Wednesday, November 19, 2025

Mary and the Pleasant Valley School District's Reflections Program


Mon. & Tues., Nov. 17-18, 2025

On Tuesday evening, we assembled at the Pleasant Valley Instructional Center for the school district's Reflections Program's "I Belong" Visual Arts Show.

Student's throughout the district had submitted their art work/interpretation of the concept that all students should be included in all phases of life.

Mary's work was on display. She was one of only four students from her school's Third-Fifth graders to be chosen for the art show. COOL!

Mary was proud of her work

So were all of us!

"We Belong"

That's our girl!

Mary and her proud Family

Gigi and Poppo were proud
of Mary, too!

We love seeing how Mary continues to grow as a student and person.

My mind continues to wander into different arenas of thought . . .

The final 2025 NFL International game
was played last Sunday in Madrid 

In 2010, I had been asked by an on-line sports magazine to write an article as to the status of American football in Europe.

One thing that they wanted me to discuss was the chances of the NFL ever expanding to add a permanent team somewhere in Europe.

Given the rabid interest by those who love our uniquely American game, I saw no reason in terms of fan support for it not to work.

Travel issues are a whole other problem altogether though.

As for the fan support, here are this year's seven game attendance numbers:

Friday, September 5th
Arena Corinthian
São Paulo, Brazil
Kansas City Chiefs 27 - Los Angeles Chargers 21
Attendance: 47,627 = 97% of stadium capacity

Sunday, September 28th
Croke Park
Dublin, Ireland
Minnesota Vikings 24 - Pittsburgh Steelers 21
Attendance: 74,512 = 90% of stadium capacity

Sunday, October 5th
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
London, United Kingdom
Minnesota Vikings 21 - Cleveland Browns 17
Attendance: 61,082 = 97% of stadium capacity

Sunday, October 12th
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
London, United Kingdom
Denver Broncos 13 - New York Jets 11
Attendance: 61,115 = 97% of stadium capacity

Sunday, October 19th
Wembley Stadium
London, United Kingdom
Los Angeles Rams 35 - Jacksonville Jaguars 7
Attendance: 86,152 = 96% of stadium capacity

Sunday, November 9th
Olympic Stadium
Berlin, Germany
Atlanta Falcons 31 - Indianapolis Colts 25
Attendance: 72,207 = 97% of stadium capacity

Sunday, November 16th
Bernabéu  Stadium
Madrid, Spain
Miami Dolphins 31 - Washington Commanders 13
Attendance: 78,610 = 94% of stadium capacity

So, a total of 481,305 fans attended these seven games, an attendance average of 68,757 fans per game.

If you look at just the six games played in European stadiums, you have a total of 433,678 attendees for an average of 72,280 fans per game.

Yes, Europe could easily support an NFL team with packed stadiums.

By the way, the NFL's 2026 plans for at least five more battles in their International Series that currently includes games in Melbourne, Australia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Mexico City, Mexico and two in London, United Kingdom.

We had an interesting result from last weekend's rain soaked Saturday that occurred in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags (5-5)
raced past the La Verne Leopards (1-8)

Tuesday's new CFP Rankings
still had no mention of the Huskies

These two Polls aligned this
week almost perfectly

Here is the current CFP 12-team
playoff including automatic qualifiers

The CFP's #11 BYU Cougars and #12 Utah Utes would be left out in the cold to be replaced by the Atlantic Coast Conference's best team (#13 Miami Hurricanes) and the top ranked Group of Five team (#24 Tulane Green Wave).

We still have three weeks left in the season, lots can still change.

Moving on to the life of an NFL journeyman . . .

Excessive, all QBs, and
all well paid athletes to be sure

Hate to admit this, but I have no clue about either Josh Johnson or his 14 team odyssey.

This is sounding more interesting daily
to me as something to do next August
 
I have got to buy tickets soon to
the Washington-UCLA game this
Saturday at the Rose Bowl

A random USFL popup on Facebook . . .

I liked the Michigan Panthers and
the Houston Gamblers helmets

Final thought . . .

Over two months of darkness,
NO THANK YOU!

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