World Bowl Activities

This week leading up to the World Bowl has been filled with activities. Last night (Wednesday) the two teams had dinner at the Dusseldorf City Hall with the Mayor. Posing to the left are the quarterbacks and wide receivers. Notice the massive #12 blow up Admirals football player in the background. Although it may be coincidental, it is still pretty neat!!




Today was media day at the LTU Arena. The team dressed in their uniforms to take pictures and talk to the reporters. It was open to the public and I was pleasantly surprised to see that some Admirals fans are already in town.

While everyone was taking pictures of the team and coaches Carly and I snuck off to take pictures of each other with the World Bowl trophy.
Although he was very busy, Jared managed to take a little time out to get a picture with his wife! :)


Here is a picture of the 3 Quarterbacks John Bowenkamp, Reggie Robertson, and Jared. John was with the Rhein Fire all season and the Admirals picked him up for the World Bowl.



Tonight's event consisted of once again... BOWLING!! Unfortunately it was the Admirals vs. the Galaxy so the girls couldn't join in on the competition. All of the guys were assigned to a lane and had to bowl two games to win the prize money. The Admirals Co-Defensive MVP, Tony Brown, won the single game high score of 211!!! The top prize for the highest combined score (including both games) went to another Admiral, Rikiya Ishida, who finished with a total of 350 points. Jared bowled a 159 his first game! I don't think I could even come close to competing with him now!

Jared, Me, Skyler, Claude, and Glenn watching everyone show off their bowling skills.

First Night in Dusseldorf

The Offensive Line planned a night out with the Quarterbacks. Our first night in Dusseldorf, we all caught cabs to the Old Town area. We went to the obvious local hotspot called Louisiana. Erin, Marko Cavka's girlfriend, and myself experienced a very humerous evening with the 2 Quarterbacks and 6 of the O-Lineman. Not long after we had been out, some Frankfurt Galaxy players showed up. And immediately following them were more Admirals. It turned out that about 25-30 players from the Admirals all came to hang out. As you can see from the pictures below, Jared had a wonderful night with the team. These players have grown so close over the past 3 months and they had a wonderful time enjoying each other's company off the football field.

To the left is a picture of me with Erin.




The next picture is Jared with Clint Stickdorn and Ben Herrell.

Starting on the left... Justin Perkins, Jared, Chad Lucas, Sean Mulcahy, Shawn Morgan, and in front is Larry Croom.







The last picture is of Vince Butler, Craig Bragg, Jared, Marko Cavka, Larry Croom, and Noriaki Kinoshita.

The Last Season Game

The Admirals played their last home game in the ArenA Saturday night. The Hamburg Seadevils beat the Admirals 34-21. Jared was 17 for 27 and had 235 yards passing this game. The team is struggling to overcome quite a few bumps and bruises and hopefully they will all recover this week. It has been an awesome season for the Admirals and they have one very important game left. The Admirals will play the Frankfurt Galaxy Saturday night for the World Bowl title. They have beat Frankfurt twice this season and must work very hard this week to win the World Bowl. The action shots of Jared below were taken by Bob (Bodeca.nl).













This is a picture of Jared and Evan Minuskin. Evan went to Florida Atlantic when Jared played there and is a huge fan of FAU. He supported the owls through the good and the bad and is now supporting the Admirals. Evan is getting his masters in a study abroad program in Amsterdam and comes to all of the Admiral's home games. It's a small world!







In this picture with Jared is one of Hamburg's quarterbacks, James Kilian. James played QB for Tulsa University. He and Jared worked FCA camps together in Oklahoma and have remained friends. James and Jared are going through the same situation and they had a wonderful time catching up after the game.

Random Information

I wanted to let everyone know that our internet time ends in about an hour. We will not have internet service at least until we get to Dusseldorf Sunday night. We don't know how the internet service works at the hotel in Dusseldorf, but we will definately work something out for next week. As I'm sure you all know next week will be our last week in Europe. It is bittersweet that we are "coming to America" only more sweet and less bitter.

Jared's game tomorrow is in Amsterdam against Hamburg. According to the TV Schedule on NFLEurope's website, the game will be aired at 8pm(ct) on Saturday. That schedule on numerous occasions has been incorrect so if you are planning on watching or taping the game it would probably be a good idea to check your TV menu. There is a chance that it could be on at 1pm or 5pm. Jared will be alternating every 2 series with Reggie this game. For the World Bowl things will be back to normal rotation. The World Bowl is next Saturday night at 6pm. It will be on TV live which is 11am(CT) and again tape delay at 6pm(CT).

I will be flying back to Edmond Sunday May 28th. I have to make it home for precious Dawson's 1st birthday party Monday!! Jared will be flying to Tampa on Monday. His training period in Tampa ends June 22nd and he'll be back in Edmond for the month of July.

If you would like to see some amazing pictures of Jared from last week's game in Frankfurt, go to www.cillen.com/admirals Cecilia takes some awesome pictures.

What we miss...

Ok, Jared and I both realize how fortunate we are to have the opportunity to live over here. God has blessed us beyond what we deserve and we thank him for our experiences every day. However, being here in Europe has also made us realize the MANY blessings we take for granted back home. Besides the most obvious things that we miss such as: our wonderful families and friends, church, and having more than one room, here are few things you may not think of that we REALLY miss!

• American Food: Only on RARE occasions do we get vegetables here other than potatoes. Every meal has a meat, pasta, potatoes, and bread! We never imagined that we would be so anxious to get back to the states to eat veggies! I am really looking forward to going to the grocery store and cooking my own food. Jared bringing me a tupperware filled with food for every meal has gotten really old. When we get bored, Jared and I will start listing all the food and drinks we crave. I think sweet tea is on the top of Jared's list quite often.
• No Smoking: It will be very refreshing to be able to enjoy a meal at a restaurant, walk through the mall, and watch a sporting event without being surrounded by a cloud of smoke. You can pretty much smoke anywhere you want here, and everyone does! We were very thankful that smoking is not allowed in the movie theatre, however, they stop the movie half way through for a 15 minute smoke break.
• No More Waiting: Jared said he is really tired of waiting for the elevator. If you think about it, he probably rides the elevator 12-16 times a day to and from meetings and meals. The whole riding trains concept was exciting at first, but after all the times I've missed the train and had to wait 30 minutes, gotten on the wrong train, been delayed, and been detoured due to construction, I'm pretty much ready to be able to drive a car again.
• Laundry: Today I packed our large suitcase full of dirty clothes and began my trek of dragging it from the hotel to the train station, through the train station, through the mall, across 4 lanes of traffic, and through town along the cobble stone streets to the laundry mat while it was raining. It takes approximately 25 minutes to get there and costs about 11 euros ($14) to wash and dry 2 loads of laundry. After I finished folding all the clothes and dragging the suitcase back to the hotel, the whole process had taken 2 1/2 hours. It really makes me appreciate having a washer and dryer in my garage at home, even when it's freezing outside.
• Television: Now we have no right to complain about the shows we have that are in English here. In Germany CNN is the ONLY channel in English(and you know Jared is not too fond of CNN), so after next week we'll really be sick of having nothing to watch. However, I'm a little concerned with the fact that Jared and I have really grown to enjoy watching Murder She Wrote. Jared might not turn Fox News off for months when we get home.
• SUNSHINE!!: The sun has only been shining about 10-12 days since we arrived in early March. The overcast weather can be pretty gloomy.

Bowling Night Revenge!!

The much anticipated bowling rematch took place Wednesday night. This time Jared and I were in the middle lane with Skyler, Stefan the Admirals General Manager, Claude, and a couple of other guys. The pressure was on... more so for Jared than myself. I started off TERRIBLE!!! I can't say I had a good game, it wasn't even decent! I did so much worse than Jared this time that people actually thought I was trying to let him win. Jared did MUCH better! He ended with a score of 133 while I had a 75! Ouch! So now we are 1-1. Jared actually came close to the top 5 this time. We were told that the top five scores from last night will play 5 of the other teams players in Dusseldorf the week before the World Bowl. Sounds like the competition begins before Saturday night! Ryan Killen won the top score (and 85 euros) with a smashing score of 189! He will definately be competing next week! Although my poor performance filled me with frustration, I still managed to enjoy the night out with the team.

Emma Children's Hospital

For Jared's last day off in Amsterdam he was invited to spend the afternoon visiting with the adorable children of Emma Kinderziekenhuis Childrens' Hospital. Jared, Skyler, Clint, and 2 of the Admirals cheerleaders were able to visit a number of kids with a wide range of hardships from food allergies to severe cancer. Due to hospital regulations, I was unable to join him. As you can see from the pictures below the guys had a wonderful time hanging out with all of the children. The cheerleaders performed dances for and with some of the children who were able. It was an amazing experience for them and they are very grateful for the opportunity. Jared said that seeing the pain those children endure made the bumps and bruises they receive each game seem so minor.

Admirals beat Frankfurt Galaxy... AGAIN!!

The Orange Army made the 5 hour road trip to Frankfurt!!! For the first time ever Carly and I joined in on the craziness of the Admirals fans. You can barely see us in the picture on the front row of the crowd to the far right. We are holding up 2 very important signs. As you can see from the next picture we wanted to show our mom's that we were thinking of them even though we were thousands of miles away! Jared and I were very sad to be so far from our loving mothers on Mother's Day. However, thanks to modern technology we were able to somewhat publicize our love and gratefulness for them. We are both so blessed to have such wonderful mother's who have made us who we are today!

Coming into this game the Admirals knew a victory was extremely important. The winner of this game solidified their position in the World Bowl. The offense had a difficult time getting things started. The first half was pretty much a defensive battle. Our defense fought hard to hold Frankfurt to just 6 points. The score was 6-3 starting the second half, but the Admirals came out with a bang! It was a 14 play 77 yard drive that ended with a rushing touchdown! Jared's statistics on the drive were 8 of 11 for 67 yards. Ultimately this was the best drive of the game, and undoubtedly the most important! With Justin Perkins' interception return for a touchdown the Admirals were able to pull off the 17-12 victory over the Galaxy. The win guaranteed that our European journey will be extended another week.

Next Saturday, May 20th, will be the Admirals last home game. The Admirals will be hosting the Hamburg Seadevils who are on a 2 game winning streak. After the Hamburg game we will be leaving Utrecht and heading to Dusseldorf, Germany. The Admirals will spend the week in Dusseldorf preparing for the World Bowl on May 27th.

Frankfurt, Germany

I am very thankful for the opportunity to see the city of Frankfurt, Germany with 3 very lovely women. Marko Cavka's girlfriend Erin, Coach Leijten's wife Dee, Coach Perry's wife Angela, and myself all caught a cab from the hotel to downtown Frankfurt Saturday morning. The skyline in the picture to the left gives Frankfurt am Main the nickname "Mainhattan". It is also to my understanding that Frankfurt has over 400 financial institutions and plays a key role in Germany's financial affairs.

In contrast to the "big city" feel Frankfurt offers, it also offers a very traditional atmosphere. The area known as Romerberg has a very historical feel to it. The buildings in the picture to the left were destroyed during WWII but were rebuilt using traditional materials and methods.

It was wonderful to see the city with Dee Leijten as our tour guide. She has been to Frankfurt a couple of times and knows a significant amount of European history.


As you can see from the last picture, we managed to find our way to Starbucks... again! It wasn't my idea this time, but I had no objections! From left to right... Erin, Angela, Dee, and myself. The river you see behind us is once again, the Rhine. The Rhine runs through most of western Germany, included Cologne and Dusseldorf. The church in the upper left of the picture is called Dreikonig. We walked across the river to take pictures of the church and they were having their Mother's Day service. We quietly entered and sat on the back row for 15 minutes or so. Although we couldn't understand anything that was being said because it was in German, it was nice to experience another culture worshiping our amazing Savior.

Switzerland

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles:
Our journey to Interlaken, Switzerland began with a bus ride to the airport Sunday afternoon. From there we took a flight to the EuroAirport in France. Next, we took a bus to the Basel, Switzerland train station. You can see me sitting on the platform, waiting for our train to Interlaken to arrive. All of the announcements in Switzerland are in German, French, English, and occasionally Italian.

We finally arrived to Interlaken at 10pm. After checking into our hotel we walked to the only restaurant in town still serving food. As you can see from the next picture, we sat outside to enjoy the surrounding atmosphere.





We began our only full day in Switzerland with a train ride through the mountains to the adorable town of Grindelwald. We spent 2-3 hours hiking through the town and its surrounding mountains admiring God's creation. Every step we took led us to absolutely breathtaking views. We were in awe of the natural beauty of the Swiss Alps. Much to our disappointment, the weather was somewhat overcast with a forecast of rain. Although it was cloudy, it didn't affect our time in Grindelwald. The following pictures were taken in the Grindelwald area.
















After Grindelwald, we took the train back to Interlaken. Unfortunately it was raining, but it didn't keep us from sight-seeing. We rode a bus through town, admiring the fairytale Swiss town. Interlaken is remarkably located between the lakes of Thun and Brienz, at the foot of the 3 famous peaks of Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau. Just about every extreme adventure sport you can think of is offered in Interlaken. There is river rafting, canyoning, parasailing, paragliding off mountains, bungee-jumping, skydiving, ice-climbing and much more.
For dinner, we went to the local hotspot called Bebbi's. Bebbi's is known for its Swiss Fondue... with good reason! The 3 course fondue meal we enjoyed was delightful. It was far more food that we could eat, however we managed to finish off the chocolate. The Swiss chocolate (with nuts) was melted and served with a variety of fruit, bread, and marshmallows. Not only was the food beyond our expectations, the service was as well. The atmosphere was casual, upbeat, and entertaining. Bebbi himself was bouncing around the restaurant dancing, entertaining, and serving.

After our wonderful experience at Bebbi's, we trekked through the rain to the Kursaal (Casino), for my first gambling experience. I can now understand how people become addicted to gambling, but I doubt Jared or I will go to another casino for a very long time. I lost about $8 on the slot machines in the first 20-30 minutes and quit. Jared put about $40 into chips for blackjack. He played while I watched for about 3 hours. At one point he was up about $250 but couldn't walk out. We were having such a great time that we stayed until he lost it all. We walked out without winning anything. Although we were disappointed that we could have won some money to help pay for our trip, we quickly put it behind us.

This picture is of our hotel. If you enlarge the picture and look closely you can see me sitting on our balcony. Our room is on the 3rd floor to the far right. This is the towns oldest hotel, receiving guests since 1323, first as hospital, later as a cloister and, beginning in the early 1400's, as a tavern and inn. The following 2 pictures are the view from our balcony and window.

Admirals vs. Cologne

Ok, I must first apologize for being out of touch recently. I know there was some concern since none of our family members had heard from us since we left for Switzerland. When we returned from Switzerland our internet time had expired. Fortunately, we were able to purchase one more weeks worth.

This past weekend was Jared's first game to start. There were a lot of emotions leading up to the game, I think more for me than him. Leah (James Lee's wife) and I went to the train station together. Upon our arrival we were told that the rail to the ArenA was under construction and we would have to detour our route to a different station. It really made me realize how much I miss being in control of my timing and method of transportation. The train finally made it to the closest train station (about a 10-15 minute walk to the stadium) 17 minutes before kickoff. I was very thankful that Leah was ok with pretty much running to the stadium. Ok... Side note... Since I've been in Europe I have only worn flat shoes due to the amount of walking we do. I'm not usually the type to wear high heels to football games, but it was nice outside and I felt like dressing up. I sure paid for it later... With blisters all along the bottom of both of my feet.

THE GAME:
The game started off very rough for the Admirals. Cologne arrived with nothing to lose and fought really hard. As the game progressed Jared became more and more comfortable on the field. In the end, Cologne came out with the 20-13 victory over the Admirals. It was a tough loss for the team, but they learned a lot from it. Although it was a very physically rough game for Jared, in which he took a few hard hits, he managed to come out of the game with just some bumps and bruises. (Thanks so much for your prayers!)

This was my first thorough experience of what the road of a QB's wife entails. I think I prayed about 10 times during the game. As you can see Bob, a photographer on the field, captured me praying. After I looked up he motioned to me not to be sad but to smile! I then motioned to him that I wasn't sad, but I was praying. He said, "Oh, keep praying!"

As important as your prayers were for Saturday's game, they are just as important for the next game. So please keep Jared and the rest of the team in your prayers! The Admirals will face the Frankfurt Galaxy in Frankfurt this coming Sunday. It is a very important game for both teams. The winning team will solidify their spot in the World Bowl. The Admirals must win one of their next 2 games to go to the World Bowl.

All of the pictures I posted today were taken by Bob. As I've mentioned before, you can access his website at www.bodeca.nl.

Stay tuned for next post

I apologize for the delay, but I will not be able to post about this weekend's game until later this week. Jared and I are leaving for Interlaken, Switzerland. We will be home Tuesday night, so I will do my best to post about the game and our Switzerland trip on Wednesday or Thursday. Take care and check again in a few days!

GAME TIME CORRECTION

In my last post I stated that I thought the game coming up this Saturday would be shown on TV in the states on Sunday due to tape delay. I was just informed that my source was wrong. The game will be on the NFL Network on Saturday, May 6th at 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT). Please spread the word because I know the TV schedule on NFLEurope.com is incorrect and I would hate for someone to miss the game!

Admirals beat Hamburg

On Friday (April 28th) the team loaded the 2 double decker buses to depart for Hamburg. The journey, delayed by traffic jams, rainy weather, and lack of good directions, ended after 8 very long hours of traveling. Not the most optimal way to start the weekend. Unfortunately, our hotel was far from the town area and with the cold and rainy weather on Saturday, instead of sight-seeing I just hung out at the hotel. I am very thankful that Ryan Killeen's girlfriend, Whitney, is in town. She and I rode the bus to the stadium together and walked around before the game. We pretty much froze through the whole game due to the incorrect weather forecast.

The game... started off a little scary. The score at halftime was 17-3... HAMBURG! Needless to say the first half was not overly exciting for us. Fortunately, the Admirals managed to get back in the game 17-15 with less than a minute left. With 12 seconds left Ryan Killeen hit a 34 yard field goal to win the game 18-17. Gibran ended the game with a season high 322 passing yards and Skyler broke his own franchise record of receiving yards in a game with 166 on 10 catches. He also set a franchise record with his fifth 100-yard receiving game of the season. Way to go guys!!! Possibly the most impressive stat of the game is that Gibran played the entire second half with a broken ankle. Naturally, they didn't know for sure it was broken, but deep down he assumed. It is reality... the ankle is broken and his season is over. It is so sad, he has had an absolutely amazing season and he is an equally amazing person. He is handling it very well and we ask that you please keep him in your prayers.
This picture is of Jared celebrating with the Orange Army after the game. The admirals' fans are truly the most loyal fans in Europe. It is very encouraging to the team to have such dedicated support.


My mom asked me to try to get a picture of me with Jared in his uniform after the game. I told her it pretty much wasn't possible, but I would try my best. Here's the closest I can get to him!


After the post-game meal we all loaded the buses to head back to the hotel. In the picture to the right Jared is showing you one difference between college football and the NFL. After the win in Hamburg, the players received bottles of "victory champagne" to pass around the bus in celebration.

Back at the hotel Gibran and Skyler came to our room to follow the draft and call their families on the computer. It was a very enjoyable night of which Jared and I are very grateful for the exceptional company.

Next week the team takes on the Cologne Centurions in Amsterdam. I believe it will be airing on the NFL Network Sunday morning for those of you who wish to watch it. Please keep Jared in your prayers this week. With Gibran injured, Jared and Reggie will be bearing much more weight on their shoulders. Gibran's shoes will be difficult to fill and Jared could use some prayer and support.