Last One

So I guess this will be my last post from Denmark. I don't like thinking it's over but I guess its a good time to reflect how lucky I am to have had this opportunity.

This was truly an experience I will never forget. From the moment I got in front of the team, they accepted me, even though I was wearing some Truman Purple. I tucked that stuff away and got to work with the guys with the goal of winning the Mermaid Bowl. We made a great run through the EFAF, winning our first international game, then traveling to Coventry to put a hurting on those guys. I'll never forget traveling to London to play the Blitz, and just the stunning looks on everyone face when walking the field. Glass, rocks, and other miscellaneous chunks were all over the place. Watching those guys pick it up was great, but its a same it came down to that. I thought that was a tough loss, but I know as a DL we gained a lot of experience playing them. I know as a team we did, because we saw how big and fast they were. The EFAF was a great gauge on where we stand on a European level.

Finishing 9-0 in DAFF play was special. I have never had an undefeated regular season in anything, and these guys deserved it. I absolutely loved working with my DL. They came to work every day and soaked in everything I was giving them. They asked their questions and I would do my best to answer, and they never complained about anything. I don't know if I was the greatest coach ever, but they sure made me feel that way. I loved being on the field with those guys and could trust everyone around me. This team was extraordinary, and I am thankful to have been a part of that regular season. Obviously the Mermaid Bowl didn't go our way, but in the big picture, the season was a success. I still can't shake those moments out of my head, but I know I can over time.

As for the U19 boys, I had a blast with those guys. It was a drama filled season at points, but I feel coach Nick did a great job keeping them focused with their eyes on the prize. I learned a lot from coaching those guys, basically due to attendance and figuring out the best way to coach 3 people as opposed to 10 people. I don't know how it is with other teams, but I doubt they have the ability to do the things we are doing at practice, and I hope our guys realize that. Because we do what we do, they are getting better at their trade.

Of the field, I clearly had some great experiences. My favorite part was clearly Audrey visiting in the summer break and our quest around Europe. I will never get tired of telling our Rome to Munich story, ever. When it comes to nights out in Denmark, I think I had my share of good ones. From the first "night" with the coaches, to this weekend with the DL and players, I cannot say enough how thankful I am for everything those guys have done for me. From buying drinks to walking me to the nearest Metro station that is our of their way, to grabbing a cab with me back to Amager, these guys have been great. I have never been denied a ride from practice, and had a blast riding back home with Sunshine and Nickelsen after practices. It's stupid little things like that that I will miss. These guys are just great at making you feel at home and one of the guys. I'll also miss the few Sunday night NFL parties I've been a part of. I enjoyed watching the games with everyone. I'm glad they let me flip to the baseball game to check on my Redbirds, and hopefully I got some hooked, haha!

I am excited to get home an see everyone, and sleep in my huge bed, but the athlete in me is frustrated I have to leave. After not winning the Mermaid Bowl, the journey almost feels incomplete, like my time was wasted since I couldn't get it done. I know that's not true at all, but I will always feel like the trip was missing a little something. I would love to be able to come back and work with these guys for another chance. I know the Razorbacks' Americans and the Towers' American are coming back. The hardest part of the loss was just knowing that was my last game, and I can do nothing to help get the trophy back. Now I know what Brett Favre felt like. I would have been a lot easier to leave if we sucked, but since we are a great team with a clear chance to win next year, I feel like I should be there. I know these guys are going to work like crazy, because that's their character and how much they care for this team.

As for the weekend, it's get as much time in with these guys as possible. I hate the unknown, and not knowing when I will see these guys again kills me. I am pretty packed up, and think I'll be fine, but I need to grab some last minute souvenirs one of these days. It's a tough feeling leaving as I said. Everyone has been so great, but there is always this awesome feeling of being home and seeing the people I haven't seen in so long. Also, as a lot of the guys have pointed out, just the cheap prices of everything will be nice. I always love eating with the players because it ends up with us talking about how cheap all the food is in the US. Well, I don't have much more to say, and hopefully everyone knows how great they have been to me and how thankful I am to all of them!

No I am not in this picture. It was halftime during the Mermaid Bowl, and I hate that I am not with them!

One Week

So, the Mermaid Bowl didn't go as we wanted to. We had some stupid penalties at times, and at times some calls that made us scratch our heads and think "really?". The Razorbacks played well like they needed to, and made their plays, even though it seemed most of their drives started around midfield. It's a stupid feeling and I don't feel like going through every detail. I'm proud of our guys for stepping up and taking some swings in this fight. These dudes are winners, and I loved playing with them. Razors scored on a 4th down play, with the QB under pressure and running around slung a ball to a receiver, our DB played the ball and missed, and the dude ran in. I'm not sure, but I felt like I was being held. You can watch the play here and gather your own thoughts. It sucks to lose, especially feeling so confident going into the game, but I am glad we could give Denmark a great game to end the year on. I know these guys will use it as motivation and work hard this off season to become the best in Europe. I know individual awards may not mean much to guys, especially after a team loss, but I'm pretty sure and even bigger upset took place when the league MVP was given to an American receiver instead of our great reciever, Jonas Bo Hansen, who had over 100 receptions for some 1400 yards and like 20 TDs. Don't know what the Razor guy did, but don't think it was anything like that, maybe I'm wrong. All I know is that he will be my first pick in my DAFF NL fantasy league next year.

It was tough after the loss, but I went out with all the guys and we had a blast of a night. Leaving the Metro, I heard a girl talking to her friends say she is from Missouri, so I broke my rule of not talking to strangers just to ask where, and she is from Columbia, so not quite as cool as someone from STL. The team had a fun, but empty night out, and I enjoyed my time spent out with those guys. All of them that came up and talked to me for maybe the last time, and those crazies who apologized like they lost the game and ruined my experience or something. Couldn't have been farther from the truth, I enjoyed every minute (except maybe 2 minutes in the Mermaid Bowl) this year.

The weekend was not a total loss though, as I coached the U19 guys to a 9-0 win in the Junior Bowl. It felt great to see those guys out there, and the excitement of winning. I'm truly proud of those guys and how great they played. We scored a TD early, but it was called back because of a hold, and settled for a FG, which turned out to be all we need. We added a rushing TD later, and our defense played lights out. I loved those guys and am glad we won. I've been told no teams have ever won both a Junior Bowl and Mermaid Bowl, so I guess the U19 guys ruined it for us (just kidding). I was really hoping to break the trend and get two golds, but its a cruel world we live in right.

Yesterday, I laid in bed all day basically and watched How I Met Your Mother, which was on TV all day. I went over and hung out with some guys and watched the football games. He has ESPN America, so I got to flip around to the Cardinals game, which started out great, but ended miserably. I love the look on the guys' faces when I try to explain what's happening. They have very little knowledge of the game, so I am explaining balls and strikes, foul balls, and stuff like that. It makes me feel like some sort of genius.

As for my last week, nothing special planned. Going to try to get most of my packing done early, which will be broken up Tuesday for an after school thing, but I would just like it out of the way. I got some souvenir shopping to do, and some last football related stuff, but it's crazy it's over. I can't believe football is done, and I won't be able to help these guys on their quest to get the trophy back.

Time to pack I guess, see all you Americans soon!

Almost Here

So, in almost 24 hours, the U19 game will be kicking off. I am super excited for these games. After a solid week of practice on both levels, we are a confident group of guys heading into Saturday. The juniors have been working together as a unit more than ever this year, and it's evident they believe in each other and buy into what it will take to win the game.

The seniors put together a tremendous week of practice. So many of the guys sacrificed a lot, and moved their schedules around to be able to make it. It shows how much it means to them. I cannot be more excited for these guys to get out to the field and play fast, ferocious football and get after the Razorbacks. Last night was my last football practice ever, and it was a bit sad, but there is no time to dwell on that with the huge game this weekend. And just like after my first practice, I went to Kosk with some of the guys, except this time, I am able to order for myself! It's crazy to think it's almost over, but there is one more business day tomorrow.

For those in the US that want to follow the game,you can pay for the stream here, or I'm assuming you can follow twitter or USfootball.dk to get some updates. It will be a huge day for the team.

Tonight I am missing my 5 year high school reunion, and tomorrow is the homecoming game at Truman, but there is not a place I would rather be this weekend than here with these guys, playing in the biggest football game I've ever been a part of.

The Beginning of the End

So today marks the beginning of the last work week in Denmark. Kind of crazy to think about how fast it's gone and all that stuff, but I'll reflect on that another time. I still got some business to take care of!

Last week, the U19 team had a spirited week of practice. They are all so focused, it's crazy to see their attitude this time around against the Towers compared to the last. We have a confidence, but are putting our work in to make sure it's sound confidence.

As for the seniors, Tuesday we had our picture day. It wasn't anything crazy, but its not like college, where all the guys are behind the cameraman trying to make you laugh and look stupid in your picture. I also had to give my height in centimeters and my weight in kilos, which surprised some people that I knew, but only due to my exercise science classes at Truman. Guess college did teach me something! On Thursday evening, the defense met up for some scout on the Razorbacks and some conditioning. We know what they want to do, and we will be prepared for that, and any other thing they may try to throw at us. Heading into this game, we will be a confident bunch of guys, and rightfully so! Everyone is eager to get to Farum Park and get rolling.

The weather has been gorgeous, and it was no different Friday and Saturday. Friday, I went to the beach for a couple of hours and finished reading The Junction Boys. Reminded me of a slightly more difficult freshman and sophomore fall camp at Camp Clark. We knew what we were getting into, we got water, and we had some grass to practice on. It was an interesting book. It was so nice, that I even dipped my legs in the water and cooled off. It was pretty cold, but it felt a bit refreshing on the hotter day. Saturday, I went into Copenhagen on another beautiful day and took the Jerry Glanville book Esben had with me. I sat out at a harbor by Amalienborg Palace and did some reading. I went to the Strøget to look at some souvenirs, and I grabbed one of those cheap take out boxes of Chinese food, just to see what it was like. Turns on Chinese food is internationally the same. It's not like the Mexican food that varies by location, the Chinese food is just oiled and greases up stuff, and fried shrimp and chicken. They really got the consistency down. I ate that at the harbor and on my way back, grabbed some ice cream. It just felt right on such a gorgeous day.

Sunday, I joined AG at the FC København soccer game. He scored some tickets from work, and they were awesome. We we like 20 rows up from the pitch, about even with one of the goal lines. It was a total blast of a game and since soccer is a lot of dudes running and not much action, we spent a lot of time just talking. We got to talking about baseball, and just compared it to watching soccer. It pained me since I enjoy baseball, but it's kind of true, you watch a lot of guys stand around and not much happening. One of the coolest things at the game is the 5 beer holder thing. You buy like 5 beers, and they have this like carrying thing that holds the beers by the top and the bottom pokes through. It's like a cooler version of the 4 drink carrying thing that's awkward to hold. The game was a lot of fun to be at, but it ended in a tie. FCK scored on a pretty awesome header in the second half to go up 1-0, but Aarhus equalized with a PK in the 90th minute. The atmosphere of the game is crazy, as the opposing fans have their own section just surrounded my security, and they get a security escort in and out of the stadium, and their buses got a police escort out of the city. They basically got the same treatment that the president of the US gets when he goes anywhere. The game is filled with chants, which make the game exciting I guess, since not much really happens on the field. After the game, I bought one of those soccer scarfs that says the team name, and I got the one that says the name of the player who scored, N'Doye, just because. I really didn't have a preference, and thought it would be cool to have one with a players name.

After the game, we went to another player's apartment and joined some guys watching football. Frederik, our RB and my taxi driver, is a Rams fan, and he had the Rams game on his computer. I watched the last about 6 minutes of the disaster, and we were both disappointed. I wish I could have taken a picture of the room, because it was a bunch of guys sitting around a table, with their computers on watching their teams games if they were on, or checking their fantasy guys. Every 5 minutes, AG would violently shake his phone to refresh the page. It was like a big meeting room and serious business was taking place. There were some commercials and talk about the Mermaid Bowl, which was interesting to see. I clearly had no idea what they were saying, but I can hear when the say "Mermaid Bowl", "Triangle Razorbacks" and "Søllerød Gold Diggers". I left around midnight and got home and crashed.

So now, it's game week, and I cannot be more excited to play in this game. I hear the stadium is great and the atmosphere is wonderful for a football game. I look forward to a great last week of practice and enjoying every minute of it. Hopefully, we can pull out the W!