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May 17th, 2007, 01:00 AM
Travis Lulay Diary
May 11, 2007
Berlin Thunder quarterback Travis Lulay, allocated to NFL Europa by the Seattle Seahawks, continues his weekly diary by bringing fans up to speed.
Welcome back to the Travis Lulay diary. Glad you could join us! Hopefully, you caught our big come-from-behind win at the Cologne Centurions on Saturday afternoon.
It was a huge win for us, in a lot of ways.
First of all, we were 1-2, so we needed a win to get back in the hunt. We were playing on the road against a good football team. To be able to come out of that place with a win, in any way, we’ll take it. For us to be able to come from behind, playing 21 points down, and just slowly chip away the rest of the game and finally getting the go-ahead score at the end, I think it says a lot about the character of our team.
Our defense came out in the second half and didn’t allow any points. It gave us an opportunity to get right back in the game. Our offense responded and was able to put some points on the board.
One of the reasons it was such a big win was because it seems like everyone on the team had a hand in it. The special teams got us rolling. We got in a 21-0 hole, and Chris Barclay came up big. He got some blocks, and that kick return unit really sparked us. That put us right back into the game. Then, the defense got an interception, and our offense was able to march right down and make it 21-14. Just like that, we’re right back in the ball game.
I think one of the biggest things it did for us was, now we know we will never quit. Now, we believe we can win, even if we’re down 21-0. It’s a really big win for us. I was really proud of my teammates in the way we all responded. It was a big, emotional win.
Now, we come back home and defend our turf against the same team!
We have a pretty good idea of what they are going to do, and they have a pretty good idea of what we are going to do. This week will come down to executing plays. They are a good opponent. Even though we came out on top, they are still a good team. Obviously, they showed how good they could be in the first half of that game.
We’re going to have to come out and play better than we did last week, because you know they feel like they should have won that game. Now, they’re going to try to steal one from us on our home turf. It’s going to be a battle.
I think 21 points may be the biggest comeback I’ve ever been a part of. I know against Weber State, my junior year at Montana State, we were down 20-0 after the first series of the second half. We came back and won that game. Hopefully, we can carry that momentum into this week!
Speaking of the old college days, it was great to play against my old rival, Erik Meyer. Just like usual, he was lighting it up—he threw three touchdowns in the first half!
Erik is a great competitor, and he is a very good quarterback. It was fun to be playing in a completely different setting, but have the same type of scenario—and the same colors. It brought back a lot of memories. It was a lot of fun.
It was good to finally come out on top. He was ribbing me before the game, reminding me about the old college days. I know when you’re playing against a team led by a guy like Erik, it will be a challenge every time. I look forward to another good one this week.
After the big comeback, we got a little bit of media attention back home. It’s exciting when you see things like, our game making the headline on NFL.com, or seeing your picture on the website. You realize that people so far away are paying attention to what we’re doing over here.
It’s cool to know that even though you’re on a different continent, you still get support or publicity, and people know what’s going on in this league. That makes this league very unique. Basketball players over here, for instance, don’t get much coverage back in the United States like this league does.
Our game was live last week, so no one that was watching knew the final score before it happened. So, it was a lot of fun for my friends and family, too.
Since we had an extra day off this week, a few of us—Steven Vieira, Matt Ulrich, Rich Musinski, Alex Shor, his wife, and myself—went over to Prague in the Czech Republic.
Rich actually brought up the idea. He visited there in February, while he was over here during the continuity program. He said that it wasn’t too long of a trip, maybe 5 hours on the train. We thought, we have a few days off, so let’s take advantage of it and see a little bit of Europe.
We heard Prague was one of the most beautiful cities in Central Europe, and it didn’t disappoint. It was a great spot to go visit. We walked around the city and saw a lot of historic spots.
It was good to see more of Europe and not have to fly, or put too much hassle in the travel. It just adds to the experience over here. It’s so unique. We were talking on the way home, and we all agreed that it was one of the coolest experiences we’d ever had.
We had a blast. We stayed in a hostel in downtown Prague. When you walked out the door, you were right in the middle of the hustle-bustle in the older part of town. It was a cool trip, and hopefully we’ll get a chance to see a little more of Europe while we’re here.
We stayed on the sixth floor, but these were tall floors. I think it was around 140 steps to the top just to get up to our room. No elevator—nothing even close to an elevator. It took three sets of keys—a key to get in, a key to get to the sixth floor, and key for our room.
The first day we got there, it was late at night, and we’re in Czech Republic. We’re in a completely foreign country. It’s like midnight. There are people walking around, but no one is speaking English.
Actually, somebody had let us into a door that we thought was the right door to where we were staying, but it turned out to be the completely wrong building! We walked to the top floor of that building, up this tiny, little green spiral staircase, with all of our luggage. We got the top, and it was dark, and then, we began to realize that we might be in the wrong place.
We hiked back down, kept walking around, and eventually found our place. It was a block away! Who knows what building we were in before! But, we made it there.
We changed from dollars to Euros when we got to Germany, and now, we changed from Euros to Crowns in the Czech Republic. 22 Crown is 1 Euro, so, we’re getting like, 2,000 Crown bills for change at McDonalds. It was pretty fun.
The next day, we got up and did the whole tourist thing, walking around the city. It was a cool experience. I’ve never done anything like that.
It would be fun for the fiancé to be over here and be able to do some stuff like that. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to do something like that later in life. She actually had her first bridal shower at home. It went well! Close to 40 people showed up. It sounds like we got some pretty good gifts! I think it got her a little excited for the wedding.
We’re getting close to it now…only two months out! I’m getting ready for it, too.
Well, time for me to go play in the rain a little bit more. We finally got some showers over here! Tune in next week for the next Travis Lulay diary. Auf wiedersehen!
May 11, 2007
Berlin Thunder quarterback Travis Lulay, allocated to NFL Europa by the Seattle Seahawks, continues his weekly diary by bringing fans up to speed.
Welcome back to the Travis Lulay diary. Glad you could join us! Hopefully, you caught our big come-from-behind win at the Cologne Centurions on Saturday afternoon.
It was a huge win for us, in a lot of ways.
First of all, we were 1-2, so we needed a win to get back in the hunt. We were playing on the road against a good football team. To be able to come out of that place with a win, in any way, we’ll take it. For us to be able to come from behind, playing 21 points down, and just slowly chip away the rest of the game and finally getting the go-ahead score at the end, I think it says a lot about the character of our team.
Our defense came out in the second half and didn’t allow any points. It gave us an opportunity to get right back in the game. Our offense responded and was able to put some points on the board.
One of the reasons it was such a big win was because it seems like everyone on the team had a hand in it. The special teams got us rolling. We got in a 21-0 hole, and Chris Barclay came up big. He got some blocks, and that kick return unit really sparked us. That put us right back into the game. Then, the defense got an interception, and our offense was able to march right down and make it 21-14. Just like that, we’re right back in the ball game.
I think one of the biggest things it did for us was, now we know we will never quit. Now, we believe we can win, even if we’re down 21-0. It’s a really big win for us. I was really proud of my teammates in the way we all responded. It was a big, emotional win.
Now, we come back home and defend our turf against the same team!
We have a pretty good idea of what they are going to do, and they have a pretty good idea of what we are going to do. This week will come down to executing plays. They are a good opponent. Even though we came out on top, they are still a good team. Obviously, they showed how good they could be in the first half of that game.
We’re going to have to come out and play better than we did last week, because you know they feel like they should have won that game. Now, they’re going to try to steal one from us on our home turf. It’s going to be a battle.
I think 21 points may be the biggest comeback I’ve ever been a part of. I know against Weber State, my junior year at Montana State, we were down 20-0 after the first series of the second half. We came back and won that game. Hopefully, we can carry that momentum into this week!
Speaking of the old college days, it was great to play against my old rival, Erik Meyer. Just like usual, he was lighting it up—he threw three touchdowns in the first half!
Erik is a great competitor, and he is a very good quarterback. It was fun to be playing in a completely different setting, but have the same type of scenario—and the same colors. It brought back a lot of memories. It was a lot of fun.
It was good to finally come out on top. He was ribbing me before the game, reminding me about the old college days. I know when you’re playing against a team led by a guy like Erik, it will be a challenge every time. I look forward to another good one this week.
After the big comeback, we got a little bit of media attention back home. It’s exciting when you see things like, our game making the headline on NFL.com, or seeing your picture on the website. You realize that people so far away are paying attention to what we’re doing over here.
It’s cool to know that even though you’re on a different continent, you still get support or publicity, and people know what’s going on in this league. That makes this league very unique. Basketball players over here, for instance, don’t get much coverage back in the United States like this league does.
Our game was live last week, so no one that was watching knew the final score before it happened. So, it was a lot of fun for my friends and family, too.
Since we had an extra day off this week, a few of us—Steven Vieira, Matt Ulrich, Rich Musinski, Alex Shor, his wife, and myself—went over to Prague in the Czech Republic.
Rich actually brought up the idea. He visited there in February, while he was over here during the continuity program. He said that it wasn’t too long of a trip, maybe 5 hours on the train. We thought, we have a few days off, so let’s take advantage of it and see a little bit of Europe.
We heard Prague was one of the most beautiful cities in Central Europe, and it didn’t disappoint. It was a great spot to go visit. We walked around the city and saw a lot of historic spots.
It was good to see more of Europe and not have to fly, or put too much hassle in the travel. It just adds to the experience over here. It’s so unique. We were talking on the way home, and we all agreed that it was one of the coolest experiences we’d ever had.
We had a blast. We stayed in a hostel in downtown Prague. When you walked out the door, you were right in the middle of the hustle-bustle in the older part of town. It was a cool trip, and hopefully we’ll get a chance to see a little more of Europe while we’re here.
We stayed on the sixth floor, but these were tall floors. I think it was around 140 steps to the top just to get up to our room. No elevator—nothing even close to an elevator. It took three sets of keys—a key to get in, a key to get to the sixth floor, and key for our room.
The first day we got there, it was late at night, and we’re in Czech Republic. We’re in a completely foreign country. It’s like midnight. There are people walking around, but no one is speaking English.
Actually, somebody had let us into a door that we thought was the right door to where we were staying, but it turned out to be the completely wrong building! We walked to the top floor of that building, up this tiny, little green spiral staircase, with all of our luggage. We got the top, and it was dark, and then, we began to realize that we might be in the wrong place.
We hiked back down, kept walking around, and eventually found our place. It was a block away! Who knows what building we were in before! But, we made it there.
We changed from dollars to Euros when we got to Germany, and now, we changed from Euros to Crowns in the Czech Republic. 22 Crown is 1 Euro, so, we’re getting like, 2,000 Crown bills for change at McDonalds. It was pretty fun.
The next day, we got up and did the whole tourist thing, walking around the city. It was a cool experience. I’ve never done anything like that.
It would be fun for the fiancé to be over here and be able to do some stuff like that. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to do something like that later in life. She actually had her first bridal shower at home. It went well! Close to 40 people showed up. It sounds like we got some pretty good gifts! I think it got her a little excited for the wedding.
We’re getting close to it now…only two months out! I’m getting ready for it, too.
Well, time for me to go play in the rain a little bit more. We finally got some showers over here! Tune in next week for the next Travis Lulay diary. Auf wiedersehen!