Tech's Bedford takes his game to Spain

It's a familiar phrase, though the Spanish version puts the emphasis on the first word, rather than the second. And then it blends together into a fun-to-say mouthful.

"Loooooos Osos."

Loose English translation: "Da Bears."

While some of his former Georgia Tech teammates are working out on pristine fields, under the scrutiny of trainers whose sole mission is to help them get drafted by an NFL team, Sean Bedford is playing "futbol Americano," near Madrid, Spain, for Los Osos Rivas. Crowds are in the dozens. The team doesn't have a full practice field. Some players, who vary in age from 18 to 43 and weigh between 130 and 330 pounds, don't have cleats. Bedford plays four positions and was recently promoted to player-coach because one of the team's five coaches quit.

He's loving every minute of it.

"The level of play isn't as high as college, but it's challenging in that I've been asked to contribute in new ways," he said.

The transition from two-time All-ACC center to pigskin patriot is partially due to John Grisham. The author of dozens of legal thrillers, Grisham also penned a book, "Playing for Pizza," about a fictional washed-up NFL quarterback who catches on with a team in Parma, Italy. A voracious reader, Bedford devoured the book like it was, well, a pizza.

Bedford began considering the possibility. Dan Voss, a former Tech teammate whom Bedford beat out for the center job for the 2009 season, played in France for a season and recommended the experience.

After the Independence Bowl, Bedford wasn't invited to any of the all-star games that NFL hopefuls play in.

He was an accomplished student at Tech, majoring in aerospace engineering. He wanted to go to law school. With time on his hands while waiting for applications to be processed, Bedford thought about Europe. He contacted a service, europlayers.com, that connects Americans with European teams.

When he returned from the Shreveport, La., bowl game, he talked with multiple teams, deciding on Spain's Liga Nacional de Futbol Americano for a league and Rivas-Vaciamadrid for a team, in the Madrid suburbs.

They agreed on contract terms, which includes an apartment that Bedford shares with teammates from England and Denmark, and transportation funding. He will make money to pay for law school.

Bedford landed in Madrid on Jan. 19, only to find out that the airline lost his bag, which included his football gear. Without the bag and jet-lagged, Bedford showed up for practice later that day and met his new teammates.

The team, which lost its season opener a few days later, has 35-40 players, and just three can be Americans. Bedford plays numerous positions: center, long snapper, defensive end and defensive tackle.

The experience wasn't meant to be a European vacation, though Bedford's father, Dean said his son needed to get away and relax. Bedford didn't plan on doing as much as he is, now that he's coaching the offensive and defensive lines after one of the assistant coaches resigned. The job has been a challenge because the coaches instruct the players in Spanish. When Bedford can't understand something, teammates translate for him.

"The attitude and friendliness of my teammates has been my favorite cultural difference," Bedford said. "They're all extremely friendly. One of our receivers, Marco Chomon Montana, heard that I hadn't been able to use my computer because the electrical outlets are different over here, so he went out and bought an adapter for me."

The team usually practices from 9-11 p.m. each night. The country's culture and Spanish players' regular jobs dictate that. Most of them don't get paid to play.

The season lasts 10 games with a four-team playoff and a league championship -- their Super Bowl -- in June. The team won its second game and has a bye this week. It plays the Badalona Dracs, the five-time champions, next week.

The Osos aren't a rag-tag bunch. Coach Sebastian Serrano played high school football in the U.S. and Europe, and some of the assistant coaches previously played for the Osos. Bedford said Serrano is as demanding as Tech coach Paul Johnson. The full-throated, flag-waving fans are there to have fun.

Away from football, Bedford spends time exploring and reading. He wants to immerse himself in the culture. He's nearly done reading Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls," which is about an American expatriate living in Spain. He's written more than 30 journal pages about his experiences. He's eating a lot. He suggests if you haven't tried paella, go to a local Spanish restaurant and order it.

"One of our offensive linemen works as a cook at a local school, which allows us to use their cafeteria for lunch," Bedford said. "Today's lunch was cocido madrileno, which consisted of roast beef, chorizo, chicken, pork, garbanzo beans, roasted carrots and potatoes, and soup. I was hoping to lose a little bit of weight here, but I don't think that's going to happen."

He keeps up with his family and friends through Skype and Facebook. He's been so busy he doesn't have a lot of time to think about them. He doesn't have to parlay this experience into a tryout with an NFL team, but wouldn't shy from it.