Washington at UCLA

After getting home at about 12:30 a.m. Saturday from the Cabrillo game Friday night, Laurie, Vanessa, Mike and I headed to Pasadena to watch the beloved 3-5 University of Washington Huskies take on the also

3-5 UCLA Bruins at 12:30 p.m.

Where did they play the game you ask?

Why, at the Rose Bowl of course!

We were going to be part of a crowd of 72, 924 fans in attendance on this bright, crisp Autumn afternoon.

UCLA Powder Blue was everywhere

But there was a lot of Husky Purple to be seen as well!

Some Bruin fans were engaged in a Husky pre-game BBQ

An oasis of Husky Purple and Gold

The Brookside Golf Course Country Club would serve as our pre-game headquarters. The 36 hole golf course surrounds the Rose Bowl and serves as a parking lot on game day.

The older I get, the more I have come to believe that going to a Washington football game is 25% about the actual game and 75% about renewing forty+ year old friendships like the ones you are about to see.

Our dear friends from Seattle,

The Johnsons

Sisters Sophie and Mallory with

Susie and Mark

We always look forward to seeing them and catching up with what is going on in their lives. Mark got us our tickets for the game so as we sat with them during the game and we caught up even more!

Hey, I just noted that 6 foot - 7 inch, Peter Claridge is in the background and I didn't visit with him yesterday. Damn! How on earth could I have missed him???

Kathy and Carl Sweet

Carl is a great high school football coach who I think should really look into coaching in Europe now that he is retired. He has the perfect demeanor for the European scene!

GO DAWGS!!!

Mike D'Antuono, a.k.a., "The Tuna"

Just a GREAT, GREAT guy! Mike is easygoing and always leaves me smiling.

UCLA pageantry on display!

HERE COME THE DAWGS!!!

DAWGS on Defense

Paul and Jason Sabolic

Paul still coaches high school football as a volunteer coach. He lives and dies on EVERY Husky snap every Saturday in the Fall.

Paul's son Jason coaches at L.A. Pierce College and had to leave at halftime to prepare for a huge game for them last night at home against Antelope Valley College. Jason's Brahmas overcame an 11 point deficeit in the fourth quarter to win the game 44-41! Pierce is now 7-2 on the season and wrapped up both the American Pacific Conference championship and an automatic berth in the California State Community College Championship Tournament.

At half time it was all smiles!

The Huskies led 16-14 and Mark, Paul, Mike and I were feeling good about our chances except for he nagging feeling that having to settle for three field goals instead of touchdowns might come back to haunt us.

What the. . .

There's no braiding in football!!!

By the middle of the third quarter, Vanessa and Mallory were starting to lose their normally INTENSE game day concentration.

UCLA's version of the Wildcat Offense was troublesome!

Laurie and Mike beaming with

UW confidence!

We entered the fourth quarter still leading by two points, 23-21, after trading third quarter TDs.

It was not meant to be, UCLA kicked a field goal at the start of the final period to go up 24-23. The Bruin defense did the rest by keeping the Huskies out of the end zone including the UW's ever reliable kicker, Erik Folk, who uncharacteristically missed a potential game winning field goal late in the contest.

We needed those 6 point TDs early instead of the 3 point field goals as we all feared at the intermission!

After Saturday's 24-23 loss to UCLA, the Huskies are now 3-6 and play at 6-3 Oregon State next Saturday. . .

GO DAWGS!!!

Meanwhile, in the rest of the college football world. . .

HÄSSLEHOLM LOVES THEIR 'CANES!

Miami Hurricanes (7-2) 52 - Virginia 17

Houston 46 - Tulsa Golden Hurricanes (4-5) 45

TEAMS OF INTEREST TO SICILY

Brandon: Willamette (7-2) 50 - Puget Sound 6

Denver: Wabash (8-1) 41 - Hiram 0

Matt: *Hardin-Simmons (6-4) 21 - McMurry 10

Jason: Arizona (6-2) 48 - Washington State 7

Larry: *Nebraska-Omaha (7-4) 30 - Missouri Western 21

Taber: Davidson 34 - San Diego (3-6) 27

* Unless they somehow make the NCAA playoffs, I believe that both Matt and Larry's old colleges are done for the 2009 season.

Cabrillo at Morro Bay

Friday afternoon, Mike and I loaded up into the old Chrysler LHS to drive 160 miles north to Morro Bay, California to watch former Catania Elephant DB Riccardo Conticello's Cabrillo H.S. Conquistadores (1-7) play the Morro Bay H.S. Pirates (4-4).

Riccardo on crutches

Riccardo sent me this picture from two weeks ago. He is #15 in the middle on crutches nursing some ligament damage in his foot.

Pre-Game Warm-up nearest to us at CB

Fortunately, Riccardo was back in limited action this week on Special Teams only.

Pre-Game Hug

Pre-Game Chat

His accent is still enchanting but his English has REALLY improved!

We talked with Scott and Shari Brooks and their daughter Jenna and son Cody, all part of Riccardo's host family and they all said that Riccardo is doing a great job socially and academically. He is even on time a lot now, definitely not a Sicilian trait!!!

Opening Kick-Off

#15 in the program, #1 in our hearts!

Riccardo is the second player in from the bottom of this picture.

Kick-Off Coverage

Punt Team Gunner

High School Football,

California Central Coast Style!

Dirt Track Markings

We are so spoiled in Ventura County with almost everyone having all-weather tracks.

At Morro Bay, it is still a dirt track around the football field with these markers permanently attached to the cement curb to tell workers where and how to line the track come meet day. That's A LOT of work!

The Central Coast IS Cowboy Country

Bend Your Knees!

Covering another Kick-Off

Punt Return

Post Game

He got a little dirty out there

The Conqs Helmet

Riccardo was proudest of his number decal

The Map of the World

This map dominates the Morro Bay quad. Sicily and Sweden don't seem that far apart to me.

Meanwhile down south, the Rio Mesa JVs improved to 9-0 with a 50-16 victory over Oxnard. The Spartan varsity lost to Oxard 21-6 to drop to 5-4 and 2-2 in the Pacific View League.

Now it was time to drive home another 160 miles!

"Hurricanes fortsätter satsa amerikanskt"

This post's title is the headline of an article today in one of Sweden's newspapers. It translates into "Hurricanes continue to invest American".

I'm now officially a Swedish investment property!

I was contacted by Tomas Gustavsson, a sports writer for the newspaper NorraSkåne that services the greater Hässleholm, Sweden megalopolis. He wanted a little background information on the Hurricanes new "Amerikanskt" Head Coach from "Kalifornien".

If you want to see his article click on the website below.

In the original Swedish:

http://www.nsk.se/article/20091106/SPORT/711069943/1127/sport/*/hurricanes-fortsatter-satsa-amerikanskt

On a weather note, the Hurricanes Uffe Palmbrink e-mailed me that the first snow of the season fell in Hässleholm yesterday. Camarillo was also chilly with a high of 69˚F = 20.5˚C and a low of 51˚F = 10.5˚C.

. . .BRRRR!!!

Oxnard Frosh Game

Thursday saw us suiting up for our last home game of the 2009 season for a contest with the Oxnard Yellowjackets. They would be a formidable opponent coming into the game with a solid 6-2 record that included SIX shutouts!

Brian FitzGerald and I strategizing before the opening kickoff.

The Spartans on offense running the Option

Our offense has been a trouble spot all season long so points, yards, even inches would all be hard to earn vs. the 'Jackets defense.

The Topa Topa Mountains

Always a beautiful backdrop to John Reardon Field this time of the year.

Spartan Defense Played TOUGH!

I could not be prouder of our kids on defense as we forced Oxnard into four "3 and out" punts and held them on downs on three other possesions! The 'Jackets had been scoring a ton of points this year and our defense held them to only 7 points!

Unfortunately, Oxnard would return a punt about 40 yards for a second TD to up their lead to 14-0 half way through the third quarter.

Again, Fall Sunsets are just plain gorgeous

in El Rio!

Post Game Talk

Oxnard improved to 7-2 on the season and 3-1 in Pacific View League play as they notched their seventh shutout of the campaign in beating us 14-0.

We are now 3-6 for the season, 2-2 in PVL play.

We have one more game left on our schedule at cross-town rival Camarillo who is now 8-1 and alone in first place in the PVL at 4-0. Kickoff next Thursday is set for 5:30 p.m.

Young Coach Michael Contreras was cold

It was indeed California cold which is nothing like Swedish cold I'm sure!!!

Sunset in El Rio

Monday night was our first day of practice after the time change back to Pacific Standard Time. This means that we have one less hour of daylight in the evening so our practices these last two weeks of the season have to be very efficient to beat the sunset.

As I walked out to my car after our workday was done I caught sight of this spectacular sunset.

The mountains on the horizon to the left are actually part of the Channel Islands National Park located about 20 miles off the California coastline.

Colors like these are part of the charm of

El Rio, California

Weekly College Football Report

It is time for my weekly report on college football games of interest to our Swedish and Italian blogophiles.

HURRICANE WARNING!!!

It was a split weekend for the fans in Hässleholm, Sweden.

The Miami Hurricanes won a thriller 28-27 over Wake Forest to improve to 6-2 on the season.

Unfortunately, the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes lost to SMU 13-27 to drop to 4-4 on the campaign.

TEAMS OF INTEREST IN CATANIA

Hardin-Simmons Wins Again!

Hardin-Simmons beat always tough Texas Lutheran 38-22 to raise their record to 5-4.

Nebraska-Omaha (6-4) beat the Pittsburg State GORILLAS 31-28 in overtime. . .

GREAT NICKNAME!

Wabash is now 7-1 after defeating Oberlin 41-9.

San Diego (3-5) lost to Dayton 14-21.

BYE WEEKS

Three of Sicily's favorite teams enjoyed BYE weeks on the Halloween weekend.

Willamette (6-2), Arizona (5-2) and Washington (3-5) all got a week to heal and prepare for next week's games.

Halloween Party

About a month ago, as Laurie was opening her EIGHT orange and black plastic crates of Halloween ornaments, she suddenly got the bright idea to have us host a Halloween party.

I was initially not very excited by the prospect but I must admit, we wound up having a lot of fun as people arrived in costume. The fact that while the party was going on we also watched Oregon defeat USC 47-20 may have added to the evening's festive mood.

Our Hostess, Witch Laurie

"Wayne's World, Party On!"

Scott as Garth and Angie as Wayne

Star Wars meets a Disney Movie

Elizabeth as Princess Leia, Luke as. . . well Luke, Vanessa as Dopey and Mike as Snow White. . .

Good Grief!

DON'T TAKE A BITE OF THAT APPLE!

Bufford here definitely stepped up in class tonight

Koreen as a retired Playboy Bunny (I think she could still hang in there quite nicely at the Mansion) and Brian as Bufford, the Earl of Skunk Hollow, Mississippi

Parties always mean good munchies!

Dopey,

are the other six Dwarfs coming over too?

Trick or Treaters a little stunned by

Snow White's beauty

The seedy side of Halloween

Gonzo as The Pimp Daddy of Camarillo and Pam as one of his "co-workers"

God Help Us!

Lorenzo as The Terminator and Lauren as Sister Mary Thomas Sadistic

"But We're Cousins. . ."

Yoda's in the House!

Carlos as Anakin Skywalker with his son Nicholas as Yoda

Group Party Picture

GOOD TIMES INDEED!