A Ski Week Trips to the Aquarium of the Pacific and the Thousand Osaks Mall

Tues.-Fri., February 17-20, 2026

With Vanessa and Michael both in school this week, while Mary and Jacob both had a week off from school for Ski Week, we got time to spend a good long day with each of the grandkids.

This was a good reason to journey on

Tuesday with Jacob to his favorite

place in SoCal . . .

. . . Long Beach's Aquarium of the Pacific

We both enjoyed a virtual reality tour

of a boat wrecked on a tropical reef

Tropical fish colors are . . .

. . . mesmerizing!

Jacob loved this turtle that

snuck up on him

Out of nowhere, Jacob opted

to work on his three-point stance

A seahorse drew my attention

We took a break for lunch at

Bubba Gump's just across the street

from the Aquarium

A hardy meal was had by all.

Future Marine Biologist Jacob

educating Laurie on the fine points

of the Bowhead Whale

As for my, jellyfish fascinate me greatly

It makes no difference if 

they are big or small 

Jacob at the touch pool,

GOING IN!

Contact had been made!

Laurie tried it too with nothing

but positive results

Dreaming about his passion and

possible future in Marine Biology

More jellyfish

Interesting creatures

Red is a nice color

We had a great time at the

Aquarium of the Pacific but it was

time to head home

Our Waze app selected the Pacific Coast Highway as our best drive home during L.A.'s grueling rush hour traffic.

It was the first time that any of us had driven the PCH since last year's devastating Palisades Fire.

Those pylons used to support

beautiful beach side homes

There were many, many of these scenes along our drive. So sad.

On Friday, it was Mary's turn to shine at one of her favorite spots in SoCal . . .

. . . the Thousand Oaks Mall

This was my view for most of

day trailing these two into one

shop after another

Mary introduced me to great shopping strategy. As we went into stores, she took a picture of anything that she might want to purchase but bought nothing. When we had visited all of the shops in the Mall that beckoned her tastes, she looked at all of her photos and then picked the two things that she wanted.

No impulse buying for this young consumer.

Peek-a-Boo

I have no idea who this is

with Mary but she was excited

Shall we Build-a-Bear?

While Mary headed back to purchase

her two prized items, I ducked into

a book store, imagine that!

America, what a country . . .

Cool mall ceiling window that

I spied while waiting for the ladies

Both of these days with Jacob and Mary were so much fun for us to share with them.

We need to do it again soon!

BOLD MOVE!

I've always had great memories

of our two seasons coach in Sicily

The Torino Giaguari will be

sporting State-of-the-Art helmets

in Italy's DI this year

I'm still shaken by the shut down

of the Varese Skorpions DI season

In an article in the Varerse newspaper that I was sent by a Skorpion about the team's hopefully just one year demise, it mentioned that some of the Skorpion players may be headed to the DII Busto Arsizio Blue Storms as several former Skorpion coaches were coaching them this year.

SAY WHAT?

Mitico Leo?

Not Fabio too?

And Dani as well?

I was completely in the dark about these three long time Skorpion coaches having moved to Busto Arsizio after last season.

I need more inside information on all of this, inquiring minds want to know!

Lyon, France Derby

Falcons vs. Gones

Go Falcons GO!

Dreaming about Spain again . . .

Spain's Serie A/DI standings records

listed above in win-tie-loss order

Serie A/DI Schedule this weekend

records here listed in American order

Gijón Mariners (0-2-1) at

Coalada Camioneros (0-1-1)

Valencia Firebats (2-0) at

Badalona Dracs (2-1)

Las Rozas Black Demons (2-0) at

Zaragoza Hurricanes (1-1-1)

L'Hospitalet Pioners (1-2) at

Terrassa Reds (2-0)

BYES

Osos Rivas (2-1-1)

Mallorca Voltors (0-4)

On a sad note, after several years as the Mallorca Voltors Head Coach Jesús Sánchez resigned his position.

Good luck in your next adventure my friend,

Saturday's Spanish Serie B/DII games

Alicante Thunder (0-3) at

Sueca Ricers (1-1-1)

Torrelavega Berserkers (1-2) at

Valladolid Penguins (3-0)

Valencia Giants (2-0-1) at

Alicante Sharks (3-0)

Tres Cantos Jabatos (0-2) at

Boadilla Vikings (2-1)

Sunday's Spanish Serie B/DII slate

Cantabria Bisons (1-1-1) at

Santurtzi Coyotes (3-0)

Alcorcón Smilodons (2-1) at

Pinto Goldbats (1-1)

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

Thoughts?

I had some fun trying to figure

out who each of these QBS were

The three NFL Passing Titles won by two former University of Washington QBs were by Warren Moon of the Houston Oilers in 1990 and 1991 and by Mark Brunell of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1996.

Have at it if you dare but no Google searching until after you guess them all first.

Not perfect but I could

live with this set-up

Finally, the Huskies break

into the Top Ten!

But we're still behind three other of our BIG-10 Conference brethren, #3 Ohio State, #7 UCLA and #8 USC.

It was a good four days

despite all of the chaos

Shouldn't TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) refer to the President's blindly loyal followers instead of those opposed to his shenanigans?

Just saying . . .

LIFE IS GOOD!

Disturbing News from Lombardia

Monday, February 16, 2026

Early this morning I received a trans-Atlantic phone call via WhatsApp from the north of Italy, current hub of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games, from Varese Skorpions Head Football Coach, Scott Savoie.

Varese Skorpions

Established in 1983

The 2026 season was to be the Skorpions 43rd consecutive season, not counting the aborted 2020 COVID-19 campaign, playing American football.

During these many seasons, the Skorpions have played in various divisions of the Italian American Football Federation's structure. They were a DII club when I was their Head Coach in 2018-2020.

When I joined the club the new leadership group had a clear vision of where they wanted the then somewhat moribund Skorpions to be in five years.

The goal was to gradually but methodically build the team up in all areas, win the DII Italian National Championship and then become a force in DI.

Five season later, just as planned, the Skorpions won the 2022 Italian DII National Championship with a stirring 35-21 win over the Bergamo Lions to finish the year with a record of 8-1.

During the next three seasons in Italy's DI, 2023-2025, the Skorpions made the playoffs each year, carving out a solid record of 19-11. This came at a time when the history of DII Champions moving up to DI in the previous decade was not a good one at all.

All was going just as planned.

Then there was this morning's phone call from Scott.

With the 2026 season opener scheduled for less than two weeks away on February 28th against the Ancona Dolphins, a difficult decision had been made.

What, by all accounts, was going to be the Skorpions best team since moving up to DI, had a problem. A combination of season ending injuries, renewed job requirements and retirements of older players reared their combined ugly heads.

This, by itself, was not unusual.

The real problem is that all of these roster hits all came to just one position group, the Offensive Line.

Now, in my 13 years of experience coaching in EuroBall, the OL numbers and their attendance at practice have been a problem in every campaign save for the 2012-13 season with the Bron-Villeurbanne Falcons in Lyon, France. It was a huge reason why the Falcons went 12-0 that year in winning the French DIII National Championship.

Alright Scott, so how bad is the problem?

His answer stunned me. They had a total of three Offensive Linemen on the roster of which only one came to every practice, one came occasionally and the last one he had never seen at practice.

After weeks of trying to sign more lineman with no success, a painful decision was made.

I once read a coaching comment that the position of Offensive Lineman is the only one in any sport in the world whose most basic function is to protect the health and safety of other teammates. With that as a base thought, what Scott told me next made sense.

The Skorpions were going to officially notify the Italian American Football Federation today that they were not going to field a Men's Senior team in 2026.

It was devastating news to hear.

All of the players on the Skorpions roster that included ten that played for the Italian National team in international tournaments in 2025 are now free to join other clubs.

As I understand it, the word was out on the streets and several clubs were actively recruiting our forlorn Skorpions.

I hope that the Skorpions can regroup

in 2027, even if it's at the DII or DIII level

What a shame after all of the years of hard work and planning.

Universidad de Las Americas, Puebla

in Mexico sports amazing helmets!

Is it NOCSAE safety approved, I wonder?

Julien Urgenti's Villeurbanne Falcons

have a Derby Game vs. the Lyon Gones

on Sunday

WR Ruben Quintana

Osos Rivas

Ruben was the best all-around athlete in my opinion on our 2025 Gijón Mariners last Winter. It hurt my soul just a tad watching him play for the Osos last Saturday against this year's Mariners eleven when IO watched the game replayed on YouTube this morning.

A good teammate, a good guy and a fine athlete to be sure.

No Skorpions football to follow during the next four months will be a hard adjustment but it was the right decision.