I Stepped Out of Quarantine Today . . .

Wednesday, 26 February, 2020

I needed to get out of the Villa Skorpion II.

Thus, I gladly accepted an invitation to lunch with a couple of players despite the Coronavirus threat.

We were to meet at Ripoli, a popular restaurant in Old Town Varese. I had gone there for lunch a few times last year and found the food to be wonderful if you could get a table.

It is considered to be one of Varese's best lunch time options and, without a reservation, dining here is difficult.

That remind's me, the Coronavirus

is dangerous to old people

Much like a crazed, pink baboon on a rampage.

As I walked to Ripoli I noticed

a definite lack of pedestrian traffic

If this outfit doesn't protect one

against the Coronavirus, nothing will!

When I arrived at Ripoli there were but two people dining in the restaurant. When our two players arrived we had a grand total of only five people dining with absolutely no need for reservations.

In an update, the other day I said on this blog that coffee bars were to close at 6:00 p.m., I was not 100%.

ALL bars must close at 6:00 p.m., while restaurants can stay open until their normal closing times.

It is believed that the normal activity in the typical bar scene is more likely to spread the Coronavirus than sitting at a dining table.

For a bar like the Skorpions' team bar, the Bella Vita, this is a tough regulation. This bar is only open at night so, in essence, it is simply closed, period.

On the walk back to my car after

a good lunch with two good men

Obviously not many shoppers and also not many stores were open due to the Coronavirus scare.

This reminded me that I probably

should get back into quarantine NOW!

Gorgeous sight but I've got to go

While waiting to cross the street at a red light, I saw three active public transit busses lined up bumper to bumper also waiting for the light to change. It must be understood that all of Varese's bus lines pass through Old Town and are usually quite crowded.

I looked into the first bus and there were no passengers. The second bus only had one passenger. The last bus was also lacking passengers.

Three buses, one passenger total . . .

Safe to say, the people of Varese are taking the quarantine guidelines seriously.

When I got home, I saw that the Skorpion FaceBook page had posted some photos from last season to get us in the mood for American football even if our season open game this coming Saturday has been re-scheduled for March 21st.

We did not practice last night due to the quarantine restrictions.

Hammer Time!

There is always one guy!

The Pit

The Skorpions Thursday night practice has been cancelled.

I'll end this post with a question . . .

Why don't ESPN commentators dress

like their Italian soccer counterparts?

Quarantine Tuesday

Tuesday, 25 February, 2020

Today marked . . .

. . . of my living in Italy during

the 2020 Skorpion season

That means that a full 25% of my 180 day

stay in Europe has already happened

Meanwhile in Lombardia . . .

 The masks were out in Milano's

Piazza Duomo

As recommended by the local health officials, I opted to stay home today and not have contact with potential infectious individuals.

Thus, I watched . . .

. . . three great episodes of this

old Sherlock Holmes TV series

via the internet and . . .

. . . the usual two Father Brown episodes

on one of our local TV stations

And if that wasn't enough to keep me occupied . . .

Reading Is FUNdamental!

An interesting yarn from times

long, long ago in what is now the U.K.

Trying to keep four characters straight with the names Æthelflaed, Æthelred, Æthelstan and Ælfwynn proved a bit harrowing not to mention two more key players in this period novel both named Uhtred.

Still, it was both interesting and better than contracting the Coronavirus.

Coronavirus Countermeasures Monday

Monday, 24 February, 2020

Easily the number one topic of the day in all of Italy is the Coronavirus outbreak in the two northern provinces of Lombardia and the Veneto.

The Veneto includes the city of Venice while in Lombardia the outbreak has been centered in Milan about 25 miles southeast of us here in Varese.

As a result, many steps have been taken to hopefully slow down the pending epidemic.

At Venice's 2019 Carnevale

 Also from last year's colorful Carnevale

This past weekend, Venice's Carnevale was cancelled.

Carnevale is probably Venice's single biggest event each year.

 Even Italy's national passion,

Serie A calcio, has been postponed

As this letter informed us,

lots of necessary disruptions

are in store

In Lombardia, closures until further notice were ordered for all universities, schools, libraries, museums, theaters (including the famed La Scala Opera House) and cinemas.

As a result, our usual Monday session teaching flag football tactics and fundamentals to elementary school students in Vedano Olona was put on hold.

Coffee bars were ordered to close at 6:00 p.m. At the bar that I visited this morning, all of the brioches were individually placed in hand labeled white paper bags to reduce the possibility of infection.

Shopping malls are to be closed on the weekend to further limit possible infectious contacts.

As for sports in general, practices and games have been cancelled and postponed.

All Italian DII games for this coming weekend's season opening round have been rescheduled. Our home game against the Modena Vipers will now be played on Saturday, March 21st.

Our new season opener, if we are allowed to play, will now take place on Sunday, March 8th at 2:30 p.m. at the home of the Savona Pirates.

Our Tuesday night practice has been cancelled but we may be able to hold a workout on Thursday. The Health Department officials, late today, amended their stance on practices if they are held outdoors, not in gyms. We can practice outdoors so long as no one uses the locker room facilities.

 Even these guys left the Supper

table in Milan during the crisis

I went to the Esselunga Supermarket for supplies and found that the stay-at-home theme of the Coronavirus outbreak had made for a bunker mentality that led to a vastly depleted supply of goods today.

The produce section was only

at about 50% of normal

 Pasta was in short supply

Over the years living in Italy, I have been asked on several occasions to reach items for shoppers on various market's upper shelves.

I'm guessing that short Italian women are the reason why so many pasta boxes remain on these upper shelves.

The pasta sauces were also

in short supply too

Again, the upper shelf was still fully stocked.

Fortunately, all of the shelves were being re-stocked as quickly as possible but at the check-out lines, people carts were all overflowing in fear of possible future shortages.

These new shopping/hoarding techniques may indeed create this anticipated shortage.

I liked the look of this

old school rice box

With so many shelves emptied, this box caught my eye. for the first time.

Finally, one of the Skorpions designed a new look Coronavirus themed football uniform inspired by the Black Plague masks that were made popular in Venice centuries ago.

What do you think?

Stay tuned . . .

Skorpions Women's Flag Team Scrimmage and a Coronavirus Update

Sunday, 23 February, 2020

Despite the growing concerns over the breakout of the Coronavirus in the Milan area, some American football teams forged on today.

It was the Opening Weekend for

Italian DIII, a.k.a., CIF9 football

Our old Catania Elephants squad that we coached in during the 2008 and 2009 DI campaigns would open their 2020 DIII season today with the Sicilian Derby against the new Palermo Eagles United club.

The Eagles United is this season's reincarnation of 2019's now combined DII Palermo Sharks and DIII Palermo Cardinals.

Italy's DIII/CIF9 level plays nine-man football.

We'll revisit this game later in this post.

As for the Skorpions, our Women's Flag team was scheduled to have a scrimmage at home starting at 10:00 a.m. today against the Busto Arsizio Tempeste.

To review, flag football in Italy features five players at a time per team battling on a much smaller field.

The Savona Pirates team was also originally in on the scrimmage today but opted out as they did not want to travel the 120 miles from the Liguria region through Lombardia in general and Milano in particular and risk exposure to the Coronavirus outbreak currently centered in Milano.

Understandable decision.

Tex, Agnese and Alice showing

different levels of intensity

Warm-ups were a bit jovial too

Sofia getting into it

Agnese much more serious too

Let the scrimmage begin!

Laura stretching for the First Down

Tanya's hair may get

in the way of this snap

Sofia going for the interception

Tex on a Jet Sweep,

no blocking allowed Laura

Giorgia pulling a flag

Tex pulling shorts

Carlotta raising her hand to

signify her intention to blitz

Arianna daintily about to blitz

Arianna's blitz flushes the QB

Laura, Tex, Tanya and Agnese

in a Bunch Formation

Carlotta in her DB stance

Carlotta and Alice trying to

pull a flag

Agnese has open field wiggles

Agnese about to juke

a Tempeste defender

Good swarm to the ball on defense

Nice Tempeste catch, Tex and

Giorgia to the rescue!

Giorgia harassing the

Tempeste QB

Alice also chased the elusive

Tempeste lefty throughout the day

Lefty is a player blessed with good

movement and a strong arm

Arianna just a hair late

on sacking the QB

Alice's turn to get a Sack

Alice is a rookie that

shows much promise

Agnese, it's a football NOT

a loaf of bread!

OC Omar Passera discussing

things during a timeout

Tanya has shown steady

improvement every season

Tex on a Jet Sweep Pass

Margherita hounding a

Tempeste receiver

Tanya tries her hand at catching

the Tempeste QB

Tex turning on the jets

Laura concentrating on making

a tough catch

AWESOME Designated Blitzer

stance by the Tempeste QB now

wanting to harass our QB Sofia!

Close but Sofia got the ball off

in time for a completion

Dynamic, angry stride by this

Tempeste receiver who failed

to catch the pass

It's never too late in the scrimmage

to get in another stretch

Irena Leite, one of Italy's great professional sports photographers, was on hand to take photos as well.

The next 13 photos are hers.

Pre-scrimmage huddle

Sofia about to get sacked

Laura again stretching out,

but this time for a TD

"Swivel Hips" Agnese on the loose

Sofia calm in the pocket

Agnese drawing a crowd

Tanya, Sofia and referee Gabo

The water Boy and the Subs

Lots of action but no completion

Tex is the team's veteran starting

her 11th season of flag football

Other than Tex, our ten-woman squad is a young one made up of three rookies, four second year players and two third year competitors.

Agnese got a lot of

Media Attention today

Laura making a

highly contested grab

Another Skorpion Bunch Formation

GRAZIE Irena for all of your pictures and continued efforts to encourage the growth of our beloved game through your photographic efforts.

The traditional post-contest

"High Five" lines

The equally traditional two teams

combined photo

After the scrimmage,

the Skorpions ordered pizza

Head Coach Dario A'Delfio asked me if I wanted to join them.

My answer was simply, "You know Dario, the blog is called Coaching for Pizza, for a reason."

Good times!

Now, as for that CIF9 Sicilian Derby . . .

The Elephants ruled the day!

The 41 teams in the CIF9 level of Italian football are broken down into nine girones or leagues.

The Elephants and the Eagles United play in Girone I.

The I could stand for Island as the four teams in Girone I include the two Sicilian island squads and the two clubs based on the island of Sardinia, the Cagliari Crusaders and the Cagliari Sirbons.

The Elephants (1-0) and Crusaders (1-0) are tied for first in Girone I after the Crusaders won the Cagliari/Sardinian Derby today 28-0 over the Sirbons.

In the evening, Giorgio

dropped off this plate of

traditional Italian carnivale treats

Low caloric powdered sugar, I'm sure.

DELICIOUS and "Oh, so good for me too!"

As for the Coronavirus outbreak in Lombardia, here is the status as of tonight.

The CIF9 games that were scheduled for today that included at least one team from Lombardia were postponed to a future date.

In Lombardia, all schools, universities, museums, theaters (including La Scala) and cinemas are to be closed until further notice.

All sports games and practices are also suspended until further notice. Thus, at the least, our practice on Tuesday night has been cancelled.

Everyone is asked to stay at home as much as possible to lessen the risk of exposure to the Coronavirus.

Sounds good to me.

Stay tuned . . .