Thursday, June 18, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
A Day trip to Venice
Quiet alley
On Monday we started driving south, had lunch in the city of Verona, and ended up in VENICE! It was an incredible one-day road trip... pictures to follow.... because right now its our bye week and we're off to CROATIA!
~ J. Twice
Monday, June 15, 2009
Beyond the Field: Show 1 in HD
For those of you who didn't catch the first show of BEYOND THE FIELD on the Oakland Raiders website, here it is in HD! Enjoy American Football, Austrian Style!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Super Mario Bros. Sighting in Innsbruck
On Friday afternoon, the day before our EuroBowl Semifinal, I had to stop by the Raiders office to pick something up. As I pulled in, I was pleasantly surprised to find an ice cream truck sitting in the parking lot! Yes, America, you were not the first to develop the concept of an ice cream truck! The name on the side read, "Eisspezialitäten da Luigi," which I'm sure you all recognize as meaning one thing - AUTHENTIC ITALIAN GELATO!
I quickly grabbed my wallet and rolled up to the window. The proximity of Innsbruck to Italy - just a half hour to the south - ensures a proper dosage of proper Italian cuisine (and most notably, gelato!) To be sure, I thought I'd brush off a little of my Italian language skills and say hello to the vendor.
In a few minutes, I learned that the owner of the gelato truck - Luigi - was from Palermo. This explained the good Sicilian taste of my stracciatella gelato. Unfortunately (or ironically in this case), the man I was talking to was not Luigi, but rather his partner Mario from Naples.
Let me see if you just caught that -- I had just bought gelato from MARIO and LUIGI. COULD IT BE THAT I JUST DISCOVERED THE SUPER MARIO BROS. IN INNSBRUCK?
The most famous video game duo in history!
Posing with Menyada and my main man Mario! (He's shaved the mustache and lost the glasses to remain inconspicuous.)
For those of you "not from my generation," the most popular video game for the original Nintendo Entertainment System was the classic Super Mario Bros. The game featured a pair of Italian plumbers - Mario and Luigi - who raced around a world of mushrooms and spiky looking enemies in an attempt to free Princess Toadstool from the clutches of evil King Koopa. Released in 1985, it became a staple for all kids from my generation, and would go on to sell 40 million copies! (It is currently the #2 selling video game of all time, surpassed only by Wii Sports!) Can you imagine my luck to have actually met Mario and Luigi here in Innsbruck?
The opening screen gets me salivating for some side-scrolling action!
Now I know you are probably rolling your eyes at this - thinking that these two dolce-wielding brothers here aren't the real thing. For that I have prepared a number of very plausible hypotheses which would explain their presence in Innsbruck:
1) With the recent slow-down in the economy, Mario and Luigi could no longer find work in the plumbing business and therefore had to try their luck at gelato.
2) After saving the princess and retiring to the Caribbean, the Bros. got a little bored and decided that spreading joy via gelato in the Tirolean region would be a better use of their time.
3) Angered at the number of sequels they were forced to do, the Bros. finally walked out of the Nintendo offices in Japan and are currently hiding out here in the Alps.
My guess is the latter of the three, for when I questioned Mario in broken Italian as to his true identity of a goomba stomping superhero, he quickly denied it and gave me a puzzled look. What humility. Amazing.
~ J. Twice
Porvoo Game Memories
There are certain moments in every game you take away with you. The most special of them are little things that no one else sees, that you tuck away in your "treasure chest" of memories of this experience. There were a number of them on this evening, but none that made me smile more than the "little drummer boy" who toted the bass drum onto the field for the Tyrolean band. I remember thinking to myself how cool that was, and how lucky I am to be in this atmosphere! Here are some more great memories:
PREGAME FESTIVITIES
First defensive captain Mario Rinner emerges from the helmet with the Raiders flag...
... and then "here come your SWARCO Raiders!"
Eurebowl games are all about national pride. Against the Finnish, the Raiders were representing Tyrol and all of Austria!
The National Anthems were played by a Tyrolean band in full uniform. They kicked butt!
Matt took this toss on the final drive of the game for a first down that helped us officially run out the clock. Final Score: RAIDERS 31, BUTCHERS 13.
GATORADE DUMP!
Offensive line coach Nick Johansen was laughing when head coach Santos Carrillo got soaked with the traditional gatorade bucket. Little did he know there was still a little left in the bottom...
Gonzalo goes for the dump...
... and FULL SOAK!!! (Why is it that defensive linemen are always the ones carrying on this tradition?)
POSTGAME FUN!
Posing with my WAG! (WAG stands for "Wives And Girlfriend" and is a term liberally used by the British soccer tabloids. Posh Spice was the original WAG to David Beckham, and so Matt & I thought it would be a good idea to keep the trend going by giving Christie and Ashley their own WAG Shirts!)
It was awesome to share the game with Christie and Lynn!
5 to the 6... posing with kicker Robert "Blitzy" Balzinec after the game. Blitzy has battled a knee injury this season, but always kept a positive attitude. He returned to the line-up yesterday and was 4-for-4 on extra points and hit a clutch field goal at the beginning of the second half. ATTAWAY BLITZY!
Postgame interview with Austrian Television station ORF.
AWESOME RAIDERS HAIRCUT!!!
After each game a few players are brought to the VIP section to do an interview for the couple hundred fans in the
All my answers were in English...
Santos was asked about facing the Paris Flash in the EuroBowl. Obviously, we have been focusing on this game and I'm sure Santos has yet to begin preparing for them. So without a direct answer to the question, he talked about our team and the season in general. His answer lasted a few minutes, so when it came time for the hosts to translate his answer into German, their only response was, "Santos said lots and lots of stuff... let's PARTY!" It was a classic T.I.A. (This is Austria) moment!
Signing autographs for some future SWARCO Raiders! I credit a lot of our team's success to the Raiders' strong youth program, which teaches our young players the game while introducing them firsthand to the gameday atmosphere of our senior team.
I was asked a number of times by the media after the game about what this win meant to me and what are my feelings heading into the EuroBowl. Of course I told them I was excited about 15 times, but even more than that, the opportunity to compete for a EuroBowl championship is truly one of the main reasons I decided to play for the SWARCO Raiders this season. It has been a privilege to play for such a strong organization and with such hardworking, dedicated coaches and teammates, and we will do everything in our power to bring the EuroBowl trophy back to Innsbruck for the second year in a row!
~ J. Twice
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Raiders EuroBowl Bound with big win
The Butchers received the ball to begin the game, but on their fourth play from scrimmage quarterback Cederic Johnson was blindsided and coughed up the ball. The Raiders recovered and never looked back. The SWARCO Raiders offense immediately drove down the field, capped by an 11-yard Florian Grein touchdown run. On the next drive, the Silver and Black defense forced a three and out, and again the offense drove the field for Grein's second touchdown of the game, this time from 7 yards out.
The Butchers would answer on a short touchdown pass to cut the lead to 14-7, but from their SWARCO Raiders receiver Andi Pröller would take over the game. In the second quarter he would catch two scoring grabs, the first on a brilliant crossing route from 16-yards away and the second from 8 yards out in traffic along the sideline for a 28-7 SWARCO Raiders halftime lead. Pröller would finish the game with 8 catches for 105 yards. Quarterback Jason Johnson continued his solid play by going 21-26 on the night (81%) for 205 yards and 2 TD.
In the second half, the SWARCO Raiders would add to their lead with a 23 yard Robert Balzinec field goal to make it 31-7. The Butchers scored on a late touchdown, but it wasn't enough to pose a serious threat as the SWARCO Raiders shifted gears to the ground to run out the clock. Running back Florian Grein did the bulk of the work, finishing the day with 88 yards on 16 carries and 2 scores. Defensively, the SWARCO Raiders held the Finnish offense to just 261 yards and forced 2 turnovers.
The SWARCO Raiders opponent for EuroBowl XXIII will be the Paris Flash, who took down the Graz Giants in the other semi-final 35-33 earlier in the evening. The location of the game will be announced by the EFAF in the upcoming week.
The SWARCO Raiders will take a week off before playing the Austrian Semi-Final against either the Vienna Vikings or Hohenems Blue Devils on June 27th. As always, catch the action on live.raiders.at.
GAMEDAY: EuroBowl Semifinal
PORVOO BUTCHERS (FIN) at SWARCO RAIDERS (AUS)
Tivoli Stadium, Innsbruck
Saturday, June 13. 7:45 pm (local Austria time)
On Saturday night, the SWARCO Raiders return to EuroBowl play with a semi-final match-up against Finland's Porvoo Butchers. Catch all the live game action at LIVE.RAIDERS.AT!
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