2011-09-26 A Twentieth Birthday
So as you all know, since you are my devoted followers, today is my birthday. As the title suggests, my twentieth birthday. Two whole decades and I waited until midnight to celebrate. It just so happened that midnight would be at an old rundown rest stop somewhere in between Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The guys on the football team all bought American beers, and myself one as well. We cheered and celebrated to the start of my third decade in the Russian cold. Which is bone chilling and I’m thoroughly worried about the actual winter, because I was freezing. Vodka may be necessary just to survive. The best part of this isolated location was how dark the night was, and subsequently how bright the stars were. I have never seen such a bright night with no moon. Made a few wishes upon those stars and hopped back in the bus to go home.
If I haven’t mentioned it previously I left Saturday night to go to Moscow and play in the Russian National Semi-Final for American Football. The attendance at this small field was probably a hundred or so. We donned white jerseys trimmed in yellow and black. It was very surreal to be back in pads and be playing a real game with referees and all. I was on second string at cornerback but once they scored a passing touchdown, coach yelled for me ‘KVAH UNG!’ I won’t bore you all with too many details but the ending statistics for me were quite surprising.
The quarterback was 1/9 throwing to my side of the field, and the one completion was for -1 yards, thanks to my bump and run tactics. I capped off the shut-down coverage afternoon with an interception, the only one of the game. The coach of the Moscow Patriots eventually told his quarterback to never throw to my side again, and I spent the rest of the day trying to stop the run. Which did not go as well. These Russians may not be that used to American football, but they are big and strong. I took a beating but made some good tackles here and there.
Our Neva Lions lost 39 to 8. Our only touchdown coming on a defensive score after a fumble recovery. The coaches were genuinely impressed with me. Thrilled that I could hold all my receivers to shut outs especially since I was usually against a 6 foot 5 long haired massive giant. He was very upset that he couldn’t shake me off. My other two fellow Americans, Chase and Jaye also did quite well, but our team couldn’t seem to put up a good enough fight. Their offensive and defensive lines were too strong.
Enough football talk. All in all it was a great experience, a very random one at that too. Hopefully I can find/scavenge some of the pictures of the day and I can share them with all of you. Well it’s still pretty early in the day, plenty of time to celebrate. Thanks for reading.