ELEPHANTS WIN!!!

Catania Elephants (0-5)

at

Bologna Doves (1-4)

Saturday, May 2, 2009

8:30 p.m.

Normally I give you a drive by drive report and then make some comments, but for goodness sakes, THE ELEPHANTS WON 19-13!!!

After a tough training camp that saw us lose all five pre-season games (we played an extra game because we were picked to play in the Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio against Ancona) we start the season 1-0 tied with Saturday's other two winners Lazio and Reggio Emilia . . .

. . . O.K., I know we are really 1-5 and tied for ninth place in the IFL but we now own the tie breaker against the Doves if it comes down to that!  Remember, I lived with a Positologist all last season and some of his karma rubbed off on me.  Besides, the feeling after the game was as if we had won the Super Bowl.  Winning still cures a lot of problems in any sport, on any continent.

The Doves Nest

Nice Natural Grass Field

State of the Art Scoreboard

Don't snicker, this is the first scoreboard we've had this season.

1TH quarter? Did Sylvester the Cat make this thing?

Catania Defense Ready for Action!

IFL . . . Fast Paced AND Artsy!

 

FIRST QUARTER:

The Doves drive down the field but the Catania defense stiffens forcing a Bologna field goal attempt.  Wide left.

The Elephants drive 80 yards with a very balanced attack.  Larry Atkinson hits pay dirt from 5 yards out.  The PAT is missed, Elephants lead 6-0.

Bologna is forced to punt.

SECOND QUARTER:

The Elephants continue to control the line of scrimmage and Enrico Lombardo scampers in for a 12 yard TD.  Andrea Mannino kicks the PAT, Catania in charge 13-0.

Rookie CB Riccardo Conticelli intercepts a Bolobna pass, the first of his bright future.

Catania loses a fumble right back to the Doves.

The Doves capitalize on the Elephant error, capping their drive with a 17 yard run.  They add the extra point to cut the lead to 13-7.

Catania mounts a good drive but throws an interception in the end zone.

Taber LeMarr gets the ball back to the Elephants by making a big interception.

Catania turns the ball over on downs.

Bologna mounts a small drive as the half ends with Catania still leading 13-7.

THIRD QUARTER:

Catania opens the second half on offense but has to punt.

Bologna is again forced to punt the ball back to Catania.

Taber LeMarr catches a weird 60 yard TD pass from Arturo Sanchez.  I say weird because as he caught the ball about two strides past the CB it was as if time stood still for the other 21 players on the field who all seemed to just freeze and watch Taber prance into the end zone.  The two point pass attempt fell incomplete.  Catania extends their lead to 19-7.

The Doves punt.

FOURTH QUARTER:

Catania punts.

Matthieu Cassaghi recovers a Doves fumble.

Catania punts.

Bologna gets a drive going and sores their second rushing TD from 3 yards out.  Their PAT attempt is wide left.  Catania hanging on to a slimmer 19-13 advantage.

THEN IT HAPPENED!!!

On the Elephants next possesion a weird season got ever more bizare as we were hit by a thunder and lightning storm that would eventually produce some hail.  The game was stopped for over 30 minutes for obvious safety issues and we all headed back to the locker rooms.  When this occured, we were deep in our own territory after Bologna's kickoff team did a superb job of covering downfield.  We were facing a 3rd and 5 situation with 3:45 left in the game.  We had a long time to come up with a good call, and Arturo and the offense came up with an option with Larry as the pitchman.  Arturo read it well, turned up inside and made a late pitch to Larry who gained over 10 yards resulting in a crucial First Down, but more importantly, there was no need to even consider a measurement!  The offensive line took things into their own hands and legs providing GREAT run blocking to gain three more first downs before kneeling down three times to end the game with a GREAT 19-13 victory!

In this trying season, it was good to see Davide with a smile on his face!

W.C.E. and OG Alessio D'Arpa was pumped and Enrico was still a blur coming off the field.

The Football Gods needed to be appeased after our first victory, which required the obligatory Virgin Sacrifice.

Cornerbacks Manolo Gariffo and Riccardo Conticelli

V is for Victory

The ageless Lucki Camarda had another good kickoff return tonight.

WE ARE 1-0 THIS WEEK!!!

Over my left shoulder is Salvo Sicali, our defensive co-captain and a fully licensed M.D. here in Sicily.  He has played GREAT football all year long and his work at practice is the reason.  He has become so dedicated that he has pledged not to smoke while performing surgery until the season is over!

On a side note, before the game I met the Doves coach, Bob Ricca who was for many years the Head Coach at St. John's University in New York.  Retired now, he had contacted me last fall for information about landing a job in Europe and here he is.  Bob is a very nice man and I'm glad to have been of help.  It IS a small world indeed.

IFL Week #9 Results

WEEK #9 RESULTS:

Catania 19 - Bologna Doves 13

Lazio 40 - Milan 20

Reggio Emilia 41 - Bologna Warriors 20

BYES:  Ancona, Bergamo, Bolzano and Parma

IFL STANDINGS AFTER WEEK # 9 GAMES:

Bolzano Giants 5-1

Lazio Marines 5-1

Parma Panthers 5-2

Ancona Dolphins 3-2

Reggio Emilia Hogs 4-3

Bergamo Lions 3-3

Milan Rhinos 2-4

Bologna Warriors 1-4

Catania Elephants 1-5

Bologna Doves 1-5

NOTE:  The top four teams at the end of the regular season will advance to the 2009 IFL playoffs in June.

WEEK #10 GAMES:

Saturday, May 9

Ancona (3-2) at Reggio Emilia (4-3)

Bergamo (3-3) at Bologna Warriors (1-4)

Sunday, May 10

Parma (5-2) at Catania (1-5)

Lazio (5-1) at Bolzano (5-1)

Bologna Doves (1-5) at Milan (2-4)

It's OFFICIAL!!!

They told us about a month ago over dinner and asked us to keep it a secret and we did.  Today we were given the go ahead to announce it on the blog...

Peppe and Valeria are engaged to be married in June of 2010!

All we can say is YAHOO!  We are so happy for the two of them!!!

By the way, cool hat Peppe.

Gregorio's Family Farmhouse

May 1st is National Holiday in Italy commemorating Labor day.  It is a day for families and friends to gather and mostly MANGIARE!  It also marks the 100th day since I left Camarillo, California.

We were invited to Gregorio Barbagallo's family farmhouse high up in the Mt. Etna foothills in the town of Ragalna for a Sicilian BBQ.

The Farmhouse's Long Driveway

The Farmhouse was so very picturesque!

Over it's 100 years it has been used to press grapes.

The Barbagallos are Rotarians it appears making my father-in-law happy I'm sure.

Laurie and the Farmhouse's press.

We also found these REALLY old bottles of wine in their basement.

This scale MUST be broken.

An awesome wood burning stove inside the Farmhouse.

Colorful plates line the kitchen area's wall.

I like the idea of a plate that tells me what I'm eating and how it was prepared.

Laurie loves cherries and therefore loved these drawings.

This old well probably serviced the Farmhouse for years. 

The backside of the Farmhouse

Some of the girls flashing their Haute Couture scarpa!

Paul was happy to relax for a few minutes.

Alessandra... "STYLING"

Gustavo... "CLOWNING"

A tense crowd waiting for the feast to begin.

Giulio now bills himself as a "vegetarian"?

Here he is trying to prove it by eating fava beans.

I hear they are GREAT with a little Chianti.

MEAT!

MANGIA! MANGIA! MANGIA!

Laurie digs in while Giulio looks on in disgust.

No meat in a riccota cannolo thank goodness!

Suddenly a game of Calcio-Tennis broke out!

"Here they come, walking down the street..."

Another herd of goats blocked our way home bringing traffic to a halt.

I started to daydream about the team of my youth, the NFL's Los Angeles Rams

Nice Freckles

WR Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch was my favorite Ram.

Black Beauty joined the animal parade to finish our drive home.

It was a GREAT day!  Thanks Gregorio and Alessandra for hosting the BBQ!!!

Atilio's Birthday

GOOGLE ANALYTICS REPORT FOR APRIL, 2009:  In the 30 day month of April, this blog received 4,921 visits from 78 countries.  We got 7 hits from Croatia where a reliable source tells me that the Internet was really invented.

From the English countryside, we got a hit from a cow in Jersey!  Not to be outdone, another bovine in Guernsey represented as well.

Thanks to all of you who follow this blog!!!

Last Practice for the Bologna Doves Game

As always, the Elephants never cease to amaze me and have allowed me a new experience that I had never had in my previous 41 seasons of coaching football.

In our last tune-up Thursday night for Saturday's game up north, the player in charge of the footballs and cones got sick and did not show up, neither did the footballs or the cones!

Our defense had a hard time with this.

Add to this that Friday is Labor Day in Italy, a National Holiday, and attendance goes out the window too.

"Serrano needs to sacrifice a live chicken to Jo Boo!"

After all that has happened this season to date, and there IS more to come I'm sure, I called for a Team Bondage moment (I know it should be Team Bonding but that just doesn't seem quite right for this group) at the team bar, Fundo Bianco, to get a little "Elephant Energy" going.

Perfect Timing!

It also turns out that April 30th was the Fundo Bianco's owner Atilio's 34th birthday!  My grandmother, Abuela as we called her in Spanish, shares her birthday with him and would have turned 107 years old yesterday if she had not passed away at the ripe old age of 99.

Here you see the birthday boy himself setting up the first of literally hundreds of shots for the loyal patrons to help celebrate the special occasion.

Atilio's Army of trained professionals just kept pouring.

Gregorio Barbagallo just had to give Atilio two more kisses.

While Christian Di Mauro had to give him his birthday cake.

I'm not sure but they may now be officially married after this.

Human Shield

After we all laughed at Christian's antics and Atilio laughed too, but he is a self respecting bar owner and there was really only one thing he could do in this situation to save face... shake up a bottle of prosecco and spray all the customers.  Laurie and I were seated at the bar and both received a heavy dose of his "fury".

Here you see "West Coast Elephant" Roberto Paderni a RB/WR/DB who hid behind me for protection during this vicious attack.  I of course took one for the team...

... as did Laurie!

Gustavo just had to join in with the cake to the face mania with a self-inflicted wound.

I was found out later that hundreds more lives besides Roberto's may have been saved by our heroic acts!!!

West Coast Elephants + 1

OT Andre Specchiarelo and OG Alessio D'Arpa join diminutive and dry Roberto for a photo of part of our Palermo contingent with FS Christian Di Mauro working his way into the limelight.

 

Gustavo joins the W.C.E.

Christian, on the right, had just taken his first sip of his second Moretti Beer when he passed out as this photo was being taken. 

Recreation

Here Roberto and I recreate the Human Shield incident from earlier tonight.

BIG Boys!

OL/DL Matthieu Cassaghi joins the Alessio and Andrea.

 

Laurie holding court with Claudio, Peppe and Gregorio

Looks like the Team Bondage idea is working!

Laurie Says:  It really was a fun evening, with the exception of the 'locker room celebration'.  I now understand why players wear goggles to avoid getting the champaign (or proseccco) in their eyes which really stings!  It took me forever to be able to see again.  And another thing, what a waste of prosecco!!!