Day #1

I touched down in Frankfurt, Germany at 8:00am (2:00am EST) and officially started my German Football Adventure. Luckily, my experience in NYC was not a foreshadower for my future travels to Germany, as customs and baggage claim were both uneventful. I was met at the airport by Scott (The Hanau Hornets youth coach, lives in Germany, US Army Vet, German wife) and Rudy (Hanau Hornets “General Manager”, I think). Scott obviously speaks English and does the translating between Rudy and I, who speaks only a little bit of English. Rudy and I would spend quite some time together over the next few days.

As we are walking to the cars, the inevitable subject comes up that I do not know how to operate a manual transmission. Scott translates this and Rudy stops dead in his tracks with a wide eyed look on his face and says something in German to Scott, and I do my best to hold in my laughter, so as not to upset/worry him even more than he already is (this problem would be somewhat rectified later on). We then hop into Scott’s car and head to the field in Hanau, but first, a pit stop at McDonalds for some Sausage Egg McMuffins, because understandably, I did not eat all the airplane curry served on Air India.

The stadium has a very nice grass field and seating for a few thousand. Certainly not the Carrier Dome, but a football stadium none the less. I also get to check out my new ride for the summer (Hyundai, manual transmission, diesel (much cheaper than regular gas), very fuel efficient, decked out in team sponsor decals).

Rudy and I then headed to the house in the town of Aschaffenburg where I will be living for the next 3 months. On the way to the house, I was introduced to the legendary German Autobahn. Rudy was speeding down the speed-limit-less highway at about 170 kilometers per hour which translates to 111 miles per hour in his black Opal Station Wagon. Porsches, BMW’s, and Mercedes were whizzing by us, even when we were going well over 100mph. Very cool experience, even for such a speed conscious driver like myself.

When we arrive, I am greeted by my house mother, Gaby, who is very cordial, inviting, and friendly. She speaks only a little bit of English, but is so nice that the language gap should not be a problem at all. We sit down for coffee and chat together with Rudy, with Scott doing much of the translating. I also met Gaby’s sister Susanna, and other members of the house and everyone is very kind, polite, and pleasant. I am also informed, much to my delight that Gaby will be cooking both breakfast and dinner almost everyday for me, in addition to doing my laundry every few days or so!

After I dropped off the luggage in my room, which consists of a double bed, TV, my own bathroom, desk, and closet (basically the size of a very large dorm room with my own bathroom and shower), myself and Rudy headed off to run some errands. These errands included: picking up an internet card, a “handy” (cell phone) to use for local calls, and lunch. While at lunch, I had my first German Beer (Bier) in Deutschland at a very nice Italian/German Restaurant in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. I also had my first German meal, since the Egg McMuffins don’t really count. I ordered a classic German dish called Jagerschnizel (Pronounced like the liquor) which is best described as a kind of breaded and fried piece of pork covered in Marsala wine sauce gravy, served with French fries (just the thing to cure any jet lag). We then headed to the “equipment manager”’s house where he had a fully stocked basement of quality football gear. There I picked up my helmet, shoulder pads, thigh and knee pads, practice and game pants, warm-up sweats, and mouthpiece. Again, not up to the standards of Kyle Fetterly (‘Cuse Legendary Equipment Manager), in terms of organization and amount of gear, but impressive none the less.

Rudy and I then headed back to the house so I could unpack. After about 1 hour, Rudy and I headed back to the stadium in Hanau (about 20 mins away from Aschaffenburg and the house) for my first practice, fresh off of the plane and an already very busy day. When we arrived, I was greeted by other members of the Hanau Hornets football community, including Volker Roos, who had contacted me on Facebook before I even arrived, and Bernard. Both are former members of the Hanau Hornets, as was the equipment manager. Players started to trickle in and all were extremely excited that I had arrived to help them out, and greeted me as such. Most excited by far was Torrance Brown, who is in the US Army and married to a German woman. He is a very talented running back, but because of the lack of talent at the QB position, was forced into the role of QB for the past few games. He ran up and gave me a big hug when he saw that I was there, and ready to relieve him of his Quarterbacking duties. (More to come on the state of the Hanau Hornets)

Practice was short and sweet, about 1.5 hours total, with not much running or yelling. Playing QB again on a football field was very fun, refreshing, and exciting. This was a nice change of pace from a typical ‘Cuse Football Practice, which always consisted of numerous lung busting sprints, longggg practices, and at least one player receiving a profanity-laced ass ripping from the hot-headed, but lovable Italian: Bob Casullo. Rarely directed at me, I really will miss the daily Casullo tirades.

After practice was over, I rode back home with another Aschaffenburg resident: Andy MacMillan. Andy is a fairly large TE by German Standards (about 6’2 235 lbs), and probably knows more about the NFL and its players than I do. Andy is Bavarian and claims that Bavaria is the “real Germany” and might as well be its “own country.” I have heard from others, including one American coach that Bavaria is to Germany, as Texas is to the U.S.A. Andy speaks very good English and seems like an all around good guy.

When I arrived home at around 10:30pm, Gaby (my house mother), heated me up a post practice snack. I then Skyped with Mom, Dad, Molly, and Chrissy for a bit, and they can all testify that I looked pretty tired after a long 48 hour stretch.