Buon Natale, God Jul, Frohe Weihnachten, Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noël, Glædelig Jul, Gelukkig Kerstfeest and a very Merry Christmas

It was the usual gathering of the Clans over the weekend as our families got together to celebrate Christmas 2012.

It was our first Christmas as Grandparents

Michael and Vanessa gave us these two new snow grandparents for our doorway.

Laurie's sister Gayle

Our first stop was on Christmas Eve in Orange County at the home of David and Gayle Hicks.

The Always Fun "Gardner" Girls

From top to bottom, Left to right: Lyndsey, Gayle, Laurie, Amy and Sarah.

You had to be there

Left to right: Tim, Amy and Sarah

No REALLY, you had to be there

From left to right: John, Lyndsey, David and Laurie

Some form of musical "entertainment" shall we say is a traditional part of the Hicks Christmas Eve festivities.

Gayle is multi-talented when it comes to the arts

Brian on the left is trying not to laugh.

Unsuccessfully.

Andy, Jenn and Kevin were present in spirit

They were in their home in Las Vegas hosting Jenn's family but sent this top hat full of cookies!

We'll see them during the upcoming New Years weekend.

Nothing says the Holidays like Dessert

The Hicks were great hosts as always and we all had a grand time!

On Christmas Sunday we hosted my side of the family at our home in Camarillo.

My Mom Chuny and my Aunt Katie

Mike sampling Laurie's cooking

Quality control is key on this day.

Michael and his Aunt Linda

Goofy Hat Day

I wear these suspenders twice a year, these were the two days in question.

With my sisters Marilyn and Linda

Vanessa and our newest

Grandson to be named later

Due March 17th.

Marilyn was a Theater Arts major at U.S.C.

Fortunately her husband John Wintroath loves movies too.

My Mom LOVED her Team Spain Soccer Hat

The bath robe was a big hit as well, but I think she liked the hat more. Michael was her 'Secret Santa' this year in the family drawing.

Vanessa loved her son's new Michigan jersey

She is hoping that the youngster will someday be a doctor like his Great Grandfather was.

At least that is the story that I'm going to print.

More Dessert

Yes.

Lauren, Lorenzo Jr., Ivan and Lorenzo

Lorenzo is our niece Lauren's significant other. The two very polite young men are Lorenzo's sons.

Chocolate from Switzerland

Swiss Flag Luggage Tags

Laurie had a theme going in her presents to me.

You can NEVER go wrong with a Brighton purse

The Doctor's first Hawaiian Shirt

Grandparenting was another of the day's themes

Yahoo.

A happy pregnant woman is a good thing for all

Mustache Key Ring Stocking Stuffer

Laurie has tons of football related ornaments

A whole tree's worth

Next up, the Alamo Bowl

Washington vs. Baylor

GO DAWGS!!!

Reading is FUNdamental

Mike D'Antuono sent me this book to try to get me out of my Scandinavian crime noir funk for a bit. The main character in this series is an interesting one by the name of Jack Reacher. Besides this novel, Mike also sent me another in this sixteen book series by author Child.

I don't know if Mike was feeling a little guilty, having gotten me started on the Stieg Larsson "Dragon Tattoo" series two years ago, when he sent me this latest read but I found it quite different and more than a little enjoyable.

Only 15 books to go in the Reacher Series.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Laurie and I got the chance to see this Hollywood film adaptation of Swedish mystery writer Stieg Larsson's incredibly popular book.

Mike and Susan D'Antuono got us started on Larsson's "Millennium Trilogy" just before we moved to Hässleholm, Sweden for seven months back in 2010. It was our first small step into the fascinating noir world of Scandinavian crime/mystery writers like Larsson, Mankell, Hoeg and Nesbø.

Personally, we loved this movie and I highly recommend it to you. Overall, it was very faithful to the book and really captured the mood of Larsson's tome. The casting was superb with newcomer Rooney Mara doing an incredible job as Lisbeth Salander.

That being said, if you haven't read the book, lived in Sweden for seven month's, gotten to know the stark beauty of the Swedish landscape as well as the warmth of the Swedish people, then maybe this film will not be as well received by you as it was by us.

Still . . .

LISBETH SALANDER KICKS ASS!!!

California State Bowl Game

On Friday and Saturday nights, the California Interscholastic Federation (C.I.F.) hosted their Sixth Annual Bowl Championship High School Football Bowl Games at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

As I stated in my previous post, these five Bowl games attempt to match the best team in Southern California against the best squad from Northern California based on a combination of perceived strength and enrollment.

While trying to decide which ten schools deserve to be in these games is no easy task, once selected it is "GAME ON!"

Friday night saw two new State Champions crowned.

In Division IV, Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (15-0) defeated Le Grand (12-1) by a score of 34-13.

That afternoon's contest was followed by the Division I game. In that high scoring affair, Santa Margarita (13-2) edged San Jose Bellarmine (12-2) by virtue of a last second score winning 42-37.

The Saturday's slate of games began with the Division III game which again was hotly contested. Fresno's Washington Union (14-0) beat Moraga Campolindo (14-1) in another close one 21-16.

The Division II game was again close as La Mesa Helix (13-1) got by Loomis Del Oro (13-2) 35-24.

That brings us to the big finale, the Open Division Bowl Game. The theory is that this game, very arguably, features the two best teams in the state regardless of enrollment.

The picks this year for this prestigious game were Concord De La Salle and Westlake.

My original plan was to stay at home and watch this game unfold in the warm comfort our family room as it was being aired live on television. About four days before kickoff I received a phone call from a former Westlake player, Craig Weisman, about going to the game with him. It turns out that I was at one time the Head Football Coach at Westlake (1978-88) and Craig was one of our really good linemen in those days. After a lot of coercion on Craig's part, I finally agreed to go to the game with him and another ex-Warrior great, Bill Fisher.

I am glad I did.

L. to R., Bill Fisher, Craig Weisman, me,

Gary Wellman and Sue Wellman

Once at the game, we ran into the Wellman clan. Gary was also a player for us at Westlake and his mother Sue was one of our top two booster Moms, Molly Slavin being the other.

Gary's big brother Glenn was probably the best back I coached at Westlake and his son Bradley is a starting CB/WR for this year's C.I.F. Southern Section, Northern Division Champions. He was destined to play a very good game on both sides of the ball on this cool evening.

In all of the excitement I didn't get a picture of Glenn.

NUTS.

Jason Raciti

It was great to see Jason at the game, he was a manager for us for a couple of seasons and is now a very successful fashion photographer.

We also saw Derrick Schmucker, Chris Kreibehl and Larry Freed at the game. All in all it was a great night to reminisce about the good old days.

Meanwhile, back at the game . . .

A Good Memory

In a show of great sportsmanship, no this is not a post-game handshake, it is a pre-game handshake.

Back in early September, undefeated Westlake opened their season with a game in Northern California against eventual Division II Bowl game participant Loomis Del Oro. Westlake handed Del Oro their only loss of the year in overtime 30-27 until their loss to Helix minutes before this picture was taken,.

Even though they had just lost, the Del Oro players in yellow jerseys were all lining up to wish their former opponents good luck as they warmed up.

Classy.

As for the Open Division Bowl, it was no contest. De La Salle was an easy victor over a very good Westlake squad.

De La Salle has a truly amazing program having won TWENTY consecutive C.I.F. North Coast Section Championships! They have 27 of those crowns overall.

They have appeared in a Bowl Game all six years that this system has been in existence winning four of them.

Their Head Coach, Bob Ladouceur, has a career record at De La Salle of 383-25-3!!!

The Spartans also hold the National Record for the longest winning streak with a 151 game skein from 1992 to 2004.

They have not lost to another Northern California team in 20 years, going 221-0-2 in that time.

Their last loss to another California team was in the 2008 California Division I Bowl Game when the lost to Corona Centennial 21-16.

WOW!

Still, it was amazing to read that this incredibly great De La Salle team lost a game in Florida by a score of 30-6 to a Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas team that didn't even win their own league on the way to a 10-3 record. How good is Florida football?

The final score of our game was De La Salle (13-1) 35 - Westlake (14-1) 0.

Wait 'Til Next Year!!!

University of La Verne and the End of the High School Football Season

My quest to enable new EuroBall players continued today with a 90 minute drive to the University of La Verne to meet with five of their Seniors who are interested in prolonging their playing careers overseas.

But first, I encountered an interesting EuroBall reversal.

Rich Worsell, University of La Verne

Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach

It was interesting to meet Rich because I found his EuroBall experience to be quite unique.

The 2011 season was his first at La Verne after coaching the previous seven seasons at three mid-western colleges (Illinois College, Milliken College and Lakeland College).

The interesting part of Rich's story is that he was born and raised in England. He is a 2003 graduate of the U.K.'s Aberystwyth University. While in England he served as his Alma Mater's Head Football Coach for three seasons. In an effort to learn more about the game, he was also the Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator of the Sussex Thunder and the Offensive Line Coach of the Great Britain Bulldogs.

Rich is a very nice guy who is following his dream.

Also, ATTENTION all EuroBall teams or European all-star teams. Rich is trying to find one of you to come to California the week of September 1, 2012 to scrimmage the University of La Verne Leopards. They are a Division III team located about an hour's drive east of the Los Angeles Airport. They will be able to provide you with housing in the campus dorms during your stay.

Great opportunity!

La Verne Leopard Seniors

A very attentive group of young men who showed some great interest and are all highly recommended by their college coaches.

On the far left is Arsian Erdinc proudly displaying a certificate stating that he was named to the 2011 All-SCIAC Second Team as a DB.

Second from the left is QB Thomas Arguello who has been in contact with me for about the last ten days. Thomas is scheduled to sign a contract this weekend to play in France's top division for the Nice Dolphins.

I hope that they all make the exciting move to EuroBall.

C.I.F. Playoffs

The playoffs ended in the C.I.F. Southern Section last weekend. In our Western Division, Arroyo Grande (13-1) defeated Culver City (10-4) by a score of 42-14 on Friday night.

The following Sunday, the Commisioners from the ten individual C.I.F. Sections met to decide which teams would get to play one more game in the California State Bowl games this Friday and Saturday at the Home Depot Center in in Carson, CA.

These Bowls are a North vs. South affair with each Bowl trying to match up the best two teams based on a combination of school size and competitive level. To be considered for a Bowl invitation a team must have won their Section Championship, no easy task in and of itself.

The North is made up of the following six Sections that represent a total of 590 schools: Central Coast, North Coast, Northern, Oakland, Sac-Joaquin and San Francisco.

The South is made up of the following four Sections that represent 920 schools: Central, Los Angeles, San Diego and Southern.

The Bowl match-ups, with the Northern team named first, are:

Open Division

Concord De La Salle (12-1) vs. Westlake (14-0)

Division I

San Jose Bellarmine (12-1) vs. Santa Margarita (12-2)

Division II

Loomis Del Oro (13-1) vs. La Mesa Helix (12-1)

Division III

Moraga Campolindo (14-0) vs. Fresno Washington (13-0)

Division IV

Le Grand (12-0) vs. Sierra Canyon (14-0)

Reading is FUNdamental

The Knights Templar? That was enough for me!

Another great read.

Cal Lutheran, Cornell, Newbury Park and National Geographic

Another week comes to a close but I do have a lot of football doings to report.

California Lutheran University

Head Coach Ben McEnroe

and some of his Seniors

Today was the first day of my annual post-season EuroBall recruiting tour of Southern California college Seniors. As usual, I started at nearby Cal Lu only 20 minutes from our home.

I was able to talk with six of CLU's outstanding players who have been part of three consecutive SCIAC championship teams.

We met for about 90 minutes and Coach McEnroe indicated that all six would be great fits for any team in Europe.

Part of my talk to each of the schools that I visit deals with the favorable level of competition in Europe. Coach McEnroe was quick to note today that in the 50 year history Cal Lu football, the Kingsmen's all-time career rushing leader was Fredrik Nanhed with 2,938 career rushing yards. He played for Cal Lu in 1995-96 and 1998. He was a player who came straight to CLU from Sweden.

You could look it up!

I'll be meeting on Sunday with the University of La Verne's QB Thomas Arguello and coach Brent Baier to talk over an offer Thomas has received from a team in France.

I really do enjoy helping players land jobs in EuroBall.

GO BIG RED!!!

Tanner Wrout, Rio Mesa's outstanding FB/LB, took a recruiting trip to Cornell University over the past weekend.

He fell in love with the Ivy League college and has decided to attend Cornell's Ithaca, New York campus in the Fall as he continues his football playing career.

What an awesome opportunity for a fine young man. CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Mike Contreras with

Hayden Extrom, the NPHS JV

Defensive Player of the Year

Laurie and I joined Vanessa and our "grandson to be named later" on Tuesday night for Mike's J.V. football awards dinner at the Thousand Oaks Teen Center. It was a very nice affair and I was proud of how Mike presented himself professionally to the assembled players and their parents.

The cake was good too!

Finally, the December, 2011 edition of National Geographic arrived at our house today.

Included in each edition is an "Are You a Geo-Genius?" quiz.

See if you can answer this month's Question #3:

"Palermo and Catania are cities on which Italian island?"

Alamo Bowl Bid, Football Awards and more . . .

On Sunday, the College Bowl Game matchups were announced. The Dawgs are bowling again!!!

Washington Huskies (7-5)

PAC-12

vs.

Baylor Bears (9-3)

Big XII

Thursday, December 29, 2011

8:00 p.m.

The good news is that we will be spending a few days in beautiful San Antonio, Texas, joined by sons Andy and Mike to see the Huskies play in a bowl game for the second straight season. We have never been to the "Cradle of Texas Liberty" but the famed Alamo and the fun Riverwalk should be fun side trips during our time there.

Historically, Baylor leads the series 3-1, but the last game was in Waco in 1965.

Baylor QB Robert Griffin III

RG3, as he is now known, and his fellow Baylor Bears are indeed the bad news. For the second year in a row, the Dawgs are matched up against a very strong Big XII opponent.

Griffin is one of the five finalists making the trip to New York City this Saturday for the Heisman Trophy presentation. Many experts say that he has passed Stanford's QB Andrew Luck and is now the front runner for this prestigious award emblematic of the best college football player in the land.

The critical matchup is the Baylor offense which averages a whopping 571.3 yards per game in scoring at a 43.5 point a game clip vs. the Huskies rather porous defense that gives up 426.3 yards and 33.3 points per contest.

Rio Mesa Football Awards Night

Co-MVPs

Tanner Wrout and Jordan Nunnery

Well deserved.

A rare picture of Santa Claus at his day job

Multi-Media Updates

I found this DVD at the Camarillo Library.

In it, a camera crew aboard a helicopter flies all over the island giving one a bird's eye view of the Jewel of the Mediterranean.

Wonderful memories indeed!

Reading is FUNdamental

The concept was simple enough, what if John Wilkes Booth had some how escaped from that burning barn after assassinating President Lincoln in 1965 and made his way out West?

The seed for this 2010 novel was planted in 1947 when author Barnaby Conrad was serving as the personal secretary in Santa Barbara, California to Nobel Prize in Literature winner Sinclair Lewis.

It was the veteran writer Lewis who had the idea for the book but he wanted Conrad, who now lives in nearby Carpinteria, to write it.

Conrad has been a prolific writer in his own right having penned 25 books before finally completing this entertaining historical novel. It only took 63 years to get it written and published but it was worth the wait. I liked it.

Granada Hills Semi-Final Playoff Game

On Friday, after getting rear-ended (I'm okay) in the early afternoon, I picked up our son Mike at Newbury Park H.S.

After the usual light meal at El Tepeyac in East L.A., we were off to the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles. Why you say?

Los Angeles City Division II Semi-Finals

#3 seed Granada Hills Highlanders (7-5)

Fourth Place West Valley League

at

#2 seed John Marshall Barristers (10-2)

Northern League Champions

Modern Day Hi-Tech Spirit Sign

Tweet your pride? Really?

Punting is such a lonely affair

Marshall was proud of their new Field Turf playing surface and all weather track. They do not have lights at their stadium so in order to host this game on campus, they rented three sets of portable mega-lights for the occasion.

What budget crunch?

The Barrister

No, the Marshall mascot is not a coffee making specialist.

A barrister is a lawyer. A barrista is the person who makes your skinny, non-fat, double cap, soy, pumpkin latte -- no whip.

John Marshall was the 4th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from 1801 to 1835. Thus the Barristers moniker.

Why the one hour drive to see this particular playoff game? The simple answer is friendship.

Paul Sabolic taking on the Granada Hills

offensive line single handedly!!!

I first met Paul on the football practice field at the University of Washington in 1967. A fellow offensive lineman, he has always been one of the good guys.

He is listed in the program as the Assistant Head Coach for the Highlanders and spent the game up in the booth spotting for the team.

We would spend the game roaming the Granada Hills sideline while talking football with Paul's son Jason who is a coach at Pierce College.

Nick Boutros, Granada Hills WR

Chunky.

The Highlander Offensive Line

They were impressive from the get-go! Big, strong and physical, they paved the way for work horse running back Brian Sanchez who had 38 carries for 225 yards and 4 TDs.

They also did a nice job in pass protection, a Sabolic specialty, as their QB Joshua Szin completed 16 of his 23 passes for 262 yards and a TD.

Great Line Get-Off

If you do this well, it can lead to a . . .

. . . PANCAKE BLOCK!!!

After one period, it was a 7-7 tie.

Marshall's DE Michael Ahumada #2

He is listed at 5'-7" and 175 lbs.

I think that was being very generous.

Ahumada was scrappy and kept coming back for more play after play after play even though he was, at times, being abused by the Granada Hills line.

Granada Hills knocking on the door

A great first half with lots of action saw Marshall leading at the intermission 20-13.

I had the pleasure of talking to Paul's wife Joanne during the halftime festivities. A lot is going on with both of our families as it turns out.

Barrister Kickoff Return Wedge

Unfortunately for this group, Granada Hills has an unidentified player who will certainly be the First Team All-State Wedge Breaker.

Ouch!

Barristers turn to score

At the end of the three quarters, it was Marshall in control 34-19.

That's when it got interesting.

Granada Hills put on a furious comeback to tie the score at 34-34 with 1:10 left in the game.

Overtime?

Marshall's RB Walter Moctezuma

The Barristers' offense came back to life led by the slashing running style of Moctezuma who had 19 carries for 175 yards and 3 TDs.

With only 20 seconds left in the game, Marshall kicked a 42 yard Field Goal to win the contest 37-34.

WHAT A BALL GAME!!!

#2 seed Marshall (10-2) will now meet #1 seed South East (12-1) this coming Friday for the L.A. City Division II crown at East Los Angeles College.

Meanwhile, in the C.I.F. Southern Section . . .

2011 Western Division Playoffs

Semi-Final Playoff Results:

Culver City 37 - Santa Monica 0

#2 seed Arroyo Grande 45 - #3 seed Chaminade 36

Championship Game:

Friday, December 9th

Culver City (10-3) Ocean League Wild Card at

#2 seed Arroyo Grande (12-1) PAC-7 League #1

Thun Tiger Pride

We bought a new couch on Saturday but this huge sign for sale at the furniture store may be an omen of good things to come in Switzerland.

Laurie said, "No."