Free Republic

Patrick Venzke only recently turned 40, but even though his face looks youthful, his body is ravaged. He suffers terrible backaches, his left shoulder is wrecked and he also has knee trouble. “It’s the price I paid to pursue my dream,” he says as he drags himself up the steps of a café in Essen, Germany. Venzke became the first German national to make a National Football League roster when he signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars in April 2001—although he was never fielded in any of the team’s games. […] After a year in Jacksonville, Venzke moved to NFL Europe,...

National Football League officials bet in the early 1990s that the world — or at least North America and Europe — would embrace a brand of football that was of lesser quality than the one the league’s 32 teams play in the United States. But N.F.L. Europa, born 16 years ago as the World League of American Football, lost money, ran through television partners, narrowed its trans-Atlantic focus largely to Germany and finally was shuttered yesterday. The N.F.L.’s strategy will shift to playing some of its own regular-season games overseas. “If we can present two or three games a year,...

2006 Schedule Week Date Matchup Time Week 1 Saturday March 18 Cologne Centurions at Hamburg Sea Devils 6:00 p.m.     Berlin Thunder at Amsterdam Admirals 7:00 p.m.     Frankfurt Galaxy at Rhein Fire 7:00 p.m. Week 2 Saturday March 25 Rhein Fire at Berlin Thunder 6:00 p.m.     Hamburg Sea Devils at Frankfurt Galaxy 7:00 p.m.   Sunday March 26 Amsterdam Admirals at Cologne Centurions 4:00 pm. Week 3 Saturday April 1 Berlin Thunder at Hamburg Sea Devils 6:00 p.m.     Frankfurt Galaxy at Amsterdam Admirals 7:00 p.m.   Sunday April 2 Rhein Fire at...

Follow NFL Europe live online April 1, 2005 NFL Europe   Catch Ben Moa live against Frankfurt in Week One with NFL Field Pass. (waynepaulo.com)     If you want to follow the NFL Europe season live, but you cannot get to your television – don’t worry! There are two ways you can keep up to date with all the action using your computer. If you want to watch one game each week through the season, make sure you sign up to join NFL.com’s Field Pass, which will allow you to view full coverage of a game. Field Pass’...

2005 NFLEL Allocation List   March 25, 2005 NFL Europe Arizona Cardinals Name Pos. Club Bobby Blizzard TE Hamburg Sea Devils Larry Croom RB Hamburg Sea Devils Clarence Curry CB Rhein Fire Chris Lewis QB Cologne Centurions Adrian Mayes S Berlin Thunder Tyrone Sanders CB Cologne Centurions Antonio Smith DE Hamburg Sea Devils Atlanta Falcons Name Pos. Club Mark Anelli TE Frankfurt Galaxy Michael Brown LB Berlin Thunder Romby Bryant WR Cologne Centurions Shawn Draper T Rhein Fire Eric Joyce CB Frankfurt Galaxy Mike Mabry C Cologne Centurions Shawn Mayer S Hamburg Sea Devils Baltimore Ravens Name Pos. Club...

2005 TV Schedule Week Date Visitor   Home Brdcst Time (EDT) Week 1 02 April 2005 Frankfurt at Berlin DTV 11:00   02 April 2005 Rhein at Amsterdam NFLnet 12:00 Week 2 09 April 2005 Amsterdam at Frankfurt DTV 13:00   10 April 2005 Cologne at Rhein NFLnet 10:00 Week 3 16 April 2005 Frankfurt at Cologne DTV 12:00   16 April 2005 Rhein at Hamburg NFLnet 13:00 Week 4 23 April 2005 Berlin at Rhein DTV 13:00   23 April 2005 Hamburg at Frankfurt NFLnet 13:00 Week 5 30 April 2005 Rhein at Frankfurt NFLnet 13:00   30...

  Scott McBrien is heading to play for the Rhein Fire. (Green Bay Packers)     Three quarterbacks with experience as starters in the NFL are crossing the Atlantic to play in the 2005 NFL Europe League season. They are joined by a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback making the conversion to defensive back, and the son of an NFL legend NFL teams have allocated a record 266 players to play in Europe this spring. Of those, 102 were assigned to NFLEL teams, with a further 141 being selected in the annual NFL Allocated Player draft. Additional players, including kickers and...