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