Crusaders 9th win grants them regular season championship

A torrential downpour in the lake town of Karlstad yesterday and an increasingly competitive STU Bulls team were the latest barriers that stood in the way of the Crusader wave that is rolling through Sweden. For 3 hours prior to kickoff the skies shattered on Tingvalla offering the two teams a 30 minute kickoff delay. The rain ceased long enough for the game to get underway by 5:30. With the playoffs on the horizon, the sense of urgency was heightened. The Crusaders were fighting for the top rank and the opportunity to have the 4th ranked team travel to Karlstad for the semi-final, while the Bulls had the focus of passing the Mean Machine for 3rd place in the league.

The battle started with the Crusader's offense attempting to find alternate ways to move the ball besides its high powered downfield passing game. Running the ball from the shotgun provided minimal yards and completing passes was a challenge in that climate. The Bulls had similar issues, but on top of these issues, they faced the top defense in Sweden (9.1 points per game allowed) led by back to back defensive player of the week in Sweden, Olof Flemstrom. With 18.5 tackles, 7 of which for loss in the past two weeks Flemstrom is playing at an unbelievably high level. Johan Bear, the Crusaders middle linebacker was all over the field on Saturday night. He played a huge role in defending the tricky Bulls offense that comes out with unbalanced formations and reverse schemes.

Both teams endured sloppy offensive play with an overabundance of dropped passes, missed footing, and fumbles. The first legitimate Crusaders' chance at points was negated by an interception in the end zone, but a 3 and out did not harm the home team's winning chances. The empty score was lifted when the star of the game Fredrik Isaksson caught an Eli Cranor pass down the home sideline and outraced the defense for over half the field and the game's first score. Both teams traded punts throughout the first quarter and the early second quarter. The Bulls continued to attack and found themselves near the Crusaders endzone following a couple of big plays. A break in the coverage offered the Bulls a free shot at the endzone which they converted bringing the score to 7-6. The next few minutes showed the Crusaders offense hitting straight at the center of the Bulls defense getting them a first and goal at the Bulls 9 yard line. 4 plays offered no points and the Crusaders had to turn the ball over. 2 plays later the Bulls ball carrier found himself on the ground in his own endzone giving the defense a safety and upping the ante, 9-6. The Crusaders received the ball again with just under 5 minutes in the first half. A good running attack gained a couple of first downs just crossing the Bulls 40 yard line. A well timed play action fake gave Fred Ice a chance to sneak behind the defense and again catch a long Cranor throw. The score gave the Crusaders a bit of breathing room at the break, 15-6.

The beginning of the second half came with some misfortune when 2010 player of the year, and Crusaders RB Christian Forsman left the field with what is preliminarily diagnosed as a knee ligament injury. As a result, younger players showed up and stepped up in a big way. The first big play after Forsman's departure was made by rookie WR Josef Nguzo. As the Crusaders were driving Eli tried the left side from approximately the 25 yard line. Josef slipped behind the corner and after the ball was misjudged by the defender and uncontested Josef whipped his body around just in time to snag the pass and slip 2 feet in bounds at the side of the endzone for a highlight that will not be soon forgotten. Backup running back Nabard Palani, at 20 years old, had a coming out party with 119 yards on 19 carries and 2 TDs all in the second half, an outstanding performance from one of the most humble men you will ever meet. The third quarter was his as he broke off 2 touchdown runs, the first of which he patiently waited behind the big Crusaders line, widened the defense with an outside move and made a vertical cut with extraordinary quickness that put him yards behind the defense. He bolted past the secondary and outraced the rest of the Bulls for the score. The first three drives of the second half, sparked by the running game, provided touchdowns to the home side and pushed the Crusaders out of reach of the Bulls. The 4th quarter gave an opportunity to many of the Crusaders youth players, who have been practicing alongside the A-team, a chance in a Super Series game. The Bulls pushed across one final score with under a minute to play ending the game at 39-12.

The Crusaders finished the game outrushing the Bulls 159-75 with similar carry attempts. The offensive line created the space after some adjustments and the Crusaders backs made the plays happen. Eli finished 10-19 with 162 yards and 3 TD strikes most likely keeping him atop the league passing charts. The Bulls lost the turnover battle 3-1 which made it all the more difficult to win in Karlstad. Converting 3rd downs was abnormally hard on this Saturday as neither team was over 33% in gaining first downs in this scenario.

The win allows the Crusaders the opportunity to host a semi-final match. The regular season finale in Tyreso in two weeks will have no bearing whatsoever, whether win or lose, as to the future of the 2011 season. This will provide some interesting dynamic as to whether or not the Crusaders arrive with their entire starting squad. The bye week ahead along with the unimportant final game will give the Crusaders the much needed opportunity to regroup given the injury plagued season that has been. One thing that must be said about this resilient group of players is that the depth and ability for players to move around has kept this team atop a league that is bringing it's best game week in and week out for the current champs. Depth is something that often brings down good European teams, and this 4th ranked team in Europe has had the ability to battle on.

Tyreso won their game this weekend against the 6th place Arlanda Jets 48-7. The win puts them out of reach of the other teams in the Super Series and they too will host a playoff semi-final match. They will get the 3rd ranked team from the regular season. Tyreso takes a week off this weekend, and will have that regular season finale to sort things out and measure up their new second half roster against the 2011 Super Series Regular Season Champions that they came within a touchdown against back in May.

Game of the Week, GFL

The Game of the week comes to us from Germany and faces two of the top 12 teams in Europe against one another. As the GFL nears it's playoff selection (3 games remaning), garnering 8 spots to the top 4 teams from each of the two divisions, games become ever more important. A classic matchup between the historically powerful southern Marburg Mercenaries, coached by the highly respected Joe Roman, who have had international wins in years past and have been the top team from the south in recent years and their opponent in this affair are most recently crowned as German Champions, with an undefeated first 11 games of the German season, and ranked 5th on the continent of Europe are the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes. Their only negative mark on the season is the early departure from the EFL in a 20-22 overtime loss to Europe's 4th ranked Carlstad Crusaders of Sweden. Marburg at 10-1 and ranked 12th in Europe this season have only lost to the undefeated Schwabisch Hall Unicorns.

This matchup most recently went to the team from the south, when in the first week of the 2010 season the Mercenaries traveled up to the Baltic and beat the Canes at home 22-19. In this season both teams have statistically performed as well as any team in the league in various areas. The Hurricanes are 2nd in scoring offense (35p/g) and top the league in scoring defense (14p/g), while the Mercenaries are 3rd in Germany in both categories (30, 17p/g). The biggest question mark in this game will be in the ground game. The Hurricanes bash for a league second best 179 rushing yards a game. Behind a big German offensive line runs import running back Michael Andrew (England) who is second in the league in yards per game on the ground. From the Mercenary point of attack they have allowed a miniscule 46 yards per game which is by far the fewest of any German team thus far. Something has to give, and it will for one of these elements this weekend. The multi threat Kiel offense also has an established passing game that is 3rd in the league at 222 yards/game. Import Quarterback Jeff Welsh (Western Michigan) and import wideout Aaron Love (FCS, U of Delaware) have connected tremendously as has German ball catcher Julien Dohrendorf. Marburg's offense fires well also, at 5th in passing and 4th in rushing in the GFL this season. The only rusher to outlast Kiel's Andrew is import ball carrier Joe Clark (Div. II, Augustana) for the Mercenaries who leads the league with 147 yards per game. German QB Joachim Ullrich has reached 4th in the league in both passing efficiency and yards per game.

While both teams have performed well enough to have clinched playoff berths they are both fighting for playoff position and this game will have definite implications for the rankings. Marburg faces the toughest challenge of any German team having to face undefeated teams in each of its last three matchups. This week and next against this Hurricane squad due to a rescheduled game earlier this season, and the regular season finale against the undefeated Unicorns. At 4pm local time the Baltic Canes bring their top 5 team down to Marburg to face last year's south German champs.

Finally, the GFL website has done an incredible job of updating both news and statistics, making writing more enjoyable. All other leagues should use the GFL website as a template.

Europe's 4th ranked Crusaders at home on Saturday

This weekend the #4 ranked team in Europe have their last home game for the regular season. This game offers the top team in Sweden the chance to clinch the regular season championship and 1st place ranking for the playoffs with still one game remaining on the schedule. The opponent the STU Northside Stockholm Bulls. The Bulls have been on an up and down journey this season. After beating the Stockholm Mean Machine on the road just before summer break, they returned from break having lost their leading deep threat wide receiver to college and their top receiver to a season ending injury. As a result they called upon the help of an import running back in Noah Sanderson. In STU's first game with this offensive system they came up one score short of the Stockholm Mean Machine just two weeks ago. A week off last week gave this Bulls team, known for arriving late in the season and the playoffs with awkward and tricky formations that are often unpracticed by the opposing team a chance to formulate a more in depth plan of attack for the defending champs. With these truths, the game this weekend has the ability to be another challenge for the team on the top, the Crusaders. The Crusaders showed a bit of offensive vulnerability in Stockholm last weekend and are looking for a strong performance, such as the last time they faced this STU team, in order to get back on track. That last performance was about as flawless on offense as can be. 70 points scored by the offensive unit, with a plethora of players getting into the endzone and a rushing attack that offered huge, seemingly effortless gains time and again.

Kickoff is set for 5pm local time this Saturday, simultaneously 8am on the west coast and at 10 in Arkansas for those listeners. Score updates are going to be provided through the Crusaders official twitter account, which is linked to the right of this blog titled Crusaders Game Updates.

A big win over the Mean Machine, most winningest club in Swedish history

We showed up to Stockholm ready to perform against the most respected club in Sweden when it comes to title defense. Title defense is something that the Crusaders have new experience with having won the Swedish title for the first time in 2010. Title defense is going particularly well with 8 wins and no losses to speak of thus far in league play. This weekend a 28-0 beating of the most jeweled club in Sweden was not as easily earned as it may sound. The game this past weekend was quite different than games past for the Crusaders. The main difference, mistakes with penalties and turnovers kept the Swedish giant at bay for the majority of the first half. Two lost fumbles and many called offensive penalties allowed the Crusaders to only earn 8 points at the break. The defense for the Crusaders was anything but slowed. With recently departed QB Cody Hawkins back home in Colorado the Mean Machine turned to a wing-t offense that while it was unpredictable at times, did not have the firepower to part the Crusader defensive unit. A few first downs was all that the Blue and Red mustered on the day due mainly to the stout front that the Crusaders brought. Time and again there were off white jerseys splitting the offense and making big hits on the left out to dry Mean Machine ball carriers. The one pass that was thrown during the game was intercepted by Fredrik Isaksson, the 7th Crusader defender to mark an interception on the season. Fred Ice also noted after the game that he did indeed intercept 100% of the passes thrown in the contest, but I digress.

The offense highlighted it's second half with a run play by Christian Forsman from the 1 yard line in which he took the ball and bounced to the sideline just dodging two would be tacklers and utilizing a great block by Fredrik Eklund he bolted into and beyond the SMM secondary and rolled down the sideline for a 96 yard TD. 97 yards was endzone to endzone at the Zinken in donwtown Stockholm. Backed up by a stellar SMM punt, the offense created this highlight for the ages most exciting because he scampered all the way down the sideline with his left tackle Thomas Falkelind leading the charge. At 6'5, 270lbs. this large Swede sprinting down the field made for one heck of a blockade. The win was the 22nd in a row in Swedish play for the Crusaders dating back to the championship game of 2009. Beating such a long lasting force in the Super Series at their home stadium is the type of victory that should be one of the most treasured for a club that is on the rise, and it is definitely one of the sweetest victories that I have ever been a part of in Europe.

In the other game the Tyreso Royal Crowns defeated the Orebro Black Knights 20-7. The game was a toss up until the final two minutes when the Crown scored their third touchdown and put the game out of reach. At 1-6-1 the first year club from Orebro has been eliminated from playoff contention. With the TRC win and the SMM loss the Royal Crown have surged forward in their course to have a home playoff game the weekend of September 3rd. At 6-2 they are still 2 games behind the 4th highest team in Europe, the Carlstad Crusaders, and pending a Crusader defeat this coming weekend they may be set up for a share of the regular season title.

Crusaders take to the road in sight of 8th straight Swedish win

The Carlstad Crusaders, the 4th best team in Europe according to europlayers.com, travels this Saturday to play a 3pm ball game against their adversary, the Stockholm Mean Machines. While the Machine is the most storied club in Sweden this season has provided meager opportunities to celebrate. The Machine are set at 3rd place in Sweden coming off of a hard fought 34-28 victory last weekend against the STU Northside Bulls. At 4-3 the Machine have the inside route to the #3 position in the 4 team playoffs to start mid-September.

The Crusaders on the other hand have been rolling through the Super Series with the only close victory coming in the first week of the season against the Tyreso Royal Crown. With a point differential of 320-70 there are no teams close to winning as well as the Crusaders do. The last time these two teams faced off was in Karlstad before summer break. The Crusaders prevailed in that affair 55-13, working with maximum efficiency having run 43 plays as compared to SMM's 70 in that contest. Nevertheless, this game will be played in Stockholm, a place that has seen more championship victories than any other in the Super Series.

Kickoff is set for 3pm local time, 6am on the west coast and can be followed online by following the link to the right hand side of the blog titled, Crusaders game updates.

Crusaders Ride 35-6 on a Friday night in Sweden

The Crusaders found a Black Knights squad that was teeming with enthusiasm upon entering Tingvalla on Friday night. The Knights had playoffs on the brain, that's right... Playoffs! Playoffs! With a new import to go with their already developed leader in QB Cody Ladutko, and a recent return at WR this team was ready to roll. Unfortunately for them, so were the Crusaders and the Crusader faithful in downtown Karlstad on a Friday night. The Crusaders jumped to a 15-0 lead early in the first quarter after the defense came out with virtually nothing to offer the team from Orebro. QB Eli Cranor punched the first score in from 2 yards out and hooked up with Fredrik Eklund on a deep scoring try which reminded me of one of my favorite childhood films in which Benny the Jet hit a flyball directly into the mitt of Smalls who was standing in left center with his glove in the air. Eli launched right in front of our sideline. Fredex was streaking well past the defender but the ball seemed to be just a bit too far, as he urged for a few extra full speed paces he looked forward and away from the ball for that split second before the ball lands within a receivers arms. As he looked away he reached out and the ball hit him right in the hands. If a pass had ever been thrown on the target it was this one. Fredrik hauled it in and smoked the defense all the way to the score zone. Two more scoring strikes were granted by the Orebro defense in the form of a 20 yard catch and run by WR Robyn Juhlin and a slant route from Cranor to Eklund with time expiring at the half. Juhlin, pictured at the top, at just 17 years of age is developing outstandingly fast and can rival the likes of Sweden's top ball handlers. A dual sport athlete himself, it's not a surprise that his increased role in the offense has him scoring consistently from game to game. One touchdown was added by the Knights in the form of QB Cody Ladutko taking matters into his own hands and scrambling for the short TD run and another long scoring pass from Sweden's top duo before the affair was settled at 35-6 for the home squad.

Highlights for the Black Knights: Cody Ladutko rushing for 90 yards on 11 carries and an uncalculated number of missed tackles forced. His ability to evade the Crusaders defense on numerous plays made for an exciting offense.

Highlights for the Crusaders: Sweden's most dominating receiver had a blast out game with 3 TD's and 178 yards on 6 catches. Fredex cannot be stopped, your only chance is to slow him down. Head Coach and FS Tracey Gere pulled off a magic trick of an interception when after the receiver caught the ball he immediately stripped it away prior to the reciever's ability to haul in the catch, one handed I might add, and returned it into Knight territory.

A game report can be viewed by following this link: Crusaders Ride 35-6
And official statistics of the battle are showed at the SAFF website following this link: CC vs. OBK 8/12

Finnish Football Reaches Semi-Finals

The Finnish Football League is down to its final 4 teams, and this weekend will widdle the total to the last 2 for 2011. A long summer season has culminated in a few of the typical finalists from Finland, with a newcomer to the final fiesta players. In the first game Saturday the top ranked Seinajoki Crocodiles who are also the 11th best team in Europe face off with the Lappeenranta Rajaritarit translated to Border Guards. Sunday the 21st ranked team in Europe and last year's Finnish champion the Porvoon Butchers face off with the Helsinki Wolverines from the capitol city.

The Crocodiles' hard work has brought them to this astounding position of the top ranked team in Finland after the regular season at 9-1. They have come a long way since 2010's final game in which they lost 30-17 to the Butchers. The Crocs season has been as close as 1 point from being flawless in their single loss of the season 66-65 to the team that they face in the first round, the Border Guards. The Guards finished the regular season at 7-3. They lost to the Butchers twice, this last time by just 3 points and have that monumental win over the Crocodiles, the only team to do so in 2011. The game this weekend will be hard fought and will face a top 11 team in Europe against probably the most fierce 4th place team that any league in Europe can boast. Be prepared for a barn burner in this affair. Read more about the game matchup by following this link: Crocs vs. Border Guards.

Sunday provides another amazing matchup and is a testament to the diversity of the clubs in Finland. Last year, with both clubs from the Helsinki area making the playoffs was a huge feat. The Wolverines are the classic underdog in this scenario. They also have experience in this setting. Not just that they lost in the semi-final last season, but they lost in the semi-final to this very Butchers team in Porvoon to boot. Another year has passed, and here they are again, having lost to the Butchers in the regular season by a single point. The Butchers boast a 21st European ranking according to europlayers.com. Their single loss was back in the second week of the season, probably before the snow was completely melted to the Crocs. Since that game the Butchers have rattled off 8 wins with their closest game being against this very Wolverines squad in a 34-33 victory. Pregame report: Butchers vs. Wolverines.

Each matchup offers us the exciting opportunity to have no idea who is going to be the winner. We could have a rematch of last year's final, or we may have a changing of the guard in Finland. Each team has played one another this season, and surprisingly have played to within 1 point of each other. Watch this incredible series come to a close this weekend by following the score updates on the scores page of the Finnish football Website. Go to the official Finnish football website for more information.

Super Series in full stride towards the playoffs

The Swedish Super Series holds two contests this weekend that have debatable playoff implications. The second game, considered by myself as the game of the week will kick off in Stockholm on Saturday and will pitt the 3rd ranked STU Northside Bulls against #4 Stockholm Mean Machine. Both teams are at 3-3 and are holding the final two playoff spots with 4 weeks remaining. Positioning is the focus of these two clubs as they battle for the possibility of a home playoff game should they catch 5-2 Tyreso. In the first encounter the Bulls upset the Machine 26-23 in Stockholm in the final game before the summer break. Stockholm and QB Cody Hawkins will look to avenge that first defeat, and gain some confidence back after losing big in Tyreso last weekend. This is the first game back from break for the Bulls who feature a new player in the backfield. RB Noah Sanderson joins the squad with 4 games remaining. He is no newcomer who played for this same Bulls team on the other side of the ball just last season as a linebacker. The home Bulls this weekend will push for the upper hand in the playoff chase, but a resilient and backed up Mean Machine will most certainly come for revenge.

First year team to the top division the Orebro Black Knights sit at 1-4-1 and 2 games behind both the STU Bulls and SMM with just 4 games left before the dismissal rounds. They’ll need to win at least 3 of 4 games and hope for STU or SMM to falter in order to reach the second season. Standing in their way this weekend is Europe’s 4th ranked and thus far untouchable Swedish club the 6-0 Carlstad Crusaders. The first matchup between these teams proved the formidable opponent that the Black Knights are despite their inexperience in the Super Series. Just a 14-0 halftime lead was the smallest lead at the break for the Crusaders against any opponent in Sweden this year. The score was 30-8 in that contest led by a phenomenal Carlstad defense which now has 5 of its defensive backs with an interception in this season which begs the question… Is there anyone who can play in this secondary and not have a pick? Of course, credit for these interceptions is always due in part to the weapon of mass destruction that is the Carlstad defensive line. This wrecking machine with Carlsson, Thelander, Romlin, Asker, Flemstrom, among others rocks the offensive front of the opponent each time out.

Both teams have a different makeup for this contest. The Black Knights have summoned the assistance of former Louisiana Tech defensive lineman Kwame Jordan who most recently has been playing for the arena football team the New Orleans Voodoo. Kwame will most certainly add to a unit that needed some help in the last matchup which allowed over 230 rushing yards by QB Eli Cranor alone. The Crusaders will also have 3 arguably top players at their positions in the league who were not available in the last game in standout WR Fredrik Eklund, all-everything Olof Flemstrom, and myself. Thus, the Friday night kickoff at Tingvalla in downtown Karlstad will hold some more electricity than the last time these teams faced off. Enjoy the game as technologically advanced as we are fit, with the twitter account, a link is provided at the right side of this blog.

The Homestretch.. Games of the Week

After the summer vacations have been spent, most of the league’s have been granted offseason tickets and bunches of imports have headed back west, what we are left with are the 3 leagues that attempt to keep their players in game condition for the better portion of the calendar year. Despite the length of these seasons, the national players have developed a wonderful ability to stay dedicated and prepared for their chance to hoist the national championship trophy at their league’s finale. Sweden, Finland, and Germany will play into the months of September and October and thus we have 3 game’s of the week to start of what seems to be the “trophy” half of the season.. the homestretch.

A game of the week matchup in Finland pairs two teams at the center against each other when at 3pm on Saturday the Helsinki Wolverines travel to the Jyvaskylan Jaguarit (Jaguars). The 4th ranked Wolverines are at 5-3 and beat the Jaguars (4-5) on June 12th by 14 points. Since that game they have been battled tested, beating the 6th place Northern Lights handily and the 3rd ranked Lappeenrata by more than 30.. but a week before Nate Kmic joined the Border Guards. The other two encounters were a 1 point loss to #2 Porvoon and a 4 point loss to #1 Seinajoki. Jyvaskylan since that June 12th meeting have held firm in their center position of the league having beat the 3 teams below them and lost to the 3 teams above the middle of the road pair. This matchup will most definitely mean more to the Jaguars who are in the first spot out of the playoffs at this point in their season at 5th, and do not have any wins against teams above them in the standings. The Wolverines do not need to drop a game, especially to the team that is just behind them for a playoff spot, being on the road only adds to the drama for all from the capitol city of Helsinki.

2 of the top 3 Swedish teams face off for the second time this season. After a long summer break there are many unknowns as to how Super Series teams are prepared to make playoff runs, but this first week battle between the Stockholm Mean Machines and the Tyreso Royal Crowns will tell a lot about these top teams. The second ranked Royal Crowns at 4-2 did lose the head to head matchup with third place Stockholm by a score of 33-28. In a wild finish there were 2 lead changes in the final 2 minutes of the game, with Tyreso trying for a 2nd touchdown as the clock expired. Tyreso beat 4th ranked STU Bulls most recently by a score of 31-22, and in a most surprising win the same Bulls team beat the Mean Machine in the final week of the first half 26-23. This game has pivotal positioning implications for each of these teams. This will set the tone for the second half and should Stockholm win again, they will have the inside track to a home field semifinal game having beaten the Crown twice. A 5pm kickoff in Tyreso on Saturday evening will let these two Swedish powers loose on one another.

The German Football League provides an interesting matchup this weekend and due to the expansion of the GFL both teams are recently moved up from the second division (Division 1) from last season. A team that is having a plethora of success in its first season in the top division, Europe’s 9th ranked Monchengladbach Mavericks will travel to Dusseldorf Sunday at 3pm local time to check in with the Panthers. At 6-3 in the North division the Panthers are just 1 game behind the Mavs. The teams did face off in late June when the Mavs came away with a close 5 point victory 24-19. The repeat offers the Panthers a chance for redemption. In doing so a victory would grant them one game closer to passing the Mavericks for the 2nd place in the North division and a home game in the playoffs.

For the best results log on to europlayers.com following these games for fast paced score updates.

Unselfishness at it's best

The summer break in Sweden offers Mary and I the opportunity to have some extra experiences besides engulfing ourselves in the culture of the north. My rookie season in Europe was in Barcelona, Spain where I met some people who have the most giving and selfless hearts in this world. Our hiatus from playing led Mary and I to a vacation down to the Southern country in order for her to meet some of these folks and for me to have a chance to reconnect. While we were there soaking in the Spanish sunshine one of my friends and ex-teammates told us a story that warms the soul while simultaneously feels like a dream come true story for many football fans.
When I was moving to Barcelona straight out of college, in what the general manager Alex Grande recalls as a young man’s mindset, I was focused on what number I would be wearing. Knowing that the starting outside linebacker, Rafa Todoli, wore #2 it was in my ambition to find a way to persuade for him to allow me to wear the number. In Spain it is uncommon for American football gear to be readily available to the players, so I offered to bring Rafa a fresh pair of Nike Speed TD cleats for the season in a swap for the #2. He gladly accepted, we became great friends, I played great in that jersey and he played better in those cleats, and what’s more we both looked great.

Upon visiting Rafa this past week he told me a fascinating story that involves one of the most highly known names in the world of American Football, Mark Sanchez. Last summer as Sanchez was visiting the great Catalan capitol he was introduced to Rafa through an indirect line of friends. Rafa was told by an import friend of his that he was in the “W” hotel, a gorgeous seaside resort that dominates the skyline of Bcn. He asked why his friend was at this hotel, and the reply was that he was with Mark Sanchez. Rafa remembers, “This is Spain, Mark is a common name, Sanchez is a common name, so why is this an important detail.” He quickly learned why this detail was obviously important. Rafa had a lot of connections to the night life of Barcelona and was able to show the group of visitors around town. By the end of the night Rafa had developed a relationship with Mark and offered Rafa the chance to fly to New York and to watch the Jets at home during the NFL regular season.
Rafa knew that he had been blessed with the amazing chance of a lifetime, but what he didn’t know was how special of a person he had met in Mark Sanchez. When he gave the details about when he was available to fly to New York Marks assistant notified him that Mark was going to cover the entire cost of the trip, having Rafa stay at his place in the city. Rafa was able to attend a practice, tour through New York City, view two live NFL games. When Rafa got to the stadium for gameday he knocked on the door of the private Sanchez family box and was welcomed with excitement from Mark’s family. During the incredible vacation he attended the Thanksgiving dinner of the family as well as watching the Jets play the Titans and Bengals. Rafa now receives gear from the Jets when he needs it, and after telling me this story he said, "if you ever want #2 again it is going to cost more than a pair of cleats."

What I loved most from this story was the fact that a high profiled athlete put another person in front of themselves and showed compassion for someone they hardly knew, a story while it does happen is rarely told. Congrats to Mark Sanchez, God shines through you.