Laundry Day Disaster

This morning was my weekly appointment to exclusively use the apartment building's laundry and drying rooms from 7:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

The Drying Room

Note that the Community key is missing. This is the third time this has happened in the 13 weeks I've been in Sweden. This is not a big problem because we do have a dryer in the Laundry Room and I have all sorts of door handles to hang clothes inside Icelandia when this problem arises.

The Laundry Room

A first, the key for this room is missing too!

DAMN IT!!!

I was able to reschedule for Thursday morning, but now things get interesting. I've got to wait two more days to do my washing and I've only got two more pairs of clean underwear. YIKES!

When I checked tonight after practice at about 9:00 p.m., both keys were still missing. HELP!

If you don't like the weather, just wait 30 minutes, it WILL change!

It was clear when I woke up, started raining as I walked to get a delicious salmon lunch at Harry's Bar and the wind was blowing hard on a cloudless evening at practice.

Juniors Stretching

Only these three Juniors tonight but we got a lot of work done.

Lots of players were missing from the Senior practice but the ones who showed worked hard on individual techniques.

We need a GREAT turnout on Thursday if we hope to compete against a very good 2-1 Ystad Rockets team on Sunday.

More Ekeby Game Pictures

Pictures from last Saturday's game keep rolling in, these are some good ones from Shawn Cordiero.

#11 Linus Johnsson on a Sweep

#31 Pär Jönsson on a well blocked Belly play

GOOD FAKE!!!

Linus Johnsson's good fake makes Ekeby's #22 and #69 follow him and not Pär Jönsson who is rampaging up the middle here.

#13 Pär Danielsson on another Sweep

#30 CB Henrik Andersson in Man Coverage

Tim Eriksson on yet another Sweep

Pär Jönsson's well blocked winning 3 yard TD run

At Long Last, a Golf Lesson

I awoke to another beautiful Swedish Spring morning and worked on our Ystad Game Plan before walking ten minutes to the Hesslegårdens Golf Klubb for my first ever private golf lesson!

Rasmus Jönsson

Assistant Pro

Hesslegården Golf Klubb

He says I can special order pants like his in XXL at the Pro Shop.

Rasmus changed my grip, my swing and my attitude. He has great patience, good drills and some golf gizmos that really helped me.

It was humid again and after an hour of hitting balls, I was both drenched and stunned at how much better I was hitting the ball.

AMAZING!

EuroBall News

Another tough game for the 'Canes this week at 2-1 Ystad.

Here is the link to the article on our Ekeby game which is in today's NorreSkåne newspaper:

http://www.nsk.se/article/20100523/SPORT/705239888/1127/sport/*/hurricanes-forsta-vinst-i-serien-

SAFF Division I Södra

WEEK #3 RESULTS:

Hässleholm 12 - Ekeby 7

Limhamn 28 - Carlshamn 8

Kristianstad 20 - Ystad 18

Lugi 31 - Oskarshamn 0

SAFF DIVISION I SÖDRA STANDINGS

Kristianstad C4 Lions 2-0

Limhamm Griffins 2-0

Ekeby Greys 2-1

Ystad Rockets 2-1

Lugi Vikings 2-1

Hässleholm Hurricanes 1-2

Carlshamn Oakleaves 0-3

Oskarshamn Dockers 0-3

WEEK #4 GAMES:

Saturday, May 29

Kristianstad (2-0) at Ekeby (2-1)

Oskarshamn (0-3) at Limhamm (2-0)

Sunday, May 23

Hässleholm (1-2) at Ystad (2-1)

Carlshamn (0-3) at Lugi (2-1)

The news from Sicily was good again for the Elephants! They traveled to Rome to play the Lazio Marines and won a typical IFL defensive struggle 48-37 to up their mark to 5-1.

Big game this week in what should have been the last week of the IFL's regular season except that Catania still has to make up their game vs. Reggio Emilia that was cancelled a few weeks ago when their plane was not allowed to take off due to volcanic ash in the air from the volcano in Iceland.

The 5-1 Elephants take on the high flying Parma Panthers who are alone in first place at 7-0. Now these two teams only meet once a year and in another interesting piece of Italian scheduling logic, this is the third straight season that the Panthers have had to travel to Sicily to play the Elephants, go figure!

The last two seasons these two teams have battled to the bitter end in very close games with Parma winning 64-57 in 2008 and Catania taking the 2009 contest 28-27.

First place and the all important #1 seed in the playoffs are at stake for the Red and Black. The top four teams at the end of the regular season make the IFL Playoffs.

IFL Playoff Semi-Finals are on Sunday, June 13 at the homes of the #1 and #2 seeds.

The 2010 Italian Super Bowl will be played in Milan on June 26.

GOOD LUCK ELEPHANTS!!!

ITALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE STANDINGS

Parma Panthers 7-0

Catania Elephants 5-1

Bergamo Lions 5-3

Bolzano Giants 4-3

Reggio Emilia Hogs 3-3

Lazio Marines 3-4

Milan Rhinos 3-4

Bologna Warriors 1-6

Ancona Doves 0-7

WEEK #11 GAMES:

Saturday, May 29

Bolzano (4-3) at Ancona (0-7)

Lazio (3-4) at Bologna (1-6)

Sunday, May 23

Parma (7-0) at Catania (5-1)

Milan (3-4) at Reggio Emilia (3-3)

Bergamo (5-3) - BYE

Scouting Ystad Rockets at Kristianstad C4 Lions

It took 82 days, but for the first time in Sweden I am having internet issues. It Catania my first year it took 82 days before we had our first good internet day, not so bad year two in Sicily though.

BOOK REPORT

Kurt Wallander Mystery #4

Henning Mankell is proving that you get better with practice. It was a good, fast, entertaining read.

Late Saturday Developments

Post Victory BBQ at Castle Palmbrink

Swedish meatballs exposed to Human Growth Hormones, I think.

DELICIOUS!

LUDVIG, LUDVIG, LUDVIG . . .

The Palmbrink kids were great as always, but Mira was a little quiet for some reason. I think we are close to striking a deal as to how much Laurie will have to pat Uffe and Elin to babysit the kids. I'm offering top Krona!!!

Late Photos from 'Canes Fans

Sheer Joy!

Uh-Oh . . .

That felt SO good on so many levels!!!

SCOUTING THE YSTAD ROCKETS

Youth Track Meet in Kristianstad

The track stadium and football stadium lie side-by-side in Kristianstad. I got their early and watched part of a youth track meet.

Here I am scouting for Brian FitzGerald's next great sprinter.

How many days have I spent judging the Shot Put?

Is that Joe Knopf at the 50?

Deep Reconnaissance

Uffe Palmbrink, a.k.a Agent 0056, is in black on the right. Here he cleverly uses the disguise of a hot dog eating fan to listen in on the C4 sideline adjustments.

Ystad Rockets in green

Another great battle today that had lots of momentum shifts. The C4 Lions pulled it out in the last minute to win 20-18.

The C4 Lions are tied with the Limhamn Griffins for first place in the SAFF Division I Södra at 2-0. Ystad dropped to 2-1 with the tough loss.

The Rockets play hard, another tough game for the 'Canes in Ystad next Sunday.

Hey, isn't Ystad the hometown of Inspector Kurt Wallander?

BLACK Tulips?

C4?

That's for Danish King Christian IV, his mark is still all over Skåne.

THE SUN!!!

HAMMER TIME!

Ekeby Greys (2-0)

at

Hässleholm Hurricanes (0-2)

Not only was Ekeby 2-0 and tied for first place with the 2-0 Ystad Rockets in the SAFF Division I Södra standings, they had won both of their games by shutouts! A tough game was in store to be sure especially on a very hot and humid Swedish Spring day.

Göingevallen Stadium screamed

"GAME DAY!"

JGFG warming up on his own

The Greys suited up two young ladies,

#53 and #69

The World Tournament of Women's American Football will be held in Stockholm in July and I'm guesing these two will be in the mix for Team Sweden.

THE GAME

FIRST QUARTER:

Ekeby starts the game on offense and our defense shuts them down, Greys punt.

The 'Canes go to the attack with an efficient passing game and finish the drive with a 20 yard TD run by Pär Danielsson. The PAT is blocked, Hurricanes lead 6-0.

Ekeby's QB is hit hard and fumbles the ball, LB Filip Sundgren, he of the crazy friends, recovers the ball for the green and black.

Hässleholm drives but turns the ball over on downs.

Ekeby starts a drive as the quarter ends with Hässleholm ahead 6-0 after one period.

SECOND QUARTER:

Ekeby continues their drive and turns the ball over on downs.

Hurricanes are forced to punt.

On 3rd and 15, the Greys connect on a 78 yard TD pass and kick the PAT, Ekeby 7-6.

The Hurricanes drive deep into Ekeby's Red Zone but a fourth down pass is dropped in the back of the end zone.

Ekeby kneels on the ball to end the half leading 7-6.

First Half Action, Ekeby on the left

We played a very physical brand of football in the first half and I felt that we were in control except for one minor problem, we were trailing 7-6!

THIRD QUARTER:

The 'Canes are forced to punt.

Ekeby gets off a great punt that dies at our 1 yard line.

The Hurricanes are three and out with a punt of our own.

Our defense rises to the occasion again and make the Greys turn the ball over on downs.

The 'Canes punt again.

Ekeby is driving to end the third period still leading 7-6.

FOURTH QUARTER:

The Greys drive ends with another punt, our defense is really rolling now!

The 'Canes put on a physical ground oriented 80 yard TD drive. Fullback Pär Jönsson is the workhorse and does the honors with a 3 yard TD run. The two point PAT attempt falls short but the 'Canes lead 12-7.

The defense does a great job again stopping the Greys on downs.

Hässleholm powers their way to a couple of key first downs forcing the Greys to use their last timeouts. Hässleholm goes into their Victory formation and QB Kalle Nordström takes a knee three times as time runs out.

FINAL SCORE

Hässleholm 12 - Ekeby 7

Hässleholm improves to 1-2 and Ekeby falls to 2-1.

#65 OT Linus Nilsson and #31 FB Pär Jönsson

At one point in the game Linus said "Run the ball to my side!" We did and Pär ran wild.

I love it when an offensive lineman has this level of confidence and performance. Pär played "BIG BOY" football today!

Yes, I got a very cold bucket of water poured on me after the game, IT FELT GREAT!!!

After game beverage

One of the best things about Euro Ball over American high school football is a cold adult beverage with the team after the game.

GREAT JOB 'CANES!!!

Lund University Karneval

Tropical Storm Uffe

still hovering on Hässleholm

The concern here is that this Tropical Storm may be graded up a full blown Hurricane by 13.00 tomorrow causing untold damage in the greater Hässleholm Megaplex.

I took the advice of Johan Hammarqvist and got out of harm's way for the relative safety of Lund and the . . .

Lund University Karneval

The Winter Olympics, the World Cup and the Lund University Karneval are held once every four years and 2010 is the year for all three of these gala events! At least I can say I made it to one of these three great happenings this year.

Poster from past Karnevals

A Canopy for the Karneval

Every Karneval should have games and this one would be no exception.

High-Tech Archery

I'm sure that the recent release of the Russell Crowe movie version of "Robin Hood" was the inspiration for this particular game.

Japanese Game Show Tent

Sumo . . . YES!

Hey, Andy and Jenn live in Vegas!

Let's take a look at the entrance to the Vegas tent . . .

. . . What the . . .

I never saw anything like this on the Vegas Strip.

My back hurt and I was sorely tempted but NEJ!

Nice Hair

Really Nice Hair

MOFO???

Crazy College Kids!

The best part of the Karneval was definitely the people watching.

Is this the guy on this year's

Karneval poster?

The not so Grim Reaper

Feather Suit

It is warm and humid as I sweat up a storm of my own and this guy is wearing a feather suit!!!

Some came in formal wear

Red Pants, Oslo students on vacation?

I have GOT to get some red pants before I leave Sweden!

Why is he so proud of his hat size?

Green hair is in this season

Funny Student Band

Take a close look at the piccolo player in the bakground.

Adolf plays the piccolo?

DAMN!

You know you're stylin' when your hair matches your shoes. You can't see her shoes but they were purple indeed.

Black Face Minstrel Show?

Harlem comes to Lund

KRAZY KIDS!!!

I stuck around to hear a concert and wound up meeting this group of kids who go to school with our Hurricane LB Filip Sundgren, small world.

Among many things we discussed was their inability to grasp the American concept that you can drive at 16 but can't drink legally until you reach 21. I'm not sure what the legal drinking age is in Sweden but I suspect they reached it this very afternoon at the latest!

I got to hear a few Swedish bands play on the big stage throughout the afternoon which allowed my to, for the first time, hear "Get Your Kicks on Route 66" in English with a heavy Swedish accent to an operatic beat, interesting.

Also of note was the Swedish rendition of "Gummi Boll" or as we know it, Bobby Vee's 1961 hit song "Rubber Ball."

Rufus Wainwright

This Canadian-American singer-pianist was the day's headliner and was very good.

His concert was included in the $7 admission price to the Karneval, what a bargain.

Wainwright's cover of the song "Hallelujah" is my favorite song of his. It always make me think first of the movie "Shrek" where I first heard him sing it and secondly of the missed opportunities I've had to make life better for those around me.

I love that song, it moves me just a bit.

Uppsala Is Burning!

The high flying, 2-0 Ekeby Greys come to Göingevallen Stadium on Saturday at 13.00 to play the 0-2 Hässleholm Hurricanes.

Hope to see you there as the 'Canes try to get on track.