Cougars versus the Molosses

We played the Molosses yesterday at their place. It's a bit closer into Paris then Pontoise. As we drove towards the field you could see the eiffel tower in the distance. The game would turn out to be a 19-0 victory for the Cougars! The visitors locker room was a bit far from the field, so after we changed and got ready to go, we had to bring all our stuff, for me meaning a Muscle milk energy bar for half time. Gotta replenish when you go both ways.

The game itself was a good one for the cougars. Matt P went 10/17 with about 160 yards or so 2TD's throwing and a TD running. The first drive we got the ball and were stopped close to the redzone. I think we went for it on 4th down but failed. The Molosses got the ball, but we'd quickly gain it back. Loic had the guy for a sack but caused the QB to fumble and luckily yours truly was right there in time to hop on the ball. Looking back I wish I would have picked it up and tried to run with it, but not knowing how far away the defense was from me and being instinctivly trained as an offensive lineman to jump on a rolling ball, that's exactly what I did.

We went on to score. I believe the first touchdown was Matt P running a QB sneak on about the 15 yard line, just trying to get the first down, however after we drove the line a bit Matt managed to roll out from an arm tackle and scramble to the left side of the field all the way for a hard earned touchdown, getting hit as he rolled into the endzone. The extra point was good and we were up 7-0.

The next drive on offense we made it to the 17 or so before we stalled out and tried a field goal, we missed the 33 yard attempt and defense took over. Luckily the defense had a pretty great day, allowing less than 150 yards the entire match. We scored again in the 2nd quarter on a pass by Matt for 2 yards capping off a 45 yard drive.

We went into the game thinking the Molosses would play a 3-4 defense with blitzing linebackers, however when they came out they played in more of a 4-4 setting with the outside saftey being almost in the box at most points. The line played well throughout the game. It's good to see them improving.

I will have to say there were a couple of unusual things that happened in the game, that just can't go unmentioned. Arnaud, our left guard, who couldn't play against the Flash because of his job with the police band/orchestra finally got to play. However sometime in the first half he happened to lose a tooth. So at half time he was trying to find it. I think it was a fake one, but it's still a great story to tell one day. I can only picture it....Arnaud what happened to your tooth, well I hit a guy so hard that I lost in the field... Made me picture Jacob Lonowski.

Another funny ancedote that happened at halftime. Since the locker room was so far away, we stayed on the field during halftime. A first for me, since I never played Pee-Wee football or anything like that it was new. The other team stayed on the field at half time as well. This was quite humorous because since there were no bathrooms in distance, most players used the wall at the end of the endzone. I got to literally lay down on the field at half time, using a football for a headrest. I bet it was quite a humorous site for any fans to see.

Throughout the game there was also a real blood battle... in the sense that Will our right guard and my roomate had a cousin who was playing Middle Linebacker. His name is Frank. During warmups Frank came out of their changing area and yelled for Will. It was the closest thing I have ever seen to an old age battle, where one guy calls out another guy. They yelled at each other for a while and it was funny throughout the game. Frank would prowl and blitz through the A gap on Will's side. (between Will and I) The type of reckless blitzing that would cost their team valuable yards in offside penalties. Just to give you a visual image.

One time Will caught Frank and drove him to the ground. The whole time Will was just punching on his cousin and hitting him in the sides. Frank was telling him to stop and it was just hilarious

seeing those two go at it. On the very last play of the game, Will told the Defensive Tackle in front of him to move so that Frank could line up there. We were taking a knee to end the game so the only 2 players actually playing would be Will and Frank. Well that and the umpire who before the whistle lined up in a 3 point stance in front of me, kidding around! Another first for me, having a ref line up and kid with you during the game. He was a good guy. So Matt says hut and they semi go at each other for 5 steps or so.

Also during the game Micheal, one of our recievers, made an great catch. He dove out for a ball nearly out of his reach and somehow managed to come down with it. Maybe to emphasize how legit the catch was, just remember that this is coming from the same guy who saw Calvin make ridiculous catches for 3 years both in and out of games. So needless to say it was a great catch.

We scored again to cap off a 72 yard drive with a 5 yard pass going up 19-0. Missed the 2 point conversion and that's were the score would stay. Loic le Glas had a good day playing both offense and defense and recording 3 sacks... one of which should have been mine, I broke through the middle and chased the QB right into the waiting arms of Loic. I'm pumped for him though. I've been giving him a hard time at practice and stuff, telling him I'm coming for his sack record. He has the record for sacks in a season with 11 in a 10 game season... Well now that he has 3 in 2 games... I don't think I'll be talking much.

After the game we talked to the hockey guys and the GT girls who came out to support us. THANKS. Also, there is this one crazy fan that we have who makes it to most every game. Through out the match he yells ALLIEZ COUGARS! It is awesome, probably one of the most loyal fans I've met. If he where in Atlanta he'd definitely be mixing it with the Hive's faithful.

We got to talk with the RB import from Temple after the game a little bit, just asking how he was liking it and how the experience was going. He said it wasn't going so well and that it was tough if you can't speak French. It just made me realize how lucky both Matt and I are to be playing for the team we do and with the guys we have. They are all good guys and I'm just glad everything has worked out the way it has. I am truly blessed.

All in all a great time to finally get a win. I mean it had been awhile and against the Bulldogs to. Previously I had never beaten a Bulldog in my carear, but I guess things are different now! We are 1-1 and tied for 3rd in our conference. We play the Templier friday who are tied for 1st. Wish us well!

Again if you wanna check out the team website its http://www.lescougars.fr/ I'm sure they will have an update soon enough. Thanks for reading!

Game number 2

So it is Saturday night, the day before the game and I can't help but think how different it is then back in Atlanta. The hotel with all you can eat buffet followed by Muscle Milk, protien bars, and cookies has now been replaced with KFC chicken tenders, corn, frites, and "Toon Ice Pep Hits" (bite size carmel ice cream covered in chocolate.)

It's funny because as I look back I remember how habitual / ritualistic I was in getting ready for games. From the way I prepared the night before, what I did on the plane rides, when I ate/drank, to the game day preparations in the locker room. Getting taped as quick as possible. GBY/LD on the wrist, go to the field, 50 yard line prayer, pads, read the program, team prayer in the shower (which is amazing to me to see how big that grew from 7 or so guys my freshman year to nearly the whole team my senior year....D Mo is an amazing man of God) To pregame warm up, Till I Collapse followed by a becoming mentally prepared and a loud yell in the locker room. Being the last one out, circling the team, running the same warm-up plays against the defense. After 34 zone, 4 pack...etc. Back in, total silence, hearing the band roar, the stadium fill. Nervousness and Intensity setting in. Run out the tunnel, embrace the crowd. Stare down the opposition. Kickoff.

It's crazy. I guess I'm just realizing how fortunate I have been and that I still get the opportunity to play this great game. I can't wait for tomorrow, it's been 3 weeks and it almost feels like our first game of the season. We were supposed to play last week, but due to a conflict with scheduling of the younger teams ... the game got moved to now. I am worried because as some of you may know tonight is Saint Valentines Day. In case you were wondering, YES they have it in France. I just don't want to go out there tomorrow with half of my teamates being a little weak in the knees. Then again maybe half there team will be too!

It should be fun and I am excited to get things going again... Hopefully I'll get another sack on Defense... man it's fun. We need a win... I NEED A WIN... it's been to long for me. November 17th 2007 to be EXACT... yea think about that a year and almost 3 months... let's go! Anyways I'm pumped, hopefully it'll be a good one. I'll update you on how it goes

Learning 'football'

Made another video of learning how to play soccer with Andy. Basically I just had a lot of time today bc the weather's being pretty windy and bad, atleast 50mph winds...or whatever 140km/hr is? You do the math. The video was just from a day goofin' off at soccer world with Andy, but he does have some pretty good skills and even taught me a thing or two. Check it out. 3 mins long.

Wedding at Cana

The other day I made my way into the Louvre. Matt and I and a couple of new friends from Tech, Emily and Jessica walked around. It was one of those rainy cold days in Paris which really made it great to be inside staring at something someone else made so long ago. I think I'd like to be a sculptor. Just looking at some of the old works are Really cool to me. I mean what if they sneezed and totally ruined their inital concept.... how many times had that happened?? I mean you look at Aphrodite or something that was made about 300 years before Christ... seriously.

Just one of the amazing sculptures...typical man wrestling with the "serpant"

Would look good at Mema's house

We walked around and saw tons of neat things, like the crown jewels, a rooster which I thought would look great in Mema's house, small little relics and jewlery, one of which looked like the first play toy ever... you know the little bouncing balls that look like they've been fused together and when you throw it on the ground it bounces in all kinds of directions... yea it looked like that just made out of steel. There was a three person chair that looked like it was made for the purpose of the massage circle. I mean you can sit in it, but never see a person's face that's sitting with you... awkward.

The Massage chair

There was a sweet painting that was actually two paintings placed back to back. As you walked around it you could see both the front and back view, like it was actually happening in front of you. Such a cool idea/ concept/ loved it. It's actually a picture showing two guys wrestling for their lives. I just thought it was neat, and well displayed.



Oh and then there was little Mona. She was a lot smaller then what I expected, you could tell it was her spot in the Louvre because the crowds naturally emassed around her. We had fun taking pictures with her and what not, but the crowning painting for me in that particular room was the Wedding at Cana... a 16th century painting that is massive. It completely covers the wall opposite the blank wall with only Mona Lisa on display.

Holding Mona, she's tiny.

As you walk up to it you start discovering little things that our going on. What's happening in the painting is it's the wedding which Jesus was invited to and he turned the water into wine. Basically the first miracle. There is all sorts of things going on and it's at such a grand scale that it takes a while for things to sink in so you can finally notice all that's going all. For instance, theirs hunting dogs, people partying, someone serving up food, bringing in a huge cow or some type of meat, the bride and groom being served by a great looking man, and some other stuff that you can see hear at the video.

Throwdown with Matthew Rhodes: The falafell challenge

Check out the new episode of throwdown with Matthew Rhodes! Falafell Challenge.

The jewish district in Paris has really good street side falafell stores. We actually found two that were right across the street from each other. Watch as I put them to the test to find out which falafell is better!

Here is the video.

Traditionally German!!

So I had a TRADITIONALLY GERMAN weekend....*inside joke* everytime I experienced or saw something new/tried something new Andy would say it is TRADITIONALLY GERMAN, it was funny because after a while Josefin, the guys and myself would give him a hard time about it.... ok. So I arrived in Dusseldorf on Friday. Andy met me there and we drove to Dortmund normally a 40 min drive or so, but traffic jam on Friday meant an extra half an hour on the road. We arrived and Andy showed me some of Dortmund before having to go train some kids at Soccer World. First, we stopped by his house so he could change and I could drop my bag off.

He said help yourself to the fridge and of course I did. All I have heard about Germany is how good the beer is so naturally I grabbed a beer (Brinkhoff no.1) and made myself at home. I mean when in Rome...or this case Germany. This of course made Andy laugh. He gave me a "you're not hear an hour and your already drinking!" I told him that I had just heard so many good things about it. Apparently Dortmund used to have a bunch of breweries in the 80's and 90's (don't quote me on it) and had some good beer. Now there was only 2 or so left. Brinkhoff was seriously a traditional Dortmund beer.

At soccer world I watched Andy train the kids in soccer. He is really good at it, even in a foreign language you can tell he's challenging and tough, trying to get everything out of the kids...while still being able to know when that fine line of too much is. I think he'd be a great coach one day. Andy showed me the empty pitch and it was breathtaking to see the endzone squared off with 30,000 fans ready to yell the opposition into submission. Quite an amazing site. We then went to eat with Josefin, Till, Wolf, and Kathe. It was a blast. I'm glad it was not so overwhelming this time being around a totally new different language. We then went to a little TRADITIONAL pub and had a beer and watched the soccer match.

When we got back Andy wanted to play Madden. I had been talking a lot of trash over the internet about how good I am and blah blah... I mean it's how we roll in the 205...(just ask Tumi, DB, or Bull) Of course I won! ha no but it was a really good game and I had to score in the 4th with 2 mins left.

The next morning we woke up to a symphony of Porsche enginge's boasting their horsepower. It was a beautiful sound...actually I think it would make a great commercial to have the engines playing Mozart or Bach! As you already know the Autobahn was an amazing experience...SEE PREVIOUS POST...

Then we came back and got ready for gameday. Dortmund Borussia vs. Bayer Leverkusen. The match would be intense throughout. On the way up to the stadium I walked the path with many fans clothed in the bright yellow and black...some bundled up with Borussia scarfs displayed, while others bared the cold weather to show off their team spirit. As I inched closer to the stadium, the crowd had already began to assemble. It's still a solid 2 to 3 hours until the match even starts. The smells coming from the Brats and Beer stands lining the path were great. I sported my new Dortmund jersey.

As I walked in I had to go under the stadium to get to the access for the business club. Mats Hummels, a friend of Andy and defender for the pro team, gave me the ticket for the game. He was a really nice guy, down to earth and I appreciate that. I started wishing I could speak German now to communicate. Actually I really start feeling like I want to speak a lot of languages. The ticket was great first row close to the middle or "50 yard line."

As I got to the business club it was a great buffet of currywurst, turkey, veggies, kraut, soup, the works...and beer. I ate and then walked outside to check out the scene. The Gelb Wand or "yellow wall" had already started to get a bit rowdy and there's still over an hour before the match starts, but don't worry they wouldn't stop. You'll just have to see how the rest of the match goes on my video below. It's 10 mins long, I know I know...I'll start making them shorter, but I really wanted to capture the atmosphere.


After the game we came back and hung for a bit. We got ready and went out to Justins, a nice club in Dortmund. They give you a ticket which stamps how much you owe throughout the night and you have to pay after the night is up. Anyways I almost lost this because it fell out of my pocket, luckily Josefin found it or else I would've been out 80 Euros. The club was great, we got a table and just enjoyed it. They had a saxaphone player who would play with the house music and that was really a neat sound. Some of the players from the team showed up and it was cool getting to be around them, but I have to say Till, Wolf, Andy, Josefin, and Kathe were a ton of fun!!

Till, Wolf, Andy, and Yours Truly

Josefin and Kathe

The next morning we went to see Dortmund from the tower which is 200 meters up. (working on another video to show that one, promise it will be shorter) You could see the entire town and it was extremely cold and windy. Andy, Josefin and myself had to share just 2 pairs of gloves. The one who didn't have them on really couldn't move their hands...it was that cold. The wind made it a bit frightening as well because on the very top there was not a good guard rail, only waste high. The wind really could blow you off if you weren't careful.

Taking the bull by the horns under the tower. Still 100% TEXAN

Kaiser Wilhelm

Afterwards we went to see the Kaiser statue. Kaiser Wilhelm statue, which is a lot bigger then it seems at first glance. We played around up their for a while and again could overlook the half frozen sea and some of the businesses in the valley below. Josefin actually drove right up to the statue which apparently you can't do...C'est la vie...

We ate at an American restaurant for Hot chocolate and nachos. The best American food I've had in Europe so far. I can't remember exactly when but it may have been earlier for lunch, Andy's mom made a TRADITIONAL German meal. Goulash with beef, these amazing green beans rapped in thing proscuitto like bacon that had been crisped(absolutely delicious), 2 salads, German bread which is really good, and for dessert a Waffle with cherry sauce and whipped cream. Absolutely amazing. I love home cooked meals, regardless of where I am...well atleast so far!!

Later was the Superbowl, not until after we played our own superbowl on madden and won with the Cowboys. We watched the game and I got pretty warn out from the non stop weekend and started to drift. The next day I had to fly out. It goes by too soon. Deutschland was good to me and for once I didn't feel like the giant walking amongst the French, but rather just an average human. The food and beer were also a lot less expensive in Germany, maybe why they are bigger people?!?

The flight got delayed an extra 4 hours so I slept in the airport and got a great 12 euro meal from Air France for my troubles. I wouldn't have traded it though. All in all it was great and I'm so glad I got to meet up with Andy.

For My Troubles.

The Chocolate cake was really good. Like German Chocolate cake with a berry type of layer and a cream layer... Delicious

It reminds me that sometimes the friends you make are friends for life. You never know when your paths may cross again and when destiny may bring you back together. So meet new people, say hi to someone new today, you never know what type of friendship could develop from idk ... lets say a highschool weightlifting class and still remain friends after not seeing someone for 7 years... Or maybe reconnect with an old buddy.... either way, Life is short and People are worth it.

Experiencing the Autobahn

I went to Germany this past weekend to meet up with an old friend from Angleton. It was great catching up with Andy and seeing Deutschland. This entry is strictly about my experience on the Autobahn.... wow..... I understand the need for speed. Andy's friends Till and Wolf woke us up to the sound of purring engines. We immediately ran down stairs to hop into the Porsche's.

We got up early so we could try and avoid as much traffic as possible, but we still had some cars on the Autobahn. Also, the track was a tid bit slippy because the night before it had started to snow/freeze the ground a bit. As we turned onto the track, you could immediately feel the power in the Porsche as Wolf accelerated and moved into the farthest left lane (it's were we would spend most of the morning driving...the passing lane) The car really is magnificent. It has great lines, strong engine, really grips the ground even at high speeds, handles smoothly and brakes extremely well.

After we found a nice open stretch of straight unhabited road Wolf opened it up and showed just what the Porsche was made for. Speed. We reached a bit over 290 km/hr which is roughly a bit over 180 mph. The thing was moving, you could have gone faster and I could tell the car could handle it, but on a day like today you don't really want to chance it. Also, it didn't help when a car moved over into the passing lane.

Speaking of which, one time a car moved over in front of Till and completely hindered our speed. He took forever to pass a car and you could see Till getting a bit frustrated after the guy finally pulls around, Till passes and you can see the guy flash his lights at Till. It was funny. I had an absolute blast learning about the Autobahn. Thanks Andy for an amazing time, and for Wolf and Till for taking me out. (I'll be writting more about Germany, but I just wanted to get out the video I made as soon as possible....It's just a 3 min video of the Autobahn...this time with sound...THANKS YOUTUBE for deleting the other videos sound)



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