Saturday, March 3, 2018

Decision Time on a Snowy Saturday


Saturday, 3 March, 2018

Last night I checked the FIDAF, Italy's American Football Federation, website to find that several Division I, II and III games this weekend had already been cancelled throughout Italy due to all of the snow and cold weather.

After reading about the postponements, I was concerned about our contest on Sunday.

When I went to bed, we were
still playing our game on Sunday

The weather on Saturday still
featured lots of snow and rain

The Cagliari Crusaders, our opponents on Sunday, are based on the Italian island of Sardenia and have to fly to Milan in order to play us.

The Crusaders were able to cancel their plane tickets with no financial penalty if they notified the airline by 11:00 a.m. today.

Thus a meeting was set at Skorpion Field at 10:00 a.m. to make a decision.

About two to three inches of snow
blanketed our home field

Given that . . .

1. Player safety had to be at the forefront of any decision.

2. We have no heavy duty equipment to remove the snow.

3. The weather was going to continue to be on the inclement side for the rest of the day.

4. That, under the circumstances, we would have trouble lining and preparing the field in time for our 1:00 p.m. Sunday kickoff.

5. There was a concern for the possible long range damage to the field.

6. Financial concerns for the Crusaders if they flew here and then we postponed the contest.

Thus the decision was easy, the game was postponed until sometime in April.

Still, I would have loved an Ice Bowl game on the . . .
"Frozen Tundra of
Skorpion Field!"

Decision made, there was only one thing left to do, have a café at a local bar in Venegono Superiore. 

Café and La Gazzetta dello Sport

In Italy, it doesn't get any better than this in the morning.

Oooh, Inter-AC Milan play tomorrow night in San Siro. I wonder what the going rate is for those tickets? 

March 8th in Italy is
La Festa della Donna

Men, stay out of the way on this night!

Our caffé/pastry shop was getting ready for the annual and often wild Festival of the Woman with these chocolate yellow shoes.

I think the extra two Euros for the platforms is well worth the price.

The café and a small tiramisu hit the spot!

Although our game Sunday was cancelled, our 4:00 p.m. practice was not.

Actually, our Offensive Coordinator, Gigi Bravin, had scheduled a 3:00 p.m. meeting to go over the playbook and answer questions before practice.

It was an excellent meeting that cleared up several cobwebs. 

Warming-up in Skorpion Weather

Team Scrimmage

The meeting really paid off as we looked much better today on Offense.

After our Seniors were finished, I had to hustle to a nearby palestra (gymnasium) to watch the final 45 minutes of our U15 and U13 Flag teams practices.

Coach Enzo Petrillo directing traffic
during the U15 workout

Five-on-five Flag football
is about 85% passing

U13s scrimmaging

Still disappointed about Sunday's game postponement but happy with the work our men put in today.

We definitely got one day better!

News from Las Vegas . . .

Kevin Contreras was signed to an
NHL contract by the hometown
Vegas Golden Knights

He got his first
skating lesson today

I would have thought that the skating lesson would have come before he was offered the contract.

LOVE this little man!

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