COACHING OUT OF BOUNDS: Crocs earn regular season title with victory over Wolverines

The Crocodiles played their hearts out on a gloomy and sad day and came away with a hard fought 35-12 victory vs. the Helsinki Wolverines. I say sad because one of our youth cheerleaders died last week from injuries sustained in an accident with a motorist while she was riding her bike and crossing an intersection. Her name was Katarina and she was only 15. The accident occurred less than a mile from our apartment at the corner of an intersection where the kids and I pass often when riding our bikes here in town. My heart and prayers go out to this family. It was quite hard to focus on the game as we honored the young lady yesterday with some words of reflection and then a moment of silence before the kickoff. Tragedies such as this sure put life into proper prospective and help me to realize that life is so fragile and football is just a game.

As for the game, the team got off to a quick start by blocking a punt in the first quarter and cashing in with a quick touchdown pass. Our defense was fired up yesterday and we kept their QB scrambling as we recorded several sacks on the day. A few of these hits caused fumbles and that was a big factor for us in the game. Our offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage and running back Greg Fountain proved why he is the leading rusher in the Maple League. He pounded the ball inside and had a series of long runs in the contest. Our QB Alex Rouse was efficient with the ball and spread the wealth with his receivers by throwing touchdown passes to three different receivers. Our special teams played well and the win was a total team effort. The victory earned us an 8-2 record and the # 1 seed in the playoffs which begin next Saturday. We host the Helsinki Roosters in the first round. We split the regular season with them. Both games were decided by 3 points or less, so next week's game is sure to be a tough battle for the right to advance to the Maple League Championship on September 4th.

Now for some more pics from 'Summer in Finland' 2010

We kept this washer busy this summer

We soon adjusted to the smaller load capacity

Here is our home made dryer-- We made good use of our sauna this summer!

Getting ready for a dip

Relaxing at Eero's house

Kaylin thinks the water is a bit cold

A tv was waiting for us one night when we returned home-- the first tv we had blew out and then the team quickly replaced it with this one

In all reality, we watched very little tv this summer. The kids played outside and created works of art like this. A miniature playground made out of foil, paper towels, toilet rolls, juice boxes, and anything else they could find around the apartment

An aerial view of 'Central Park'

Collecting bottles and cans and then recycling them at the local grocers became a weekly routine for the kids--- this particular lot at the game in Helsinki two weeks ago fetched the kids 49 euros!! Not bad for 3 hours work

Unique clock tower in the historic town of Jacobstad, Finland

Our good friend Michael Rose came over from Arizona to explore Finland for nearly two weeks-- We enjoyed spending time together and having him as a guest at the apartment for part of his stay

Beautiful wooden boat we saw in the harbor at Jacobstad

There seem to be a lot of these dive platforms at the coastal areas in Finland-- This is similar to the one Kamryn was jumping off last summer at the coast near Vaasa

A little golf in Jacobstad-- Forget about Pebble Beach, this was the hardest course I have ever played-- it was designed for complete and utter failure-- No kidding, it took almost 2 hours for the four of us to finish 18 holes of miniature golf!