Coaching for Pizza: A Reunion and a Dodgers-Red Sox Baseball Game

Fri.-Mon., July 19-22, 2024

We had a GREAT weekend, I hope that you did as well.

On Saturday, Laurie and I picked up Jim O'Brien and whisked him off to yet another Thousand Oaks H.S. football reunion.

Can't get enough of this great

group of no longer such young men

After meeting in August of 2022 for the team's 50th reunion, the players had so much fun that they opted for another one last August.

On Saturday night, we met for a third time at a hotel in Thousand Oaks.

We were scheduled to have their meeting room from 4:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m.

Too much time I thought until 10:00 p.m. arrived and we were still going STRONG!

Lots of memories relived including

some via a Zoom hookup as well

The Seniors and Juniors on this club were members of the T.O.H.S. JV teams of 1970 and 1971, the first two teams that I ever coached. Needless to say, they are still dear to my heart and are just wonderful people.

We had a marvelous time and need to thank Chris Pruitt, our 1972 All-C.I.F. lineman, for organizing this fun evening.

On Sunday, we had tickets to the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers game, thanks to Paul Sabolić, as usual.

Since the game did not start until 4:10 p.m., we decided to get a late lunch/early dinner near Dodger Stadium before the game.

But where?

The Lincoln Heights district of

L.A. is only about ten minutes from

the Dodgers' "Blue Heaven on Earth"

The gasoline there was relatively cheap by today's standards for sure!

The Broadway Social Center was quite

enticing but, NO!

Moo's Craft Barbecue was the perfect call!

It is located at 2118 N. Broadway in Los Angeles' Lincoln Heights neighborhood and it was well worth the trip.

Large portions of BBQ meat and

ice cold beers were perfect on a HOT

July afternoon

After an excellent meal, we headed on to Dodger Stadium.

An absolute PERFECT day with our

seats in full shade from the get go

This inter-league game featured the visiting Boston Red Sox with a record of 53-44 good for third place in the American League East standings, six games behind the first place Baltimore Orioles.

The hometown Los Angeles Dodgers were owners of 58-41 record that landed them atop the National League West, 7.5 games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Being a bit of a baseball snob, I like seeing two of the original 16 teams of my youth battling each other as opposed to the Dodgers playing one of the 14 expansion teams that were created starting with the the American League's adding of two teams in 1961.

Rough start for the Dodgers

This first pitch of the game was driven into the outfield wall for a Red Sox double.

The next Boston batter drove an 0-1 pitch over the wall for a home run. Three pitches and the Dodgers were down 2-0, not good.

What was good was the ensuing SIX home runs hit by the Dodgers including an epic monster of a solo four base drive, one of the longest in Dodger Stadium history.

The win made it a three game

series sweep by the Dodgers

We had another wonderful day at the ballpark, THANK YOU PAUL!

On to global football updates . . .

Finland's Maple League Standings

going into the weekend's slate of games

The 31-28 win by the Seinäjoki Crocodiles

over the Kuopio Steelers was HUGE!

Now both of these clubs are 6-2 on the season and tied for second place. The big beneficiary of the Crocodiles win were the idle Helsinki Roosters, coached by Michael Wood, who at 6-1 moved into sole ownership of first place during their bye week.

Recruiting News from Gijón,

Asturias in northern Spain

Our new team is actively involved in an effort to upgrade the roster for our 2025 season.

The Mariners will be holding a

camp to attract new Spanish players

into joining the Gijón Eleven

We will be allowed three import players on the team under Spanish Federation rules.

I have already contacted 110 college programs in the USA in an effort to fill our import needs for a QB, WR/DB and OL/DL.

We have already signed our OL/DL player via this route.

We were excited to sign this athlete

from Southern Oregon University

His videos proved him to be a good football player. Talking to his coaches at S.O.U. and Siskiyous Comunity College confirmed that he is also a high character man who will do well overseas.

Most of Monday was spent in long phone calls with potential Gijón Mariners imports, two from De Pauw University in Indiana and one from Wheaton College in Illinois.

All three are solid choices, we'll see how things work out.

Old Timers game in Germany

on September 29th

The Hungarian Football League's

Championship Game

The Budapest Titans with the win

in a high scoring affair

Cowbells?

Congratulations Titans!

The USA's Indoor Football League

starts their playoffs next weekend

Mexican university powerhouse

Auténticos Tigres UANL (Nuevo Leon)

announced its two 2024 scrimmages

On August 9th, they take on another Mexican university team, the U.A. de C. (Coahuila) Lobos at home.

On August 24th, the Auténtico Tigres will cross the border LEGALLY to scrimmage NCAA DIII big boy the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas.

That should be an interesting scrimmage if Texas Governor Greg Abbott allows it to happen.

Week #9 of the ELF season was played

Fourteen teams played,

three had byes

One game on Saturday,

six on Sunday

Hungary's Ferhérvár Enthroners

pre-game poster was solid

So was their game plan, Enthroners (2-6)

over the struggling Milano Seamen (3-5)

Ferhérvár is now on a two game winning streak.

A better pre-game poster from

the Paris Musketeers

A HUGE road win for Paris (6-1)

over the Madrid Bravos (5-2)

The Vienna Vikings (9-0) dispatched

the Berlin Thunder (4-5)

The Vikings win earned them

the Eastern Conference Crown

The Vienna squad is indeed a good one but competes in the ELF's weakest division.

None of the other four Eastern Conference clubs has a winning record. These four teams have a dismal combined record of 9-24.

The Wroclaw Panthers with

an excellent pre-game poster

It was not good enough, Stuttgart

Surge (7-0) routed Wroclaw (3-5)

Things could have been worse in this one. Given the 40-0 score and the torrential downpour both teams and the ELF agreed to call it a game in the middle of the Third Quarter.