So I was a little occupied doing the dishes that I forgot the blog!! Need my mother here again to keep me on track!!
We are currently on a 4 game win streak with 4 games left!!
We are fighting for 5th and 6th place in the playoffs which start in two weeks!!
Until next time!
This is BC gone for now!
Mar 8, 2010
Feb 28, 2010
10 Days with my son!!
Hello Everyone,
So I thought I would give my mother a chance to tell her story of the 10 days here and what she experienced or thought. It is one thing when you are just out of college and your mind is open to anything, but my mother is 50 and has never left the USA (Bahamas doesn’t count). I figure you are pretty set in your ways and comforts by that age. So everything she saw here was probably a bit different for her. Even though Sweden is a pretty easy country to adjust to, I have no idea what she would have done in Poland or Hungary, it can still be different. She now has her STAMP and here are her thoughts!!!!!
Well I am sure this won’t be as good as Brandon’s but he is insisting I share my visit with him on here for a “different “perspective! So here it goes…..
My flight was nonstop from Chicago which was great, BUT Brandon was over an hour late to pick me up due to traffic and weather:( I was super happy to see him and for once I did the right thing and did not panic and stayed in one place so he could find me easily. Weird though because I had no use of a cell, no one to call so really what if he was hours late??? Good news is I made it and have had an awesome 10 days here. Luckily guys, especially my 3 boys seem to be very low maintenance so my time has been very relaxing.
The highlight of my trip of course was getting to see 3 games while I was here, two at home and one about a 4.5 hour bus ride away. (More on that later) They lost the first game in overtime to the #2 team in the league, I could go on and on about the details but let me just say it never should have been an overtime game to begin with, DANG! The away game was great, they played really well especially Brandon. He had a great game. I was their only fan there so it was kinda funny cheering and whistling by myself. B had 22pts, 6 boards 6 steals and 2 assists. They won the last game on Saturday as well and they currently sit in 6th place for the playoffs with 6 games remaining. I LOVED getting to know his team. I watch most the games on the internet and now I will know exactly who is doing what and what is going on for the most part. Their coach is VERY intense, which is good. All the guys speak English which was great however they all have their own version and it can be very funny at times. I think Boka might be the best:) The bus ride was typical except we watched Forgetting Sara Marshall, (actually saw 4 movies in all) a very funny movie with some pretty vivid sex scenes, it was funny but the thing that I laughed hardest at was all the guys laughing and his Coach who couldn’t stop laughing. We passed where we were supposed to stop and eat pre- game meal from on the way there. We stopped at some random place which happened to be right on the 2nd largest lake in Sweden. It was beautiful.
Speaking of food, I can’t leave that out because that is usually the highlight of B’s blog right? B took me to a Greek place the first night and although I don’t really know what it was called, I had lamb and rice. It was excellent. After the game Saturday we went to a place downtown and ate what they call a kebab (no meat on a stick though, how weird is that) and it was meat on top of fries with a small salad on the same plate and this orange sauce over all of it. It too was actually excellent. I will say these are not things I would normally try. We went to the grocery, interesting, I couldn’t figure anything out really but fortunately Brandon was and pro got everything we needed and we ate at home most of the time. His favorite was not really the food, just the fact that it would be ready for him after pracitce and the biggest thing NO dishes.
We went to Stockholm, one day then to a Harley Davidson store another day (it was closed for inventory) then back to the Harley store again when it was open. They were closed the first day and had no signs on the door or anything. It was weird because a lot of people were trying to go in. I don’t think you would see that in the states. We watched a movie every night but one, played lots of monopoly cards (yes I got my butt kicked) but he has lots more practice! We also stayed up WAY past my bedtime if I was home. That will be an adjustment going home and having to get up and get ready again. B usually stays up till 1 and I didn’t want to go to bed before him so I rolled with it. He was pretty shocked when I slept in until 11. He has never seen that before.
Things I will say I noticed here: Never any ice anywhere, smallest glasses no matter what you drink, NO such thing as Diet Pepsi (did have Pepsi & Pepsi max). Tons of people walk everywhere here so in turn you see very few “heavy” people. With that said the jeans look like they are painted on, or they were leggings with sweaters over them and boots. I have no idea how they don’t freeze to death but tons of gals wear them freezing or not. Lots and lots of smokers and they start really young here. Most people here speak English when you tell them that’s all you speak. This is the most snow they have had here since 1985 so they really struggle with clearing roads and parking lots. They are not big on shopping hours, lots of stores close really early, they don’t seem to have much going on after 7pm.
What I loved the most was spending time with my son who is just a few months away from getting married. Life changes, kids grow up and make you really proud and you learn that it’s okay to trust them when you’re on their turf and just roll with it:)Until Next Time!
This is Mother gone for now
Feb 14, 2010
Chinese anyone?!
Hello Everyone,
The biggest thing I learned this week was not to go to a Chinese buffet in Sodertalje. I say this for a couple reasons, but surprisingly not because how the food tasted. They had a Mongolia grill which actually would have been alright if I didn’t put like 5 scoops of Szechwan sauce. I guess that sauce is pretty hot and the Swedish sign said you only need half a spoon full (I have not learned to read Swedish yet). They did have sweet and sour chicken, but I have never been a huge fan of that plus I couldn’t taste it after burning every one of my taste buds off. I couldn’t find any of my favorites like chicken & Broccoli, General Tso’s, cooked crab meat, and the many others. The selection was very weak for a buffet compared to the buffets I come from. After all that it still wasn’t the worst part, the worst part was the bill. 170 Krowns was the damage which is like $24(that included the one glass of coke that was like $3 and no refills). I know you are now thinking to yourself “Brandon you play a game for a living you can pay $24 for a meal” and that is all well and good, but it doesn’t mean I have to be happy about doing it. The funniest part about the evening was the reaction from our center (Boka) when he heard the price. He thought he said 117 so of course he gave him 120. The guy just kept looking at him, and then printed out the receipt that said 170. Boka looked at it and had a 5 year old reaction of “DAMN! I will never be eating at this place again”. I guess a 5 yr old wouldn’t cuss yet so we will say 7 yr old! There growing up so fast these days!
Some of us attended the karaoke bar on Wednesday night, where I took part in singing two songs. I have never sung karaoke before I came here this year. I must say I kind of like it, but that is probably because I’m surrounded by people that don’t speak my language and I will never see again. I sang the two songs with a teammate, summer of 69, and 99 red balloons! Some other songs of the night from the teammates were; purple rain, sexual feeling, hero, Maria Maria, and they also sang a Brittany song that made for a good laugh.
We only had one game this week against the top team which we lost. I did not play in the game as my knee was acting up again and since we were having this long break after Tuesday’s game we decided it would be smarter to try and get it 100% as we will be making a final push for playoffs with 9 games remaining. We are currently in 7th place and are looking good to finish in 6th or maybe even 5th place.
We had the entire weekend off of basketball to re energize for that final push. Some of us decided to go into Stockholm and see something different. It was a nice change of scenario and I think much needed. I will hopefully begin practicing again on Monday and have the week to prepare for plannja which will be a tough test. My mother will be in the stands for the first time in like 3 years so that will be pretty exciting as long as she doesn’t yell for me to bend my knees on the free throw line;)Until Next Time!
This is BC gone for now
Feb 7, 2010
Hello Everyone,Well it has been a couple weeks since the last post and I must say they were not the best couple of weeks. It has been a little frustrating as I have been battling a sickness, trying to get the knee to 100% and we lost 3 out of 4 games. There is a little good news that I played in the last 2 games meaning the knee was not as injured as we once thought. The MRI came back showing only a bone bruise and minimal cartilage damage. After hearing that news I have been rehabbing and trying hard to get it back to 100%. I will start swimming this weekend to keep up with conditioning and try to stay off it as much as possible.
Even though we lost 3 out of the last 4 we still find ourselves in 6th place with 10 games remaining. It would have been nice to get a couple wins though as we played 3 out of the 4 at home. We also lost an important game to Gothia who right now holds the tie breaker with us. We see them one more time so if we can get that one it will become a points system. We are still eagerly awaiting the return of our injured center that will help us match up better with a lot of teams. Like I mentioned earlier I have played in the last two games, but not without some pain and it only being at 80%. We play one more game on Tuesday against the top team in the league then we get a 12 day break which should be huge for us to all get healthy again.
This is usually the time when I start missing home a little bit. We get in a normal routine and not a lot is happing. I am really excited for my mother who will be coming next week. She has never been out of the country before and I think she is a little nervous. It will be a wonderful experience for her. I’m just hoping some of this snow melts away so the touring will be a little easier. I’m trying to think of a menu for her and I while she is here! We will have to go exotic sense neither one of us are picky.
hoped you enjoyed the no action photo shots to go with the no action blog post!!
Until Next Time!
This is BC gone for now
Jan 24, 2010
Take the good with the BAD!
Hello Everyone,
This week featured a PR visit to a school and a huge road game at Uppsala! The schools here are pretty relaxed. The school was like an elementary and middle school combined. When we first arrived there were young kids sledding down the icy hill. Right next to the brick building and metal bike racks. They did have helmets on so I guess they were kind of safe. I took a turn down the hill and it was rather fun. I’m pretty cautious after my incident back in high school (long story short I tore cartilage sledding down a 2 foot hill). Another example of how relaxed the school was over half of the students were walking the halls, while the other half had headphones in their ears. I guess it has been a while since I was in elementary and middle school, but BACK IN MY DAY that would have never went down!
We spoke to three classes and handed out tickets to the Tuesdays TV game. That is a huge game for the club as the TV station will decide if they will air any other games in Sodertalje based on the crowd. We also stayed around the school for a while signing autographs for the kids. I really enjoy that part of the job. I am pretty good with kids and enjoy them most likely due to all my little siblings. Although there was one kid that kept trying to steal all my tickets and I did want to slap him, but I figured that would be hard to explain to the club why I was in a Swedish jail after a PR trip.
The game in Uppsala was for fifth place in the league. The game was going to be extra tough without our center. I mean we are not that tall of a team anyway, our center is only 6’7” which is not very big in basketball. He is the only player we have that really likes to play with his back to the basket. It defiantly was not our best game played. We were really bad on defense, but luckily for us Uppsala did not play much better either. It was another one of those games where the refs stopped play every 5 seconds. I even picked up an intentional foul when I stripped a guy. We played much better in the second half and won by 12 or something. I had a very solid game scoring 23, and grabbing 11 rebounds with 5 assist and a steal, but it came with a price.
I ruptured a ligament in my knee. Not one of the big ones like the ACL or MCL but some other CL (don’t really know if there are any other CL’s). Anyway it looks like I will be out anywhere between 1-4 weeks which would be 3 or 4 games. It will now make it extremely tough on the team as we have lost 60 mins a game, 35-40 points a game, and 15-20 rebounds a game with the center and I out. The good thing is we have the players that can come in and step up. This could also benefit us during playoffs having a really deep bench. I seem to be a little cursed here in Sodertalje with injuries. I have had more injuries playing in this town then I have had in the previous 7 years. I am staying positive however as we have worked our way into playoff position and just need to maintain. When you play a sport for a living you know there is always a risk of injury. I just really hope I am back on the court when my mother flies over in February as that was one of the main motivators to see me play again.
I will have more time to keep perfecting my art of cooking..
In case you are wondering it is eggs with spinach and onion, bacon, cheesy potatoes, toast with jelly, pineapple juice and of course no meal is complete without the Heinz bottle!
I really just felt like bragging on myself!
Until Next Time!
This is BC gone for now
This week featured a PR visit to a school and a huge road game at Uppsala! The schools here are pretty relaxed. The school was like an elementary and middle school combined. When we first arrived there were young kids sledding down the icy hill. Right next to the brick building and metal bike racks. They did have helmets on so I guess they were kind of safe. I took a turn down the hill and it was rather fun. I’m pretty cautious after my incident back in high school (long story short I tore cartilage sledding down a 2 foot hill). Another example of how relaxed the school was over half of the students were walking the halls, while the other half had headphones in their ears. I guess it has been a while since I was in elementary and middle school, but BACK IN MY DAY that would have never went down!
We spoke to three classes and handed out tickets to the Tuesdays TV game. That is a huge game for the club as the TV station will decide if they will air any other games in Sodertalje based on the crowd. We also stayed around the school for a while signing autographs for the kids. I really enjoy that part of the job. I am pretty good with kids and enjoy them most likely due to all my little siblings. Although there was one kid that kept trying to steal all my tickets and I did want to slap him, but I figured that would be hard to explain to the club why I was in a Swedish jail after a PR trip.
The game in Uppsala was for fifth place in the league. The game was going to be extra tough without our center. I mean we are not that tall of a team anyway, our center is only 6’7” which is not very big in basketball. He is the only player we have that really likes to play with his back to the basket. It defiantly was not our best game played. We were really bad on defense, but luckily for us Uppsala did not play much better either. It was another one of those games where the refs stopped play every 5 seconds. I even picked up an intentional foul when I stripped a guy. We played much better in the second half and won by 12 or something. I had a very solid game scoring 23, and grabbing 11 rebounds with 5 assist and a steal, but it came with a price.
I ruptured a ligament in my knee. Not one of the big ones like the ACL or MCL but some other CL (don’t really know if there are any other CL’s). Anyway it looks like I will be out anywhere between 1-4 weeks which would be 3 or 4 games. It will now make it extremely tough on the team as we have lost 60 mins a game, 35-40 points a game, and 15-20 rebounds a game with the center and I out. The good thing is we have the players that can come in and step up. This could also benefit us during playoffs having a really deep bench. I seem to be a little cursed here in Sodertalje with injuries. I have had more injuries playing in this town then I have had in the previous 7 years. I am staying positive however as we have worked our way into playoff position and just need to maintain. When you play a sport for a living you know there is always a risk of injury. I just really hope I am back on the court when my mother flies over in February as that was one of the main motivators to see me play again.
I will have more time to keep perfecting my art of cooking..
In case you are wondering it is eggs with spinach and onion, bacon, cheesy potatoes, toast with jelly, pineapple juice and of course no meal is complete without the Heinz bottle!
I really just felt like bragging on myself!
Until Next Time!
This is BC gone for now
Jan 17, 2010
All BALL!!
Hello Everyone,
This blog is all about Ball! It was a very good week for the kings as we won two this week pushing our win streak to 3. We won on the road against a team that is in front of us by one game. The other one we won at home to the fourth place team in the league.
Tuesday was the away game about two hours from here. We hopped on the big bus and watched Napoleon Dynamite (a MTV movie if you have not heard of it). Coach was not very fond of the movie and threatened to run the guy who brought it if we did not win. I’m not saying that is why we won, but it did add some extra incentive. The game started very evenly with us trading baskets and going into the locker room with a 1 point lead. The second half was totally dominated by us and we ran away with the game winning by 19. I had another solid game scoring 19, with 8 boards and 4 steals.
Saturday was a home game against Solna. We promoted the game on Friday handing out free tickets at Astra Zeneca (the big pharmacy company) as attendance has been the worst they have seen in many years. Hopefully with the great showing we had we can bring some people back. The game started out very similar to the one on Tuesday with us trading baskets and going to the locker room up 1. Then in the third quarter we ran away with the game and ending up winning by 29! Again I had another decent game scoring 17, 5 boards and 3 steals.
When we play defense like we can and control the boards I think we can play with any team in this league. We also are a much more balanced team with 5 to 6 guys scoring in double digits every night. We did have an injury to our center on Saturday and he will most likely miss one game. We have a big game on Friday away against Uppsala. If we can win that game then we will be in 5th place which would be the highest we have been.
Until Next Time!
This is BC gone for now
This blog is all about Ball! It was a very good week for the kings as we won two this week pushing our win streak to 3. We won on the road against a team that is in front of us by one game. The other one we won at home to the fourth place team in the league.
Tuesday was the away game about two hours from here. We hopped on the big bus and watched Napoleon Dynamite (a MTV movie if you have not heard of it). Coach was not very fond of the movie and threatened to run the guy who brought it if we did not win. I’m not saying that is why we won, but it did add some extra incentive. The game started very evenly with us trading baskets and going into the locker room with a 1 point lead. The second half was totally dominated by us and we ran away with the game winning by 19. I had another solid game scoring 19, with 8 boards and 4 steals.
Saturday was a home game against Solna. We promoted the game on Friday handing out free tickets at Astra Zeneca (the big pharmacy company) as attendance has been the worst they have seen in many years. Hopefully with the great showing we had we can bring some people back. The game started out very similar to the one on Tuesday with us trading baskets and going to the locker room up 1. Then in the third quarter we ran away with the game and ending up winning by 29! Again I had another decent game scoring 17, 5 boards and 3 steals.
When we play defense like we can and control the boards I think we can play with any team in this league. We also are a much more balanced team with 5 to 6 guys scoring in double digits every night. We did have an injury to our center on Saturday and he will most likely miss one game. We have a big game on Friday away against Uppsala. If we can win that game then we will be in 5th place which would be the highest we have been.
Until Next Time!
This is BC gone for now
Jan 10, 2010
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