The Clothing Drive for the Apodaca Nuevo León Ducks Continues

Tues.-Thurs., May 10-12, 2022

The majority of the last few days was spent organizing our donated resources to help the Mexican team that I mentioned in our last post who are in need.

As you may recall, the Apodaca Nuevo León Ducks located in a suburb in Monterey lost everything that their program owned last Sunday due to . . .

. . . this tragic fire in their

equipment shed

Thanks to the generous donations from Agoura H.S., Buena H.S., St. Francis H.S. and Westlake H.S., Laurie and I were able to ship the Ducks some items to get them back on their feet.

We have not charged any of the teams that we have helped this school year with boxes of donated, usable helmets, shoulder pads, jerseys and pants. Thus, the following donations to the Ducks brought us to a total of 25 clubs in 13 different countries that have received gear from us for simply the shipping costs.

As an example of how this program can help struggling teams abroad, the three boxes of pants you are about to see cost the Ducks merely $1.70 apiece when all is said and done for the 194 pants that were sent.

I'm kind of proud of that price.

Ducks' Box #1 held 60 pants

Ducks' Box #2 was stuffed with

70 more pants

The Ducks' Box #3 held another

64 brightly covered pants

In the next few days, we will send the Ducks one final box with more pants, some jerseys and a few shoulder pads.

That will just about exhaust our entire supply of goods.

FINALLY.

BIG Game on Sunday in Bergamo

Our beloved Skorpions (4-1) will travel to take on the Bergamo Lions (5-0) with the top seed out of the Italian DII's Girone B on the line in the last regular season contest for both clubs.

Since the Lions won the first battle between these two clubs 31-28, not only do the Skorpions need to win, they need to win by more than three points to secure Girone B's top spot heading into the playoffs and no worse, I would think, than DII's second seed in the upcoming National Playoffs.

Girone A's Torino Giaguari (5-0) are the only other contender for the #1 seed in the tournament.

The road to back-to-back

Super Bowl titles will be tough

Things that made a lot of sense to me this week . . .

"A taco truck on every corner . . ."

A thought that still resonates to the depth of my soul.

This has been a core tenet

of my life

As if you didn't already know . . .

Reading Is FUNdamental!

 

From one of the darkest writers

of the Nordic Noir genre

I have enjoyed reading all of Nesbø's previous tomes. This one is a collection of 12 of his short stories.

Part One was titled Jealousy and contains seven of these mini-tales. The final five stories in Part Two are titled Power which, at least for me, were the far more entertaining.

Life continues to bring joy

thanks to Laurie's help

Mother's Day and More on Operation "Overseas American Football Equipment Giveaway"

Sun.-Mon., May 8-9, 2022 

A busy couple of days to be sure that started off at our ancestral home, Casa Contreras, in San Marino where we were joined by my sisters Marilyn and Linda to celebrate Mother's Day with our mother, Chuny.

We were joined by Marilyn's daughter Lauren and her two sons, Max and Leo.

This fun group made for a great visit!

Asuncion "Chuny" Contreras

was happy to see all of us today

Of course, she never tires of opening presents like the night gown she is holding.

WOW!

While at our mother's home, I casually perused the local newspaper, the San Marino Tribune, and found an add for Pasadena City College's 2022-23 Fall semester abroad program in Florence, Italy.

In the Spring semester of 2022-23, PCC will offer another study abroad program but this time in Oxford, England.

What AWESOME cultural and learning experiences await the young people who can take advantage of either one or both of these programs of study in these chaotic days.

The Thun Tigers had a BIG Mother's

Day celebration in Switzerland

Thun, where we coached the Tigers in 2012, is located in the middle of the Alps and is easily the most beautiful natural setting in which we have ever lived! 

SAFV Nationalliga A Standings

Bern Grizzlies 5-0

Calanda Broncos 5-1

Thun Tigers 4-2

Geneva Seahawks 2-3

Wintherthur Warriors 1-4

Basel Gladiators 0-3

Zurich Renegades 0-4

As you may recall, Laurie and I continue our efforts to send American football gear that has been donated by local area high schools to teams all over the globe for just the cost of shipping.

These 58 used pants were were

donated by Buena H.S. recently

 

They are now off to Poland to

aid the efforts of the Tychy Falcons

While we were enjoying our Mother's Day, I later found out through Facebook that it was not a joyous day for a team located in the suburbs of Monterey, México.

The equipment shed storing ALL of

the Apodaca Nuevo León Ducks'

gear went up in flames on Sunday

I was able to make contact with the Ducks' Fernando Maldonado on Monday and away we went.

We'll be sending the Ducks about 200 pants over the next few days.

It just so happens that I was already scheduled to pick up a few more donated items at my alma mater, St. Francis H.S., late Monday afternoon.

These helmets looked great but

they were not what was being offered

Instead, I brought home

these 25 shoulder pads

The first 22 were already promised to the Klaipėda Corunians in Lithuania.

The other three will soon be off the the Ducks in Apodaca Nuevo León, México.

On the way home, I somehow got the bright idea to stop off at the newest location of Southern California's wonderful Cuban bakery, Porto's!

Thank you Waze for leading me to

THE PROMISED LAND!

This new Northridge location of

Porto's is HUGE!

Their cakes looked amazing

but, "No, Gracias."

Instead, I opted for a mixture of their top notch meat pies, excellent chicken empanadas and, unfortunately, so-so ham croquettes.

The taste of the meat pies and chicken empanadas more than made up for the disappointing ham croquettes.

You live, you learn.

Laurie Enjoying Her Birthday

 

Saturday, May 7, 2022

Today we celebrated Laurie's 23rd birthday of the New Millennium!

I could not ask for a better partner to travel with and enjoy all of the experiences that life has presented us.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Palermo, Italy

Varese, Italy

Paris, France

Camarillo, California

Barcelona, Spain

Berlin, Germany

Prague, Czech Republic

Paris, France

Havana, Cuba

Barcelona, Spain

Pretty much everywhere in

the known universe

We started the day with brunch courtesy of Michael, Vanessa, Jacob and Mary at the world's hotspot for Mexican pancakes, Loru's Cafe in the Camarillo Outlet Mall.

Mexican pancakes are infused with both cinnamon and caramel that makes it so sweet and delicious on its own that the need for maple syrup is nil.

The group at Loru's

Jacob asked me to check on some

obscure L.A. Rams fact for him

Inquiring minds want to know

Mary was stunned by her order

Jacob devoured his in no time, it was

a pre-game meal for him after all

Laurie liked her presents and

 cards from the kids

Jacob about to give her a slightly

early Mother's Day present

The boys side of the table . . .

. . . faced these three lovely ladies

In the early afternoon, we all met again at the Camarillo YMCA for Jacob's basketball game.

Jacob is #9 in Columbia blue

with the black arm sleeve

Looking good in your uniform is a MUST!

Chasing down a loose ball

Mary was

IN THE HOUSE!

Jacob really loves playing defense

Good position

Blocking out his man

REBOUND THAT BASKETBALL!

Not afraid to scrap for the ball

I love his effort and tenacity on defense. I'm afraid that when he reaches the age level where they keep track of fouls, he'll reach the five foul limit within the first four minutes of each game.

Reaching in with both hands as his

team triple teams the ball handler

Racing to cut off the

opponent's fast break

I sense an illegal block in

th back about to happen

Proud Grandparents after the game

Meanwhile on a EuroBall Saturday . . .

Our old club, the Catania Elephants,

finally won their first game of 2022

against the Cagliari Sirbons

A BIG Semi-Final playoff win in

Spain for the now 9-0 Osos Rivas

who I helped coach in 2016

The Dracs (6-3) were the #2 team out of Serie A's Eastern Conference and have recently been Spain's dominant team having won four of the last five National Championships.

The times seem to be changing.

Who would the Osos, the Western Conference Champions, play for all the marbles?

A STUNNING upset in the

other Spanish Semi-Final

It was not just that that the Western Conference's #2 Black Demons (6-3) beat the Eastern Conference Champion Rookies (7-2), it was the 23 point victory margin on the road that really shocked me.

An all Western Conference Championship

Osos vs. Black Demons in

Spanish Bowl XXVIII

Saturday, May 21, 2022

The Osos Rivas won both regular season games against the Las Rozas Black Demons.

The Osos squeaked by the Black Demons on the road on January 22nd, 16-13. 

The second game between these two clubs took place in the Madrid suburb of Rivas on March 19th with the Osos coasting to a comfortable 36-12 victory.

It is hard to beat a team three time in one season.

This will be the Osos Rivas fourth trip to the Serie A Spanish Bowl having won it in 2001, 21-7 over the Zaragoza Lions. In 2002, the Badalona Dracs edged out the Osos, 14-8. In 2012, the Osos were swamped by the L'Hospitalet Pioners 47-24.

The Black Demons have never won a Serie A Spanish Bowl title but have been knocking on the door a lot recently. Their only two Spanish Bowl appearances were both against the Badalona Dracs. In 2019, the Dracs dominated the game in routing the Black Demons 47-6. In 2021, it was closer but the Dracs were again victorious 31-21.

All this being said, I think Laurie enjoyed her day made up of family, food, mimosas and relaxation.

AUGURI,

GRATTIS,

FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS,

JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE,

ALLES GUTE ZUM GEBURTSTAG,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

LAURIE!