#1
Aug 19th, 2002,Melboure,Australia...

It has been awhile since I last entered in my journal, but I was unable to connect my laptop to the internet. A lot has gone on since I last wrote, I am on a different side of the Earth! I arrived here in Melbourne, Australia on Tuesday, August 6th 2002, morning, fresh from 24 hours of traveling. I was glad and excited to get off the plane, but I had no clue who was supposed to be picking me up from the airport, so I picked my bags up and started walking to customs. Not knowing who was meeting at the airport, I was a little worried that they had forgot about me. I was expecting a guy with a Dusty sign flagging me down, but instead I walked all the way to the pickup zone and I had seen no one. I was getting a little worried by this point. But as I was walking around looking lost, a guy by the name of Peter Murphy and his nephew Sean introduced themselves. I had no clue what they looked like and they had no clue what I looked like, all they had to go on was that I was tall and from Minnesota. Peter told me that he would have totally missed me if my University of Minnesota bag and my number weren't showing. So I got to thank the University for giving me the bag for senior night, much love. It was nice to get them to pick me up, they treated me really well, they took my bags and I didn't have to do anything. I arrived to Melbourne on a cloudy day, but I was just happy to finally get there. We went straight from the airport to the press conference, so I had no time to take a shower or change clothes. When i finally arrived, the team had just finished practice, or as they call it (training). Cameras were everywhere, they had originally been called the Victoria Titans but the team folded just a few months ago and now are called the Victoria Giants. They are lead by Peter Fiddes, who owns the rights to basketball brand of AND1. I met everyone from the owner to the manager that day and I also had to talk with the media. Ah the media, don't we all love them? Actually I liked the media boys back home in Minneapolis, but the Melbourne media is not on my good side right now. After the press conference was over and I was sitting by myself, a short little guy with a pen and paper came over to me, and when I say short I mean short!! This guy stood no higher than 5'4", he came up tp my chest and said, " how tall are you?" I said," I am 6'7"½), he then looked up at me and said, " ah, must have pacific shrink". He obviously thought I was smaller than 6'7", the next day in the paper he wrote about the new American import being smaller than he said and that it must have been "Pacific Shrink". Now I ask you, how the hell can a guy no higher than my chest determine if I am short or not? I thought it was funny, but he can write whatever he wants in the paper, I have no control over that.

As the week went on, I am staying at Peter Fiddes's house, which is nice, he has pool, spa, pin ball machines, bar, and free food! All I have been doing is going to practice and back to his house to either check my email or talk to friends and family. I am currently looking at a house with a swimming pool and I can see the ocean from my back yard, not bad, just like Minnesota. They want to get me a car, but I can wait for that one. Aussies drive on the other side of the road, I have trouble getting into the passenger side of the car let alone drive in this country. My teammates are really down to earth guys, they accepted me from the start, which surprised me a lot. Usually when coming to a new team, you have other players that are jealous or mad for some reason or another, but this team was the exception. The talent here is not close to the USA, but they compete hard. I would think that this league is pretty tough, that is what everyone is telling me, but I will find out sooner or later. They say it is a athletic, tough and physical league. One teammate was saying that it is a lot different than college, but I was thinking that he has not been through a full season of the Bigten, now that is tough!!!!! I don't think I will have a problem making the adjustment.

Our schedule is about the same as college, we lift, practice and then condition all in one day, The facilities are not even close to the ones I had access to at the U of M, but then again the U of M has top of the line equipment. I know for sure of one thing, I am going to miss the Barn atmosphere! We play in a 10,000 seat arena and they only get 6,000 people each game, which isn’t bad but it is no Barn! Basketball is not the biggest or most popular sport here. They are big in AFL, Rugby and cricket! Yeah, I have no clue how to play any of those sports! haha AFL is just as big here as the NFL is to us in the states, it is actually interesting how we are on the same planet but yet we like different sports. Basketball doesn't get much exposure here, it follows those other sports. They don't promote things very well, our league doesn't advertise very well compared to the states. I think if someone would come here from the states and get with a club and know a think or two about promoting a club they would be a real nice asset to the club. I am looking forward to seeing the rest of Australia throughout the season.

We fly everywhere we go, which is nice, I thought going into this that we were going to take buses to most of the places. The whether is nice here, it is close to spring time and it is like a warm fall. No, I have not seen the Crocodile hunter, alligators, kangaroos or any of the stuff that you see in America. It is funny, I was sitting on the plane to Melbourne next to a native. I asked her if she watched the crocodile hunter and she laughed at me, and then I asked her if Fosters was the best beer that they have, see laughed at me again. I was thinking i was comedian, but she then informed me that Aussies hate the Crocidile Hunter and think that he is retarded and that Fosters is the worst beer that they have. She goes on to tell me that they only export the worst products that they have to America. I was like whoa, ok. I didn't know what to say back to her, so i just left and found another seat and slept the whole way there. I know that I go back in forth in this journal but bare with me here, I am trying to write two weeks here off o my memory, it is harder than I thought.

As many of you know, I love my pizza! The first thing I want to do here was try and find a good pizza joint, but I think that is a no go! I have tried 4 different pizza's here and none are up to my standard. Ok, that may sound weird to people that don't know me, but I love pizza, I am the pizza critic. I have been eating other foods here and I have noticed that the food has more flavor than the USA. I also noticed the wine is great! I never drink wine! But they have it here for dinner, it must be a tradition here because everyone drinks it during dinner. I must say, that it is a fine wine! Now don't ask me what kind we have, all I know is that it is good.

Switching subjects once again, my roommate situation. I decided to room with another guys from the team, I just didn't want to be by myself in my first year here. I am rooming with 2 other guys from the team, Chris Novak (21) AND Reese Carter (20), yeah i know, I am the grandpa again! They both are in their first years playing with the team, really cool and down to earth guys. I will provide pictures of everyone I am talking about once I get my digital camera going, that will provide you with a face to put with the names. Well I am thinking what else to write here, I am coming up dry. Oh yeah, the one animal that I hear more than see here is the damn possum! People have them living in the roofs of their houses and they are loud as shit! They keep me awake at night, I asked the owner why they don't kill them or something and I guess it is illegal. I asked what a possum looked like, he told me that they are like our squirrels, I thought ok, they must be small. These things are huge!!!!! They the size of a small-medium dog! It scared the hell out of me! haha

Oh yeah, the other thing that is different is the language and how people here talk faster and use a lot of slang. It is hard to pick it up at first but I think I am getting the hang of it. As people know me, I am hard of hearing in the first place, this just adds to it.. On a lighter side, if you guys think that Terrance Simmons was hard to understand, wait until you get to Australia, it is like millions of him walking around talking fast! haha Food is different color too! I went to a police function the other night and I ate some different food, but it was good and I would tell you what I ate if I could remember what it was. The waitress brought some food out and I started to eat it, I was hungry so I started to eat right away! Well I was eating all of the meat and pizza on the plate and the only thing that was left were carrots. Carrots my butt, found out they were hotdogs. They were orange, I think that they tried playing the trick on me, haha. The guys get a kick out of me not knowing what things are and that I don't get the slang yet. Another thing for those going to another country, bring an adapter. I brought one, but my clippers fried!!

Well I am getting tired, it is about midnight.. I will write more later..

Monday, August 19th, 2002.
Well I wasn't going to write for a couple of more days but I thought that this day was interesting enough that I should, it is a day to remember. It started all this morning at 8 A.M. when Chris Novak, Miles ( Guy trying out for a spot on the team, who looks like Miles Tarver) and me went to practice, we knocked over the trash cans as Chris drove his car to practice. This was the first day that we went to practice driving ourselves, since we didn't know the city that well we have been riding with teammates or the owner to practice. We made it to practice fine but after it, was the difference maker. We started from the house on "E", I had mentioned that we need some gas, Chris said that we were fine and we would have enough gas. So after practice we headed out to our new house, which is a 20 minute drive from practice and I mentioned again that we should get gas, Chris said, nothing to worry about the gas light hasn't come on yet so we will have 30 k's left to get to a gas station. Well after looking at the house we decided to check out the suburb that we are living in and see if there are any food places to eat at. As we are looking we come up to a gas station, and I mention once again that we should get gas, Chris says, " oh no, we'll have enough gas, the gas light hasn't come on yet." I was ok, well after 15 more minutes of riding around we pass the same gas station and I mention to get gas for the 5th time, but yet again, with the same response. So as we head back to the owners place which is a 40 minute drive we run out of gas half way there! It was a mess, I had to walk to the gas station with Miles while Chris was trying to get road side assistance. While walking down a road that I have no clue where a gas station is, we spot a McDonalds and decide that Chris can wait, since he was ignorant enough not to stop and get gas. Wouldn't you know it, as we walk in, there are 2 cops standing right there. We told them that we were stranded without gas on the freeway and they said that they just had passed us, I was thinking, "THANKS FOR STOPPING!". But we eventually hoped into the back of the patty wagon and went to the gas station. The clerk at the gas station thought that we were some criminals being let off at the gas station, they wouldn't let us borrow something to put the gas into so the cop "debo-ed" them and just took it and said if they have a problem to call his chief. They let us walk out with it and the cop eventually brought it back later after we had filled up. It was the first time that I had run out f gas by myself, and it happened in a different country! Go figure! I laugh at it now, but at the time is wasn't so funny! That was my day today, a fun filled afternoon..So never leave your house with the tank on "E" and think it will last you the whole day! Never rely on the gas light, odds are, it doesn't work!!!!
Holla.............

#2
August 22nd, 2002. Melbourne, Australia

It is almost my 3rd full week here in the land of the Crocodile Hunter and Fosters Beer, things are moving slowly but going good! It is colder here than I had thought, I was hoping that I would be coming from summer whether to summer, but that hasn’t been the case. It is about 40-60 degrees here and I have to sleep with a sweat suit on, because it is just to cold at night. Most places don’t have central heat, or at least they don’t turn them on much. It must be like central air conditioning for me... Now to basketball, we had our intra-squad scrimmage on Tuesday August 20th. The game went well, but I don’t think it will be that easy to score in the NBL, but I had a decent game, over 30 points and about 12-15 rebounds, I can’t remember. Is was alright, but I hope the NBL season will be tougher, it is nice to play games and dominate but it doesn’t make you push yourself to be a better player. It is nice playing with this team cause they get you the ball wen you are open, tell you to shoot and if you don’t they get mad and no one is selfish, at least not yet. I feel that there is less pressure on me here, I don’t know why but I just do. I will have a schedule on when our games are later this month, and our website isn’t up yet, but I was hired to help design and maintain it, I get to gain some work experience while I am out here. I just moved into my house out in the suburb of sky, it seems like a long way out, but it is nice to be out of the city, just to get away from things time to time. It is a huge house, with 10 rooms, spa, pool and the ocean can be seen from the back yard.

On another note, I am playing with a guy named Darren Smith and he has a twin brother named Jason, well t turns out that Jason has been signed by the same team in Italy that Randy Carter signed with, small world. Jason and Darren both have some game, Jason being a little better because he can shoot the 3, and shoot it very well!! I started driving here today, it was not easy. The team set me up with a temp car until I get mine, but they stuck me with a mini-van and it was manual. It is hard to adjust to the driving here, it is not as aggressive as it is in the states. I don’t think that people get road rage here, at least not as much. The hardest part about driving is, when you are making a right or left turn and you have to look the opposite way that you’re used to. They have speed bumps and turn-arounds on every street here, and they also have a very strict speed laws. The way they keep their speed laws enforced is with sped cameras all over the roads, which takes a picture of you and the car, so if you try and call in and say that it was not your car or you, they have proof. I still have to get my international license so I can legally drive here, but I think that I have a couple of months before I do that. Other than that, nothing new or overly exciting going on. I will keep you updated, I will try to do a journal a week.. I will also have updates of our games and I hope to have streaming video or full games that can be downloaded.

#3
Thursday, August 29th, 2002. Melbourne Australia.

Our basketball team is getting organized more and more everyday that passes. Over the last week we have had 2 intra-squad games and I have done pretty well, going for about 30 + points and 10 + rebounds in both games, I wish that I could keep stats like that the whole season, but who knows. We are looking for a big man, since we were counting on having one of Austalia’s best centers, Chris Antstey, who has played a few years in the NBA, but he did well when playing against some European teams and has signed for a couple million with Russia or something. The rumor was that I was getting dumped, oh yeah, that had me going, so instead of listening to all the people emailing me about it I went straight to the General Manager and the head coach and the assistant to get to the bottom of things. I was honest with them and I hope that they were with me, but they pretty much guaranteed things for the whole season. Things are different than college at the professional level, you have to fight for yours. I mean, in college you pretty much know that you can’t be cut, but you can lose playing time, but at the professional level you can get cut at any moment and you never know when that will be. The team that you’re with could get a sniff of something that they think s better and the next thing that you know is the plane back to America, looking for another job. I have established some good realtionships while I have been here. While playing basketball I have been working on my work experience, helping design and develop the teams website. I figure while basketball takes up half the day and I have nothing to do the other half, I might as well work on establishing some work experience. This will ensure that I have some work experience, so when I can no longer sore above the rim I will have something to fall back on.

Our first pre-season game is this weekend, I am looking forward to playing other teams but I am not looking for this 8 + hour bus ride that we are taking!! Yeah, long as hell! But this is the only bus trip that we have all year long, I guess we get the team bonding out of the way early here.. I have nothing since we don’t actually get paid until the Tuesday after the trip, so I can’t go out and buy a Nintendo game boy or something. I will keep you posted on how everything goes....... If you have any suggestions on how I can improve this site please email me.

#4
Monday September 2nd, 2002.

This weekend we played the Canberra Cannons, they were one f the worst teams last year, so they have a lot of room for improvement. Well if they were the worst last year, we are on pace to be the worst this year. We played 2 games against them, we tied them the first game and lost by 22 points the second. It is not that we are bad, but we have a lot of young players on this team, I am among the oldest. We only have 3 players that have ever played in this league, the rest are rookies from the ABA (ABA is like CBA in the states). So we are young and young teams have a tendency to get their butts kicked for awhile until they can mature and grow as players. So I consider us the Minnesota Twins of the Australian Basketball. So to continue with this past weekend. We turned the ball over 40 times, which doesn’t help our chances at even being close, but if you look at it, we didn’t loose by as much as you would think with 40 to’s. I didn’t look to score that much, I wanted to concentrate on getting the offense right, but it won’t be a problem to score in this league. It is funny here, the news barely says anything about basketball, but when it does, it is totally negative. The other night they had a streaming highlights on the bottom of the TV about basketball and it said that we will have a rough season, basically saying that we will suck..haha I think that it is funny that this country is so caught up on their home grown sports like cricket, Aussie Rules (Australian Football) and Rugby that they are scared that basketball is going to take over. I really think that they don’t want basketball to be one of the top sports in the country. I have talked to other guys on the team, they said that they have never promoted basketball much here, if they would I think that they wouldn’t have a problem getting people to the games. I don’t control those things, I just play the game. To get back to this weekend, since the other team was one of the bottom teams they are allowed 3 imports instead of 2, so they Reggie Pool from Louisiana and Mike Chappel from Michigan State. Reggie had the game of his life with 30 and Mike Chapel had 10 or so. The refs were terrible, they brought n homers and they were the worst refs that I have ever had. I think that they are worse then the refs we had when U f Minnesota team went to Europe a few years back, the guys on the team know what I am talking about, Coach Monson should for sure. The fill the rest of you in, the refs in Europe were really bad, this one really stuck out, a player rom England was driving the lane and Nick Sinville took a charge, well the refs talked about it and they decided to throw Nick out of the game. I thing everyone was shocked, Coach Monson got ejected and it was done hill from there, but I have to admit it was funny. I think everyone got a good laugh. If the refs are like that all year long, I won’t like it here at all, I will lead the league in one category and that is fouls er game....

We still have 4 scrimmages against other teams before the season starts on Oct 6th, I will keep you updated when it is time. I still have not gt internet at my house, as soon as I do the site will be updated often.

#5
Tuesday, September 24th 2002, Melbourne, Australia

It’s getting closer to the start of the season on October 6th against the Perth Wildcats at Perth. Our team has come a long way since the first pre-season game against Canberra. We have added two more players and released another. The guy that they let go is Chris Novak and picked up an American with Australian citizenship and another Aussie. The American-Aussie is Dave Biwen (66" swing man) and Nick Murich, Sydney. Dave is 38, he is a player, not that athletic but he knows how to play the game, he has been playing in the league below during the off-season and is tearing that league up, he had a couple of games this year with stats like 30-30-32-25! (Points & Rebounds) Nick Murich is a big guy about 6'10", he is a banger, he played last year in Europe and has been staying in Minnesota with his wife and kids. I didn’t realize it until I got here, but I played Nick in the Howard Pulley Summer League. Nick and I didn’t start off on great terms during the summer, he was getting irritated that I was scoring on him so he demanded the ball in the post, he turned to shoot the ball and I was right there waiting for him, I stole the ball and he put me in a head lock. Haha Nick and I are over that, but I still find it weird that I run into people that are from Minnesota or know people from Minnesota. I was at a party the other night and this guy asked me if I was an American, I said, “yes”, he kept on talking about how he plays minor league baseball for the Detroit Tigers, he goes on to say that he is good friends with Jack Hannahan and another guy from Minnesota, I was like whoa! To go on about the small world thing, we played Adelaide 36er’s and a guy named Rogers,(I forget his first name) played for Coach Monson at Gonzaga and with john Thomas while at Toronto. I have realized that this world is smaller than we all think. But lets talk basketball.......

A lot of things has happened since the last journal entry. I talked about how unorganized things have been and that our team needs a lot of work. Well it is about the same, still a little unorganized, but things are moving in the right direction. We played three more pre-season games since then and it’s all good. In the 1st game we played cross-town rival Melbourne tigers, they have a very experienced and veteran team. On paper we were supposed to get blown out, but we ended up beating them, and I think that made them mad! I was being aggressive and trying to score. Since I was feeling the pressure of the front office. After that first game with Canberra, where I didn’t score or do much, I heard that no one wanted me and that I stunk! I could feel that they were second guessing themselves with me, so I thought I would put that to rest. I realized that it is time in the game that I need to be selfish and start thinking about me and my future and I can’t succeed at basketball without being aggressive. I had18 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists in the first game, not that bad, it started to turn heads. I still had doubters and haters thinking that this white guy who can’t jump from Minnesota is a fluke. So I still have something to prove all year long, always going to be haters. In the second game, against Melbourne Tigers, but a week later. We were without are starting point guard and shooting guard, we lost this one, but I had a good game, 21 points and 15 rebounds, not bad for a guy that can’t jump. Still I had people thinking that was a fluke, but I was starting to change them. The third game against Adelaide 36er’s, the defending NBL Champs, winning it the last 3 out of 4 years. They are tough, they have it all, size, quickness, shooters and a bench. We played tough, but again we were short handed, having three players sitting out and two of them are starters. I had a good game, shooting 75% from the field with 32 points and 16 rebounds, I am not sure how many rebounds I had but that is what someone told me. I am not big on looking at my stats, I just do what I got to do. I hope that I can keep this scoring up for the rest of the season, that would prove a lot of people that I can play at a higher level.

I am going to change the topic here, lets talk about the internet and chat forums. I know that the internet is a huge thing, and I like them but then again they have a lot of negative posts and responses. I remember the first years at the U, I came across the chat room called the Gopherhole, they talked about Gopher hoops, so I thought that I would read some. All I saw was negative posts on there, not about the team so much but about this kid who is chasing his dream to play at the highest level possible. You guessed it, it was me, I was getting bashed by everyone, people were saying that I can’t play and that they shouldn’t waste a spot on the team for a crappy player such as myself! I heard all kinds of negative things about me until the day that changed my life and the way people looked at me forever, the Gonzaga game. Well my point is, people over here are saying the same, that I can’t play and that I am not worth an “import spot’, they say that I can’t jump, aint quick and not athletic, so I must not be that crap player. I recently looked at the internet and they all have changed there minds about me, it is so strange. It doesn’t matter what you look like, but how you look after the game, when you have filled the stat line! People are too caught up with the high flying dunkers, and not about the game. I am not that dunker, I wish I was, but I am not, I play the game, the game of the average person, that over achieves. I am that person that loves hearing negative posts, so I can try to prove them wrong!

Sorry about that, I just needed to get things off my chest. I finally got my car, getting my house furnished next week and then I should be set for the rest of the year. The weather is getting nice, soon I will be on the beach and enjoying my time. Not much is going on here, I watched plenty of tv on the September 11th tribute. I was shocked to see that this country was hit hard by what happened to America. That is another thing, I always realize this when I am gone from the country for a long period, but we have it good in America! I don’t care what situation you are in, America is a great place and I think that I forget that sometimes, but being in another country will make you realize that, and I have. I play with an American Guy named Jahmal Mosley, He is from the U of Colorado, he keeps on asking me if I am getting homesick yet, I told him no, but I think as more time goes I do miss home. It took me awhile, but I think that I am now, I am not going to catch the next flight home, but you miss your friends and family after awhile, especially when you leave everyone behind to chase some dreams. Chasing dreams is fun and you’ll never have any regrets, but it is hard to chase them. You have to leave things that you know behind, it’s hard to leave your comfort zone, but I guess that is life’s little test. You have to take the risks to make it, if it wasn’t like that, then everyone would be on top of the world. You have to fail also, I am not afraid to fail, just bounce back up and keep moving!

I am going to stop, it is late and I have an early practice. Feel free to email me questions. I hope to have a chat forum soon.

Until Next Time....

#6
Friday September 27th, 2002 Melbourne Australia.

We have one more week of practice left before the start of the season at Perth, it should be an interesting ride. The media and people thought that we would be the worst team in the league, but they have slowly changed their minds. Mostly because of our play against some of the top teams in the NBL, we kept the games close, won one and barely lost the others. We played most of our pre-season games without 2 starters in Darren Smith and Daryl McDonald, D-Mac is one of the best PG’s in the NBL and Smith is a solid 2 guard. Once we get both of them back in to the lineup we should be competitors. For those of you that have satellites at home, we have half of our games on FOX Australia, we are on TV more than any other team in the NBL, getting the exposure that we need.

I have been talking about how unorganized our club has been, but it is slowly coming around. I have not been treated so well in my life, I am getting spoiled. Our team doctor, trainer is called a Physio, she does it all, from minor pains to the hard core ones. She works hard and makes sure that you get what you need to get better. I have had a problem with tendinitis in my left knee for over 12 years, she has already helped that. If I am sore I get a massage from her on Monday, Wednesday and Friday on the specific parts that I need treated and on Tuesday and Thursday I get a ful body massage for 2 hours if needed. I think that I am getting a little spoiled, I don’t know if too many other teams in the world have this kind of treatment, with the exception of the NBA.

I have been trying to keep up with other Gopher players playing professionally, but I can’t find them all. If someone could send me an email letting me know where guys like T-Bennett, Antoine Broxsie, Kerwin Flemming and others are playing, it would be greatly appreciated. I also read the paper back home and try to keep up with the current team. They have the talent this year to do great things, but it is all about chemistry. If this team can play as a team, they will go deep and bring back Minnesota Basketball on the National level. Good luck to them, I’ll be checking up from time to time.

To skip to another topic, clothes and how hard they are to find here. I can’t find any clothes that are in my size, everything is skin tight or it is too small. The other day I went shopping and asked for the baggiest pair of jeans in the store, they were baggy enough but they fit like capri’s. So I have been looking on-line for clothes, mainly jeans. If anyone knows of a website that I can go to, that will provide the in-seam, that would be great. I have been to eastbay.com and all of the major website’s with no luck.

Ok, that is all that is going on here, not hot enough to hit the beach but I’ll send pictures when I do. Next journal will be after the Perth game on October 6th, 2002.

#7
Wednesday, October 2nd, 2002:

The first game of the NBL season started today with West Sydney vs. Adelaide, last years two finalists. The game was tough and competitive while West Sydney beating Adelaide by 12 points. Adelaide were pretty cold from the field, usually they shoot the three at a 50%+ rate, but not tonight. The funniest thing happened at the game, which I have never seen, maybe Morgana the Kissing Bandit is a distant second. A middle aged women streaked through half court and back while doing cart-wheels and cheering. She was completely naked and let me be the first to say, she looked like a tray of jell-o, jiggling from head to toe! Haha I think that put the nail in the coffin for Adelaide, it made a serious game into laughter. Only in Australia that kind of stuff would happen, it was funny as hell. I think that it was planed by the team for someone to do that. The reason I say that, is because attendances at NBL games here aren’t even close to full capacity, so when weird things happen they get more media attention therefor more fans to the game.

we play our first game this weekend, I will update anything strange and meaningful. Feel free to email me with any questions about this league or Australia. Thanks to all of you that have sent me an email!

#8
Regular Season game #1, October 6th, 2002 Giants vs. Perth Wildcats

Our first game of the year was against the Perth Wildcats, one of te best teams in the league. They have 3 players from the Victoria Titans team last year that were very tough. We travel the day before the game so we can get a shoot around and rest before the game. The flight from Melbourne to Perth was about 4 hours, which isn’t bad considering that we made 2 one-way bus trips which were 8 and 10 hours each way. I have heard so many good things about Perth and its weather, but when we got their it was windy, rainy and cloudy the whole weekend, so I really never got to get out and see what everyone was talking about and will not see Perth again this season because we only play them once at their place. Before this game ever happened, the media has predicted that we won’t win a game all season and take the wooden spoon. (The wooden spoon is the team that comes in last) I don’t think that we will come in last, but we have no respect from the media or any other team in the league, it must be earned! The way we travel is a bit different than I have been used to with the U of M, instead of having a charter bus ready for us, we rented cars. Other than the cars everything else is about the same, we still have a shoot around, pre-game meals, player and team scouting sheets. Now on to the game, I started with Jahmal Mosely, Nate Croswell, Nik Mirich, and Darryl McDonald. We started the game off well, but I wasn’t playing that well, maybe I was nervous, I don’t know, but I didn’t play much in this game. We ended up being down by 20 or so in the 3rd quarter and were on pace to lose by 30 or more. By the middle of the 4th quarter we made a comeback and were leading by 7 points with 5 minutes to go. We got hit hard within the next couple of minutes, Perth hit 3 three pointers and we were done. Losing by 8 to Perth at one of the toughest places to play in the NBL. The crowd was a little like the college atmosphere, but they only had about 20 people screaming and heckling you, whereas college arenas would have thousands. I ended the game with 20 minutes played and 10 points and 5 rebounds, getting put in the dog house with the couch, I guess I didn’t do some things right. That was the beginning of the worst week of my life!

Following the game I was mad at myself for playing average and disappointed that I only played 20 minutes, since I was paying around 35 minutes during the pre-season. The flight home for me was horrible, I was thinking about everything, how I could play better, and other things. The next day rolls around and I am still mad at myself, but I have to go to a team promotion and that didn’t make me happy, cause I wanted to get into the gym to work. While I was at the promotion the coach tells me that I am getting a new car and that I should be at practice a little early to exchange my car. The reason I am exchanging my car is because it is too small for me, I can barely fit in it. While I am waiting, the general manager tells me that I am getting a nice car and that it will be bigger so I can fit and take me and my roommates to and from practice without feeling cramped. We wait for this guy to bring the cars for about a half hour, so DP the general manager goes to call him, to see where he is. He takes off and I go get my car so everything will be ready to make and easy exchange. So I park my car in a no parking area waiting for this guy to come. While I am waiting another car parks in front of me, a 15 year old price of crap that looks like a go-cart, the guy jumps out of the car and asks me if he can park there and I said, “no, I am only here waiting for my car.” The guy sits back in his car, then he looks at my sweatshirt and notices that I am with the Liberty Giants, so he tells me that he has my car right there, so the piece of crap car is mine! I went off on him, I blew my top, I walked into the office and yelled at everyone, I have never blown my head like this before, but I couldn’t handle it anymore. Noting was getting done for me, my house was still unfurnished, my car was too small, I live too far out of town, I lost my starting spot and to top it all off I was mad at myself for playing bad. Once the guy leaves and I get into practice, guys on my team asked me what I was doing parked on the side of the road with a piece of crap car in front of mine. They thought that the crap car had hit me and we had to figure things out, but when I told them that the piece of crap car is mine, they were like WOW! They all thought I got screwed and I did, so I talked to the 2 owners and bitched out more people, I wasn’t very happy. So I have been here for 3 months and have been very patient, still waiting for everything that is in my contract. After I get mad, I get my new, money for furniture and moving closer to the city, so I don’t have to drive as far. So I guess that I have to get mad before people start taking me serious, being the nice guy doesn’t work.

Game #2 Saturday October 12th, Giants vs. West Sydney:

Now that I have cooled down from my first game and the week from hell, I am ready to tackle the West Sydney Razorbacks, who are one of the best teams in the league and favored to win the NBL. This time I started the game on the bench, which doesn’t bother me, unless I don’t get any time on the court. But we were picked to lose this game by 20 points or more. The crowd for our game was about 4 thousand, more than I had thought, but it was a loud and energetic crowd, kind of like Williams Arena. The game was back and forth for 3 quarters, with us being up 2 points going into the fourth. I was playing better this game but I don’t get that many shots up, I need to shoot more, with only 6 shots the first game and 6 this game. I ended up scoring 9 points in the fourth to help us beat the Razorbacks by 10. I ended up with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals in 20 minutes. I was happier with my play this game, but would like more minutes, but I guess I will have to earn them. So far we are 1-1 this season, more wins that anyone even thought we would get.

Our next game is Wednesday, October 16th, 2002. More to come after that game..Melbourne Tigers vs. Liberty Giants

#9
Regular Season game #3, October 16th, 2002 Giants vs. Melbourne Tigers

This is our 2nd home game this week, coming fresh off a win against the West Sydney Razorbacks. Melbourne was favored to win bye 5 points and we had no chance of even coming close. The papers had written us off, saying that our win against West Sydney was a fluke and that we could not win back to back games. So right off the bat, people said that we could and would not win this game. The Melbourne Tigers have a veteran team, with Andrew gaze, (Australia’s version of Michael Jordan) and Lenard Copeland (he is a player, pure scorer), other than that they have no one. So on paper they were supposed to win, but we had other things in mind. The game started at 7:30 pm, and they had won the tip and scored right out of the gates going up 2-0. That was the Tigers only lead of the game, we turned it on as a team and lead by 21 at half. We kept the pressure on throughout the 2nd half and beat the Tigers by 28! I had an alright game, I am getting more comfortable as each game passes. I played 26 min with 17 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals and a couple of assists. So as we stand right now, we are 2-1 and heading strong into the next week. We have to keep getting better in order to finish strong and get ourselves into the playoffs. Now we have 10 days before our next game, we need to get rested and get back to work.

Noting off the court that is interesting, but if something comes up, I will make sure to post it!

Until next time.........

#10
Melbourne Australia, October 28th 2002:

Fresh off our loss over the weekend, I am reading and rested to report back to my journals. Rewinding back time to our game against the Wollongong Hawks and how badly the game was refereed! Usually I don’t mind refs if they call a good physical game and let the players play and the fans enjoy what they came and paid for. Let me say this, I have never played in a game like this before in my life, even my elementary refs did a better job than these guys. There were a total of 75 fouls called in this game and over 50 free-throws for each team. They called foul if you breathed, looked or even talked too! It was pathetic, the commentators were saying that this was the worst game that they have ever seen. No one could get a slow going, not even the fans, it was bad for the NBL, who is struggling to create a fan base and bring in quality attendances. For many people that came to our game for the first time or watched it on TV, they all said that they would not be interested in coming or watching us again, because of how badly the game was officiated. For me only being here for 3 months and observing how games have been officiated, I have to say that is the downfall of this league. The refs try to take over games and not let teams ,players or fans get into a flow. The NBL complains about attendances going down, well you have to look at how games are officiated, people don’t come to watch refs control a game, they come to watch players and teams work hard for a common goal. As one BigTen referee said to me one time when I was trying to persuade him to change a call, “ A good ref is a ref that goes unnoticed during a game”. One more thing that mad me disappointed with the officiating, right before half-time the point guard for Wollongong ran into to me while I was standing and he fell to the ground, the ref called me for a foul, but I was just standing and he hit me and just dropped. I know that I am a human phenomenon of physical statue but come on. As I was walking into the tunnel to go to our locker room the same ref that called the foul while I was just being innocent pulled me aside and said that he had to blow the whistle and he had to make a call, so he called it on me. Then he says that he made a mistake and he just had to call it on someone, I said, “don’t blow the damn thing if you have no clue”! He got mad at me but I was a little mad, but a ref should never apologize for a bad cal, you can’t go back and change the cal so leave it alone of you will piss me off again, who knows what I will do, LOL The game is done with and we have to concentrate on Wednesday game against the Brisbane Bullets..

Now for some off the court things, I moved closer to the city and am only 5 minutes away from our training facilities. I was living about 60 kilometers out of town and that was just a little to far for me to drive, I am trying to save money not burn it.. A round trip on game day would have me traveling 275 Kilometers, it was like I was living in Elk River and going into Minneapolis everyday for games, just too far, so I moved. I am currently living with the other import Jahmal Mosley, he is cool, from the University of Colorado. I live a block away from a shopping center similar to Rosedale, SouthDale so that is nice, everything I need right around the corner. I am still waiting for internet and cable tv, I have been waiting for this since I got here, this move just a little slower than I would like!!!lOL Overall I am enjoying myself, I am having fun for the first time in a long time, and I am getting paid to do it. I can’t remember the last time I had as much fun as I am having right now playing ball. In college it seems as if you are a slave and have no say, here you have a say and it makes it that much more exciting, you control your own destiny instead of someone else.

I will report back after our next game and let you know on and off the court issues....

#11
Journal 19: Liberty Giants vs. Brisbane Bullets

After the loss to Wollongong, we needed to pick our selves up and win the game against the Brisbane Bullets. The Bullets have not won a game this year and are facing some major changes if they don’t win soon. So this game is a big one for both teams, for them and for us, it will give us the momentum that we need and it will allow them their first win of the season. Going into the game we knew that this was going to be a war, and they have their backs to the wall and are doing anything to win. On paper we had this game won easily, but it was much tougher than that. The game was close throughout and they battled their butts off and would not quit. You could tell that they needed this game, they played like their lives depended on it. We got down about 15 or so points with half a quarter left in the game. Then Jahmal Mosely decided that he would put us on his shoulders and carry us to victory. Being 15 down with a couple of minutes left, Mo scored 19 points to force overtime. Mo hit a three pointer with 15 seconds that tied the game. The momentum was in our favor, and it stayed that way for the rest of the game. We ended up winning the game by a couple of points, due largely to Mo’s big fourth quarter. Mo ended the game with 36 points and 19 boards and I had 38 points and 12 boards. Not bad for a couple of American guys, I am just happy that we got the win, cause if we had lost this game we would have lost a lot of confidence. Ths win puts us at 3-2 going into our double header this weekend.

Liberty Giants vs. Wollongong and Canberra Cannons

This weekend is going to test us big time! We play Wollongong on Friday and Canberra Saturday, our first double header of the year for us. I think we might struggle this week, because our practices haven’t been that sharp, and you need sharp practices to be sharp in games. Before I get to the games, let me tell you about a poor soul that got dunked on by a guy that can’t jump over a dollar bill. It happened on Wednesday, November 6th, 2002. We have this new play where we dribble to the guy in the corner and I hand him the ball and then he gets screened coming off for the jump shot or for the dish. Well the white team was playing this play and I decided to keep the ball instead of hand it off and turn the corner. So as I turned the corner, to my amazement no one was there waiting for me, so I saw all rim! My eyes got big as I thought to myself, “ Man, I can get a dunk here”. Dunks for me don’t come often, but when they do, it is a nice treat! Haha So I turned the corner and elevated high, playing weak-side D was a guy which will remain anonymous, he tried to contest me, but I just elevated over him and splatted one in his eye!!!!! He just has been posterized! Haha Now back to the games and we need to win them in order to stay n the top 6 in the league. Wollongong is tough, they played a tough game. We came in thinking that we can win, but they proved to be too much for us, as they beat us by 7 points. We gave a gutsie effort but that wasn’t enough for us. On to Canberra the next day to see if we can pull off one game for the weekend. Canberra has just come back from a tour in the states with Magic and his team of all-stars. They had got back a day or two earlier so they must have been tired. The game was close in the first half as we were only trailing by 4 points going into half time. In the second was a different story, we came out and they came out harder! It seemed as if we just ran out of gas and they had a ful tank and were ready to run us over. We ended up losing this one by 19, 118-99. Before I end on the that note, I must tell you about the dunk that Perro had one Miles Peirce. He dunked on him hard, I mean in his face and Miles started to fall over, that is how hard he dunked on him! It was a mean one!

So in the end we came away with some bruises and learned a lesson. Never have bad practices before games, always come and be ready. You practice how you play! I look at it this way, yeah we lost 2 games, but we also learned that we have a lot of work to do and the lesson that we learned we take away from it.

I must say that Wollongong is one of the most beautiful places that I have been to. I have put some PICS of us on the beach of Wollongong, so I hope you enjoy, for those of you in the USA. Just a little taste of things.

Next game is Adelaide 36er’s, I hope to keep this site updated faster and regularly, but due to restrictions with internet I can’t......

 

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