Sacramento closes Tower Bridge towards traffic once a year and transforms its Cross Historic River into an outdoor banquet to celebrate the Californian capital.
The best chefs in the region create the menu, artists provide entertainment and sports leaders join VIP guests and civic dignitaries.
It is one of the great dates in the social calendar and was there, by virtue of the seat plan, that Mark Briggs and Mike Brown filed a friendship around an obsession shared with the training.
Brown is one of the most important names of the NBA and had recently been appointed for superior work in Sacramento Kings, whom he went to the NBA play-offs for the first time in 17 years.
Briggs was a Wolverhampton footballer, starting at West Bromwich, where he played with Enzo Maresca, and moving through a 20 -club race in the Lower League, no League, Europe and North America, before finding his vocation as a coach .
When he took his seat with Brown at Tower Bridge's dinner, Briggs was already causing a stir in the Republic of Sacramento in the United Football League, the second level of football in the United States.
Mike Briggs, born in Wolverhampton, has been in charge of the Republic of Sacramento since 2019
There they organized a team almost from scratch after releasing 18 players and using a data company for a recruitment campaign. They identified Ireland and Venezuela as leagues to aim and Briggs mixed them with local talent.
Then they reached the final of the open cup, the American Cup FA equivalent, eliminating three MLS teams, including the Los Angeles galaxy along the way.
In doing so, the Republic transcended the usual place of football on the banks of American sports consciousness and became a great national history.
So great that one day Briggs was in a bar in New Mexico when actor Kristen Stewart, more famous for the twilight saga, entered with his agent, approached and told him that they were supporting their team.
“Everyone loves a helpless story,” he shrugs as he transmits the unlikely story. “The whole country came behind us.”
Fairytale Open Cup's career ended in a brave defeat against Orlando City in the final, and Briggs followed him with another successful campaign, winning the West Conference, but there is no rise to the upper level in the United States franchise system. His friendship with Brown led him to elite training circles. Before knowing it, I was seeing the Kings training, taking advice from their programming and the way in which their training team would communicate with the players.
Former Cleveland and Lakers coach Mike Brown is currently with the Sacramento Kings
From there, he found himself sitting in the commercial tactics with Brown and Steve Kerr, the legendary coach of the Golden State Warriors and a great defender of Liverpool, finding both captivated by football, a sport that barely stops for breath . Briggs remembers how Joe Mazzulla, chief coach of the NBA champions, the Boston Celtics, had approached the candidates in their professional license course on the same subject, their respect and admiration for those who try to train in a flow game Free, with a limited game. And there are no waiting times to intervene and restructure.
“We would talk a lot about the defense,” says Briggs, 42, remembering his conversations with Brown. 'We were both great to defend. They call it protecting the paint, defending the box. Details about body position, areas where you want to force opponents and how you can do it. And we would be saying the same things. Basketball is transitory and football has become very transitional.
Some could see the football contact code that broke out in basketball, technically a sport without contact and, with the Americanization of the Premier League, the American brand and marketing, these two world sport giants have never had more in common That now.
Briggs left Sacramento in November after five years. A respite has been taken for two months and is preparing to channel this knowledge and experience in another challenge.
There will be a lot of interest in North America, where his reputation is well established, but it would be fascinating to see Briggs translate his success into these coasts or even in Europe, where he is already on the radar of a large number of clubs.
The former Briggs midfielder is highly qualified and is already on the radar of a large number of clubs in Europe
Neymar's romantic meeting with Santos
More tears in Santos. This time, happy. Two years after Pelé's farewell, forever his king, just over a year after a humble decline in the upper level of Brazilian football, Sao Paulo Club is returning, promoted in the first attempt and now all Neymar, the Prince that returns.
He entered the rain in Vila Belmiro on Friday, not 10 on the back, diamonds shining in his ears, a ball dancing to his melody and Pandana declaring his faith in Jesus. The aid above will certainly not hurt in a search for past glories after a serious knee injury and a disastrous movement to Saudi Arabia.
We worship a romantic meeting, so here is Neymar, prepared to make his second debut for the club on Thursday, his 33rd birthday. At another time, Premier League clubs could have cried out to attract him and sell some shirts. But he belongs to Santos.
Neymar recently joined Santos, after leaving the Brazilian club for Barcelona in 2013
Five things learned this week
1. Stuart Pearce does not seem like a man who is easily impressed, however, he felt the need for duty to stop and applaud the 7-0 victory of Nottingham Forest against Brighton. One of the great performances of the city praised him. 30 years have passed since Forest obtained seven at this level. Pearce was among the scorers that day at Sheffield Wednesday. Then they finished fourth and such a high result does not seem beyond the team of Nuno Holy Spirit.
2. Aston Villa was the only Pot 4 team of the Camaro de the Champions League to finish in the top eight and go directly to the last 16. It is a testimony of the office of the Unai Emery manager in Europe, although he has not been able to avoid the Impact on the results of the Premier League. Villa has taken only six points of 24 available after European games and has not won one since September.
3. The luck of the draw plays its part in any Cup competition and Celtic were blessed with the house matches of the Champions League against what turned out to be the weakest teams of each boat: RB Leipzig, Club Bruges, young children and Slovan Bratislava. With a trip to Dinamo Zagreb, they faced four teams that came out. And brruges that have just placed. Leipzig, the only Pot 1 team after the first stage, attracted four teams that ended in the top eight and only one from the lower 12.
4. Burnley has not granted in the championship since Christmas. Eight clean and counting sheets. Nine goals granted throughout the season. Ten less than the next best defense, Leeds, and 54 less than the worst, Plymouth. What they need is a bit of magic at the other end. Enter Marcus Edwards, once called Mini Messi by Mauricio Pochettino and a Scott Parker player will know well for training papers in Tottenham. Edwards's return to English football after his success in Sporting Lisbon in Portugal is a new and intriguing plot of the promotion career.
5. Loish at the nine AFC Fylde fans who made the round trip of 530 miles to see their team lose in Southend. And for those in Roots Hall who served a free cake and a hot drink in honor of their commitment to the cause. Born to be Fylde, as they like to say in Mill Farm.