at Oak Park
football scrimmage
Yet another season of high school football begins!
A possible solution
While I don't think that California and Stanford will go for this, it would be a merger of the current Mountain West Conference and the four last standing PAC-12 members that also includes Oregon State and Washington State.
A new signing in the GFL
Conor Regan played his high school football at Righetti H.S. in Santa Maria, California.
His father, Mike, is a former Thousand Oaks H.S. player and long time coach in the Ventura and Santa Barbara counties area.
We have all three talked about getting Conor to Europe on several occasions and this week it finally happened.
He has inked a mid-season contract with Germany's Münster Blackhawks. Let his Adventure begin.
With only four weekends to go in
Year III of the European League of
Football's season, the playoff
pairings are crystalizing
No changes here as the entire ELF
had Week 10 Byes due to several
National Team games last weekend
I still think that the Enthroners and Lions are a tad overrated.
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