Really Playing for Pizza: From Nordpole to Hoadl: The Week that Was

Spring is a gorgoeous time up in the Austrian Alps, as seen by the fluffy snow at the top of Axamer Lizum.

The past week and a half has been a tremendously varied time for us here in Innsbruck, as we continued to prepare for our season, enjoyed the amazing sites around Austria, and had a number of good times. I apologize again for my slow delivery of these images, but it was a major hurdle to get our Mac back up and running. Early next week I will revisit a lot of these fun events, but here's a brief snapshot to bring you all up to speed with life here in Austria!

TEAM PRESENTATION / WELCOME PARTY

I was introduced to the family, friends, and fans of the Raiders by head coach Santos Carrillo.

Last Saturday was the annual welcome party for the new imports & coaches of the Raiders, held at our daily lunch spot in Baggersee. About 100 people gathered for the party, and it was great to spend time with some of our new teammates OFF the field, and get to know them better as people.

Christie and Lili, the girlfriend of our slot receiver Andy Proller.

NORDPOLE & FC WACKER

Tivoli Stadium - home to the Raiders and FC Wacker Innsbruck.

My love for the "other" football - soccer - has been well documented on my blog, and so it should come as no surprise that on Sunday we made our way to Tivoli Stadium (our home stadium as well) to take in a game of Innsbruck's club - FC WACKER INNSBRUCK. Yes, their name is "Wacker" and NO, it does not mean the same thing as in England. There were about 5,000 supporters in the stadium, but that is in no way related to the amount of crazy noise coming from the fans in the north bleachers!

The Nordpol was loud and proud... but are they bold enough to claim that "Vienna equals Aids." ???

The biggest supporters are a group of fans that call themselves the "NORDPOL" - the Innsbruck equivalent to Catania's Curvo Nord. They aptly sit in the north endzone of the stadium, and spend the entire game chanting, singing, waving flags, drinking beer, and throwing batteries at opposing goaltenders (not necessarily in that order.) We sang along with them, and I narrowly avoided one fight for taking a picture of them... you would think I would have learned my lesson at Chelsea last year!

TRAVELS

Bottom Sign: Michael Jordan lives here?

We also took advantage of the warming spring weather (around 55 degrees, or 12 celcius) to travel to some nearby villages. We had authentic Goulash soup at a small hotel perched high in the Alps, enjoyed a glass of wine at the top of Axamer Lizum, and explored the Old Town of Innsbruck. It was all very cool to see, and made me appreciate more what is in our own (new) backyard!

Matt Epperson was last seen chasing 32 oz. Cokes at McDonald's!

The Old Town bursting with color and people. Cool little cafes are starting to pop up everywhere here, or as a movie trailer would say, "Coming to a Cobblestone near you."