Week Eleven:

FINAL SCORE: THUNDER 24 DRAGONS 17

CHEDDARHEAD CLOWN-O-METER FOR THE WEEKEND

Once again Claymores fanclub FTP are awarding the points this week. To check last weeks adjudication please see last week

Coming into final weekend Preston had 99 points while Shuggie had 102 points. Who would win the coveted "Clown of the Year" award. To find out keep reading!

CHEDDAR CAM RECAPS THE WEEKEND!

World Bowl week outside of Germany was a real test. Too much for the Admirals office and some of their 'fanclubs' apparently as little was laid on to keep the troops entertained so it was up to Trench Crew Ross to guide the army of wandering Scots to watering holes. Good job sir!

Things started to take off on Thursday when a lot of folk hit town, including Sitges Sack. Here John and Bruce (or is it Brian? or is it Sheila ? - we give up!) chew the fat.

Admirals fans ahoy! These guys look a lot different without their really neat game day paint jobs! They get on TV more than us!

Billy couldn't get his Pils in this bar, but instead got a sugar sweet smooch from Peter!

Friday morning practice with the Dragons and Jack and the NFL Commish discuss stock options. This was a relaxed walk through. On one fake punt the Dragons ran, Jack was the intended receiver and made a nice catch!

Montse looks to the sky to see if the roof is open or not. Cowboy Jack was clearly confused too, as he was adamant the roof was closed (it wasn't) and might be closed for the game (it wasn't either).

The trip to the Arena for practice provided H.O.T. (Hooligans on Tour - a Sitges Sack / Cheddarheads alliance) their first chance to make a 'souvenir' and that would be a 50 foot Admirals banner than can be seen proudly hanging outside Ross's flat!

Something's are just too hot for H.O.T. however and our attempts to swipe Fire PR man Marcus Mueller's WB2000 ring were thwarted! Marcus was the man who set up our historical Scooter meeting in Week5 for which we are eternally grateful!

Friday night was another party night - this time at The Globe, which was a popular hang out all weekend. By this stage we had been joined by Galaxy fans (Harry pictured), Fire fans and Monarchs fans. In fact all teams except Thunder! It was a rocking night all the same!

Game Day morning and the Globe was rocking again when the Dragons Band turned up to get things rolling. These guys earn their stripes! They were accompanied by a couple of busload of Dragons fans ready to make the first party of the day!

And so they led us through the Red Light District playing their entire repertoire - while the devoted Dragons (and other teams) fans followed and gave praise at every opportunity! We were led all the way to Dam Square where they produced a tremendous finale before heading out to the ArenA!

And then it was back to the Globe for the unofficial pre-game party. Still no sign ogf Thunder fans however. Were they in the final?

There was the official pre-game party at the ArenA to make as well! We caught the last few hours of it and while it was OK, it didn't come close to what we've seen the last few years I'm afraid!

Any good party however needs good beer - and once again it's the Fire to the rescue in the shape of Fire Fanclub Aachen - as Andrea and Christof provided some cool Schlosser to sooth our aching stomachs!

Dom a.k.a. Miss Macaroni from Claymores (and now International) Fanclub FTP shows off her nice pair ... that's a pairing of a cold Schlosser and her new fanclub t-shirt of course!

Meanwhile Sandra discovered that poor Tiny, the Claymores inflatable #12, was in desperate need of a blow up job! Sadly even in Amsterdam there were no takers!

A Berlin fan! Karsten (from Bowlhunters) explains to Ross the alarming fact that a Thunder victory will mean that the Admirals will be the only NFL Europe team without a WB victory …

And then Shuggie showed up! After being delayed 3 days by work, his arrival was put in jeopardy due to an unfortunate incident on Friday night (rumored to be Keith Webster's hit squad). But through all that, he still limped onto his flight and made it out to the ArenA in good time to be presented with a special gift …

A free t-shirt! But with the added bonus of 100+ signatures of fans from all teams wishing his a speedy recovery and deepest sympathy. Except one poor Claymores fan who wrote "Help me - I'm drunk …" It was a nice gesture by all the fans and proved again what great people are the fans associated with the league!

And then we were ready for the pre-game ceremonies inside the ArenA - which included a giant World Bowl, girls with Tulips on their heads and some Harley Davisons!

The giant Bowl fell apart to reveal the Real World Bowl - which was then quickly swiped by Fire GM Alex "51,000" Leibkind!

Jonathan Quinn's first task was to negotiate the tricky and rickety iron steps from the visitors locker room to the ArenA field. With that mission completed the MVP of the 2^nd half of the season would hold the key to any chance of a Thunder victory on this day!

Coach Vaas salutes the screaming Cheddars pre-game. We knew Pete when he was a simple Dragons scout lost in Milton Keynes years ago - and his rise to success was part of the reason he made our Hall of Fame!

Jarious Jackson gets announced behind a backdrop of Scottish flags. The Claymores weren't kind to #7 and he really lost his rhythm after playing our D in weeks 8 and 9. Could he regain it for the biggest game of the season?