Back on the winning track

Hello Everyone,

It seems by now that many of you have found out what is one of my major loves, FOOD! I figured there was no better place to start today then talking about food, the good and the bad.

As I wrote about last week Drew and I were still in Berlin on last Sunday. We had this plan to go to the zitadel (citadel), then to dinner and a movie. I figured this plan was going to be altered a little bit when I heard drew losing his guts around 11 am on Sunday. Apparently he had eaten something bad that night. We have lots of choices to pick from. It could have been 1 of 2 kebabs we ate, 1 of 3 bratwursts he had, dinner at “house of 100 beers”, or the late night hotdog from the subway station. He believes it was the hotdog from the subway. Some of you may be thinking it was just a hangover that was keeping him down. I know this is not the case because he did not get out of bed the entire day and slept all the way into Monday morning, only eating peanuts. No hangover would EVER keep Drew from eating.

So I was left to explore the rest of Berlin solo on Sunday because there was no way I was staying in the room that smelled like death. I headed out to find some lunch and stopped a small diner on the street. The lady whipped me up a nice sized piece of pork with some fresh French fries and some kind of salad (I stayed away from that). After, lunch I was heading to the 9th best thing to visit in Berlin, The citadel. I first had to do my teammate duty and pick up a huge gallon of water for Drew (this really was like a valentines date).

I’m not real sure why the citadel was ranked the 9th best thing in Berlin. It was huge fortress that was built back when they had kings. To me it did not have much glamour and was more of just some big brick building, but obviously there was a lot of history there. It was surrounded by a mot that led to a bigger water source. I think there were some shows or tours you could take, but with it being a Sunday it was downscaled. I just walked around looking at everything, and going into places I’m not sure I was suppose to. There were no signs not to enter so I was exploring everything. It took me back to my childhood days of hide and seek. I was going around looking for great places to hide. I did find some hidden stairways, but they no longer led to anything. It was snowing most of the day and after being outside for a couple hours I figured it was time to head to dinner and a movie.




I was still destined to eat at Tony Romas’ restaurant. I looked like one of those lonely guys who just got dumped on Valentines Day and was soaking it up at the local bar. I was the only one in the downstairs bar. The main restaurant was on the second floor. I ate my meal pretty much in silence while watching Manchester United (soccer team) run over whomever they were playing. The only people I saw were the ones heading to the restroom to wash all that rib juice off their hands. The meal consisted of a nice portion of baby back ribs and steak. They also have some of the best coleslaw I have had. I just recently started liking coleslaw (within the past two years), and it is quickly moving up my favorite foods list. I even splurged for some dessert, a skillet brownie toped with some vanilla ice cream and what looked like an entire can of whipped cream (50 euros later I was full). This is the perfect time to answer the question about how I eat all this and keep it off.

Very simple answer, lose around 700-1500 calories in morning workout and then evening practice lose 1000-2000 calories again. A couple of guys wear the heart monitors during practice that give the calorie countdowns, along with the heart rates. The real question is what I will do when I no longer play, because I hate running just to run. I need a purpose like score a goal or hit a ball. Hopefully my local recreation center will have some competition for me to continue playing for fun.

The Game

We finally got back into the win column, although it wasn’t all that pretty again. The team we were playing was a little shorthanded considering they just cut there top 3 scorers, most likely due to money problems. Atlas came out shooting pretty well in the second quarter and we actually were down by 10 at halftime. We played much better in the second half building a 10 point lead of our own and winning by around 14. Kevin was one assist shy of a triple double, and Skip, Drew and Sefton all had pretty good games.

Personally, I am beyond frustrated with myself right now. I have shot 4-15 in the last 4 games behind the arc. They are shots that I should be knocking down. I have had some trouble lately getting warmed up in the games. I’m still having a tough time adjusting to only playing 20 minutes or less a game. I was 0-2 this game with 2 points from the foul line in about 15 minutes of play. I had 1 steal and 2 charges. I thought charges counted as steals, but I guess I was wrong because they only had me down for 1.

We now have two weeks off, with an all-star game being played next week. Drew is playing for the international side while Kiko is playing for the polish side. I think the town is about a 6 hour train ride. I’m trying to talk some of the players into going for the weekend.

These photos are all from Berlin! our hotel, bratwurst stand, restaurant we ate at, a random Toys R us, and the stadium!







Until next time!

This is BC gone for now