Tennessee at UCLA Football Game

It is NOT too early to start voting for the

National High School

Freshman Coach of the Year.

Vote Often!

Elephant Catania Personnel Scouts

checking out the Seniors on the UCLA and Tennessee rosters

 

COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON OPENER

#18 Tennessee vs. UCLA

at Pasadena's Rose Bowl

Our friends Mike and Susan D'Antuono, who live in Altadena just minutes from the Rose Bowl, have been  UCLA season ticket holders for over 20 years since the Bruins moved their games from the L.A. Coliseum to this grand, old Pasadena venue. They very graciously invited us to attend UCLA's  5:00 p.m. season opening kickoff vs. nationally #18 ranked Tennessee Volunteers.

 

Besides the obvious joy of another college football season, yesterday's game was even more special because two of our very dear friends from Catania, TE Peppe Strano and his beautiful girlfriend Valeria were here on vacation and the D'Antuono's invited them to both a pre-game BBQ and the UCLA game as well.

The D'Antuono's further went over and beyond by inviting Peppe and Valeria to stay at their house for two nights to serve as a much more centrally located base to visit L.A.'s attractions than our home in Camarillo which is about a one hour drive north of downtown Los Angeles.

We will host our Sicilian friends later this week as they continue to work their way up the west coast to first San Francisco and eventually seattle. 

The D'Atuono's "Bone Room"

Mike and Susan's home was originally the Gillette (shaving products barons) family hunting lodge 100 years ago. As a result they have this one room full of antlers and other animal parts. Peppe was a little unsure of himself in this environment.

Pre-Game BBQ

That's Mike and Susan, our hosts, at the two ends of the table. We moved indoors because it was HOT and HUMID outside!

Homemade Cannoli

Mike's family roots on his mother's side are from Caltanisetta in Sicily and his father's side of the family hails from Bari on the heel of the Italian boot.

Susan made the plate of delicious cannoli that you see here. Mike also made a plate of alcohol laced cannoli that were a big hit with me.

After lunch it was off to the Rose Bowl to take in some of the pre-game pageantry and view the tailgating fans of both schools.

Knoxville, Tennessee has always been a

BIG fashion center in the South

Do they make these pants in XXL?

NOW YOUR STYLING!

Valeria's visor and Peppe's hat and shirt provided by the House of D'Antuono Fashion Salon

"Old School"

Sports Illustrated magazine had a large booth/tent set up outside the stadium featuring their "80 Players Behind College Football's Evolution" issue. ESPN's Dan Patrick was signing autographs and they had a bunch of great displays including a Heisman Trophy.

I am posing next to a poster of my first college football hero, LSU's Billy Cannon, the 1959 Heisman Trophy winner. His 89 yard TD punt return on Halloween night vs. Mississippi is still the stuff of legends.

P.S., Face masks are for the weak!

Peppe tries on the latest in football helmet technology, light but durable.

George, Mr. Potato Head and Mike

What says college football more than Mr. Potato Head?

Giulio Romano's Idea of Heaven?

Giulio is the Madden Football Champion of Sicily, he would have loved this display with about 30 different screens up and running.

The UCLA Bruins Warming-Up

The Tennesse Volunteers Warming-Up

GAME ON!

Peppe and Valeria with 68,546 of their closest Rose Bowl friends.

Note that Valeria is now sporting a UCLA football jersey with #1 on it.

VICTORY!

Football can be a VERY strange game.

UCLA rushed the ball 31 times for only 29 yards. The Bruins threw 4 interceptions in the first half including one returned 61 yards for a TD with 23 seconds left in the half!

How could they even be close to Tennessee with statistics like these? Easy, GREAT defense and returning a blocked Tennessee punt 17 yards for a 1st quarter TD.

UCLA scored a passing TD on a 3 yard "bomb" with only 27 seconds left in the game to take the lead 24-21. Tennessee moved down the field smartly to kick a 47 yard field goal to tie the game at 24-24 with no time left on the clock and force an overtime.

UCLA went nowhere but kicked a 42 yard field goal to go up 27-24. Tennessee would try to counter at the end of their overtime possession with a field goal as well but their attempt sailed wide left to give UCLA the improbable victory. WOW!  

Bob's Big Boy

Bob's was a legendary place to go after games back in the 1960's. On the drive home Laurie and I agreed to stop at the Toluca Lake Bob's for a Big Boy combo, a cherry coke and a chocolate malt at about 10:30 at night... crazy but fun!

Frosh vs. J.V. Scrimmage and the Husky Opener

WEEK #2 of R.M.H.S. Freshmen Football

This was our first full week in pads and it continued to amaze me with the, shall we say, interesting interactions with these 14 year olds.

Girdles: At Rio Mesa we issue snap-in hip and tail pads. They are red in color and quite stylish. These are a new style to most of our players and a few still want to wear the girdle-style hip and tail pads they were accustomed to in Pop Warner football.

With this as a background, I had a young running back approach me before practice in our locker room and ask me where he could put on his girdle. I responded that, of course, you can change here in the locker room. He looked at me with a puzzled look and said "But they're girdles, where can I change?" Again, I said "Here in the locker room." His response? "But I'll have to get naked!" I resisted the impulse to laugh out loud, told him he would be O.K. and he was able to get them on without incident.

Aroma: It took eight days of practice, but on Tuesday when I opened the freshmen locker room, the uniforms and pads had finally reach their full level of fermentation.

Devil Worshipping: Thursday was Picture Day so we had to issue the game jerseys and game pants to all 71 players on the team. As you may know, according to high school, college and pro rules, offensive linemen must were jerseys numbered between 50 and 79, no exceptions! One of our linemen took number 66, a great number in my opinion.

On Friday, #66 came up to me in the locker room asking to change his number to #85 at his Mom's request. I thought it might be a legacy issue with her, something like it was his Dad's  or uncle's old number. It took about 5 minutes for him to finally understand the 50 to 79 number rule and he finally picked another lineman's number. Only later did I find out that his Mother is very religious and did not want her son wearing the "Devil's Number". I didn't have the heart to tell her that the number she should be concerned about is really "666".

Frosh vs. J.V. Scrimmage: On Friday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. we scrimmaged Rio Mesa's J.V. team for about 90 minutes. We started out slowly as our players were a little flustered playing against their older, somewhat more experienced brethren. After the initial shock, we calmed down and competed quite well the rest of the way but we still have a lot of work to do.

At U.S.C., one of their main program success points is "Competition Tuesdays" where their first offense goes against their first defense for 15 minutes every week of the season. Based on Friday's scrimmage, we will go full bore to a take down, 1's vs. 1's for 15 minutes against the J.V.s every "Competition Monday" the rest of our season.

Freshmen in White, J.V.'s in Black

Freshmen tend to be short

The view from the visiting stands,

R.M. varsity in red to the left

Can you feel the intensity of Frosh football

Offensive Huddle

Offensive Coordinator Brian Fitzgerald, in the white T-shirt, with Line Coach John Reardon instructing the offense, while Linebacker Coach Mike Muro and I discuss my inability to get into a hitting stance.

Sunset at John Reardon Field

Shaking hands after the scrimmage 

"What a BEAUTIFUL day to play American football!"

Afterglow

HATS UP, SPARTANS!

COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS FINALLY HERE!

I love college football SO much more than pro football probably because colleges never move to another city and abandon their fans like the Los Angeles Rams did.

The University of Washington Huskies opened the 2008 season Saturday night with a PAC-10 game at the University of Oregon Ducks. As always, my hopes were high for a Husky return to the top levels of BCS bowldom.

Mike and I preparing Cipolatas to enjoy during the Husky's first victory.

Vanessa and Laurie enjoying a glass of wine during the Husky telecast.

Husky Half-time Meal

UW QB Jake Locker #10

The Huskies competed for the first three quarters trailing 24-10 but were blown out in the 4th quarter finally losing 44-10.

The Dawgs home opener is this coming Saturday at Noon vs. BYU. The Cougars are favored to win the 2008 Mountain West Conference championship.

It may be a REALLY long season for my "Purple Gang".

Another Interesting and Somber Weekend

FROSH DON PADS FOR THE FIRST TIME

We put on the armor for the first time on Friday! Having 68 Freshmen all in pads together for the first time led to some funny moments.

Life with the Freshmen is interesting to say the least. Brian FitzGerald, our Offensive Coordinator was 30 minutes late getting to the practice field and I was about 20 minutes late myself. The reason? We had to teach about a dozen kids how to put on their protective gear on back in the locker room!

The zaniest thing that happened was a youngster who came up to us during our 10 minute, mid-practice water break complaining of trouble breathing because his shoulder pads were hitting his throat. Upon inspection, we instructed him to go into the rest room to turn his shoulder pads around, sure enough they were on BACKWARDS!

Installing Our Punt Formation

Organizing the Frosh Horde

Next Up... Field Goal

Coach Danny Solarez

He loves kids and is a GREAT motivator!

Angle Tackling Station

Brian's Open Field Tackling Station

SATURDAY and SUNDAY MEMORIALS for

J.D. PROBASCO

 

J.D. was laid to rest Saturday.

After the graveside ceremony, a memorial was held for him at the Majestic Ventura Theater where he had worked part-time for several years. The theater was absolutely PACKED! The memorial, which included a great slide show and several touching testimonials on J.D.'s behalf, lasted for almost four hours and could have lasted another four.

He touched so many lives so deeply in such a short time.

Ventura Cronies on Sunday for J.D.

From 1:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, Ventura Cronies donated a significant portion of their revenue to the J.D. Probasco Memorial Fund. Again it was so packed that it took us at least one hour to get our food with overflow people sitting at makeshift tables on the sidewalk.

Grandma Florene's 86th Birthday

Laurie's stepmother, Florene, celebrated her 86th birthday this weekend so we invited her to our home for a BBQ.

Mike and I BBQing cipolata. Note the replica of Mt. Etna to the right.

Mike with his Grandma Florene

Grandpa Bill Gardner

Laurie and her Dad discussing the Dodgers' season.

Laurie hard at work in our kitchen.

The Meal

Chowing Down in Our Dining Room

"Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You..."

A Very Sad Day

J.D. Probasco

The worst part about coaching great young men is when one of them is taken way before their time. This morning the Ventura County Star reported that J.D. Probasco had passed away of a rare blood disorder at the age of 23.

When Rick Scott, the former Buena H.S. Head Coach, asked me to join his staff as defensive coordinator in 2001, J.D. was one of the first guys I noticed. First because he was huge and then because of his infectious spirit and positive attitude. In 2002, J.D. was named the Ventura County Offensive Lineman of the Year for his great performance.

I saw J.D. at the Dallas Cowboys camp in Oxnard two weeks ago and we talked for about 15 minutes about football of course. He looked great and his always positive demeanor gave me absolutely no hint that he was ill.

He was a GREAT young guy and everyone who ever met him was better because of it! I'll miss him.

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/aug/20/buena-highs-gentle-giant-dies-at-23/

First Day of Practice

On Tuesday, August 19th we greeted 68 candidates to the 2008 Rio Mesa H.S. Freshmen Football Team. That is a lot of players indeed! About a third of the kids have no previous football playing experience making for a wide variety of knowledge and skill levels.

We will NOT cut any of these players for lack of ability because we know that players mature at different times. Today's third string player may become an all-leaguer by the time he's a Senior.

Warming up the old necks before practice

Agilities are also a big part of our warm up

The team gathers up for some "fired up" words from Coach Solarez before heading to technique work

It was a very good first day of practice but we do have a very long way to go before our scrimmage vs. Royal H.S. two weeks from this Friday.