WEEK 6 2003 - CLAYMORES 27 GALAXY 33 (OT)

At the Waldparkplatz, deciding on which bit of pre-game tailgating to hit first.

Unlike the Claymores we know it's illegal to have 12 men in the huddle ...

If you were wondering why the crowds have been a little lower in Frankfurt - this could be the reason ...

Mad Hats. Roy is the one on the left. This weeks piece featured a non-edible American style buffet. No wax or plastic related eating injuries were reported all weekend.

With some of the woods chopped back in the Waldparkplatz this meant the WC stop was a little further!

Germany's top celebrity chef Big Harry was none too pleased when we pointed out that #55 Junior Seau shirt was the wrong shade of blue. But he fed us graciously all the same ...

The pace of the BBQ was too much for Rip Van Shuggie who caught some ZZZZZ's while Thomas tried to wake him.

And when he awoke from his deep sleep he found that somebody had stolen his stripes!

Since the rebirth of the league in 1995 the Waldstadion is the only stadium still in use. So we made our way to good old section 24 to find it wasn't there anymore!

We were high up.

The planes didn't seem that high up from where we were.

The Galaxy's season was threatening to go up in smoke again. They had started 3-0 but dropped 2 straight, echoing last year when they started 4-0 and failed to make it to the WB.

That's Frankfurtby the way.

The game started well.

After a Simonton swing pass and 2 runs got us a 1st down, we tried a little trickery on 2nd and 5 from our 41 yard line.

Nall faked inside to Kenneth and instead handed off to Maurice Hicks on a end around play.

The Galaxy D gives chase but nobody can catch Maurice Hicks or his shadow.

59 yard TD!

CLAYMORES 7-0

And then the D took charge too. Great field position gave the Galaxy 1st down at the Claymores 39 but on 4th and 3 from the 32 yard line, Bo Rogers knifed into the backfield and took down RB Jonas Lewis for a 2 yard loss!

Back on offense we tried to screen the Galaxy to death! First Simonton made 10 yards on a little swing pass to the right. Then FB Mike Malan gained 9 yards on a similar pass to the left. After Nall sneaked for a 1st down, he went back to Simonton on the left side again, flaring a pass out to #24 who showed some All-World moves to scoot through the Galaxy secondary for a 37 yard TD - his 8th of the season!

CLAYMORES 14-0

However there was a dark shadow looming. The dreaded QB switch saw a red hot Nall go the bench. Behind Shane Stafford, the team immediately went 3 and out, when #14 again had a pass tipped on 3rd down. Galaxy back-up QB Quinn Gray needed only 6 plays to find WR Robert Baker for a 43 yard TD - however the extra point was wide left.

CLAYMORES 14-6

Stafford did finally redeem himself leading a 10 play drive down the field, aided by passes of 10 and 32 yard to Edell Shepherd. He finished it off by throwing his 3rd TD pass of the season to Scott McCready - who has caught them all so far.

CLAYMORES 21-6 (HT)

At half-time we went for a wander to the only old part of the stadium still standing. That allowed us to see just our high up our original seats were, as FTP and Roy can be seen standing on the back row. Roy is the one on the right. For the FTP report - click here.

Despite the half-time lead the omens were not good ...

Bad Omen #1: The scoreboard refused to acknowledge our half-time superiority

Bad Omen #2: Galaxy fans were already celebrating their 2nd half touchdowns to the FTP at half time.

Bad Omen #3: #133 more specifically. Read on to find on ...

Shuggie tries his best with the cheerleaders but the phrase "NO CHANCE" once again springs to mind.

Nice to see the Galaxy going Hawaiian in 2003. Clearly Preston's flowers in 2001 were 2 years ahead of their time ....

Shuggie sticks to a familiar face for company.

It didn't take long for the bad mojo to rise. After a Nall interception, James Brown led a 12 play 65 drive down the field which culminated in his 7 yard TD toss to TE Josh Whitman.

CLAYMORES 21-13

At the start of the 4th Q the bad luck continued. After Nall had hit McCready with a 44 yard pass, Rob Hart had a chance to extend the lead with a 39 yard FG. It was from almost the same spot in the stadium as his infamous WB 2000 kick ... and sadly it was WIDE LEFT again! Are we forever cursed????

Brown made his ex team pay with another easy 12 play drive.

This time he rolled out to his right and spotted WR Marc Lester (#10) wide open in the back of the end zone for his 2nd TD catch.

Then the Galaxy seemed to catch the Claymores by surprise, pitching the 2 point conversion to RB Jonas Lewis. He swept left untouched to tie the game.

ALL TIED 21-21

But the Claymores O still hadn't lost it's big play capability.

After an incomplete pass on 1st down, Kenny Simonton went around right end and broke free for a massive 70 yard gain.

Next play, Nall lofted a perfect pass to WR John Minardi for a 15 yard score.

X marks the spot!

CLAYMORES 26-20

Then some unfortunate history happened. A rotten snap (again!) gave Rob precious little chance on his extra point, and it wobbled wide. It was Rob's first miss in career 141 attempts - an achievement we salute. How amazing was it? Well since Rob started kicking in 1998, there have been 35 XP misses around the league before Rob's streak ended!

Then an unfortunate name from our past came back to kick the Claymores in the teeth again.

We should be supportive of Back Judge #133 Steve Freeman, because he is a rare breed. He's a zebra who actually played in the NFL. Most of these guys are accountants and lawyers, but Freeman was a long time safety with the Bills and Vikings for over 10 seasons.

Quite why he dislikes the Claymores we don't know.

Case for the Prosecution #1: Barcelona 2000. Plays a part in disallowing THREE Donald Sellers TD's. TV replays clearly shows the WR has both feet in bounds on one of them. Claymores lose.

Case for the Prosecution #2: Berlin 2002. Todd Franz makes a clean interception of Todd Husak, giving the Claymores excellent field position already leading 10-0. #133 calls it incomplete. Huge turning play as Thunder march down field for a TD. He also mouths off to us at half-time, which seems inappropriate for an official.

Case for the Prosecution #3 and #4: see below

With the Claymores running on the clock, they face a critical 3rd and 5 with just over 2 mins remaining from the Galaxy 33. Minardi looks to have a great grab over the middle, demonstrating control as he hits the turf, after which the ball comes free. It looks like it will be ruled a completion, but #133 comes running in to make sure it's not ...

So we have to punt. Robbie Robinson looks to have a spectacular play keeping the ball out of the endzone, which is then downed at the 1 yard line. The closest 2 officials make this ruling, but are over ruled by #133 who is further than either of them from the play and probably didn't have as good a view. Galaxy touchback.

Let's be honest with the way our defense was playing in the 2nd half, 80 yards or 99 yards probably wouldn't have mattered.

Quinn Gray was back in at QB, and he effortlessly destroyed our prevent D with a 6 play 80 yard drive in just over a minute. He found WR Marc Lester over the middle for a 13 yard TD to tie the scores with 49 seconds left.

Incredibly the football gods smiled on the Claymores for a moment, as another bad snap meant holder Tim Morgan had to take off with the ball and get creamed - as 4 Claymores managed to tackle him.

ALL TIED 26-26

And so to overtime we went ...

We quickly went 3 and out which set the scene for another exhibition of "How Not To Tackle".

From the 45 yard line of the Claymores, Quinn Gray goes back to pass ...

He threads the ball to WR Marc Lester just past the outstretched hand of James Rooths (#25) ...

Lester then breaks an attempted tackle by LB Yubrenal Isabelle (#51) ...

But here comes S Bobby Jackson (#43) to make the tackle ...

There goes Bobby Jackson ...

Here comes S Robbie Robinson (#44) to make the tackle ...

There goes Robbie Robinson ...

There goes Marc Lester ...

There goes the Claymores World Bowl hopes!

GALAXY 33-27 (OT)

It would be really unkind of us to mention any names of any First Down staff that may or may not have been in the German city of Frankfurt last week - so we won't ...

One name we will mention is THE DOCTOR! He was back out on the road again, after skipping the first 2 trips of the year.

Amazing our spirits were lifted by meeting the Doc!

Which meant time to crash the VIP area and get some free beer!

Thanks to those that helped us with the "crashing". You know who you are.

And we found Bill inside the VIP area sharing a drink with Stefan who seemed slightly happier with the result.

No flashing the GM's wife this year. Just a couple of cold ones and a hot Thai Curry back in Sachenhausen to report this year.

After a tough night, the next day brought no respite with the score running on electronic billboards next to the bar we were sitting at.

At 2-4 now, we are suddenly tied for last. Quite how this happened with 500 yards offense is anybody's guess. Time to regroup once more!