As I left Serbia to head to Poland I started on a 27 hour train ride from Belgrade, to Budapest, to Katowice, then finally to Gdansk, Poland. The first part of the trip was like any traveling adventure, things that might go wrong are not such a big deal because you are happy to be in it. Then as the trip gets longer and longer you start to get frustrated and even annoyed at everything that goes even remotely wrong. By the 20th hour of the trip it was like that for me. I was tired of sitting and so hot. My girl and I started to argue a bit about stupid stuff that normally wouldn’t bother us. Finally we arrived at my new place where I am living with one of our OLB names Witan (the W makes a V sound in Polish). Hes a great guy, kind of quite and is very dedicated to football as I could tell from talking to him for a couple hours. We got in about 1.30 in the morning and he was making us pizza and met us with Whisky and coke. We hung out and talked for about an hr or two and then we finally went to sleep. To see the full story with all the great stuff we do head to www.safety-blitz.net. Like us on Facebook and even follow us on Instagram http://instagram.com/safetyblitz
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Saturday when we woke up we headed downtown to meet up with Luke, The HC/OC/QB. A Canadian who has played football in Europe for 7 years. He was playing in Russia, Sweden, Norway, Poland and Switzerland to name a few. He was the teams first HC when the team formed last season and wanted to stay here because he has a Polish girl. They showed us around old town Gdansk. We stopped at a few bars and even ate some lunch. I got my new sim card so now I have a phone. I cant believe how cheap it is to get cell and Internet service in Europe, especially here in Poland (since its the only place I went to get it my self) 3 dollars for a gig of Internet for the phone every month, and then 30zl (10 dollars) for more text and talk time you can use in a month. The city reminds me allot of Copenhagen which is one of my favorite cities in the world. With the water and the buildings, everything about it reminds me of it. After walking around most the day Kasia and I headed back home then to the store to get grocery so we can make dinner. She made a great chicken salad with chili sauce, and every veggie you could think of. Even added some beans. We just relaxed the rest of the night because we had to be up before 6 the next morning to get picked up to head to Warsaw to watch the Polish Super Final between the Wroclaw Giants and the Warsaw Eagles. I was rooting for the Giants because a friend of mine I worked with in India, Deante Battle has played for the team for a few years and he is a great athlete who plays CB/SS/FS/KR. He also loves to hit. He made a few good ones in the game yesterday. If I was him I would have been bored with this game because he is such a good coverage guy and you could tell from the very start that they were going to bracket the Eagles import WR that none pass was thrown in his direction.
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When we arrived to the National Stadium I was in awe of how this event was set up (I say event not just game). It felt like going to an NFL game with all the security, people and great stadium. Its the same place they built to hold the Euros last summer and its a beautiful but different looking one. Many of the teams on Poland has booths there, all set up to help promote the team and even the league. They had DJs, football clinics, lots of good food and even Polish dancers along with many TV cameras and tons of media coverage. As we were walking around I ran in to an old friend Marie who used to be the president of the Norwegian football league who is now just a full time employee of it. She was there to see how Poland was doing it because if any league in Europe cares about their football they need to start looking at Poland. Last year they had 25,000 fans at the game which is the most of any other football game in Europe with the exception of when the NFL does their games. I saw media from all over Europe there to see the game. But just like any NFL game or any sporting even in the States they screw you over when it comes to beer and food. I understand its the biggest American football event in Europe and they have to pay for it, I was just not ready for it. Now Beer was 12zl ($4.00) in the stadium and you can get a beer for 4zl ($1.20) at allot of bars in Poland.
I also ended up meeting up with a Serbian WR named Ivan who is playing in Poland this season but has also played in the states and was an import in Germany. He was with the Wild Boars in 2011 when they went to the EFAF cup finals in London. He is 6 foot 5 young kid who is fast and very physical. I would love to have him on my team. Hes getting offers from many other teams for this next season so it will be interesting to see where he ends up. Hanging out with him yesterday inspired me to have a new section on Safety-blitz where I will profile a new player every week (mostly European) to get them recognition, get their name out and of course just show everyone back in North America that Europe has lots of athletes who play American football as good as them.
As we walked into the Stadium I was in awe and a bit confused on weather we were in an American football game in Europe or if we somehow ended up in the states to see a football game. Everything about it was just like a game in the States. The way it should be. Now Polish football might not be up there with countries like Germany, Austria, Sweden or even a number of other ones “yet” but its on the right path and has a solid fan base which all the other countries should take notice and try to copy it. Last I herd their were 16,000 fans at the game which you don’t even get close to that for the EFL (European Football League) Championship game which is supposed be the biggest game of the year with the 2 best teams in Europe. Maybe the Austrians should see how they do it here. I do know that the Polish league has a full time paid president which if you are serious about football as a league and country you need because the stuff that happened yesterday is not possible with volunteers. This guys works around the clock to make stuff happen and by the production and everything you can see his hard work is paying off.
When they announced the teams players ran out with 1000’s of flashes of cameras and smoke shot out from the ground. It was very loud for 16,500 people and most you could tell had a specific team they were cheering for. Both teams run I formation which for me is the most boring to watch, but neither team had a real quarterback. The Giants have a 19 year old, Polish guy who could be good in a few years if he keeps getting trained and the Eagles QB who I was told was an import was average at best. He just dropped back patted his feet until he got sacked. This happened over and over. They had 108 passing yards I think but the Giants did no better with 90 or something. The Giants D and running back dominated the game and gave them what was an Easy win 28-13. After the game we hung out for a while, got some food and then got in the car for the 5 hour car ride back to Gdynia, Poland.
As many of you know now I am in Sopot working as the DC for the Sopot Sabercats who are in their 2nd year and play in PLFA2. Tomorrow will be my first practice with the team and im looking forward to getting right to work. I apologize for the pictures this week as I don’t have Jean Francois Nicollet here in Poland (YET!).
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