Dubya Experience

My attempt as an Acrobat!!!

2009-05-19T11:04:00.000-07:00

Doves Vs. Hogs

2009-05-05T02:20:00.000-07:00

Doves Vs. Dolphins

2009-05-02T01:53:00.000-07:00

A View of the Centro from Casa Mazzoni!!!

2009-04-14T23:17:00.000-07:00

This video does not explain the magnitude of the building that the Mazzoni family has taken over. I think there are like 9 room in this building total spread out between maybe 4-5 floors, not really sure, but Marco Mazzoni's family owns like 6 of those apartments. But the building is right on the Independenza which is one of the most well known streets in Bologna. Then to have that view of the top of the Centro is unreal. That part of the building at the top that has the view just has a bed, a stereo (I think), and a webcam! Sounds like fun times at Mazzoni's if you ask me!!!!!

A Sunday at Margherita Gardens Park

2009-03-25T09:26:00.000-07:00

I heard of this park from a few of my teammates but from the Viale (the street that surrounds the Center of Bologna) you cannot tell that it is this big. I was once the park for the Queen of Bologna and in a certain part of the part there is a Mansion where she used to live (not displayed on the video,sorry). There were literally about 35-40,000 people there this past Sunday just for the hell of it. I'm guessing on Sunday when the sun is out, this is the place to be.

The art of the stiff arm!

2009-03-21T03:11:00.000-07:00

It is an affective and slightly lethal evasive maneuver that save you from ankle bitting deffensive backs (like my example in the picture) and will usually get you 4-5 more yards if not spring you for a long run. The guys who use it the best no how to and when to pull it out. If you pull it out too soon then the defender can adjust, if you pull it out too late then you end up on someone's highlight reel getting lifted. There are 3 places to plant you hand on the defender to keep him away from you. The first is the top of the helmet. You do this when you have guys diving at your legs because they are too chicken shit to hit you up top. Plant the hand on the top of the helmet pushing yourself away from him. The second place to strike your hand is in the chest. This has to be a more aggressive stiff arm because he is already in tackling range and you need to get away from him. This is more like a open-handed punch to the chest. The last place to stiff arm someone is in the shoulder pads. This is when you want to change direction. Your running right and there is a guy over persuing you a little, but he can still get his hands on you. You plant to go left inside of him and he is now more head up with you moving in the oppostie direction. Place the handle on the inside half of his shoulder pad (so in this case it would be the right side of his shoulder pad) pushing forward and away from the side you are trying to cut to. When used correctly this move can be as effective as any move used by ball handlers. I am not saying I am a master of the art but I have shown that I know how to use it.

This woke me up today!!!!

2009-03-19T04:42:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought I saw all the random shit in Bologna, this shit had to happen. It actually is not a bad hustle. It looked like on my street alone they probably got around 40 euro in 10 minutes tops. They go solid for an hour they can rack up 300-400 euro without even breaking a sweat. Not a bad hustle at all.

Doves Bologna- Giants Bolzano, by Paolo

2009-03-18T09:29:00.000-07:00

What is in the Stuff!

2009-03-17T07:32:00.000-07:00

Back in the states there was always a thousands different types of packaged ice cream that were made by a thousand different makers. Home favorites like rocky road, butter pecan, cookie dough, mint chocolate, neopolitan, and cake batter just to name a few. These flavors are what I was brought up on and learned to enjoy as delicious desert. Well Bologna has once again redefined the flavor barrier for me with their Gelatoria's that seem to be on every block and every new gelatoria I go into taste better than the last one. And they give you real flavor with Hazel nut, Pastaccio, Cioccolato, Dolce de Leche, Crema, Dolce Emma (cream of ricotta & dried figs with honey), and they also make sandwiches called forcacia (Ithink that is how it is spellded) consisting of textbook-thick rectangular slabs of brioche bread stuffed with gelato of your choice. Everything is authentic made with the best REAL ingredients and whipped to perfection. I am in Dairy heaven!

When Doves Cry!!!

2009-03-16T18:42:00.000-07:00

GameDay Baby!!!

2009-03-14T02:13:00.000-07:00

It has been far too long since the last time I strapped it up and loose on the field. I woke up this morning and took my gameday shit and now I am just awaiting the time before I step on the field once again with a new look, a new team of friends, and a new focus. This focus is to help regain that winning mentality to the Doves organization. With the amount of talent we have and the brotherhood we have formed, I feel to believe we can at least play with every team here. I woke up so amped this morning, my stomach churning, and my heart banging in my chest a mile a minute. This is football, a true mans sport and for those who truly love the game, they know exactly what I am going through. It is 10:30 a.m. now and I still have a lot of time before the kickoff whistle sounds, but until then I will grit my teeth, talk to myself, and even puke every now and again, because this is football however you view it. Football is a lifestyle that many have but few possess. I love this game.

Team Bonding!!!!

2009-03-09T04:39:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we decided to get all the guys from to team together and have a constructive team bonding session where we can portray the things that we want to accomplish. We had about 20 guys show up so it was a good turnout and we definitely got a lot accross to the guys. But we definitely have to do a little bit of partying too. In the flick above we are enjoying a productive game of kings cup where beer was the drink of choice for most of the guys at the table, but I thought it was a great idea to play with Jack and Coke, you know, to protect my figure. That was the worst Idea of my life!!! After the game lets just say I woke up the next day fully clothed and a unhappy note that was written to me about my actions. But I wasn't the only person affected by this productive evening but I won't put anybody out there because its not my place, but Simo and Ropa know what I'm talking about.

Even paradise can have its bad days!

2009-03-05T11:20:00.000-08:00

So this entry has to do with the shitty night we had last night. So in the picture above you se a normal Bologna block that anyone can park on. In Bologna, wherever there are the blue lines on the ground anyone can park there however long they want after 8 p.m., from how it was explained to us. The details that we didn't get is there might be a small sign that says you can't park there on certain days at certain time. To the left of the picture above the is a moveable sign that say no parking on giovedi (which means Thursday and I did not know that til today) from midnight to 3 a.m.. First off this sign is trimendously small, and two, its not even facing the street. So me and Chris park in this blue section at 11 p.m. last night thinking we were fine with parking there and there were other cars there as well. So we head over to Bounty, a local restaurant to get a bite to eat and then to Hobby One to enjoy the night. We get back to our car at about 3:30 a.m. and we are trippin out because we thought we forgot where we parked. But after retracing our path we realized that our car was gone. To make a long story short, our car got towed and it was going to cost us 125 euro to get it back. That shit sucks!

Da Boyz in da B!!!

2009-03-03T07:20:00.000-08:00

Statues can be Humorous

2009-03-02T22:51:00.000-08:00

The sculpture you see above is located at the base of the Nettuno Stuatua (Neptune Statue) at il Centro. The Nettuno is a fountain with water coming from many different spouts and overflowing bowls, but I thought this part of the statue was interesting because where do you think water is squirting from her? No, not the Vagina, but she is defintely giving away all her boob liquid. I know its hard to tell from the photo but she is actually squirting water from her nipples. I thought thi was hilarious because here is the super serious statue, but the women sculptures at the base are all squirting in the fountain through their boobs.

Resemblance of Home!

2009-03-02T22:45:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I decided that I wanted to be a tourist and take picture of all the amazing art and sculptures that are found all over Bologna, but when I got to the Nettuno Statua (Neptune Statue) I found this guy who had made a red cage and was sitting in it all day, my guess is for a school project or something. Nonetheless, as soon as I saw this guy I immediately thought of Berkeley and how this is something I could easily find someone doing there. So it made me laugh a little.

Why is this food so good!

2009-03-01T17:52:00.001-08:00

I'm having a real hard time here in Bologna understand why the food here is so amazing. If you look at the dish in the picture it looks like a regular bowl of pasta with tomatoes and shrimp. But what you viewer don't understand is the preparer of this pasta handmade this pasta. This isn't dried pasta you can get at any grocery store, this pasta does not come packaged or labelled. Also there is a white sauce that mixed in that transforms this regular pasta dish into an orgasm in your mouth. This is just one of the many amazing dishes that I have been missing out my entire life.

Another Weekend of Mayhem!!!

2009-03-01T01:41:00.000-08:00

Every time the weekend roles around there is always something to do. But above knowing that is I never know what to expect, especially when we party with our teammates. In this photo, it should show why I never assume what I am getting myself into because its usually 10 times worse. In the photo with me and Chris are 2 of our teammates, our starting Linebaker (Gis) is dressed as a baby and our starting right gaurd (Keko) is Papa Smurf. Yoghi, who is our starting center, was also running around as a huge blue smurf. These guys go all out here every time we go out.

Great Memories from the past!!!!

2009-02-27T03:10:00.001-08:00

Surfing on Facebook I get a notice that Lindsay Clute tagged me in a picture and this picture basically sums up why college was so amazing to me. I miss everyone that helped make college so great and thank you Lindsay for refreshing my memory of all the good years passed.

International Wednesdays

2009-02-26T02:23:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I met a girl who is from Bologna but just got back from studying abroad at Cal. Her name is Carolina Braina and she helped me to understand a lot about the city. Later yesterday night me, Chris and Carolina check out this club called Hobby One because every Wednesday they have International night and we were hoping that we could find some Americans that we could talk to. We ran into this group of people (1 guy and 1 girls) who were all from the state and they were students at the University studying abroad from Indiana U (but I think one of the girls goes to school in L.A.). They are all here til July so we definitely got their contact information so we had someone who we were familiar with, besides you can never have too many friends. This place was really nice but it only had one bar so it was hard to get a drink. Also I found out through my short experience here, that every club we have gone to has been way too crouded so its really hard to move around the club and dance. But I guess the more the marrier! I do love the fact tha most clubs stay open til about 4a.m. because back at home, 2a.m. was never enough. But they don't have Patron, Don Julio, Belvedere, Grey Goose, Jim Beam, or red cups anywhere and this is making our drinking selection very limited to Stoli, Jack Daniels, Absolut, Bacardi, Havana Club, and Martini, but I'll live!

Fat Tuesday!!!!!

2009-02-24T19:31:00.000-08:00

I know most people understand what Fat Tuesday is and how its the biggest and funnest day during the Mardi Gras period. It saddens me to know that Mardi Gras is not a very well known or celebrated tradition in Bologna but today there was a small parade which was fun to watch and see how people here are when it comes to traditions and culture. I also went to a well known pub for dinner and drinks and that was fun. With this blog entry there are a few pictures that might help you to understand more about my day, enjoy. Ciao

A typical day with me

2009-02-24T02:57:00.000-08:00

It is only 11:45 am here today so I will let you know how my Monday was. I woke up are 11:30 and me and Chris get ready to head to L'Universita close to the Centro to go mess around on our computers and be around all the daytime foot traffic that happens around 1 o'clock everyday because in Italy the have what is called a siesta which is kinda like a lunch break but from about 1:30 to 4 everyday and a lot of the smaller shops close and people go and have tea or coffee at a local Cafe (il bar) or a tobaccheria. So we stay there til about 2:45 then head over to one of or coaches restaurants, Godot Wine Bar, for lunch and a coaches meeting. We grab a couple glasses of wine a panino and talk football for about 2 hours. At that point its about 5 p.m. and me and Chris usually decide to either go home and chill before practice at 8p.m. or head over to the gym and get a light lift and hit the sauna before practice. Then we head over to the field and have practice til about 10 o'clock at night. Then we usually go to someone house or a restaurant together for dinner. Last night at like 11:15 p.m. we went to a teammates house, Simone, a 6'4'' 255 pound DE/LB/TE who can definitely hook up some chicken. Me, Chris, Simone, Andrea, Ropa, Gaicomo, and Simone's girlfriend Carmen ate dinner and chilled til about 1:30 a.m. before me and Chris left to head back home. Our Monday through Wednesday is usually chill like this where typically we do something in the city during the day, practice at night, and eat in the late night. But I will have to let you know how Thursday through Sunday goes another day. Ciao

The Start of a New Chapter

2009-02-23T05:16:00.001-08:00

I have begun my second week of the most amazing and necessary trip of my life, Bologna. I have been in Bologna, Italy now for a week and quickly it has become the most amazing trip of my life. Bologna is filled with so much Beauty and fulfillment and it came at the best time for me because for the last year I have become extremely reliant on comfort. This comfort came from many different places and for many different reasons but whatever the case I needed to get away from it because it was ruining my life. Everything I know and all the truths in my life are being challenged by the wonderful city. It's like I am a kid again learning about the fruits of life and what a new world has to offer. I cannot put into words how good everything is here, from the food, to the landscape, to the art and culture that Italians have strived to make and keep strong. My life in America was so broken, and the way Italy has accepted me is creating new life. I know this stuff may sound corny, but however you view it, will not change the fact that this has quickly become the most life altering experience for me and I hope that I can continue to learn and grow in this new way of life.

The Dubya Experience

2009-02-23T04:47:00.000-08:00

Thank you for checking out the Dubya Experience. Inside you will find things that you may have never know about me, recieve a virtual tour of what goes on in my life, and realize that there is more to Dub than meets the eye. I hope that this is as enjoyable for you to see as it is for me to create. Thank you again for check me out and feel free to leave comments about what you think.