Sat (12/6)

A sad and emotional night - it was the last regular season fan party at the Cambridge Bar. It started in stunning fashion as we all watched the Fire completely demolish the Dragons 59-14 in Barcelona (setting a new league record for points, and doing what the Claymores should have done last week). This wasn't the result that we needed to keep our WB hopes alive. Alas, neither of the other 2 games this weekend would go the way we wanted either ...

Ross, Ton and Bill early in the night. Most of the Admirals fans couldn't make the party as they were on the overnight coach from Rotterdam - so we made do with these two (plus Ruul and Judith). Ton had stayed down in London with Preston for a couple days before making his first trip up to Scotland on the Saturday (read more about his trip on his and Ross's web-site).

Both gave sterling interviews to Sky TV, when the cameras turned up later in the evening, along with Gia Millanovich (last seen being double cheddared at World Bowl 98). Ton claimed to be a poor student, while Ross stated that he wanted a Claymores victory!

Kids - this is why you stay away from alcohol!

The night was long and sweaty - John Madden would have been frothing at the sweat contest!. Eventually it came to an end with emotional renditions of "Flower of Scotland" and for the last time, a tabletop "New York, New York" for which Cambridge John and Lorne joined us for. I swear that table will outlast us all!

John - Thanks for the many great memories and allowing us to do we did for the past 3 seasons. Things may get bigger and better next year - but there will NEVER be another night as much fun as a Cambridge Saturday night!

GameDay (13/6)

Preston looks for a way out at the Backfield Party to avoid the much hyped "dance-off" of the Gridiron Groove. But alas there was no way out! As the rain poured and poured, 2 o'clock came and the Groove began. Preston's gamble to dance the Scoops 99 TD move as opposed to the 97 vintage backfired spectacularly! The height difference between the stage and the crowd level meant that kilt spinning would provide only hairy moments for the boisterous crowd. Mothers were seen covering their screaming children's eyes, while hiding their own! Despite a vigorous "Preston" chant by some 'hooligans' at the front of the stage, Preston's Dance for Europe would end in predictable Claymores fashion - defeat. By a 4 year old girl! Allegations of a fix are still ripe in the Cheddar camp ...

Gametime, and Ton celebrates another Admiral first down amongst the "Cheddar Pound". Ton's ability to play his hooter in time with all the other Admiral fans that were sitting on the other side of the stadium was a major achievement!

Shuggie Cheddar hangs the Cheddar banner proudly from the Stats booth. He was sitting up with some familiar FOX faces from last week - messers Maas and Bentley. Ray clearly was missing his cheddar from last week as he spent most of his day commentating (albeit on radio) with a Burger King Crown on his head. Mass even got called "Brian Baldinger" by his new play-by-play man - proving that Preston wasn't alone in making this slip!

FOX televised the game live to the US - and guess what? More cheddar air time! This time Maas telesrates Lorne and speculates that maybe the cheese has gone to his head! Thanks again guys!

WEEK 9 MVP AWARDS

MVP - WR Yo Murphy. Yo escaped his kidnapping in Barcelona (see week 8) to post career numbers of 11 catches for 191 yards - proving a menace all day for the Admirals secondary.

Almost Claymore of the Day - How 'bout QB Jim Kubiak who was originally allocated here, until somebody decided we deserved the ginger talents of Mike McQueary instead. Kubiak played a hell of a game.

The Short Cleats Award - QB Dameyune Craig. We lost count of how many slips he made on a greasy Glasgow field.

Blown Call of the Day - Where do we start? Let's not moan too much, but Dameyune surely broke the plane by 2 clear yards for a 3rd Q TD with the team trailing 15-13. Two plays later he throws an end zone INT and we never get any closer.

The "Shon Bell" Missing in Action Award - TE Shon Bell

Secondary Clown of the Week - CB Cliff Shamburger finally proves he's worthy of this years class - roughing K Slivio Diliberto on 4th down, and then getting an obvious PI call on 3rd and goal to basically gift the Admirals with their first TD.

A 29-23 loss ended our faint World Bowl hopes, and with the Galaxy winning earlier in the day, handed Frankfurt a World Bowl berth. What a difference 3 weeks makes. We left Frankfurt with an emotional win and stood at 4-2 poised for a WB run. Instead we lose 3 in a row, the Galaxy win 3 in a row, and we're home for Christmas again.

Ton and the Twins! Can the Admirals do the double next week? Ton was having quite a post game party, especially when QB Dameyune Craig drew his number out of a raffle for a prize! The look on Dameyune's face was priceless! Sadly though that kind of summed up Dameyune's season. He's played at an amazing level all year - but one man can't win every game no matter how good he is. It's sad he won't have a chance to get himself a World Bowl ring ...

G and future MD Adam Hernandez gets cheddared! Hope you didn't do your back in having to stoop so low Adam!

Ruul, Preston and Judith in the Hogshead back in Glasgow. It seems like an eternity ago that I ran into these guys back in Orlando. We both had such high expectations for the season from what we saw in camp. It's sad the way things turned out, especially not being able to see these guys until week 9 thanks to the scheduling quirk.

The Barmy Army flag and assorted folk. From L to R : Ruul, Lorne, Ton, John, Doug and Steve Dalgeish (back on home soil for the first time all year).

So we're on the home stretch now, with the end in sight. All that's left is a trip to Amsterdam next week, followed by a short journey across to Dussledorf for the World Bowl. Hope to see y'all there!

 Click here to go back to the 1999 menu!

 Click here to go back to the NFLE menu!

 Click here to go back to the main site!