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.