For the past week I have had the privilege of hosting a guest in town, Joe Smith from Buffalo, NY. Joe is a professional lacrosse player who plays for the MLL Rochester Rattlers and the NLL Buffalo Bandits. We had exchanged e-mails over the last few months after he contacted me looking for somewhere overseas for a lacrosse/tourist vacation. (as with most lacrosse players, the emphasis is on the lacrosse part)
Joe behind the bar at the Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Dublin.
After we got talking we realized that we have actually met before as Joe has played in the Tampa Jam the last two years and has been Defensive MVP both years..which means I actually handed him the trophy two years ago when I was still president of the Tampa BayThunder. Small world huh ?
Joe's timing was perfect since my UCD teams are preparing for our first road trip of the season to Germany on Thursday.
Joe coached the defense at practice giving them great tips on how to improve their skills.As part of his welcome to Ireland, Michael K. had arranged for the 3 of us to go to the Ireland vs. Cyprus world cup qualifier soccer match at Croke Park on Wednesday Night.
Joe also had ample opportunity to sample the local cuisine. We both had delicious stews and even comtemplated on going on a Stew Crawl.
Joe had also never had a deep fried Mars bar.
All in all a great trip. The UCD kids were very happy to meet Joe, especially since he works for Atlantic Sportswear and he hand delivered our new team uniforms.
The kids not only looked sharp for Fridays game, but played the best game in the history of the club narrowly losing to Dublin 11-9...which certainly was affected by Joe's presence on the Dublin defense.
Thanks Joe !
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