GR8 Win

Despite the gale force winds ripping through my building's courtyard at the moment, I have returned to finish yesterday's recap of Tigers football. Seriously, at times the wind here is downright cartoonish, but I'm not one to complain. The breeze that comes into my bedroom about two feet above my pillow makes sleeping conditions darn-near perfect. This coupled with my Ikea 'Sultan' mattress is an unbeatable combination; neither Ali Baba nor his forty thieves could rob me of a good night's sleep.

Anyways, on to the good stuff now. Yesterday was by far the best game I've played in since joining the Tigers. I would say it shares this distinction with our thrilling week one victory over the Amager Demons, however I wasn't in action at the time. We played visitor to the Esbjerg Hurricanes, a team we narrowly defeated in late May by a margin of 7-0 and yesterday's contest proved to be a challenging affair yet again.

Esbjerg is a fairly industrial coastal community in the southwest of Jutland, known for its thriving harbor and fishing trade. Because of this, they are somewhat of a quandary of a football team. Depending on the month, they may or may not have their top players, as many of them work on oil rigs, fishing boats and various other offshore interests. These jobs last weeks at a time, making it tough for the 'Canes when these guys are away and tough on opponents when they are home. The last time we faced them, they happened to be down on players; something that benefited us then, as we were missing several key contributors, too. Yesterday, they still did not have a very large corps, however their leading players happened to be ashore for this game.

Adding to this fact, the Hurricanes have had some solid coaching throughout this season from two different American coaches. The first coach was at the helm the last time we faced each other and I could tell he was a fiery young man, who most importantly, knew football and could teach the game. He has since departed to take an offensive coordinator position at a Division II college back in the States and was replaced by another Yank, who most recently came from coaching in the Austrian Football League, one of the top leagues in all of Europe. Using what they have learned from these fellows, our opponents started strong and we soon found ourselves in unfamiliar territory.

After a scoreless first quarter for both squads, Esbjerg drew first blood with a long scoring drive that culminated in a TD run from about four yards out. The PAT was good and we trailed in a game for the first time since April 17th. This ended our defense's streak of scoreless quarters at twenty-seven, but it wouldn't be long before they regrouped and started anew. Unable to muster a response, we entered the half down 7-0. Prior to this there had been some long faces and chippy attitudes on our sidelines and we knew we were in a dogfight.

After some halftime soul-searching, the guys came out fired up and made the decision to not lose sight of what we've been doing all season long. We received the kickoff and went right to work, stringing together a long drive that finished in the Esbjerg endzone with a Brian Woodward TD reception. Following the PAT, the game was knotted at seven apiece. From this point on, it was a different ball game; our sideline now energized and involved. Both teams continued to battle hard until midway through the fourth, when QB Matthias Lilhauge found the endzone on a short scramble, giving us a 13-7 advantage. After a missed extra point, the score remained the same and we knew we had to dig in to preserve the W.

Despite a few long Esbjerg conversions and theatrics late in the game, the Tiger defense triumphed and now has a new scoreless streak of two quarters in the books. After the game, we recognized how we had come together to close the deal. That being said, we also acknowledged that the last two games we have upcoming will both be equally as tough and we will need to play better from the start in order to finish this things off the right way. The game's MVP was everybody's favorite American (Brian, of course, not me) who turned in a grown-man performance with at least ten catches (five or six of which went for first downs), a hundred yards and then some receiving and the aforementioned touchdown. This came as no surprise to me, as the night before the game, the Bri-guy told me he was going to have a big game and I believed him. He had the fire in his eyes and exuded the confidence of a thirty-five year-old, trapped in a thirty-seven year-old's body. In addition to his fine statistics, Brian also set the tone for us on the sidelines, stressing the importance of down and distance, which was indeed key in winning the game.

This week's "Moment" was a little harder to come by, considering our opposition was far less inept than in previous games. The same however, almost could not have been said for the laundromat responsible for washing the Hurricanes' jerseys. Just before we left the changing rooms for pregame warmups, someone informed me that the 'Canes hadn't yet received their uniforms from the cleaners. It must have been a very close call, as they took the field shortly thereafter in their gameday garb. Prior to that though, I was wondering what they would have done had this not been the case. In retrospect, probably best not to think about such 'could-have-beens.'

All in all, it was a heck of a fun game to play in and my hats off to Esbjerg for a good match. The increased level of competition was a rather refreshing change and I anticipate will better prepare us for our final two showdowns, the first of which coming in two weeks. Before I go, I'd like to leave you with an image from last night. Below is the aftermath of the death of my PhysioBall. No sooner did I click 'Publish Post' after finishing last night's entry, then did I hear a loud hiss coming from directly below me. Since my apartment, to the best of my knowledge is snake-free, I knew the end was near and that something very bad was coming very soon. As this thought left my head, a giant pop threw me to the floor and left my toe in the condition you now see. I must have caught it on the bottom of my desk. The troubles I go through to share my story with you all...

Back on Track

So, as promised (three weeks ago), I've promptly returned to blogging duties here in the 'Mark. In my defense, I was rather busy during yet another period of extended, unexplained absence. Early in the month, I was contacted by Marist Sports Information Director, Mike Ferraro, about writing a piece for www.goredfoxes.com on my time abroad. I spent a few days working on this and submitted it to Mike just before the Foxes reported for preseason camp. In case you don't know who I am or what I've been writing about on this thing since March, feel free to check out the article here. My thanks to Mike for getting in touch with me and giving me the chance to share my Danish experience with the rest of Red Fox Nation. At some point, I encourage all of you to check out the Marist athletic website (link above) to see the great work Mike and the rest of the sports department are doing this fall in covering Marist Football during camp. I especially look forward to live video feeds of Marist games this fall as they look to make their mark in their second year of Pioneer Football League action!

While working on the aforementioned assignment though, I was also busy readying my apartment for several visitors from far, far away. That's right, you guessed it (well, to be fair, most of you are family and this probably comes as old news, but nonetheless), Steve and Joyce Dembow and Aunt Annette Kuzmiak all made the transatlantic voyage to spend a week of quality time with yours truly. I plan on posting more about this in the future, so be on the lookout for that. I realize that given my current track record, I should probably stop talking about future posts and just try to stay in the present. Still though, it never hurts to dream... We did enjoy a marvelous time together however and I was very grateful for the company. Thanks to all Tigers readers out there for pretending to like me while they were around; I think they bought it.

I also realized when I returned for the first time several weeks ago that I promised information on my European adventures. I promise, once again, that this stuff is coming. Right now though, the time has come for some much-needed updating on Aarhus Tigers gridiron action (on a related note, Australians refer to American football solely as 'gridiron.' Pretty cool, no?). As loyal NTD reader Jim Bailey pointed out, you just can't get solid coverage of Danish American football in the US markets, so it's up to me to deliver the goods. Thank you for putting this in perspective for me, Jim; may this and future posts continue to distract you from your work-related tasks.

In the time that I haven't been blogging, your Senior Tigers played two games and both of them ended with the good guys on top, improving our record to 8-0 on the season. Last week, with my folks in attendance, we took care of business against the Odense Swans with a convincing 44-0 W. Our defense continued its division-leading dominance, tacking on four more quarters of scoreless football to an already impressive streak of twenty-two. The D shut down the Swans' swinging gate (look it up if you don't know what it is) and held them to about minus-fifty yards total offense on the day. Meanwhile, the offense got things rolling after a slow start and quickly began piling up the points. This culminated in frustration for the visiting Swans and leads us to last week's "Moment in Danish American Football." During the third quarter as the contest was really getting out of hand, a scuffle emerged on the Odense sidelines. An angry Swan took exception to his American coach's strategies and "[expletive-deleted] offense" and had to be physically restrained by several players and assistant coaches. He stormed off; shouting and cussing, throwing his helmet, the works. That's not even the kicker, though. About ten minutes after the altercation, this individual was back playing in the game. When later asked what would happen if a player pulled a stunt like that in the States, myself and fellow American Brian Woodward responded almost in unison, "not that."

Below is an image from www.usfootball.dk, taken by longtime Aarhus Tiger and fan-favorite, Ulrik 'Farmer' Fristed. This photo was the number two image in last week's Top Ten countdown. To check out the gallery, click here. From there, you can also check out some other 'Farmershots' from previous Tigers games, including last week against the Swans.


At the moment though, It's getting very late and I need some rest. I WILL, however, be back TOMORROW with a recap of today's game, thus forcing me back into some sort of rhythm. Normal blogging routine, here I come. Thanks for being patient out there.

"Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do..."

Ever hear the one about the guy in Denmark who wrote a blog, but then disappeared for a while and didn't tell anybody? No?? Hmm, I could've sworn that one was big with the kids today. Well, to be honest, I don't think think the punchline is very funny and as the immortal words of Ricky Ricardo ring louder than ever in this post's title, I do, indeed, 'got some 'splainin' to do.'

Unless you are a member of my immediate family or one of my teammates here in Aarhus (as approximately ninety-five percent of this blog's readers are), you have probably been feeling pretty left out over the last month or so. I done gone and didn't say nothing. Some of you out there might still be waiting for the extended recap of our last game on June 26th. Yikes. I've been a vewy bad bloggah. I suppose not even a stylized typing of Elmer Fudd's voice is going to get me out of this one, so I may as well try to explain the series of events leading up to my absence and then you may cast your stones (better warm up your shoulder if you want to hit me).

Let's travel all the way back to late June, 2010. Following our last game before the summer break, I fully intended to publish a proper recap of our emphatic victory and then bid all of you adieu indefinitely. I had planned a prolonged vacation in the several weeks leading up to this time and naturally, I wanted to share my itinerary with you you. I was all set to do this, but then a few minor obstacles got in the way, most notably packing for my trip five hours or so before departure.

This should come as no surprise to anybody that really knows me and I just want you all to be aware, it's nothing personal. I take a long time to do certain (most/all) things and usually (most/all of the time), these are accomplished in the face of a rapidly approaching deadline. This generally applies to these entries as well and if I know I don't have enough time to deliver a quality effort, I'll often post-pone (see what I did there?) doing one. I ain't perfeckt and I don't claim to be, so I will admit now that I did run out of time on this particiular occassion and unfortunately, the NTD Community was left out to dry. My condolences to the few of you out there who follow my words, but rest assured, I am just bursting with dynamite material that I am eager to write about.

These will all come very soon, but for now, I do want to share a few highlights from our 51-0 W over the Horsens Stallions. In a highly unconventional turn of events, I'm actually going to lead off with everyone's favorite "Danish American Football Moment." I do so, because in this case, it in fact, took place before each team had finished warming up. Just before our offense got together to run a few plays, a Horsens player approached Tigers QB Matthias Lilhauge and said something to the effect that we should 'mercy rule them early, so they can get home quickly.' It should be noted that at the time, Horsens was winless on the year and they intended to remain so, if their players had anything to do with it. Unfortunately, it took us until early in the fourth quarter to reach the required 50 point margin that warrants the mercy rule; perhaps we should have worked a little harder to fulfill their wishes.

The game itself went accordingly though: we won and they didn't. Several Stallions opted for cigarettes on their sidelines instead of water; it seems they were unable to wait until after the game, as they had following our first encounter in April. Seeing this, I couldn't help but think of Washington Sentinels kicker, Nigel 'The Leg' Gruff from The Replacements:


Yep, that's pretty much what it look liked. I can't understand though, why so many of them got winded so quickly? Aside from this, the game was pretty uneventful. We took care of business and summer break has come and gone. We start practices up again on Tuesday. Our next game won't be until next Sunday, but I'm sure the guys are excited to get back out on the field and finish this season off the right way.

That's about all I've got to say for the moment, I don't want to strain myself after such a long time off. Baby steps worked for Bob and they're going to have to work for me, as well. With that, I would like to say it's good to be back and that I have missed joining you on a semi-regular basis. I look forward to sharing all the gory details of my trip with you in the posts to come. For now, this should serve as an appropriate teaser: