Crocodiles extend winning streak to 6 games

We had an eventful weekend here in Finland. On Saturday we were invited to spend the day at a traditional Finnish summer cottage by the Tuokko family. It was absolutely one of the highlights of our summer in Finland, and I will be posting more pictures and commentary about that experience tomorrow.

We had our longest road trip of the season this past weekend, and even though it didn't compare to some of my 15+ hour bus trips each way at Trinity, it was still a long journey. The game was located about 7 hours from Seinajoki, in a town called Lapeenranta which is very close to the Russian border. As I mentioned before, my leg has been giving me some big time trouble over the past two weeks so I opted to take the train to the game. I had to travel through the middle of the night on both my outward and return journey so it wasn't the most ideal situation. I had purchased a Holiday Train Pass on Saturday which allows me to travel any three days over the next month, and also ensures that I would have four seats to myself for each leg of the journey. However, the Scandinavian train system came through once again as to their misrepresentation in advertising and overall lack of any kind of organization (not to mention the train breaking down on my way home last night). We had experienced several problems with the train systems in Sweden and Norway when traveling there in June, as the train company seemed to routinely overbook the sleeping compartments and use completely different carriages than what was listed on any of our tickets. This didn't appear to be a fluke because it happened on both legs of our journey. The Finnish train system actually does match their tickets with the appropriate carriage and seat numbers, however, they just print 3 or 4 tickets with those same carriage and seat numbers. Let's put it this way, I didn't have four seats to myself as advertised (and explained to me in detail by the ticket sales agent) on any leg of my journey. I did decide to do something about this the other night at 4:30am. I confronted the attendant about the situation, but he explained to me that all seats were full and there was nothing he could do. By this time I was becoming more agitated and probably somewhat representative of the "Ugly American" that I have both heard about and witnessed during my travels in Europe. If you are unsure what an "ugly American" is by European standards, then I will briefly define it for you. An "Ugly American" is any individual who because of their birthright thinks all situations should be perceived, taken care of, and handled from a Yankee point of view, even though they are thousands of miles away from their home country. "Ugly Americans" are usually not hard to find, they can often be identified as the ones wearing ball caps, tennis shoes, and fanny packs, or being overheard complaining about lack of ice cubes in drinks, small food portions, and no air conditioning. Ok, now that we have a working definition I will admit that I probably brought a lot of my Yank attitudes into my conversation with the train attendant. However, it was amazing to me that all of a sudden this "full" train had an empty sleeping compartment just right around the corner from where we were having our discussion. It took just one flick of the attendants wrist and "voila" I had my own sleeping compartment for the first 3 1/2 hour leg of my journey.

Maybe the squeaky wheel does get the oil sometimes

Enough about the train, here is the good news. The Crocodiles overcame some injuries and the long road trip to post their sixth victory in as many weeks (56-21). The game was a tight contest early on as the score was 7-7 early in the 2nd quarter. We exploded for 28 points in the 2nd quarter off a punt return for a touchdown, a turnover, and some big plays in our passing game. Our defense continued to play well and set the tone for the game with their physical style of play. Our special teams units continue to get better as we limited their kickoff return yardage and also blocked one of their punts. Finally, our offense had a big day and posted our highest point total of the season. We did not run the ball very effectively, but our passing game was clicking on all levels. The receivers made some great catches in traffic and held onto the ball even after getting hit very hard by the Knights defense. Charles McCrea continued to make big plays for us, and our QB (Matt Bassuener) rushed for 60 yards and threw for close to 400 yards including 5 TD passes with no interceptions. Matt is a difference maker who plays with an incredible efficiency and confidence. His leadership and poise on the football field is contagious and is a big reason why our offense continues to improve each week. One other great aspect about this victory is that it has allowed us to clinch one of the four spots for the Maple League playoffs which begin on August 22nd. The playoffs are still a long way away so I will continue to emphasize that our team must focus on one game at a time. For this week we have the challenge of playing the Helsinki Wolverines. The Wolverines are a physical hard-hitting team who gave us our worst loss of the season earlier this year. They have had a lot of injuries on their team and are now getting some of those guys back. I expect a very tough and physical game from them because they are a lot better than their current record would indicate.

On another note, two visitors are here from the UK. Paul and Nina live in Wales, and Paul is an old schoolfriend of Estalita's. They would have been here earlier today but their train from Helsinki to Seinajoki broke down half way here.........need I say anymore?

Estalita and I waiting at the train station - good excuse for a coffee

Lights out.