Update

My mom has been killing me to write another entry on here, and I swear I've been meaning to, I've just been busy. The last 2 weeks have been quite a roller coaster for me and the Sharks.

After the loss at Barcelona, our Owner/Head Coach, Mike, decided that we needed to make some changes at the Quarterback position. It just so happened that the QB from last season, Zac, who played at Division 1 Colorado a few years back, had moved back into Marbella. Mike was trying to get him to come on as Offensive Coordinator, but soon decided he would have him play as well. This meant that our current QB, Mark, would become the backup and would be removed from the game roster (you can only have 3 Americans on the game roster at a time). Unfortunately, when Mike decided to make this change, he addressed the team via email, since he was still in Barcelona with his family.

Mark, as expected, didn't take the change too well, and since he had done a lot in recruiting many of the players (including myself and AJ) started talking about leaving and starting a new team in Malaga. This idea, while it wasn't a legitimate threat for this season, started to grow and many of the players wanted to quit the Sharks. The week was a complete mess. And to make matters worse, Mike had to return to the States on business and has been there for a weeks on available via email.

After hundreds of emails, a few team meetings, and hours of arguing in both English and Spanish - Mike addressed the team, again via e-mail, that we would be moving forward with Zac as our QB and anyone who was not interested could walk.

This was all finalized on Friday evening. We had a game in Sueca (outside Valencia) at 3:30 on Saturday. We also had no bus or vans or anything. By midnight, we book a van online in Malaga. At 4:30 am, we wake up to go meet up with the rest of the team. There are 12 guys ready to make the trip. Things do not look promising.

Turns out that a few guys were going to meet us there and that we would have enough players in order to not forfeit....

HOWEVER, after about 2 hours of the 6 hour trip to Valencia, we got stuck in a little bit of a rainstorm and Ground Force One did a little bit of hydroplaning into a guard rail. Everyone on board was fine, but the car was not moving. We ended up getting it towed up to Granada only to find out that we would be making it to Sueca for our game any time soon. We quickly called the team and the League to tell them of our unfortunate circumstances.

Instead of turning lemons in lemonade, we said screw it, and 8 of us decided to enjoy the day in Granada. We went and got some lunch and beers, and then walked to the Alhambra, which is a famous old Moorish castle. Not much to look at from the outside, and we weren't about to pay to go inside. But when you take 8 football players and stick them in the middle of a tourist attraction on a nice sunny day with a few beers, things are going to be fun. As it turned out, Granada just so happened to be playing Barcelona at 4 in Granada. And there was no way we were going to miss that.

We showed up and got to scout both teams out a little bit. It was actually very useful since our new QB, Zac, hasn't seen any of these teams and he got a chance to dissect both defenses. But it was also great for AJ and I to get to watch from the sideline. We knew we'd be playing both of these teams again, and it's hard to really see what's going on when you're playing on the field, so this gave us a little more perspective. And plus, it's always fun to watch some American football on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

We are working to get that game rescheduled. It'd be a bummer if we had to forfeit, but it is what it is, and what will be will be.

This all happened on Saturday, the 6th of March, and on the 7th, Kate was arriving at the airport at noon. So I was very excited.

Stay tuned for part 2....