First Day Back in Varese

Sunday, 12 January, 2020

After my early morning arrival in Milan, I only had one driving thought in mind.

What was it you ask?

Why to get to Pasticceria Marabelli near the Villa Skorpion II for a cappuccino and one of their internationally famous pistachio brioches of course.

As it turned out, they were closed until this coming Tuesday for vacation after their busy holiday baking season.

Damn!

Fortunately, my good friend and driver Enzo Petrillo had an alternate plan instantly that whisked us off to another of Varese's great pasticcerias that was new to me. 

Pasticceria Canziani

WOW!

GREAT call Enzo!

After our shared morning sugar rush, Enzo dropped me off at the Villa Skorpions II at about 9:30 a.m. to unpack and have some solitude until we met up again for dinner.

Jet lag was looming to be sure.

Instead of sleeping after settling in, I headed into Varese via bus to see how things were going on this bright, chilly Sunday morning.

It was 10°C/50°F outside, crisp but refreshing to this recent California resident.

When I got on the bus, the driver had his heater cranked up to about 33°C/90°F! I forgot how much Italian's love extremely warm conditions in cars, busses, businesses and homes during the Winter months.

I opted to walk part way before boarding on the Z line bus for the first time in 2020 in order to revisit some familiar sights.

The old Sant'Ambrogio church

was still standing

It's about a seven minute walk from the Villa Skorpion II.

The town piazza near my

favorite butcher shop

Closed on Sundays.

Part of Varese's weekly

Sunday street fair

My first 2020 sighting of the

Basilica is San Vittore Bell Tower

Lots of knick-knacks were on sale

Red fur at the Basilica

It was about noon with perfect

weather for a Sunday stroll

Great helmets could

be had for a song

Colorful, eye catching knobs

The church next to the

Villa Skorpion II was also

still in one ancient piece

A close up of the church's

weather beaten statuary

With the "Usual Suspects"

at dinner in neighboring Brinzio at

il Borgo Ristorante e Pizzeria

On the left are Federica, Santa Barbara, Giorgio and Enzo.

On the right we have, Edvin, Raffa, me and Emma.

We had some really good pizzas at this new spot for me.

I enjoyed the friendship and camaraderie even more than the delicious pizza dining with these members of my wonderful Italian family.

All in all, it was a good first day in Italy's Lombardia region!

Tuesday's re-opening of Pasticceria Marabelli's can still not get here fast enough though.

EuroBall Experience XVII Starts With But a Single Flight, Well, Two Actually

Saturday, 11 January, 2020

At long last, it was finally the day to fly to Milan, Italy to start our latest adventure, EuroBall Experience XVII.

A recap of all of our EuroBall Experiences:

I: 2008, Defensive Coordinator, Catania Elephants, Italy

II: 2009, Head Coach, Catania Elephants, Italy

III: 2010, Head Coach, Hässleholm Hurricanes, Sweden

IV: 2012, Head Coach, Thun Tigers, Switzerland

V: 2012-13, Head Coach, Bron-Villeurbane Falcons, France

VI: 2015, Head Coach, Murcia Cobras, Spain

VII: 2016, Consultant, Wäsby Warriors, Sweden

VIII: 2016, Consultant, Osos Rivas, Spain

IX: 2017, Consultant, Wäsby Warriors, Sweden

X: 2017 O-Line Coach, Europe Warriors Senior, Mexico

XI: 2017 O-Line Coach, Europe Warriors U18, Mexico

XII: 2018, Head Coach, Varese Skorpions, Italy

XIII: 2018, Head Coach, Europe Warriors Senior, Mexico

XIV: 2019, Head Coach, Varese Skorpions, Italy

XV: 2019, Special Teams Coach, Europe Warriors U19, Austria

XVI: 2019, Head Coach, Europe Warriors Women, Mexico

XVII: 2020, Head Coach, Varese Skorpions, Italy

What a ride it continues to be, E-Ticket worthy for those of you old enough to know what an E-Ticket meant at Disneyland back in the day.

With great timing, FIDAF, Italy's governing body for American football picked today to finally announce the final alignment of the 21 teams in Division II for the 2020 campaign.

With 21 clubs, we are up two

teams from the 2019 season in DII

The Varese Skorpions will compete

in this season's Girone or League A

Here is the rundown on how the 2020 League a teams fadein 2019:

The Bergamo Lions were in DI last year where they endured a rough 1-7 season. The drop to DII this year will give them a chance to regroup. Historically, the Lions have been unbelievable in winning 12 DI Super Bowl championships including an unheard of ELEVEN straight titles from 1998-2008! We have not played against the Lions in my previous two seasons with the Skorpions.

The Bologna Braves went 2-6 in DII play in 2019. We have also not played against the Braves in the past two years.

The Brescia Bengals were a DII playoff team in 2019, going 4-5 in the process. We beat the Bengals in a wild, regular season shootout last season 58-43.

The Legnano Frogs went 0-6 playing a DIII (nine-man) schedule in 2019. We have not faced the Frogs in my tenure with the Skorpions.

The Savona Pirates were a DIII powerhouse in 2019 in winning their league and going deep into the playoffs. They were 7-1 last season and once again, we have not faced them in either 2018 or 2019.

The Varese Gorillas, our cross-town rivals, were in DII in 2019, going 2-6 during the season. They gave us all we could handle as we eked out a hard fought 14-6 victory against the Gorillas in 2019.

Your Varese Skorpions enjoyed a stirring 7-3 DII season in 2019 with all three losses coming at the hands of the top two ranked teams in 2019 DII.

I really like the idea of facing four opponents for the first time in 2020.

As for DII's other two leagues, here is their make up with their 2019 records and Division included:

Cernusco Daemons (8-2, DII)

Ferrara Aguile (4-5, DII)

Modena Vipers (1-7, DII)

Monza Brianza Hammers (3-5, DII)

Padova Saints (8-2, DII)

Toscana West Coast Raiders (5-2, DIII)

Verona Redskins (10-0, DIII Champions)

Canavese Mastifs (3-6, DII)

Castelfranco Cavaliers (1-7, DII)

Isonzo Sentinels (1-7, DII)

Reggio Emilia Hogs (8-2, DII)

Sarzana Red Jackets (3-6, DII)

Venezia Islanders (5-2, DIII)

Verona Mastini (8-2, DII)

Now about that trip to Italy . . .

The alarm at Casa Contreras went off at 2:30 a.m. as my first flight of the day took off from LAX at 7:00 a.m.

Laurie and I left the house at about 3:30 a.m and with no traffic to speak of on the usually clogged 101 and 405 Freeways, we made it to the airport in a mere 50 minutes.

 The American Airlines area

was virtually empty make for

more smooth sailing

Interestingly, the American Airlines ticket agent demanded to see my six month Italian Work Visa as a prelude to being allowed to check in today.

That is a huge departure from the slack immigration check days of EuroBall yesteryear.

It is never easy to say good bye to

little Laurie for three months

Note the time at the American Airlines

clock . . . it was 5:09 a.m. as I entered

the TSA line

Again only a few other traveling souls were in the line and I was through to the boarding gate area in about four minutes.

My first flight of the day would last

about five hours to . . .

  

. . . The Big Apple, New York City and

JFK Airport

We experienced a lot of turbulence over the midwest but I was strong.

I now had a three hour layover to endure.

Nice American Airlines sculpture

At the sports bar where I had a GREAT

hamburger, I spied a Skorpions omen

Now for the eight hour flight to Milan

As one would suspect, there were a lot of Italians on this flight which made for lots of fun watching the Italian cultural chaos begin all around me.

First, an Italian family of six people were scattered in about three separate rows and on both sides of the aisle around me.

Only two sitting next to each other in two middle seats and only one was in an aisle seat.

Before takeoff they asked one of the hostesses if they could change seats. "To all be together?" the hostess asked.

No, we ALL want aisle seats!

That did not happen, but the four who were not sitting together did at least get to sit with their respective spouses.

As for me, the lady next to me was part of the family and she was moved to a new aisle seat next to her husband, it meant an empty middle seat for myself on the aisle and the young man by the window for the rest of the trip.

All three of us were now extremely happy!

At about 3:00 a.m., the same group, resplendent with their colorful, light weight scarves, decided that having a loud discussion (is there any other kind of discussion for a true Italian?) near the restroom was a great idea.

Many passengers either disagreed or were as mildly amused as I was.

Of course, upon landing in Milano, all of my new countrymen gave a large round of applause to the pilots upon our successful landing as is the Italian tradition.

We made it!

My long travel day was finally over as we arrived in Milan at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday which was 11:00 p.m. Saturday back in California. Thus ended my 20 hour and 30 minutes of voyaging from the alarm going off to landing on foreign soil.

My Skorpion ride into Varese from the airport was a bit late so I opted to . . .

Get my first delicious,

genuine Italian . . .

. . . CAPPUCCINO!

There will be many more I assure you.

It was brisk outside but my ride

arrived seconds after I stepped

out of Milan's Malpensa Airport

The fun is really about to start!

A Busy, BUSY Last Three Days Before Flying to Italy

Wednesday, January 8 -

Friday, January 10, 2020

As the days continued to dwindle before my American Airlines flight on Saturday morning to Milan's Malpensa Airport via New York City's JFK Airport, my agenda seemingly grew non-stop.

Wednesday was all about continuing to pack my bags with the usual help of our son Michael who earned a minor in college in Precise Techniques of Geometrical Luggage Stuffing.

One final 90 minute indulgence at our local Massage Envy Spa was of great benefit on this day as well.

Thursday was another action packed day that started off with a final Italian Conversation class at the Conejo Valley Adult School. Our teacher, Elisa Degli Angeli-Henke, does a GREAT job every week leading about a dozen of us down the path to bi-lingual expertise. Her class is a highlight of my week.

After class, I had a chance to share a meal at Thousand Oaks' Made in Italy restaurant with long time friend David Lassen. David was an excellent sports journalist for many years in Ventura County who covered our teams at Westlake H.S. when I was the Head Coach of the Warriors. He now works for Trains magazine out of Milwaukie, Wisconsin. It was great to break bread with him again.

In the evening it was time to say good-bye to our lifelong friend Debi Murphy over yet another dining table. Always good to share a smile with her and her family.

Finally, on Friday I finished packing at last before heading down to BJ's Restaurant in Burbank to have lunch with this blog's top two readers, Paul Sabolic and Mike D'Antuono.

Great fun.

After lunch, I headed over to San Marino to say farewell to my Mother and my sister Marilyn. It's not easy getting old.

By the time I got back to Camarillo I was tired but Laurie and I had one last task.

A movie date with Mike and Vanessa

Amazing cinematography combined with stark realism made for some powerful scenes.

So, that's it for my latest six month tour living in California.

At 7:00 a.m. at the Los Angeles International Airport, my six month EuroBall Experience XVII begins.

Stay tuned . . .

Getting Ready to Head Overseas

Monday, January 6 -

Tuesday, January 7, 2010

The last few days before heading out to another season in EuroBall are always a bit hectic.

The last two days were no different as I had a doctor's appointment and lots of shopping for many small things to take care of before Saturday's flight.

Nice picture of Scorpion U16 WR

Filippo Petrillo on his 75 yard TD

catch in Sunday's Italian

National Championship Game

It was posted Facebook yesterday.

My new 1880s vintage baseball cap

for the 2020 Varese Skorpions season

arrived on Monday via UPS

Our son Michael had it custom made for me as a Christmas present by the people who make all of his Redondo Beach Wharf Rats' vintage gear for their 1880s rules baseball team.

Cool!

On Tuesday night, I joined Mike and

Jacob to watch the Westlake Warriors

play at the Newbury Park Panthers gym

in a Marmonte League boys basketball game

  

We had a GREAT crowd at the game!

NPHS time out huddle

Westlake was the better team and broke open a close game with an overpowering Third Quarter.

Before the game started there was a moment of silence due to last Saturday's passing of former NPHS Head Basketball Coach Ken Barone.

He also coached at Rio Mesa H.S., UCLA and Ventura College.

At Rio Mesa, besides being the basketball coach, he also led the golf team to a State Championship.

Ken was a good man who was gracious to me as a young coach back in 1978 when I was the Head Football Coach at Westlake H.S.

We opened Westlake during the 1978-79 school year by having double sessions at NPHS due to the new school's construction not being finished until January of that school year.

Ken just had a calm way about him that had a great effect on me that first year as a head coach. I would see him in the NPHS locker room as he finished his practice and we were getting ready to start ours. He knew how to keep sports in a proper perspective as he gave me advice regularly.

Another good man sadly gone . . .

Reading Is FUNdamental!

This was another EXCELLENT

read in Donna Leon's long list of

Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery

books always set in Venice, Italy