Coaching for Pizza: A Planning Lunch in Oxnard, a Dance Recital in Camarillo and Global Football Results

Fri.-Sun., June 28-30, 2024

We started the weekend with a fun lunch dining with an eclectic group of travelers at BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse in Oxnard.

Laurie and I were joined by fellow adventurers Koreen and Brian FitzGerald, recent Rio Mesa H.S. Sports Hall of Fame inductee Linda Zilisch and her good friend Maggie.

Our lunch time mission was to gather highly delicate, insider information on the mysterious South American city of . . .

Santiago de Chile

As you can see by this photo, the modern city of Santiago de Chile sits at the base of the majestic Andes Mountains.

We are going to visit Chile's capital city later this year with the FitzGeralds acting in dual capacities as our body doubles and body guards for the journey.

Linda has visited Santiago with her friend Maggie who was born and raised in Chile but has lived in Ventura County for several decades now.

They answered all of our questions and gave us several unsolicited insights making us all feel much more relaxed about making Santiago de Chile our first leg of our South American sojourn.

GRACIAS LINDA AND MAGGIE!

On Sunday, Mary had a dance

recital held at Rancho Campana H.S.

The Grandparents were, as always,

PROUD of her performance!

So were Mary's parents and . . .

. . . Jacob to be sure

GREAT JOB, MARY!

The things that one sees walking

about Camarillo trying to get back

into tip top shape

A possible clandestine exercise group from North Korea.

I could be wrong about this.

Moving on to the wonderful world of American football on foreign shores where championships were being decided . . .

The Italian Football League's

Championship Game was played

in Ravenna on Saturday

The #4 seed Parma Panthers (7-3)

vs. the #2 seed Firenze Guelfi (7-2)

In the regular season game between these two clubs the defending IFL Champion Panthers prevailed, 17-12, on May 25th.

Parma was in search of its seventh IFL crown having previously won the Italian Bowl in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2021 and 2023.

Firenze's only Italian Bowl victory came in 2022.

Parma, on the left, has a better Offense,

Firenze has a stronger Defense

The individual stat leaders

for each team

Finally, the starting line-ups

I was leaning towards the Panthers due to their punishing running attack. Both teams throw the ball well but, I'm Old School, teams that can run the rock win a lot.

As close as that regular season game was between the Panthers and Guelfi just a month ago, I was shocked to see Parma ahead, 31-0, at the Half.

The Guelfi showed their metal in the Second Half but it was a matter of too little, too late.

The Parma Panthers had their

seventh Italian Bowl win

Only the Bergamo Lions with 12 Italian Bowl wins have more titles than Parma.

The entire 2024 IFL Playoff Bracket

Congratulations to the Panthers!

On Sunday, the IFAF U20 World Championship Tournament came to a close.

The IFAF U20 Tournament schedule for

the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th Place games

Gold Medal Game

Team Japan (2-0) vs. Team Canada 1 (2-0)

Team Canada 1 goes 3-0 in

winning the U20 Championship

Team Japan (2-1) takes home the Silver Medal.

The Bronze Medal Game

Team Austria (1-1) vs. Team USA (1-1)

Team Austria (2-1) goes home

with the Bronze Medal

Team USA (1-2) underachieved and needs to really think through the overall selection process for both coaches and players before the next IFAF U20 Tournament in a few years.

Team Canada 2 (2-1) had no trouble

in winning the Fifth Place game

over Team Australia (1-2)

The Seventh Place contest saw

Team Panama (1-2) route

Team Brazil (0-3)

For Team Brazil, this was largely a learning experience in their first ever IFAF U20 Tournament.

The Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal

winners in the six IFAF U20 Tournaments

The PR drums are beating for next

Saturday's Belgium Netherlands League

Championship Game

Rotterdam Trojans vs. Amsterdam Crusaders

The BNL was formed to give the best teams in both countries stiffer competition on a week to week basis.

The next level of teams still have their national leagues in which to compete.

The Belgian Bowl Championship

Game was a close one with the

Mons Knights outlasting the

Waterloo Warriors

The Men's and Women's Semifinals in Sweden are up next . . .

The Mean Machines edged the

Royal Crowns

Stockholm is in the Men's Finals again

The Carlstad Crusaders won the other

Men's Semifinal over the Oslo Vikings

As was the case in the BNL, some of the top Men's and Women's teams in both Norway and Denmark have joined the Swedish circuit for the higher levels of competition.

The Carlstad vs. Stockholm Championship

Game should a dandy

The Swedish Women's DI Semifinals

Carlstad's Women's team is in

the Finals too after drubbing the

Norrköping Panthers, 51-0

Denmark's Copenhagen Raptors beat

the Göteborg Marvels, 20-8, to punch

their ticket to the Women's Swedish

Championship game against Carlstad

THE Carlstad Crusader oversees

an amazing program!

Saturday was the French DI

Championship Game bewteen

La Courneuve Flash and the

Thonon-les-Bains Black Panthers

French DI Final Score

Thonon-les-Bains Black Panthers - 37

La Courneuve Flash - 33

In one Polish DI Semifinals

Warsaw Eagles - 30

Silesia Rebels - 20

In the other Polish DI Semifinal

Białystok Lowlanders - 34

Krakow Kings - 6

An impressive win for the Lowlanders who started the season slowly at 0-3.

Polish Bowl XIX on July 13th

Warsaw Eagles vs. Białystok Lowlanders

I have not seen any results from

these key UK games this past weekend

Week #6 in the EFL was the

halfway point for many teams

After these most recent games and facing a 12 game regular season slate, six clubs have played six games, four teams have competed in five games while five other teams have only taken the field four times to date.