Two More Weeks of Football

So the Gold Diggers U19 and Senior team advanced to the Junior Bowl and Mermaid Bowl. A fantastic Saturday for the Gold Diggers to say the least. I'll get more into the details of all that after I talk about all the neat stuff I did leading up to those games.

On Wednesday I went into Copenhagen to watch the time trials for the 2011 UCI Road Race World Championships. The time trials took place in Copenhagen, and the actual race took place out where the Gold Diggers practice. The time trails were not the most interesting thing ever, as it was just a dude riding by every 5 minutes, but I pretty much expected that. It was a gorgeous day, and I doubt I would ever have the opportunity to see that again.

Thursday, I worked another after school football thing, and this time they came to the field. They were older kids, maybe 14ish I would say. It was just funny to see how many of them are just horrified to hit someone or get hit. I remember in high school as a freshman, the first day we got all our pads, after a practice, we all put them on and organized our own game, just because we wanted to hit each other. The coaches weren't to happy about it, but I just think it's funny how excited we all were, and most of the kids here are like screw this. I also haven't commented, but the kids just cannot seem to figure out how the crazy football equipment works. Putting on the equipment takes a solid 15-20 minutes for us to make sure the kids have the shoulder pads on the right way, how to strap them up (is it really hard to figure out that the thing that looks like a belt needs to go through the thing that looks like a buckle?). I understand the difficulty with the helmet, as it is awkward to put on, and we don't have an abundance of extra equipment, and I feel bad helping the kids adjust the chinstrap, because I don't know how tight or lose it is, and I think they expect that since I play, I know exactly how to adjust everyone else's equipment. I just realized how much would go into being a youth coach. After all that, I had my practices with the U19 and Senior team, and went home to sleep.

Friday was an off day and I don't recall doing anything too exciting. I went to the gym and cleaned and that was the highlight of my day I guess. I was busy getting pumped for a football filled Saturday.

The day finally came, and it would be the last game of the season for some teams. Luckily, it was the Gold Diggers day. The seniors came out blazing and diced up the Rebels defense putting up 52 points with some great offensive plays. The Rebels lone score came midway through the 4th quarter after some questionable calls against the defense kept a drive going and gave them valuable yards. I was out of my pads at the beginning of the 4th quarter, so it was hard to watch them go down the field and score. All in all though, I feel, without seeing the film, that our DL played a solid game. The Rebels came with a good game plan to slow me down, and I'd say our ends picked up the slack and played some good football. Hopefully the film agrees with me because it's always hard to get a real feel for how others are doing when you are playing.

I rushed to the showers immediately after our game, with no time to celebrate in order to make it to the U19 game on time. I rode with Carlos and we arrived just as the team was beginning their stretching, great timing. The kids were amped up and ready to rock. The game started tightly, but once the Gold Diggers scored, it was just the opening of the can of whoop ass that would be broken out the rest of the night. The defense shut down their triple option offense, and our ground game was rocking, as the youngsters followed up the seniors with an equally impressive 47-6 victory. The story of the game came with about 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter. The start time of our game was 5:30, and the sun goes down around 7:30. The Tomahawks agreed to this game time, and their beautiful turf field is equipped with lights. However, I guess someone wasn't prepared for the inevitable nightfall, and the lights were never turned on. We took a very-convenient-for-the-opposition 45 minute break while the lights were figured out. The officials didn't know how to handle it, as there is no rule for handling a situation where the home team doesn't realize the lights need to be on. Now I really have no idea what was going on, or if it was strategic operation by a team with less players, and tons of which were getting fatigued and going down with injuries. My favorite thing about the situation, was that when the game finally started, we scored on a good run the very first play of the game. It was a stupid situation that should have been avoided, but our guys stayed positive and ready to go.

After that game, I got some food with the Senior coaches and called it a night since I had to be up early to work the Cycling World Championships. I arrived at Holte around 8, and got to working the VIP tent. It was pretty easy stuff, we just had to check to make sure people were wearing the correct wristband. The thing I found odd is that while it was all fenced off and looked fancy, there were no signs or anything at the entrance saying what it is, or that today was blue bracelets, so a lot of people were just trying to walk in, and we had to explain it was a VIP thing. If there was any big skirmish, we just sent them to a table right by, and they would handle it. Nothing too big. I watched them go by a few times, and left at 1, and took a quick nap before heading out to Sanne's for a big eel dinner. Yep, I ate some eel. Joined by Johan and his wife, and Kim after the Razorbacks-Towers game, we feasted on the ell, potatoes and some cauliflower. It was pretty good, different for sure, but I ate it, and ate a lot. We had cookies and cakes, and just a great time.

Now, its time to prepare for the Razorbacks with the older guys, and the Towers with the younger. We are both familiar with the opponents, but it will come down to who prepares themselves better. I think we have a distinct advantage there. Hopefully, we get 100% commitment from out guys these last weeks and we can come out on top!

Game Week!

The bye week time passed as usual. I am spending quite a bit of time at after school programs right now playing football with kids that understand very third word I say. I still think it's pretty amazing they are 10 years old and grasping the basics of what I am saying and formulating a response. They neat thing is that the longer the players are around me, the more comfortable using English they are. Yesterday was one of the more fun ones I would say. We had about 15 kids, and they all had a blast. It started off with me signing an "autograph" for a little girl. I had no idea what to say, but I wrote a nice message in the pink marker I was handed and made her day. Then her and her friends joined us on the field. It was funny because the girls would go against each other in WR-DB one on one, and they were more fierce in grabbing and trying to get the ball, and then more consistently catching the ball. A couple of the kids left early so they could go home before coming out and trying out a Gold Diggers practice, so that is awesome they are enjoying it. At the end, there are always 3 or 4 kids that are just loving it so much and get sad when it ends. They generally are the really athletic ones, so hopefully they come out. It's just rough timing with the season ending soon and all. So I've been to 3 different schools so far about 5 times.

Thursday was a big day as it was the election here. From what I have read an gathered, a new party has taken over in what was a really tight vote. That's all I feel qualified to talk about.

Stall from Pusher Street in Christiania

As far as last weekend---Friday was an absolute gorgeous day. I started off by going to the National Museum and spending 3 hours there. It was so huge and I was wandering everywhere.
It's really neat as it takes you through time and different regions of the world. I really like all the old Asian stuff, they seemed to have some really lavish stuff. There were also some crazy old bodies that were found that are on display. I really enjoyed the modern history stuff as well. Crazy to see a Playstation 2 and computer in a museum. It was pretty neat, even though I am not a big museum person; I prefer to interact with things rather than read.

From there, I went to the City Hall to go inside and take a look around and snap a few pictures. It was awkward as there were other tourists in there, but no one that looked like security or anything, so I just wandered around a bit. Pretty neato place.

Rosenborg Castle from the Round Tower

After that, I walked to the Round Tower- an old observatory built by Christian IV in the 1600s. Wikipedia does a good job explaining it. It's cool in that its a spiral ramp up to the top and not a crazy big staircase. The top offers up some good views of the city. It's awesome being up there and recognizing the building knowing what they are. I guess I really should by now, but still, good feeling. It was a perfect day for that as it was sunny and not raining. When I came down from the tower, I walked into a bookstore for the hell of it. As usual, they are wildly expensive. I had no desire to buy a book, but I was curious as to how much they cost.

Saturday the battle took place. The U19 team went on a paintball excursion. I can sum up my abilities in one word-horrible. I couldn't hit the water if I fell out of a boat. It was a bit of just no experience, mixed with unluckiness, and just plain being bad. I tried all strategies---charging swiftly, planning where I will run, or just improvising. Nothing seemed to work. One of the guys that was never on my team played in like leagues before so he was a badass. I think I may have shot 5 guys guys, and got shot a good 7 times.
The worst fail ever took place in a close quarter shootout. As I steathily snuck into an occupied house, I saw the enemy. I opened fire 3 times from say 4 feet away. I aimed for the legs, and I hit him, however the stupid paintballs didn't explode, so no kill. We chased each other and I guess someone else got him, but that was pretty much the story of my day. How do the paintballs not explode from 4 feet away--I was so frustrated. From there, we went to watch the Tomahawks play their final regular season game. It was super cold and kind of rainy, but I made it. They didn't play well at all, losing the game by a score I'm not aware of. It wasn't a good predictor of what we will see, as they were using some of their players on the senior team, who was playing in a game to move up to the National League. I think out guys will be hungry, and we win the numbers game as they have about 15 guys. Hopefully we can wear them out

Sunday was time to take down the election posters. That was so much easier than putting them up. It took about 2 hours to take down compared to the 5 to put up. I really wanted to keep one, but felt a little weird carrying a poster of the former Prime Minister around on the Metro. The used posters get sent to Africa to build huts. Funny to think that cow poop will be smeared all over pictures of these people's face. Good to hear all of them go to good use though.

Monday and Tuesday were school and practice days for me. On Monday, the senior guys were low on numbers so we did some scout stuff and special teams, and some conditioning. Tuesday was a regular day. It's a bit difficult getting to the stadium now because the World Cycling Championship is taking place, even more specifically, in the municipality of our stadium. Therefore, our earned home game in the semifinals has to be played at Herlev, the home of our opponent the Rebels. Should be an exciting game, but I am confident in our team and our preparation. Hopefully we can secure the win and earn a spot in the Mermaid Bowl. Immediately following our game, I will be scooting down to the U19 game, arriving probably right about kickoff. Sunday morning, I have to work security with some guys for the cycling. Shouldn't be anything too excruciating.

So, there is a chance this could be my last football game ever. Hopefully it won't be, and I have the opportunity to play with these guys one more time. The way we've been practicing, I think we'll be okay!

Playoff Time

So, much has happened since my last update. I guess I'll just start typing, who knows how random this may be.

The biggest catch

I went to southern Zealand with Alex, one of our OL, to his parents cabin. It really reminded me of a Goose Creek type place. It was about a 50 minute drive south of Copenhagen. It took us a while to get down there Friday due to Friday traffic and a couple of accidents on the freeway. We arrived around 6 and fired up the BBQ and got to work grilling some hamburgers and corn, just a regular BBQ.  After that we walked to the inlet which has a dock (that is covered in bird poop) to "fish" and drink a couple of beers. I was really hoping to sit down, but it was too poopy. The only thing we brought up was a bunch of seaweed, but that was pretty expected. After that, we just hung out in the beautiful cabin and watched some movies, including Speed.

Saturday, we had to go into the beach to try out his water scooter. It was by far the coldest day I have ever got into any water, but I couldn't not do it. Once fully submerging, it became bearable, slightly enjoyable. I don't think the scooter was made for us larger guys for carrying us around, but if we were in deep water diving down, it would kick ass. Also, with it being so damn cold, I was a bit timid to go under and really try to enjoy it. We spent about an hour and a half around the beach. We then went into the closest town area to get some eats for later. From there we just enjoyed the nice day and rested watching the Hangover. We did some more BBQing and later, Speed 2 just happened to be on, so naturally we had to watch.

Beautiful home

Sunday was beautiful, but we had to get back to Copenhagen. While the day was gorgeous, it started to rain in the evening, and I'm like 90% sure it has rained in some way every single day since. I just expect it now. But with the weekend over, it was time to focus on preparing the young guys for a victory over the Towers and get the older guys focused on beating the Razorbacks.

Practice was great for the Seniors all week, as we felt we were extraordinarily prepared as a defensive line for their scheme and what they would do to us. We had a feeling they may scale down their playbook a bit as they also secured a semi-final spot and are a favorite to reach the Mermaid Bowl.

I wish I could have said the same for the young guys. It was a lackadaisical week with little focus. By far the most frustrating week of DL play, at the worst possible time because we needed to beat the Towers to be the number 1 seed and get a home game. Thursday was an abysmal practice when it came to executing plays. It is baffling to me that they can't remember the 6 twists we do. I even take time in practice from doing other drills to walk through the plays, but I guess they don't realize how terrible they are at it, until they mess it up. Now of course its not everyone, but the fair majority had poor execution on Thursday. I also think the play has some to do with having to use what we have on the scout team, which means receivers on the offensive line. The DL are just getting pumped beating up on a receiver instead of playing their technique and reading their keys. I had to let Thursday go and hope they came prepared Sunday

Saturday, I met up with AG, and our two Danish QBs, to watch the Herlev Rebels take on the Copenhagen Towers in the battle for second place. In what most assumed would be a fierce battle between two quality teams, the Towers prevailed like 47-7 I think. It was a disastrous game for the Rebels as anytime they got any momentum going, they killed it themselves with penalties or turnovers. Teams won't be successful with the amount of 1st and 20s and 3rd and 15s the Rebels had. Their ground game was tearing it up and the Towers couldn't answer, but its hard to stick with a constant ground attack when you are down 30. The "turning point" in my opinion came when the game was 14-7 in favor of the Towers early on. The Rebels D just came up with a huge fumble recovery in Towers territory. The very first play, the QB throws a pick, then the Towers drive and score, taking what could have been a tying score by the Rebels, and making it a TD of their own. Some more heartbreak came when the Towers got the ball around their 40 with 10 seconds left. The Towers QB LAUNCHED this ball to a streaking receiver who caught it for the score to go up 27-7 at the half. A score like that knocks the wind out of a team.  That being said, the Towers will host the Arhus Tigers, and the Rebels will travel to Aalborg, home of defensive end extraordinaire Stephan "Steve" Nickelsen, to play the 89ers.

After that, we met up with one of the OL who has ESPN America, to watch some college football. We grabbed some chicken and pasta for dinner and watched Wisconsin roll Oregon State. I left early to get home to get a good night of sleep before my long Sunday.

Sunday morning rolled around and I headed out to Gentofte for our youngster's game. Our practice was still on my mind, but I let it go, hoping they would come out fired up. We were missing some of our key lineman on the day, so it was a bit scary. It's just funny how we still had 7 DL, but we were freaking out about our rotation, when most teams would KILL to have that many guys. Just a fun thought. But the weather toyed with us, pouring down rain before the game, then doing it again as we were in pregame. It cleared up and became a beautiful day for kickoff.

The game did not go as planned, and I suffered my first lost in Denmark as the Towers went on to a 22-8 victory. They threw some stuff at us we didn't expect to see, and didn't do some things we were really expecting. They also made plays when it counted, and we were a bit unsound. Fatigue seemed to set in for some of the guys as well, but that will happen when you are playing offense and defense and special teams. I remember those times in high school, and the great nights of sleep that followed. We clearly didn't play out best, and didn't execute when we had the chance too. However, with a playoff spot secured, its not the time for me to become worried or scared. The guys should come out hungry, waiting for the unbeaten Copenhagen Tomahawks in the semis. I'm hoping they have that attitude, because they are a great group of players, and it would be scary to think we could be finished after one more game. That said, I had to erase this from my mind and scurry over to Rundforbi for our game against the Razorbacks from Vejle.

I got there about an hour before kickoff and hurried up to get ready and my mind right. The guys were focused going through their pregame as if I am not even needed! The game started out magnificently, as we received the ball, marched down the field, and scored to go up 7-0. It was a lead we would never lose as we went on to a 31-13 victory. Both teams had already secured a spot in the semifinals, but the winner would have an "easier" road to the Mermaid Bowl, as the loser would be more than likely facing the Towers.

As far as the game, the offense was clicking, and the D was rolling. The Razors had some solid players and played with a passion that most other teams do not display. While I feel their offense was scaled down a bit, our preparation led to us having a good idea of what to expect, as far as go to plays, and offensive line weaknesses. I was pleased with OUR execution of twists. I felt like I was getting blocked from every angle, and one of the guys would come up huge. That's what awesome about our defense, we are a team. If you send 3 guys at one of us, there's another dude you need to worry about. We got some good hits on their QB and the sat him towards the end of the game to protect him for the finals. Their American WR/DB played a great game. He had an amazing interception on defense, and some great catches on offense. A really tough dude. Along with their WR, their import DL is from UConn. Our OL did a good job against him. He's so freaking tall, that it always seemed his hands were in a passing lane, but it's tough for one guy to make a huge impact consistently, and out OL did a good job neutralizing him.

On our ride home, we had a celebrity sighting, as we spotted Danish pop sensation Medina riding in her BMW in the streets of Copenhagen. All the guys went crazy of course, but I had to get a lesson on who she was. This here is the song I was told to check out, because I HAD to know it. She definitely noticed us staring, as she avoided passing us, until the car swooped over to make a turn and lose us paparazzi. Pretty cool I guess.

So, that leads to a prefect 9-0 Danish season, and 10-0 on Danish soil including our win over the French. We have a bye this week for the wild card games. Since we are the #1 overall seed, we will get the lowest seeded remaining winner, which will more than likely be the Rebels or 89ers. Both teams would be fun to play. So, for another bye week, time to keep myself busy. Today I am going to another after school thing for kids. Basically they bash into each other, laugh, and catch some footballs. They really seem to like it. I also have some weekend plans to check out an FC Copenhagen game with some of the guys, so hopefully all that works out.

DL at my last game at Rundforbi Stadium

Bye Weeks

It's been a long two weeks with no football. However, the U19 team has had some practices, and a couple of the guys have joined me in doing some running. I can't wait to get back into the swing of things this week.

My time off hasn't been anything too extraordinary. I did a lot of walking on the Strøget and grabbed some souvenirs, and did some outdoor reading on days that didn't rain. I would just go into the city and either find a bench or walk until there looked like a good place to sit.  The weather is getting colder and the nights are coming sooner. I found myself wearing pants and a hoodie, in August, for the first time in my life.

I did have some fun over the break though. Last week, I joined the Running Backs, QBs, and Offensive Line for their annual all you can eat rib meal. We went to one of the RBs places and he cooked up 50-60 KILOS of ribs. There were maybe 14 guys. It was the most amount of ribs I have ever seen at a single place. I ate 3 racks of ribs, which was incredibly difficult, but I couldn't have some leftovers on my plate, so I cleaned everything. After the eating, and letting everything digest, we played some Rock Band, as well as Dance Central on the Kinect. There is nothing better than watching some O-Lineman dance to a Lady GaGa song. I participated a couple times, and even won a battle once, but it was far from anything glamorous. It was a ton of fun and a lot of laughs. From there, we headed into the city to some bar. A couple of other guys were there and we all just kind of sat around and talked, played some foosball,  and had a few drinks. I didn't engage in too much of that, but I'll go into why later. I had a couple of shots of the Danish snapps which is absolutely miserable. It was pretty fun.

The weirdest part came when some girls that were talking to a couple of the guys asked why I was always speaking English. My natural answer is well that's the only language I speak. They said I had a Danish accent which I, and everyone else, felt was strange. I showed them my Missouri license as proof, but I guess they still thought it was some elaborate prank. It was weird to say the least, but hey, at least I sound like a Dane, even though I can't do more than count to ten in the language.

From there, we went next door to Heidi's, because "they don't care if you dance on the tables." We arrived, and I see one of the big OL clearing off a table and next thing I know, he's on top dancing. One of our QBs join him, and next thing I see, tons of people throughout the place are on top of tables. It was so funny. I headed home around 4 with some of the guys. I got home and went to sleep around 5, only to wake up at 6 with what had to be the worst stomach ache ever---from the large amount of ribs I digested. My body was just confused. I looked outside, and it was a yellowish-green color, and just pouring down rain. A bit scary. I know that The Office is on from 6-7am on Saturdays, so I popped on the tube, and watched for about 20 minutes before I fell back asleep until 11.

Now Saturday was quite a day. I ate a quick breakfast and headed out to Holte, which is a bit by our field, to help out the team hang up some poster's for the upcoming election. I'll first dive into my understanding of the electoral system, then tell you about the poster hanging process.

So the Danish Prime Minister can call for an election whenever he wants. Apparently he recently did that, but before he can do it, he must get the Queen's approval, which is more just tradition--she's not going to say no. So then that happens, and people within the part run in different areas. The parties that get the most votes then get to elect the Prime Minister or something like that. That's where I get confused. I just know that people aren't directly voting for the Prime Minister. So the parties select who will run where. I guess to make an example is say that a party has Tom, Dick and Harry running. Tom will run in New York, and ONLY people in New York can vote for him, Dick runs in St. Louis, and ONLY St. Louis people can vote for him, and Harry runs in Denver, and ONLY Denverians can vote for him. That explains why there are signs for like 50 different people are up everywhere throughout the city. Also, smaller parties just put up signs with their party names. I don't know too much from there, but that's all I gathered and really understood from all the people I talked to.

Now to the signs. There are signs about the size of a medium poster, that we tie up to phone poles using like zip ties I guess. I went around with on of the DBs, JC, to hang up around 150 of these. We spent a solid 5 hours doing this in the rain. It was not the most exciting thing I have ever done, and the first time in my life I have supported any kind of political action. It's just funny, because these posters are EVERYWHERE. Basically any place you can hang them, there are 6 there. It's just nuts. Everyone agrees that the poster's don't do too much to sway an opinion, but it's just a custom. The elections are in a couple weeks, so I'll keep you guys updated with the winner. I think it would be really funny to somehow bring home a poster of the winner, just to have one. A bit weird maybe.

The rest of the time was nothing special. I saw the movie Horrible Bosses a couple days ago with AG. It was a great evening--getting out of the apartment and all, and a really funny movie. AG, like everyone else, works during the day, and I'd seen him at practice from work and know he's a sharp dresser. I really wanted to bum it up at the movies, but knew I would be with the most stylin man in town that evening, so I had to appear presentable. All in all, it was a good evening. Last night/ this morning for me, the Bulldogs opened their season against Northwest for the Hickory Stick, the last meeting until 2014 I believe. I woke up at 2 am here to listen with high hopes for all the guys. It was weird listening to it, and hearing the names of all my buddies and not playing. I guess it's something I'll have to get used to. It started off close, but Northwest pulled away in the 2nd quarter for a 65-3 victory. The offense seems shaky and Northwest won the rushing and turnover game, as well as convert 9 of 13 3rd downs. It's hard to beat a good team like that when they are able to convert on 3rd downs. I went to sleep at halftime, with an unpleasant feeling, but I know that Northwest rolling is incredible. I truly believe the guys will bounce back and have a good season. I'll be doing my best to listen to as many games as I can.

This weekend, I am meeting up with one of the OL, and going to his parents cabin. We are just hanging out, and doing a hell of a lot of BBqing. I look forward to it very much.

Lastly, I am missing another one of my grandma's birthday parties. It's been 6 years of football keeping me away, especially from the pool which I miss like crazy. This should be my last year away, and I wanted to wish her a happy birthday. I will never forget begging for grilled cheese sandwiches as a youngster, and usually eating my cousin Alex's leftovers. I like to think that's how I became a big guy, and why Alex remained an average sized human. Hope the weather is nice and everyone has fun!