Fourth of July Weekend

Tues.-Sun., July 1-6, 2025

Summer, thankfully, was finally upon us this week!

Thus a lunch at Ventura's Harbor

was a good call

We were excited to hear that Andrew, Jill and the four grandkids will be coming to Camarillo later this month, it should be a lot of fun!

As for Michael, Vanessa and the two grandkids, they started off the month with a last second road trip to Astoria, Oregon.

They were headed to this

Fourth of July weekend

Civil War Reenactment

Jacob and Michael are . . .

. . . seasoned veterans of these

always fun reenactment wars

Mary, though, is relatively new

to this form of what she views

as historical acting

The Contreras Clan, 1860s style

We celebrated the Fourth of July with the FitzGerald Clan at their beach house in Carpinteria.

It was so much fun that I forgot to take any photos.

Nice going old guy, let's move on, nothing to see here.

On Sunday, we decided to attend a performing arts musical extravaganza in Ojai, California.

Loved the movie but how

about this rollicking adaptation?

There was only one way to find out, buy two tickets and drive the 30 minutes up to toasty, artsy Ojai.

The Johnnie Cash mural in

Casitas Springs on the road to Ojai

The famed country western singer once had a home here.

The Ojai Art Center Theater

opened in 1939

This theater has been entertaining the local populace for 85 years now making it the longest continuously running, multi-disciplinary center serving the arts in the state of California.

Laurie and I have grown fond of seeing these well crafted plays in small venues like this one throughout Ventura County as we have matured.

With only 11 rows, evert seat

in this theater is a good one

As for the play itself, it was AWESOME!

We definitely made a good choice today.

LOTS of news from the net this week . . .

A cool poster for Florence, Italy's

annual series of Battle Royales

The Prague Lions again with

a fabulous poster before their

game with the Vienna Vikinhgs

The poster was not enough to upset

the powerhouse Vikings in

European League of Football action

ELF Week #8 results

As is the norm in this league, four of the games were blowouts, 62-0, 54-2, 55-12 and 34-0.

Just not a good look.

Three clubs have still not won

a single game after two months

Those three clubs, Fehérvár (Budapest) Enthroners, Helvetic (Zurich) Mercenaries and Cologne Centurions, are a combined 0-20 this season having been outscored a 206 to 1,069.

That works out to an average score/loss of 10.3 to 54.5.

Just not a good look at all.

How many blowouts in Week #9?

For many European countries this is championship month for their national leagues.

For a start, let's take a look at the DII and DIII championship games in Italy.

Italian Championship games

in Cecina on Friday and Saturday

The DIII game was on Friday

Castelfranco REALLY ruined

Bari's otherwise perfect season

Padova vs. Catania in the

DII title game on Saturday

Laurie and I were rooting for the Catania Elephants all the way as we coached the Elephants in 2008 and 2009, our first two forays into the Wonderful World of EuroBall.

The Elephants had been so close to a National title on so many occasions having reached the National Championship game eight times without a win.

This tale of season ending heartbreak began in 2004 in a defeat in the DII championship game and was followed by losses in 2010 (DI), 2012 (DI), 2014 (DII), 2018 (DIII), 2021 (DIII), 2013 (DIII) and in 2024 (DIII).

Hopefully, this year would finally bring rings to the Elephants Family.

YAHOO,

a PERFECT season!

There were 12 teams in DII this season

National Champions

AT LAST!

WR Gregorio Barbagallo (13) and

DB Christian Di Mauro (21) were both

on our 2008 and 2009 Elephants clubs

All these years later and they were both still playing championship level American football.

Gregorio caught a 52 yard TD pass in the game and another member of those old Catania teams, RB Enrico Lombardo, also scored a TD on a 22 yard run.

They were three of six old Elephants still on the current roster plus two brothers on the team who were the sons of one of our former Strong Safeties. Add to this total three former Elephants who were now on the Catania coaching staff and you get the general idea of the Elephants' Family.

After our visit to Ojai for the Young Frankenstein play, we stopped in Ventura for dinner at an Italian restaurant, Cafe Fiore. In honor of the Elephants championship, I ordered a Sicilian dish that I fell in love with in Catania . . .

. . . Spaghetti al Nero

When done right, the black seppia ink over the pasta is fabulous. The various chunks of seafood was a plus.

Go Elephants GO!

More EuroBall Championship month updates . . .

It's over in Belgium

OUCH, another blowout

The undefeated Brussels Black Angels romped over the Kasteel Tribe.

Order the rings in Brussels

Another year, another title

for the Black Angels

The XIX Pannon Bowl for the

Hungarian National Championship

goes to the Tatabánya Mustangs

Polish Bowl Quarterfinals

Polish Bowl Quarterfinals

The road to Polish Bowl XX

is now down to four clubs

Next Saturday in Chur, Switzerland

the Calanda Broncos (11-0) vs.

the Basel Gladiators (10-1)

for all the Swiss marbles

When they met during the regular season on April 21st, the Broncos dominated the Gladiators, 48-6.

The Amsterdam Crusaders captured

yet another Tulip Bowl, emblematic

of the Netherlands National Championship

The Crusaders steamrolled the Groningen Giants on their way to their astonishing 22nd National Championship.

Friend and coaching colleague,

Ryan Bolland, sent me this poster

I like the mascot that goes with the dark blue helmet in the middle of the third row, Arizona's . . .

Yuma H.S. Criminals

Or simply, the Crims, as they are often referred to in the press.

Before Arizona became the 48th state in 1912, Yuma was famed for its Federal Territorial Prison that operated from 1876 to 1909.

Hence the somewhat apt nickname.

I added this unique nickname from

a Junior College in Washington

A "choker" is that cord wrapped around a log in order to move it as seen above.

It makes sense given the abundant forestry industry in the Pacific Northwest but still, not a good one for athletes or sports teams.

Bad connotation to be most sure.

Of course I joined Laurie to

watch on TV as Clayton Kershaw

became the 20th pitcher to reach

3,000 strikeouts in MLB history

Of those 20, Kershaw is but the fourth southpaw to make it on this elite list of strikeout kings. 

2025 Washington Huskies football

is getting closer every day

Chianti in France,

who knew?

If you have ever been to

New Orleans, you get the reference

According to grandson Jacob,

Montpelier is NOT a city

Joey Chestnut won the Nathan's

Famous Hot Dogs Fourth of July

Hot Dod Eating Contest again

And so good for you too. 70.5 hot dogs in ten minutes for the easy win.

No thanks.

Now if it was a taco eating contest . . .

Thank goodness I'm retired

Preparing to get smacked by Laurie

Reading IS FUNdamental!

An enthralling historical novel

There is no murder like a

Parisian murder in my opinion

It was a truly enjoyable week.