Nice view from up here

Hello Everyone,

This week started off with something I have never done before, a high ropes course. The team manager owns this little tourist attraction, and with us only playing one game a week we have plenty of free time. It was an impressive high ropes course and we had a lot of fun. There are some pictures below that the second coach took for me. He had a little trouble with the camera and there were some pictures that ended up as like a 2 second video. It turned out to be a media frenzy with news cameras and some photographers. Skip was the only one to not go up on it, although I will give him credit for trying. He climbed up the first cargo net to the first ledge and could not make it past that.

This week will be very low key with a scrimmaged planned on Thursday with a division 2 team. Our next league game is not for two weeks. I’m not sure what Poland calls it but this coming weekend is a holiday for them where they celebrate the dead. I’m not exactly what that entails, but I’m sure I will find out soon. Drew and I are planning to go to Berlin this coming weekend to do some sight seeing. We will prob. get a hotel for Friday and Saturday night. So if any of the readers have been to Berlin and would like to suggest something please feel free.

Our game on Saturday was much like the weekend before where we dominated much of the game leading by 20. Then we tried to let them back in it when they cut the lead down to six with about 3 minutes to go. We made the plays and came up with the win. Tony Weeden the player from Indianapolis actually joined this team after his team folded so we saw him again. He had a very good game shooting and was the person that almost brought them back.

I shot 1-4 from the field (1-3 from 3) ending with 3 points. As soon as I entered the game I knocked down a three. Then I had another look on the fast break and rushed it. The third three was with two seconds left and I just had to get it up there. All three shots came with in the first 3 minutes of me being in the game, and then I just disappeared. I’m still trying to figure how to fit into this offense to get a few more shots. I’m going to look at the game film and just keep trying to improve. The great thing is we are winning so I can’t complain too much.

Since this is a short blog I thought I would give you my top 10 list of things I wish I had or could fix here in Poland!

1. An elevator- I live at the top of the apartment building which means I have to climb over 60 stairs at least 2 times a day (I workout enough I don’t need any extra).

2. A dryer- I hate the feeling of the socks, they are so hard and dry.

3. A higher light- the light in the kitchen was hung in there for ppl. 6 feet and shorter, I hit my head at least twice a week.

4. A car- I’m doing fine without one but it would be nice to go to the store on my terms plus I’m like my grandpa and love the Sunday drives to no where.

5. lettuce- They do not have salad like I’m used to, and I make a lot of cold meat sandwiches and would love a slice of lettuce on them (prob. being picky but hey I can be)

6. A bedroom- I’m not saying my bed is bad but sleeping in the living room which has four windows and big window on the patio door is not good for sleeping in.

7. Bigger TV- this is more for my ps3 because I can’t really watch much polish TV, but the screen is a little bigger then my computer.

8. Faster internet- They gave us this Iplus which works off a sim card. It is slower then dial up at times.

9. Teammates closer- most of the teammates live just a little out of walking distance (especially on my lazy days). This is a double edge sword though because I like my proximity to the gym.

10. PLAYING TIME- so I have prob. hammered this point to my readers and I apologize but I like to play!

Until next time!


This is BC gone for now

Future Navigator

Hello Everyone,

Fall has arrived! Well actually it has been here for a few weeks now and if it is any indication to winter it will probably be a cold one.So i had a picture in front of my apartment of the leaves and trees, but some how I erased it before it made it here.

I participated in my first ever step class, the whole team did. It was pretty hysterical seeing all these tall guys doing some of the moves the instructor was having us do. I did not even know my hips could move that way.



I felt like I was in a 1980’s Claudia Schiffer exercise video.

I visited a high school this week with drew and one of the polish players. It is a school where they wear uniforms like the navy. The teacher who met us outside and was explaining the school said “they are preparing to be future navigators of the world.” I thought that was pretty funny. They had a table set up in the gym and it was like a media room where the kids could ask questions. They were pretty shy with asking any questions in English. So I looked over at drew and said “these kids are going to have a rough time navigating through the English Channel.” It is one of those jokes that are so bad it was funny. After the questions we played with there junior team a little bit and that was the day.

I have been eating most of my lunches at the gym. They have a restaurant at the top which gives us a discount. We pay 9 zlotes which is like 4 dollars for soup, some sort of meat and potatoes, and a small salad. The portions are a little small but when it is that cheap and good can’t complain too much. Armando the Greek chef is heading to Warsaw for a job at a restaurant. That is sad news for us as he won’t be around to cook us some more great meals. He made his final meal for us on Thursday, which included some risotto, pork, potatoes, and brussels sprouts (spelling).

We won our game Saturday by 3 points. We tried to lose it at the end. We were up by 14 the whole game and it was tied with 30 seconds to go. We got sloppy with the ball at the end and they hit some big shots. A win is a win!

It was a very frustrating game for me playing wise. I hit a three and had a couple steals in about 8 minutes of play in the first half. I did not score in the second half missing a fast break layup with a guy jumping in front of me and a three. In the last two games I have shot the ball 6 times, which for me that is ok if we are winning, but only playing 16 minutes a game is not much fun. As soon as I feel like I’m getting in rhythm like the first half I’m pulled. Then it is hard to get back in the flow late in the third or fourth. I was taught at butler to take accountability for things so I’m going to keep working on how to be productive in such little time. Hopefully I can just keep improving in practice and prove that I belong on the floor.

I’m shooting very well from 3 10-19 in five games. I have a goal to make the 3 point shooting contest during all star weekend. I also am keeping up with my goal to lead the team in steals. I am second with 7 steals in five games .

Until next time!

This is BC gone for now

Football sunday

Hello Everyone,

YES! They actually called a foul on the play to the left.

Well we made the 8 hour trip to play the next game on the schedule on Wednesday. This was the game where the player from Pike High school was on the team. We stayed at the hotel that was connected to the gym, except it was not really a hotel. It was more like a dorm room with a living room. They had two beds, a cot, and a futon. Most rooms had three players, one had four. That was my room and I chose to sleep on the futon, it looked pretty comfortable. Wow, looks were never so deceiving. It had a huge dip in the middle and I basically tossed and turned the whole night. I add this story in so I have an excuse for the game because I did not play so hot.

0-3 from three, 1 steal, and a whole lot of running around. The good thing was the team we played was not very strong so we did not have to play our best and that we did not do. Everyone was a little out of the game at times. We defiantly did not look like a very good team. We ended up winning by eleven, but after the game the locker room felt more like a loss.

Come to find out, the next day the team dropped out of the league probably due to money reasons. So we pretty much traveled there for absolutely nothing and were stripped of the win. If they strip the stats I guess that would be good for me. It also means that our game with them on January 3rd, will no longer take place so hopefully that means about 10 days to be home around the holidays.

On Saturday we played our biggest rival of the league at home and we looked like we did on Wednesday. We have found success on this team by playing defense, and we were not helping each other and defiantly not playing very good one on one Defense. This was a unique team as they did not have a five man, which should have played into our hands with the big guys we have. We can’t seem to get on the same page with them. Right now the guards don’t have confidence that the big man will make the right decision, and the big men don’t have confidence that they will get the ball when they post hard. This is something we defiantly need to correct. We also had two players’ sick who played very little and were not able to have much influence. We were down 17 at half.

With all that said, in the first 4 minutes of the third quarter we pulled within three. We just could never get over the hump. I played a very efficient game shooting 2-3 from three and 4-5 from the foul line, with 4 rebounds, and a steal. I still made a couple boneheaded decisions that led to turnovers. It was the first loss of the season which we all knew would come but was just hoping not this soon and not at home. We have three homes games in a row now with a week in between all of them so hopefully we will be able to improve our weaknesses and get back on the winning track.

I have been researching on how to get a job with the travel channel or something like it. I mean I have all this travel experience (or should I say experiences) now and people (some people) say they like reading my writing so you never know. All though this is probably just one of those phases I go through when I’m trying to figure out what to do with my 12 hours of free time a day. I know last year I tried to learn how to trade currency, but I gave that up pretty quickly when I realized I had no idea what was going on. For example, when I came to Poland in august $1= 2.34 zlotes (polish currency), now with all this market falling stuff in America $1=2.63 zlotes, which means the dollar is actually stronger. I do not understand that at all, but it is better for me as it makes cost of living cheaper for me.

We had a little American party today at Drew’s apartment. I brought over a pepperoni pizza and some kool-aid and he supplied the computer to watch the colt’s game, while skip supplied the ride to and from. We ended up watching more of the lion’s game as it was a lot closer game. Good to see the colts finally get a win at home and look a little like their old selves. After the lions lost on some bad calls they went back to the studio and showed the ending of another game that ended with a field goal and then flipped to the third game that ended in a field goal. The three of us were acting like crazy fans for ending of all three games either rooting for them to make or miss. It was quite hysterical (not historical) where we finished with the chant of USA. For a moment I felt like I was back home in my living room, and then I looked around and saw no chips and salsa or popcorn and realized I am still far from home.

Until next time!

This is BC gone for now

Hello Everyone,

Well, it is a good week for the blog. I have lots of stories and even added some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

We will start off with the middle of the week and our 10 hour bus trip. It took a little less time so that made me happy. I never feel real good after long bus rides I think I get a little motion sickness from these bumpy roads and uncomfortable seats. We stopped at a restaurant named "Texicano" about half way to Gornik. Which I figured would be some sort of Mexican food place. I was gladly mistaken when they served chicken stuffed with some cheese and spinach, and a ton of butter (could have done without the butter). The weird thing was they also had a Buddha hanging on the wall and seemed to be decorated more like an Asian place. This place was going through a little bit of an identity crisis.

I think I’m going to visit more gas stations then I am gyms in my time here in Poland. On the way home we stopped at an unusual one called “Auto Bar”. It was a very small truck stop that was open 24 hours. The bus driver was required to take a 30 minute stop. I was one of the few players to get off the bus as it was pretty late and many of them were sleeping. As I was walking around the place I caught a whiff of what smelled like some animals. Sure enough there was a pig in a cage in front of the restaurant next to the road. I kept looking around and noticed they had a sign for a zoo. This truck stop also had a petting zoo in front of it. I was disappointed though as most of the animals were in there barns sleeping. I’m sure they don’t get a lot of that with the cars and trucks driving by at all hours. I also got a hotdog which was not a very good idea as it came topped with something similar to coleslaw in a very hard bun, should have followed the captains lead as he got a soup that looked really good.

The hotel we stayed at was actual and old castle. We stayed in the old servants’ quarters of the castle that was converted into the hotel. The castle itself is a tourist destination. It had a lot of history, it was built in 1700’s and was taken over by the Nazis during WWII. The Nazis built tunnels under the castle that were used as research facility. The tour was only in polish and you had to have 15 people to go so we did not get to see the tunnels themselves but the castle was pretty neat. The land acreage was massive as you had to turn off the main road and go 600 meters back. They had a horse jumping stadium (a stadium where horses run around and jump over things). It looked like it had not been used for a long time. We also ate at the top of tower in a room that was filled with animals. Mostly deer racks and a few wild pigs were on the walls with your occasional fox. Drew’s parents actually made the road trip from kolobrzeg to watch the game and stay at the castle hotel.

His parents actually left on Sunday to drive back to Berlin and catch the plane home. They were here for a week and got to see the 3 games. They were very nice people as I ate with them on Friday night before the game. They rented a car and did a lot of touring around as well. I could not believe they made the 10 hour trip, but I guess they did not have much to do in the city.

We have been getting in an ice chamber the day after games to help with recovery. As you can see in the picture below it is a little round shaped container that blows dry ice at a temperature of -130 degrees Celsius. We have gloves on and wooden shoes. You are only in there for about 2 to 3 minutes, but it does get pretty cold. I can’t really tell if it is helping, but I’m sure it is not hurting either so you just do what you’re told.

The team has been playing pretty well as we have started the season 3-0. I believe it is the first time they have won three games in a row or started the season 3-0, maybe both. Gornik was the away game and we started pretty slowly and were down by 4 at half. We were not shooting the ball very well either, but opened up the third quarter in a tear and went up by 14 pretty quick. We ended up wining by about 10.
Personally I did not have my best showing shooting 1-5 from three and scoring 5 points. I did not get myself involved in the game like I usually do in other areas of the game.

Saturday we played at home against a team from Warsaw. We were up by almost 20 before the first quarter was over. We played very strong defense throughout the entire game. They went to a zone that slowed us up a bit so we will defiantly need to correct that before next game.

Personally, I had a decent game 2-4 from three which were the only points I scored. I am having a terrible time drawing fouls. I drove three or four times and at least three of them were clearly fouls and I can’t get the call. I did have a better all around game with 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and a charge.

We have two more games this week, one on Wednesday and one on Saturday. We will leave Tuesday to make another 10 hour trip to the game. I think after the season I would have traveled the whole country of Poland on a bus. The team we play on Wednesday has a player from Pike High School (Tony Weeden) which is where some of my brothers and sisters go or went. I played a lot with him this summer in open gyms and the Pro-Am tourney in Louisville.


Until next time!

This is BC gone for now