10 - 4

For the first time this year we are completely alone in 3rd place in league. It's nice to get a win to start off the 2nd round of PLK. We took on a much different Sportino team than when we first played. They had 5 new players and just started playing with together. We started out with a small lead in the first stanza and then slowly built our lead into the double digits by the 3rd stanza and from there we kept it at that point difference.

Two days before the game I broke my nose in practice so I have been sporting two black eyes. One from an elbow in our last game before Christmas and the other from the broken nose. I picked a good time to change my looks, Lele arrives here today and I look like a completely different person than when I left the states in August. Hopefully I can get her to fall for me again lol.

Well, I wish everyone a Happy New Year. May this year be better than the last. To health, love and happiness. Until next time................................................................. Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Article/Interview

Here is an interview from a Polish basketball website:

http://www.sportowefakty.pl/koszykowka/2009/12/26/mam-nadzieje-ze-nadal-bedziemy-zaskakiwac-mowi-brody-angley-/

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Christmas in Polska

As I mentioned in an older blog, this is my first Christmas away from home. As difficult as I thought it was going to be it hasn't been all that bad. In fact, I'm more anxious about Lele coming to visit and counting down the days until her arrival than I am thinking about not getting to spend Christmas at home. The night of the 23rd the team organized a dinner together at Hotel Bachus, the hotel I stayed in over the summer. It was nice to see everyone off before my Polish teammates took off for home in various regions of the country. Before the dinner I was expecting some kind of traditional prayer considering the time of year, which there was but to my surprise it wasn't so much a prayer but a tradition they do of giving thanks much like we do in church before receiving the body and blood of Christ. They take a piece of dried bread, the same bread at mass, and approach every person sitting at the table and wish them holiday greetings, good health, best wishes, etc... It was something I had never experienced before and something I really enjoyed. Being in another country away from home it's nice to be welcomed with open arms and share traditional experiences such as this.

Furthermore, having a break from my routinely repeated schedule actually has me wondering what to do with my time. Granted I have a lot of time on hand anyway, yesterday Uros and I spent the day at Galeria Baltyka shopping, eating, and just hanging out. No planned schedule and just few ideas of how to spend our day. After we spent a good 4-5 hrs there we went to the Cinema "MutliKino" and watch the movie "2012". For those of you back home you know 3 days out of the week I can probably be found in a movie theater. It literally made my day to go to a movie and enjoy the atmosphere. On the 45 minute drive home I learned the phrase "Best wishes and Merry Christmas" in Polish. Yes, it took me the whole 45 minutes to learn how to annunciate the words.

I spent Christmas Eve lounging around and watching movies all morning. I stopped by Cafe Aruba to have a coffee and wish everyone that worked there a Merry Christmas. When the afternoon rolled around I ran to the grocery store to pick up some groceries and while there Uros and I decided we wanted to try and make a trip to Malbork to see the castle. Unfortunately for us, the castle was closed for the holidays but it was still a great site to see and gave me a chance to check things out a little bit before Lele gets here. That night, Uros, Mitar (another teammate) and I watched 40 year old Virgin, classic comedy. It wasn't "the Christmas Story" but for my first Christmas away from home it will do. After that I called my family before I went to bed and fell asleep on the couch watching them make tamales.

Christmas day was pretty relaxing. I woke up around 11am, turned on my Christmas music playlist on iTunes, had Cheerios for breakfast and watched a few movies until my family woke up so I could watch them open their gifts via Skype. Later that day Uros and I went to Cafe Aruba for some traditional Polish Christmas dishes, compliments of the owner Peter.

Although Christmas wasn't my ideal way to spend it, I was satisfied with the way it ended up. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and I wish everyone a healthy and Happy New Year. I miss you all back home. Until next time................................................................ Love

"Enjoy the Journey"

Love
Bud

Highlights

Here are some highlights from last game:

http://sportowa.com.pl/index.php?option=com_avgallery&view=play&Itemid=94&id=10

Happy Holidays to all...

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

9 - 4

It's 4 days until Christmas, Christmas lights fill the streets, Christmas music is played in every building and people are getting all there last minute shopping done. We had our final game before Christmas and one of the many items on my list was a victory last night. We had a great turnout from the fans and we fed off of their energy, especially early on when we jumped out to a big lead. Mom if you're wondering about the photo, I caught an elbow to the right cheek (Black eye) and a shoulder to the left eye (a little dis-coloration). Don't worry I wasn't hurt, just my looks were wounded haha. PBG is an extremely talented team and made it close towards the end but we were able to make a couple of shots and knock down some free throws to take the victory.

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. I hope Santa is good to you and I look forward to seeing everyone on the 29th. Until next time...................................................... Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

8-4

Saturday was a big win for us. We were able to move up in the standings and we beat a really good team. I loved our focus all week in practice and it seemed like everyone was on the same page. Coach did a good job of getting us prepared too. I hope this carries over to this week. We have a Polish Cup game on Wednesday in Warsaw and then a home game against Poznan this weekend. I really want to win these games so going into Christmas I feel really good because this will be my first Christmas away from family.

I spent yesterday in Gdansk at the Galeria Baltyka doing Christmas shopping for family and friends. It's hard to find the right gift for anyone but it makes it even more difficult when it's in another language. Take cards for instance, yesterday was my father's birthday and I wanted to get him a card but I couldn't find anything because I really didn't know what they said. I ended up just writing him a letter. One thing that really stood out about the mall yesterday was all the Xmas decorations and Xmas music. Now it wasn't as great as the "Singing Christmas Tree" I saw in Zurich while visiting this time last year, with one of my friends from the states (Tyler Carter) and a teammate from last year (Chris Grimm) but it did a great job of making me smile. I love this time of year, it's hard not to be happy and get into the Christmas spirit. Especially now that there is snow!

Well, that's about it for today. I hope everyone enjoys their Christmas break. I love and miss you. Until next time....................... Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Highlights

Here are some highlights of our last game against Polonia 2011...

http://sportowa.com.pl/index.php?option=com_avgallery&view=play&Itemid=94&id=33

I hope all is well back home. I love and miss you.

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

7-4

Enjoying the day off today. Walked around the centrum, saw the new Christmas tree they put up. The excitement about Christmas coming up and the win last night against a very young and talented team, has me jolly like old Saint Nicholas.

I'm thinking about going to watch Twilight "New Moon" across the street today. I've heard great things and I am Vampire v. Werewolf fan. I liked the first one. Even though this film is based more on a love story I'm a big movie buff and enjoy all types of movies.

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Section Champs!!!

Does it feel good to be a hornet? Congrats to the team, staff and student body. And thank you for bringing some excitement my way over here in Poland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJEDyWoyFJA

Yes it does!

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Buzzer Beater & Thanksgiving

Our last long bus ride of the season ended with a W. 10 hrs to Stal, past a little town called "Brody" that's right and a buzzer beater later we were on our way back to Starogard. It was a good win for us because it kept us in a good position in the standings. We need to get this next game also in order to really put ourselves in a good position. Our focus will be great this week of practice and I am hoping for a great performance this weekend by the team. Before the trip we had Thanksgiving dinner at our apartment and had Tony, Uros and our team manager Michal join us in the celebration. Carp did a phenomenal job on the Turkey and it was fun to introduce the holiday to Uros and Michal. On a sad note Carp will be leaving Poland Wednesday after 3 months of traveling in Europe. He took a ton of pictures and made a lot of memories. Everyone will thoroughly enjoy all the stories and pictures. I hope all is well. I love and miss you back home. Until next time....................... Love

The photo above is of a Polish Olympic Team Training Facility. We stopped there to have Lunch.

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

6th Place...

Here are some highlights from the game against Asseco Prokom:

http://sportowa.com.pl/index.php?option=com_avgallery&view=play&Itemid=94&id=21

I love and miss you back home and I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Until next time........ Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

5-3

My high school football coach used to say, "Not too high on the highs and not too low on the lows." We lost a tough one at Turow last night and watched the game on the bus ride home. I like be able to watch film so next time a situation happens in a game I will be ready for it. We have practice at 6pm tonight and will begin preparation for Prokom. We don't have much time to rest (got home at 6am this morning) and play the top team in our league so we really have to focus and play our best to beat them. I hope all is well back home. I love and miss you. Until next time........ Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Moving up the Standings...

It's the day after a great home win against Anwil and I'm in Cafe Aruba having some cake with the sweet taste of victory in it. Karolina, the owner's daughter made Tony, Uros, Carp and I a victory cake for our win last night. The game was a great challenge for us and helped give us a good idea of where we are so far this early in the season. There are a lot of games left to be played and we have another tough test next week at Turow, so we have to keep improving every game. Anwil came out ready to play right from the tip as we did too. It was close throughout the game but we were able to gain a double digit lead feeding off our home crowd's energy, some great defensive stanzas and some solid shooting. Overall, it was a great team win. Until next time............... Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

4 - 2

Watching all the Rocky movies streaming on www.channelsurfing.net today after a great road win against Energa Czarni. Last night's game was fun to play in because the crowd was extremely loud. Calling plays was very difficult all game, I had to use hand signals, call huddles during free throws, utilize the timeouts after coach was talking to organize plays and in some cases go to individual players to tell them the play. I'm really starting to see a trend here. Last year in Switzerland I didn't get this type of atmosphere and here it is much more similar to college. For a player it is a lot of fun to play in. I don't want give all the credit to the Czarni fans because although they did make it difficult for us, the loudest section in the gym was right next to our bench where the Polpharma faithfuls were seated.

Carp had a great time sitting next to our fans because he said all game they had a lot of energy and I felt it too. As a player, in an environment like that, it's great to have energy to fuel off of. Our whole team was feeling it I think. It was a great team win and everyone made a contribution to the win. Wins like last night can really give a team a lot of confidence going into the next game. We have a tough battle against one of two unbeaten teams in our league Anwil. Coach will get us prepared with all our tactics and we'll be focused all week looking to bring a win to our home crowd. I hope all is well back in the states. I miss you and will talk to you soon. Until next time...................... Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

iTunes Playlist & SNOW!

I've been here for 3 months now and I've had the same playlist the whole time. I'm not really picky when it comes to music. I tend to listen to a lot of R&B but I like to think I enjoy everything. Good music is good music and I can appreciate a good song when I hear one. So, when I said I've been listening to the same playlist for last 3 months I mean I've been listening to it while getting ready in the mornings, walking to and from both practices, on road trips, while I'm internet surfing, and before games to me get pumped. It's really not an extensive list either. So you can imagine how many times I've listen to these songs. One of the songs, according to the play count icon on iTunes, I've listened to 137 times. Here's the playlist I am planning on making a new one in the next couple of days and I'm open for any suggestions...

iTunes Playlist:

Just the Two of Us - Will Smith

Love Somebody - Ace Hood Ft. Jeremiah

My Love - The Dream Ft. Mariah Carey

Down - Drake Ft. Lil Wayne

Take U Home 2 My Mama - The Dream

Comfortable - Lil Wayne Ft. Baby Face

Girl Tonight - Twista Ft. Trey Songz

Juicy - Notorious BIG

She's Country - Jason Aldean

Yellow Light - Twista Ft. R.Kelly

Big Green Tractor - Jason Aldean

Put a Girl in it - Brooks and Dunn

Anywhere - 112

Ride or Die - Ace Hood ft. Trey Songz

Hypnotized - Notorious BIG

Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy - Big & Rich

Gimmie Love - Collie Buddz

Going Back to Cali - Notorious BIG

Forever - Drake Ft. Eminem, Lil Wayne & Kanye West

Two Pina Coladas - Garth Brooks

Mountains - Lonestar

California Love - Tupac Shakur

How do you Want it - Tupac Shakur

Good Directions - Billy Currington

The World's Greatest - R.Kelly

My Maria - Brooks and Dunn

Replacement Girl - Drake Ft. Trey Songz

I almost forgot to mention the 2-3 inches of snow, roughly estimated and might be a slight exaggeration of the truth, we had yesterday. The picture above is from that night. We walked out of practice and it was really coming down and sticking. Carp and I had to roam around a little and take some pictures because we were pretty excited slash just something to get us out of the apartment. I hope everyone had a great Halloween and ate so much candy their tummy's ached. I miss you and will talk to you soon. Until next time.................................. Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

3-2 Overall.... 2-1 on the Road...... 1-1 @ Home

It sure feels good to get a win especially at home. The atmosphere was great last night in the gym and in the team huddles. Going into the game we were really motivated to bounce back from our loss in Jaroslov and give our home crowd something to cheer about after losing our home season opener. We had a great week of practice and it showed last night. Although we still have a lot to improve on it's early in the season and we must keep going up from here. We have some much needed rest this weekend and another week of preparation before our game against Energa Czarni. I hope everyone has a good weekend. Until next time............ Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

The Longest Road Trip Ever....

It's always hardest to blog after a loss. Especially after a trip like our last one. We lost on a last second shot by 3 points. I will give credit where credit it is do, the guard hit a tough, well contested, deep 3-pointer and ended a game that looked as if it was going to overtime. It was a 12 hour trip there but the return trip home seemed much longer than it took to get there because of the way we lost. We'll put this one behind and move on to the next one, thinking optimistically and determined to get a win. The game is Thursday and will be televised. Carp will be back and I'm excited to get a win in front of our home crowd. I hope all is well back home. Until next time..... Love

P.S. The picture above is a poster in one of the entrances at Carre Four a local grocery store in town.

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Trip to the Capital......

My first trip to Warsaw was not a scenic one but I could care less. We drove 300km and got a win. Winning on the road isn’t easy and it showed early in the first half. We fell behind by double digits in the first stanza. We cut the lead to 6 going into the locker room at halftime. The third quarter was when we really turned things around. We carried an 8 point lead going into the final 10 minutes. The momentum really shifted in our favor in the 3rd quarter. We were getting stops on defense and we controlled the pace of the game. As I mentioned earlier it’s tough to win on the road, so anytime you can get a win on the road it seems like it has a little extra importance to it. But this game was especially meaningful for Miah and Bibi, who are both from the Warsaw area and had family and friends attend the game. All week they were saying they really wanted to win this one. You could really since the personal importance this game had on them and I think it rubbed off on everyone else. So, this win goes to them and the 3 little, maybe 6 or 7 year old, Polpharma fans that congratulated us as we entered the locker room after the game.

If you’re wondering what we do on these long trips, don’t wonder too much because it’s really not much different than any other day. We sleep, watch movies, listen to music, chit chat and eat. I think we watched 2 movies on the way there, I’m not entirely sure because I slept for most of it. When we arrived we went straight to the gym for practice before checking into the hotel. We stayed at Hotel Ibis in Warsaw. It was funny because Bibi had to give the bus driver directions on how to get there from the gym. You know we’re a long ways from home when the bus driver doesn’t know where to go. We had dinner after we checked in and at the end of dinner; Tony, Uros, Blazje, Karol and myself hung around before curfew and had dessert and attempted to finish off all the food but got too full. It’s funny because Blazje is always the last one to finish eating at every meal. I think it’s because he’s the youngest on the team and still growing and trying to get bigger and stronger. Whatever the reason is you got to respect how much the kid can eat. The next morning we had breakfast followed by our walk thru and shooting. After the walk thru we had an hour of rest before a meeting and lunch. Following lunch we had 2 hours of rest before the game. On the ride home we stopped at KFC and watched “Inside Man” and “Aviation”. That’s all I got for now. I’m actually writing this on the bus. I think we have about 2 hours left before we get home.

I hope all is well back home. Tayman I’m looking forward to hearing about the Riverbowl and the weekend festivities. Uncle Erasmo and Aunt Susie it was great chatting with you the other night. Family & Lele I miss you. Until next time……… Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Tough one @ home, BABY & RIVERBOWL....

Basketball is a fun game to play but can really get to you when you lose. We lost a tough one last night 65-76 to a very beatable team on our home court. I don't want to take away from their victory but it's a team we've beat before they just got the better of us last night. It's extremely disappointing to lose in front of your home crowd especially for our 1st home game of the season. It's hard not to mention something about our fans. The constant drum beat, chanting and heckling of players really adds a whole other element to the game. Like I said though we were unable to take advantage of our 6 on 5 match up.

We had weights and film this morning. The film session was long and we discussed the game and went over mistakes and tried to figure out what we could do to erase them. Being the point guard I feel a lot of the burden falls on me. It's my role to run the team and orchestrate what goes on, on the court. I still feel I can play a lot better than I am and need to take more on my shoulders. I feel I am improving everyday, every practice and every game. But as I mentioned in my last blog I can't get content. Games like this we need to win and I know we will learn from this game, bounce back and get the next one. On another note, Kc and Heather congratulations on your new baby boy. Lele sent me a photo and he's adorable. All the best to you two and I'll talk to you soon. I forgot to mention it's RIVERBOWL week. My nephew has one of the biggest games of his high school football career tonight, it's his first RIVERBOWL! If you're not doing anything go and check it out; 5:30pm @ Enterprise. Good Luck Baboon! Play hard and have fun. I hope all is well back home. Until next time........... Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Highlights...

Here is a link to some highlights of our first game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eifzQzySuUc


"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

W.........

The season has officially begun. The first of 26 regular season games is behind us and it's nice to start out with a win. We went on the road and beat Sportino by 12. It was a lot closer towards the end than the score shows. The crowd there was great and really lively. There was a section that stood out the most though, in the corner of the gym near where we entered and exited the a group of about 100 Polpharma loyals, out cheered the rest of the crowd and helped motivate us to a victory. Carp unfortunately was not apart of this section but had a great seat court side on our bench side and let everyone in the gym know he was a Polpharma supporter by wearing one of my practice jerseys. We started off the game with a great tempo jumping to an early lead. All pre-season we've done a good job of coming out ready to play. Coach gave us good scouting report and had us prepared for the game. But all pre-season we also struggled a little holding our big leads. During the 3rd quarter and beginning of the 4th our lead shrunk to single digits. We made a few stops late knocked down some free throws and got our lead back up to double digits and walked away with a W. We exited the gym with our heads high and thanked the group of Polpharma loyals that made the trip with us. I personally, still feel I can play a lot better than I did. I am my own worse critic but "I'm uncomfortable being comfortable." Regardless of how I play personally I will take a WIN any day over playing well.

Preparation for our next game has already began. AZS Koszalin will be a tough team to beat even though our game is at home. The attitude around the locker room is great coming off a win and I am hoping we can keep it that way come Wednesday. Wish us luck! Carp is headed out again to travel for a couple of weeks with a friend of mine from Santa Clara, Nicole Clark. He'll be back at the end of the month. Here's wishing him safe travels and making lots of memories. I hope all is well back home. I miss you guys more and more everyday. Until next time......... Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Hopefully it's raining 3's Saturday like it was in Starogard today...

Another day another Zlotych...... It's a rainy day in the Starogard and when that happens there's not a lot to do but hangout in the apartment. So like most days, today consisted of Internet surfing and watching movies. Unfortunately I didn't make it to cafe Aruba for my usual cup of Joe.

Carp and I have been trying to keep each other entertained, you know "Chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool and shootin some b-ball" (Will Smith, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). It's nice to have a buddy around to hangout with, time flies when you're having fun. Especially one that can cook as well as Carp does. So, Mom don't worry about me coming home skinny this year. Between Carp's meals and all the meat and potatoes I'll be eating all season, I might even come back heavier than I left.

We watched the movie "Friday" today and had some good laughs, while drinking Chai tea. Since we couldn't make it to the cafe today we substituted our coffee for some tea and what a great decision/purchase this was. Carp has got me hooked, Chai tea mixed with milk and a little added sugar and you got one hell of a drink to sip on.

The last few nights have brought back some fond memories of college and late night Halo sessions. Nicky P, my skills have NOT gotten any better. My rank was 2nd place until Carp arrived now my rank is 3rd. FYI there's only 3 of us that play. Tony, my American teammate, used to take me out with the dual weapons like it was his job but then Carp showed up and started running things. He snipes like he's Mark Wahlberg from the movie "Shooter". My days have gone great but my nights the last week are another story. It's a good thing I can skype Lele before I go to bed so I can sleep in peace.

That's all she wrote for today. I hope all is well back home. I miss you. Until next time. Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

End of Pre-Season...

It's the first Monday of October and we have 5 days of preparation before our first game. We finished the pre-season 6-6. I've never played this many games before in a pre-season but I feel like it is a good way to get to know the system, my teammates and the style. Anytime you put together a team that has never played together it is tough to find the chemistry you're looking for and sometimes takes while to get acclimated with one another. I struggled with this early on but I think I am starting to find my stride. We'll know for sure in 5 days if this is just a gut feeling or a reality. One thing I wish we would have done a little more is played teams not in our league. We played against a German team and a Czech Republic team which I think was great exposure because we could run all our plays. When ever we played teams in our league we tended not to run all our plays so we would be scouted easier later.

Throughout the pre-season we traveled around Poland. Mostly in the northern part, a lot of the towns we played in, our hotel was just a few 100 meters from the water. In between games we would usually take a walk around the cities. Basketball took up a lot of my time these past 2 months and I never really had the time to travel and site seeing so whenever I could I tried to take full advantage of our trips and get out and see what Poland had to offer.

That's pretty much all I got for you. Pictures are posted! Carp and I might go to the CSKA Moscow v. Asseco Prokom game tonight in Gdynia. Should be some good basketball but practice may run late so we'll see. I hope all is well back home. Bardman thanks for reading the blog. Since we haven't got to chat in a while I hope this helps keep you up to date. Until next time. Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Life......... The Last 2 Months

My routinely repeated day. Here is what the last 2 months have looked like for me. Without going into a lot of detail here is a typical day/week for me. My Saturdays and Sundays vary depending on what was scheduled. Early on we typically had practice on Saturday and Sundays off. The past month we've had pre-season games so it has slightly changed sometimes we've had a tournament or a game on either Saturday or Sunday. I recently blew out 2 pairs of my basketball shoes. So to give you an good idea of how tough practices, workouts & games have been, at this rate I am on pace to go thru 9 pairs of shoes haha. Obviously that's a bit of an exaggeration but my record for shoes in a season is 6 and I feel like I might have a good chance at that this year.

SCHEDULE:

Monday - Friday:

8:00am: Call Lele to say good night
8:15am: Breakfast

Plan A

2-3 Eggs
Potatoes
Fruit or Toast w/ Jelly(Strawberry)

Plan B

1-2 Bowls of Cereal (Cheerios)
Fruit
Glass of Orange Juice or Apple Juice

9:30am: Shower
9:50am: Practice
1:00pm: Lunch

Plan A
Chicken or Ham Sandwich
Chips
Water or Juice

Plan B

Pasta

Bread

Water or Juice

1:45 – 4:00pm: Internet, Reading, Resting or Relaxing
4:15pm: Snack
- Espresso, Tea, Cake, Snickers, Power Bar or Fruit with yogurt and Juice

5:00pm: Practice
9:00pm: Dinner
9:15pm: Skype with Lele
11:00pm: Bedtime

I hope all is well back home. I miss and love you. Until next time. Love





"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Pre-season Part 5

I just returned from a tournament in Poznan where we finished 3rd. Before you think we did alright there were only 4 teams. We went 1-2 for the weekend. We lost opening night to PKB Poznan by 7, a team we lost to earlier in the pre-season by 1 point and blew a 20 point lead. This time we had a 13 point lead at one point then they went zone and it got the best of us. I was very disappointed in my play that night. I feel bad for Lele because she ends up getting the grunt of it. The second night we beat Anwil, a team in our league where my current coach was an assistant at last year. So, he was very excited about beating them. In the 3rd and final game we played a very good Czech Republic team that commanded a 10 point lead at halftime against us and pushed it to 20 half way thru the third but we battled back and only lost by 2. I was fouled while driving and we were down by 3 with 9 seconds left, they were in the bonus so it sent me to the line. I knocked down the first one and then intentionally missed the second one. The ball did exactly what I wanted it to do. Compliments of DD, he might be the only coach I know and have had a team practice missing free throws intentionally LOL. The bounce off the rim about mid free throw lane and was tipped back by one of our players to another one standing on the perimeter. The defense rushed at him and he passed it to the best shooter on our team and the shot rimmed in and out. Tough loss for us but we didn’t deserve to win it because of our lackluster first half. The only good thing that came of this game is we didn’t give up and we battled to the end. On that note, I’m an optimist, I try to find a positive when there seems to only be negative, I try to find light when there is only dark, I’ll find good when there is only bad and I will try making things right when everything seems to be going wrong. So, “we didn’t lose the game we just ran out of time.” – Vince Lombardi The season starts in 2 weeks, our next pre-season game is Wednesday against a Euro league team and the best team in our league. We’ll know exactly what it takes to finish at the top of our league. Wish us luck! I hope all is well back home. I miss and love you guys. Uncle Erasmo, are you sure you don’t want to change your mind about Hawaii and bring EJ here. My apartment is much bigger than last year’s LOL. Until next time. Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Pre-Season Part 4

Well another day, another Zlotych (Polish currency)! Our record is now 5-3 after the last tournament. We opened the tournament with a poor showing against a team we had already beaten in the pre-season. But we followed that loss up with a great win in our second game and a rather convincing 30 point win against the team we open the season with. I am still trying to find my groove but after these last to games I have gained some confidence and I'm looking to build on it. We travel to Poznan this weekend for another tournament. We'll play Friday and Saturday against 2 Polish teams and end with a match against a Czech Republic team on Sunday. This is our last tournament before the season starts. I'm hoping we end with a bang because we only have 2 more exhibition games after this and then the games start counting.

Robyn if you ever read this I am going to post your graduation pictures soon. Until next time. Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Pre-Season Part 3

Were sitting at 3-2 right now in pre-season play. Although practices have been long and tough time seems to be flying by. I've been here for almost 2 months now, training rigoriously, eating well, enjoying my time in the small village and skyping with Lele & family.

Since my last post we've played 2 games. Won one and lost one. Both games were winnable and both we had double digit leads in. I did not play as well as I'd liked in the first game. I struggled a little bit defensively and I missed the game winning shot with 22 seconds left that would have put us up 1 but they end up winning by 3. In the 2nd game I did a little better. We watched film of our loss and I spoke with coach about my play and the teams play, made some adjustments and I had a better understanding of what coach wanted me to do on the floor. Granted the team wasn't as talented as the first, we bounced back and got the W. We travel this weekend to Rewal in northern Poland on the coast of the Baltic Sea about 4 and half hours away. We'll play 3 games all against teams in our league. The last team we play is who we open the season with on October 10th. I hope we can walk away from this tournament with 3 more wins under our belt. I'll let you now how goes when I get back.

Enough basketball talk for now. One of my closest friends Jason "Carp" Carpenter arrived here a few days ago and man it is sure good to see him. He's on is Euro Adventure and my apartment in Poland is his homebase. He has only been here 2 nights and has already left for Munich, Germany to attend the much haileded Oktoberfest. I sure wish I could be apart of this experience. He's meeting up with a couple of my Santa Clara friends, they'll be doing the tent hopping and a castle tour. I'm looking forward to hearing about all the stories when he returns.

I just got off the phone with my nephew and he has his third game of the season tonight against Anderson. We leave for the tournament tomorrow morning at 8:20am so I'll be up at 6am to skype with him so I can get all the highlights. Good Luck Baboon ! Play hard and have fun.

On an ending note, I think we have finally finalized my sister and Lele's trip out here. They will make their appearance in late December just after Christmas. Carp will be here for 3 months and then the girls will show up after. I love it! I miss you guys and I hope all is well. Until next time. Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Being bored....

Blogging just to blog tonight. I just finished a killer dinner that consisted of chicken, broccoli and Potatoes. Now I'm at cafe Aruba across from my apartment with one of my teammates having dessert and trying to watch some Eurobasket 2009 action streamed over the Internet. It didn't work so back to facebooking lol. It's nice getting out of the apartment every now and again to change the scenery. You get so caught up in the routine that it's nice to do something different. I was talking with Lele the other day and realized that I spend 6-7 hours a day in the gym and relatively the same on the computer. Life of a Polish basketball isn't all it's cracked up to be but it beats sitting in a cubicle all day for now. I just started started skyping with my boy Spoon who is stationed in Honduras right now with the military. He just got back from El Salvador and judging from the pictures it was an experience in itself. It's funny how we both try to stay up on current events back home. He said he's trying to catch up on the last 12 days of sports before he has to go back to work Friday. I just spent the last afternoon doing the same only the last 3 days though. Anyway, they're about to close up shop here and Ricky Martin just came on so I'm out of here. I love and miss you family. Uncle Erasmo if you read this lets skype soon. We've been playing tag. Until next time. LOVE

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Pre-Season Part 2

This one is going to be short and sweet. We fell to 2-2 in the pre-season with an 75-76 overtime loss to PBS Bank Poznan. They're in our league so hopefully we will get them when it counts. Each game so far I feel we have improved as a team in one category or another. I am still making slow strides to reach my point where I feel comfortable and able to help the team preform at it's highest level.

Our next game is saturday against Trefl Sopot. Another team in our league. The game will be open to the public and friday evening we have a meet and greet with fans at cafe Aruba. 'm looking forward to meeting the fans everyone tells me are extremely supportive of us. Wish us luck and I'll let you know how it goes. Until next time. Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Pre-Season

Let the games begin. We've played 3 of 13 pre-season games to go along with our 26 regular season games, which start October 10th by the way(write that down). The first 2 games were played against a team from Germany's Bundesglia called the New Yorker Phantoms. We split with them winning the first game by 10 and losing to them by 9 in the second match. Overall, we played decent I think it was just nice to be playing against some different competition. From an individual standpoint I still got a ways to go. I am still trying to get acclimated with my teammates and coaches but once I find that groove I think I will be able to contribute a lot. We played them in a town about 3 and half to 4 hours away from Starogard called Kolobrzeg. I don't think I mentioned that the transportation routes in Poland are not quite as advanced as some countries in Europe I've been. The bus ride was quite bumpy to and from Kolobrzeg. I could care less though we watched "Death Race" on the way home. The facilities we stayed at and played at were well kept. The gym was part of the hotel. In addition the facilities also included futbol fields, fitness center, swimming pool/water park and spa. In between games we had a little down time so myself, 2 of my teammates, Uros & Tony, walked down to the center of the town had hung out before our curfew. We returned home late on Wednesday night and we had until Saturday before our next exhibition game. The practices were hard and intense and defensive oriented because coach felt we lacked a little bit in that category the first 2 games. We ended up winning this game by 20.

Moving on though. My team website put up our profile pictures and no surprise here Mom did not approve. Might of been because they didn't mention to us that we were doing it and I hadn't shaved for about 3 weeks because I wanted to see if I could grow a beard (still can't). And according to the comments on my facebook profile pic neither did a lot of other people lol. What can I say, they did the best they could with the talent they had.

Lastly, I have to comment about my nephew's preformance this past week in his high school football debut. A forced fumble, fumble recovery, an interception and 2 touchdowns! Not a bad start to the career. There is only a few things pulling me away from being over here and one of them is not being able to sit in the stands and be there cheering him on. As much joy as I get out of hearing about it, I sure wish I could witness it. I love you dude. Keep playing hard and have fun.

Our next game is Tuesday. I'll let you know how it goes. Until then.... Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Media Day... Photo Shoot... Basketball?

Well not much has changed other than I'm a few kg lighter. Pre-season practices have been long and intense with a little conditioning mixed in there too. Since my last post we've had several practices and a couple of media plugs. Last week we took a bus, a really really small bus to Gdansk where our President set up a live interview with the sports network there that covers our region and our games during the season. It was a fun and interesting trip. Fun form the standpoint, we got to be on TV and tour around old town Gdansk which is where I plan to take my visitors from the states (Lele, Bobby & Carp here is a sneak peek). The interesting part was the beginning of the TV interview. We were asked to put on make up before we went on and I've done a few interviews before and have never had to do it but I figure why not might as well do it, it's all part of the experience anyway. After the interview we headed home.

This past week I had a full schedule. Monday morning we found out we were going to be shooting pictures for a calendar I believe with a gangsta theme. This was an experience all in itself. Something I've never done before but had a good time doing it. We shot in several locations around the village, each of us wearing and doing different poses. Lets just say modeling is not second nature to me and I'll stick to my day job. Mom I hope you enjoy the pictures.

On another note, we made friends with the owner of a cafe across the way from our apartment and he offered to bring us back KFC once a week because he picks up pies/cakes for his cafe and brings them back. The coach and the president told me when I arrived the community really backs the team and I think I am starting to get a feel for it. As the season nears I am becoming more and more excited to play a game. Next month we have a few tournaments so it will be nice to play up and down against some other competition. My body has been really sore as of late, especially my hamstrings but I can also feel that I am starting to get back into playing shape.

Well, that's all I got for you for now. I hope all is well back in the states. My nephew has his first high school football scrimmage today and I can't wait to here about it. Man I sure wish I could be there. Good Luck Baboon. Play Hard and have fun!

Love

Bud

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Let the Journey Begin...

Well, its been a while since my last blog so I have a lot to catch you up on but I won't get into to much detail. I had a great summer. I had the chance to see a lot of family and friends which I was extremely happy about. That's one of the greatest perks in my line of work is getting the summers off. The first month and a half I was back in the states I spent most of the time in Redding, but traveled to Arizona 2 times to visit family and attend Carp's graduation. The second month I spent in Santa Clara. I tried to begin training again but wasn't real consistent with that attempt. Had some teammates from Switzerland visit during this time and it was nice to show them everything I had told them about while we were playing. The third month I moved back to Redding to spend some more time with my family because during the middle of June I flew to Starogard Gdaski, Poland for a week long tryout. I later found out this would be my destination for the upcoming season so I wanted to get as much time in with them as possible. Which leads me to where I currently reside. I arrived here on August 4th to play for SKS Polpharma Pakmet-Starogard Gdanski (http://www.sportowa.com.pl/). When I arrived here I was greeted by the President of the club and the website operator/ Translator. We stopped at the Polpharma factory and the town square to take pictures for the team website. After that they showed me my new home away from home. A nice modern looking 1 bedroom flat. We then proceeded to the gym where the team was practicing. Luckily I had the night off, it's pretty tough after a 15 hour trip and the time change to jump right on the court. I was interviewed by a Polish Journalist at the gym and after that they took me back to my new home. I didn't have a chance o eat dinner the first night because the restaurant's slash pub below my apartment complex kitchen was closed. Bummer I was starving the next morning. Anyway, the first practices have gone decently well. They're introducing a lot to me right away. I have to be a good visual learner because everything is explained in Polish. I am one of two Americans on the team so I think this will be a challenge all season. Fortunately, broken or not, there is a few people who speak enough English to comprehend what is being said.

As for the town, it is a smaller town with a population around 50,000. I haven't had much of an opportunity to site see yet. I am still trying to get adjusted to the time change so I I've been sleeping during the day. But what I have seen so far of Starogard seems to be a little bit older and not as current as the towns of other countries I have visited. Not that I m disappointed because I open for anything to experience. It is all part of the journey. I am anxious to learn about the history of Poland and hopefully get a better idea of what eastern Europe is like. This situation seems a little more time consuming than what I was used to last year. I don't believe I will have the freedom I had last year to travel and some of that can attribute to my location last year and Switzerland being central Europe. Regardless, I am excited to be here playing a sport I love. I already miss my family, friends and America a ton. Hello to everyone back home and I look forward to skyping, emailing, facebooking, etc... with all of you soon. Please keep me updated on your lives. I love hearing about everything that's going on back there. Even though I might not ask I am always wondering. Until next time. LOVE

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Roma, Firenze & Venezia

When in Roma......................................

It's weird to think my season is over. I kind of wish I was still playing but at the same time I am really excited to come home. Because basketball took up so much of my time I was really limited on my travels especially when it comes to distance. All season Chris and I had talked about taking a trip to Roma. The key word was talked, we had several research parties but never got anything done other than knowing who won NBA games that week or Facebook stalked friends/colleagues. Anyway, the last of my travels overseas had nothing to do with basketball or a 10 hour bus ride. Me, Chris and Dustin went on what they like to call holiday aka vacation or a trip. We caught an early train to Roma that put us there around 13:30. As I mentioned earlier, Chris and I did little to plan this trip so we kind of just winged it. We met a nice oriental lady when we got off the train who took us to her house/hostel about a block or two form the train station and a ten minute walk to the Colosseum. Funny thing was when her husband, who helped us get settled in, was showing us on the map how far and which routes to take on the visitor map that everything seemed to be a 10 minute walk. A little strange but funny non the less. The first day we spent walking around. First the Colosseum, then the Forum of Roma Palatino, followed by the Trajan Forum, the Capitoline Hill, St. Ignazio Church, the Trevi Fountain, a gelateria and the Pantheon. We covered a lot of ground in that first day. To end the night we grab a bite to eat and went back to the Trevi Fountain to relax.

Day 2 took place mostly in Vatican City. We caught an early train there bought some audio tour guides and roamed the sites. St. Peters Cathedral and the Vatican Museums are everything your history teachers hype them up to be. I only wish I took one of those trips they offer you back in High school so I felt a little more inclination to want to learn about the history that is here. It truly is incredible. Probably the most remarkable thing I witnessed was the painting by Raphael portraying Constantine's reign of Rome. After Vatican City we caught a train back into central Rome. We walked through Piazza del Popolo on our way to the Spanish steps where we spent most the evening. Later in the night we grabbed a bite to eat and joined a pub crawl group that met back at the Spanish steps according to a flyer that was handed out to us. This is where things started to get little blurry, just kidding mom we drank responsibly. The pub crawl began at a English bar. We were given tickets and T-shirts and were told once our beer was finished we could get a new one. It was all you can drink for an hour before we moved on to the next bar. With around 10 minutes left in the hour they held a chugging contest which we all participated in. Forty coming out victorious and winning a T-shirt. The bars to follow were a lot of fun too but like most movie sequels it's hard to beat the first. The second bar was a typical pub, the third had a little more club and modernism to it and the last bar was a cave. Who am I kidding the the second day was full of so many festivities we had to get our checkout moved back a half hour to 10:30am.

Day 3 we took the train to Firenze for a couple of hours to see the Duomo and a few of the piazzas before we caught an evening train to Venezia. Once we got to Venezia we stop at an Internet cafe so the engaged folks could check in with their better halves. While we were there we looked up some hostels found one near the Realto Bridge but the hard part was getting there. If you've never been to Venezia then you might not know that there are a ton of side streets and ally ways which makes it very easy to get lost especially at night. Luckily for us a kind Italian women notice our predicament and put us in the right direction. At the the hostel we shared a room with a couple of German Grad students. Later that night we grabbed some dinner near the Realto Bridge and then went to San Marco Square when it was lite up which I think much better to gaze at. The next morning we retracked our steps and saw everything in the day. Venice is a beautiful place and had my vote for best city.

I took 576 photos on this trip so I think that is more than enough evidence to show how amazing the trip was.

See you tomorrow Mom. Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Last Game

I'm not going to lie to ya and I'm not going to play this one down. Going out with a W on a 4-16 team is a hell of a way to end the beginning of my overseas career. We had the lead pretty much the whole game until the last 5 minutes of the game when they tied. After a few possession changes and a few calls go our way and a double technical foul ejection of the coach we had built a 9 point cushion with 2 minutes to play. We ended up winning the game by 7. On Sunday night we completed the season with an end of the year dinner at non other than ABC. The restaurant I've eating at twice a day for the past 7months. I've made a lot of speeches in my day but this one was rather different, I've never given a speech to an audience that could not understand a word I said so I kept it short and sweet. I've built great professional relationships and friendships in the 7 months I was here. All in all, it was a great first experience and I look forward to the years to come.

Next up, Rome! Florence! And Venice! Until next time............................... Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

More Adventures

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm..... This past weekend was great because I had 4 visitors. My Uncle Erasmo and Aunt Susie and BJ & Nora Rodriguez. My Aunt and Uncle were traveling around around Italy for there 40th Anniversary and altered their plans a little bit to spend some time with me. Granted most the time we were together we were in the car, we were still able to get a lot of site seeing and catching up done. Mostly, as a result of my co-piloting and my Uncle's adventurous mentality. Instead of taking the same route we took from Lugano to Geneva we decided to take the road a little less traveled. But that wasn't before we filled the first rental car up with unleaded when it required diesel. In addition to that we arrived at out hotel an hour late and they cancelled our registration. Did I mention we lost by 2 points on Saturday, which for some reason my coach was extremely happy about and gave us 2 days off because were not gonna finish last in league. Through out all this chaos, we managed to make it to every destination we set out for. It may have taken a little longer than expected but like my Uncle kept saying, "We're on vacation, it's an adventure". Thanks for coming guys it was really good to see you. I look forward to the next time our paths cross.

Yesterday was the second of the two days off. It really wasn't a day off, I shot in the morning, worked out in the evening and then shot again later that night. During the afternoon because it was such a resplendent day, Noah, Noah's friend John and I spent the afternoon downtown by the lake using the city's WiFi. The great day put us in such a good mood while we were downtown we bought a few cigars for later that night. Following shooting we lit those stogies, sipped on some wine and chowed on some good ol' Swiss cheese. Now it was beginning to feel a little more like an off day. We spent the rest of the night hanging out on the balcony. It's tough to beat days like this. I miss you Mom. Carp, I'm hoping we get to skype soon. Until then. Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Oasis Concert & Germany

Another eventful weekend on my end. Friday night after practice Chris and I drove to Ulm, Germany where one of his Groom's men plays basketball. The drive was about 3 and half hours and probably would have been shorter if we knew how the Autobahn worked in Germany. Dan, Chris' friend, visited Lugano a while back but I was unable to meet him then because my sister was in town visiting and we were doing some sight seeing ourselves. I had heard a lot of stories about Dan through Chris and it was nice to finally put a face to the name. Dan lives in a small house with his longtime girlfriend Dominika and the two of them together made great hosts. Our first night we got in around 1am and spent the night catching up on old times. I was more of a listener but got a lot of laughs because it was funny to hear someone else's side of the stories Chris has shared with us about his Marquette days. The next day we got up to a great breakfast compliments of Dom and walked around downtown Ulm. We went to the tallest church in the world but did not climb to the top because Chris has a pulled hamstring. After our tour of Ulm we decided to go to Munich which was about a hour away. I had a great time just people watching and taking everything in. We walked around Olympia Park, which was the sight of the 1972 Olympics when the Israeli Athletes were taken hostage by the Terrorist organization Black September. When we arrived downtown all the squares were packed with people. We walked around for a bit before we had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. It seems like every time we find an American related restaurant, person, game, etc... we would rather do that then try something else. After we ate we went next door to the Hofbrahaus, home of Oktoberfest. I had heard some stories and seen some pictures from friends that have experienced this historic event so I had to take a look for myself to see what it was all about. Although the atmosphere wasn't nearly the same as it is when Oktoberfest is going on I had a great time and purchased a few souvenirs.

The next morning we went to a nice restaurant for breakfast. I have hard enough time ordering in Italian but German is another story. It was funny because when the waitress asked what we wanted all 4 of us just pointed and didn't say anything. We didn't try to speak German and we didn't even ask if she spoke English. It was an extremely awkward but funny interaction. After breakfast we said our goodbyes until the wedding in June and we were on our way to Zurich for the Oasis concert.

The whole trip our navigation was on point. If you haven't been to Europe then you wouldn't understand that driving here is almost as difficult as trying to learn the language. Maybe not that tough but definitely an adventure.

The concert was incredible! This is only the second concert I have ever been to Justin Timberlake's concert being the first. To be honest I really only know 2 songs really well by Oasis but I thought it would be a lot fun and cool to say I saw Oasis in concert, in Europe. And I was 100% correct.

All in all it was another great experience. I miss you mom. Uncle Erasmo and Aunt Susie see you in a couple of days. Here's to enjoying the journey. LOVE

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud

Outta Gas!

The weekend was full of fun and we made many memories. Life is full of surprises as was this weekend. Having good friends to share my experience with is a meaningful thing. But what is a great experience without a little adversity. As the blog posted before mentioned, the weekend was full of good times and great memories. But the one memory that will probably prevail over all the others will be the trip to the airport Tuesday morning. After a low key night of drinks and cards at the Irish pub. Matty P & I had to wake up at 4:30am to make a 6:45am flight after a failed attempt to get him a shuttle ride that would put him at the airport on time. Malpensa International Airport, our destination in Italy, was an hour drive. We crossed the border successfully without any problems because all borders to Switzerland are open at this time. Close to 35 minutes into the drive I realize we did not gas up before we left and were now close to empty. I really didn't know how many kilometers we would get until we ran out of gas, so we crossed our fingers to reach the next gas station. 2 minutes and 13 seconds later we were out of gas and stranded at an exit turnoff and only 25 km from the airport. We decided to trek on foot for the nearest gas station but there were none in sight. We probably walk/jogged a good 3 miles in 20 degree weather with a wind chill of about 15 degrees, before we were able to get off the highway and try to find a gas station. We had no luck, both of us tried our cells, I couldn't get through on my iphone and my Swiss phone didn't have any credit. Matt was able to get through on an emergency line but lost coverage. We then proceeded to try the SOS on the side of the highway and after about 10 min of chatting in broken Italian we were able to get an English speaking operator to get us a tow truck. 20 minutes later we were picked up and driven to the nearest gas station. Let's just say it was a good thing we stopped at the 3mile point because we had a about 10 more km before we would of reached the next gas station. We gassed up but only had 60 euro on us and the cost of the tow was 100 euro. He drove us back to his office facilities and began putting the car in a garage. He had my keys and I didn't feel real comfortable with that so when he tried to roll down my window I told him NO and again in broken Italian I asked him if he would take us to a nearby ATM. We were already spectacle of what was going on because we were in an environment we've never been before and had no control of what was going on. Not to mention the language barrier. Somewhere in the conversation we missed the part about him saying his main office would not be open until 8am and we should get a cafe and wait for it to open so we can pay via credit card. This was not something we were interested in because Matty P had to get back to Spain to take a test for his Sports and Culture class. the tow truck guy drove us to a ATM and we paid him and were on our way. We arrived at Malpensa around 8:30am and Matty asked the receptionist when the next earliest flight would be. The kind lady responded with an answer that would put us back in a position of fright where we had been for the past 3 hrs and were just starting to feel some assurance Matty would make it on time. When then checked flights by other airlines and there happened to be one (Lufthansa) that had a flight at 12:20pm. We just had to drive to the next terminal and hope that it was a non-stop. 300 euros later we had a flight that would get him there on time. We said our goodbyes and relished in our recent experience.

Moral of the story. Gas up before you go on a trip and don't let the first time you run out of gas be in a foreign country. Here's to enjoying the journey. Love

"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud