But the bulk of this last entry is going to be my thank you's. I would like to first off give a thank you to Coach Peebles back at Hanover for getting in contact with the Trojans or none of this would have been made possible. Then I would like to thank Coach Haula for allowing me as a Division III QB to come over and play on the best team in Finland. Coach and I had some great times in Pori and had some good talks about football and other stuff.
I want to thank the rest of the coaching staff, especially Hatsa and Ninigowski (or however you spell it). We had a unique system in which we worked together to come up with plays and a gameplan instead of the traditional Coach/player arrangement.
Next, I would like to thank all the fans that came out to watch us play, especially the girls football team. They always seemed to be at all the games. But I also want to thank the fans like Bjorn and Markus who are diehard football fans that aren't afraid to drop me an email to see what is going on.
My man Kari gets major thanks along with Patrick on getting me hooked up with the pictures. Kari did a lot of other stuff as well, whether it was giving me a radio tour or making a player card of myself or new wallpaper.
I obviously would like to thank the team. My men who have gone into war with me as some people say. I was very lucky to be on your team, the Trojans, who was obviously the best team in Finland. You guys are what ultimately made the trip worthwhile. We had a great season that came up short, but sometimes its about the journey we had instead of it all coming down to another stupid silver medal. You guys were great and I couldn't have asked to be on a better team. Thank you.
I also want to thank some of the people that went out of their way to make me feel more comfortable or just to hang out. Mikko, thanks for lending us the playstation, that was huge. I don't know what I would have done without a playstation. Scott and I made it through 11 and a half seasons of Madden. But also thanks for the other things you did such as the horse track with Rio. Rio, now there is a character. He constantly apologized for not being able to hang out as much with us because of him working all the time, but when he was around he made sure we had something to do. We watched last year's final with you and Mikko announcing the play before we saw it. That was classic. Also, big thanks for getting us through customs without a problem.
I would like to say thanks to Kimi, my center, for protecting me when he wasn't suspended by the league, but also for looking out for me and Scott just like Mikko and Rio. Thanks for taking us to Stockholm, that is a trip I will never forget and thanks for letting us into Olkuu for free all the time or getting us major discounts.
I also need to say thanks to Thomas. He is probably the one guy that had to put up with us the most. But he really did everything for us. He picked us up from the airport when we first got there and lived on the floor below us all summer. When he still had his car, he drove us wherever we needed to go. He was always there when we needed a friend, or a guide, or a ride, or a translator.... well that is when he wasn't with a girl. haha. But I would have been lost if Thomas wasn't there for me. So thank you.
Lastly, I would like to thank you. Everyone that has read my webpage. You are the reason that I had the webpage and you are the reason that I kept it going all summer. Whether you are from the States or you are from Finland I thank you.
Just so you know currently I'm still trying to get on a team over here in the States. I'm interviewing for jobs over here in the radio industry. I am going to broadcast some of my college's football games on Saturday afternoons. You can listen online to my broadcast live here. I am doing this weekend's game Saturday September 25 at 1 p.m. I'm also helping out my old highschool's football team. I am half a player and half a coach, I guess. I do some of the drills with the players to stay in football shape, but I also do some coaching. But that is about it for right now. If anything more exciting pops up, I'll post it on the site.
Feel free to drop me an email to say hello, or to let me know how you are doing, or if you want to offer me a job. My email address is dietzie4@hotmail.com or you can sign the guestbook.
Well until next time, I'm out.
--Brett Dietz