Tues.-Mon., January 18-24, 2022
What a GREAT all-around weekend for us!
It started with another solid Mexican meal at Camarillo's iconic El Tecolote family restaurant.
Jacob joined us with
Vanessa and Michael
Our granddaughter Mary was a missing due to a Friday night sleepover at the home of Vanessa's parents.
El Tecolote's signature food cart
I wonder how many delicious meals have been served on this cart over the many years?
We had simply a great time and did a lot of catching up after not seeing them for a couple of weeks.
So embarrassingly TRUE!
On Saturday, we had a sleepover with Jacob that started at Harley's Camarillo Bowl.
It was only Jacob's second time
bowling, RAISE THE BUMPERS!
The vast experience Jacob had accrued playing several bowling games at the local McDonald's table that included a video bowling game was of little help on this day.
As a novice, he experimented with
using both hands to roll the ball
Not bad for our first game
EXCELLENT use of the bumper
on the right side of the lane!
Jacob showed marked improvement
in our second game
My lack of conditioning definitely came into play in this grueling, exhausting rematch.
Did you know that Harley's Camarillo Bowl has an arcade area?
Well, it does
Slaying so many flying dragons
On to a mostly AMAZING weekend of American football on two continents.
Before we get into the
weekend's EuroBall results . . .
Our beloved Washington Huskies
made a scheduling announcement
In 2029, the Huskies will hit the road to play the Tennessee Volunteers. In 2030, the Volunteers will make the return trip to Seattle for a game.
Now if we can both just stay alive until then . . .
But I'm still older than him
We'll start our EuroBall recap in Florence, Italy.
Our interests were peaked by the
Italian U18 National Championship Game
The Skorpions Varese were a
perfect 7-0 going into the game
Their opponents, the HP team was also 7-0 so it looked to be a tough, intense contest.
I finally found out about the mysterious HP team that I had never heard of before. This club was formed by pooling the U18 players from two of Italy's most highly regarded clubs, the Reggio Emilia Hogs and the Parma Panthers, hence the HP appellation.
Thank goodness for live streaming!
The Pacific Time, Saturday morning game started with the Skorpions returning the Opening Kickoff to the proverbial HOUSE!
It was 7-0 Varese and my toast was still in the toaster.
A Skorpion LB that was part of
a suffocating defense on this day
The Varese Offense was unstoppable
The Skorpions dominated in all three phases of the game.
Besides the Opening Kickoff Return for a TD, the Special Teams also contributed a TD on a Punt Return.
Total Domination!
This surprisingly easy win meant but one thing . . .
. . . it was Skorpion
PROSECCO TIME!
The Italian Federation's
announcement of the game result
The Skorpions simple announcement
On to Spain's Serie A . . .
The Week #2 agenda in
Spain's top league
The two BYES this week went to the Badalona Dracs (1-0) and the Gijón Mariners (0-1).
Could our Mallorcas Voltors bounce
back from their last second loss to
the Zaragoza Hurricanes last week?
Maybe having a home game
against a Barberá club who had
yet to play a game would do the trick
NUTS!
It's back to the drawing board to retool as our Voltors have back-to-back BYE weeks before taking to the road for the February 12th game against the L'Hospitalet Pioners (1-1).
Spanish Serie A
Eastern Conference Standings
Badalona Dracs 1-0
Barberá Rookies 1-0
L'Hospitalet Pioners 1-1
Zaragoza Hurricanes 1-1
Mallorca Voltors 0-2
Eastern Conference Week #2 Results
Pioners (1-1) 56 - Hurricanes (1-1) 48
Rookies (1-1) 47 - Voltors (0-2) 0
BYE: Dracs
Eastern Conference Games
All teams have BYES January 29-30
Week #3 on February 6, 2022
Hurricanes (1-1) at Dracs (1-0)
Pioners (1-1) at Rookies (1-0)
Voltors (0-2) - BYE
Western Conference Standings
Murcia Cobras 2-0
Osos Rivas 2-0
Fuengirola Potros 0-1
Gijón Mariners 0-1
Las Rozas Black Demons 0-2
Western Conference Games
All teams have BYES January 29-30
Week #3 on February 6, 2022
Osos (2-0) at Potros (0-1)
Black Demons (0-2) at Mariners (0-1)
Cobras (2-0) - BYE
Finally on the EuroBall scene, we continue to ship donated, used American football equipment to teams in need in Europe and South America.
Since September, we have shipped a total of 481 jerseys, 372 pants, 23 helmets and 37 shoulder pads to clubs in Colombia, France, Guatemala, Israel, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Helping 17 clubs in ten different countries to improve their programs at minimal costs, they pay for the shipping costs, the used equipment itself if free, makes us feel good in our retirement roles as ambassadors of the game.
Now, for perhaps the greatest four games ever played in one NFL playoff weekend . . .
. . . and the Rams were part of it!
These four games were all
decided on the last play of the game
So much drama over a two day span that was much different from the Skorpions and Voltors games.
On Saturday, the AFC game saw the Cincinnati Bengals beating the #1 seeded Tennessee Titans 19-16. The NFC game was just as good with the San Francisco 49ers beating the #1 seeded Green Bay Packers 13-10.
On to Sunday's NFL games . . .
A Field Goal with no time
left on the clock to win the
day's first game was FUN!
For goodness sakes, it was done at Tampa Bay against the defending Super Bowl Champions led by the GOAT, Tom Brady!
The AFC game that followed may have been one of the greatest games ever in NFL history. The Kansas City Chiefs upended the Buffalo Bills in overtime, 42-36.
Someone suggested that this game was so good that they should just cancel the rest of the playoff games and just let the Chiefs and Bills play a best of seven series to decide this season's NFL Championship.
I'm a Rams' fan so I have to say no, but still . . .
Rams (14-5) will be home
for the NFC Championship Game
It sounds good until you remember that the 49ers (12-7) have won the last six games between the two teams.
When they played at SoFi Stadium in the final regular season game two weeks ago, with a much needed L.A. win securing the Rams the NFC's #2 seed in the playoffs, the 49ers prevailed 27-24 in overtime.
The Week #10 game in San Francisco was all 49ers in throttling the Rams, 31-10.
Seventh time is the charm . . .
The Final Four's Playoff
Road to Super Bowl LVI
I pick the Rams (with my heart) and the Chiefs (with my brain) to win this weekend setting up a Super Bowl that hopefully could live up to their epic Monday Night Football meeting of a few years ago.
On Sunday afternoon, Jacob had a low key Spring soccer league game.
On the right, battling for the ball
Sprinting for the ball
When I was his age I could sprint, today not so much.
Jacob "Crazylegs" Contreras
Still in the fray
Life in Camarillo continues to flourish.
Reading Is FUNdamental!
The 14th installment in Walker's
Bruno, Chief of Police series
These novels are always set in France's southwest Dordogne region and are equal parts crime story, intrigue, wine and cuisine.
I've enjoyed all 14 of these books and look forward to his 15th and newest soon to be released Bruno novel, To Kill a Troubador.
Staying in France but with
this rascal that is part thief, part saint
This book is a compilation of 19 short stories about the antics of the fictional Arsène Lupin who becomes all the rage in the Paris newspapers of the early part of the 20th century.
As I understand it, the Arsène Lupin stories have been turned into a made for TV series on Netflix. I need to check it out.
Le Bon Temps Roule!
