Night before the game was one of the most axious times of my life.  I was so excited yet so nervous at the same time.  I have never had this amount of responsability on a team.  I was going to play on all special teams, including returning all kicks, and i was going to play receiver and some defensive back.  So I rolled around all night till about 4:30 a.m. or so then finally fell asleep.  Woke up about 10:30 and Tatu came to pick me up for lunch at Huvi Retki.  We met Lari (QB) Ilpo (Safety) and Visa (LB) up there.  When I walked in I was kinda shocked to notice that Lari and Visa were sitting there smoking.  I almost began to laugh cuz that is just unheard of back home.  So we ate a really good chicken alfredo pasta type meal.  Tatu and Lari put loads of ketchup on theirs which also seems really weird to me.  We then left and went to the field to hang out before kickoff. 

 

We got ready in the locker rooms to the sound of some terrible music.  It was hilarious how much different our tastes are when it comes to pre game music.  I had to throw my headphones on and listen to some Shawn McDonald and Mat Kearney to calm my nerves down a little.  Then it was game time. 

 

The weather wasnt very good, raining and chilly, so the crowd was very small.  Probably the smalles crowd i have ever played in front of!  Maybe several hundred people if that.  We lost the toss so we were kicking off first which was good considering i needed to get the nerves out and kickoff just allowed me to run down and mix it up a little.  Now i was ready and the nerves were all but gone.  Stan Bedwell was the QB for the Pori Bears.  I have been in contact with him for a couple months prior to coming to Finland.  He is a super guy and really a great leader on his team.  He led them straight down the field and scored and i realized there that offensively we were going to have to score a ton to win! 

 

Our first offensive series started out with a couple run plays then on a third down Lari rolled right and hit me on a curl route.  I caught it and slipped one tackle.  I cut across the field and it opened wide up for me.  The only guy left was the safety and I just out-ran him to the endzone.  So tie game 7-7.

 

Next two series Pori just went down and scored at will.  Then on the next kick return i took the kickoff and saw a seem up the right side.  I pretty much just ran straight up the sideline and the only guy between me and the end-zone was the kicker, who happen to be about 350 lbs, so i would have been ticked if he would have fetched me down.  I thought i had my first kickoff return for touchdown until i turned around and saw flags on the field for holding! No TD. 

 

The rest of the game Pori Bracketed me and i only had 3 more catches.  I also had one punt return that was kinda funny.  One of Pori's players was running down to cover the punt and it bounced right beside him.  I was waving my arms to tell my team to get away and the pori guy stopped as well.  So i fielded the punt right in front of him and took off.  40 yards later i was tackled and 3 plays later our team fumbled.  

 

In the 4th quarter the score was 36-7 and i was going in to cover a punt.  They had decided to change it up and put two guys on me.  I gave a pretty good move and got free.  I was running down the frield then all of a sudden i woke up on the sideline! Haha.. apparently i got rocked and never saw it coming.  My team says i got cheap shotted but i dont know for sure so i have no comment on it.  I watched the film and it doesnt show the hit, it just shows me rolling around on the ground then getting up and stumbling over to the sideline like a drunk.  It was hilarious and ill do my best to get the film online.  Apparently i also said some off the wall stuff.  They asked me if i knew where i was and i thought i was in Texas.  I was looking around for my parents and was so confused.  HaHa I had no clue who these people were staring at me.   According to my teamates and trainer when the paramedics showed up i said "hey, you guys are paramedics...you guys rock!" and i said "coach put me back in the game...this isnt funny, put me back in there".  When i stood up to get into the ambulance i said "Hey, tell the hot german girl upstairs to come visit me in the hospital."....I then got into the ambulance and one of the female players who speaks good english went with me.  I dont think i quit talking the entire way to the hospital, either because of nerves or a little tipsy still.  She then asked me if everyone in Texas was as talkative as me.  I thought she wanted me to shut up but she just was curious and told me that she enjoyed it so i resumed talking. 

 

By the time i got to the hospital i felt perfectly fine..NO headache or stomach ache and i was walking just fine.  The doctor allowed me to go.  I hung out with Tatu, Juha, Lari, and Joni most the night and they took good care of me.  

 

We were at a restaurant/bar and a couple of the guys were pretty gone by about midnight.  Might I note they never talk during the days, but when drunk they dont quit talking!  I had a great night just hangin out listening to all the guys talk to each other in Finnish and English.  One of the guys told me he was my bodyguard! Another offered to buy me pepsi's every 5 minutes.  Since they cost about 3 euros i let him!  Had several strangers approach me and ask me if i was "the football player from Texas" which is a pretty good feeling.  Everyone is just a joy to be around and we had a great night even though we lost the game!  We are a young team and we played the best team in the league.  They played 2 games already and we had only practiced 3 times so I am not discouraged at all about the potential of this team.

 

Personally, I feel fine and slept the best night of sleep since i have been in finland!  Tomorrow we are headed to Tampere to watch Kuopio Steelers vs Tampere Saints.