Season Starts in a week

Hello Everyone,

LIFE

I updated my blog just a little too early last Saturday, due to the fact that it became eventful. Not only did I get all the house chores done (laundry, dishes, swept), I bought an 11 euro grill. It is a grill you would take to the ball park to tailgate, but it did the job with my fresh steak and onions. I also headed to a night club with a couple of my teammates. It was about 15 min drive and the place was nice had three dance floors. One for techno, Hip-Hop, and the other had a private party going on. Smoking is mandatory, of course I did not, but I got enough second hand to last me for three years. The cut-off T-shirt was also a hot item for the men. I might have to try that one, show off the TatsJ (yea right). I splurged and bought an 8 Euro jack and coke ( I am having trouble typing that I keep trying to put dollar), which with me being a very frugal person that was a big purchase.

The week was pretty rainy and cool it is starting to look a lot like fall here. On Monday, I sat through a sponsorship presentation (via PowerPoint) at the newspaper facility for Mulhouse. The club was trying to get money from the big companies, of course it was much like college where I just stared and pretended to know what was going on. Of course this time if I tried to understand it, it would not have worked. The team has a website www.FCMbasket.com. It is currently being updated with a better look, but I believe it should be completed next week. I have not been on it yet, but I assume it is in French so some of you can research that while others copy and paste into a translator (As my farther found out it does not always give the right answers). After the presentation they had champagne toast and snacks. The sweet bread was to die for while the salt bread I tried almost did kill me. The rest of the week went by fast with us playing on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday we took pictures in the new uniforms which I like a lot. The material is real light weight. We took some action shots while jumping of a trampoline. The pictures have the potential to be really neat.

I had a chance to visit Basel, Switzerland over the weekend. I made a couple mistakes that made it a little uncomfortable. The first being I wore sweats and it turned out to be a nice and sunny day, and I also wore a black shirt. The city had some really nice buildings and reminded me of San Francisco with the trolley going up and down hills, the roads going every which way again. As I was trying to find a place to park downtown I turned down the wrong road and started driving in the middle of downtown where I believe it was walking only. I made a quick U-turn no harm was done. I found a Parking garage and walked the city, of course getting an ice cream and taking some pictures. They had a river cutting through the city that provided some beautiful landscape. Speaking of pictures, I blew my machine up when I did not plug it into a high enough converter. I am in talks with Kodak to get another plug. Hopefully, I will be able to post pictures soon. When I was leaving, I got trapped in the parking garage (not for going in circles, MOTHER) and had a line of cars trying to get out behind me. I reversed and luckily someone spoke English and pointed me toward the machine on the opposite wall which you had to pay for the ticket through a machine then bring the ticket back to the other machine (kind of complicated). When I went to the machine (Switzerland has their own currency and only accepts Euros if they are in paper form) all I had was 2 Euro coins. I traded with a gentleman in line and needless to say I found my way to Mulhouse.

The Team

GAME ONE

We played an early game on Wednesday at 5PM. In the four games we have played up to this point we have definitely shown we are a second half team. We fell behind by 13 at halftime with 2 of our players with three fouls and 3 others with two. Needless to say the officiating was terrible. The second half like hinted above was a lot better where we put together some stops and put some points on the board. I did not play that well offensively. I was shut out the first half with time on the bench for fouls. The second half was much of the same where I had 1 three and 1 lay-up. I tried to be there defensively though picking up two charges and some steals. The team really reminds me of the Butler team where we are not always the most physical team, but to this point we have found a way to win. I ended the game shooting a whopping (2-14). I guess it brought me back to earth a little bit, but the great thing was I had a chance to play better the very next night.

Game Two

We played the same Pro-B team we played the week before. The game was going to be a little difficult from the beginning because we had two of our starters out with injuries. We actually started this game out very well building a ten point lead 14-4 with 4 minutes in the first quarter. Then they started clawing back playing very physically and tough D. Our back up point guard was struggling handling the ball and lost our flow offensively. In the second half they pulled away by about 10 before we started a late rally. We pulled it within 2 points with two minutes to go and this is with 23 turnovers in the game. We could not get any good shots off and had a couple more turnovers and lost by five. Personally I got started at the free throw line in the first quarter. I was intentionally fouled on a fast break and they received a T after it as well on the coach. I shot the four free throws only hitting two of them. I went back to the line hitting 2-3. I knocked down a long three and had a few bunnies. I ended the game with 1 charge, 3 steals, 15 points and 4 fouls. The nice thing about having the championship starting is I will not have to try and remember my stats for the blog. I can just go to the websites where they will be posted.

Future

We were suppose to play in a weekend tournament this week, but due to the injuries on the team and the same guys playing extended minutes they decided to opt out. I believe that was a good move as the championship starts Saturday the 8th.

I would also like to use this blog for things bigger then myself. The great thing with phones and internet I can still receive information from home whether it is good or bad. Some bad news I received is my uncle is going in for more cancer treatment. I would like to ask all the readers of this blog to keep him in your prayers as he continues to fight off this terrible disease. Second bit off information is that my cousin has turned a corner in her life and is headed down the right path. I would also like you to keep her in your prayers as she takes this critical step with her family and church family.

This is BC gone for now