Adding injury to insult.

I've said this before, but I'll say it again: I love winning, but not nearly as much as I despise losing. Losing more than one game in a row is the absolute worst. I won't pretend this is unfamiliar territory for me--most of you know my college background and are aware that I know what it's like to lose games consecutively. However, losing is not one of those things that becomes easier over time or with increased experience; it's quite the opposite, rather. Even worse still, is losing games to teams you should beat. Sitting in 11th place, Bamberg was exactly that, a team we should beat but instead lost to for a whole host of reasons: poor rebounding, poor defense, and terrible effort. The last one stings the most. Adding injury to insult, my teammate nearly broke my face with her elbow and sidelined me with a bloody nose in the first half. I finished with 19 points and we lost by 6. Incidentally, the loss hurt exceedingly more than the dismantled face. Perhaps the only positive from that game was that there was no permanent damage to my perfect little nose, just some temporary swelling and pain. Look, God blesses all of us--some people can type really freakishly fast, some people can multiply large numbers in their heads and others received the gift of parallel parking. Me? God gave me the most delightful little nose, without which my face would lose distinguishability from every other face with two eyes and a mouth. I can't allow that to happen.

We played Oberhausen this past weekend who hasn't lost in about 6-7 games now, but who won only 1 of their first 9. I was really anxious for this game. I wanted to erase the Bamberg disaster as well as avoid consecutive losses. This game wasn't much different though, I'm afraid. We didn't really show up till the 4th quarter and unfortunately, we don't play in the NBA and we simply aren't good enough to do that. We rebounded better and defended better, sporadically, but we turned the ball over 20 times and missed like 12 eassssssy buckets. I had 29 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals and we lost 59-74. No silver lining for this game, this one just hurt.

Last week our team had the odd experience of eating dinner in the dark at this local restaurant hosting the evening. For numerous reasons this concept both perplexed me and worried me. I think humans really got it right with the whole eating in the light. There are just a lot of valid reasons for doing it this way, namely that we can see. Still, I was mildly intrigued and the meal was free so there was really no saying no. It's really exactly what it sounds like: you show up, you sit down and then once the food is prepared, the lights go off, the eye-cover sleep wear goes on and chaos ensues. You've never heard so much silverware clamor in your life, possibly because no one dared to speak as they attempted to uncover what they're chewing on. I decreased the silverware noise problem by forgoing the use of them altogether. I mean, if we are gonna eat in the dark like animals, let's not pretend we are above eating with our hands. I will say this, the darkness definitely forced me to implement some new procedures into my eating habits: I chewed cautiously, I used my napkin and I smelled everything before electing to eat or pass. Consequently, it has never taken me longer to eat a meal which also led to me eating less. It was a weird experience, and obviously I cheated in order to take pictures. I'm a bit of a rebel, what can I say.













A few weeks back our team had a photo shoot similar to the ones I had in Chemnitz last season. The photographer asked us to stage some action poses and she flashed away. I am still not sure how these photos will be used, but here are a couple of the shots they'll potentially select. A bit better than last year I'd say, though those pictures really weren't tough to beat.


Morty celebrated her 24th birthday yesterday. Being that is was her first birthday away from home, I felt responsible for making it especially enjoyable. Monday night the team took her to the English movie showing in Braunschweig. Once it was midnight and officially her birthday, Bri and I bombarded her room and surprised her with balloons and a tasty peanut-butter oreo blondie cake. Before practice we gave her her present from the team and later that night before dinner Bri and I gave her more presents just from us. We finished the evening watching the 4th Harry Potter and hanging out. I really don't know how you beat that.

This weekend we play at Halle (hollllllllla) and despite dropping two games in a row, if we beat Halle, we reclaim 2nd place. We have been very lucky that when we lost, the other teams on top with us have lost too, and so we remained relatively even. Following the Halle game, Morty and I are taking a little road trip to Chemnitz to visit our friends for the rest of the weekend.

It's Ash Wednesday folks, anyone giving anything up for lent? Perhaps my blog? Lord knows it isn't good for any of us. I've decided I am giving up losing. I will really need God's blessing on this one cause it will not be easy. Additionally, I will be giving up sweets, as always, just in case the not losing doesn't quite pan out. I'm unreasonably optimistic though. Stay tuned... unless you are giving up the blog for lent... then go away.

LONDON BABY!

I wasn't ready to leave. I swear I blinked, and the two days were over, but not before I had fallen in love. London was absolutely extraordinary; and despite our remarkable exploratory efficiency, 2 days just was not enough time to absorb the brilliance of the city. But 2 days was all we had and so we made the most of it.

We flew out Saturday morning and arrived in London around 8:30. Before I could incorrectly implement dodgy into the conversation, Bri, a girl after my own heart, had discovered our first stop in London--a traditional British breakfast joint. Finding our hotel was our next priority and locating it wasn't quiiiiiiiite as easy as the cafe. Nevertheless, after a few wrong turns and some dizzying circling, we found The Rose Park. There was little time to waste and so, without any real idea of where we were or how to get where we wanted to go, we made our way to the lively streets of London. With my camera draped around my neck and a giant map unfurled between my hands, I suppose I was one fanny-pack shy of impersonating the most ridiculous and stereotypical tourist. I've resembled worse.

Now, I don't know how, but somewhere between leaving our hotel and boarding the Tube, I became our official navigator. Perhaps I mistook the girls' silence as tacit compliance, or perhaps they accepted, as I had, that no matter who took the reigns, it was the blind leading the blind with no guarantee we'd find anything. And so, I feigned confidence and led us to our first landmark--the London Eye. The Eye is a terrifyingly magnificent Ferris wheel positioned alongside the River Thames, boasting a height of 443 feet. It takes 30 mins to go all the way around and offers some of the greatest views of Benjamin, Parliament and Westminster Abbey, specifically on that sunny day! Speaking of Benjamin, he would be our next stop and by golly, he's the loveliest clock I've ever set my sights on. Around the corner we saw Parliament, Westminster Palace, the Abbey and a couple other spectacular sights. The Abbey is stunning, just stunning and, unbelievably, open to the public for Sunday services. That quickly became number one on our list for the following day. Captivated and rather eager for more, we hurried off toward Buckingham Palace, though of course, not before shoving our way into a red telephone booth and taking group pictures. Now, I didn't go to London just to embarrass myself, but that doesn't mean it happened any less frequently than it does in any other country. Ill ask you to try to hold onto that thought moving forward.

On our way to the Palace we walked past St. James's Park--a lovely bit of grass and water featuring numerous birds and friendly squirrels. Squirrels...squirrels everywhere--it was heaven. Even better, they were accepting food from people, normal people like me! I seized this opportunity to finally befriend a squirrel and hopefully convince him or her to become my pet. Perhaps I set my sights a little too high, but I was overflowing with excitement anticipating my future adventures with Earl (Earl the squirrel, HAHAHA). Anyways, I approached the group of people feeding MY future pet and finagled my way to the front when it struck me: I have nothing to feed Earl with. Drat. But then I remember the bag of Haribo gummy bears I purchased boarding the Eye that I immediately lost my appetite for as we climbed higher and higher into the sky, and so I reached into my bag and pulled them out, sheepishly. I'll admit, gummy bears wouldn't have been my first choice to lure Earl, but ya play the hand your dealt and I found myself in that moment without nuts. Ha. Long story kind of short, I had zero success with my gummy bears and rather than attracting Earl, I only attracted offensive stares from people who seemed to think I belonged in a straight jacket. Prepared to give up, a little old man gave me an almond and urged me to try and sure enough, Earl came right up to me and took it...and ran away without so much as a thank you. It goes without saying that that was mildly disappointing, but my appetite had resurfaced for those gummy bears and I recovered.

The Palace, in all it's glory, was followed by Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus and a ride back to our Hotel on a red double decker bus. After a little bit of rest, we headed back out to find some food and a pub. It didn't take long for us to grow weary and agree to head back for bed, after all, we still had the other side of London to see the following day.

Church at the Abbey was at 10am and so we were up and out the door by 9, figuring we'd be just 3 among many eagerly attending the service that morning. Oh how wrong we were. I'd guess there were 20 of us there and Bri, Mort and I sat front and center. It was incredible. The Abbey is breathtaking and so incredibly imposing. The most magnificent part of the service though, without question, was the choir. A medley of young boys and older men, their voices nearly brought me to tears as they sang the hymns. That morning in the Abbey was my favorite experience of the trip.

Once we stepped foot outside the Abbey we were back to our fast paced trek across London. We raced to the London Tower and Tower Bridge and from there saw St. Paul's Cathedral and Millenium Bridge, across from Tate Modern. Around the corner from the Cathedral I spotted bike rentals. Drunk with power from being our guide, I immediately insisted we change our walking tour into a biking tour. The girls were game and just like that we were biking through London, just as blindly and a bit more dangerously now. We biked from the Cathedral to Hyde Park, passing along Regent's Street and Oxford Street, both well known for their shopping. If we hadn't been tortured with the fear of being killed by all the gigantic tour buses recklessly dominating the roads, we may have spent more time enjoying that part of London. As it was, we just wanted to survive. Despite the near life threatening collisions, the bike riding was my second favorite part of the trip. Hyde Park led us to Kensington Gardens and Palace where we would have traditional high tea at "The Orangery" as all the locals do. This place came highly recommended from my dear friend Jillian who studied abroad in London and it was absolutely worth the wait. I have never understood the whole cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off thing, until they were displayed in front of me, so elegantly, so sophisticated, and suddenly I was envious of a sandwich. That's when I got it. No one wants to be outdone by some pretentious little sandwich that thinks it's soooo stylish with its cut crusts. Then you think, "I'll show this sandwich classy!" I think this is where the whole extended pinkie whilst drinking tea comes into play. And it becomes this game, this struggle to best this frustratingly refined sandwich. In my converse and jeans and pony tail, I lost.

As the sun began to set, we had only 2 more things on our list to do that day before resting again: Notting Hill and Portobello Market, conveniently located in Notting Hill. Notting Hill is just as you would imagine it if you've seen the movie, starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. Shame on you if you haven't. The market was a nice little treat, with cute little stores and tables pitched in front of them, showcasing their best items. It was a relaxing way to end our sight-seeing for the day. After freshening up back at the hotel we spent our last night bouncing around the pubs near our Hotel before calling it a night. Our flight took us back to Germany at 7am. We didn't want to leave, but we were more than satisfied with our 48 hour adventure.

Oh right, before London we had a basketball game to play...a basketball game to win I should say. Since this post is already painfully long I will just say this: we won. Boom. Seriously, we took care of business and beat Donau-Ries to move into a tie with Halle for 2nd. There is so much more I have to share but Mort and I are about to continue our Harry Potter marathon, so I'll write again after our game this weekend...maybe.

Hey! Happy February my friends!

It's worth it.

Sports—it’s a risky business, and injuries, they are just another part of the game. Unpredictable and always tragic, they seem to be equally inevitable, especially the longer and the harder you play. I love the game as much as the next obsessed guy, but when you see a player, a teammate or a friend go down writhing in pain and reaching for an ankle or knee, it makes you question whether or not it’s worth it. Sadly, I witnessed just this in our first league game back against Herner. Roli went down with 3 minutes left in the game, desperately clinging to her knee in obvious pain. Tuesday she had surgery to repair a minor tear in her knee that will keep her off the court for another 3 weeks. Whether it’s a twisted ankle, a torn knee or a broken bone, we’ve all suffered something in the name of the game we love. Maybe you don’t get it, and that’s okay—playing a game so competitively isn’t for everyone. But you can’t tell me it isn’t worth the risk. Because the day you see a player, or a teammate or a friend battle back from a lengthy and painful injury after hundreds of hours of rehab, that day when you see their exhilarating smile the moment they can play again, is the day you’ll know, unequivocally, it’s worth it. I can’t wait for that day in 3 weeks when Roli is cleared and despite the risk, steps on the court again with the biggest grin.

Aside from the injury, which came after we had already established a comfy 20-point lead, the game was uneventful. The final margin was 25 and once again we were tied for 3^rd. I finished with 11-7-5 in a game impressively dominated by our posts.  The following weekend, however, we’d be traveling to Rotenburg who beat us back in October in one of our worst performances as a team. Even with Roli sidelined and even with that previous 4-point loss dangling over our heads, we strongly believed we were the better team. We began the game focused offensively, scoring 26 points in the first 10 minutes, but we were still far from perfect throughout the game, particularly on defense. Despite maintaining a 15-point lead most of the 2^nd half, Vlasti was frustrated with our defensive lapses and zone offensive woes. We won by 16 and Charmaine, one of our remaining German players forced to play more minutes in Roli’s absence, had a phenomenal game! She had 25 points and 5 steals and seriously made like 7-8 shots in a row at one point. I had 27 points 5 rebounds and 6 steals and was ecstatic we were able to secure another road win.

So Morty and I have sorta been bored lately. And not just your usual dose of boredom that naturally infiltrates anyone’s life from time to time, no no. I’m talking the hard stuff, the mind-numbing boredom that generates wall staring, excessive list making and promotes irrational snow shoveling ambitions. I realize that might sound…unreasonable, being that we live in Europe (you don’t have sympathy, I get it). Seriously though, there are days when, aside from practices and workouts, I don’t leave my apartment—my incredibly dull, yet strangely enticing apartment. You’ll be pleased to hear that instead of simply conceding to my boredom and moaning about it to you, Morty and I decided to be proactive! All that really translated to was seeking advice from German teammates about potential activities to engage our childlike attention spans. I was quite delighted with the list we compiled subsequently, and I think you will be encouraged as well. The list goes a little something like this: visit the zoo, visit the animal shelter, bowl, go-cart riding, and visit our library. Good right? I know I know, I was wildly excited anticipating my cured boredom. Numero uno on the list, and if you know me this was an obvious choice, was visiting the animal shelter. After some brief investigating, I discovered we could potentially become dog walkers there so we raced over to find out Monday. Naturally no one there spoke English, so I implemented my well honed gestures and, remarkably, was able to convey we wanted to volunteer as dog walkers.  Next thing I knew they were handing me a leash with a dog without so much as asking for my dog walking credentials (that’s right, I’ve got creds). Boom, I’m a dog walker, just like that. I’ve walked some really cute dogs so far, but it’s always bitter-sweet having to put them back in their cage. The zoo was next on the list, but I don’t presently have enough time to thoroughly elaborate on this experience, so I will have to save it!

Tomorrow we play at home against Donau-Ries. We are currently tied for 3^rd together. Donua-Ries has spent most of the season in 1^st place, but has lost their last 2 games, joining us in 3^rd. We sorta stunk it up against them the first time around, so I know we are all really looking forward to this opportunity.

Following the game Morty, Bri and I are flying to London! We decided we would take advantage of playing on a Friday and having the weekend completely off, and after significant deliberation we decided on LONDON BABY! I booked us this cool little hotel in Westminster just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the sites. I cannot wait to finally get the chance to use my fake british accent. I am kind of out of practice having never really needed it before, but I'm sure I'll totally blend in with it. I came up with this formula where you mix some "chaps" in with some "rubbish" and "bugger" and a sprinkle of "blimey" and "bloody" and you really can't go wrong. Obviously I would be remiss as a fake Brit if I left out their greatest addition to the english language--dodgy. It's just brilliant and I will be nothing short of brilliant this weekend repeatedly using it out of context. Good day, chaps!

Go big or go home.

Happy New Year! I am super pleased to report that I survived the super credible "end of the world" debacle and got to ring in 2013. I am not particularly fond of resolutions, but I do plan to love, laugh and learn more this year and I wish the same to you. I got you covered in the laugh department—I think we can all agree that my blog is the most amusing one being crammed down your throats via email each month. It’s my way of giving back, what can I say. On that note, let’s dive right into the first installment of 2013.

Perhaps you don’t recall, but when I last left you we were prepping for our final game of the first half of our season. This game went as poorly as it could have for us, unfortunately. I will say this, we worked our butts off and defensively, for most of the game, we were solid. Offensively, however, we stunk…we stunk something fierce. We couldn’t throw a grain of sand into the ocean. It was dreadful. Conversely, Marburg was experiencing some sort of collective “zone” and made everything, so it seemed. 

The bank wasn’t just open for them, it was giving them money and to players who didn't even have accounts. Might be the worst parallel I’ve ever offered, but I swear it works, somehow. We managed to keep the score within single digits for most the game, but we ultimately lost by 13. Adding insult to injury, that was the second home game of ours where technical difficulties disrupted our video feed and prevented any statistical input. This wouldn’t be such a big deal if it weren’t for the fact that our current jobs and potential interest in hiring us rely heavily on stats.

Following the loss, our team hosted a nice little Christmas party for our management, team staff, parents, and our closest group of fans that volunteer behind the scenes and typically travel to support us on the road. Customarily, I am just awful at functions like this, so the combination of my bungling social competence and the frustrating loss was wildly inauspicious. Still, I made the most of it, singing Silent Night with the team in German, English and Hungarian (with Morty at guitar) and passing out gifts to everyone. Seriously…everyone. We got gifts for Vlasti, the physio staff, the management, sponsors, our team doctor, the dude that provides us with cars, our team mom and even all the fans got shirts! Additionally, we had a team secret santa separate from this event which was delightful. We had to get our person something AND come up with a little rhythmic number about them to perform/say. I put my little diddy to the beat of the Fresh Prince opening song.

Needless to say, it was a hit. As was the Christmas party, which sort of doubled as a farewell party heading into break. We had 17 days off and aside from a haircut appointment and dental check-up, I had zero plans boarding my flight to LA. Somehow, without any real personal effort, I did more stuff in those 17 days than perhaps anyone has, ever. I know, surprise surprise right? What can I say, go big or go home and I was already home, sooooo, yeah. I think you are picking up what I am putting down (I went BIG, in case that was somehow out of your reach).

 Jan, lovely Jan, and her sister, my treasure of an aunt Kimmie, picked me up from the airport—I gotta say, hard to imagine a better pick-up crew. Also hard to imagine anyone more excited to see me, which I’ll be honest, felt good. My first day was calm enough, lots of lounging, catching up and getting settled. The calmness ended there. I dropped my high school basketball team off at LAX the very next morning at 5am and very nearly literally stayed in a car the remainder of my trip. UCLA men’s basketball game, Lakers game, San Diego Chargers game, Vegas, Santa Barbara, LAX two more times—it was borderline laughable how much I was in a car, but quite worth it. Here’s a brief play by play: in Vegas, Chris and I saw Seinfeld live which was phenomenal; San Diego reunited Mo and I (and we caught a Chargers game, but I ain’t braggin about that); Kindra visited and we met up with our college friend Matt in Santa Barbara; and after two years I got to see my old college roommate Preach, and my good high school friend Trevor. My mama and I spent some wonderful quality time, and I got to see a lot of the rest of my family too, which is rare that time of year. 

I had the best homemade chocolate chip pancakes made for me at my high school coaches house and played the funniest game of telephone and silent telephone during Christmas dinner with my second family. Finally, I was treated to Lakers tickets by my dear friend Dan and witnessed not only Wilkes’ jersey retirement, but also perhaps the Lakers last win of the season. I am leaving things out, sadly, but that is unavoidable I’m afraid. It was the greatest 17 days a person could have not planned, all thanks to my incredible friends and family. It was certainly hard to say bye, but after so much time I was itching to get back on the court with my teammates and get back to work.

My flights home couldn’t have been easier. Workouts started right away and so did the continuation of the Pokal series games. We played Sunday at Oberhausen, a team from our league who we had previously beaten, but who was now with a slightly different roster and a new coach. A win would put us in the final four. We weren’t bad, but they were better. Bottom line, they made more shots. Our defense was solid, but their shots fell and ours didn’t. It was infuriating. I finished with 23 points and 6 rebounds and fouled out at a critical moment in the last 2 minutes. We lost by 7. League play starts up again this weekend, and we are back home against Herner, one of the last place teams. Very big game for us in terms of starting strong, securing all must-wins and generating some momentum. My adrenaline is firing just thinking about it. God, I love this game.

Ho ho, hold the phone.

With just one week and one game left till the end of the first half of season and the beginning of Christmas break, this will likely serve as my last post of 2012 folks!  Anyways, settle in, this post is going to be a doozey—consider it my Christmas present to you. We’ll discuss recompense later.

If you remember, we last left off with our big win over Wasserburg, the team everyone predicted to win our league. Turns out after that win, I got player of the week, which was alright.  Rhein Mein was our next challenge, and while they don’t boast the offensive talents like Wasserburg, their trademark scrappiness and fast play always seems to disrupt their opponents and promote ugly basketball. Road wins against them are always crucial. Ugly doesn’t quite do justice to how poorly we began this game, unfortunately. Far too many turnovers, missed lay-ups and zero execution highlight our first half performance that ended with us tied at 33. 

The second half was considerably better for us, especially in terms of taking care of the ball and we won 79-70. I finished with 32 and 9 and was player of the week again—I think reinforcing the importance of a win at Rhein Mein. But my favorite part about this game, with the exception of the win, was Sidney surprising me and Bri by showing up! I haven't seen her since season opener so it was great getting to catch up in person! 

I had my second European concert experience following the Rhein Mein game and it was every bit as amazing…basically. I don’t know if any concert will beat my back stage experience with Mr. Costner’s band last year in Berlin. Florence and the Machine was the band this time and Century Hall in Frankfurt was the venue. I went with one of my teammates whose girlfriend orchestrated the whole thing as a Christmas present for her. We had one of our trainers drive out an extra car with us so we could take it after the game. Fortunately our game was only 15 minutes away from the venue so we had plenty of time. Our tickets were for the standing area in front near the stage and it was perfect! Florence was incredible—if you don’t know her, seriously, get to know her, her voice is heavenly. Don’t be put-off or intimidated by the whole “and the machine” thing. Want to know my favorite part? Sure you do. Now, I am just gonna put this out there but here it is: the harp. The harp is sexy, I tell you what. Music would be strikingly better with more harps and Florence understood this and just had a crap load of harp mixing around on stage and I dug it. I could be wrong, but I am pretty certain harps are super easy to learn and cheap as chips, so we should all probably just go out and buy one and get this harp movement rolling. Good talk.

This weekend there were no league games and instead we had our Pokal games to play. We faced Opladen, a second division team about 4 hours away. We won 77-55 but this game sincerely felt like a loss. I know the final score suggests we won, but I assure you we lost in everything else in that game. We sucked. Granted, the team we played wasn’t good but for most of the game we were just as talentless. I was absolutely no exception—I finished with 8 points and the strong desire to throw-up. With that win we advance to the elite 8 for Pokal. We face Oberhausen next on January 5^th.

The snow has really started to come on strong the last week or so making the Christmas markets even more picturesque, and waaaay less tempting to attend. Still, as painfully cold as they have become, we repeatedly go and pretend to not freeze. We went to Wolfsburg last week which turned out to be real magical for me since I got some one on one time with my boys—Kobe and Dirk. Seeing their faces blown up 100 sizes too big on a wall really warmed my soul.

Our final game before break is at home against Marburg on Saturday. We beat them in our final preseason game on the road at the buzzer, but it’s safe to say that just as we have improved since then, they have too, so I expect a good game. Our Christmas party will follow the game and two days later I will be on a plane to LA. After booking our flights home, our management casually informed us that we might have some trouble returning to Germany—Merry Christmas! Ho ho, hold the phone. Evidently, the paperwork that they were supposed to do for our workers visas, allowing us to stay out here for more than 90 days at a time, well, they hadn’t done it. Wednesday morning we attempted to amend this by doing said paperwork only to find out that it takes weeks to get the documents back and traveling without them would guarantee problems at the border upon our return. Neat.

We made a Christmas card as a team this season and while I am not going to actually send it to any of you, I am going to post it below and we can just pretend that is the same thing. I hope you enjoy it and I truly hope everyone has a blessed holiday with friends and family. Rejoice in our Lord and Savior’s birth, the true meaning of CHRISTmas! God bless!