Points Aplenty (Cont.)

I suppose I wasn't entirely truthful the other day when I said, "More details to follow tomorrow!" as tomorrow has come and gone with not a one detail followed. I can assure you it wasn't my fault, though. I had some assistant coaching obligations for the U19 team up in Aalborg (an hour-and-a-half N), which ate up a good portion of the day. Well worth it though, as the team notched a 31-2 victory; the first for a Tigers' youth squad this season. Following that I was pretty tired and wanted to unwind with a movie before sitting down to post. Bad idea, as neither the acting skills nor the haircuts of Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford in 'All the President's Men' could keep me from falling asleep. Much as I do at home quite often, I passed out on the couch until quarter of four in the morning, upon which time I awoke and went to my bed to finish the job. That led into today, where I started to clean the place up, returned some stuff to the library, picked up some groceries and participated in yet another blog-worthy activity, which I might get to sometime next January. That being said, I now bring you the recap from this weekend's resounding victory.

The weekend's forecast held true and temperatures soared into the sixties without a cloud in the sky. This was a veritable heatwave compared to what we have seen so far this season, so everyone was taking necessary precautions and drinking plenty of fluids. Every so often a slight breeze came by and kept things from ever getting too warm; all in all, it was perfect football weather.

For the past few games, wins had been coming thanks in large part to dominant defensive performances, with the offense doing just enough to get the job done. Saturday's focus was to get a great effort from each unit and it became apparent from the early goings that this was going to be the case. The mighty Swans defense flew the coop and couldn't do much to stop the run at the start. That would later set up a balanced offensive assault that scored six times on the afternoon. The defense continued their excellent play and contributed a score of their own; as mentioned the other day, they haven't been scored on in eighteen quarters.

With steady control of the game, we were able to start experimenting with several new plays and a formation that we haven't previously attempted, all of which worked pretty well and will benefit us greatly during the second half of the season. For those who don't know out there, we have now played every team in the division. Our next game is in three weeks, when we will begin facing teams we have already seen this year. That makes each contest an 'eight quarter' game so to speak, which is pretty interesting and should be fun to match up again against any sort of adjustments that might be made, based off our first meeting; just enough to keep the ol' Coach on his toes here.

Those new offensive installations aside, this game featured several firsts for yours truly:

- It was the first time I appeared on special teams since high school. I was on the punt unit and even stepped in for a PAT, which I never did in college because even coach Jason Tillery will tell you that I'm too short for that (only he will find that somewhat amusing).

- It was the first time I made a (credited and legitmate) tackle since high school. My freshman year in college, I (barely) tackled a defensive lineman who had recovered a fumble, but thanks to an inept scorekeeper on the day, credit was given to another player. During a brief stint in the American Indoor Football Association, I 'tackled' a defensive back who picked off one of about nine passes on the night in Casper, Wyoming. I have placed quotations around the word tackled because all I did was run into him and shove him into the boards, which counts as a tackle in indoor football. For this I did receive credit although in my book, a tackle means you wrap somebody up and plant him in the dirt (or synthetic turf). This happened to be the case on Saturday.

On one of the punt coverages, I assisted in bringing down the return man, who was already in the clutches of a fellow Tiger as I got down to him. It's good thing he was already sort of on his way down because I had a pretty healthy running start in his direction and still cleaned him up with some decent umph. This however, wasn't my finest hour on the day.

On a fourth-and-one in the second quarter, defensive coordinator Anders Bysted sent me out as a defensive tackle for a play during a Swans timeout. Anticipating an inside run, he wanted to get some penetration up front. Also, he had told me a few weeks ago that he'd like to put me in on D every so often if he could, just to change things up. Coach Bysted guessed correctly, as they happened to run straight at my gap. On the snap of the ball, I was met with little resistance by the guard in front of me and before I knew it, I saw the ball carrier right in front of me. By now, this was five yards in the backfield and he was firmly in my grasp. On the way down, someone else flew in to help out, but the damage was done. I trotted off the field to a rather fiesty sideline, having not done what I just did for some six years; made me feel young again.

- It was the first time I played a significant time at an offensive position NOT on the offensive line. I spent a few series in the backfield as a fullback, lead blocking on run plays. I had only appeared in the offensive backfield once before in a game, almost eight years ago in a freshman contest in high school (I got stuffed on a two-point conversion), so this was truly a rarity. However, it's something that we will continue to refine over the remainder of the season. It was an awful lot of fun and I look forward to putting the 'full' in fullback in our next few games.

All of this aforementioned firsts could conceivably pile up into this week's "Welcome To ... Moment," as could the fact that we faced a team named after arguably one of the most romantic creatures in all the animal kingdom. Same thing goes for their defense, which featured some pretty wild characters. One of their guys, a Dane, spoke exclusively (and quite often) in English throughout the course of the afternoon. The real kicker though, was that he spoke with a weird attempt at a Texas/southern accent that prompted me to laugh at him, more so than get annoyed with his antics. Him and some of his buddies really took the high road later and started 'headhunting' me, or basically looking for me on the field to try and knock me down. I'll give you three guesses as to how many times they were successful ...

All of this aside, this week's Moment actually took place as the second half was getting underway, while I was returning to our sidelines from our meeting place in the shade. It's quite common for youth players of home teams to attend games and take in some additional football. Most kids here are pretty into it if they play and like to see it any opportunity they get. With that, there were some young Odense lads throwing a pigskin right behind our sideline as we warmed up prior to the third quarter. As I came upon this, a kid of probably sixteen or seventeen wearing his junior jersey ran a route right in front of me and attempted to make a catch with one hand. He was unsuccessful and I cheerfully shouted to him, "Two hands, brother!" Danish kids generally enjoy this type of American lingo, much as Hulk Hogan might have said at the time and he did indeed turn to me with a big smile.

He looked at me and raised his arms, while saying, "ONE hand!" I then saw his point, as the young chap had a left hand but only his thumb and part of his index finger on his right. He was a very happy kid though and knew I didn't mean any insult in my attempted words of advice. I smiled back at him and shook my head in approval that he wouldn't let such a handicap keep him from having fun with a game he clearly enjoyed. I suppose this could have happened anywhere, not just in Denmark, but the fact that it did bumped it up to the number one spot for this week's "Welcome to ... Moment."

Well that's all for now, folks. Sorry again about the delay. Any and all complaints should be directed towards "Tricky Dick" and his Watergate scandal. I'll try and be back soon.