olivier in france

What really made me laugh is the song he sang! The AP journalist has not understood much better the words than the Redskins players... the song is a classic drinking song that is well ... XXXX rated!... From espn.com: Bonjour, NFL: French player takes residence at Redskins training camp Associated Press National Football League News Wire ASHBURN, Va. -- Once a year at training camp, the Washington Redskins' veterans force the rookies to stand up and sing, one at a time, after a team dinner. Philippe Gardent sang in French. "I think the audience was in awe," defensive tackle Joe Salave'a said. "No one understood what he was saying." There's no sense in concealing the fact that he's different, so Gardent chose a ditty called "Larirette," about a girl who walks through a forest. It was an appropriate choice, since no one could blame Gardent for feeling lost in the woods one week after arriving from France for his first NFL training camp. "I had only two days rest and still had jet lag in my legs," Gardent said. "But that's the way it is. I have a lot of learning to do. This week I didn't sleep that much. I spent a lot of time with (the) playbook. A lot of players told me if I can learn this playbook I can learn any playbook in the NFL." Gardent is part of a three-year-old NFL program designed to help promote the sport overseas. International players are assigned each year to teams in certain divisions, with the NFC East and AFC North taking part in this year's foreign invasion. The players are guaranteed spots on the practice squad for the entire season, but they cannot be promoted to the active roster. So far, one graduate of the program has returned the following year to make a roster and play in a regular season game. Guard Rolando Cantu from Mexico was on the field with the special teams unit for Arizona in last year's season finale against Indianapolis. Gardent, a linebacker, has as good of a chance as any to become the first player to make a real impact. The Frenchman was the co-defensive MVP in NFL Europe this year, leading with league with 70 tackles for the Cologne Centurions. "He's got a long way to go," linebackers coach Dale Lindsey said. "But he works hard, gives us good effort. He's very intense. He's trying to learn. And for a guy with a limited background, I think he's doing a darn good job." Gardent grew up as a budding alpine skier in Grenoble, but football grabbed his attention after he watched the Green Bay-New England Super Bowl on television in 1997. He joined a local team and later played in college at NSC Marseille, then for the French national team. Eventually, he caught the eye of scouts for NFL Europe, where he has played for four seasons. "Everybody asks me 'Why didn't you play soccer in France?' But you don't choose a sport because it's a national sport in your country," Gardent said. "You choose a sport because you love it." At 6-foot-1 and 237 pounds, Gardent is an acceptable size for a weakside linebacker, but the stat that works against him is his age. He didn't pick up the sport until he was 16 and is now 27, the oldest rookie in camp. He is also somewhat of an awkward pupil for Lindsey. Every snap in every practice is precious, so how much time can the coach devote to a player who wasn't here for the offseason program and has no chance of playing for the team until next season? "I don't want to slight him because he might be a great special teams player," Lindsey said. "We might need him. So I don't want to ignore him, but at the same time I don't want to take away from the other guys." Meanwhile, Gardent is an enjoyable novelty for his teammates. He has educated them about his home country, and fellow linebacker Lemar Marshall interrupted an interview to greet Gardent with a "Bonjour" after Friday's workout. "He's doing pretty well," linebacker Marcus Washington said. "There's a lot coming at him, and it's coming at him fast. That's amazing. I don't know if I could go to France and have to deal with the language and also have to pick up a different defense."

i know i know i was just having a little fun... it makes me think about a recent tv show i saw about Sicily, the other norman conquest... they said there's still lot of people having french-norman names living in the Palerme area most of them still part of the local elite.... Ever been to Bayeux BritBillsfan? That's really impressing!

well in fact only retreat has a french root... the other have all germanic/saxon or celtic roots...

I did not know Plantagenet was a norse name.... and how come all those norsemen brought so many french names in the english language? beef, pork, vegetables,dessert, prunes and pears for dinner ?

Well in fact we only tried once and it worked ... well it was 940 years ago but...

"That's just spin. Twelve of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi, people called for invading Saudi Arabia. But 20+ of today's wanna-be bombers are British...and the limeys get a !@#$ing pass? bull sh--. For that matter, some of the 9/11 money went through a UAE bank. I'm sure most of the wanna-be bombers' money went through British banks. We should make sure that no British companies are doing business on US shores, because clearly the !@#$ing limey ***** are no better than damn sand !@#$s..." Invade the UK now!!!!

exactly she looks a lot better now than 10 years ago!!

yeah probably! there's probably something here... to beat the French you got to be well organised and disciplined ... if you're a little messy, "snaky", disorganised, all for yourself and god for all , "stab in the back" style you got no chance! we're the world class in those fields! Those terrorists have no chance vs us! we have invented their methods!

Well JSP the last ones that have tried to do this in France have all be killed by the GIGN elite corps in Marseille... You can say whatever you want about French politics and have fun of us in lot of fields but the quality of our anti-terrorists police, special forces and secret services is a fact.

Probably made in Roswell NM robots that the media makes us believe is the japanese people since 1945!

I hate to write this but i can not vote for Amanda... have you seen the angel face of the Dolphins nominee?!! Now that's a pretty girl!

looks like you appreciate that crap chef! 76 was great but 2003 should be even better! he chef other question for you.... if a chef is a cook, a chief an indian, and as "chef" is french for "chief", does that mean the french indian war was a cooking contest?

well the question for you Chef is do you like your Bordeaux burgundy or your Bourgogne bordeaux? And if the roses are red, are the rosés pink or red?

The USA sometimes still find a way to surprise me... well i know americans are very puritan sometimes but a debate for this?!! http://cbs3.com/topstories/local_story_209184147.html

OK thanks! it's still more than i thought! so it's a good surprise!

Don't know if some collectors could help me... How much are worth an AL Kaline and a L Aparicio hand signed baseball?

That's what i like about this forum... i have no answer to my question but i have answers to so many other questions i'd have never asked!! Thanks guys!

In English the color "Burgundy" (as in "the Redskins play in Burgundy and Gold") uses the english word for the french region Bourgogne. One of the best regions for wine. In French the color burgundy is "Bordeaux", a word directly linked to a french wine region but an other one! As i prefer Bourgogne compared to Bordeaux in wines, i'm happy the english language shares my wine tastes! I was just wondering what is the name of that color in other languages... Do the spaniards say "Rioja" or "Burdeos", the Italian "Chianti"?!!

i agree about 99% of the guys riding in the Tour are juiced and it's not just now, it has been the case since the Tour exists. That's why this Landis story is a joke

that's classic on e-bay France, as lot of sellers have no idea what they sell when they have some old american sports jerseys so they put the name of all the american major leagues in the title! What's cool it's that sometimes you can buy incredible stuff at very low prices as they have no idea of the value of the stuff either... (just bought a nice classic St Louis Cards jersey for 15 euros last week!)

yeah that's the item i was wondering about... The pennant looks nice but seems like just a generic pennant for the city... If someone knows if it's something else...

i've changed the link, the direct link did not work so please click on the "petit fanion" once you're on the linked page.

Do you think it is linked to a Buffalo team? http://sport-vacances.search.ebay.fr/buffa...mZR8QQsacatZ888

so we have the original as thirs jersey... good... now for the two others let's hope they wake up and choose somethiong like the celsius designs instead of the slug...

you're welcome this was a good one... but never say that to one of my basque rugby playing neighbors!