Either that, or the fact that I am not REALLY a skilled writer has caught up with me. Regardless, some people have seemed to enjoy the things that I have to say, so I will do my best to continue with my blog.
1) Stinger + SMS = Happy bus. My buddy Stinger sentme an SMS that cheered up the entire bus on the way home from Inowroclaw. We were all pretty bummed out by our performance against Notec. It seems weird to win a game by about 20 points and feel upset about it, but that was the situation in the locker room after playing the young-pups down there. You see, we have been kicking each others' ass in pratice – working hard and with high intensity, but we haven't had a "meaningful" game in almost two months. As basketball players, we are judged by how we perform in games and we knew that we haven't played well lately - in my opinion it has been partly because we have had first place locked up for so long. There is little doubt in my mind that we will be ready for playoffs, but we were still far from excited after our last game.
Until Stinger put a smile on our faces by infroming us that we play Polpharma in the first round of playoffs. After Ron Johnson hit the half court shot to give Slask the victory over Koszalin we all assumed we were headed to Zgorzelec for our first round playoff series. There is no doubt Turow wouldn't be an easy series, but it wasn't Pluta's three-pointers, Brown's dunks, Hyzy's elbows, or Kaminski's bald head that we were dreading - It was the 11-hour bus ride. Don't get me wrong, Polpharma will not be a cake-walk (cake-walk = effortless task), but the 45-minute trip to Starogard Gdanski will feel like a walk in the park compared to the Bataan Death March that is the trip to Zgorzelec.
2) It's nice to get good news, because the weather sure isn't cheering us up. Ernest Hemmingway once said, "The coldest winter I ever spent was the summer I spent in San Francisco". That's how I feel about this year's Polish spring. There have been a couple of days where it started to feel like springtime, but for the most part it has felt like late February rather than nearly mid-April. My sons are still wearing their winter coats...in APRIL!!! Maybe living near the sea in Sopot keeps it colder than it is elsewhere in the land of Chopin and Copernicus, but it is starting to get ridiculous.
I know that the first "official" day of spring is March 20, but spring in Poland doesn't ACTUALLY start until we have the first sighting of girls in white pants. It is the annual rite that - after a looooong winter - many of us men look forward to. The sun comes out, cafes' outdoor seating opens up, and the young ladies show off their new white pants, shorts and mini skirts. I am a happily married man, but I'm not dead, I can appreciate the best of Polish "culture" that springtime brings. So let's hope that Mother Nature, Apollo, Ra or whichever God is in charge of bringing out the sun wakes up so we can put away the winter coats, sit down with a kawa lub piwo, and enjoy the beautiful Polish scenery.
3) Springtime means playoffs and, obviously, we are gearing up for a Ch&ionship run. It won't be easy, but I like our chances - I think we have a team that can take home another gold. There are high expectations and it would be devastating if we don't succeed. Some would also say that our Euroleague season was a failure because of last season's Sweet 16 success. Certainly, it would have been a lot better if we could have squeaked out one more win – we definitely had our chances (Olympiacos, Cibona, Barca). But there is no doubt that we had the best group in Euroleague play, which is evident by the four teams from our group that made the Elite 8. I was asked via email what I think will happen in the Euroleague Final Four - who would I bet on? Well, I can't say for sure that I would put any money on it, but I am rooting for someone from our group to win it. I guess I would say I want Barcelona to hoist the trophy - they were really the only team that I played well against this Euroleague season.
4) Norgy's DBL Playoff predictions: (Norgy is me)
Anwil-Turow: Anwil wins 3-2. Each playoff series should be exciting, but these two teams were definitely the teams that were expected to be on our tail all season. Turow struggled through the season, but they have the players and the coach who can make a run to the ch&ionship series. I would love to see Kamik win this series - I really liked playing for him and wish him all the best, but I owe Brent Scott a good meal out on the town so they have to win in order to get him up here to Trojmiasto.
Polpak-Stal: Polpak 3-2. Polpak wins on a tip in at the buzzer by Steve Thomas as he records his 76th rebound of the game to go along with two points. I know Stal beat us twice this season and Polpak didn't come close in three matchups with us, but they have to beat each other not us.
Czarni - Slask: Czarni 3-2. Either team could win this series, but I want Czarni, because Slupsk is much closer to Sopot than Wroclaw. I can't stress enough my distaste for Polish roads.
Prokom - Polpharma: Well, I better not comment on this one. I do, however, want to see if Dennis Stanton and Jerry Johnson can combine for 30 three-point attempts in one game.
5) Hey, I said I had writer's block. Do you really expect me to come up with a fifth topic of conversation? Ok, I have one: What is the deal with serving meat or fish in gel or jello or whatever that stuff is? We have had it on our last two road trips. That stuff cannot actually be edible, can it?
That's enough for now, let's keep our fingers crossed that the sun will come out tomorrow....