Friday, September 26, 2025
Pull up your comfy chair and a LARGE mug of coffee, I have an action packed day to report to you.
Laurie joined me for a rare overnight edition of Friday Night Lights in the Inland Empire city of Riverside, California located about 110 miles east of our home.
We left at about 9:00 a.m. to avoid the early morning commute traffic and got to Riverside smoothly in about two hours and ten minutes.
It was much too early to check into our hotel, so we had some time to kill.
We were hungry.
Tio's Tacos is a gem located near
Riverside's Culture and Arts District
in the city's Historic Downtown
Established 35 years ago, Tio's Tacos
is considered an eclectic dining gem
by most of the locals
This was our first time to this dining establishment.
We were starting to see why
many termed it "eclectic"
Kind of like the sidra bottle
monument in Gijón
It got even more interesting the
closer we got to the actual restaurant
Gru and his Minions with
four people of interest below
Riverside is a city that LOVES murals
It was time to eat some good Mexican food for lunch.
A Chile Relleno Burrito for me . . .
. . . and a Chicken Taco Salad for my bride
Translation:
"Welcome to Martin's Screwups and Trash"
Except "chingaderas" is a much stronger word for screwups.
A kaleidoscope of butterflies
Dia de los Muertos Mariachis
Welcome in all sorts of languages
Mary would love these butterflies
WHAT A WOMAN!
Of course Tio's Tacos has a chapel!
The chapel's walls are constructed
from adobe and glass bottles
How did these guys get into
Tio's Tacos?
Just a crazy place to eat
Toucan Sam was in the house!
More folklorico performers
What is this house all about?
Well, the nutcracker makes sense
as the Christmas Season nears
Tio's Tacos is definitely worth a stop the next time that you are hungry and near Riverside.
All in all, we loved it!
We still had two hours until check-in, so we headed just a few blocks down Mission Inn Avenue into Riverside's Cultural and Arts District.
The architecture was worth a look
The Cheech is a museum dedicated to
Chicano Art and Culture
Cheech Marin of "Cheech and Chong"
fame is indeed the main benefactor
of this worthy art museum
We bought a day pass that would also allow us to enter the nearby Riverside Art Museum.
Let's take a look at some of The Cheech's pieces that struck me as being quite pleasing to me.
Loved the bright colors
The joy of a Mexican bakery
Lots of Chicano icons in this piece
Pregnant and drinking a beer, I believe
At least she wasn't wolfing down a Tylenol.
The old corner of Soto and Brooklyn
in East L.A.
The old Brooklyn Avenue of my youth is now known as Cesar Chavez Avenue.
Roosevelt H.S. Roughriders and a
lone Garfield H.S. Bulldog square off
in L.A.'s Boyle Heights
Precursor of ICE raids
Good friend Martha Jimenez-Ito
in her high school days
Toby and Laurie prepping for
Dia de los Muertos in November
Yet another mariachi skeleton band
The Mexican community
tends to love boxing
Heart of a Cactus?
The Cheech was worth the visit, now we headed a few buildings down the road to visit the Riverside Art Museum.
More mission-style architecture
This might be the museum that
we wished to enter
Indeed it was!
Laurie remembered the Art Museum
as a building that years ago housed her
while attending a deposition with the attorney
who employed her at the time
Cats + Foxes = Art
A tormented woman
Colorful and pleasing to my eye
Definitely different
I thought of Mary and her
favorite color, PINK!
The Riverside Art Museum was small but had several interesting pieces to its name. It was another worthwhile visit.
We still had time to kill so we roamed a bit more.
Artsy
A Face in a Wall
Another sign of it being
pumpkin season in America
The Historic Mission Inn
We did not enter this famed and lavish hotel on this trip.
Eliza Lovell Tibbets
1825-1890
Founder of Riverside
Activist for Progressive Social Causes
The Riverside Fox Theater
Not a movie house any longer, it now is used for live performing arts.
As I said, LOTS of murals in this city
Who doesn't a big, green,
oversized analog clock?
Mahatma Gandhi comes to town
Impressive Riverside City Hall
Just a random muse
Riverside County Court House
Erected in 1903
Finally, we checked into the
Hampton Inn
Laurie on a tree swing just before
we headed to our game
After a 15 minute drive we arrived . . .
. . . at our destination, it was
GAME TIME!
United Christian Academy Eagles
Located in Rancho Cucamonga, CA
2025 Season Results
1 Win - 2 Losses
vs. California Lutheran - Win 30-14
at Malibu - Lost 26-12
vs. Academy of Careers & Exploration - Lost 49-42
at
California School of the Deaf-Riverside
Located in Riverside, CA
2025 Season Results
2 Wins - 1 Loss
at Amino Robinson - Win 60-0
vs. New Designs Watts - Win 80-20
at Florida School for the Deaf & Blind - Lost 32-14
While UCA has a slight football pedigree having won league championships in 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2016, CSDR is an 8-man football POWERHOUSE!
Since the end of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, CSDR has posted a remarkable 48-5 record! After reaching the C.I.F.-Southern Section Finals in 2021, the Cubs have won three consecutive C.I.F.-S.S. Championships in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Additionally, CSDR was named Deaf National Champions of 11-man football in 1965, 1970, 2004 and 2005. CSDR was also named Deaf National Champions of 8-man football in 2021, 2024 and 2024.
Currently, four Cubs alumni play DIII football at famed Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. that caters to hearing impaired students.
It was a BEAUTIFUL night for
American football!
But you already knew that, didn't you?
The CSDR mega-scoreboard
was ready to roll
Seating was sparse and far
from the field of action
I got a closer look at the
Eagles warming-up
It was Senior Night for CSDR
In the old days, a drum like this one
was used to signal the snap count
The players, though deaf, could still feel the drum's vibrations.
This was no longer the case as, tonight, they employed the silent count system just like almost every other pro, college and high school team in America.
Our final seating spot picked by
Laurie to watch all of the action
UCA executed a successful onside
kickoff to start the game
CSDR in the dark uniforms on Defense
A nice Cubs Kickoff Return
narrated by Laurie
The action fast . . .
. . . furious . . .
. . . and mostly . . .
. . . performed in eerie silence
The vast majority of the noise came from the UCA Eagles coaches and the referees as you can hear on this video of one of the many CSDR TDs.
This game was a mismatch but UCA had two series with First and Goal situations that produced no points in the opening period.
End of the First Quarter
CSDR - 30
UCA - 0
No points for the Eagles on this
Goal Line situation
TD Cubs as the Red Rage
crowd goes wild!
Long UCA bomb into the end zone . . .
. . . is intercepted by a CSDR DB . . .
. . . who returned it to midfield
On the ground or via the air,
there was just no stopping CSDR
in this Senior Night affair
The Mercy Rule was in full effect
That being the case, we both agreed that it was time for us to head back to our hotel in the Riverside Culture and Arts District to forage for some much needed sustenance.
Halftime Score
CSDR - 62
UCA - 8
Before leaving the field, I needed to use the stadium's only men's restroom facility which doubles as the Cubs' locker room.
The Cubs, a.k.a., Red Rage formula
for success tonight was on display
in their locker room
It was starting to rain as we finally left
the field, much better for the experience
For the second consecutive Friday night, I had experienced two rewarding scenarios far from the modern spotlight of win at all costs high school football personified by the overhyped powerhouses of high school football.
Last Friday, in small town Boron, and again tonight in the large city of Riverside, we were reminded of the great joy and pride that the game of American football can bring to high school aged kids and their supporting communities in extremely diverse situations.
American football at this level is truly a joy to behold.
However you spell it, CSDR students
are truly defying/DEAFying all odds!
About an hour after we left the CSDR campus, we found out the final outcome of the game via MaxPreps.
Final Score
CSDR (3-1) - 62
UCA (1-3) - 20
Glad to see that the Eagles battled back a bit in the Second Half.
As for us, we found a happening food court with about a dozen different eating spots and a fun bar located just a block away from our hotel.
Fred's Red Tacos looked amazing
but we had Mexican food at Tio's Tacos
for lunch and wanted to go in a
different direction
Baba's Chicken got the call!
This fried Chicken Sandwich
coupled with a Diet Coke and a
really good beer hit the spot!
While we had enjoyed a tremendous all-around day in California, there was a ton of action going on in EuroBall as well.
Wrapping up the Flag Football
European Championships
We'll start with Team Spain's Mens team results rembering that on Thursday's Opening Day their record was 1-2.
A Group A victory over Team Georgia
upped the team's record to 2-2
Still in Group A Pool play, Spain
trounced Team Netherlands
to improve to 3-2
Group A Pool play finished, Team Spain was now vying for a finish somewhere in the tournaments lower level, spots nine through 24.
A big win over Team Finland,
now 4-2, Team Spain advances
Team Ireland proved no problem
as Team Spain improved to 5-2
Team Germany proved to be
too much as Team Spain finished
the tournament 5-3
We now turn our attention to Team Italy's Mens squad who entered the day with an unblemished record of 3-0 in the first day of Pool D play.
A convincing win over Team Ireland
in Pool D play, Team Italy was now 4-0
A loss to Team Switzerland in
the final Pool D game dropped
Italy's record to 4-1
There record was still good enough to qualify Team Italy for the Elite Eight and thus playing for the EuroFlag Championship.
After a close one in Quarterfinals
over Israel, Spain's was now 5-1
A nail biter against Great Britain in
the Semifinals but Spain advanced
upping their tournament record to 6-1
Team Italy came through again
in the Championship game vs.
Team Austria to finish with a
record of 7-1 and . . .
. . . as the Men's Champions!
Time to see how the Women's tournament finished for our teams from Spain and Italy.
On Day One of the competition, in Pool C play, Team Spain's and Head Coach Daniel Castañon's (a.k.a., Daca) Women's team had a perfect 3-0 record.
Team France popped Spain's
bubble dropping the Spaniards to a
final record of 3-1 in Pool C play
Team Spain's Pool Play C record still qualified them for the tournament's Elite Eight finale.
A Quarterfinal Win over Team
Germany improved Spain to 4-1
Team Austria overwhelmed Team
Spain (4-2) in the Semifinals
Redemption in the Bronze Medal Game
as Team Spain (5-2) nipped Team France
in a rematch of a Group C game
Great finish by Coach Daca and all of Team Spain.
During the Opening Day of Pool D play, Team Italy's Women's team posted a record of 2-0.
Team Germany was simply too
much for the Italian's in this
final Group D play
Team Italy finished Group D play with a record of 2-1, good enough to qualify for the Elite Eight portion of the EuroFlag Championships.
Now looking to finish somewhere
in the 5th to 8th place area, Team
Slovenia edged the Italians (2-3)
The loss to Team Ukraine left
Team Italy in the tournament's
8th place with a 2-4 record
As for the Women's 2025 EuroFlag Champions, that title went to . . .
. . . Team Great Britain!
A reminder to everyone, the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will feature, for the first time, Flag Football as a sport.
I am sure that many of the players on the teams competing in Paris these past few days will turn up on National Team rosters in Los Angeles as well. Buy your tickets early!
It was another AMAZING day for Laurie and I beyond a doubt!
No comments:
Post a Comment