Vanessa's Birthday and the NorCal All-Sports Clinic

We start with a celebration of our daughter-in-law's 20th birthday dinner two weekends ago.

Vanessa and Jacob

Maybe she turned 21, I can't recall.

Playing with Blocks while the

49ers and Seahawks played

Apparently, priorities change when a grandson is in the house.

 "Snake" Stabler avoiding the

INTENSE Pass Rush

 When he is done with his playing days, Jacob is considering majoring in Architecture

A little Red Wine with Laurie's

EXCELLENT French Birthday Dinner

It was a good Sunday for family time.

NorCal All-Sports Clinic

This past weekend, I drove up to Foster City which is located just south of San Francisco to attend a very good clinic. While there were coaches speaking on baseball and softball.  Obviously I was there to hear a great set of football coaches fire up my passion for American football once again.

 University of Cincinnati Bearcats

$1,100 (805 Euros) Riddell Helmet???

This top-of-the-line helmet usually sells for $250. Why the outrageous price tag you ask?

According to the salesman at the NorCal clinic, the shrink wrap like red and black checkers plus the other claw marks and C add a cool $850 to the cost of styling.

Makes you wonder how much the University of Oregon, or Nike's Phil Knight more than likely, has invested in their helmet inventory.

As for the clinic itself, it was very refreshing to hear several new approaches on how to improve our coaching. Over the course of three days I listened to 18 hours worth of lectures from a wide variety of coaches.

Here is a list of the lectures that I attended:

TJ Ewing, Monterey Trail H.S., Elk Grove, CA

"Tackle and Turnover Drills"

"Competitive Line Drills"

Adam Hazel, St. Francis Central Coast Catholic H.S., Watsonville, CA (more about Adam later)

"QB and WR Fundamentals"

Rick Stewart, Delano H.S., Delano, CA

"Gang Green 4-2-5/3-4 Defense: Coverages & Alignments"

"Tackling and Pursuit Drills for any Championship Defense"

"Team Building Year Round"

"No Huddle Wing-T Offense, Signals, Wrist Bands, Audibles"

"Pistol Wing-T Combo Plays and Zone Read"

Kevin Kelley, Pulaski Academy, Little Rock, AR

"Onside Kicks: The Numbers Behind It, Over Ten Different Kicks"

"Fourth Down, No Punt Philosophy"

Mark Modeste, Sacred Heart Prep, Atherton, CA

"Gap Cancellation and Force and Fill Techniques"

Rick Jones, Greenwood H.S., Greenwood, AR

"Spread Offense: Quick Game and Dropback"

"Spread Offense: Running the Ball"

Kevin Navarra, Buhach Colony H.S., Atwater, CA

"3-2 Hex: Defending the Wing-T"

"3-2 Hex: Defending the Option"

"3-2 Hex: Defending the Power"

Travis Cox, El Dorado H.S., Placerville, CA

"3-5 Cougar Attack Defense"

Jack Messina, Fremont H.S., Sunnyvale, CA

"DL - Pass Rush Techniques and Drills"

Jim Fassel, former Head Coach, New York Football Giants

"QB Development and Fundamentals"

I was both exhilarated and mentally tired each night. What to do? Food but of course!

Jacob calls Laurie "GiGi"

While trying to find an open ice cream shop in Burlingame, I discovered Laurie's clandestine boutique.

I also found a GREAT ice cream shop!

Saturday morning I went back to nearby Burlingame to find a bit of breakfast.

 It was ok but not up to French standards

Still, I needed more . . .

 FIKA TIME!!!

I know that Fika is Swedish and Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark. Close enough for me! It was quite good.

Meanwhile, back at the NorCal clinic . . .

Danny Chan

Head Coach at Lowell H.S.

Lowell H.S. is located in San Francisco. As it turns out, Danny was Denver Wade's coach when he attended Lowell in the early years of the 21st Century.

You may recall that Denver was our excellent line coach with the Catania Elephants back in 2009 and that I visited with Denver and his scintillating Sicilian girlfriend Melissa Lodato before last month's Fight Hunger Bowl game in San Francisco.

Small world . . .

With Erik Peterson Saturday Night

Erik was an outstanding defensive lineman for us in the early 1980s at Westlake H.S. 

He was attending the clinic because of his position as Defensive Coordinator at Yosemite H.S. in Oakhurst, CA.

It was great to see him and catch up on old times.

Really small world . . .

Adam and Eva Hazel

When I first met Adam, he was the Offensive Coordinator at Menlo College. We had previously made contact via the internet because he played football in Germany for two seasons.

He is now the Head Coach at St. Francis Central Coast Catholic H.S. in Watsonville, CA, as I stated earlier.

He did a very good job as a speaker at the NorCal clinic. 

With Adam

On Sunday morning, I stopped in Morgan Hill to meet the Hazels and their lovely baby daughter for a great country breakfast.

Good people.

A fine winery on the outskirts

of Arroyo Grande

Laetitia is one of Laurie's favorite central coast wineries and after a weekend away, I thought that buying her a couple of good bottles of wine would be a wise idea.

Being a good husband can, at rare times, be a N0-Brainer.

Ventura County All-Star Game

The 41st Annual Ventura County High School All-Star Football Game was played Saturday night at Moorpark College.

The first 40 editions of the County classic had been held in the Summer but our Ventura County Football Coaches Association opted to try a mid-January date this time as so many other All-Star games have been doing in recent years.

I have had the opportunity to coach in this game on four occasions. I served as an assistant coach in the 1974, 1990 and 1994 editions and was the head coach of the East team in 1980. 

Captains  Out

Our Newbury Park players play for the East team and are in the blue jerseys. On the left is NPHS DE #43 Jordan Flack who was selected as a team captain.

 East on Offense

West Team Zone Read 

It was an entertaining game that ended with the East team winning 44-26.

Newbury Park was Represented

From left to right: Kaiden Mowery, Jake Pace, Cole Tracy, Coach Brian Hisel, George Toki, Hayden Exstrom, Coach Michael Contreras and Jordan Flack

Mike's choice of shorts and flip-flops says a bit about the brutal mid-January weather in Southern California this year.

With Devin "Che" Williams

"Che" and his teammate Joseph Gonzales were the two players representing Rio Mesa H.S. on the West team this year. Unfortunately, I could not find Joseph after the game for a picture. They were my last two links to my coaching career at RMHS.

It was a beautiful night to watch an American football game!

The Nazis Are Coming, The Nazis Are Coming . . .

Reading Is FUNdamental

A Book by Georges Simenon

I recently forwarded a list of "The 32 Books That Will Actually Change Your Life" on FaceBook.

You can find this list at:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/erinlarosa/books-that-will-actually-change-your-life

I had already read a few of the tomes on the list and decided to check out the #28 book on this list, Georges Simenon's The Train for a quick read.

It details the fictional journey of a man and his family from the French northeastern town of Fumay near the Belgian border as they try to escape the onslaught of the fast approaching German Army at the start of World War II.

It was a good read but I don't feel changed in any substantial way.

A Mysterious Package Delivery and a EuroBall Talk at the University of La Verne

On Tuesday night we got a notice that FedEx had tried to deliver a package to our home while we were out and that I could pick it up, if I wanted to, at 9:00 a.m. at their Oxnard distribution center, or wait for them to try to deliver this mysterious package again Wednesday afternoon.

I had a pretty good idea what was in the package, so at 8:52 a.m. I was anxiously waiting outside of FedEx's locked doors for them to promptly open for possibly the most important working day in the history of the package delivery industry.

 Here is the Mystery Package

By 9:02 a.m., the package was in my hot, sweaty little hands, ready to be ripped apart in the parking lot.

What was it it?

A Beautiful Ring

A Bron-Villeurbanne Falcons 2013 National Championship ring!!!

I got this package on January 8, 2014, exactly seven months to the day since we played the French Division III American football title contest in Lyon against the Pionniers from Tours.

Out of the Box, Still NICE!!!

None of these pictures really do the ring justice. It is marvelous!

How does it look on my finger?

SPECTACULAR!

Now, it needs to be said that over the course of my 48 seasons of coaching American football, we have been fortunate enough to be part of several league championship teams and even more playoff squads. Unfortunately, we had never been able to go all the way in said playoffs until this magical 12-0 season in France.

I know a lot of coaches who have won multiple rings and I can only wonder if they still feel the true wonder of winning it all.

I guess, what I'm saying is that this first ring for me is extremely satisfying and special.

Another Look

Hammer Time was our Theme

I'm not sure which of our players came up with the icon to match our theme, but I loved it.

Gratifying to say the VERY Least

That afternoon, I got to wear my ring in public for the first time when I was scheduled to give my EuroBall pep/informational talk to a group of Seniors at the University of La Verne. 

A beautiful little campus

at NCAA DIII ULV

 ULV's "Big Top" Gym

Seven ULV Leopards who are

ready to take their skills to Europe

They were a good group that will be ready to go overseas as soon as they graduate in mid-May. Look for their profiles on EuroPlayers.com soon.

So far this "off-season," I have talked to about 25 Seniors from California Lutheran University, Occidental College and now the University of La Verne who want to explore the EuroBall option extending their careers on the Continent.

Good luck men!

NICE RING,

MERCI FALCONS!!!

Andy Turns 40???

On Monday we headed out the door for yet another five hour drive from Camarillo to Las Vegas to visit our son Andrew, Jenn and Kevin, a.k.a., "Tank" Contreras.

Near Baker, California

About two more hours to "Sin City," this may be my favorite street name in the known universe. 

Andrew Gardner Contreras

The main purpose for out trek through the desert was to celebrate Andy's 40th birthday on Thursday, January 2, 2014.

Forty years . . . and as our French ami Julien Urgenti noted, Laurie just turned 50 last spring.

Of course, we would also take advantage of Andy and Jenn's mega-monster sized TV and entertainment complex to watch 15 college American football bowl games (winners in red) in only four days:

MONDAY

Bell Armed Forces: Middle Tennessee vs. Navy

Music City: Georgia Tech vs. Mississippi

Valero Alamo: Oregon vs. Texas

Holiday: Arizona State vs. Texas Tech

TUESDAY

AdvoCare V100: Arizona vs. Boston College

Hyundai Sun: UCLA vs. Virginia Tech

Auto Zone Liberty: Mississippi State vs. Rice

Chick-fil-A: Duke vs. Texas A&M

WEDNESDAY

Tax.Slayer.com Gator: Georgia vs. Nebraska

Heart of Dallas: North Texas vs. UNLV

Capital One: South Carolina vs. Wisconsin

Outback: Iowa vs. LSU

Rose: Michigan State vs. Stanford

THURSDAY

Tostitos Fiesta: Baylor vs. Central Florida

Allstate Sugar: Alabama vs. Oklahoma

WOW!!!

Of course, we needed to see if Andy and Jenn were properly taking care of grandson Kevin's off-season strength and conditioning program.

I thought that this was a good

effort for this time of the year

Who are we really kidding, the trip was mostly about seeing Kevin.

"What do you mean that

there is no dessert tonight?" 

Just kidding Tank

"Do you want to lick the frosting spoon from Daddy's birthday cake?"

CHOCOLATE!!!

"I'll drive you home Grandpa."

We had a great time but on Friday morning we started the long drive home, only after breakfast at Hash House A-Go-Go, however.

When we got got home in the late afternoon, I opted to go over to Rio Mesa H.S., where I had not been in a long time, to watch a boys Varsity basketball game.  

Oak Park 46 - Rio Mesa 30

The home team Spartans, in white, are in for a long season I'm afraid.

The gym has excellent new lighting and the school has spent a lot of money on new championship banners. The old gym really looks good.

Hey, that's me 

Maybe, some day when they are older and can understand, I can proudly show this banner to Kevin and Jacob.

Surprise Present

When we opened our mail after the Las Vegas trip, I was excited to find a package from Spain with a T-shirt from American football coach Diego Pagnotta who works with this team in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. It was a late Christmas present and a great one to boot!

It is my dream to coach one more time in Europe and Spain is the country that I dream of constantly.

We'll see . . .

San Francisco's 2013 Fight Hunger Bowl - Washington vs. BYU

On Friday, Mike and I left Camarillo just after 6:00 a.m. for the six hour drive to Burlingame, California, which is a suburb to the south of San Francisco.

The reason for this trek was to watch the 2013 Fight Hunger Bowl football game featuring the BYU Cougars (8-4) against our beloved Washington Huskies (8-4) at AT&T Park.

As you may know, AT&T Park is the baseball home of the San Francisco Giants and is a somewhat unique sight for college football.

After checking in to our hotel, we decided to take the Caltrain to the game instead of driving. The roundtrip fare was only $10 each and the line ended only one block from AT&T Park.

Burlingame's Quaint Train Station

Very Quaint

We had just missed the train so we had about a 45 minute wait until the next one and therefore time to explore beautiful downtown Burlingame.

Leaves at my Feet

You would almost have to say that

it was finally Autumn

Nostalgic Baseball Field

next to Burlingame H.S.

We had time for a croissant

By American standards, it was fine.

By French standards, not so much.

We boarded the Caltrain for the 30 minute ride to the game. The train squeaked and rolled a bunch but it got us there in one piece. Definitely a step in the right direction in the history of public transportation in California.

Mike and I outside AT&T Park

Now it was time to Fight Hunger at the University of Washington Alumni Association's Pre-Game Gala at Pedro's Cantina just across the street from AT&T Park.

Unfortunately, the UWAA's gala would not open for about another 20 minutes so we headed down to the end of the same block to a corner bar to tip an alcoholic beverage with dozens of Husky supporters. No BYU Cougar fans were in this fine establishment for some reason or other.

Pedro's Cantina was ROCKING!!!

The Husky Mascot was in the House

The Husky Band Leader helped

ignite the assembled Purple Multitude

A Taste of the Madness in
Pedro's Cantina

Because I was posting our whereabouts on Facebook, I was excited to be contacted by a special friend from our days coaching in Catania, Sicily . . .

Melissa Lodato and Denver Wade

First and foremost, CUTE COUPLE!

Denver went to high school in San Francisco and was home for the holidays with Melissa who he first met in Catania. 

Denver currently is teaching and coaching at a high school in Mississippi.

GREAT Young Coach

I found Denver to be an absolutely excellent offensive line coach when we were together with the Elephants back in 2009. He continues to do good things in coaching in his current roll as Defensive Coordinator at his Mississippi high school.

Small world.

Our GREAT bartender at Pedro's

She has two tattoos, the Pentagram on her left arm came first. She followed that up eventually with a Kyrie Eleison tattoo on her right arm.

She was in perfect harmonic balance all afternoon from what we could tell.

Finally, after about 2 1/2 hours of grazing at Pedro's Cantina's taco bar, we headed across the street because, at 6:30 p.m.  It was GAME TIME!!!

I was ready for the Huskies first

ever trip to the Fight Hunger Bowl

This was my 16th trip to a Husky Bowl game and I had watched the Dawgs go 8-7 in the previous 15 games.

Here's a list of our previous UW bowl game experiences with the winning games in purple: 

Pasadena, California's Rose Bowl seven times (1978, 1981, 1982, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 2001)

Anaheim. California's Freedom Bowl twice (1985 and 1989)

San Diego, California's Holiday Bowl four times (1996, 1999, 2001 and 2010)

San Antonio, Texas' Alamo Bowl once (2011)

Las Vegas, Nevada's Las Vegas Bowl once (2012)

We needed to win!

Mike by the Willie Mays Statue

with his newest pal

The Giants two World Series Trophies

from 2010 and 2012

Our seats were in the Giants Club Section, so we were exposed to tons of Giants baseball history in various. and I must say excellent, display cases.

Jerry Garcia Bobble Head Doll

I kind of liked the Garlic Fest Bobble Head Doll a bit more.

GAME TIME!!!

The view from the Club Level

Section 228, Row E, Seat 9

I liked the UW uniforms for once, purple and gold with no black.

Bishop Sankey rushing for the UW

Sankey would rush for 95 yards and two TDs.

BYU Shield Punt

Not my favorite formation. While these three behemoths can definitely block, this formation leaves you with three players who are a liability should the punt returner break into the open field. There are also very limited in terms of punt fakes with these three players in the backfield in my opinion.

Mike intently watching the contest

Senior Husky QB
Keith Price's Last Game

Price had a quiet night passing for 123 yards and a TD.

More on Junior RB Bishop Sankey

Will he return for his senior season?

He is now tied for the most TDs in Husky career history with 38 after scoring twice in this bowl game.

Who is he tied with you ask?

All-American George Wilson who scored his 38 TDs in the 1923-25 seasons!

BYU QB Taysom Hill

He was the best player on the field in my opinion even though his team would lose.

He passed for 293 yards and ran for 133 yards and a TD.

Keith, you forgot the ball!

The Huskies got it back.

John Ross' 100 yard Kick Off Return

CELEBRATING Ross' TD

His return was the turning point of the game. The Cougars had much better stats but it was the Husky kicking game combined with good Red Zone defense that carried the day for the UW.

Huskies Breaking Up A Pass

Cougars Breaking Up A Pass

Sankey's last Husky TD ever?

We'll see soon enough.

CELEBRATING a Win!

The Huskies led 21-16 at the half but the second half was all UW!

It was a great tribute to the players and coaches after Steve Sarkisian had left for the USC job that they could play with such great effort for interim coach Marques Tuiasosopo.

Final Score:

Washington (9-4) 31 - BYU (8-5) 16

Can't wait for the Huskies to kickoff the 2014 campaign, their first under new Head Coach Chris Petersen, with four rugged (????) non-conference games against Hawaii, Eastern Washington, Illinois and Georgia State.

GO DAWGS!!!