Sep 9, 2007

Not the start we wanted!






Hello Everyone,

LIFE

This week continued with the rainy, cloudy, and cool weather. Some of the trees are beginning to get a little color as fall is approaching fast. I have seen and heard that the cubs are playing well. Of course they would when I travel to another country. If I was a betting man though i would not put my money on them, they have disappointed me to many times. We will check back on this in October and see if I should stay not being a betting man. Hopefully they can prove me wrong. The sport I am missing the most is college football. My Saturdays are not the same without me checking out three or four games (the internet just does not do it). The rugby world championship is being hosted here in France this month. It seems to be a big deal with a lot of the restaurants advertising it and decorations around the cities.

The highlight of the week was doing a radio commercial for the team. The captain and I had to read off a paper. I basically introduced myself and said one small paragraph in French and he took the rest. I did not butcher it to bad. I did introduce my self as “Brandon Crone the American” that way when they were listening they could understand the accent. I also got a small oven this week which completes my kitchen. I was able to go to the store this week and pick up some basics. I have decided to buy my meat fresh everyday due to the extra time I have everyday, and I pass three stores to and from the gym. I absolutely love the bread products here and all the yogurts. I have been able to try more meals with the team traveling and let’s just say I’m not starving at all.

We flew to Bordeaux, France for our game on Saturday. We left at 5:15 in the morning and arrived there about 11. They make wine everywhere in France, but Bordeaux is a famous area. The airport even had grapes growing as its landscape. They had huge wine bottles for statues, they also had some nice statues downtown along with a huge park. The hotel was very different from a US hotel. Due to the rugby world championship games being played in Bordeaux, hotels were very limited. We had to go with a cheap one close to the airport. It had a single bed in the room and then there was a bunk bed above it. The room was smaller then any of my bedrooms in Indiana. The toilet top was disconnected in the bathroom and I got a rather comical picture standing in the shower with it. Luckily I won the coin flip and got the bottom bed. Again the meals on the trip were good and we did not go hungry. One of the big difference with traveling with the team here is when we fly we have to rent vehicles. We had a Mercedes that sat five and a minivan that sat seven. 7 of the player are 6’6” or taller so you imagine how cramped the cars were.

The Team

We had a fairly good week of practice. We are on the season schedule for practice where we practice once on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday while we practice twice on Tuesday and Thursday. I would like to scrimmage a little more in the practices. We seem to stop a lot or only to play to like three points. Hopefully we will get into some more playing.

The game did not turn out so well for us. Right from the beginning I could see that it might be a long game. We were not getting any stops defensively; we were not getting any of the loose balls, and every rebound they were getting. It was as if we were in slow motion. Offensively was not much better. We were pretty stannic, not using any of the screens or moving the ball. We flat out were not ready to play which is unfortunate because the team was not that talented but they got on a roll and gained a lot of confidence. After that they could not miss. We were down 23 points at halftime 22-45. The second half was a little better, but we were still unable to put to many stops together. We played even with them and the final was 58-82, or something around that. Personally, I shot the ball from three not to bad 2-4, but missed a couple bunny lay-ups in the first half. Left one short on a fast break and missed a reverse. I’m still trying to figure out the offense and taking the right shots at the right time. There are some things I need to improve like getting to the free throw line and rebounding better. I remember stating early on that this would be a team that would never quit; I believe I misstated that as we seemed to give up. It was hard for me with being a rookie and not speaking the language to say much, but we will defiantly need to get that fixed or it will be a long season. I tried to pick it up defensively getting a couple of steals and playing hard, but it did not transfer over. On a side note the Gym was very small (maybe would sit 1,000). There coach was also American and there American player was “Kent” who played at Ball State two years ago.

We have a week of practice and then have our first game at home. The only thing we can do is learn and grow as a team. I believe it can happen and I’m excited about getting back to work and improving.

This is BC gone for now

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

No that is not the start of the season you wanted. Things can only improve from here! Hang in there and all the best during the rest of the season. Glad you are enjoying France.

Ryan

Anonymous said...

Brandon,

keep playing hard.

i'm confident your team will start winning soon.

Big AL

Anonymous said...

Don't worry...the season is just beginning. Play ball the way you know it! Keep working on your free throws...bend those knees!
Pretty exciting about the radio commercial...
I really like the details you include in your blog about the cities and countryside of the places you have visited.
Talk to you soon on the cam...

Good luck in your next game!

love, Brie

Anonymous said...

Great to see you up an running cuz. Bad starts make for great finishes.....and you gotta start somewhere. My first of many pieces of advise i eill be offering ...learn the language ASAP, you cannot be the boss out there without that. I cannot beleive a kid from Indiana is missing free throws???? what is that? . My guess was 3 on the #. why 9?? If you can't have your # you may as well have half of it.

keep the updates coming.

Enjoy every moment!!!!

Best of luck my man!!!!

Anonymous said...

oh i get 33= 3x3= 9
my math skills are coming back!
Butler business degree is paying dividends.
bye