Coaching for Pizza: America 250 - The Fourth of July Weekend

Sat. & Sun., July 4-5, 2026

A fun holiday weekend was on tap as we got ready to celebrate . . .

. . . America's 250th Birthday!

Is "Semiquincentennial" really a word and, if so, how many scrabble points is it potentially worth?

I vividly recall the excitement and patriotic fervor that we all felt leading up to the U.S.A.'s Bicentennial bash back in 1976.

This time around, to be brutally honest, I felt little of those things given the state of our daily national soap opera.

I still have massive faith and hope in the ideals upon which our country is based, but still worry constantly about our children and grandchildren's future if we don't legally rein in Our Glorious Leader's abuses sometime soon.

Sorry for the mini-rant. On the Fourth we were invited to join the FitzGerald Clan at their beach house in Carpinteria for a good dose of friendship and, what else, another fabulous feast.

The gang was all there

So was this incredible dessert

This American Eagle cheese ball was tasty

We enjoyed a great America 250

in Carpinteria as part of the extended

FitzGerald Family

As always, THANK YOU, Koreen and Brian for welcoming us once again to a good Fourth of July party.

Camarillo's Fourth of July

Fireworks Show as seen from

our front yard

It was a good day to end a splendid day.

Exactly

The World Cup continued with

Round of 16 Games

Saturday, July 4th Results

Morocco (4-0-1) 3 - Canada (2-1-2) 0

France (5-0) 1 - Paraguay (2-1-2) 0

Morocco (4-0-1) and France (5-0) will

meet in a Quarterfinal game on July 9th

Sunday, July 5th Results

Norway (4-1) 2 - Brazil (3-1-1) 1

England (4-0-1) 3 - Mexico (4-1) 2

Norway (4-1) and England (4-0-1) will

battle in a Quarterfinal game on July 11th

To the many of us who are just casual observers of soccer, the rules and strategies are somewhat baffling.

Below is the simple answer to the, at times, weird offsides rules of the game.

I see now

I have always thought that the child of the person who invented soccer was slow, constantly out of position and continuously getting beat on defense. Hence that parent, inventor created the convoluted offsides rule.

I might be wrong.

Team U.S.A.'s star Forward/Striker,

Folarin Balogun, received a dreaded

Red Card in the last game vs.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Under long standing soccer rules, this meant ejection from that game and the U.S.A. club playing with only ten men the rest of that game, a 2-0 win for the American club.

A Red Card also means that the individual player can not play in the next game, in this case, the U.S.A.'s Round of 16 game on Monday, July 6th vs. Belgium.

Enter Our Glorious Leader who pleaded with the same FIFA President who earlier this year gave him a coveted FIFA Peace Prize. The result was the suspension of the Red Card. Balogun gets to play against Belgium on Monday.

Everyone knew the rules before the World Cup started. In my ultra-conservative view of sports' rules this move by FIFA is not a good one and has, in my opinion, already tainted Monday's game regardless of the outcome.

But then again, isn't that Our Glorious Leader's M.O.?

By the way, ironically, although born in Brooklyn, New York, Folarin Balogun's Nigerian parents were tourists residing in England who were simply visiting the greater New York City area at the time of his birth thus making our star American Striker a Birthright Citizen.

You can't make this Trumpian stuff up.

America,

WHAT A COUNTRY!

When will this ever end

While we were having fun in Southern California, the intense Civil War reenactment fighting continued in Astoria, Oregon.

We were informed that Jacob

was "killed" in this battle

defending the Union and Old Glory

Mary getting ready for the big

dance in the Astoria camp on

Saturday night

While all of this was going on, France's Bron-Villeurbanne Falcons were holding a reunion to celebrate the club's storied history.

It include this post-game photo from

our 2013 DIII National Championship

20-7 victory over the Tours Pionniers

Another shot from 2013 preparing

me for the future Regimes under

Our Glorious Leader

And Growing . . .

This young Frenchman, an American football player, has committed to playing college football with the SEC's powerhouse University of Texas Longhorns.

The EuroBall game continues to grow in so many positive ways.

The three Italian National Championship games were played this weekend, all in the Emilia-Romagna region's city of Ferrara.

Italian Bowl XLV for the

Italian DI Crown

Firenze Guelfi (9-0)

vs.

Parma Panthers (7-2)

Defense Wins Championships?

Firenze Guelfi (10-0) - 53

Parma Panthers (7-3) - 43

A barnburner.

The Guelfi, Italy's premier DI program of the decade, played in their sixth Italian Bowl in the past seven seasons. They were victorious in the 2022, 2025 and 2026 seasons.

The Firenze eleven lost in the 2019, 2023 and 2024 Italian Bowls.

Hail to the Victors!

Silver Bowl XXXII for the

Italian DII Championship

Trento Thunders (8-2)

vs.

Milano Seamen (7-2)

A solid win for the Seamen

Milano Seamen (8-2) - 28

Trento Thunders (8-3) - 7

The Seamen will now vie

for the DI title in 2027

Nine Bowl XXVI for the

Italian DIII Title

Formigine Honey Badgers (8-0)

vs.

Cagliari Crusaders (8-0)

This game featured two high flying, undefeated teams that had dominated most of their games to date.

As if Cagliari having outscored their eight opponents by 236 combined points (29.5 points per game) wasn't enough, the Honey Badgers had stomped their 2026 season foes by a combined 257 points (32.1 points per game).

I expected a high scoring game like we saw in the Italian Bowl XLV contest.