Milano Revisited

Thursday, 7 June, 2018

A glorious day in Lombardia, just perfect to celebrate a birthday. 

Janne turned "25 and change"

as he calls it today

 At the Sforza Castle

My legs need a tan

Cannon Balls

Sistine Chapel-like

Wedding Pictures

at the Sforza Castle

Love Couple

 Janne's Security Pose

 Good Times!

She is so short

  

KFC and some other iconic signs

 At the Duomo

At the Galleria

Tradition called for this move

UP MILANO!

DOWN TORINO!

Near La Scala

No drama here today

 Chiesa San Bernardino Ossuary

Disturbing

The Duomo

Food at Peck's

The Stock Exchange

Chiesa San Maurizio

St. John the Baptist

on a really bad day

 THE BAND!

Shot through the heart . . .

Laurie in a Choir Seat

  

 Lower right, Sant'Agata

What is the story behind

this saint?

Love Couple at the Navigli Canals

It was a warm day after all

Looking GOOD!

 Skål!

DAMN, just missed this!

After a good day touring Milano, we headed home as we still had Skorpion practices tonight. 

Enzo with the 15s

Last U17-15 scrimmage of the year

This was the last night of practice for all of our Flag teams who finish their 2018 campaigns this weekend at the National Championship Tournament in Grosetto. 

U13 CB still needs to work on

her stance

Aiki, Enzo and Giorgio

all networking

Good looking t-shirt Aiki!

8:30 p.m.

HERE COME THE SKORPIONS!

A really good practice before our

Wild Card Playoff game vs.

the #7 seed, 6-2 Modena Vipers

As mentioned at the start of this post, it was Janne's birthday today, so we celebrated at the Villa Skorpion after practice.

Bart the Bug

Gelato Birthday Cake

Go Janne GO!

Frutti di Bosco Gelato!

DAMN that was good!

Why yes, I'll have a second.

And it is said that working

on your computer constantly

can cause brain damage

Another GREAT day in Italia!

Swedish Invasion of Lombardia

Wednesday, 6 June, 2018

In what most historians consider to be the greatest invasion of Swedish culture in the greater Milano area since the ABBA concert of 1972 in Stadio San Siro, Aiki Parts and Janne Kristofersson arrived today.

Aiki and Janne at Lake Como

They hale from Upplands-Väsby, Sweden where I coached the Wäsby Warriors the past two Springs.

They were also my wonderful, gracious host family both seasons.

We now get to host them for a few days in Lombardia.

Saw him in concert in 1969

at the Seattle Center Coliseum

 Easy Rider is 50 years old?

Peaceful Lake Como

 The Gang at the Como Duomo

 Chiesa San Jacopo

 Old and Colorful

Nice Altar

The BVM looking good

  

Explain please

Janne tried to call me on that thing

What is it?

Prosecco Time!

Como Duomo again

In the evening we went to the

Bellavita Cafe in Varese . . .

. . . where we had a Skorpions

offensive meeting

  

Good attendance

Late in the evening, Enzo Petrillo

joined us to talk about American football  

Enzo was networking with Aiki who is the President of the Stockholm American Football Federation.

GREAT FIRST DAY!

More American Football Videos and Some Good Practices

Tuesday, 5 June, 2018

More video study of our upcoming opponent, the 6-2 Modena Vipers, was on my morning agenda today.

As their record indicates, they are a good American football team. They will be extremely tough for us to beat in our DII Wild Card game Saturday night on the road.

At lunch time we decided to go get a pizza and while we were on the road we found an open door at a church we had yet to enter.

So we did.

 The walls looked OLD!

And they made Laurie

look small somehow

 It had a cool sun dial

 As well as a nice outdoor chapel

Is that the name of this

beautiful old church?

Interesting floor pattern

Frescos are always of interest

  

And there were lots of them

 The BVM!

 A Dandy of a saint

 Padre Pio has his Game Face on!

After a good lunch near the church, we had a little shopping to do. 

Wine, for once, was not on

our shopping list

I liked the table though.

At 5:00 p.m. the American football practice marathon began again but with only five U19s on the field.

We did what we could.

HC Enzo Petrillo tone setting before

the U15 Flag practice that started

at 6:30 p.m.

U15 BOMB!

Our U15 team would end their session with another lively, spirited scrimmage against our U17 Flag team.

The Buosi Gelateria

is one of our sponsors?

Why did I not know this much sooner?

  

Senior Scrimmage

It got dark fast tonight

Overall, I was quite happy with our troops and our effort tonight!

Laurie getting artsy while

I was at practice

Do you know what this is?

Want to hazard a guess?

Janne and Aiki will be visiting

us from Sweden starting tomorrow

Italy, GEAR UP, the fun is about to start!

A Video Study Day at the Villa Skorpion on Yet Another Tropical Storm Monday

Monday, 4 June, 2018

It was a good day for reading and studying more game video of the Skorpions in action.

That being said, the highlight of the afternoon was definitely the monsoon that hit us at about 4:00 p.m.

Still not sure of how many are missing in the greater Venegono Superiore megalopolis.

It looked like this

There was rain and . . .

. . . LOTS of thunder too!

Sooner or later, Summer will be here, alive and well in Lombardia.

Or so we are told.

Reading Is FUNfamental

Good story lines for the

first 541 pages

The final 20 pages were a bit of a letdown though.

A Trip to the Bergamo Lions vs. Lazio Ducks Game

Sunday, 3 June, 2018

Today was the beginning of our last month in delightful Italy. What better way to start these final 31 days than a road trip to watch an Italian DI American football game?

Lazio Ducks (4-5)

at

Bergamo Lions (3-6)

We had several reasons to make the 90 minute drive to the southeast for this final game of the DI regular season.

 To begin, the first year Ducks were coached by our good coaching friend Bart Iaccarino who is also the Athletic Director and Defensive Line Coach for our Europe Warriors All-Star team that will play in Chihuahua, Mexico this coming August.

Secondly, our outstanding Skorpions Strong Safety Nicolas Principi has been selected to play for the Warriors this Summer so it afforded him a chance to meet Bart.

Finally, Warriors LB Herbert Gamboa plays for the Ducks and to our surprise U19 Warrior Joey Fuentes was at the game as well.

Joey was our go-fer guy for the Warriors Senior team last August in Mexico City, was a starting Offensive Lineman for our U19 Warriors team last December in Texcoco, Mexico and played for Bart last year when they were both with the Rues Imperials in Spain. Joey was just visiting Bart this weekend as he still plays for the Imperials.

Thus the three of us we were off to the greater Bergamo area, the village of Verdello to be exact, where the Lions' home field is located.

 Good looking edifice

To set the game stage a bit, here is what you need to know.

In the first decade of the 21st-century, the Bergamo Lions were the Evil Empire of American football in Italy. They were portrayed as such in the 2007 John Grisham novel Playing for Pizza and I found them to be a tad sketchy when our Catania Elephants played them in 2008 and again in 2009.

Today the Lions are a mere shadow of those long ago powerhouse days entering this contest with a 3-6 record.

As for the Ducks, they are a new club that was formed this year in Rome when the old Marines and Grizzlies teams opted to merge.

A win today would put the Ducks into the post-season as the #4 seed thus giving them a home game in the DI Wild Card round of the playoffs.   

Nicolas Principi with injured

Bergamo QB Andrea Fimiani

They were teammates back in their flag football days if I heard the story correctly.

 The Second Half Kickoff

found the Ducks in control 19-6

It did not feel that close as the Ducks were in command of the game with only some dropped passes keeping them from at least another two first half scores.

The Ducks do LOVE to air it out

A solid win for the Men of the Tiber

The game over and a playoff spot secured, it was time to chat with our friends again and take a few photos.

With Bart and Joey

Bart's big smile is partly because of today's win and partly because of his joy when he told us that he and his lovely bride Chiara are expecting the arrival of their second son in November.

CONGRATULATIONS!

With Bart and Nicolas

With Herbert and Bart

All of us in these last three photos will meet again in August with the Europe Warriors in Chihuahua, Mexico.

Here are the Final Standings for the Italian DI American Football League:

Congratulations to Europe Warriors DC

and Milano Seamen HC Mike Wood

for an outstanding season

The DI Playoff Bracket

The #4 Lazio Ducks (5-5) will host the #5 Ancona Dolphins (4-6) in two weeks. The Ducks edged the Dolphins 36-30 in their regular season meeting in early May.

The winner will travel to Milano to play the #1 seeded Seamen (10-0).

All in all, it was another great day in Italy with good friends!