Eagles Host Lobsterbake for International Cup Players

By: Denis Ryan

Recently the Baltimore-Washington Eagles held a Lobsterbake as a fundraiser for members of the club who are representing the USA in the upcoming AFL International Cup being held in Australia this August. The bake was a sellout with over 130 people attending.

Never having been to a "New England style" Lobsterbake before, I wasn't sure what to expect, but our gracious hosts, Ed & Kathy Rhodes', easy going nature sure put any trepidation to rest. Coupled with the fact that Ed is head of Aqua culture for Phillips Seafood Restaurants & was able to secure their head office as the venue, I sure got the feeling we could not have been in better hands.

Even though it was the end of July, what was not on the menu was the oppressive heat. The mercury topped 106 with a heat index of 120! Earlier in the day, with the sun at it's peak & just to show that proponents of this game are completely insane, the Eagles played their Metro Grand Final in which the Baltimore Bohgans capped off a resurgent season with a hard fought 93 to 67 victory over the Arlington Generals. This ensured a bunch of thirsty players for the function & although we didn't start the bake till 5.30pm, you could still fry an egg on the carpark!

At 5.45 Kathy lit the "barbie", a huge brick footing supporting a massive hotplate topped with a layer of seaweed. On top of this Ed starting piling the food, first corn, then muscles, clams, potatoes, onions, sausage, eggs & finally 140 juicy red lobsters. Then Ed & Kathy draped some canvas over the top & let the fire do the work. A little over an hour later, our lobster feast was ready!

The food was amazing & had us all scheming on how we could get Ed & Kathy to do it again for us next year rather than wait another three years for the next International Cup. Not enough can be said to thank Ed & Kathy for the amazing amount of work they put into the event, ably supported by Eileen Geoghegan and her fantastic family. Ed sure has a great job, travelling all over the world checking up on Phillips' little sea critters & it's inspiring to know that sometimes the really cool people do get the really cool jobs!

The event was a runaway success & with the raffle items donated by Boxy, TBone & Bart, we were able to raise over $4,000 to alleviate some of the costs of heading to Australia for our US reps. These are, from the Freedom, Judith Stein (captain), Eileen Geoghegan & Karen Stablein and from the Revolution, Brandon Bladau, Jake Moyer & Denis Ryan (Assistant Coach).