Christmas Eve 2009

Christmas Eve saw us taking our traditional drive to Orange County for gift exchanging, games, caroling, food and friendship at the home of our In-Laws, David and Gayle Hicks.

It is also an excuse for a group of relatives to act as goofy as they want for an afternoon and still please everyone! Although we all tend to complain about Gayle's annual series of games and singing of Christmas carols before the fact, we seem to leave their home each year a little closer as a family with decidedly warmer hearts.

Two Goofy Souls

Craig McKenzie, cousin Lyndsey's husband, and Mike are kindred spirits.

Thank goodness I only get to wear this shirt once a year!

Our Hosts the Hicks

Gayle, Laurie's sister, and Dr. David

The Hicks Kids

Scott, Amy, Tim and Lyndsey

In January Tim and his Dad are going on a two week medical mission to the northern area on India! It should make for some fascinating stories the next time we get together.

Madonna and Child?

Santa Craig

Craig gladly accepted the role of Santa Claus and did a splendid job handing out the gifts.

My nephew Tim's gift to me

My first ever bottle of Svedka Vodka straight from Sweden! I could get used to this beverage.

Andy with his Star Wars Christmas

Darth Vader bobble head doll!!!

Is it possible to be any happier?

Grandpa Bill with his hand painted

Rotary International plate

Laurie and Gayle found it together for their Dad when we were in Caltagirone, Sicily last Spring!

Christmas Present of the Decade!

Lyndsey had asked all of us to send her pictures of all of Bill's children, grandchildren and spouses to use in this interesting "Family Tree" frame.

I have watched Bill open Christmas presents for the past 45 years and it is safe to say that in his mind this is the best one he has ever received!

Christmas Charades

Gayle's Yule Time Game of the Year this day was charades with an obvious Christmas flavor.

The group was divided at random into two competing teams and soon were doing friendly battle.

Unfortunately for our side, Laurie was one of our teammates. She of course could not keep quiet and blurted out the correct answer for our opponents on not one or two but THREE occasions!

This morning before leaving Camarillo we happened to talk about Laurie's only foray into the world of theater, her junior high role as Christmas Future in The Christmas Carol. This role is a non-speaking one that requires only the ability to make a long sweeping motion of you arm to show Ebeneezer Scrooge another glimpse into what the future has in store for him if he doesn't change his ways.

If you know Laurie at all, you realize what a stretch of her artistic talents this role calls. . . playing a mute character for about five minutes! IMPRESSIVE

When it came time for me to pull a a charade prompt from the basket, wouldn't you know I drew the book/movie title The Christmas Carol!

Easy, right? I just pointed at Laurie and made the necessary long sweeping motion with my right arm to which Laurie promptly yelled out "HORIZON!" and then "LANDSCAPE!". . . now there are two words that always pop up in any Christmas discussion. Finally, after switching to a Tiny Tim charade our team correctly surmised my clues.

The relationship between Laurie and I will never be quite the same again.

Tim and Amy caroling to their hearts delight

Amy's beau Brian is left to wonder.

All in all,

GOOD TIMES INDEED!!!

Dinner at Pascucci

I have come to the realization that one of the great pleasures in life is helping people who can't help me.

If you are a regular follower of this blog, then you are aware that I absolutely love the cherished memories of our time coaching football in Sicily and look forward with great anticipation to our upcoming adventures in Sweden.

Because of these feelings, I get a big kick out of helping players and coaches find out about what great times await them overseas and giving them a leg up on how to find employment on a European team.

Usually this happens by phone or e-mail but I really enjoy meeting with the Seniors at local colleges and the occasional one on one meetings like the one we had last night.

Ed and Ginny Barnett on the left

Last night Laurie and I met with Ed and Ginny Barnett in Santa Barbara for dinner at Pascucci, an Italian restaurant on upscale State Street. They are very interested in coaching football in Europe in the near future after Ed retires and they had lots of questions.

We had a great three hour (how very Italian of us) meal as expected and were able to discuss the fine points, both positive and negative, about spending six or seven months living abroad.

Ginny and Laurie exchanged many ideas about a wife's role in the experience while Ed and I talked about the football side of things. Together the four of us explored the non-football cultural, travel and housing side of things. While I believe that we answered all of their first round of questions, we have already agreed to meet again soon once they digest all of the information they received last night.

I think some wine tasting in the Santa Maria area will be included as well. . . AWESOME!!!

Ed has been an outstanding football coach at both the high school and now junior college level. He is currently the Defensive Coordinator at Hancock College in Santa Maria.

NOTE TO ALL EUROPEAN TEAMS: When you get the chance a year from now, hire this guy! His passion for the game and ability to teach are just what every team is looking for in an import coach.

Cooking Italian

Sunday night we had Mike and Vanessa, as well as our niece Lyndsey and her husband Craig, over for our favorite, a homemade Italian dinner!

Craig and Lyndsey live in San Jose, a five hour drive from Camarillo, and were spending the night at Mike and Vanessa's home before driving another 90 minutes south to be with their families for the Holidays.

The main dish would be Mostaccioli pasta this evening!

Here I'm cutting tomatoes as I prepare the sauce that will elevate the Mostaccioli to the culinary bliss that I learned in Catania from the many Master Chefs who masquerade as the parents, wives or girlfriends of Elephants' players.

Sweet Italian Sausage, a MUST, on the right

Sauteed vegetables simmering on the left.

Group Shot

Craig and Lyndsey are between me and Laurie.

Laurie sets a MEAN table!

Mostaccioli ala Aci Castello

Here's to you Al Tubo!!!

Alert Guard Cat

Taking no chances with visitors in the house, Bridget stood watch over the Christmas presents!

Final High School Football Weekend

This past weekend marked the final games of the year for high school football.

Per chance I tuned in to live coverage on Friday afternoon of the Florida State AAA Championship Game in Orlando's Citrus Bowl Stadium between the 13-1 Pensacola Tigers and the 11-3 Belen Jesuit Wolverines out of Miami.

This game, that I completely stumbled upon, had a little bit more special meaning than most for two reasons. First, Belen Jesuit ran my beloved Delaware Wing-T offense and secondly, my Father, Jorge, graduated from Belen Jesuit!

Their logo says ". . .since 1854 . . ."

But the City of Miami had only been chartered in 1896 and my Father was born and raised in Cuba, how could this be his Alma Mater?

The Wolverines

Let's face it, Wolverines would really not cut it as a team nickname in Havana where my Dad went to high school.

So what is the story?

Belen Jesuit's Havana Campus

Like all things Cuban, the answer was simple . . .

Fidel Castro of course!

In 1961 due to Castro's revolution, Belen Jesuit picked up stakes and moved to Miami to further their goal of educating Cubans who were now gathering in their new homes in Miami!

In 1960, the last time my Dad took the family to Cuba, he took me to Belen to see this awesome campus, I was really impressed at the time to say the least. Today his old campus is the Cuban equivalent to our West Point Military Academy.

In an ironic twist to this story of Catholic education in exhile, it should be noted that Fidel is himself a Belen Jesuit graduate! Fidel was born eight years after my Father, so they did not know each other in their youth. They both are also alumni of the University of Habana.

The University of Habana Indians, now there is a nickname!

Oh, by the way, despite my cheering, Pensacola won a very hard fought game game 28-7.

Meanwhile back in California. . .

California was also hosting its version of "State Championship Games" somewhat akin to the NCAA's BCS madness.

Why the quotation marks you ask? Simple, unlike Florida that holds a Championship Tournament, California has opted for four years now to hold season ending Bowl Games.

Some background on our state's situation is needed at this point. California has a total of 1,475 high schools who are members of the California Interscholastic Federation (C.I.F.), the governing body for high school athletics in the Golden State.

As the term Federation implies, the state is broken down into ten autonomous geographic Sections that are definitely not equal in size. The two smallest Sections are Oakland with six schools and San Francisco with 12 schools fielding athletic teams.

The Southern Section, of which Rio Mesa H.S. is a member, is the largest Section by far with a whopping 576 schools.

It is up to each Section to hold its own playoffs to determine its champions. In Oakland and San Francisco it is basically determing a league winner, while the Southern Section holds football playoffs in 15 divisions including two 8-man divisions.

When all of these Sectional playoffs are concluded, over 50 Section champions have been crowned.

Then, on a Sunday morning after the last playoff game is played, the ten Section Commisioners lock themselves into a room to decide which of these 50+ champions will be selected to play in the four enrollment based Bowl Games plus the one Open Bowl between the perceived two best teams in California regardless of enrollment. The Commissiners will decide who earns the chance to call themselves "STATE CHAMPION" if they can win one more game!

These Bowl games to be played at the Home Depot Center in Carson, pit a Southern California team against a Northern California team in each case. If the two best teams are both in the same half of the state, it is just too bad.

Talk about the potential for politics and hair splitting.

New Catania Elephants coach Mel Galli's Mission Bay squad went 13-0 in the San Diego Section playoffs but did not get chosen. Locally, Westlake H.S. was also not able to parlay their 14-0 Championship season into state gold.

Who made it to Carson and how did they do?

Small Schools

Modesto Christian (15-0) 44 - Francis Parker (12-2) 40

Divison III

Gardena Serra (15-0) 24 - Marin Catholic (13-2) 20

Division II

Servite (14-1) 33 - Rocklin (14-1) 30

Division I

Oceanside (14-0) 24 - Bellarmine Prep (11-2-1) 19

Open Division

De La Salle (13-2) 28 - Crenshaw (14-1) 14

Two games live on TV Friday and the other three on Saturday. All five were GREAT games to watch featuring very evenly matched teams and high drama but I still would like to see a true playoff instead of annointing State Champions by committee to a large extent.

Kind of like my stance on the BCS isn't it.

Swedish American Football Federation Update

Sveriges Amerikanska Fotbolls Förbund

The Swedish American Football Federation announced their new lineup of teams for the 2010 season.

In 2009, the Hässleholm Hurricanes competed in the SAAF's Division II Södra with five other teams. The Huricanes finished 7-3, their best record in their short, five year existence after playing each team twice during the season.

For 2010, the upgraded Hurricanes will be competing in the restructured Division I Södra. The Division will then be further broken down into two conferences.

Division I Södra South East Conference

The four teams in the South East Conference are:

YOUR Hässleholm Hurricanes

Hey, isn't the South East Conference supposed to be the best football conference in America?

The Kristianstad C4 Lions

The Carlshamn Oakleaves

The Oskarshamn Dockers

Famous for their relatively HUGE logo!

We will play each of the other three teams in the SEC twice, home and away, for a total of six games in conference.

Division I Södra South West Conference

The Limhamn Griffins

Another oversized logo eleven.

The Lugi Vikings

as well as

The Ekeby Greys

and

The Ystad Rockets

Sorry, but I could not download logos for Ekeby or Ystad.

In addition to our six SEC games, we will play the four SWC teams once each to complete our ten game regular season schedule.

In the next few weeks the SAFF will announce our exact schedule complete with dates, sites and kickoff times. . . stay tuned!

Travel Preparations Continue

On Sunday we tried our hand at making Swedish Pancakes at home for the first time. It took a few attempts but Laurie got quite good at it by the end of this VERY successful experiment.

Cold Weather Hat for Sweden

I think I nailed this one! I don't really know why Mike is going with the retro jacket.

Rio Mesa H.S. 2009 Christmas Party

Last night was the annual Rio Mesa Christmas Party at Milano's Italian Restaurant in the Ventura Harbor. Faculty, staff and retirees are invited to this shindig and it is always a good way to start the Holiday Season!

Milano's is located at 1559 Spinnaker Dr., #100, in gthe Ventura Harbor Village. Check them out at

www.milanositalianrestaurant.com/

Laurie and Mike Contreras

Food, family and friends are a great combination, especially at this time of the year.

Paul Petrich, a Peroni and me

I got a chance to touch base with Paul and we discussed the football season, the Heisman Trophy (we both wanted the Nebraska DL to get it, he didn't) and relived many of our highlights of the '09 Catania Elephants season.

Brandon and Monica Fuchs

In my role of part-time Reverend, they were the first couple whose wedding I presided over a few years ago.

Keith McKnett

He struck gold on E-Bay when he bought this sweater!

Koreen FitzGerald and Marlene Mahan

Two of my very favorites at R.M.H.S.

Monica with Vanessa Contreras

Vanessa is one of my two daughters-in-law, you know.

Paul talking with Annie Marostica

A little smaller gathering this year, with only about 65 people in attendance, but a GREAT time none-the-less!!!

C.I.F. Northern Division Championship Game

On a rainy Friday night, our son Mike and I decided to pray for a break in the weather and watch the 2009 C.I.F. Northern Division Championship football game between Moorpark H.S. (12-1) and Westlake H.S. (13-0).

This would be a rematch of the Marmonte League championship game played four Fridays ago when the Warriors handed the Musketeers their only loss of the season, 38-14.

For me, this game would have a little extra significance since I was Westlake's first head football coach when it opened in 1978 until I decided to move on to Rio Mesa H.S. after the 1988 season.

The game was being played at a neutral site, Simi Valley H.S. There is really only one great culinary reason to go to Simi Valley. . .

1308 E. Los Angeles Ave.

Simi Valley, California

www.thehat.com/

One of THE best places to eat in Ventura County. I have only tasted two items on their extensive menu, the chili cheese fries (I rate them #1 in the Free World) and their signature. . .

. . . Pastrami Sandwich

Rich, flavorful meat with delicious, spicy mustard on a warm, fresh French dipped roll. There is so much meat that invariably enough pastrami falls onto your plate while you eat to warrant a second roll for a second normal sized sandwich.

We were not disappointed and left with our bellies full ready to watch a good football game.

We were fortunate that while it was still cold and crisp, the rain had stopped and we would be able to stay dry for the next few hours.

Pre-Game Excitement

We were lucky enough to score sideline passes to get up close and personal for the game. Here the Westlake Warriors gathered in this inflatable helmet tunnel to psyche up one last time before doing battle.

The Warriors were seeking their third C.I.F. title under Coach Jim Benkert after winning championships in 1999 and 2003.

Westlake Football Alumni

By chance, we ran into these four desperadoes who actually were good athletes back in the days when they played for me at Westlake. We watched the game together on the sidelines and had a GREAT time.

Next to me, from left to right, are Derrick Schmucker (OL), Jeff Smith (WR), Craig Weisman (OL) and Scott Winkler (HB).

At QB for Westlake, a Junior, #10

Nick Isham

A throwback kind of player, he also starts in the Warriors' defensive secondary and is their punter.

He entered the game having passed for 1,979 yards, good for 30 TDs while completing a nifty 127 of 174 attempts, an astounding 73% completion average!

He was also Westlake's second leading rusher with 649 yards, 13 more TDs and a 7.5 yards per carry average. Obviously he has been the key to their offense all season long.

Westlake Ball Boys

This brought back some great memories as our sons Andy and Mike spent several seasons on the sidelines as Warrior Ball Boys when they were this age.

Moorpark Offense in Action

Moorpark had scored 119 points in their three playoff games while Westlake had put up 120 points of their own over the same span so we all expected a high scoring shoot out. . .WRONG!

Defense would rule the night as it probably should in a championship game.

After being turned away on downs at the two yard line on their first possession, Westlake would finally take the early 7-0 lead on Isham's 31st TD pass of the season, a 27 yard toss to one Nelson Spruce, with 2:12 left in the first quarter. Spruce entered the game with 55 catches for 1,155 yards and 11 TDs.

In the second quarter, the Musketeers battled back with a 46 yard Field Goal followed by a one yard TD run with 1:40 left in the half. As the oening two stanzas came to a close it was Moorpark smelling an upset leading 10-7.

Moorpark received the second half kickoff and would eventually punt the ball back to Westlake. The Warriors could not move the ball either, and on third down their QB, Nick Isham was sacked by two Moorpark defenders.

As Isham dropped back to punt he started to massage underneath his shoulder pads and our son Mike said "He just broke his collar bone!" Mike had suffered a similar injury in his high school playing days and has become acutely aware of the body language of this injury.

After Isham punted, there was a mad scramble on the Warriors' sideline to find out what was wrong and it was indeed a broken collar bone. Isham was forced to leave the game having rushed 9 times for 74 yards and passed for a typically efficient 10 for 13 and 148 yards.

Who would the Warriors turn to at QB in this intense defensive struggle now?

At QB for Westlake, a Freshman, #2

Justin Moore

Listed in the program as being 5-10, 175 lbs. and yes, a FRESHMAN! How would this young, 14 year old pup fare in the biggest spotlight of the high school season?

Incredibly well as it turned out! He entered the game at the 3:58 mark of the third quarter still trailing the Musketeers 10-7. He would go on to go 7 for 11 passing for 91 yards and rush 6 times for 28 yards.

As the defenses continued to dominate the game came down to this scenario, Moorpark punts the ball out of bounds to the Warriors at the Westlake 13 yard line.

The FRESHMAN QB was staring at what was still a 3 point deficit, needed to cover 87 yards of Field Turf and only had 6:48 remaing in the contest.

What ensued was the making of a legend!

An 18 play, time consuming drive where Moore completed 5 of his 8 passes for 70 of the needed 87 yards for the ring. The drive came to it's necessary, dramatic conclusion with the Warriors facing 4th and Goal at the 2 yard line and opting to forego the tying Field Goal to probably force overtime for the potential winning TD.

With 0:41 left in the game, the QB kept the ball on the Spread Formations signature Zone Read play and FRESHMAN QB Justin Moore scampered around the left end for the go ahead TD!

Westlake 14 - Moorpark 10, could the Musketeers answer? The answer on this night was no, it just would not have been fair to the "Legend of Justin Moore" now would it?

0:00 on the clock

Westlake H.S. Warriors

2009 C.I.F. Northern Division Champions

On Sunday, Westlake will find out if it is picked as the school to represent southern California in the enrollment based Division II State Bowl Game next weekend against the perceived best Division II team from northern California.

For Moorpark, it was a VERY tough loss as the Musketeers have been to the Finals four of the past five seasons without a title to show for it.

Tim Lins does a GREAT job coaching Moorpark with class and dignity. He has built a powerhouse program and his Musketeers fought as hard as you could on this night.

FRESHMAN QB Justin Moore

He handled the post game interviews as easily as he did the pressures of the game.

Crumb Catchers

Alumni Jeff Smith and Scott Winkler were just happy to be in the background of a picture with the legendary Justin Moore. Did I mention that Justin Moore is a FRESHMAN?

Injury

How often in sports does a key injury to a star player like Nick Isham open the door for an understudy to have his moment in the sun?

Often enough I would say, it's just that so rarely does someone step up like Justin Moore did for the incredible last 15:58 of the 2009 C.I.F. Northern Division Championship Game!

He's a FRESHMAN you know.

The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags

Euro Football Speech

Tour Stop III

The Claremont Colleges are a consortium of five undergraduate colleges and two graduate universities all housed together on a 350 acre parcel of land about 90 miles south of our home in Camarillo. There are about 6,300 undergaduate students enrolled in the consortium.

They even have "Ivy Covered Walls"

Even though these are officially seven separate institutions, through the consortium they share library systems, athletic facilities and extra-curricular activities. They also have joint academic programs and cross registration in over 2,500 courses that the institutions offer.

Athletically, the Claremont Colleges compete in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference but they do so as two separate entities.

Pomona College, student body 1520 and founded in 1887, joins with Pitzer College, founded in 1963 with 929 students, to form the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens in SCIAC competition.

Today I would be a guest of Head Coach Rick Candaele and speak to several of the Seniors of the Claremont Colleges' Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags which is also a member of the SCIAC.

For football, Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) each have a stadium located on the same street only about two blocks apart.

Founded in 1946

1,211 Coed Students

Founded in 1955

738 Coed Students

Founded in 1926

898 Women Students

I imagine that there is not a lot of help on the Scripps campus for Coach Candaele's Stags football team.

The Stags

That's Coach Candaele, third from the right, with some of the Stags who stopped by to hear about what it takes to play in Europe.

A third straight GREAT day getting to meet with enthusiastic young men who are passionate about the great game of American football and are very interested in taking their game overseas.

With colleges getting ready to break for the holidays, I probably won't get a chance to visit with any more Seniors until sometime in January. So far I have visited three colleges, only 11 to go to meet my original goal of talking at all 14 colleges that have football programs in southern California.

Finished speaking, I found myself hungry yet again!

La Paloma Restaurant

2975 Foothill Blvd.

La Verne, CA 91750

www.lapalomarest.com

When I mentioned that I was going to talk today at CMS to our friend Debi Murphy, who grew up in nearby La Verne, she raved about La Paloma as THE in place to eat in the area. Who was I to argue, she is a Bonita H.S. Bearcat alum afterall!

But what to order. . .

The Kitchen Sink Burrito

"A HUGE BURRITO WITH BEANS, RICE, BEEF, PORK AND CHEESE. SMOTHERED WITH RANCHERO SAUCE AND TOPPED WITH AVOCADO SLICES. SOUR CREAM AND GUACAMOLE ON THE SIDE. $12.50"

This is what the menu boldly offered and what caught my eye instantly.

When they brought it out I couldn't help but think of Adam Richman's "Man v. Food" TV show on the Travel Channel. This was indeed a "HUGE BURRITO"!

Would I be worthy of this challenge? I dug in and found it to be delicious! Great, great pork in nearly every forkful of spicy Mexican cuisine!

I was about half way through the potential ordeal when I realized that I was sweating profusely from every pore in my body above my Adam's apple! Could I finish the Kitchen Sink before dehydration set in?

As always I was armed with my trusty Diet Coke to douse the flames and then, as if on cue, Debi Murphy called me on my cell phone to see if I had found La Paloma. We talked for about five minutes which allowed my intestinal tract to be downgraded to mere "Smoldering Ember" status.

The last half of this fine burrito was a beeze and so today, in La Verne, California. . .

MAN CONQUERED FOOD!!!