Yes, the Marbella Sharks tied the Granada Lions 14-14 this past Saturday at their home pitch - Santa Maria de Las Chapas. So you must be thinking, 'Oh, they play NFL rules and no one scored in the overtime period.' Wrong. The higher-ups here in Spain at the LNFA had apparently decided that there is no need for overtime during the regular season. How fitting!
So after 48 minutes of football (I think we play only 12 minute quarters, but I couldn't tell you for certain) the game ended in a draw - what typical Spanish style!
Yes, this is the same team that we beat by 30 a month ago on their home field. So what happened? Well we had our new QB, but unfortunately we were missing about 10 other guys, and anyone who knows football knows that a group of 16 guys, no matter how good, are going to have a tough time against over 30 guys on the opposing team.
The bummer is that we had missed opportunities and didn't score from the red zone a couple times, and were very close to winning. It came down to our defense. We had many guys going both ways, and only 6 of our original 11 starters from the last time we played Granada. There were a lot of things stacked up against us, and we still almost pulled it out.
I personally had one of my best games, but what's it worth when you don't get a win? The line opened up some big holes, and our new 'draw' play worked like magic. I probably rushed for 150 yards on 15-18 carries, but couldn't find the endzone. I did have a two-point conversion that ended up keeping us alive, but we really needed one more score for a win. Defensively, too I played well, but on the whole, we had too many penalties (personal fouls and those damn offisides penalties kill us week after week) and not a single turnover. Unfortunately I busted up my shoulder a bit, but I'll be fine for next week I'm sure.
So after that, it looks like our playoff hopes are gone. We still don't know if we'll be allowed to make up the game against Sueca, and we also need Barcelona to lose or tie their next game which seems unlikely.
Our next game is this Sunday the 28th, in Madrid against the Camioneros and hopefully we'll have more than 16 players... but who knows, road games are tough.
After that, we don't play again until April 17th, so AJ and I are going to Rome for Easter weekend. It should be wild.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Kate's Visit
I was very excited for Kate to arrive on Sunday and even though we went out on Saturday night til pretty late, I woke up at 830 on Sunday and couldn't get back to sleep. I was planning to leave to meet her at 1030, so I spent two hours trying to kill time and ended up leaving early. The last thing I wanted was to get held up somehow and have her come out of the terminal all alone and find no one there...
Well that is exactly what happened. That morning, I checked the British Airways website and it said her flight was arriving at Terminal 2. I was at Terminal 2 about 5 minutes before she was to land, so I'm thinking everything is alright... Turns out the terminal had been switched, and about 30 minutes later I'm getting nervous and wondering what is going on. I finally ask someone and sure enough, it had been switched, so I sprint to the other terminal, and there she is all alone, trying to call my Spanish number with her credit card. Smart girl. I felt so bad, but it only went uphill from there.
We spent a night in Malaga at this cool little hotel, then headed to my house here in Nueva Andalucia for a night. She got to experience what goes on here at the house, and we went to the bars where I usually go, and it was a lot of fun. The next day we checked in to our hotel on the beach in Torremolinos. It was a nice apartment with a tiny kitchen, but it was big enough for the two of us. She's pretty small. Jajaja (that's how to say 'hahaha' in Spanish - the J makes the H sound for those of you who skipped your foreign language classes in high school). So we went on all kinds of journeys into different towns and areas and had a few picnics. One day we took a chairlift up to the top of a mountain. It was really cool, because the view is amazing, I'll throw up some pictures of that. And we had a little picnic up there. I was eating an orange and threw the peels on the ground and some crazy Spanish lady told me that I was "RUINING THE PARADISE!" I tried to explain to her that it was an orange peel and that it would fertilize the soil and help more pretty flowers grow, but she wasn't having any of that. I got over that whole situation pretty quickly. We got to go to the beach and lay out by the pool in the sun one day. The weather stayed pretty good for us, but it wasn't terribly hot, so no swimming in the Mediterranean for us.
On Thursday we drove down to Tarifa and took a ferry to Tangier, Morocco, Africa. Place was pretty cool. While they were checking my passport, two guys had already started harassing Kate and telling her they'd bring us on a tour for 40 Euro and that we could "Rock the Casbah" if we went with them. We warded them off initially, but finally ended up paying a guy 20 to bring us on a walking tour of the city. In hindsight, it was a real good move, because he showed us some really cool areas that I never would have found on my own and we avoided being harassed by all the street vendors over there. It was a really cool place to see, but I'm in no hurry to go back.
That night, we drove to Cadiz, which is on the Atlantic Coast. There we met up with one of my teammates, Axe, and stayed with him and his girlfriend at her apartment. The next day we explored the city and then drove home the long way through Ronda. It was amazing - great views and scenery. The road went right through the mountains too, so it was fun driving the winding roads, knowing that a slip-up would send us over the edge of the cliff.
Unfortunately we didn't get to stop for too long in Ronda. Ronda is the town where bullfighting was actually created and is home to the original 18th century bullring. We drove around for a minute, but couldn't quite find it, and had to be on our way back to the hotel to get ready. We had plans to go to one of my teammates house for an authentic Spanish dinner and were already running a bit behind schedule.
Luckily for us, everyone in Spain is late, and being an hour tardy is like being 20 minutes early. My teammate, Oscar, is only 25, but is married and has spent some time in Jacksonville. He had another player over and a few other friends. He made paella, a popular Spanish rice dish with lots of seafood thrown in. We had gambas, carne secreto, jamon curado, y ensalata Ruso (shrimp, secret meat, cured ham, and Russian Salad). The shrimp are a little different than what you get back in the states, mainly because they're still in full shell, heads intact. Kate really enjoyed ripping their heads off and peeling them out of the shell. And the secret meat was delicious (I have learned the secret, but cannot divulge). We told Kate that it was rabbit after she had already enjoyed a few pieces, and she was not happy with me. A few years back I had tricked her into eating 'conejo' at a Spanish restaurant in Cambridge and I had promised that if I was going to give her rabbit again, I would tell her. Anyways, the meal was delicious and it was a lot of fun to hang out with everyone. It was a mix of Spanish and English conversations and a few things were lost in translation, but it was a great time.
Saturday we kind of just vegged out and enjoyed the sun. We ended up back in Puerto Banus, and hung out with a few guys on the team at a bar. We couldn't stay out too late because we had an early flight to London the next morning. We got to London Sunday evening and took the Tube (their metro or T) towards our hotel. We ended up going to the IMAX at Waterloo station and trying to get tickets for 'Alice in Wonderland' in 3D, but it was sold out until April, so we settled on an 'Avatar' in 3D at 11:30. With time to kill, we ended up finding the most amazing pizza place in the world. I had the Canberra "Fire & Stone’s tomato sauce, roast chicken breast, garlic & rosemary roast potatoes, mozzarella & marinated mushrooms topped with sour cream & sweet chilli sauce." and it was life-changing. We went to the movie after that, and it was very cool.
The next day we walked around London saw the Changing of the Guard at the Royal Palace and some other sights, but were a little bummed all day knowing that we were separating. She went through security around 7, and I headed back to the city to kill some time before my bus left later that night.
I was headed to Paris, on an overnight bus. I showed up at the station about 10 minutes before the scheduled departure. I don't have a lot of experience on buses, and this would be perfectly fine for the ones I had taken in Spain. It wasn't until I showed up that I realized my computer print-out said to arrive no later than 1 hour before departure. I laughed it off, that is until I see the bus pulling away and after chasing it down, the driver refused to let me onboard. Back inside at the counter, I was lucky enough to get a spot on the next bus, an hour later. Haha, real smooth.
It was a crummy ride, but I made it into Paris around 7am. I had a train leaving at 11pm, so I bought a map and a little guidebook and ventured around the city. It was really cool. I walked some 8 miles I later figured out, but it was fun to see all of the cool buildings and layout of the city. It really is like nothing I had ever seen before. I'm going to have to get down to DC this summer, because I'm sure that will be interesting as well. Of course when I get to the Louvre, I find out that it's closed on Tuesdays, perfect, and then to top it off, some jerk tries to hustle me on the way out. He tells me that he's just starting his caricature business and wants to use me as a model to draw. I tell him I'm all set, recognizing the scam, but he promises I won't have to buy it, just 5 minutes to help him out. I'm alone, just hanging and it's a beautiful day outside, so why not do him a favor? After 5 minutes, he shows me this crummy picture of a guy that's supposed to look like me and I said "Nice, you can hang it to show people." This upset him quite a bit and urged that I give him "A reasonable amount of money, what you feel it's worth." and showed me that he usually charges 25 Euro for drawings. I told him I had nothing and would give him nothing, to which he responded by cursing out all Americans for being cheap assholes. I laughed and walked on.
After that little fiasco, I climbed up the Arc de Triomphe and that was cool because it's basically in the middle of a rotary of 12 intersecting streets, including the Champs de Elysee. All of I could think of was that song "Champs de Elysee" that we listened to a hundred times in Spanish class senior year. It was pretty funny. From there I headed to the Eiffel Tower. You've got another thing coming if you think I'm going to Paris and not going to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
However, upon arrival, I found a line longer than most Six Flags roller coaster lines to get to the top. A few minutes later, I noticed that you could also take the stairs up for half the price and there was no line! A free workout and I didn't have to wait? I started yelling to all the people in line that they were lazy idiots and proceeded to run up the stairs as fast as I could. About halfway I stopped, exhausted and out of breath, and walked for a little bit. Apparently the stairs only go to the second level, and then you have to take the elevator from there. So I got in line, I mean, I had made it this far, and eventually rode the elevator to the top. The view was incredible. I could see where I had arrived on the bus, and then all the places that I had walked to, and then to the train station that I would need to go to later on. It was awesome.
After that, I went to the Statue of Liberty; yes, there is a second one, National Treasure 2 - Book of Secrets was not completely full of it. I ended up in the college area where I found some cheap food and beer before I had to get to the station. It was Tuesday night at 11pm and I didn't arrive to the Marbella bus station until 11:45pm Wednesday night. I did have a few connections, including 3 hours in Madrid to hang out, but it was a long day.
AJ actually met me at the bus station in a cab, and we headed to an Irish bar, to celebrate St. Patty's day the right way. It had been a long trip, and it was finally over, and it was time to start getting ready for the game against Granada on Saturday.
Well that is exactly what happened. That morning, I checked the British Airways website and it said her flight was arriving at Terminal 2. I was at Terminal 2 about 5 minutes before she was to land, so I'm thinking everything is alright... Turns out the terminal had been switched, and about 30 minutes later I'm getting nervous and wondering what is going on. I finally ask someone and sure enough, it had been switched, so I sprint to the other terminal, and there she is all alone, trying to call my Spanish number with her credit card. Smart girl. I felt so bad, but it only went uphill from there.
We spent a night in Malaga at this cool little hotel, then headed to my house here in Nueva Andalucia for a night. She got to experience what goes on here at the house, and we went to the bars where I usually go, and it was a lot of fun. The next day we checked in to our hotel on the beach in Torremolinos. It was a nice apartment with a tiny kitchen, but it was big enough for the two of us. She's pretty small. Jajaja (that's how to say 'hahaha' in Spanish - the J makes the H sound for those of you who skipped your foreign language classes in high school). So we went on all kinds of journeys into different towns and areas and had a few picnics. One day we took a chairlift up to the top of a mountain. It was really cool, because the view is amazing, I'll throw up some pictures of that. And we had a little picnic up there. I was eating an orange and threw the peels on the ground and some crazy Spanish lady told me that I was "RUINING THE PARADISE!" I tried to explain to her that it was an orange peel and that it would fertilize the soil and help more pretty flowers grow, but she wasn't having any of that. I got over that whole situation pretty quickly. We got to go to the beach and lay out by the pool in the sun one day. The weather stayed pretty good for us, but it wasn't terribly hot, so no swimming in the Mediterranean for us.
On Thursday we drove down to Tarifa and took a ferry to Tangier, Morocco, Africa. Place was pretty cool. While they were checking my passport, two guys had already started harassing Kate and telling her they'd bring us on a tour for 40 Euro and that we could "Rock the Casbah" if we went with them. We warded them off initially, but finally ended up paying a guy 20 to bring us on a walking tour of the city. In hindsight, it was a real good move, because he showed us some really cool areas that I never would have found on my own and we avoided being harassed by all the street vendors over there. It was a really cool place to see, but I'm in no hurry to go back.
That night, we drove to Cadiz, which is on the Atlantic Coast. There we met up with one of my teammates, Axe, and stayed with him and his girlfriend at her apartment. The next day we explored the city and then drove home the long way through Ronda. It was amazing - great views and scenery. The road went right through the mountains too, so it was fun driving the winding roads, knowing that a slip-up would send us over the edge of the cliff.
Unfortunately we didn't get to stop for too long in Ronda. Ronda is the town where bullfighting was actually created and is home to the original 18th century bullring. We drove around for a minute, but couldn't quite find it, and had to be on our way back to the hotel to get ready. We had plans to go to one of my teammates house for an authentic Spanish dinner and were already running a bit behind schedule.
Luckily for us, everyone in Spain is late, and being an hour tardy is like being 20 minutes early. My teammate, Oscar, is only 25, but is married and has spent some time in Jacksonville. He had another player over and a few other friends. He made paella, a popular Spanish rice dish with lots of seafood thrown in. We had gambas, carne secreto, jamon curado, y ensalata Ruso (shrimp, secret meat, cured ham, and Russian Salad). The shrimp are a little different than what you get back in the states, mainly because they're still in full shell, heads intact. Kate really enjoyed ripping their heads off and peeling them out of the shell. And the secret meat was delicious (I have learned the secret, but cannot divulge). We told Kate that it was rabbit after she had already enjoyed a few pieces, and she was not happy with me. A few years back I had tricked her into eating 'conejo' at a Spanish restaurant in Cambridge and I had promised that if I was going to give her rabbit again, I would tell her. Anyways, the meal was delicious and it was a lot of fun to hang out with everyone. It was a mix of Spanish and English conversations and a few things were lost in translation, but it was a great time.
Saturday we kind of just vegged out and enjoyed the sun. We ended up back in Puerto Banus, and hung out with a few guys on the team at a bar. We couldn't stay out too late because we had an early flight to London the next morning. We got to London Sunday evening and took the Tube (their metro or T) towards our hotel. We ended up going to the IMAX at Waterloo station and trying to get tickets for 'Alice in Wonderland' in 3D, but it was sold out until April, so we settled on an 'Avatar' in 3D at 11:30. With time to kill, we ended up finding the most amazing pizza place in the world. I had the Canberra "Fire & Stone’s tomato sauce, roast chicken breast, garlic & rosemary roast potatoes, mozzarella & marinated mushrooms topped with sour cream & sweet chilli sauce." and it was life-changing. We went to the movie after that, and it was very cool.
The next day we walked around London saw the Changing of the Guard at the Royal Palace and some other sights, but were a little bummed all day knowing that we were separating. She went through security around 7, and I headed back to the city to kill some time before my bus left later that night.
I was headed to Paris, on an overnight bus. I showed up at the station about 10 minutes before the scheduled departure. I don't have a lot of experience on buses, and this would be perfectly fine for the ones I had taken in Spain. It wasn't until I showed up that I realized my computer print-out said to arrive no later than 1 hour before departure. I laughed it off, that is until I see the bus pulling away and after chasing it down, the driver refused to let me onboard. Back inside at the counter, I was lucky enough to get a spot on the next bus, an hour later. Haha, real smooth.
It was a crummy ride, but I made it into Paris around 7am. I had a train leaving at 11pm, so I bought a map and a little guidebook and ventured around the city. It was really cool. I walked some 8 miles I later figured out, but it was fun to see all of the cool buildings and layout of the city. It really is like nothing I had ever seen before. I'm going to have to get down to DC this summer, because I'm sure that will be interesting as well. Of course when I get to the Louvre, I find out that it's closed on Tuesdays, perfect, and then to top it off, some jerk tries to hustle me on the way out. He tells me that he's just starting his caricature business and wants to use me as a model to draw. I tell him I'm all set, recognizing the scam, but he promises I won't have to buy it, just 5 minutes to help him out. I'm alone, just hanging and it's a beautiful day outside, so why not do him a favor? After 5 minutes, he shows me this crummy picture of a guy that's supposed to look like me and I said "Nice, you can hang it to show people." This upset him quite a bit and urged that I give him "A reasonable amount of money, what you feel it's worth." and showed me that he usually charges 25 Euro for drawings. I told him I had nothing and would give him nothing, to which he responded by cursing out all Americans for being cheap assholes. I laughed and walked on.
After that little fiasco, I climbed up the Arc de Triomphe and that was cool because it's basically in the middle of a rotary of 12 intersecting streets, including the Champs de Elysee. All of I could think of was that song "Champs de Elysee" that we listened to a hundred times in Spanish class senior year. It was pretty funny. From there I headed to the Eiffel Tower. You've got another thing coming if you think I'm going to Paris and not going to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
However, upon arrival, I found a line longer than most Six Flags roller coaster lines to get to the top. A few minutes later, I noticed that you could also take the stairs up for half the price and there was no line! A free workout and I didn't have to wait? I started yelling to all the people in line that they were lazy idiots and proceeded to run up the stairs as fast as I could. About halfway I stopped, exhausted and out of breath, and walked for a little bit. Apparently the stairs only go to the second level, and then you have to take the elevator from there. So I got in line, I mean, I had made it this far, and eventually rode the elevator to the top. The view was incredible. I could see where I had arrived on the bus, and then all the places that I had walked to, and then to the train station that I would need to go to later on. It was awesome.
After that, I went to the Statue of Liberty; yes, there is a second one, National Treasure 2 - Book of Secrets was not completely full of it. I ended up in the college area where I found some cheap food and beer before I had to get to the station. It was Tuesday night at 11pm and I didn't arrive to the Marbella bus station until 11:45pm Wednesday night. I did have a few connections, including 3 hours in Madrid to hang out, but it was a long day.
AJ actually met me at the bus station in a cab, and we headed to an Irish bar, to celebrate St. Patty's day the right way. It had been a long trip, and it was finally over, and it was time to start getting ready for the game against Granada on Saturday.
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....
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....
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Not Undefeated
The Sharks fell this past Saturday at the hands of the Barcelona Bufals 13-8. It was very upsetting even though it doesn't matter all that much for our playoff hopes. We had too many turnovers and penalties and they came at the worst times - at start of drives and on defensive third down situations. My mom and Emily were in town for the game so it was a bummer to play such a crummy game while they were here. However, they enjoyed meeting the team and watching us play, so it was all good. And like I said, we will still make the playoffs if we can win the rest of our games, and most importantly the rematch against Barcelona on April 18th at home.
Home field advantage here in Spain is very important; not only was it a 10 hour drive, but many players have jobs and families and a few starters weren't at the game. Only in Spain right? Well we are glad to have played a close game on the road even though we committed so many mistakes. Since we now play the same four teams again, our confidence is high that we can win the rest of our games.
While we did lose the game, the trip to Barcelona was amazing. I left on Thursday afternoon with Deb and Em, and we flew into Girona on RyanAir. This is a lot like flying into Manchester, NH on Southwest Airlines. The flight was only 20 euros each for a one way ticket. Cheap right? No. You definitely learn a lot on your first RyanAir flight... First was typical, 30 euro to check a bag, but you can't buy an extra seat to put your bag in. Pretty standard in this day and age. So we arrive at the airport and Emily and my mom each have a bag to check and we all a carry on bag. When we go to check in the women says to me (in Spanish) this bag is 13 kilos over the 15 kilo weight limit and will cost 20 euros/kilo.... After realizing that we're looking at $400 to check the bag, we start throwing things away and thinking about solutions. One of the things in the bag were a few bottles of wine that my mother was bringing home for gifts. Well those had to go. So after an hour of reorganizing and drinking, we finally were able to check a 3rd bag instead of a carry-on for only 30 euro more and we were feeling really good about it all.
We get to Girona, still a little giddy and went to our hotel there. We had decided to book a room there rather than going all the way to Barcelona right away. For dinner we went to el casco antiguo, the old town, and found a nice Spanish restaurant. It was a fun trip and I was glad we were able to see that area, but I was excited to get to Barcelona. We took an early train to Barcelona the next morning and find that our hotel is right in the middle of the city - it was great. We got to see Park Guell, La Sagrada Familia, a huge monument to Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus for all the nonners), The Cathederal, and of course endless vendors of FC Barcelona soccer jerseys. Barca is arguably the best club team in the world and after winning the Champion's League last year, they went out and spent over 250 million euro on new players... Sounds a lot like the Yankees.
After one guy chased me out of his store yelling he'd "KICK MY ASS!", we hiked back to the area around our hotel and bargained with a guy for 20 minutes before settling on Zlatan Ibrahimovic's jersey for 20 euro. He's the newest addition to the squad, a Swede signed this year for an A-Rod sized contract. I was really looking for Lionel Messi jersey, but they didn't have my size, but I'm psyched about Ibrahimovic, so it all worked out.
The best part of the story is later that night, when I met up with the team at the hotel they were staying at, I decided to wear this new jersey out for our team dinner. When I walked out of the elevator, I instantly heard the roar of a riot forming. Every Spanish curse word I'd ever heard of was being screamed at me, along with plenty that I didn't understand. Two guys grabbed me and tried to carry me back to the elevator and up to my room. At first I was very confused, but then realized wearing the Barca jersey around people from Andalucia (the southern part of Spain) was like wearing a Yankees jersey into a Red Sox Fanclub initiation. Haha, but I didn't care, it was all in good fun. One guy pulled out his lighter and tried to set the shirt on fire while I was still wearing it. After a few guys got everyone else settled down and we walked to the restaurant, I spoke with a few of the guys in Spanish about Barcelona. After an embarrassing exchange of words, I came to realize that the reason everyone hates Barcelona is that they are part of Catalunia - the northern state in Spain, that has basically been trying to secede from Spain for many years. Apparently, when Barcelona goes to the UK to play a match, and they play the Spanish national anthem, the Barcelona fans boo. So this rivalry goes beyond just sports, it's about national pride.
When I told the guys that I also bought a Christiano Renaldo, Real Madrid jersey last week, they laughed. I can't say I'd have the same reaction if some punk bought a Patriots and a Jets jersey and I knew about it.
On Sunday night, after the loss, me, AJ, and Axe - our 240 pound Finnish middle linebacker decided to stay around and go out. Of course I decide to rock the Barca jersey again, considering we were in Barcelona and it turned out that FC Barcelona's basketball team actually beat Real Madrid in the National Championship earlier that night. So instead of being attacked for wearing the shirt, everyone was coming up and giving me high fives in celebration of the big win.
At 6am I heard my alarm going off and realized I had to leave the club and get back to the hotel to say goodbye to my mom and sister, who had an early flight. Emily had decided not to join us at the bar this night, one was enough for her. Haha, she did in fact come out with me on Friday night, but I kept a keen eye on here and made sure she had nothing in her glass except deliciously refreshing Coca-Cola. The Coke is actually a lot better here than in the states, because they use actual sugarcane instead of corn syrup, but that's another story. Well, I almost missed them leaving because we had a "I take the stairs and they ride down the elevator" sort of moment, but when I found the room empty I started running full speed out of the hotel and to the subway. I yelled my mom's name just as she was about to go through the turnstile of the station. Lucky. I said goodbye to them and headed back to the bar to find my friends. I was very happy that they had come to visit. We had a lot of fun together and got to enjoy a bunch of very cool experiences.
The next day we got up and messed around killing time until Mike wanted to drive back south to Marbella. The maids finally kicked us out of the room a few hours after checkout. (Mom, don't worry, you're not getting a charge, we took care of it at the front desk - since doce (12) sounds a lot like dos (2), we pretended to be stupid Americans with poor Spanish skills.... Pretended?) So we went up to El Camp Nou, FC Barcelona's 100,000 seat stadium and then went and found a bar. We finally left Barcelona at 9pm. I took the liberty of co-piloting while AJ and Axe slept in the back. It was an 11 hour journey home, me and Mike spliting up the driving halfway, but we made it. Alive.
The last few days have been real lazy. I cannot believe it's already Friday. Finally though, the rain has stopped and I'm sitting outside shirtless catching some great bene's (beneficial rays of glorious sunshine) as I write this. You'll have to forgive any mistakes, I'm just way too lazy to proofread right now.
Home field advantage here in Spain is very important; not only was it a 10 hour drive, but many players have jobs and families and a few starters weren't at the game. Only in Spain right? Well we are glad to have played a close game on the road even though we committed so many mistakes. Since we now play the same four teams again, our confidence is high that we can win the rest of our games.
While we did lose the game, the trip to Barcelona was amazing. I left on Thursday afternoon with Deb and Em, and we flew into Girona on RyanAir. This is a lot like flying into Manchester, NH on Southwest Airlines. The flight was only 20 euros each for a one way ticket. Cheap right? No. You definitely learn a lot on your first RyanAir flight... First was typical, 30 euro to check a bag, but you can't buy an extra seat to put your bag in. Pretty standard in this day and age. So we arrive at the airport and Emily and my mom each have a bag to check and we all a carry on bag. When we go to check in the women says to me (in Spanish) this bag is 13 kilos over the 15 kilo weight limit and will cost 20 euros/kilo.... After realizing that we're looking at $400 to check the bag, we start throwing things away and thinking about solutions. One of the things in the bag were a few bottles of wine that my mother was bringing home for gifts. Well those had to go. So after an hour of reorganizing and drinking, we finally were able to check a 3rd bag instead of a carry-on for only 30 euro more and we were feeling really good about it all.
We get to Girona, still a little giddy and went to our hotel there. We had decided to book a room there rather than going all the way to Barcelona right away. For dinner we went to el casco antiguo, the old town, and found a nice Spanish restaurant. It was a fun trip and I was glad we were able to see that area, but I was excited to get to Barcelona. We took an early train to Barcelona the next morning and find that our hotel is right in the middle of the city - it was great. We got to see Park Guell, La Sagrada Familia, a huge monument to Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus for all the nonners), The Cathederal, and of course endless vendors of FC Barcelona soccer jerseys. Barca is arguably the best club team in the world and after winning the Champion's League last year, they went out and spent over 250 million euro on new players... Sounds a lot like the Yankees.
After one guy chased me out of his store yelling he'd "KICK MY ASS!", we hiked back to the area around our hotel and bargained with a guy for 20 minutes before settling on Zlatan Ibrahimovic's jersey for 20 euro. He's the newest addition to the squad, a Swede signed this year for an A-Rod sized contract. I was really looking for Lionel Messi jersey, but they didn't have my size, but I'm psyched about Ibrahimovic, so it all worked out.
The best part of the story is later that night, when I met up with the team at the hotel they were staying at, I decided to wear this new jersey out for our team dinner. When I walked out of the elevator, I instantly heard the roar of a riot forming. Every Spanish curse word I'd ever heard of was being screamed at me, along with plenty that I didn't understand. Two guys grabbed me and tried to carry me back to the elevator and up to my room. At first I was very confused, but then realized wearing the Barca jersey around people from Andalucia (the southern part of Spain) was like wearing a Yankees jersey into a Red Sox Fanclub initiation. Haha, but I didn't care, it was all in good fun. One guy pulled out his lighter and tried to set the shirt on fire while I was still wearing it. After a few guys got everyone else settled down and we walked to the restaurant, I spoke with a few of the guys in Spanish about Barcelona. After an embarrassing exchange of words, I came to realize that the reason everyone hates Barcelona is that they are part of Catalunia - the northern state in Spain, that has basically been trying to secede from Spain for many years. Apparently, when Barcelona goes to the UK to play a match, and they play the Spanish national anthem, the Barcelona fans boo. So this rivalry goes beyond just sports, it's about national pride.
When I told the guys that I also bought a Christiano Renaldo, Real Madrid jersey last week, they laughed. I can't say I'd have the same reaction if some punk bought a Patriots and a Jets jersey and I knew about it.
On Sunday night, after the loss, me, AJ, and Axe - our 240 pound Finnish middle linebacker decided to stay around and go out. Of course I decide to rock the Barca jersey again, considering we were in Barcelona and it turned out that FC Barcelona's basketball team actually beat Real Madrid in the National Championship earlier that night. So instead of being attacked for wearing the shirt, everyone was coming up and giving me high fives in celebration of the big win.
At 6am I heard my alarm going off and realized I had to leave the club and get back to the hotel to say goodbye to my mom and sister, who had an early flight. Emily had decided not to join us at the bar this night, one was enough for her. Haha, she did in fact come out with me on Friday night, but I kept a keen eye on here and made sure she had nothing in her glass except deliciously refreshing Coca-Cola. The Coke is actually a lot better here than in the states, because they use actual sugarcane instead of corn syrup, but that's another story. Well, I almost missed them leaving because we had a "I take the stairs and they ride down the elevator" sort of moment, but when I found the room empty I started running full speed out of the hotel and to the subway. I yelled my mom's name just as she was about to go through the turnstile of the station. Lucky. I said goodbye to them and headed back to the bar to find my friends. I was very happy that they had come to visit. We had a lot of fun together and got to enjoy a bunch of very cool experiences.
The next day we got up and messed around killing time until Mike wanted to drive back south to Marbella. The maids finally kicked us out of the room a few hours after checkout. (Mom, don't worry, you're not getting a charge, we took care of it at the front desk - since doce (12) sounds a lot like dos (2), we pretended to be stupid Americans with poor Spanish skills.... Pretended?) So we went up to El Camp Nou, FC Barcelona's 100,000 seat stadium and then went and found a bar. We finally left Barcelona at 9pm. I took the liberty of co-piloting while AJ and Axe slept in the back. It was an 11 hour journey home, me and Mike spliting up the driving halfway, but we made it. Alive.
The last few days have been real lazy. I cannot believe it's already Friday. Finally though, the rain has stopped and I'm sitting outside shirtless catching some great bene's (beneficial rays of glorious sunshine) as I write this. You'll have to forgive any mistakes, I'm just way too lazy to proofread right now.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Undefeated
So right now the Marbella Sharks are 3-0 and sitting at the top of the National Conference in the LNFA. We've outscored our opponents 72-6 and lead the nation in points allowed and are tied for second with points scored. However, we cannot and will not get ahead of ourselves. We had a BYE week this weekend, and then next week have to drive over 10 hours to go play the Barcelona Bufals, who are 2-0 and have had two straight BYE weeks. It's shaping up to be quite a battle on the 21st of February, and I couldn't be more excited. And to add to it all, my mom and sister will be coming to visit next week and will be in town for the big game.
Our team is really coming together and practices are getting much more organized and productive. I think I finally know everyone's name on the team, and my Spanish is getting better as I continue to coach up the Spanish guys. We have a very interesting combination of players on the team. There are 3 Americans (since only 3 are allowed by Spanish League rules), a few guys from Finland, a few from the UK, then a few more guys from other countries in Latin America and Europe, and of course guys from all over Spain - including those who speak great English, a little English, and no English.
Most of my Spanish speaking has come while hanging with 'The San Pedro Cartel' Rule #1: Do not mess with The Cartel. Rule #2: Whatever The Cartel says, that's how things are gonna' go down.
No that's not true at all. The San Pedro Cartel is actually our secondary minus AJ - our 2 cornerbacks and free-safety. We started calling them The Cartel a few weeks ago and it just fit perfectly. The cartel consists of three Spanish guys that are my age who live in San Pedro, a town just south of Nueva Andalucia, and have been playing football for about 3 years. We started hanging out together and we have a lot of fun when we go out to the local clubs. Despite some of our cultural differences, we really do have a lot in common.
My Spanish skills also improved drastically this weekend after my excursion to Madrid to meet my mother and sister at the airport. I was smart enough to write down the address of our hotel up there, but apparently I didn't deem it necessary to get directions from the airport to the hotel. Well I took care of business and we made it happen. AJ had spent a semester in Madrid, so he suggested a few places to visit including El Prado museum and La Plaza Mayor. We had a lot of fun getting around and ended up finding a great little tapas bar (tapas are appetizers but it's common to order a bunch and share them as a meal). We got up early and took a bus down to Malaga, where we picked up the rental car and went over to their hotel. The car is a stick shift, and I've been doing most of the driving. I must say that I kind of look like the dude from "The Transporter", so I was seriously offended when my mother said she was "a much better driver than I am"... She's getting kind of old, I worry that her perception is starting to go.
This morning, Emily and my mom came to meet me at the house at 11 but unfortunately, last night turned into one of those late nights, and getting up before 11am was just out of the question. Combine the facts that I live in the basement and they don't have a phone and you get Emily and my mom spending a half hour enjoying the driveway outside the gate to the house. When I finally woke up and found them waiting for me outside, we left for Gibraltar - which is actually an English province and you need a passport to get in. Unfortunately, they drive on the right side of the road in Gibraltar, but I decided we should drive on the left, since it is an English province after all. That didn't last too long.
It was a really cool place and we got to see these huge caves and there were monkeys up on the mountain and they climb all over the car and then one climbed on Emily. He started digging for food/bugs in her hair (I believe he did find a little snack in there) and then peed on her shoulder. Pretty hilarious few minutes for me. We checked out a few more tourist things and then walked around the town a little before heading back to Marbella.
Tomorrow we have high hopes to meet up and go to the market and walk around El Casco Antiguo - The Old Town. I had to promise that I would be outside and ready at 11am this time. Haha. We'll see.
Our team is really coming together and practices are getting much more organized and productive. I think I finally know everyone's name on the team, and my Spanish is getting better as I continue to coach up the Spanish guys. We have a very interesting combination of players on the team. There are 3 Americans (since only 3 are allowed by Spanish League rules), a few guys from Finland, a few from the UK, then a few more guys from other countries in Latin America and Europe, and of course guys from all over Spain - including those who speak great English, a little English, and no English.
Most of my Spanish speaking has come while hanging with 'The San Pedro Cartel' Rule #1: Do not mess with The Cartel. Rule #2: Whatever The Cartel says, that's how things are gonna' go down.
No that's not true at all. The San Pedro Cartel is actually our secondary minus AJ - our 2 cornerbacks and free-safety. We started calling them The Cartel a few weeks ago and it just fit perfectly. The cartel consists of three Spanish guys that are my age who live in San Pedro, a town just south of Nueva Andalucia, and have been playing football for about 3 years. We started hanging out together and we have a lot of fun when we go out to the local clubs. Despite some of our cultural differences, we really do have a lot in common.
My Spanish skills also improved drastically this weekend after my excursion to Madrid to meet my mother and sister at the airport. I was smart enough to write down the address of our hotel up there, but apparently I didn't deem it necessary to get directions from the airport to the hotel. Well I took care of business and we made it happen. AJ had spent a semester in Madrid, so he suggested a few places to visit including El Prado museum and La Plaza Mayor. We had a lot of fun getting around and ended up finding a great little tapas bar (tapas are appetizers but it's common to order a bunch and share them as a meal). We got up early and took a bus down to Malaga, where we picked up the rental car and went over to their hotel. The car is a stick shift, and I've been doing most of the driving. I must say that I kind of look like the dude from "The Transporter", so I was seriously offended when my mother said she was "a much better driver than I am"... She's getting kind of old, I worry that her perception is starting to go.
This morning, Emily and my mom came to meet me at the house at 11 but unfortunately, last night turned into one of those late nights, and getting up before 11am was just out of the question. Combine the facts that I live in the basement and they don't have a phone and you get Emily and my mom spending a half hour enjoying the driveway outside the gate to the house. When I finally woke up and found them waiting for me outside, we left for Gibraltar - which is actually an English province and you need a passport to get in. Unfortunately, they drive on the right side of the road in Gibraltar, but I decided we should drive on the left, since it is an English province after all. That didn't last too long.
It was a really cool place and we got to see these huge caves and there were monkeys up on the mountain and they climb all over the car and then one climbed on Emily. He started digging for food/bugs in her hair (I believe he did find a little snack in there) and then peed on her shoulder. Pretty hilarious few minutes for me. We checked out a few more tourist things and then walked around the town a little before heading back to Marbella.
Tomorrow we have high hopes to meet up and go to the market and walk around El Casco Antiguo - The Old Town. I had to promise that I would be outside and ready at 11am this time. Haha. We'll see.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
SHARKS WIN 34-0!
We really took it to the Coslada Camioneros (Truckers from Madrid). We put up a ton of points and just demoralized them on defense. I think they had 5 first downs. Awesome. Gotta go celebrate with the team. I'll holla.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Living in Marbella
Well the truth is that I'm not actually living in Marbella, I actually don't really know where I'm living. I guess the house is in Nueva Andulucia, which I is supposedly near Marbella, but like most things in Spain, it is what it is and no one seems to give a damn. I do know that I am living in a very expensive home with the team president/head coach and his family. I live in the finished basement (Shark Shack) with AJ, my new teammate from Worcester. We've got a really cool set up down here with separate rooms, a few couches, a big flatscreen tv, and a bar. The best part is that this week we're getting an Xbox 360... that's the bonus from el Prez for the big win last Saturday.
Playing football has been a lot of fun and it's the reason I'm here, but to be honest, we only have 2 practices a week for two hours each and then the games on Saturdays. Living with the team president allows for some additional game planning and fine tuning of the playbook, but there is a lot of down time. Fortunately, there's always something going on over here...
The most obvious reason for constant action is probably the fact that Mike and Ann (who we live with) have 7 children. Chrystal is 2 months old, Connor is almost 2 years old, Charlotte is 3 years old, Cady is 4 years old, Chloe is 6 years old, Chase is 8 years old, and Cooper is 10. As you can imagine, living with 7 kids under the age of 11, creates some pretty hectic times, but luckily the basement is just about self-sustaining with a fridge and a bathroom and a good working lock. However, I've always really enjoyed being with kids, and its a lot of fun playing with them. Obviously it's a lot more enjoyable when you're not required to care for them 24/7 and provide for them, so I'm kind of getting the best of both worlds.
They also have 1 year old dog who is always competing for attention or jumping onto the counter to eat food. He's a schitzu, and I've had some bad experiences with schitzus in the past, so at first I thought I'd hate him. Luckily he's actually turned out to be not so bad. The best part is that there's a female English Bulldog living next door. AJ and I are trying very hard to get those two some alone time. I'll keep you updated on the success of that venture.
On top of that, there is the constant allure of the sun and beach. One step out of my dungeon and I can immediately see the potential bene's (beneficial rays: sun rays that provide a sweet tan) just flowing all over the place. My amazing parents bought me an Amazon Kindle right before taking off and I'm finding that reading books on the beach is going to be a pretty great, time consuming hobby of mine.
I'm really enjoying getting to speak Spanish all the time. I still mess up a lot but can definitely hold a conversation and get things done when I'm out and about shopping and what not. Sometimes I get a little nervous, but the wine is really cheap here so that's become a non-issue. Speaking of wine, AJ and I were dragged to a wine tasting last Friday, but it turned out to be actually quite interesting. They served us a bunch of food even though "it ruins the wine tasting experience"... I think they knew I'm truly a fat kid.
Well I really must be off to bed, although I haven't changed the time on my computer clock and it says only 8:30, I'm aware of this little time change thing and don't want to sleep through any potential bene's tomorrow. (Dillon, I'm trying, if this one isn't up to par, I think you're just going to have to pull the plug on me.)
Oh ya, I've put up a few links at the top on the side of this page; I have some pictures to look at as well as links to some of the Spanish football sites, a link to a google map of the house I'm living at, and of course, the great tale of Mr. Adventurer. We'll see ya.
Playing football has been a lot of fun and it's the reason I'm here, but to be honest, we only have 2 practices a week for two hours each and then the games on Saturdays. Living with the team president allows for some additional game planning and fine tuning of the playbook, but there is a lot of down time. Fortunately, there's always something going on over here...
The most obvious reason for constant action is probably the fact that Mike and Ann (who we live with) have 7 children. Chrystal is 2 months old, Connor is almost 2 years old, Charlotte is 3 years old, Cady is 4 years old, Chloe is 6 years old, Chase is 8 years old, and Cooper is 10. As you can imagine, living with 7 kids under the age of 11, creates some pretty hectic times, but luckily the basement is just about self-sustaining with a fridge and a bathroom and a good working lock. However, I've always really enjoyed being with kids, and its a lot of fun playing with them. Obviously it's a lot more enjoyable when you're not required to care for them 24/7 and provide for them, so I'm kind of getting the best of both worlds.
They also have 1 year old dog who is always competing for attention or jumping onto the counter to eat food. He's a schitzu, and I've had some bad experiences with schitzus in the past, so at first I thought I'd hate him. Luckily he's actually turned out to be not so bad. The best part is that there's a female English Bulldog living next door. AJ and I are trying very hard to get those two some alone time. I'll keep you updated on the success of that venture.
On top of that, there is the constant allure of the sun and beach. One step out of my dungeon and I can immediately see the potential bene's (beneficial rays: sun rays that provide a sweet tan) just flowing all over the place. My amazing parents bought me an Amazon Kindle right before taking off and I'm finding that reading books on the beach is going to be a pretty great, time consuming hobby of mine.
I'm really enjoying getting to speak Spanish all the time. I still mess up a lot but can definitely hold a conversation and get things done when I'm out and about shopping and what not. Sometimes I get a little nervous, but the wine is really cheap here so that's become a non-issue. Speaking of wine, AJ and I were dragged to a wine tasting last Friday, but it turned out to be actually quite interesting. They served us a bunch of food even though "it ruins the wine tasting experience"... I think they knew I'm truly a fat kid.
Well I really must be off to bed, although I haven't changed the time on my computer clock and it says only 8:30, I'm aware of this little time change thing and don't want to sleep through any potential bene's tomorrow. (Dillon, I'm trying, if this one isn't up to par, I think you're just going to have to pull the plug on me.)
Oh ya, I've put up a few links at the top on the side of this page; I have some pictures to look at as well as links to some of the Spanish football sites, a link to a google map of the house I'm living at, and of course, the great tale of Mr. Adventurer. We'll see ya.
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