Back to School, Back to Practice

Tuesday, 4 February, 2020

A good ten hours of sleep Monday night cured me of my Super Bowl induced semi-vegetative state.

Speaking of the Super Bowl, here is the article about the game in today's La Gazzetta della Sport . . .

Half of page 35 of today's all sports

newspaper was dedicated to the game

There were 40 pages to the paper today with the game article treating President Trump's latest foray into the wonderful world of geography and the halftime performances as important as the Super Bowl itself.

I once again joined Skorpion DB Coach Dario D'Adelfio today for another four hours of introducing the basics of American football to the students at Venegono Inferiore's Isiss Don Lorenzo Milani School of the Arts.

Artsy sun dial on the school's wall

It would be two classes today,

each lasting two hours

Throw the ball through a square

with a yellow, white or green flag

and win a kewpie doll! 

Young Italian's showing off

their cannon arms!

We need to tighten down

that spiral just a bit

Our first class speaking fluent Italian

complete with hand gestures

Our second class playing

close attention to Dario's

introductory comments

We have much work to do

to coordinate our jumping jacks

Kewpie doll passing

contest in full bloom

The second class of the day was

a good one just like the previous

four over the past two days

After our two classes at the Art School,

Dario and I finalized the schedule for a

total of 17 classes over the next three

months at the elementary school

in Vedano Olona

We worked with the good kids from this school at Skorpion Field last June.

In the evening, it was time for Skorpion practices at Skorpion Field.

The Women's Flag team was

throwing the ball around the lot . . .

. . . as was the U17 Flag team

As for the Prima Squadra, our

practice tonight was better than

the two last week

It was good to be back at Skorpion Field.

I have only temporarily, I hope, taken over the Offensive Coordinator duties, but help may be on the way.

Three more football classes on tomorrow morning at the Art School head up Wednesday's agenda.

Wish us luck . . .

A Long Super Bowl Monday

Monday, 3 February, 2020

Before I get into the longest day of the year for all American football loving people in Europe, let's take a look at today's sports headline about yesterday's AC  Milan game that ended in a 1-1 tie with Verona.

No Ibra, no party INDEED!

O.K., it's on to the events of Super Bowl MONDAY.

You can see by this map that

Super Bowl LIV, in our time zone,

started at 00:30, aka, 12:30 a.m.

Milan, Italy time on Monday

  

 Nine of us met at Skorpions

LB Coach Fabio Drigo's home

to watch the action

That's Fabio on the right taking a group selfie just before kickoff.

That's Fabio again on the far

right when he was the first

one of us to fall asleep at

about 2:30 a.m.

He would not be the only one of us to drift in and out of consciousness during the second half of the game.

That included me during the last ten minutes of the game.

Our view of what was a good game

Meanwhile in back in Camarillo,

Mary was enjoying Laurie's usual

Super Bowl munchies

Jacob, Laurie, Mary and Michael

It was a competitive game throughout

I was happy to see longtime Head Coach

Andy Reid win his first Super Bowl

On the far left is the Chiefs'

Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo

Steve Spanuolo was one of our

Venom Camp coaches in Varese

last Spring

Coach Spagnuolo is a really nice man who did a wonderful job imparting his knowledge of the game to all of the coaches and players at the Venom Camp.

K.C.'s Coach Spagnuolo on the left with

the Chicago Bears coaches that also

worked the Venom Camp to perfection

The Super Bowl ended at about 4:15 a.m. our time and I didn't get to bed until 5:00 a.m. which was a problem as we were starting our school visits to introduce and hopefully recruit new athletes into the Skorpion fold as either tackle or flag players.

I only got two hours of sleep

before starting my travels

at this bus stop

Then it was a short train ride to beautiful Venegono Inferiore to hook up with Skorpions DB Coach Dario A'Delfio for our four classes today at the Isiss Don Milani Venegono Inferiore School.

Isiss?

This is a an Art Magnet High School with a lot of really good young people as it turns out.

We all enjoyed simple, 50 minute Introduction to American Football lessons today

Period 1 met at 10:00 a.m.

The class size was just about perfect for our drills in their gymnasium or palestra as it's called in Italian.

Period 2 started at 11:00 a.m.

A small class but we had fun including learning to do the infamous . . .

. . . WAVE!

Period Three began at Noon

At this point, my brain started turning into mush due to my lack of sleep but the kids gave us an honest effort.

Period 4, our last class,

started at 1:00 p.m.

Completely brain dead at this point, I have no idea what went on in front of my eyes but since no one was crying or injured at the end, it must have gone well too.

The final chore of the day was joining Santa Barbara and Raffa Nardi for our weekly trip to the Esselunga Supermarket to purchase another week's worth of provisions.

The Star Wars figures give-away at Esselunga was still in full swing.

The Forces of Good and Evil

now reside in the Villa Skorpion II

We'll have another four hours of class at the same school in the morning with new students followed by a meeting with a teacher at an elementary school to see about expanding our outreach program to a younger crowd.

Then, at 8:30 p.m., our Senior Team will practice at Skorpion Field for two hours.

No rest for the weary . . .

A Day at Stadio San Siro for a Serie A Calcio Game: Milan-Verona

Sunday, 2 February, 2020

Before we detail the big events of the day . . .

Happy Groundhog Day!

If you're into that sort of thing that is.

Good selfie taken before

Saturday's practice at Skorpion Field

From left to right: RB Coach Cristian "Bumba" Bianchi, me, Skorpions Man-of-All-Trades Pietro Caprioli and LB Coach Fabio Drigo

We'll all hook up at Fabio's home to view the 12:30 a.m. MONDAY kickoff of Super Bowl LIV Central European Time.

As for today, I had the pleasure of being with Pietro all day for a trip to Milano's historic Stadio San Siro to view the AC Milan-Verona Serie A calcio game.

The game was slated to start at 3:00 p.m. 

 Verona

10th Place in Serie A

8 wins - 5 ties - 7 losses

29 team points

at

 AC Milan

8th Place in Serie A

9 wins - 4 ties - 8 losses

31 team points

There are 20 clubs competing in Serie A calcio which is Italy's top soccer league.

As for the team points that determine the standings, a team gets three points for a win, one point for a tie and zero points for a loss.

I'm not sure of how strong Verona's history is in the sport but for Milan, this has been a disappointing campaign to date.

Milan has a young team that recently signed fabled veteran Zlatan Ibrahimović, fresh from playing for the MLS Los Angeles Galaxy, in order to supply much needed leadership.

Unfortunately, he had the flu today and would not play.

The trip to San Siro started with a bus ride to the train station.

Five of literally dozens of

weekend athletes who exploded

past my bus stop while I waited

for my C Line bus

At the Varese train station,

my train to meet up with

Pietro Caprioli would be 25 mites late

Despite the delay, after meeting Pietro at the train station close to his home, we were able to use Pietro's inside knowledge of how to drive to the stadium using less traveled, secret byways to smoothly get to San Siro while many were stuck in traffic.

He has honed his driving skills and knowledge of all things AC Milan related during his 40+ years of being a rabid fan and season ticket holder.

Lots of AC Milan gear for sale

outside the Stadio

Ibrahimović is BACK!

Just not today . . .

 The classic architecture of one of

Europe's Greatest Soccer Cathedrals

More gear for sale

Pietro says that in his 40+ seasons

coming to San Siro that he has tried

every food stand set up outside

Stadio San Siro and that this is

THE BEST!

The panini completo was as amazing as he said it would be!

Why bother to even try any of the other food trucks?

 The same panini stand had

a truly classic coffee machine

Our seats in the Curva Sud

where Pietro basically knew

every passionate Milan fan near us

by their first name

Given the so-so AC Milan season,

the Stadio would only be about

70% full today

 But the Curve Sud Ultras

would pack our end

of the San Siro

Love all of the banners

Milan Passion as they

introduce the players

These two guys were our Curva Sud

section's personal song leaders

They only saw about 33% of the game as they were usually facing us to get our section to join into the non-stop songfest.

Our two song leaders in action

Did I mention that smoking is not only allowed in San Siro, I believe that it is encouraged.

 Verona scored first at about the 13 minute

mark and Milan would answer

about 12 minutes later

It was 1-1 at the half.

The second half saw continued

passionate support from Curva Sud

Despite having a one-man advantage for the last 20 minutes of the game, AC Milan just could not convert on any of their numerous scoring opportunities.

The game ended as a 1-1 tie, disappointing for the Curva Sud Ultras to say the least.

GRAZIE MILLE PIETRO!

I got home at about 6:00 p.m.,

hopefully I can get a little rest

before Super Bowl LIV's kickoff

Monday morning

I wonder if Coach Andy Reid of

the Chiefs will call this play in

Super Bowl LIV?

It worked great in Kansas City's huge win in Super Bowl IV fifty years ago over the heavily favored Vikings.

Running back Mike Garrett, the 1965 Heisman Trophy winner from USC, was good for a TD on this play in 1970.

GO CHIEFS!

A Rare Saturday Practice

Saturday, 1 February, 2020

Much of the day was spent trying to organize my thoughts as the newly appointed Offensive Coordinator of the Skorpions Varese.

This is going to be both a fun and challenging change in my EuroBall coaching career  I'm just thankful that our former OC, Omar Passera, created such a solid playbook for me to work with and to tweak a bit.

Last night's Skorpions Presentation

was reported in today's local newspaper

In the afternoon, we held one of our rare Prima Squadra Saturday workouts. It was good to get back on the field after the coaching turmoil we've experienced the past few days.

The Skorpions U13 flag team

also practiced today

Today's Senior team workout was the best one we had this week.

Our offensive players were coachable and adapted to the new plays we installed quite well.

We moved forward in many respects today.