Tuesday, August 13 - Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Yes, I know that I have been neglecting this time honored blog for most of the month of August, time to catch up.
Let's start with my Mother's 95th birthday/swim party at her home in San Marino, California.
Laurie and Mary poolside
Mary and her Great-Grandmother Chuny
with our Niece Lauren photo-bombing
Michael at the Kids Table with
his two kids, Jacob and Mary and
Lauren's two boys, Leo and Max
Chuny with four of her
five Great-Grandchildren
Kevin was missing as he was in Las Vegas with school looming the next day.
Blowing out the candles
Mary keeping Chuny entertained
Later in the week, we were in Moorpark for some authentic Italian desserts at the Carrara Pasticceria.
Unfortunately, the prices were definitely not authentic
Italian ones.
A Vespa with a gelato side car
How much more Italian can you get?
Cat Conti and her son Cooper
Surprise!
Our longtime friend Cat Conti, who is one of the few women certified to referee American football at the NCAA DI level, was enjoying a cannolo at Carrara's when we arrived.
It was good to catch up with her as always.
On to high school football . . .
Bakersfield's Garces Memorial was at
Rio Mesa, in white, for a scrimmage
Simi Valley's Royal HS
at Ventura's Buena HS,
on offense here, a bit later the same day
during their scrimmage
Royal vs. Buena in action
Fun time as Summer ends and school begins . . .
With Jacob at the Annual Camarillo Air
and Classic Car Show at the
Camarillo Airport
Jacob thought this roadster
was more his style . . .
. . . until he saw this WWII jeep
Trying to close the deal on
taking this baby home with him
He settled for a toy airplane instead
"Hey Poppo, let's go into that huge cargo plane."
It was indeed HUGE inside!
It was a GREAT DAY!
Jacob in a Marine attack helicopter
Jacob's new haircut, ready
for the first day of Second Grade
the next day
Mary, in T-K, and Jacob
on their first day of the
2019-20 school year
Back to more high school football . . .
Newbury Park HS Offensive Line
drills with Coach Ryan Hurley
Finishing the blocks
Practice at Ventura HS
I was there to gather information for Friday night's Royal at Ventura season opening game as I was scheduled to once again be the color commentator for the Ventura County Star's Game of the Week podcasts.
It was a BEAUTIFUL day for
American Football at Venutra HS!
It was a great day for a Tommy's
chili cheese burger as well
The Royal-Ventura JV game before
our podcast at Ventura HS's. . .
Larrabee Stadium in a game
played on . . .
. . . Turner Field
Larrabee Stadium is
79 years old this season
The Varsity game about to kickoff
The Ventura Cougars (1-0) looked sharp in beating the Royal Highlanders (0-1) 51-14 tonight.
Next up, AYSO Soccer . . .
Jacob in action with his Blue Sharks
Mixing it up cautiously
After his game, we all raced home to watch some college football.
Mary just wasn't feeling the
Week Zero contests on TV
Sunday at a Ventura Winery
with Rio Mesa teachers both active
and retired to hear Karen Pecht sing
That's Karen on the left across from me. She did a splendid job as usual.
It was fun seeing some people for the first time in years on this day.
Back, once again, to high school football . . .
Ou Game of the Week podcast was
the Thousand Oaks Lancers (0-1) at
the Newbury Park Panthers (0-0)
It was the 50th year that these two schools would meet for the Conejo Valley Championship Trophy in a series that started in 1970 with a 48-48 tie.
I was at that incredible 1970 game as it was my first year of coaching serving as an JV assistant at Thousand Oaks HS.
Each team scored six TDs and six 2-Point conversions that day and with 1 minute and 5 seconds left in the game the score was 40-40!
The series stands at 27-22-1 (they played each other twice in 2012) in favor of TOHS going into tonight's contest, but NPHS has won the last three games between these friendly rivals.
With Jacob in the NPHS Press Box
before the game
Mike and Jacob on the sidelines
Nice t-shirt Mike!
Jacob engrossed in the
NPHS JV Goal Line Offense
The Varsity game's First Quarter action
The NPHS stands were
PACKED!
Mike and Jacob urging on a Panther
on one of many long TD plays
for NPHS this evening
Newbury Park, which was my last California HS coaching stop a few years ago, won the game comfortably 44-21.
The series is still in favor of the Lancers 27-23-1 but it's now four in a row for the Panthers.
At Cronies after the TO-NP game
young Jacob just could not hang
with the big dogs
Saturday it was back to Rio Mesa HS
for some Pop Warner football
Our family friend Debi Murphy's grandson
Dylan Moore plays for the Cougars
Dylan made a nice interception from his CB position to help seal the victory for the Cougars over the vaunted Simi Valley Bulldogs.
Let's see what's happening on the Continent with our happy-go-lucky Skorpions . . .
DJ is now a Europe Warriors WR!
As is Brovo at an RB spot!
With these two additions to the Warriors' final 55-man roster for the mid-November game in Vienna against the Austrian U18 National team, it makes a total of six Varese Skorpions. to be named to the latest/fourth Europe Warriors incarnation.
The other Skorpions on the roster are WR Filippo Petrillo, OL Gabriele Distefano, LB Stefano Lusuriello and DB Federico Zanetta.
Skorpion Marta Mengo was part
of the Italian Women's National
Flag team that played in the
European Championships
played in Jerusalem
The team in St. Peter's Square
before heading to Jerusalem
The Annual 7 Lakes Flag Football
Tournament will be held at Skorpion Field
this coming weekend
It will be a busy weekend with . . .
. . . ten teams from Italy and beyond
Go Skorpions GO!!!
Reading Is FUNdamental!
A fun read
A disappointing read
An interesting read
The best read for me in a long time,
Zafón's Barcelona based
books have yet to fail me
