Tuesday, June 15, 2010

#3

Not a whole lot going on down under other than the normal, basketball, working out, and staying ready for the next ball game. Since the last time I wrote we've had a couple big wins. I think we are back even in the lost column with the two teams ahead of us in the standings. The good thing is that we have the tiebreakers over both those teams. With 8 (I think) games left we are sitting in pretty solid position but we got a tough next three weeks ahead of us. I've continued to play well for the most part. It's slightly different this year, I've continued to garner a lot of attention from opposing teams defenses, but the good thing is that we've had other players step up consistently. There isn't any pressure on me to press or force things. Ben (the other import) has played great all year and can score easily, so between the two of us, and others, we are always capable.

I wrote last time about going to the Fremantle prison to do a tour one Friday night, well Ben, me, and Bobby, who is another American playing for a different team here in Perth, all went down to check it out. Coming from someone who has never been in prison (nope, I don't have anything to hide), it may seem foolish to comment on the condition of such, but this is what we kept calling a "real" prison. It was just insanely primitive. I believe it closed down in 1992, and it would have had no plumbing (inmates were given just a bucket, you can figure out the rest), and there was no real insulation, so in the summer it would have been scorching and would also have gotten very cold at night. Was an interesting night, and like I said a very primitive look at Western Australia's most famous prison.

Also, have had a couple fun nights to head out with some of my teammates to the local casino/resort to watch a couple of the World Cup games, most notably USA and England. Being a member of the English Commonwealth and with lots of English heritage there were a lot of England supporters there. And I mean a lot. I was ridiculously outnumbered (even my teammates were pulling for England). I think I ran into one guy that was from Dallas, but he had had a few too many and was...well we'll just say he was close to seriously angering some English guys, so I had to kind of distance myself from this die hard American supporter cause basically we stood no chance if things got out of hand. I say this cause it was rowdy in the sports book, but it was a great atmosphere. Chants, songs, and cheers all night long. I loved it. We all had a heck of a good time and I suppose it was a good result for the Americans in the game.

Alright hope everybody is well and I'll update after the games this weekend.