End of Season Summary

Well first of all, please let me apologize one final time for the delay since my last post. As I'm sure most of you guessed by my delay, we ended up losing our home playoff game to the Basel Gladiators. The final score was 26-15 in which our offense played easily our worst game of the season. It was a shame to end the season that way, but I am still so happy to have enjoyed this experience and it is definitely something that I will never forget.

My team here in Austria has opened my eyes to so many different types of people and places than I had ever known in the States. This is a place that I really enjoy being and thus far has been an experience that I will never forget.

Because of my love of this area and the people here, I have reached a contract agreement with the Cineplexx Blue Devils to stay here longer than originally anticipated. I will remain here until November helping to coach the youth team QB's, as well as becoming the offensive coordinator of the Swiss National Team, something that I am very excited about. I will return home in November for a couple of months to visit family and enjoy the holidays before returning again next season to serve as QB and OC once again for the Cineplexx Blue Devils.


Below is a link to a season highlight video of myself. Mike is currently working on a team highlight tape, so when that is finished, perhaps I will provide a link to that on here as well.

2011 Season Highlight

I want to thank everyone who read this blog throughout the season. I have been amazed how many people have been reading every week, even when I wasn't the greatest at updating on a regular basis. This will be my last post for a while, and I will consider writing another one next season if I feel the reading base will still be there next season.

Until then, thanks again for reading!

Go Blue Devils/Boys!
Mitch Niekamp

Blue Devils Will Host a Home Playoff Game

Rolling out against the Bern Grizzlies in our Week 10 game
at home.

Well sorry for missing my post last week after our game with the Bern Grizzlies (a 42-20 victory in our last home game of the regular season). Mike and I have had a couple of friends here from the States, and we have been pretty busy showing them around and I didn't have time last week to write a post.

This Saturday we played the Zurich Renegades on the road in the last game of the regular season. It was an extremely important game for both teams. If we won the game, we would get to host the first round of the playoffs at home against the Basel Gladiators, a team we split our regular season series against. If we lost the game against Zurich, we would have to go on the road against Basel for the first round of the playoffs. If Zurich were to win, they would make the playoffs as the last seed. However, if they lost the game against us, they would miss the playoffs entirely. This fact made the game very important for both teams.

Handing off to Tino, our RB who finished our 10 game league
schedule with over 1,000 rushing yards.

The game began with Zurich getting the opening kickoff and going three and out. We then proceeded to march down the field and take a 7-0 lead. With their next possession, the Renegades would score on a 30 yard pass play to tie the game at 7. After that, both our offense and defense really kicked it into gear and never looked back. The final score: Blue Devils - 46 : Renegades - 7. Zurich had UCLA's 3rd all-time all-purpose yards leader at RB and Syracuse's 5th all-time leading passer at QB. Despite that fact, our defense played magnificently and our offense keyed off of their strong performance to give us a great jump start into the playoffs.

On Sunday we play at home against the Basel Gladiators in a first round playoff matchup. The winner of that game will advance to Swiss Bowl XXVI in Winterthur, Switzerland on July 16. Below are the season stats after our 10 game league schedule and 1 game out of conference. The stats compiled are based upon what we actually captured on film, so anything that didn't make it onto the film is not figured into these stats. Approximately 95% of our games DID make the film, but there is probably about 300-400 total offensive yards and several touchdowns on offense that did not make the film, and therefore are not included on the stats.

Here is a link to a preview of our upcoming playoff game with the Basel Gladiators - http://safv.ch/2011/07/04/speed-vs-smash-revanche/ Keep in mind that everything is in German, and I'm guessing most of you who read this blog will need to translate it in order to read it (try www.translate.google.com for help with translations).  Please check back in next week as I give a report on our home playoff game against the Basel Gladiators.

Go Blue Devils/Boys!
Mitch Niekamp

Blue Devils: 43 - Zurich Renegades: 20

Yesterday saw the Cineplexx Blue Devils clinch a spot in the playoffs for the top league in Switzerland, a nice accomplishment with still two games left to play in the regular season. We are currently out of the running to finish in first place, as the Calanda Broncos (ranked #5 in Europe) have secured the top spot by beating us twice this season by a total of 3 points. However, with yesterday's win we kept hold of second place and control our own destiny to host a first round playoff game at home. Due to heavy rains the day before, we were forced to change venues for our game yesterday, and play on a field with very little room for spectators, causing what I would consider a poor environment for a football game. However, our team did a good job of adjusting and came out ready to play and came out with a good win.

We faced the Zurich Renegades yesterday, a team with some great import players and solid domestic guys as well. Their RB played at UCLA and can be found high in the record books in several categories there. The same can be said about their QB who played at Syracuse University and also had a nice career there. Our offense came out firing, and scored TD's on 5 of our first 6 possessions on route to a 33-20 halftime lead. Our defense then buckled down in the second half and held the opposition to no points and very little yardage. Complete defensive statistics have not been released, but our D had roughly 8 sacks yesterday en route to giving the opposing QB what will undoubtedly be a sore body today (I can ALMOST say that I feel bad for him, as a fellow quarterback, but I was very happy with how our defense played).

Rolling out to the left. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I remember this pass
falling short of the target and incomplete.

We now finish the season with a home game against the Bern Grizzlies (whom we defeated 20-14 earlier in the season), followed by a road trip right back to Zurich in two weeks. These next few games will determine whether or not we get to host the first round playoff game, which would be a big boost for the team.

A group of us at the reception

My apologies for again missing a week of posting. Last week Mike and I traveled back home to the States for one of our best friend's wedding. Ricky Padilla and Jessica Agner got married last Saturday in Jacksonville, IL, and we were so happy that we could be there to celebrate with everyone. The wedding took place in the chapel of our college campus at Illinois College, and as I stood there on stage with Mike, standing next to Ricky, I told him "It's pretty cool to see two of your best friends marry each other on our old college campus, huh?" It most definitely was, we were honored that Ricky asked us to stand up with him, and even though we had to travel a total of just under 10,000 total miles in 5 days to be there, we wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Check back in next week for a report on our game against the Bern Grizzlies.

Go Blue Devils/Boys!
Mitch Niekamp

Calanda Broncos Week

My apologies for missing last week's post. We had a bye week and I did some traveling around, and in the hustle and bustle of seeing different parts of Europe that I had not been to yet, I forgot to write. Last Sunday (May 15th), we played a home game against the Basel Gladiators, a team we played in Week 2 and defeated 34-18 at that time. We focused our team during practice before the game, and it showed on the field, as we came away with a 58-0 victory (leading 44-0 at halftime). Their team had some injuries, as did ours, but we were simply the better team that day. We ran only 18 offensive plays for the whole game, and only 1 in the second half! We scored 7 offensive touchdowns, and one on defense to account for the scoring. It was like nothing I had ever seen as we were clicking on all cylinders.

This past week we had a bye, and Mike and I did some traveling with one of our Finnish teammates, Arto. It was great to bounce around and see some parts of Europe that we had not yet explored. Sorry I'm not giving more details, but I'm a little bit rushed before I head off to practice tonight.

This weekend we play the 5th ranked team in Europe, the Calanda Broncos. With several high-profile import players and lots of good domestic players, they will be a tough task. A couple of weeks ago we played them to a 37-36 loss in the last two minutes of the game. I'm sure this game will be a tough one also, but we are looking forward to the challenge.

After the Broncos game, I will be returning to the States for a 5 day mini-vacation. One of Mike and I's best friends is getting married, and we are heading back for the wedding as we will have another bye week. This is something that we are both sincerely looking forward to, as it will be nice to head back to America for a few days and recharge the batteries a little bit.

Thank you everyone for reading, and I'll be back early next week with a report on how the game versus the Calanda Broncos went.

Go Blue Devils/Boys!
Mitch Niekamp

So, it's been quite a long time since my last post, and I do apologize for the long wait. My family has been here for the last two weeks and just left for home on Monday. Their time here kept me busy and I did not have time to tend to my blog. So please accept my sincerest apologies for the delay in blog posts, but I should be able to keep up a steady update schedule from now until the end of the season in mid-late July.

A quick update on our games since I last posted. We played the Calanda Broncos at home on May 1. We lost the game 37-36 in the last two minutes of the game, having had the lead nearly the entire way. This was against a team that had not lost in its last 26 contests, and would have been quite an upset in the mind of the European football world. Alas, 250 penalty yards and too many mistakes made it not to be, as we could not pull out a victory against a team that was then ranked 8th in all of Europe.

The next week we played the Basel Gladiators and suffered another defeat, 41-17. Another 200 penalty yards and several red zone turnovers doomed us in our quest to sweep the season series from the team that we defeated in week 1. The Gladiators had sent their QB home at some point between when we played them in week one and last weekend. They have totally changed their offensive schemes and are a much more explosive team.

Last weekend, we had a game scheduled against the Zurich Renegades at home. Due to a large rainstorm, our game was cancelled and has yet to be rescheduled. With our team sharing our home field with the Hohenems Soccer Club, rain meant that playing would tear up the field for the soccer team, meaning our game would be cancelled. Imagine the status of football vs. soccer in the US, and totally switch them around here in Europe. Soccer rules all, and anything that could possibly get in the way of anything soccer gets the axe. Hence, we are not to play a game in the rain on the soccer field.

Before I go, I do want to share some pictures of Neuschwanstein Castle. My family and I visited this castle that is merely 1 1/2 hours drive from my home in Austria. It is one of the most famous castles in all of Europe, getting 6,000 visitors per day in the summer time. This castle is the same one that the castle at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL was modeled after.

View of Neuschwanstein Castle from a bride above a ravine behind the castle. 

Front view of the Neuschwanstein Castle

View out the back side of the Neuschwanstein Castle

It was great to see my family in the last couple of weeks, and they did a great job of keeping me busy. I had not seen them since mid-January, and it was great to be able spend time with them once again.

This Sunday we have another home game against the Basel MeanMachine. Another big game in the Swiss top league. We will look to hold on to our second place spot in the league and keep position for a home game in the playoffs. Please check in next week for updates on the game, and I promise to try and keep a more up-to-date account of my time here for the rest of my journey in Austria.

Go Blue Devils/Boys!
Mitch Niekamp

Calanda Broncos:37 - Cineplexx Blue Devils:36

Mike making a guy miss on the sideline.

In the best fought game that I have been a part of since coming to Europe in January, we lost a tough battle by one point Sunday afternoon as the Calanda Broncos from Chur, Switzerland (undefeated in the last 25 games and the #8 ranked team in Europe) defeated us on our home field in Hohenems, Austria. The Broncos took the lead 9-0 early in the game, before we would come back off of two straight TD drives to take a 15-9 lead. With the game tied at 15 with 5 seconds left on the first half clock, we scored as time expired on a 9 yard run to go into half time with a 22-15 advantage.

Midway through the third quarter, we would gain a 29-15 advantage with another scoring drive, an advantage that wouldn't last for long. After the Broncos scored once to make it a 29-22 game, they got the ball again on their own 25 yard line. Our defense forced and recovered a fumble on first down that would have given us fantastic field position and a chance to go up by two scores in the fourth quarter. However, an offsides penalty negated the turnover, and they Broncos threw a 75 yard TD on the next play. The subsequent 2 point conversion gave them a one point lead with roughly 10 minutes remaining in the game.

Gustav, our very good Swedish DE, going in for the kill.

We would drive yet again and score to go up by a score of 36-30 with about five minutes left. This turned out to be too much time to give a team that has not lost in over a year and a half, as they would drive down to score and go up by one point with 2 minutes remaining. Our chance at a last second TD was thwarted on a 3rd down INT, and they would simply kneel down from there. A great game with a bad ending for our team. A team of their caliber and reputation finds a way to win close games down the stretch, and now that is something we must learn to do as we strive to find a way to win a Swiss championship. Below you can find the offensive stats from the game on Sunday.

On a brighter note, my dad and brother flew into Zurich on Saturday morning, and spent the weekend with me. They were able to catch the game, and it was absolutely fantastic to see them. I have been away from home since January 18, and it was great to finally see family face-to-face rather than simply on a computer screen. They left to go visit Germany on Monday morning, and my brother will fly back home on Thursday. My dad will be staying another week though, and will catch two more of our games. Definitely excited about that.

Next Sunday we travel to Basel to face the Gladiators, the same team we faced and defeated in Week 1 of the season. This is an important game, as this past Sunday marked our first loss in Swiss play. We need to improve upon our performance and play another solid game in an attempt to go 4-1 in league play this season. It should be an interesting match up, and I am excited to start tonight on another week of preparation.

Hope all is well back in the States, and check back next week for an update on our Basel game.

Go Blue Devils/Boys!
Mitch Niekamp

Weekend in Prague/Upcoming Game

Well, as I told you last week, we had a bye this weekend due to the Easter holiday. With our free time, a few of the guys decided to drive to Prague, Czech Republic to spend a few days there. The owner of our team lent us a vehicle, and we piled in and hit the road. I started the drive, and it was pretty awesome. We are just 15 minutes or so from the German border, and once we crossed into Germany, I was driving on the world famous German Autobahn. Every German speaking country has an Autobahn, it roughly translates to "interstate". However, the reason Germany's is so famous is that for stretches of it (i.e. in country areas and away from cities) there is no speed limit. This was a pretty remarkable thing to see. I won't go into details about how fast I was driving, but I can tell you that at one point I was driving faster than I had ever driven in my life, and was getting passed like I was literally standing still.

A map of our journey with arrows at the start and end of our trip, and a circle where we crossed the border into the
Czech Republic.

Overview of the city.

Old church in the center of town.

We got a glimpse at some of the corruption that happens in Eastern European countries as we entered into the Czech Republic. In order to drive on their interstates, a person must purchase a sticker to place on their car. When we went to purchase our 10-day sticker at the border, the man told us it would cost either 15 euros or 250 Czech Korunas (the currency of the Czech Republic). The reason this was so strange is that the exchange rate was roughly 1 euro to 25 Korunas. So, obviously, the sticker should have cost 10 euros, but the man knew there was literally nothing we could do about it, so the odds are likely that he took our extra 5 euros and put it in his pocket. We were literally powerless. If we wanted to drive on their interstates, we had to pay for the sticker, and he knew that. My guess would be that had any one of us spoken Czech, we would have been given a fair price. However, that was not to be.

Busy pedestrian area in Prague. (This was a Thursday
afternoon, mind you)

View down a cool old street. 

Once we reached Prague, we spent our days walking around and seeing the sights, and our nights doing the same, except trying to experience the night life. One night we ended up in Central Europe's largest night club, which was definitely interesting. The next night we ended up meeting a guy from Cedar Rapids, Iowa who had lived in Prague for 5 years and had just started up a club there. He had a deal that for 20 euros you could start the night at his club, and they would show you all around to different clubs throughout the city. It was very awesome due to the fact that there were probably around 20 other Americans there with us that night. Most of them being students who were studying abroad and had come to visit Prague for the week. It was very nice to hear some other people speaking real, American English.

The city was very beautiful during the day time as well, though unfortunately it did not seem to be extremely photogenic (at least not to my untrained eye). For some reason my photos didn't quite capture the beauty and intrigue that the city had to offer, and for that I do apologize. I suppose to truly experience it, one would simply have to visit there.

This was once an old castle the has now been turned into a church.

Very serene river in the middle of a city of 1.3 million people...awesome.

This weekend my dad and brother will be arriving into Zurich on Saturday morning, and I am definitely excited to have them here and be able to show them a little bit about how I've been living here. They will stay for a few days before leaving to see parts of Germany without me, but then my dad will come back later and join my mom and grandma when they arrive here a week later. As I said, I am very excited to see them all.

Calanda Broncos logo
(www.calandabroncos.ch/images/content/BroncoBlau-1.jpg)

Also this weekend is a big game for the Cineplexx Blue Devils. We play the Calanda Broncos, from Chur, Switzerland, a mere 40 minute drive away from where we play. This game is quite a rivalry, as players seem to often go back and forth between these two teams from year to year. The proximity of the teams also seems to create a big buzz when the Broncos are the opponent.

They are a very strong team, as they have not lost a game in at least a year, and I think longer (though I don't have the gumption right now to go look that up). Before last weekend, the Broncos were the number 8 ranked team in all of Europe. However, after beating the 9th ranked team (an Italian squad) rather handily, I would have to imagine that their ranking would only go up. This game will be a big challenge, but I am excited to see how our guys will perform against top-notch European competition.

I hope all is well back in the States, and hopefully the weather improves for those of you in West Central Illinois. Check back next week for a game report.

Go Blue Devils/Boys!
Mitch Niekamp

Blue Devils: 20 - Bern Grizzlies: 14

Christian (one of our great
Austrian WR's) returning
a kick

Mike running with one of his 7 catches on Sunday

On Sunday we traveled to the capital city of Switzerland to face the Bern Grizzlies, a team that was 2-1 in league play heading into the game. We started the game with the ball and scored on the 3rd play of the game. After failing to convert the extra point, we had a 6-0 lead. We would never trail the rest of the game, eventually winning 20-14 in what was undoubtedly the fastest football game I have ever been a part of. The game took only 1 hour and 55 minutes. There were very few incompletions in the game from either side, and every run play seemed to end in-bounds as the clock ran nearly all game. Our defense played very well all game, and came up with a big stop in the last 2 minutes to secure the lead and give our offense the ball back. We would eventually run out the clock to go home with a win. Despite winning, we had plenty of mistakes on the offensive side of the ball. Three separate times we were inside of the opposing team's 15 yard line and came away with no points. To continue winning this season we will have to prevent something like that from happening again. Despite this poor performance, it's always tough to complain about a win, and we will move on to our next game being happy to be 3-0 and tied for first in league play. Below are the offensive stats from the game, based on our film: (I can tell you that I had one fumble that is not represented on the stats. It killed a drive inside the opponent 10 yard line, and squandered a chance to score. Another mistake that I will need to prevent from happening again for us to continue winning.)

Prague, Czech Republic (www.movieoneinc.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/
2011/03/prague-bridges.jpg)

The entire league has a bye this weekend, as we observe the Easter holiday. Because of the bye, we have a few extra days off from practice this week, and a few of the imports are planning on heading to Prague, Czech Republic with our time off. I'm very excited to make the journey to yet another country here in Europe. I've heard some incredible things about Prague, and I can't wait to see what it has to offer. We are kind of "winging it" as far as travel plans are concerned, which is definitely out of character for me, so it should definitely be interesting to see how the trip works out.

 

I hope all is well back in the States, and I wanted to say "thanks" to everyone who is taking time to read this blog. I have been astounded by the number of views this page receives every day. It makes it much easier to sit down and write an up-to-date account of my experience here knowing that so many of you are reading. Thanks again for everyone reading, and check back next week for an update on practices and a report on our trip this weekend.

Go Blue Devils/Boys!

Mitch Niekamp

Kragujevac Wild Boars: 51 - Cineplexx Blue Devils: 7

In one of the most lopsided losses of my football career, we were defeated by our Serbian opponents on Sunday afternoon, 51-7. This loss left us out of the race to win the EFAF cup, and now we can only chase a Swiss championship. We were shorthanded with injuries both before and during the game, but that was still no excuse for the game that was played on Sunday. We were dominated the whole game, and defeated by a very good team, though I thought we should have played closer with them. Offensively we moved the ball decently well, but made mistakes at bad points of key drives, causing us to score only 7 points. There is much to improve on offensively. We will obviously need to score many more points if we want to get back to our winning ways of the previous two weeks. We can only do our statistics based on the film that we have of the game, and unfortunately a couple of drives were cut out of the game, but the following are the offensive stats based on what we were able to see from film: (I can tell you that the film cut out 2 INT's that I threw, causing a bit of a rough passing day for me personally. I will need to improve to help our team get back to winning).

This coming Sunday we travel to Bern, the capital of Switzerland, to face a team that is 2-1 in our league. We are 2-1 overall (2-0 in league play). This will be an important game for our team as we try to get back on track and continue working towards winning a Swiss championship.

I apologize for the short post, but I must complete my German homework before we have our lesson today (sometimes it sounds like I'm throwing up when I try to speak this language). I hope all is well back at home, and check back next week when I will have an update of our game against the Bern Grizzlies.

Go Blue Devils/Boys!
Mitch Niekamp

Blue Devils: 34 - Mean Machine: 18

Sunday, April 3rd saw the Blue Devils post our second win of the season, a 34-18 victory over the Basel Mean Machine of Switzerland. We are now 2-0 on the year, and couldn't have gotten off to a better start. Sunday we switched gears a little bit offensively from the previous week and took what the defense gave us: lots of running room. The passing game was a little bit off on Sunday, as we had some mistakes through the air, giving us some very sub-par passing statistics. But that doesn't matter when your O-line and RB's do what ours did on Sunday. They combined to have one of the best running attacks I have ever seen in a game as a player or as a spectator. We got the ball first and scored on our first possession, a TD pass to Mike Jennings from myself, and we never looked back. We never trailed in the game, and the game was really never in doubt. Were it not for a few offensive/defensive mistakes on our part, the score could have been worse, but we will never argue with a win. The stats from the game are below:

Mike said this "was not a hold", and luckily, the
officials apparently agreed.

Coach Mader has let me call most of the offensive plays throughout the first two games, and I plan on that trend continuing throughout the season. It has been really great to be able to call my own plays as a QB, as I get to call what I feel comfortable with and what I think will help the team most. Believe me, it wasn't easy for me to call 37 runs to only 18 passes (with 3 of those passes being hail mary/desperation type calls at the end of the first half), but that is exactly what our team needed to win the game, and I was happy to call those plays in order for us to come away with the win. 

I was actually the recipient of this pass on a 2 pt conversion play,
believe it or not. Unfortunately, a block in the back by Mike nullified
the play, and we missed the 2 pt from 10 yards further back. This
would have been the first catch in my football career. You can
bet that I will make up for it later on this year.

For those of you who don't know, let me explain to you a little about how the game works over here in the Swiss league we are playing in, the NLA (National League A, the highest level in Switzerland. Keep in mind we are the only Austrian team in the Swiss league). Each team is allowed to have only 4 total Americans, Canadians, Mexicans, and Japanese players on the team, and only 2 may be on the field at any given time. Any player who has a dual passport with USA/MEX/CAN/JAP and another country does not count towards this number. We are lucky enough to have a MLB from Florida State who also has a Jamaican passport, so when he is on the field, we may have 2 other Americans aside from him on the field also. We currently have 5 imports who are listed as only Americans, so one of us has to sit on the sideline each week. It is up to each team to decide how many USA/MEX/CAN/JAP imports they bring in. If they don't have the funds, some teams can't bring as many Americans. It all depends on the monetary backing the team has. Imports from any other country in the world aside from the four listed above do not count towards the number, and an unlimited number of the may be on the field at the same time. I hope I have explained this clearly, as I realize it is a little bit tricky. 

Tino running for some of his 264 yards.

This week, we play a game in the EFAF (European Federation of American Football) Cup against the Kragujevac Wild Boars from Serbia. This game is at home, thank goodness. I don't think any of us would have been too excited to take the train into Serbia to be quite honest. This is a playoff style bracket played throughout the season with select teams throughout Europe being included in the playoff. If we win this Sunday, we will play another team from somewhere within Europe at a later date in the season. If we were to lose on Sunday, we would be eliminated from the EFAF cup and on the dates where the following EFAF games would have been played, we will have a bye week. In EFAF games, teams are allowed to dress only 3 Americans, but they may also all be on the field at the same time. This leaves our team in a dilemma this weekend, as we have 5 Americans, but only 3 may play. I am interested to see who the coaches decide to play in this game. 

I would also like to send out a big CONGRATULATIONS to Jacob Tucker of our alma mater, Illinois College. For those of you who didn't see it, Jacob won the NCAA dunk contest against 6 DI athletes in Houston on Final Four weekend last Thursday. That was big news here in Austria, and I can't imagine how much buzz is going on around the IC campus right now. What a great thing for our school, and what a great thing for Jacob. I always liked Jacob because every summer while a few of us football guys would stay in Jacksonville to work out together and prepare for the season, Jacob would do the same, and I would always see him in the gym working on his game. I always appreciated the work he put in when no one was watching, and it truly paid off for him. GO IC.

Well, that's all for now. I hope all is well back in the States, and check back in next week for an update on our game against the Wild Boars

Go Blue Devils/Boys!

Mitch Niekamp

Blue Devils: 40 - Basel Gladiators: 24

So Sunday afternoon Mike and I played our first game as professional athletes, and I don't think it could have gone any better. The weather was pretty great, about 55 degrees and partly cloudy. The mountains in the background of our field were covered with a very light fog, creating a really cool atmosphere for a football game.

Mike catching his first professional TD

We played the Basel Gladiators, a team located in north-central Switzerland, right on the border with southeastern France. They got the ball first and struck quickly, scoring on the fourth play of the game to take an 8-0 lead. After we had a long kick return to the opponents 10 yard line, the scoring began. On fourth and goal from the 23 on our first drive, we scored on a TD pass to one of our Austrian wide receivers. We would end up scoring on all 5 of our first half drives to take a 33-14 lead into the half.

Rolling out left. I don't remember what happened on
this play, but we'll just say it was a completion.

The scoring slowed considerably in the second half, as the Gladiators did a nice job of keeping our offense off the field. We scored only 7 second half points, but they scored only 10, making the final score 40-24 in favor of the Blue Devils. To go out and get a win in my first professional game was pretty fantastic. To have the offense play well on top of that made it just a bit sweeter. The defensive stats have not been completed yet, but the offensive stats from the game are listed below (sorry for the poor picture quality):

Mike pointing to his adoring fans after catching
his 2nd TD of the day

To be able to play well against the competition gave both myself and our team a great boost of confidence heading into the rest of the season. The Gladiators are the same team that knocked the Blue Devils out of the playoffs in last year's semi-final game. To open this season with a win versus the same opponent lifted everyone's spirits and only increased our expectations for the remainder of the season. Next Sunday we travel to Basel, to play another team from the same town; the Basel Mean Machine.

I hope all is well back in the States, and I know the IC Blueboys start their spring football practice on April 3. That will be the start of what will hopefully be a very successful 2011 campaign for the Blueboys as they look to bring home something I could never accomplish in my time there; a MWC championship. Best wishes, and check back next week for a report on our next game.

Go Blue Devils/Boys!
Mitch Niekamp

Milan, Italy

I hope this post finds everyone well back at home in the States. Our first game is this coming Sunday against a team from Basel, Switzerland. I have a similar feeling before this game that I had before our first game every year in college. I know we have tremendous players and incredible potential, but you're just always unsure how everything will fit together. We have some very good athletes and a lot of speed, which I think will pan out well for us as a team. I am looking forward to discovering what the level of play is here and how our team can do against the rest of the Swiss teams in our league. For anyone who may be interested, I did a radio interview with WBBA out of Pittsfield earlier this week. It will air on Sunday March 27th around 5:15 CT. I was told that it would be streamed online as well. I called in via Skype (a wonderful program, by the way) and had a long 20 minute or so interview. I'm not sure if they will air the whole thing or not. But, if you feel so inclined, please feel free to tune in then.

A picture of the cabin on the train.
Two of us shared one of these cabins.
It made for a pretty comfortable ride. 

This past weekend 6 of the import players took a train from Hohenems to Milan, Italy. It was a pretty incredible weekend. We left early Saturday morning and reached Innsbruck, Austria by about 9:20 am. After a twenty minute layover there, we hopped another train headed for Verona, Italy. About 3 1/2 hours later we reached the city where we would have a six hour stop before our train left for Milan. We simply hopped off the train and started walking towards the center of town, and the scenery was pretty fantastic.

The main street in Verona, headed towards the Coliseum.

Arches leading to town square
in Verona 

As we walked through the streets of the old town, we knew we were headed for an old Roman built coliseum. We had done a little bit of research on Verona before we left, knowing we would have six hours to kill there. The main street heading through Verona was pretty cool. Lined with trees on both sides, the street headed towards the Coliseum built by the Romans. Shops, restaurants, hotels, and bars filled both sides of the street, with the occasional individual selling trinkets, clothes, or food from a personal tent set up on the street. As we neared the center of town, a cool archway that spanned the street greeted us to the town square.

Once we passed through the arches we came upon a cool little town square with brick roads and mainly pedestrian traffic. The only traffic allowed through this part of town was people who live in or around the square, so walkers pretty much owned this land space. Also, the view across the other side of the square was pretty fantastic...the coliseum built by the Romans in the 1st century AD. It was the third largest coliseum that the Romans built in their time period, and it was pretty impressive/awe inspiring to see a building of such magnitude that was so old The FIRST CENTURY AD. That is 1600 years older than the United States of America. It was unbelievable. $4.50 got us into the coliseum for a self-guided tour. We met a girl inside who was from New Jersey and was studying abroad in Italy. She accompanied us for a while before we went separate ways. We asked her if it would be worth our time to visit the spot in Verona were Juliet's balcony is (for those of you who read regularly, you may remember that I mentioned in my last post that Verona was the setting for Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet"). Her response "Six guys in Italy, if I were you guys I might skip that one." Alas, we took her advice, and instead went for pizza...in Italy...pretty cool. Below are a couple of pictures of the coliseum (still used to hold concerts and other events today, hence the construction of the stage happening in the pictures).

After spending time in Verona, we hopped the train headed for Milan around 7 pm. While on the train we were playing cards and perhaps being a little loud, someone poked their head in our cabin and said "You guys speak English?" The guy turned out to be our age, and a native Italian, but he lived in Milan. We invited him in and he played cards with us until we reached Milan, and then he took us out in Milan when we arrived. It was nice to have someone who knew the city take us out and show us where to go.

The next morning we awoke and headed toward the central train station in Milan, a sort of hub for happenings around the city. Four of the guys decided to go to a soccer game that was being held that day at a very famous stadium (Inter Milan was playing for any of you soccer fans out there). Mike and I decided to take a bus around the city for the day and try to see as many sights as we could. There were some pretty unbelievable things to see around the city, but one thing stood out without question: The Duomo. The main cathedral of Milan, and the third largest church in the world. Built in 1384, the structure was magnificent, and the plazza that surrounded the building was full of people. The following is a video taken from the square in front of the church.

To continue on and tell/show you everything we saw in Milan (i.e. seeing the church that holds Da Vinci's painting of "The Last Supper", old fortresses, walking into and feeling completely uncomfortable in a Luis Vuitton store, etc.) would take much too long for my impatient self. I can tell you that it was a great experience, and it was awesome to simply say "I think I will go to Italy for the weekend". It's awesome to live in a part of the world where so many different places and cultures are within your grasp. I'm truly beginning to love this place.

But that's all for now. Again, I hope everything/everyone is great back at home, and I will post again soon with results from our first game.

Go Blue Devils/Boys!
Mitch Niekamp

Quick Update

Hello all, sorry for the long delay between posts. Things have been very busy here as we try to figure out the living situations for all of our import players. There are two players from Florida State, a player from Southern Methodist University, one from Valdosta State in Georgia, myself and Michael from IC, and possibly one other American player coming from the University of Buffalo. On top of these imports, there are three from Finalnd and one from Sweden. That is a lot of players to put into different apartments throughout town, and getting the living situation figured out is a bit of a task, but we've almost completed the task.

Practices are going well. Our defense looks very, very strong. Offensively, we still have some work that needs to be done, but I think we have the potential to be very good on the outsides and put up a lot of points. Our first game is March 27th, and from then on we play nearly every weekend. More football updates to come.

This weekend six of the imports will be traveling via train to Milan, Italy. We will leave Austria early Saturday morning and return Monday afternoon. On our way to Milan, we have a six hour layover in Verona, Italy (the setting of Romeo and Juliet for any of you literature buffs out there.

I will write again next week, and will have pictures of Italy to show you. For now, I will leave a couple of pictures of Lindau, Germany at the bottom of this post. Lindau is an island on Lake Constance that is only about a 30 minute train ride from my house. It is a nice town with a cool harbor and a nice view of both the Swiss and Austrian Alps.

Hope all is well in the States.
Go Blue Devils/Boys!
Mitch Niekamp

Lighthouse at the Port of Lindau

Churches in the center of Lindau

Vaduz, Liechtenstein

Yesterday afternoon the four Americans from the team took a trip to Vaduz, Liechtenstein. It was about a 30 minute drive to reach the capital of the 6th smallest nation in the world. Liechtenstein is the second richest country in the world by GDP per capita. In 2008, the per capita GDP was over $139,000 per person. We crossed the border into Liechtenstein via a border stop in Feldkirch, Austria, and it was very easy to tell that this was a very rich country. The roads instantly became a little wider and a little more nicely paved. We asked the guards at the border to stamp our passports for us, and they said we needed to go to the tourist office in Vaduz and they would do it there. Upon our arrival at the tourist office, we were charged 2 euros for the stamp, perhaps one reason they have such a great economy...charging tourists for their passport stamps.

View from the car as we came into Liechtenstein.

The views in Liechtenstein were pretty spectacular. It was a little cloudy and slightly foggy, so I hope to go back sometime later in the spring when the clouds lift. Despite the somewhat poor conditions, the views were still pretty impressive...

Vaduz Castle

The Alps cover the entire country (which is actually only 15 miles long, north to south and 5 1/2 miles wide, east to west). The first thing that one notices when entering Vaduz is the impressively imposing castle that sits atop the city with a bird's eye view of everything below. The castle is still occupied by the royal family of Liechtenstein, and is closed to the public. We walked near it and notice a gardener outside working around the courtyard of the castle. We asked him if there was any chance that he could let us inside the courtyard just for a quick look, but had no luck with that. I'm sure the royal family would have appreciated him doing his job.


After walking around the city for a while, we found a nice vineyard that is owned by the royal family and is open to the public. We walked in and were told a little about the vineyard (the man seemed to be very proud that it was the largest vineyard in the entire country, a fact that didn't seem all that impressive to me given the size of Liechtenstein). The best thing about the vineyard was the view it provided from outside of its front doors. Two photos of those views are below...

View from the vineyard in the opposite direction of the castle

View from the vineyard of the castle sitting atop Vaduz

I really enjoyed Liechtenstein, and am excited to return later in the spring when the weather is better and the views will be even more spectacular.

This week both Mike and Coach Mader (our head coach) arrived in Austria, and we had our first full team practice on Thursday. Things are going to start slow as we begin to install Coach Mader's offensive scheme. I couldn't be any more excited though. We have some explosive weapons on the outside, and I think we have a good chance to put up some great numbers offensively. We are 3 weeks from our first game, and the clock is ticking. I'm very excited, and will be keeping things updated the best that I can.

Hope all is well in the states, and check back soon.

Go Blue Devils/Boys!
Mitch

Innsbruck

     Last Friday I took the train to Innsbruck, Austria. It was a 2 hr and 15 min train ride through the Austrian Alps. It was an unbelievably beautiful ride, and though I didn't take any pictures along the way, it was awe-inspiring the entire time. Once I reached Innsbruck, the first thing I saw when I left the train station was a Burger King. I couldn't quite believe it. I have seen a McDonald's in just about every town, but this was the first American food chain I had seen since arriving here.
     The night before traveling to Innsbruck, I downloaded a walking tour to my iPod. I used a map I had downloaded to get me to the starting point of the walking tour, put my earphones in, and then simply pressed "play". The lady on the audio tour told me everything I was looking at and every turn to take. It was a very cool way to see the city. I'll post photos of Innsbruck at the bottom of this post.
     Tomorrow I am planning a trip to Liechtenstein, about 20 miles south of where I'm living in Austria. This will mark the fourth country that I have visited in just over a month since arriving in Europe. That will equal the number of countries I had visited in my entire 23 years leading up to now. I will have pictures of that trip for you on my next blog.
     Mike comes in on Monday, and I'm very excited. When he gets here, we will have all of our imports here and we will be ready to go. Our head coach comes in on Tuesday, and then we will officially begin our season. We are just over a month to our first game, and the anticipation is building.
     I apologize for the short post, but have to leave for practice here in a few minutes. I hope all is well back at home, and please check back in soon for more updates.

Go Blue Devils/Boys!
Mitch Niekamp

Goldenes Dachl (The Golden Roof). The most famous landmark of Innsbruck. This used to be a royal palace.
Austrian Alps in the background. 

St. John's Cathedral

A hotel that has been in operation since the 11th century. A stone slab on the side of the building lists the famous people
who have stayed here, including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The river Inn, for which the city was named after. 

A rooftop view of the city of Innsbruck