Annnnndddd were back. Sorry for the long lay-off, folks. I would say that I’ve been way too busy to write another post, but you and I both know that isn’t the case. If anyone is at fault it is the Internet itself. We FINALLY have wireless in our apartment now. Now you would think it would make posting on our blog easier, but in fact, it makes far more difficult thanks to Barstoolsports.com’s ever expanding empire, surfthechannel.com, and YouTube. I get distracted easily. Not today, though. Here’s what we’ve been up too…
A couple weeks ago we hopped on a train headed south for a little town called Sitges. While at every other time of the year Sitges is known for its beautiful beaches, great food, and its gay-friendly community, in March the city hosts Carnival. Thousands of people flock to Sitges from all over Spain and Europe to stay the weekend or, like us, come for the final night of the festivities.
We decided that we were going to dress up in costumes for the night. After some debate we settled on the “Three Best Friends that Anyone Could Have” trio from the movie, “The Hangover”. I, for whatever reason, chose Allan – the slightly remedial, brother-in-law that gets knocked out by Mike Tyson in the movie. Once I bought the white jeans, a graphic t-shirt, huge sunglasses and man purse I was ready to go. With the Stu (Sheff) and Phil (A-Rob) at my side, my one-man wolf pack had become three and we were ready to take on Carnival. Here’s a picture from before we left:
"How's my hair look? Cool like Phils?"
Too make the night even better; FC Barcelona was playing Arsenal in second part of a home and home series. The winner of the game would advance to the next round. So the first order of business after getting off the train was to find a bar to watch the game. After a little bit of searching we settled at a bar/diner that had an open table.
A little side note – “The Hangover” over here was renamed “El Rescaton de Las Vegas” (Big Hangover in Las Vegas) and I don’t think it was that popular. No one knew who we were. So instead of walking around in this “hilarious” ensemble of costumes, I was walking around in tight white jeans and a man purse in Spain’s most gay-friendly city and Shef, true to his Stu costume, had put black marker on one of his teeth in hopes of giving the illusion he pulled it out. Our teammates that came with us were dressed as Barca players – in hindsight that was probably the way to go.
Anyways, the game was awesome. Barca won 3-1 and advanced to the next round on the back of two Messi goals. One of them was absolutely ridiculous. He received a thru pass from Iniesta and as the goalie was charging him he flicked the ball over the keeper to himself and then volleyed it in. Unreal. On all three of the goals the entire bar went nuts – there were beers flying, high fives connecting and not-connecting, and dancing. It was a great experience.
Messi's "flick"
After the game it was off to Carnival. We settled into a spot along the parade and waited for the floats to come. The floats were pretty extravagant and partiers and dancers accompanied all of them. As the floats stopped in front of us we were allowed to go onto the street and join the festivities and you better believe we hopped in there as soon as we could. After watching many a float pass by, we took a walk further up towards the beginning of the parade. We got to a packed square in the middle of Sitges, got our bearings and decided on heading down to the beach where there was a huge techno rave. It literally was out of a movie. Easily a couple thousand people dancing on the beach in front of a huge stage. After checking the rave out for a little bit we headed back towards the middle of Sitges and spent the rest of the night with some friends roaming around the parade. Despite the apparent “failure” of our costumes, the night was a great time and something we will all never forget.
Part of the Parade!!
We had two games recently, as well. We won both – the first, against the Madrid Black Demons, in a fairly convincing fashion and the second, against the rival Dracs, in a nail biting affair. Calling the Black Demons game a MudBowl would be a drastic understatement. Before the game it had been raining for two straight days in Barcelona and it didn’t let up one bit during the game. Everyone played well, but the defense took advantage of the conditions as we scored twice in the first half and ending the game with a shutout. Final score: Pioners 51 Black Demons 0.
Drenched!!!
Perhaps the best part of the game had nothing to do with football. On our first possession, Andrew threw a bomb to one of our receivers, Sergio, for a touchdown. He then ran off the field and ran up to the stands to propose to his long time girlfriend, Isa, in front of the crowd as "their song" played on the speakers. Andddd she said....YESSS!!!! The refs stopped the extra point to so we could all watch (they were given a heads up). Everyone cheered for the both of them. It was a great moment and we all could not be happier for Sergio. Felicidades!!
Rain or shine!!
The Dracs game was not so easy. We started off great with Andrew capping off a two-play drive to Victor for a touchdown on our first possession. The Dracs countered with a touchdown of their own. It seemed as if we had everything in control at half with a 23-7 lead, however, the Dracs had other ideas. They came out firing and we could not respond. They had a good running back that got loose a few times in the second half for a pair of TDs. The game was not looking promising as the Dracs had all the momentum going into the 4th quarter. We didn’t lay down, though, our offense started clicking and Andrew conducted the 2 minute drill to a T and it ended with a TD pass to Sheff. It was now the defense’s job to stop the Dracs last attempt. After giving up a few big plays one of our corners, Francis, picked off a post to end the game. Pioners win 29-28! Francis played an unbelievable game as he had another pick earlier in the game. Shef was an absolute warrior out there playing both ways and scoring two touchdowns. In hindsight, we should have played better, but you’re not always going to play your best game. Sometimes you just have to grind out a win and that’s exactly what we did. Great job to all the players and coaches!!
Fire that pigskin!
We are now sitting at 7-0 atop the league standings. We have a bye week this week, but are back in action against Valencia next Saturday. How have we been spending our bye week you ask? Good question. On Tuesday met up with our coach and teammate, Stephane, to watch some live March Madness. Yes, live. Barcelona’s basketball team is in the quarterfinals and we went to the first game of a 5 game series against the Greek team, Panathinaikos. Barca won in a very exciting affair, 83-82. The game, and arena, had a collegiate atmosphere with many fans standing the entire time and singing songs. The game came down to the final few possessions with Panathinaikos missing a last second three to win the game. The refs didn’t seem to have a clue as what was going on in the game. At one point we saw a player from the other team go up to the ref and say, “Please start watching the game.” This was in the 4th quarter. Both sides were on the wrong end of bad calls so it evened out in the end.
Also, apparently you are allowed to knock the ball off the rim even if its about to go in. At one point a player from Panathinaikos poked his hand through the basket to knock off a ball. That’s not basketball. Figure it out, Euro League. Also, for all you basketball enthusiasts – Ricky Rubio is as average as average gets. Can’t ever see him being a good player in the NBA.
Today, we went to lunch with the some of the offensive linemen. Once we get pictures I will talk about the meal. Maybe the most food I’ve ever eaten in one sitting. This made Thanksgiving look like child's play, but more on that later.
Until then, we will be in the Canary Islands for the weekend. 70 degrees, great beaches and scuba diving – shouldn’t suck. I just hope we can find a place to watch the tournament over there. Ohio State all the way – bet the mortgage. It’s a lock.
Enjoy the weekend!
Pau
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