We had our game on Sunday in Belgrade Serbia against the Vukovi Wolves. For a number of reasons that I don't quite understand our travel arrangements were as follows. Drive 5 hours to Villach on the Austrian/Slovakian border, hop on the overnight train for 12 hours, arrive in the morning, play the game, eat dinner, hop on the midnight train back, drive back home. So all in all, it is about 40 hours of travel in a 55 hour period.
Our driving experience was the least problematic, although stuffing 8 grown men and all of their bags doesn't leave a lot of room for creature comforts. We got to Villach just fine and grabbed a little dinner before we boarded the train. Before we got on our train we had to take a bus 30 minutes up the track because they were working on the track. When we got to our train it was at this little podunk outpost and when I saw our "sleeping" car all I could do was laugh to keep from crying. This thing might as well have been built in the 1940's and last updated in the 1970's. There were six bunks per cabin and the cabin was 6x6x8. So we stuffed 6 grown men in this cabin and proceeded to hang out until it was time for bed.
Bedtime came and we turned out the lights, locked the door, and tried to get maybe 6 hours of sleep. At about 1 o'clock the train attendent came rapping on the door yelling "Passports! Passports!" We were at the border and had to do a passport check. So we got up, turned on the lights, unlocked the door, fished out our passports, and waited for border patrol to come check. This happened another 3 times throughout the night. Suffice it to say I didn't sleep well. Plus I was a little concerned about getting my stuff stolen during the night since Coach Roman had his computer stolen the last time he was on the night train.
On top of that, at our stop in Zagreb Croatia about 200-300 drunken soccer hooligans jumped on our train and were coming up and down the aisles baning on cabin windows. I was half asleep at the time, but I have a vivid memory of the train stopping, looking out the window, seeing all of these soccer hooligans and immediately checking to make sure the door was locked. I don't want to say that I was afraid, but I was concerned. I felt pretty safe knowing that I was traveling with a bunch of football guys who are some of the toughest men that I have ever met. If I were to ever get into a fight, these are the guys who I would want with me. That being said, I wasn't really in the mood to throw down with some soccer hooligans. Plus, I am more of a lover and not a fighter.
Once we finally arrived in Belgrade at 7 am with approximately 2 hours of sleep max we were picked up at the train station by a bus that had been arranged to take us to a restaurant for breakfast. The breakfast left a little something to be desired as it was what ammounted to a hot dog and 2 fried eggs. We then got back on the bus and arrived at the stadium at 8:30. Kickoff was at 1. Without exception, the whole team including coaches slept on the locker room floor and benches until 11. Let me say that again, a whole football team slept on a cold, locker room floor the morning of their game because they were so exhausted.
As one might imagine, we were a little sluggish come game time. We managed to move the ball pretty well though and were able to pick on their corners a bit. It was a good day for the passing game and we must have thrown for over 300 yards. The game ended up being a seesaw battle back and forth with one team making a play and the other team answering.
It ended up going into double overtime. We scored to make the game 48-49 and decided to go for two. We ran a sweep around the right end and their was a big collision at the pylon. From my vantage point, there was no doubt that he got in. The referee didn't see it the same way. He ruled him out short of the goal line. In watching the video, it is clear that he did get in. You can watch it for yourself at http://www.cefl.com/ and go to 2nd half highlights.
To make matters worse, the referee who called him out was so out of position it was ridiculous. On the goal line the official is supposed to back straight away from the goal line so he maintains a true visual on the goal line. Well this beloved official backed away up the field. Consequently he make the call from the sideline at the 7 yard line. He was in absolutely no position to make the call. I am not one to bag on officials because it is a tough, thankless job. That being said, at least be in the right position to make the call. If the wrong call is made and the official is in the correct spot I can live with that. When the chips are down and the game is on the line the official needs to be in the correct position to make the call.
Losing that way made everything that we went through just to get there that much harder to swallow. I really could not be any more proud of this team and the players. We traveled through hell just to get there and the 22 players that we had gave it absolutely everything that they had. Those guys truly hung it all out there and held nothing back. I couldn't ask for anything more from those guys. We had guys playing hurt and by the time it was all said and done we looked like the walking wounded. I hate to use the term "warrior" because of its military context, but in this situation we truly had guys who were warriors.
Our travel back home was much the same just in reverse order. And without the hooligans. We got back home at 5:00 PM. I slept from 6:00 to midnight and then from 3 AM to noon. And I was still tired the whole day. There have been moments and times where I have grinded it out and gone on little sleep. Nothing compares to this experience though. I said it when I first signed on for this that if nothing else it would be an adventure. Well this past weekend I got an adventure and then some.
On the 10th my parents are flying in and will be here and doing some traveling themselves at the same time. I am really excited for them to come and show them where I have been and what I have been doing. If everything works out right we will be able to do some sightseeing together as well. Should be a good time.
That is all I have for now. Hope all is well back home. Take care
--Josh
