Opera, Matt, Practice and Friends

Buon giorno, another great weekend in Catania!

Opera, pictures, like ice hockey and all Gaul, is divided into three parts each lasting about one hour. Giacomo Puccini's "Madama Butterfly", as it is called in Italian, was a great evening. As I wrote earlier, one of our starting falcons, "Tony call me Pony", has a brother-in-law who runs the Teatro Massimo Bellini opera house. He comped us an entire six seat box on the second level, over the orchestra pit and close enough to shake hands with the actors! Besides myself, only Daniella (Davide's wife who loves the opera) and her father, Mauro, were in the box. It was worth it to see Daniella's eyes light up when they pulled back the curtain and she saw the location of the box seats.

The opera itself was very good, although Mauro thought the male lead was only average. The real star of the night was the Teatro itself. Over 200 years old, it has perfect acoustics. The singers and the orchestra do not use any amplification of any type and this beautiful, ornate old Teatro has five stories of box seating above the ground floor seats. Still you could hear every note and word clearly wherever you sat.

After the opera I met Matt, the guys and their girlfriends at the team hangout right around the corner from the Teatro. I saw Pony there and thanked him for the tickets. I then met his wife Ika. She is very nice, the mother of four and as it turns out was a foreign exchange student her senior year of high school in Amarillo, Texas at Caprock H.S. home of the Longhorns. Our receiver Matt played for the Rebels of Tascosa H.S. also in Amarillo. A small world moment indeed! We left at about 2:00 a.m. about 15 minutes after Davide and the very pregnant Daniella showed up to start the night!

New record on the way to the opera, 56 euros for a tank of gas.

A few words about Matt , picture of us at the Festival in Aci Reale, I now call him "Il Conte"..."The Count"...as in Dracula...as in he only comes out at night. After three days, he is making a serious assault on every significant Sicilian sleeping record and has yet to see the morning sun! Still, he's a good guy! I liked that he was first in all the sprints before practice and made two GREAT catches during the practice. He fits in well with the other players and has warmed to the role of mentor to the other players.

Practice attendance continues to be a problem. Individually we keep improving, but we have about 10 to 15 players missing each practice making team improvement difficult. Davide continues to impress me with his knowledge of the game. He is a very good offensive line coach and has great passion for the Elefanti! This, of course, leads to frustration on his part when players miss practice. Players at practice, picture, included from left to right, LB Fabio, DL Matteo, WR/DB Mario, LB/Falcon Gustavo, DE Matthieu, WR Gregorio, WR Claudio, and LB Gianmarco.

On the way home we stopped at the Cityper Market and Gustavo introduced me to a box of Chicchere, a traditional "biscotti di Sicilia" desert cookie, picture with wine and cheese, covered in powdered sugar. This was a huge dietary mistake!

My strategy was to limit myself to one church and one museum per week. My plan was to go to a different church each Sunday and then visit a museum right after Mass. Yesterday I took the 10 minute walk into Aci Trezza to go to the 8:00 a.m. Mass at San Giovanni Battista Church built in 1696. The Mass only took 34 minutes, so much for my plan to visit a different church each Sunday! After Mass I did visit the, picture, Museum of the 1943 Sicilian Invasion by the Allies. Very nice exhibits, videos and memorabilia. The Sicilian campaign lasted 38 days and Catania it turns out was the most heavily bombed city in Sicily during the fighting with 87 Allied bombing raids. Palermo was a distant second in this terrible statistic with 69 air raids. Hard to believe that my wonderful new city suffered so much back then.

In the afternoon, Matt and I went into Catania to introduce him to the city. I made a major purchase. All the men here were a scarf to look even more dashing so I bought a black and white one on Via Etnea, the main shopping street of Catania. Another step avanti in my becoming more Italian like.

In the evening Matt and I drove 10 minutes up to Aci Realle for the Festival of San Sebastiano, their patron saint. We stayed about an hour and then drove back into Catania to the beautiful home of Matteo, a new friend and great host who was a longtime Elefanti player and coach. Our TE Giuseppe and two of our WR's, Claudio and Salvo were also there. The purpose of the visit was to watch the two NFL Conference Championship Games. The first one started at 9:00 p.m. our time. We left at 2:00 a.m. during halftime of the second game. In the picture, left to right seated is Claudio and Matt. Standing left to right, are Matteo, Salvo and Giuseppe.

A few words about Claudio, he speaks great English, is very outgoing and helpful. He has good speed and will really help our team. I sometimes think he is a twin or triplet because he shows up everywhere we go, lots of energy!

I'm again having trouble uploading pictures to the blog, I'll try again Tuesday, ciao!

Madame Butterfly

The first picture today was taken from the patio at the apartment during breakfast, nice sunrise.

Tonight I scratch another item off my to do list, go to an opera in Italy. One of our falcons, Tony call me "Pony", has a brother-in-law who works at Teatro Massimo Bellini, picture, and scored free tickets for myself and Daniella, Davide's wife, to see Madame Butterfly tonight at 8:30. Davide is not the big opera fan that I am apparently after all this will be my first ever time at an opera. Should be an interesting evening. Davide says that they really dress up for the opera so I have a problem, shirt and tie yes, sports coat no. I'll wear a black sweater and hope they don't throw things at me.

As you may know, over the centuries Sicily has been occupied (but never conquered) by several civilizations including the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Normans, French, Arabs and Spanish. These various cultures have each left their mark in Sicilian art, architecture, language, culture, and cuisine.  Now comes Matt Epperson from Amarillo, on the right with Davide at the airport in the picture, leading the first wave of the Texas invasion. God help this great island!

Practice last night in damp but not rainy weather, decent turnout. Roberto, the linebacker who was going to miss practice for a month due to business in Israel, was at practice last night. I asked about the Israel trip, he said it was postponed for a few weeks because they bombed the city in Israel where he was to work, imagine that!

Three hour practice on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. with the whole team. I'm looking forward to it as always, especially now that Matt is here to help with coaching as well as playing.

No internet again on the weekend so I won't be back on until Monday.

Ciao!

Educational Materials Needed

During yet another delicious lunch today, I realized that for some strange reason copies of the 2004 United States Surgeon General's Report on Smoking have never reached Catania.

This, I am sure, was just another bureaucratic oversite by the Bush regime.

If any of you are finished reading your personal copy of the Report, please send it to me so that I can get them into the hands of the people here in Catania.

Grazie!

Huge Breakthrough in Driving

Today, in the rain, I drove solo from the apartment in Aci Castello to the Elephants' office, i.e., NO GARMIN GPS ASSISTANCE, without a mistake!

Davide and Gustavo were shedding tears of joy for my incredible accomplishment. We had an expresso to celebrate, but enough about me already.

Practice last night was really a good one. We accomplished a lot of technique work in 90 minutes. I only had the DB's and Falcons to work with so we were able to tailor the teaching to their needs. Again, good listening skills, not afraid to hit, solid technique base to work with and a passion for the game. Saturdays and Mondays, by myself with all the defense is really hard in terms of individual teaching so these Wednesday and Thursday practices are crucial to player development.

I have to admit that on a practice field, anywhere in the world as it turns out, is a special place for me. It is just the very different and hard to explain part of my day where I feel the most relaxed and at peace. It is on these fields where for as little as 90 minutes or as long as three hours I can put away all the drama of the day and take a deep breath. I really enjoy the teaching of the game of football and the comradeship of people who have a love for the game. The Catania Elephants are making my day every time we practice!

Davide dropped the hammer last night and cut a few players. They were all younger players with little experience, some could not defend themselves well enough. Fortunately, the Elephants have a Junior team that plays during our off-season so these players do have a place to go and continue learning. None the less, I stayed far away from Davide's car after practice just in case of a possible car bomb, this is Sicily after all.

Another 90 minutes, 8:00 p.m. practice tonight at the University of Catania Astroturf site. Tonight's practice will stress individual techniques for the RB/OL/DL/LB groups. Since it has been raining all day and is supposed to continue tonight, we will find out who the real players are when they show up to practice under these conditions.

Tomorrow, Friday, Matt Epperson, today's picture, arrives in Catania and will live at the apartment with me for a few days until they finish furnishing his place. Matt and Brandon Bennett, our lineman from Willamette University, will eventually share a place in Catania close to the action. The married folk, Jason Johnson and I, will live out of the center of town in the sleepy hamlet of Aci Castello. O.K. it's only a ten minutes drive to Piazza Bellini and the night life one finds there but it usually does take 30 minutes to find a place to park.

Matt played his college football at Hardin Simmons University in Texas. He is a wide receiver by trade who will help in the secondary and return punts and kickoffs as well. This will be Matt's second season of European football, having played for the Kouvola Indians in Finland last season. From what I've gathered so far he will be a lot of fun to have on the team and in the town. I'm looking forward to finally meeting him.

Elefanti Players

Thought you might want to see two of our Elefanti linemen . Fabio Scuto, on the left, is a defensive end/linebacker while Giulio Romano is an offensive guard. Good guys, both work hard and are starters and leaders. They make practice fun.

On the far left by himself is none other than our starting free safety, Christian DiMauro just showed up, very football smart, good speed. He is going skiing in the Italian Alps and will miss practice on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday next week. La vita nel Italian Football League!

Good news ladies, they are all single!

I Love the French!

Today I booked my round trip, non-stop flight from Catania to Roma in February to meet Laurie when she arrives from America. I booked a flight on a local company, Wind Jet, that charged me $71 total for the this round trip that takes approximately two hours each way.

Before checking with Wind Jet, I first went to expedia.com to check out their prices and found that Air France could have flown me coach via stops in Milan, then Nice and finally on to Roma. The total time of the their trip each way would have been 8 hours and 50 minutes.

Cost? A paltry $3,152!

Driving Update

Although I do see local polizia and state carabiniere all over the place I have yet to see them giving anyone a ticket much less waving the yellow caution flag to the drivers in the daily Grand Prix of Catania. This added danger just adds to the excitement.

New Pictures

As I have commented before, I've had trouble uploading pictures to the blog the last few days.

Today I've added the missing photos going back to the post about my trip to Taormina last Friday.

Enjoy!

Festival of San Mauro Abate

On the way home from the office last night I stumbled upon a very fun evening. Every town in Italy has a patron saint and our town, Aci Castello's is San Mauro Abate. Last night was his festival celebration.

Lots of VERY LOUD fireworks, street vendors, a parade carrying the life size statue of San Mauro himself all around the town, brass bands, the works! Another great excuse to be up late.

The parade ended at the church with the priest reading e-mails from as far away as New Jersey and Florida wishing the town well on this special occasion.

Catania's Fields of Dreams

The Elephant is a nomadic animal and so are the Elefanti. We practice at three different sites and play our games at a fourth.

In today's pictures, the pristine field (top right) is Stadio Santa Maria Goretti, our game field. It is in tremendous shape indeed!

The small Astroturf field (bottom right) at the University of Catania is used for our 8:00 p.m., 90 minute practice on Wednesdays (WRs/DBs/QBs only) and Thursdays (OLs/DL's/QBs/LBs/RBs only).

The dirt field (bottom left) with soccer (calcio) players on it is used on Monday nights again at 8:00 p.m. for 90 minutes with the entire roster present, in theory.

Finally, the dirt/grass field with nobody on it (top left) is used for our 3:00 p.m., three hour Saturday practice again, in a perfect world, with the whole roster. Our players from Palermo can only get to these Saturday practices because of the four hour round trip drive.

Hopefully the constant change of scenery will help eliminate some of the boredom that practices can bring as the season wears on.

Syracuse

First, last night's 8:00 p.m., 90 minute practice. It was held in an all hard packed mud soccer field next to our game stadium. Only about half the lights are turned on for us. The only person habitually on time in all of Italy is the guy who turns off our lights at 9:30!

About 40 players showed up, they continue to work hard and improve. Davide informed me tonight that for the first time in about 15+ years we are going to have to cut. We have about 65 players on the roster and we just don't have enough helmets and shoulder pads to go around. If you want to donate some equipment, let me know. We did our first depth chart tonight and came up with 52 players who we want to keep.

I did a load of dark clothes this morning, piece of cake!

Drove about 45 minutes south today to the town of Siracusa, Syracuse to us. I asked several people if they knew Jay Shelton but no one ever heard of him here. I may move here, parking is not the problem it is in Catania.

I visited Siracusa's Neapolis Archaeological Zone. It includes a Greek theater (that's me in front of it) and a Roman amphitheater. Walked further into town to the area called the Ortygia where there is a Temple of Apollo and a very nice Piazza Duomo by their cathedral. I had an excellent strawberry gelato at this piazza. Again traveling in the off season is GREAT! Only about ten people at the ruins today and the weather was nice.

I have already reached the "all the ruins/churches/museums look the same" stage and I've got six months to go. I am going to set a one a week limit on these type of sights.

For a change of pace I went into Siracusa's new cathedral. HUGE dome can be seen for miles, seats 11,000 according to their brochure. The Madonna statue inside cries, I thought Vanessa's mamma would like that touch.

Lets talk traffic yet again. The really tough thing to deal with is the Vespas and motorcycles. The ones on these are crazy. They'll drive on the sidewalk, into oncoming traffic, in between cars...Death Wish 2008!

The other big issue is that people double park all the time. So what if traffic is clogged for ten minutes. Besides double parking, some will find a small space to park and just go in head first leaving the rear end of their car in traffic. When in doubt, park it on the sidewalk. It definitely has honed my driving skills!

Catania Weekend Activities

First, I'm having trouble uploading pictures to the site, I'll continue to try to upload them when possible.

Last Friday night Davide held a fundraiser for the Elefanti at the Showroom Angiolucci where they sell high-end eyeglass frames and sunglasses, it was very upscale. Davide put together a very nice press guide, had players in uniform, raggaze (girls) in game jerseys, twice life size posters of the Americans and of our falcon, Renato Gargiulo that were posted inside and outside the Showroom. It was really a well done affair.

At it I got to meet Senatore Nino Strano of the Italian National Parliament whose son, Giuseppe, is our Tight End. I also met Giuseppe's zita (girlfriend) Valeria who is a Criminal Law Attorney. She was taking off after the event to join her ice hockey team (game jersey #7 on the ice) for games in Paris over the weekend. She was on the Italian Olympic Ice Hockey Team in the last Olympics. She is a very sweet, petite and outgoing young lady who is fun to be around.

After the event I joined a bunch of the players and their zite in the Piazza Bellini for food and drinks. It was a little strange to be with the players on the eve of the first practice having beers with them, watching them smoke and enjoying the company of their many lady friends.

At night, downtown Catania is like a clip from the movie "Night of the Living Dead". I left at about 1:15 a.m. as hundreds of people were just arriving to start the evening! At practice I asked our offensive guard Giulio what time he left the Piazza and his answer was "4:00 a.m.". You've got to love our training techniques.

Saturday was our first practice at 3:00 p.m. on the field next to Stadium Santa Maria Goretti where we play our games. The Stadium field is in GREAT shape, perfectly manicured. The practice field is a combination of dirt areas and 4 inch tall grass areas, not the greatest, kind of like Rio Mesa's practice fields. About 45 players showed up eventually, again, starting times are merely suggestions. Most had helmets and shoulder pads, some didn't. We had to cut practice a little short when the sun went down thus missing Punt team installation.

As for the players, they are in pretty good shape. I was very proud of the defensive players! They learn quickly and really like the blitzing we are doing. Their feel for the game is much better than I anticipated. They made adjustments, asked good questions and had a good grasp of fundamentals. We started work on tackling as if they were first day Freshmen, again they responded well.

Let me mention three players that stood out. First our linebacker from Palermo, a four hour round trip drive, Giovanni Pecorro, he can play! We only have him on Saturdays and Sundays because of the travel issue. He's a very smart player, fundamentally sound and likes to hit. Renato Gargiulio is a falcon (strong safety) and Christian DiMauro is our free safety. They also are leaders who picked things up quickly and made great adjustments. I think this defensive group will be a lot of fun to coach and hang out with!

I must mention that at practice our players look like the Rainbow Coalition, every possible color jersey or T-shirt was worn including our WR, Gregorio Barbaglio, wearing a complete ca. 1988 Los Angeles Rams road uniform. He did add BRIGHT yellow sox to enhance the look.

Attendance at practice will be a constant issue. Besides Giovanni's issue, our middle linebacker informed me that his job is taking him to Israel for the next four weeks, adapt and survive.

Big calcio (soccer) game in town Saturday night between Catania and Turin's Joventue squad, a 1-1 tie, go figure! I was going to watch it on TV since it was sold out not knowing that Rupert Murdoch's Sky Sports pay TV network has exclusive rights to all Italian games. The local channel I was watching has two guys doing a radio style play-by-play and shots of the crowd only. It took me a while to realize that this was not the world's longest pre-game show.

Sunday was an early get up day to drive into Catania to go to 8:00 a.m. Mass at the city's Sant'Agata Cathedral. It is a Baroque style church, old and beautiful. After Mass the church was sponsoring a blood drive with 10-15 bloodmobiles in waiting in the piazza. I felt it was my duty to my new country to donate as I have on several occasions back in California. Unfortunately I was turned down as a foreigner, they need to monitor you for at least three months. I was later told that in Italy you can only donate until you are 55 so my age could have been an issue also.

From there I wandered into the Piazza Carlo Alberto where thousands of people joined to take part in a fish/meat/farmers/flea market. I saw everything there including two kitchen sinks! Great prices on some necessities, as in every such market in the world, don't ask where they got things, just be happy you got a deal. A very interesting seller is pictured for you, I didn't buy from him.

Walked into a Levi Strauss store to find Levi's selling for about $150 a pair! Of course there is a 30% after Christmas sale going on but I still passed.

Next I stumbled upon a dueling brass band concert, interesting and fun.

I returned home to do my first load of laundry, whites. It was a great success. No dryers in Italy so I had to hang things up to dry on the back balcony, my underwear looks even bigger on a clothesline!

I went over to Davide's home to watch the Chargers-Colts playoff game. They have a beautiful hilltop home about 1,500 feet above the Ionian Sea and were great hosts. On the drive up to their place Garmin took me through some really narrow streets at night, exciting. I got to see more Italian TV commercials, apparently lots of partially clad ladies really helps sell things here.

To get another view of the Italian football experience go to our QB Jason Johnson's blog at reallyplayingforpizza.blogspot.com 

To finish today, I was having a late snack in the afternoon yesterday while I was writing in my journal. As I sat on the patio with the usual grand view of the Ionian Sea it hit me. If Mr. Coulson had not completely screwed up my schedule last year, thus making me teach two U.S. History classes that I was not credentialed to and had no desire to teach (a sarcastic thanks for the overnight emergency credential) I would probably not have retired last June and kept on going for two more years. If I didn't retire I would not be here having this adventure...THANK YOU MR. COULSON!

Taormina

Today I got up very early and drove about 25 miles north up the Ionian Seacoast to the ancient hillside town of Taormina. Today's picture of me was taken by a young Spanish lady in Taormina's famous Greek Theater built in the 3rd century B.C. by the Greeks and rebuilt 500 years later by the Romans. If you look way in the distance you may be able to make out the snow-capped Mt. Etna volcano. Yes, that is smoke coming out of it but I am told that driving in Sicily still poses a far greater threat to my health than Mt. Etna does!

Taormina is a very old and beautiful city with tremendous views of the Ionian Sea and the Ionian Riviera. There are lots of places to eat (the cream cornetto when I got there and the pineapple gelato as I left were both excellent) and Laurie will enjoy the shopping when she arrives in February. The town is a big summer resort destination and it was nice to see it during the calm of the off-season. The only negative is that many shops were closed because it is the off-season. Very few cars are allowed into the town but they do have a seven story parking garage thank goodness. Bad side of easy parking was the nine euro charge to park.

I am starved for reading material in English. I finished my one book and didn't bring any more because of the baggage weight issue on the airplane. I bought a day old USA Today newspaper for two euros in Taormina. I almost bought a book on Sicilian cooking because it was in English but I stopped short.

Also visited the Taormina City Museum in the Palazzo Corvaja. There main exhibit was a set of 400 to 500 year old manuscripts, some were illuminated. It was kind of a "The Name of the Rose" motif.

On the way home I bought my first tank of gas. WOW! Gas goes for 1.40 euros a liter. I bought 51 euros worth of gas to fill up the Fiat. DOUBLE WOW! I don't want to hear complaints about the price of gas in the U.S. anymore!

Tonight we have a fund-raiser event in Catania for the Elefanti, should be both interesting and fun.

First practice on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. for three hours. CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE BOYS IN ACTION!

Davide surprised me when I got to the office with an Elefanti sideline parka. It looks great and will keep me warm at practice I'm sure.

Since I do not have the internet in our apartment yet, I probably won't be back in the Elefanti football office until Monday for any updates.

Ciao a tutti!

Gustavo Bonanno

Many of you ladies have asked to see a picture of my right hand man, Gustavo Bonanno, who speaks great English. Here he is ladies.

Cucina Isabella

As many of you know I like food. One of my favorite places to mangiar (eat) in Camarillo is a small Italian restaurant officially called Cucina Isabella which we call "Winchello's". It's been open for about 3 or 4 years in the spot that used to house Winchell's Doughnuts for many, many years hence our nickname. The food is good but so is the food at several other places, what makes this a special place is the owners who work in the restaurant daily. They make you feel like you are one of their oldest and dearest friends who they haven't seen in months but it may still be only your first visit ever to the Cucina. When Laurie planned the surprise going away party for me, it was their place that she picked for the event.

Cucina Isabella is located at 455 Carmen Drive in Camarillo open Tuesday through Sunday from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. This is a shameless plug I know but what the heck they can always use more business.

Gino and Connie Milano are these special people. Gino was born and raised in Sicily while Connie is Scottish by birth. Gino's energy level is high while Connie's is INCREDIBLE and probably contagious!

Yesterday I drove about one hour inland to visit them. They are in Sicily in the town of Enna, elevation 3,054 feet, in the center of the island of Sicily visiting Gino's mother Gaetana (82) and father Mario (84). Gino and Connie plan on retiring to Enna next August to work on a Bed and Breakfast place set to open in August of 2009. The have already purchased a six bedroom villa for this project. All the bedrooms are upstairs while the downstairs is basically one very large open room. There are plans for swimming pool, cobblestones to pave the dirt areas around the villa and both major and cosmetic renovations to the villa. Connie's energy level went to hyper-speed as she showed me the place and expressed her ideas about improvements. They have a beautiful unobstructed view of Mt. Etna out the front of the villa where they are seen standing in today's pictures. I am not sure if this is true because as you can tell it was very foggy in Enna. I think that the place has great potential and after they finish the upgrades it will be yet another success for them.

After touring the villa and the town of Enna, we returned to Gino's parents' apartment for lunch. Gino's mother Gaetana is a prototypical Italian mother, I can't believe they didn't give her a role in the movie "Moonstruck", she would have been perfect. She made us a great lunch and every time I stopped she just kept saying to me "Mangia, Mangia!". I had to be polite so I kept eating, it was so good! Is their a bad place to eat in Italy? We were alone in the kitchen for about five minutes and Gaetana, who speaks no English, and I had an actual Italian conversation. She went slowly for me but it worked, we communicated successfully.

The pictures in Gaetana's kitchen also include their friend Tanino. From what I gathered he is Sicily's answer to my old friend Mark "Mad Dog" Johnson...knows everyone, has connections and gets things done.

The final kitchen photo is of Gino and their ten year old daughter Isabella who the restaurant is named after.

Garmin did put me into a street in Enna that tapered to a street so narrow that Sargent Preston of the Yukon and his dog King could not not have maneuvered their sled through it. I had to back out about one block since their was no room to turn around. Of course an illegally parked car made it even harder but in the end it may have been one of my greatest moments in driving.

I took some back roads through the Sicilian countryside on the way home for about ten miles. It was all very beautiful and peaceful, like the postcards you send home.

In the evening it was back to the University for the team's last "Athletics" workout before we start football practice Saturday. Again about 20+ players showed up, some old some new. It was good to meet so many of them before the first practice. We are going to be alright.

If you need to send me anything, my address is:

Via dei Malavoglia 20

95021 Aci Castello

Catania, Italy

Finally, today I've included a close-up picture of a Norman castle built out of black lava on top of a basalt rock in 1076. It is located about 600 yards from my apartment. This is the reason the town is named Aci Castello.

Eat, Pray, Love My Way

After my last post, I decided to leave the hotel where I connected to the internet and drive the Fiat...at night...into Catania...solo. Somewhere in the deepest part of the soul of every middle-aged, fat, bald guy there lurks a frustrated Grand Prix driver. Catania at night is THE place to free yourself of such petty inhibitions! The rules are simple: speed limits...only a suggestion, lines painted on the road to control traffic flow...PLEASE, honk for no apparent reason every 30 seconds, be aggressive (Zoo Blitz mentality helps), drive fast and finally, if you get in trouble drive FASTER! Praying helps I've found out in only two near death experiences so date.

My first stop in town was, of course, for a gelato al limon. This was my first gelato and I was not disappointed! Many of you have asked how Sicilian gelato compares with the gelatos I came to love two summers ago in Venice, Rome and the Greek Isles. It is way too early to make such a decision but I promise to keep my research going strong daily.

Did I mention that I had instant Parking Karma at the gelateria? This was not typical of the insane parking situation in Catania. After walking around a bit, I got back in the Fiat and started to drive thereby getting hopelessly lost. Thank God for my Garmin GPS system! If you are coming to Europe buy one, don't even begin to think they cost too much, THEY ARE WORTH EVERY PENNY! That being said, the voice on it does continue to get angry with me when I miss a turn, she can be brutal when she has to say "RECALCULATING!".

On Monday, after eating a fine breakfast of prosciutto and eggs (that I actually cooked) on the patio with a spectacular view of the Ionian Sea, I drove into Catania to meet with Davide Giuliano and Gustavo Bonnano at Davide's office. The pictures today are of my office, it is very nice and a complete surprise. I have an internet connection in the office so life just became easier. We talked about our defense and the concepts that make up our calls. Both Davide and Gustavo picked it up quickly and easily, now I hope the defensive players can do the same. I spent the rest of the afternoon updating the playbook, Davide wants to e-mail it to the players Friday so I have to put the finishing touches on it for him. Our first team practice is this Saturday at 3:00 for 3 hours.

At 8:00 p.m. members of the team were meeting to do "Athletics" only. In America we call it conditioning. About 20+ players showed up at the University of Catania's combination track, rugby and soccer stadium to stretch, run, run, run and then, run some more. I was very impressed with their work ethic and how long they worked out in near total darkness of their own volition. It was in the low 40's while they worked out but no one was phased by the weather. Back home Brian FitzGerald would have fielded several phone calls from parents upset about the workouts being too hard.

The players at practice came in all shapes and sizes, some (Claudio, a WR, especially) spoke great English. All were friendly and showed great spirit and comradeship during the workout. The players are all in their 20's save one. The one is named Fortunato, "Call me Lucky", and is 44 years old. He is their leader beyond question! He seems like a great guy and is in incredible shape. He was a QB for 15 seasons but now plays Slotback. At about the 40 minutes mark, the lights go on on an outdoor/indoor soccer field next to the stadium with 1970's Astroturf. They finished the workout there. This small field will be the sight of some of our Monday and Wednesday practices next week.

My impression so far is that the players really want to learn, they are like brand new dry sponges looking for the first rain of the year. I think this is going to be a greater experience than I imagined.

A word about Gustavo Bonnano who has been assigned to be my guide. GREAT guy, a student at the University, in his 20's, speaks English very well and knows good places to eat. He took me to a good street vendor for an Italian sausage, cheese and pepper pannino. I love hole in the wall dining!

By the way, many of you have commented on the statue next to my Elefanti gear in the previous post, obviously some of us don't appreciate art and/or decor when we see it! Also, Shi Young there was a small print of a Mogdigliani drawing in the apartment, go figure!

So to sum up, I'm eating great food and dolce, praying constantly when I drive and love the people I'm meeting.

Buon Giorno di Aci Castello

I am writing this from a hot spot in Aci Castello after driving solo for the first time in Sicily. Driving here is really all the adventure I need for one day!

Arrived in Catania after a two hour flight from London on Air Malta. The flight was good with ample room in economy, unfortunately the chicken they served ranks right up there in infamy with the ones served at the 1975 Thousand Oaks H.S. football banquet.

I was met at the airport, picture, by Davide Giuliano, our Head Coach and G.M., and a player/coach Gustavo Bonnano. Good people!

They drove me to my apartment which is on the third story of a three story building, two apartments per floor.  NO ELEVATOR and 53 long steps to the top, did you read that Laurel Elizabeth! The apartment is a two bedroom, fully furnished and what a view of the Bay of Catania. We also have the only apartment with access to the sun deck that is the entire roof of the building!

My car is a 4-door silver Fiat, it is a new Hertz rental car for me to use for 6 months.

Gustavo took me to dinner, picture, at a local pizzeria where we hooked up with four more players, Giulio, Manny, Alessandro and Fabio. During dinner I asked each of them why they started playing American football, the best answer was Manny's. He made the choice after watching the movie "The Replacements". I hope he can teach the other players the end zone dance from the film. At this pizzeria I saw a first, a pizza topped with French fries...interesting.

From there we drove into the heart of Catania. Parking is VERY difficult but worth it. Catania is alive with people at night just strolling, eating, talking and drinking. There is lots of places to shop plus street vendors all over the place. This is a very vibrant city.

When I got home I returned a call to Bill Bennett, Brandon's father. He jusy wanted to let me know that Brandon, our two-time All-American OL/DL from Willamette University, had signed and faxed his contract to be an Elefanti. Before signing they took the contract to their family lawyer to approve it and their lawyer is Bill Conte who was a good TE and a great kicker for us at Thousand Oaks H.S. in the early '70's. I wonder if he still has that square-toed, white kicking shoe? Small world ideed.

On Sunday I woke up late, unpacked and then went to a 2 1/2 hour lunch at a great seafood restaurant with Davide, his wife Daniella, her brother Pietro and his girlfriend and Tony, a former Elefanti and his significant other. I ate first and asked questions later. It was all good and I can now scratch off eating black squid ink pasta off my to-do list. I also understand how much more Italian I have to learn, I pick up about every tenth word making details tough to understand.

The enclosed pictures are in no particular order, one of my three new friends, Davide, Daniella and the Mt.Etna active volcano. The others are of the view from our patio, of the living and dining rooms and of Elefanti clothing Davide gave me.

Everything is exceeding my expectations!

The Adventure Has a Great Start!

Cheerio from London!

I left Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon after a farewell breakfast at Cronies Sports Grill, of course, in Camarillo with Laurie, Mike and Koreen and Brian FitzGerald.

Incredibly LAX was a breeze! Total check in time was about 10 minutes, I was even the only person in the baggage X-ray line. The ten hour flight to London was also good, aisle seat (usual beatings by the food and beverage carts) with no one in the seat next to me.

London's Heathrow Airport was also smooth, three people in front of me at immigration, my luggage arrived with me, lost luggage has been a BIG issue for British Air the last two years. The Heathrow Express train got me into Paddington Station in 15 minutes and my hotel, the London Elizabeth, was nearby.

As I usually do in a new town I walked much of London, I wish I hadn't stopped walking after the Dos Pueblos game last October. I may have made up all the lost mileage on Thursday! After exploring Hyde Park it was, after many stops, on to Piccadilly Circus to have my first English meal. I stopped at "The Crooked Surgeon" pub for fish and chips and a Stella Artois beer. While I ate I watched a live cricket match on TV (one team was behind by 76 runs in the first innings, yes, innings not inning, I just report what I see. Can life possibly get any better than this after a long red-eye flight?

A new movie called "The Bucket List" is about two terminally ill codgers who make up a list of things to do before they kick the bucket. I don't have such a list but if I did I just scratched a lot of them off my would-be list the last two days. Start with attending a West End play last night "The 39 Steps". It was a hilarious comedic adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock's 1930's suspense movie.

Today, many more items were eliminated from this imaginary list thanks to London's efficient Underground, "Mind the Gap". 

I went to the British Museum where I saw the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles and Egyptian mummies. 

Then it was off to St. Paul' Cathedral, magnificent! 

From there I visited the Tower of London and saw the British Crown Jewels amongst other things. 

Grabbed the Tube as Westminster Abbey, double magnificent, was next up with it's famous Poet's Corner. I was there long enough to hear their magnificent choir and organ practice hymns. I also got to hear Big Ben ring it's famous bells.

I got a bag of chestnuts roasting on an open fire from a street vendor while I was waiting for my last adventure of the day. By the way, Jack Frost has bitten my nose completely off, it is cold and windy here. I finished the day with the 90 minute, night time, in the rain "Jack The Ripper" walking tour. It was very interesting to see where these murders occurred and hear all the gory details but unfortunately all of the original buildings have been destroyed by either time or the Nazis.

I have found London to be a very cosmopolitan city indeed. Walking down the street you hear every language under the sun being spoken, kind of reminds me of the Camarillo Outlet Mall on a Sunday.

The pictures above show that I'm being good, note the huge blue halo, while visiting the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben.

Tomorrow morning I fly to Catania on Air Malta. The long Italian leg of the adventure begins!