Mon.-Fri., January 26-30, 2026
We start this week's post with a thought from my departed father-in-law, Bill Gardner.
As it turns out, Bill was a life long Rotarian and darn proud of it! One of the things that he always harped on was Rotary International's famous guidelines, The Four Way Test.
Perhaps the current administration
should take a look before deciding
the path that they will take us on
in the month of February
They could take it slow and just focus on the first question for the next 28 days before moving on to the second question in March, just saying.
On to football both foreign and domestic . . .
Still recovering from Sunday's
hectic AFC and NFC Conference
Championship Games
I had more Super Bowl thoughts
this week as the game is
being played in Santa Clara, CA
Mary at our NFL watch
party last Sunday
The play that she eventually created for the Rams would have been the winning play, if they'd used it.
My biggest takeaway here is that
attending a Power Four program is
FAR from the only path to the NFL
QB Sam Darnold's story of
redemption is a good one
Good trivia question
"Can you name the five universities that have produced a Super Bowl wining QBs and a United States President?"
If the Patriots win Super Bowl LX with QB Drake Maye at the helm, then you can add the University of North Carolina to this list.
The future 11th U.S. President, James K. Polk, graduated from UNC with honors as the class of 1818's Valedictorian and even delivered his commencement address in Latin.
On a side note, Miami of Ohio and Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger led the Steelers to two Super Bowl victories but is the only one of the six QBs that serve as answers to our question that did not win Super Bowl MVP honors along the way.
This poster announcing the
Prague Lions Super Bowl LX
watch party got me thinking
How much were the cheapest Super Bowl LX tickets going for on the secondary market?
A quick glance on the StubHub site gave me the answer.
For a mere $12,840 USD,
Laurie and I could go to the game!
Upon further review, I hatched a plan via the Expedia website . . .
What if we flew to Prague for
the Lions' Watch Party leaving
on Thursday night and . . .
. . . and returning home to
Los Angeles on Tuesday?
The Expedia package included
staying at a four night stay at
an exceptional Prague hotel
Total cost for the air/hotel package for the two of us would be $2,639 USD.
Even throwing in another $1,000 USD for food, entertainment and souvenirs over our five days in the Czech Capital, it would still be but about 28% of the cost of those two tickets in the 49ers' Levi's Stadium.
We can dream, can't we?
World Championships in Mexico,
hmmm . . .
Organizing International Tournaments can be difficult but this venture scares me.
Soon after this was posted, a series of about six posts soon followed all with the same message.
They were looking for a person . . .
. . . in several countries to be a Team
Manager in charge of organizing that
country's team for the tournament
From my experience coaching overseas, this is not a good sign.
Convince me that I'm wrong.
Still, the tournament is producing
AWESOME artwork for Team Mexico
Julien Urgenti's Villeurbanne Falcons
put their 4-0 record on the line Saturday
against the Clermont-Ferrand Servals
Belgium's Limburg Shotguns are
trying to recruit more players
Sweden's best division is about
to start their 2026 season
Best nickname game of the Spanish
DII Weekend is coming up on Sunday,
Mercenaries vs. Berserkers
Speaking of American football in Spain this coming weekend . . .
DI Games
Zarragoza Hurricanes (1-1) at
Coslada Camioneros (0-1)
Osos Rivas (2-0) at
Las Rozas Black Demons (1-0)
Mallorca Voltors (0-2) at
Valencia Firebats (1-0)
Badalona Dracs (2-0) at
Terrassa Reds (1-0)
While the Gijón Mariners DI
team has a bye this week, the
flag team is playing twice on Sunday
Spain's DII has a slate of eight games this weekend.
The start of the DII slate . . .
Sevilla Linces (0-0) at
Jerez Jaguars (0-0)
Valladolid Penguins (1-0) at
Cantabria Bisons (0-0-1)
Barcelona Búfals (0-1) at
Barberà Rookies (1-0)
. . . more of the DII slate . . .
Torrelavega Berserkers (0-0-1) at
Villamayor Mercenaries (1-1)
Guadalajara Stings (0-1-1) at
Santurtzi Coyotes (1-0)
Canarias Canes (0-0) at
Mairena Blue Devils (0-0)
. . . and the final two DII contests
Reus Imperials (0-0) at
Argentona Bocs (1-0)
Riudoms Rebels (0-1) at
Barcelona Uroloki (0-1)
It's a thought . . .
It was sent to me by Julien Urgenti, our long time friend in Lyon, France.
He wrote me a short but poignant note with it that I will pass along now, "Make America America again. I grew up dreaming about your country . . ."
Thoughts of The Four Way Test rear their wonderful head yet again for our Glorious Leader to digest.
Back to EuroBall . . .
Team Great Britain announcing
big plans for next October with
games vs. National Teams from
Georgia, Norway, Spain and Finland
Ambitious.
The Washington Huskies
2026 football schedule
I'm looking forward to the October 3rd game vs. USC at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
USC's home game against
Ohio State drew my interest
As for UCLA's home games,
other than the USC game, meh
New Huskies transfer from
Ohio State
His first name alone is All-American worthy.
Fines for college players,
why not?
On Thursday, I escorted Debi Murphy
again to watch her grandson Holtz's
Frosh Basketball game
Simi Valley Pioneers (4-17) at
Camarillo Scorpions (21-3)
Holtz's Camarillo squad romped
to their 22nd victory
It was not fun to watch.
On the other hand, Sicilian food history is always fun to read about!
Sicily's BEST snack food
BY FAR!
U.S. First Lady Melania Trump's documentary movie opened in theaters throughout the country on Firiday.
We were anxious to hear the RAVE reviews.
Oh . . .
