Graz, AT

Graz, the biggest city in Styria, a region of southern Austria near the border with Slovenia, is located in the valley of the Mur River, in the beautiful foothills of the Alps. It is most known for its title as birthplace of the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger. The climate is similar to that of northern California and the scenery is nearly as stunning. Though not as large a tourist draw as neighboring Vienna (2 hrs NE) and Klagenfurt (1.5 hrs W), the very bicycle friendly Graz has much to offer. Schlossberg (Mountain Palace?) is a stunning hill-top fortress directly in the middle of the city center. In 2003, Graz was named the cultural capital of Europe and many monuments were built in celebration of this new title. One classy and very modern example of this is the Mur Insel (Mur Island) which is a café/auditorium built in the middle of the Mur. During the summer, many concerts are held at this open air auditorium and daily you can enjoy some of Graz’s best coffee either within the structure or in the stadium seats. There is also a slide for those young at heart. At night, the Mur Insel is wonderfully lit up and not a few hundred yards away stands the eye popping Museum of Modern Art. Much like the EMP in Seattle, the museum has an aesthetically intriguing style. After 3 days in the city, I have grown to appreciate its uniqueness and mark on the city’s skyline.

This weekend has been really awesome, Graz is a city I could see myself raising young Keegan in. It is a vibrant community that has a strong foundation in multiculturalism and multilingualism. It has the convenience of a large city without the hurried pace. There are many parks along the Mur which runs directly through the city. My favorite is the Augarten, a family park that has attractions for all ages. It is a great place to bring children or simply enjoy a book in the Styrian sun.

Kathi Pregartbauer, a good friend of mine who was a teammate of Niki’s in Innsbruck, lives in an apartment that overlooks the Augarten and there is where I made home there for the last few days. Upon my arrival in Graz, I hopped on a streetcar to the city center (Hauptplatz) to meet up with Kathi and her girlfriend Steffi. We had some coffee and caught up at the very geműtlich (comfortable/hospitable) Café Schwalbenest near the Mur Insel. After coffee and a brief stop by the flat to drop off my things, we met up with Kathi’s twin brother, Gogo (Gottfried) for some Pizza at the new, and very modern Paradiso Italian Restaurant. Then we made our way up the many steps of Schloßberg to have a few beers and take in the beauty of the city.
That night we tried our hands at some “high stakes” poker (€2.50 all in, or about $4). As usual with me and poker, my money disappeared in the first hour but the company was good and it was intriguing to watch the unexpected (& often very cunning) personalities of everyone playing.

Saturday I made my way to Vienna to do some “work” scouting our next opponent and their new QB Steve Levy from Cal-Berkeley. He has a strong arm, but is a natural fullback and loves contact, maybe too much. The most notable surprise of the game was the performance of Clinton Graham, the Vikings star running back who is supposed to be resting a severely injured thigh. He probably should have sit out the game, but instead ran the ball 13 times for 145 yards. I was pretty impressed as they had to help him get up after most of the runs.

Hohe Warte, the Vikings football exclusive stadium was very impressive. The atmosphere was electric and the fans were well educated in the game. I was very impressed by the organization and set up, but when you win Europe and Austria year-in & year-out, that kind of support and sponsorship follows. The final score was a lopsided 34-3, but at the half it was anybody’s game and only 14-3. Carinthian shot themselves in the foot several times after long drives that found themselves deep in Viking territory, but nothing gained for it.

We certainly have our work cut out for us this week, but Vienna is very beatable this year and I think our offense can put up some points. If we can contain an injured Graham & force Levy into throwing situations, I think we can hold their scoring to a minimum. I’m confident that our offense can score points this week, so it’s up to me & the defense to secure the win. We need the win to remain eligible for the playoffs, so this will be a very important and busy week on my end.

Saturday night I returned to Graz around 11pm and joined the girls at the Office Pub to celebrate another friend another friend’s birthday. The live band was a bit loud but very talented and only disappointed when the drunken English Rugby Players in attendance requested Sweet Home Alabama & their repeated demands were not met. However, they were quieted by the very impressive talent of the Russian fiddler who wowed them with performance after performance. He truly was impressive.
Sunday I got some work done and broke down the game film of Vienna. We then had lunch at Schillerhof Pizza, a very nice outdoor beer garden style restaurant/bar. The best part of Sunday, however, was meeting up with Kathi’s family for dinner. Both of her brothers Flo (Florien) & Gogo were there & it didn’t take long to figure out where their athletic prowess came from; their mother, Ute, very quickly handled me at both Ping Pong and Darts.

Well, I missed my train Sunday, and can’t say that I am sorry that I did; another beautiful day in Graz was ahead. Maybe it was the weather, perhaps the great company, but I must say that I am “volle begeistert” (totally enthralled) with this locale.

Now I find myself back on the train with another 8 hours until I am back in Vorarlberg, already planning another visit to a place that felt as close to “home” as I’ve been in Europe.

Graz, AT

After practice tonight I'm going to have to hurry to shower and make it to the train station to catch the 10:41pm overnight to Graz. I'll be spending Friday & Saturday night there before I head back to Hohenems on Sunday. On Friday & Sunday I'll be spending the day with a good friend, Kathi Pregarthbauer (one of the most athletic and talented people I've ever met in my life) who was a former teammate of Niki's in Innsbruck, and also a former Women's National soccer player here in Austria. I look forward to spending time with her, though she focused her studies on Italian and not English in school, so this will be some more great practice for my German. We always have a great time so, I have no doubt this weekend will be the same.

On Saturday, I'm going to make a trip to Vienna to watch the Vikings play against Carinthian. Normally, this would be a blowout not-worth-scouting type of a game, but Vienna lost their Quarterback two weeks back and have a new import from Cal-Berkeley that I'd like to get a feel for. He was recruited as a fullback but was switched to QB & eventually started two games in '07 (Wins over Stanford & BYU) but got arrested the next summer during a bar-fight incident where he had "meant to simply throw water on the guys head, but the glass slipped and broke over his head." Should be interesting to say the least.

Anyway, I've got a practice to plan and lunch to prepare. I'll write again on Monday (with pictures).

Bis dann!

BYE WEEK

Today I went to Chur, Switzerland with teammates/players Matt Walters (Michigan State) and Nic Haritonenko (Dresden, Germany). Chur is directly south of us in Hohenems, below the tiny country of Leichtenstein. We visited Robin Haas & Toni Muggwyler, two of our Swiss import players. Robin took us on a tour of his town, showing off many of the fantastic sites. It was a rainy miserable day, but getting out of Vorarlberg was nice and the beauty of the Swiss Alps and Chur cannot be overstated. This is a city steeped in tradition, is the oldest town in Switzerland having been settled for well over 5000 years.

I will get some pictures from Matt tomorrow(?), but for now the one above will have to do. From www.schweizbilder.ch.

Tomorrow I'm also taking the overnight train to Graz (birthplace of Arnold Schwarzenegger) to visit some friends and scout Vienna on Saturday. Stay tuned for more pics!

More on Chur:
----from www.myswitzerland.com---
Chur looks back on 5000 years of settlement history, which also makes it Switzerland’s oldest town. This lively small bishop’s town has developed to become the cultural and economic centre of the Grisons, thanks to its excellent location on key transport routes through the Alps.

To help find the most important witnesses to the town’s history, two discovery trails marked by red and green footprints lead through the town. Examples include the Gothic old town dating from the 15th and 16th century, where the influences of the neighbouring countries remain visible today and attest to the skills of the Italian master builders, and the 800-year-old cathedral with its wonderful, three-sided carved altar dating from the 15th century. Visits to the Rhaetian Museum with its cultural-historical and folk art collection, as well as the Art Museum with its Grisons’ paintings and sculptures from the 18th – 20th century, are particularly rewarding.

500 shops and over 100 restaurants and hostelries offer visitors a wealth of possible purchases. The town’s many annual events as well as concerts, theatres and cinemas make the southern ambience of Chur noticeable. What’s more, Chur also has a zoo and leisure park.

A regional mountain – the ‘Brambrüesch’ – means that Chur also has its own winter and summer sports region. In summer, Chur is the ideal spot from which to set off on walks and visits to vineyards in the ‘Bündner Herrschaft’ winemaking region. Chur is the gateway to the Grisons mountains: 26 holiday and spa resorts can be reached in less than an hour from Chur.

Panorama trains travel from Chur into the Grisons Alps, e.g. the Bernina Express to St. Moritz and Tirano along the Albula route which has been much praised as a masterpiece of railway construction, the Glacier Express to the Matterhorn, the Arosa Express to the renowned climatic spa resort, and the Heidi Express to Davos.

Chur is the centre of the Chur Rhine valley, which reaches from the “Bündner Herrschaft” wine-growing region to the spectacular gorge of the Viamala. Whilst the “Bündner Herrschaft” with its centre of Maienfeld once inspired Johanna Spyri to pen her Heidi book and today produces outstanding Pinot Noir wines, Grüsch-Danusa, best known as a winter sports region, lies at the valley entrance to the Prättigau. To the west of Chur lies the Domleschg, the most castle-populated region of Switzerland and directly to the south of this Thusis, at the entrance to the steep Viamala gorge.

EFAF Cup: Europe Loses in the Quarters 161:20

---translated from www.aflcrush.com---
While many feel that the rest of Europe may be catching up to the traditional quality of play in Austria, this weekend's results show that Austria may again be a few steps ahead of the rest of the continent. The Austrians won all their games this weekend by a considerable margin, however one must not jump too quickly to this conclusion as several games have yet to be played. However, if the EFAF Cup plays out as shown, 3 of the 4 semifinalists will come from the Alpine Republic.

Danube Dragons 84:00 Wroclaw The Crew (Poland)
A practice session. It does not do the game justice any further to write more. The Dragons fulfilled their role and won their prelude play without any problems. They used exclusively reserve players in the second half and got much needed experience to Thomas Haider at QB and Herbie Klackl at RB (with 1 TD!). Finally the question arises, did Poland enter the EFAF Cup a bit too prematurely? On one hand it is pleasing that the tournament is attractive to Poland and that they want to participate, on the other hand it may not necessarily help Polish football grow.

Next step for the Dragons is a trip to Prague to take on the Panthers, who also shutout the Crew with a score of 53:00.

Carinthian Black Lions 39:20 Badalona Dracs (Spain)
The Lions are happy to be outside of the AFL and into international play. Though they have been humiliated in league play, in competition with other nations their outlook is completely opposite. The Badalona Dracs is a team with much international experience on the European level, but it was not enough for them this year. The Lions focused on mistake-free football and won the game very handily.

The next step for the Lions is a trip to Parma, Italy where they will take John Grisham's Playing for Pizza squad, the Parma Panthers. Parma is currently 1-1 in Italy and should be a considerable opponent for the Carinthian.

Cineplexx Blue Devils 38:00 Bern Grizzlies (Switzerland)
The Devils struck their Swiss opponent 38:0, against whom they must replay on May 10th. Though the offense saw some struggles under interim QB Paul Troth, the defense made a very strong impression, holding the Griz to less than 30yards in the first half, and stifling each drive clearly and quickly throughout the game. Unless something dramatic happens, the Devils should easily move on to the semifinals to play the winner of the Carinthian/Parma matchup in May.

Shutout!

Finally, a shutout. We beat the Swiss Champion Bern Grizzlies 38:0. More on that tomorrow; I need some sleep.

:)

EFAF Cup Results

GROUP A
@ Hohenems Blue Devils (Austria) 38:0 Bern Grizzlies (Switzerland)
5/10 - Hohenems Blue Devils (Austria) @ Bern Grizzlies (Switzerland)

GROUP B
@ Carinthian Black Lions (Austria) 39:20 Badalona Dracs (Spain)
4/26 - Parma Panthers (Italy) @ Badalona Dracs (Spain)
5/11 - Carinthian Black Lions (Austria) @ Parma Panthers (Italy)

GROUP C
@ Berlin Adler (Germany) 26:12 Amsterdam Crusaders (Netherland)
@ Triangle Razorbacks (Denmark) 3:0 Amsterdam Crusaders (Netherlands)
5/10 - Triangle Razorbacks (Denmark) @ Berlin Adler (Germany)
++Amsterdam Crusaders (Netherlands) eliminated

GROUP D
@ Wroclaw The Crew (Poland) 0:53 Prague Panthers (Czech)
@ Danube Dragons (Austria) 84:0 Wroclaw The Crew (Poland)
5/11 - Danube Dragons (Austria) @ Prague Panthers (Czech)
++Wroclaw The Crew (Poland) eliminated

EFAF Cup

This week we find ourselves in the EFAF Cup Group Stage against the Bern Grizzlies(Switzerland) with a good chance to reestablish ourselves as a European power. I will write more about Bern tomorrow, but will inform you now on the EFAF Cup and its history:

--from Eurobowl.com--
The EFAF-Cup is an annual invitational competiton played since 2002, following EURO-Cup and Federation-Cup, both european tournaments played in the '90s. EFAF-Cup is a competition - comparable to soccer´s UEFA Cup - for european top teams of their highest national league. The EFAF-Cup Tournament is played in regional groups. The group winner meet in the EFAF-Cup Final to play out the overall winner, the EFAF-Cup Champion.

First Championship was won by Graz Giants. The austrian team did show a great game in Graz in front of more than 1.200 spectators against the long years spanish top team Badalona Drags, covered by Austrian TV.

A new visitor record in 2003: 4000 people followed the EFAF-Cup Final 2003 between Papa Joe`s Tyrolean Raiders (Austria) und Carlstad Crusaders (Sweden). The Scandinaviens did win the thunderstorm game and became EFAF-Cup Champion 2003. In 2004 Raiders team from Innsbruck could win the trophy in front of 4.500 visitors - again a new record attendance - against the British Champion PA Knights, coming from London area.

2005 two new clubs showed up in the EFAF-Cup final. Elancourt Templiers, French Semi-Finalist of the previous year, lost the final against Marburg Mercenaries, the Semi-Finalist 2005 of the German League GFL. 2500 visitors, a club record, watched the game played in the city of Elancourt, close to Paris.

After 11 clubs in 2005 competition the 2006 tournament showed 15 participating teams. TUREK Graz Giants could win their second EFAF-Cup title in 2006. In the final Graz would beat the Norwegian champion Eidsvoll 1814 by 37:20 in ASKÖ-stadium Eggenberg in front of 2.600 visitors.

2007 again was the year for the TUREK Graz Giants with their third EFAF-Cup victory. The european champion did win the final against the austriaan club Cineplexx Blue Devils Hohenems from Vorarlberg, Austria by 28 : 26 after a halftime score of 0 : 20.

----
After blowing a 20 point lead in the championship game last year, you can imagine how important this tournament is to our organization this year. It will be important that, though injuries abound, we come out and make a statement to the rest of the tournament. Sadly, this tournament lends itself toward running up the score as the group bracket for us only includes two teams, and will be a home & away 8 quarter game. Hopefully, the score will get ugly this week and we'll be able to play our youngsters during the next meeting. That being said, the Swiss teams always bring their best against the Blue Devils because we lie on their eastern boarder and many of the top Swiss players play for our team to test their skills in the top league in Europe, Austria. Should be a fun one & great atmosphere.

Numbers Game

That's me, #48. I suited up this week because a player had to sit due to his ejection last week, opening up a spot for another American player.

For my first game back in over 4 years, I feel like my fits & reads were pretty good, I missed a few open field tackles, but Florian Grein will make a guy do that (he was only a knee injury away from making an NFL roster in '05).

The game started off well, we dominated their offense the first series, but we knew it'd be a battle because they came off the ball hard and the play calling was crisp and fast. You could tell from the get-go that Raiders HC Geoff Buffum was going to make this one a numbers game.

I tell you what, figuring out what offensive personnel grouping they've got, making a call, and lining up and playing is exhausting. There's no time to get off the ground slow; as the tackle is being made I had to be thinking of situation, down & distance, their tendancies, and pick a fitting play/coverage and line up & do it again. I was very happy with how the play calling went, it took a few series to catch up with their pace (and huddle our guys, etc), but as far as the effectiveness and getting guys in the right spots, I was pretty happy with.

The game, however, took a dramatic change as both of our Cornerbacks started coming up lame, one with a sublocating shoulder and the other a stinger. Then our import Defensive End tore a tendon in his calf. With three of my starters out and an increased number of players going both ways, their offensive pace became overwhelming. They started grinding down the field on us and we simply wore down. The offense also struggled to score points and after they finally were able to drive the field and put one in. We were still in the game only down 16-6 just before the half, but a long kickoff return seconds later put them up 23-6 at the break. Our mood in the locker room was focused, but you could sense the concern.

Offensively we came out well in the second half, but the drive stalled and we were forced to punt. They continued their grind game, forcing us to go to the bench for guys and suddenly our players started dropping like flies. WR Robin Haas strained his knee (so badly that we thought he broke his leg for sure), WR/DB Christian Steffani took hit after hit and had to sit some on D after a bell ringer (now down to 1 starting and healthy DB remaining), so they ran a bit of play action and their fresh starters wore down our injured and now two-way reserve players. Combine that with some unfortunate turnovers and the second half got ugly, 50-14.

It was a bad result against a good team, I think if we can get healthy somewhat this week, take care of business against Bern for our EFAF Cup Quarterfinal game, we'll have a bye week to get healthy and prepare for the Vikings of Vienna, who are struggling this year. We'll likely have to win out in order to make the playoffs.

On the other side of things, it was fun to play against the guys I used to coach, and knock heads with some of the old juniors players in the program. I am definitely getting older and today I'm feeling each and every hit from the game.

After the game I went to Harley's to meet up with some of the OLinemen (they were sponsored by Harley's - a Harley Davidson shop/bar), then went over to Baggersee, the official after-party for the Raiders to see a bunch of good friends from my time in Innsbruck.

So, outside of the schlacking we took on the field, it was a very good trip & I was able to meet up with some people who mean a lot to me.

----------------
AUSTRIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE
@ Swarco Raiders Tirol 50:14 Cineplexx Blue Devils Hohenems
@ Danube Dragons 35:28 Raiffeisen Vikings Vienna
Turek Graz Giants & Carinthian Black Lions BYE

EUROBOWL QUARTERFINAL
@ Turek Graz Giants 49:27 Flash de la Courneuve (Paris, FR)
**Giants advance to Semifinal**
---------------
AFL STANDINGS
1. Turek Graz Giants (2:0)
2. Swarco Raiders Tirol (2:1)
3. Danube Dragons (2:1)
4. Raiffeisen Vikings Vienna (1:2)
5. Cineplexx Blue Devils Hohenems (1:2)
6. Carinthian Black Lions (0:2)

Big Game in West-Derby

--As reported by the www.raiders.at website--

This Saturday, April 12th at 3pm the Swarco Raiders Tirol (1-1) host the Cineplexx Blue Devils (1-1) from Hohenems at Tivoli Stadium. Both team have to recover from a bitter loss last week and want to get back on the road to victory. The winner of this very important game is still in the race for the playoffs, the loser will have very small chances.

Swarco Raiders Headcoach before the game: "After a disappointing loss last week we are looking forward to getting back on the field again to play a very improved Blue Devils team. On offense and defense they outplayed the Dragons last week, they lost the game with their special teams. We also had some difficulties with our special teams last week. The team that wins the battle of the special teams will win the game."

Very strong imports in Hohenems
The Blue Devils have a totally new team, improved with high-class import players, all with either Div I experience or even NFL experience. Running Back Matthew Walters played at Michigan State, allrounder Charles Drake (DB, RB, Returner) played already in the NFL with the Detroit Lions and NFL Europe with Rhein Fire. Their Quarterback Carl Bonnell played at the University of Washington and is the key to a strong passing attack.

Reunion with Coach Bonnell
Carl Bonnell is the younger brother of Raymond Bonnell, who is the Defense Coordinator for the Devils, and he knows the Swarco Raiders very well. Raymond Bonnell, alias "Romo", was a defensive assistant coach for the Swarco Raiders in 2005.

Presentation of new mascot "Birdie"
The new Swarco Raiders mascot "Birdie", a pirate-parrot, will from now on assist our pirate mascot Black-Beard and will be presented to the fans for the first time. In addition we will offer a great show program for all fans, the company "Zimt & Zucker" gives away for free cotton candy at the entrance and eventsponsor Christophorus will raffle an airplane ticket from Austrian Airlines for a free flight within Europe.

Show program:
+ Cotton Candy at "Zimt & Zucker" stand
+ Christophorus raffles a flight with Austrian Airlines within Europe
+ First presentation of new mascot "Birdie"
+ Big pyroshow
+ Cheerleader show
+ American food and drinks
+ DJ Horst & announce Christian Brugger

Live-broadcast on www.live.raiders.at
Together with the help of our partners from the Connexion team we will have a live-stream of the game on our webpage.

Post-Game Party at Baggersee
The post-game parties at Baggersee in Innsbruck already have a legendary status. If you want to meet the Swarco Raiders players and cheerleaders chilling out after a big game, just meet them at the party.


Swarco Raiders Tirol vs. Cineplexx Blue Devils Hohenems
Sa. 12.04.2008, Tivoli Stadion
Begin: 15:00 Uhr
Open gates: 14:00 Uhr

Foto: Fotoworxx

Familiar Faces

This week we've got the formidable task of taking on a traditional power in the Swarco Raiders Tirol. I coached with the Raiders (Innsbruck) back in '05 and the organization really has a grasp on how to win in Europe. They've developed a strong youth program, advertise and promote themselves well with the local community, have secured a year-round coaching staff with imports who stay multiple years. On top of that, the coaching staff that they have is a very good one. Geoff Buffum, the HeadCoach & offensive coordinator, knows the game as well as anyone I've ever coached with.

It should be an emotional game all around, for me at least; I developed a strong connection with their players while coaching the DLine in '05. Many of those guys have retired, but some, like #8 Viktor Skradski, #50 Mario Rinner, and many others, it will be truly a pleasure to coach against them.

As far as X's & O's, they are a very strong team all-around on offense. #13 QB Marko Glavic isn't as good as he's hyped up to be, but he's a very solid quarterback with a strong arm, decent feet, and a good head on his shoulders. The players I'll need to contain include Innsbruck native running back #4 Florian Grein, Flo is a solid running back who, once in the second level, can slice and dice a defense to open space. The others who concern me are #1 Jakob Dieplinger, who is their equivalent to our Christian Steffani, an explosive WR who can stretch defenses. They've got a good set of imports, #34 James Ellingston plays some fullback and is a handful, along with #9 Ryan Voss who is a tall, but not very physical, receiver.

I am concerned most about the effectiveness of their playcalling, Coach Buffum is very good at luring a backside cover guy to sleep or enticing an end to pinch down then jumping all over it the next play.

Should be a fun experience, to play in front of a few thousand people, in Football's best European stadium (Tivoli Neu) against good friends.

--The picture above is from our game in Barcelona in '05 when I was coaching DL for the Raiders (from left to right, top to bottom): *Jakob Dieplinger, Chris Rosier, Daniel Dieplinger, Manuel Urban, **Mark Falger, *Viktor Skradski (on ground), Me, Luke Ware.
*Will play against us on Saturday
**My Current DL Coach in Hohenems

Penalties did us in.

Today, against the Danube Dragons we blew a 13 point lead and lost by 2 in the closing minutes.

We jumped out to a 13-0 start on the first two drives of the game, we knew it'd be a battle this week; the Dragons are traditionally a very strong running team. They fought hard for yards and we did our best to shut them down.

Then they completed two long pass plays, the only two real positive plays of the first half for the Dragons and we found ourselves down 13-15 at the half.

The second half started off well for both our offense and defense but a blocked punt for a touchdown changed the game outright and we had to play catchup for the rest of the night.

During the final two quarters the White hat lost control over the game. He made some bad calls mixed with some of our own stupid mistakes that really did us in. 3 & 16 and we get a sack, but a 15 yard unsportsmanlike keeps them alive and brings them close enough to kick a field goal after we stop them and again we fell behind.

The offense drove the field to retake the lead again with about 4 minutes to go, we just missed the two point conversion as Christian Steffani could not get his toes down in bounds with control of the ball.

...Then all hell broke loose (fitting; considering we are the Blue Devils), there was a backward pass that we recovered (I call it backward because BOTH line judges called it so, but the Whitehat overruled them and gave the Dragons a third down), then on the next play they tried another swing pass that was incomplete and we were called for a late hit 15 yard penalty (funny, being that the hit was before any whistle was blown). Charles Drake, our former NFL Corner, lost his cool because this was the second untimely and questionable 15 yard penalty and was ejected from the game for swearing. That put them close enough to try a long field goal that literally hit the post on its way in.

With two minutes remaining the Offense was not able to get the ball down the field to win it (we had lost two recievers and an offensive lineman due to ejection during the chaos of the fourth quarter). End result, we lose by two.

Sad way to end a game. More on the game later.

Cook Off!!!

Today, a few of us took part in a cook off at the Fruehlings Messe (Spring trade show). In front of the Newspaper crew and a crowd of a few dozen we were challenged in a cook off against the three-time European Champion on the Grill. Matt Walters (Michigan State), Sikoti Uipi (San Diego State), Alex Haritonenko (Germany), and I went head to head with him and a suprise bag of ingredients.

I have to say, we really suprised ourselves. We put together a nice steak, pepper, & onion shishkabob deally. The steak was marinated in a glaze we put together real quick (lots of garlic and orange), and a second glaze was put on to keep the meat moist while the judges waited. That was really good, but the kicker was our beilage (side dish) a tomato, cut open (nice design from Hari), stuffed with an onion, garlic, kreuterbutter (I'm not sure how to translate that, butter with spices?), and some more tomato, topped with a slice of mozzarella & finished off with a mint sprig & some balsamic vinegar. That was amazing, I don't know how we came up with it, Matt initiated the idea, I found the garlic, and cooked the stuffing before we grilled it all on foil.

When push came to shove, however, the judges were torn a bit. That's the best we could hope for, the grill master popped out an amazing dish with thinly sliced and perfectly grilled steak with an orange marinade. Of the three judges, one was all for the professional, one was blown away by the tomato & the strong flavoring of the shishkabob, the third was torn, said our flavoring was a bit more enticing, while the pro was too conservative (I agree), but the presentation of the pro's meal was much more enticing than ours and gave a slight edge to the pro.

I'd have to agree, but we put on a very good showing for American Football and the grill. Awesome day so far.

After the competition, Matt and Hari signed up to compete in the beer holding contest. The winner of the whole Messe wins a free grill (which would be very handy at the house). Alex went first and easily took the lead with a strong showing of 2:39. Matt wowed the crowd by holding up the beer (straight armed) for over 4 minutes. We think that mark will last until Monday, but who knows. The previous record was 2:06.

Well, I've got to get ready for practice. Bis bald! (Photos of the cook off & beer hold to come!)

Dragon Slayers???

This week we've got a tough test against the Danube Dragons, a team who put up a decent fight with the Raiders (who are predicted to win it all) last week. They run a Navy style offense that utilizes misdirection, option, & some Wing-T "orbit" action. They've got a nasty Counter and Naked Boot that concern me a bit, but all in all I think we'll be okay. Because they are a 70% run team, our team speed we should contain them on defense as long as we are assignment correct and don't overpursue.

It is a very hyped up game. We shocked Austria with our dominance against the Black Lions and a lot of eyes are on us as a dark horse contender for the league championship. If we win this week, we'll have almost totally shored up a playoff spot (top 4 of the 6 teams go to the playoffs) and our ownership group will be very excited about that. We've moved up in the Power Rankings from 5th to 3rd in Austria, ahead of the Dragons. This game will show us if we are legit or not, I don't have any doubts that we are, with our explosive offense (who utilized ball control last week, rather than airing it out) and a very fast and sound defense, we should be very tough to beat this year. But, that's why they play the game, I just hope to put on a good show (not give up too many points) for the home opener and our ownership group. The players and coaches alike are excited for our potential this year.

The picture above is an article in today's Wann & Wo talking about our former NFL player Charles Drake (Detriot Lions) and Saturday's game.

SportNet.at Power Rankings (wk2)

1. Turek Graz Giants (last week 3rd)
The Giants successfully found revenge for the 2007 Austrian Bowl with their first win over the Vikings since 2002. The season could not have begun better for the Giants. The DLine played a huge game and this week's duel against the Black Lions should be an automatic victory.

2. Swarco Raiders Tirol (last week 1st)
The Raiders soundly defeated the Danube Dragons on Live TV, nevertheless the enormous nature of the Giants win moves the Raiders down in the Power Rankings. QB Glavic could convince the rest of the league, only conditionally, that the Raiders are back for a Title Win.

3. CINEPLEXX BLUE DEVILS HOHENEMS (last week 5th)
The bulk purchasing of imports in Hohenems was a worthwhile investment: New QB Carl Bonnell hit remarkable strikes against Carinthian, like a bomb. Also, the Austrians played strongly themselves; Christian Steffani caught four TD passes. The game against the Dragons on Saturday should prove an excellent and exciting match.

4. Danube Dragons (last week 4th)
For a quarter the Dragons would match their achievements of the previous year, but then it went steeply downhill. Many were injured against Tirol, including QB Tom Marsan. The run to the playoffs must go through a very strong Blue Devils team. A fifth place ranking threatens.

5. Raiffeisen Vikings Vienna (last week 1st)
The end of the Viennese era? As in the previous year, a loss in the opener, but this time with an injury to Defender Roman Floredo, it looks much worse. Now the Vikings and coach Calaycay are put to the test against a strong Raiders team. The OLine must improve; QB Atwood needs more time to deliver the ball and RB Graham bigger holes for big plays.

6. Carinthian Black Lions (last week 6th)
The Lions were served by the Blue Devils. Key player Lamire was hurt after a few minutes. Coach Bill Hurley, after week 1, is on the hot seat already. The previous year's sensation against Graz cannot be repeated. The Black Lions, outside of a complete disaster for the Giants, are in for a long day & season to follow.