NFL Europe 2003 - Week 3 at Fire

WEEK 3 2003 - CLAYMORES 17 FIRE 34
	Dusseldorf 2003 - and the realisation that there is no more Rheinstadion. We hope the Fire can return back to their home city as soon the new stadium is built!
	But Knoten is still open for business in Dusseldorf - so the #1 party town remains as such! Good Friday, the night before the game, was bizarre because of the ban on music throughout the Altstadt on this religious day. Thankfully the ban didn't extend to Schlosser!
	Sausage and Preston re-enact the "Rhein Fire road game experience". Basically you get punched in the mouth but you always leave the town smiling. Earlier, Preston tried like mad to convince Ken Simonton to wear his old #35 college shirt for the game but Ken is sticking with #24 for now!
	When you get the munchies in Dusseldorf sometimes you just have to eat... Preston had gone for pizza, and managed to burn off all his fingertips after an accident with the hot cheese. Despite the unusual pizza topping of mozarella and human skin, Roy just wanted to clear the plate!
	Game Day As we said, it was Easter weekend and the Mad Hatter appropriately had eggs on his head. However when TV cameras caught him in the stadium in the 1st quarter he would have egg on his face - as he was inexplicably caught hatless!
	And so our shuttle bus to Gelsenkirchen arrived ... The Claymores have played like rubbish here since 1997. Would the change of scenery do them any good?
	Then the real bus turned up - with a special surprise. Free beer! Christof tries on the heavy Beer Backpack for size - and then is told he will be the beer-man for the bus!
	Beer-man - over here!
	Aaaaaaaaaaah - that's better!
	And so we arrived at Schalke after about an hour's ride. For those who don't know Gelsenkirchen is actually in Siberia - as it is one of the coldest places on Earth! It's also home to FC Schalke 04, who are apparently a soccer team who approve of 50 yard field goals.
	Despite the new surroundings there were old friends everywhere - like the Skoda bear!
	And Shuggie! The clown had cut it a bit fine by flying out Saturday afternoon but made it with plenty of drinking time to spare!
	Like we said, it was cold. These are goose bumps from the arm of a Claymores FTP member. To see if they warmed up - check their site out.
	Gregor shows off his Rooths Returns banner. Rooths wasn't punt returning after last weeks 'spill' - but if Bo Rogers pulls another "Rooths" then maybe Rooths will return on returns after all!
	Here Burnie gets things going with a wee bit of pyrotechnics. Little did we know he was detonating the Claymores World Bowl hopes. Once the smoked cleared, the game started, with the Claymores kicking off to the Fire.
	Deveron Harper performs what is commonly known as a "tackle" in the 1st quarter forcing the Fire to punt on their 1st possession. Sadly the D didn't call this play much the rest of the game and we made to pay for it ...
	That's some serious cheese ...
	The Fist says it all - Touchdown Fire! WR Kendall Newson roasts CB Dyshod Carter for a 33 yard scoring play from QB Nick Rolovich., and then shows off some dance moves afterwards. FIRE 7 CLAYMORES 0
	No room for the TD horses in Schalke so we have to make do with some virtual ones.
	We had great 50 yard line seats - but they weren't the best in the house. There's a platform that goes along the top of roof, which we're confident ex Claymores P Jon "Look-out" Ballantyne could reach! Maybe we'll sneak up there next time.
	2nd Q once again meant Shane Stafford time, which meant watch out for dangerous flying balls. On his 1st drive (top), a tipped ball only just fell to ground away from Fire S Greg Brown (#24). (Anybody spot a trend with these tipped balls?) Thankfully the good field position from the Fire's muffed punt allowed Rob Hart to kick a 19 yard FG. FIRE 7-3 Next drive he wasn't so lucky getting picked off by #37 Tony Lukins from which the Fire marched downfield for a TD.
	So Gene - here's an idea. When the 2nd quarter rolls around - please tell Shane to go and sit on this vacant area next to Kenny Sandlin - THE BENCH!
	As we said the INT set up a TD where the Claymores D seemed eager to push Fire WR Charlie Adams (#81) into the end zone after he had caught a short pass from Fire QB Chris Greisen. FIRE 14-3
	And the 1st half torture was not over. Greisen found Adams again this time from 1 yard out. We've now been outscored 34-17 in the 2nd quarter.
	These are the Weather Girls and they were so excited at the 20-3 half-time lead for the Fire. FIRE 20-3 (HT)
	We were not so excited so we decided to go and explore the stadium. It's a nice facility of course, but the atmosphere just wasn't the same. We decided to head down to the terrace section in the end zone to see what the view was like from there.
	We made it down to see Brian Holmes attempt a 56 yard field goal. We guess since he's had a few problems with 3 point attempts, that the coaches reckoned he might be better off with a 4 point one. Sadly they were wrong!
	This flying ball wasn't one of Brian's - instead the miss this time was down to Fire K Todd France. The disappearance of the kicking net in the 2nd half meant that footballs were flying into the stands. Sadly however souvenirs were not permitted. Have these people not heard of Arena football rules????
	Game MVP Autry Denson looks like season MVP material after just 3 weeks. On the Fire's next drive he carried 7 straight times for 71 yards as the Claymores D wore down in a hurry. He barely played the rest of the 4th quarter but still finished with 158 yards rushing on 21 carries.
	Denson seals the drive with a 3 yard TD run a minute into the 4th Q. FIRE 27-3
	Nall finally got the stagnant Claymores O going early in the 4th quarter. Passes of 20 yards to Minardi and 25 to McCready go them to the Fire 13 yard line.
	Then Mike Malan took a swing pass from Nall down to the 5 yard line. #20 never gave up on Saturday and ended up leading the team in receptions with 6.
	So 1st and goal at the Fire and Nall drops back to pass ... But wait - he hands off to Simonton! Kenny goes straight up the gut and uses a nice Malan block to cruise into the end zone! Could this be the 1st draw play in the history of the Claymores that has reached paydirt? We think after 1,784 attempted draws - it is! But
	Touchdown Scotland! Here Shuggie teaches the Schalke fans the 6 point signal. Thankfully they didn't beat the crap out of us. FIRE 27 CLAYMORES 10
	Any chance to get back in the game in a hurry went astray when our D showed that the art of tackling was not the only thing forgotten on this day. A fumble from Fire RB Frank Moreau is in the grasp of 2 Claymores but it spills out of their reach where QB Chris Greisen can safely fall on it. To add insult to injury, when the Claymores got the ball back, Craig Nall limped off with an ankle injury, meaning more Stafford time ...
	Shane hit some passes, then skipped one out to a wide open McCready in the end zone. Come on dude it's not a 50 yard field anymore! (A roughing the passer call negated it anyway)
	Then Maurice HIcks tried to barrel his way in a couple of times but to no avail.
	The official stats credit the tackle on Hicks here as "Team Tackle" which seems fair enough. Hopefully our D can watch the films of this to get a few tips for next week!
	4th and goal and McCready is split out wide right. This time, Stafford manages to throw it hard enough for him to catch it ...
	But by this time the beer was flowing so good in the terraces, that we hadn't even spotted the presence of the 35 second clock! But Scott is in there with the ball!
	Touchdown Scott. #16 looks to be an improved player with an improved attitude in 2003. Was a comeback be in the works??? FIRE 27-17
	NO! Just when we thought Stafford's interception habit was over he managed to find a wide open Abdual Howard (#41) who went all the way back up the sideline, eluding a 'tackle' attempt by the QB, and raced into the end zone for a 93 yard TD. Shane now has 6 picks in his 34 passes for the season in just over 4 quarters of play. Last years 6 INT milestone by Scott Driesbach in Berlin was achieved on 37 passes. Has Shame surpassed it? FINAL: FIRE 34 CLAYMORES 17
	Security was tough in Schalke but this is ridiculous. Shuggie sets off the beeper on his way out ...
	And so it was back to Dusseldorf, and back to Knoten to drown sorrows once again. This blonde swirl of hair is what happens when you mix Scotland's apfelwein champion and AC/DC. It was a hard night. Roll on Berlin!

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