BSC International

The Delaware Spallers welcomed BSC International to Front Park on April 4th for a pre-season friendly.  The weather looked beautiful all week prior, but took a turn for the worse the Friday immediately before the scrimmage. While some of the less rugged BSC players questioned the scrimmage, BSC & Spallers management hoped for the best & encouraged all to come.

BSC manager Mark Valites awoke game day morning in his estate in the rolling hills of North Boston, NY to temperatures in the 30s and to find his West gardens covered with a layer of snow – the first seen in the area for two weeks or so, according to the ground caretakers. Phone calls from the weaker hearted BSC players (whose names are too numerous to list) started shortly thereafter, as their hangovers wore off the the strawberry daiquiris consumed the night prior. Valites spoke with Spallers manager Ankur on the way to the field, who also was a little worried about the number of players who’d choose to violate their contracts and fail to attend.

Fortunately, no snow was found upon arrival at Front Park, but the weather was far from sunny. The park sits at the foot of the Peace Bridge, boasting a view of the area where the Niagara River meets Lake Erie. A bone chilling wind whipped off the water, no doubt cooled further by the icebergs (yes, there were seriously icebergs) floating down the river.

Even with the weather, a total of nearly 30 guys showed up for the scrimmage, some more appropriately dressed than others. BSC cheerleader-in-disguise Paul Welker can be seen here performing his signature curtsy before heading home to perform some sewing and interior design:

The two clubs broke up into smaller mixed team games on the dryer side & end of the field before joining together for a bigger scrimmage of BSC vs the Spallers. With such a large number of field players, BSC broke into the always-feared 5-5-4 formation. The Spallers countered with a 4-6-4. No score was kept, but everyone got muddy. Some without hats or gloves even failed to survive the ride home.

BSC’s Brazillian super star Joao Moreira (seen below) failed to attract the typical hordes of female fans on such a cold day, but put on a good show nonetheless.

BSC thanks the Spallers for the invitation & looks forward to future friendlies or maybe even some match play in the upcoming years – in August, with 80 degree weather, and cold beer.

Best of luck to the Spallers this season!

Filed under: recaps