Grisham Days

Week 1 was a much anticipated match up with the 10 time defending IFL champions, the hated Lions of Bergamo, who are our rivals both in fiction and reality. In John Grisham's novel, Playing for Pizza, the Panthers lose to the Lions in the regular season but end up facing them again in the Superbowl where they pull off a dramatic upset. Staying true to Grisham's vision, we ended up losing a hard fought game 39-18, although it was closer than the score indicated. 

There was an incredible amount of build-up (for Italian standards) heading into the game. Not only was it the season opener where we would get our first chance to show what we can do,  but Big Grish (as Corey has started referring to him) was in attendance and there was a lot of buzz surrounding the team and the book. There had been quite a few articles in the local papers and magazines (including one which did a side-by-side comparison with Danny and Tom Brady!) and the night before the game there was a big press conference with Grisham and some members of the team. Basically it was the first time the city of Parma was interested in American football so we had some pressure to put on a good show. 

The Game Day atmosphere was actually quite impressive as our side of the stadium was full and about half of Bergamo's side. The theme from Gladiator was blaring as we made our entrance and everyone was pretty jacked up for the kickoff. The game started out at a fast pace as they jumped out ahead after a long pass that got them deep into our territory. 3 plays later they ran a designed QB bootleg and he walked in untouched as our D-end was clueless about where the ball was. We responded on the next drive as Danny dropped back and heaved one into the endzone to Corey who made an amazing catch over the head of the defender. Our defense couldn't stop anything though as they marched down the field again, this time capping it off with a 15 yard pass. Our offense struggled a bit with the fierce pass rush of the Lions, who we found out practice 5 times a week and have scheduled work out times (much different than the majority of the guys we play with whose diets usually consist of ham, coffee, and cigarettes). The Lions offense kept up the pace and by the end of the first quarter it was 21-6. We managed to pull within one score as Danny burst through the middle on a QB draw and scampered 25 yards for the score. The Lions regained their two-score lead right before half time though as one of our corners got beat deep. We came out ready to mount a comeback in the second half but penalties and dropped passes killed any momentum we got going. Danny hit Corey on another deep ball for his second score of the day but it was too little to late and we came up short in the end. 

Although we were pretty beat up after the game from going both ways and special teams (high school was a long time ago!) we managed to make it out to Polipo's for the post-game festivities. Big Grish was the guest of honor and I think he got a little more than he asked for, although he took everything in stride. Beers were flowing, pizzas were flying everywhere, and the Italians were singing dirty drinking songs and declaring their hatred for Bergamo. I can't wait to see what happens when we win!