Not a good week on the court..

This past week not the best week for our team.  We started our the week playing at Maccabi Tel Aviv (a team we were tied with for 2nd place) and lost by 12 points.  We were leading the game heading into the 4th quarter but it seemed like we just ran out of gas near the end.  It was a great opportunity missed to show the league how good we were.  After this game we had no time to rest because we had a big cup game on Wednesday.  Our draw was Afula from the 2nd division.  This is supposed to be an easy game for a power 1st division team like ourselves but it did not play out that way.  Afula was leading by 8 at one point during the 3rd quarter.  This may have woke us up because we went on a run from that point and won the game by about 15 points.  This now means we are in the semi-finals of the Israeli cup.  Our next game of the week came on Saturday evening when we played Bnei Hasharon.  This is a team about on our level and it was on our home court.  We knew it was going to be a tough game and a very important game for the standings.  They came out very strong and played us tough the whole game.  It was back and forth until the 4th quarter where they built up a little lead.  The final margin was 4 or 5 points.  Another tough loss for our team.  What made this week especially hard was my playing time.  Total, I had probably less than 30 seconds of playing time throughout all 3 games.  It is so frustrating to do well in practice only to watch from the bench as your team loses.  Coach had a short talk with me after one of the games and said to keep my head up and I was here for the long run and everything.  It is nice to get feedback but I would rather just play.

Another League Win

This past Monday, we won our first league game back from the break.  We played Ashkelon, a team who has the potential to be dangerous, and won relatively easy.  The game was back and forth during the first half.  During the second we opened up our lead a little more and pretty much controlled the game the rest of the way out.  We ended up winning the game by 11 points.  I played very small minutes at the end of each quarter and finished with a rebound and 0-1 on shots.  Any win is a good win in this league and it put us in a tie for 2nd place.   We are playing the team we are tied with this coming Sunday in a huge game for us.  Maccabi Tel Aviv is the New York Yankees of our league.  They have the largest pay roll and they are usually the winners of the league.  Carlos Arroyo, an NBA player last season, is their starting point guard.   It will be a big test for us to see how we do against the very best in our league.  

Off the court, I had a very nice week.  It was great to spend some quality time with my girlfriend Kelly before having to see her go the night after we played Ashkelon.  It was a fun vacation with her here and I was sad to see her leave.  I love having visitors from the states here in Israel.  It makes me feel like I am home.   Another small issue that has come up is somebody has made a fake facebook profile of me and has been requesting people that I know and people that I don't know to be their friend.  It is kind of annoying because I don't know what they are saying to these people and the people they are talking to think that it is me.  The messages that I have sent this person have been ignored so I'm not really sure what else to do.  Hopefully they will just get bored with their little prank and delete the profile.  Anyways, besides that all else is well.  Looking forward to warm weather and the upcoming games.  

Update..

It has been a while since my last blog so there is a lot to talk about..

First, our team is still doing very well and is sitting at 6-2 in the league which is good enough for a tie for second.  A very positive start for a team with lots of expectations.  There is also some new news from our team regarding our roster.  Because of the unfortunate injury to BJ Mckie, we have acquired a new player to replace him on the roster.  Ronald Ross, a guard out of Texas Tech, will be our new player.  The coaches are expecting BJ to be out for a month or two so they thought it would be best to add to our depth.  He will have to learn all of our plays but since they are not too complicated he should be fine.  Our next game is at home against Ashkelon.  They are a talented team with scoring guards who are very dangerous.  We should be able to handle them but only if we come out with the right attitude.  

Also, Christmas break was a great time for me.  It was a time to see family and friends in the states that I have been missing since August.  It seemed almost like a dream because it was so much fun and it was over so quick.  Although it was a fun trip, it feels good to get back here and get my body back in shape.  Another exciting thing about coming back to Israel from break was that my girlfriend Kelly got to come here with me.  This is her second visit so it was not as a shock being in a new country for her.  It would be nice to travel the country and go to spots in the south but there is some conflict that is intimidating.  Hamas in Gaza and Israel have been in heavy combat since the 27th of December.  Conflict between these groups is not new and has a history that goes well beyond my years.  The short story of it is Hamas has been sending random small missiles into the southern parts of Israel for 8 years.  They do not hit people every time but the threat was getting so bad that children could not go to school due to the threat.  Israel asked for them to stop.. they didn't.. so Israel is striking them from the air and on land.  It is kind of scary being 3 hours north of a war but I feel safe in Haifa.  If the conflict spreads outside of Gaza I will be very nervous and think of moving.  I hope they find a resolution soon..  

League Win/The Jerusalem Experience

This week was exciting and featured some things that I have not done before.  First, we won our sixth league game to rise to 4-2 in the league.  Our game was against Nahariya who is expected to compete with us for a position in the Israeli final 4.  Because of this, the game was especially big.  We started out very slow and were fortunate to have one of our big men, Brooks Sales, basically carry us for the first few minutes.  After our team finally woke up, we were still having trouble and went into the half down 9 points.  We knew that a big second half would be needed but things were not looking good when on the first possession of the 3rd quarter one of their guards had a nasty tip dunk over a few of our players.  This might have woken us up because our team went on a serious run and took control of the game from that point on.  Our defense clamped down and held them to 21 second half points.  I played pretty well for the 4 minutes the coach gave me.  I had a rebound, a tip steal that started a break and contested shots.  It was a very good win for our team and set us back on the right track.  

Another fun thing I got to do was travel to Jerusalem with my parents.  We went on a small tour called the Jerusalem experience.  All together, there were 4 tourists and 1 guide so it was a very personal tour.  We visited Western Wall, The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the arab shops, the Via Dolorosa (the final walk Jesus had with the cross), the Jewish Quarter, the Muslim Quarter, the cistern where parts of the cross were found, saw the Dome of the Rock (not allowed to go in), and the Ethiopian Monastery.  It was very interesting to see all of these holy sites even though I am not religious.  There was a certain vibe that you could feel while approaching some of these historic monuments.  It was also a trip that I would not have made by myself.  I was glad to have the opportunity to share it with my parents as they are going home tomorrow.  This will be an easier departure though because I will be traveling back to the states in only a couple of weeks now.  It was a fun week hitting some spots that I would have not seen on my own.  I've got another hard week of practice so we can keep winning games..

Loss/Fashion Show/Parents Arrival

A few things have happened in the past few days.  First, I picked up my parents from the airport on Saturday morning.  This was nice to get another visit from some people from the states.  They were very jet-lagged from the long overnight flight so we didn't do too much the first day.  The next day, our team had a huge game against Jerusalem (another team who was 3-1 in the league and had just come off a huge win over Maccabi Tel Aviv).  We knew that they were the most talented team we had played so far and our fans knew this as well.  The game was packed on both sides and at some points it was so loud in the gym you could not hear yourself think.  We started out kind of slow and the game was back and forth in the first half.  After the break, they went on a little run and took about a ten point lead going into the fourth quarter.  After everything was looking bad for us, we cut the lead to 4 points with a couple of minutes to go.  On probably the biggest possession of the game, they're 3 man who was 6'9" buried his 7th 3 pointer of the game.  This was the final dagger that put the game out of reach for us.  It was tough for our team because our fans had come out so strong for this game and we let them down.  Hopefully this will wake up our team because we are no longer at the top of the league. 

The day after our game was the fashion show.  6 of the guys from our team were selected to appear in a fashion show and escort the girls out who were competing.  This was not something that I was used to especially with the cloths they gave me.  I would never wear this type of clothing in the States.... ever.  The jeans were tight and the shirt was fit for a guy about a foot shorter than me. They also gave me a small sweater to wrap around my neck for a very preppy look.  What made it more interesting was the fact that a few hundred people were at the show watching.  One of my teammates Todd was saying that he was more nervous before the fashion show than before any type of basketball game.  Walking down the runway was a very different thing for me but I have to say it was a little fun.  

I will probably spend the rest of the week hitting all of the "tourist" spots in Israel with my parents.  This will no doubt be a good thing for me because I have to admit that I have not been hitting any of these spots on my own.  It is fun to see a different part of Israel that I have not seen.  Also, I am very excited to say that I will be coming home for a little over a week right before christmas.  It is less than 3 weeks away and I look forward to seeing everybody back in the states.  

Cup Win

Last night, we played Galil in a rematch game.  This time, instead of playing in a regular league game, we played them in the Israeli cup (a tournament with all of the teams in Israel).  The game didn't start off very well for us.  We did not have the proper energy and the game was not going in our direction.  After a poor first half, Galil pushed the lead to around 15 points about mid way through the 3rd quarter.  At this point, things were not looking very good for our chances of winning the game.  Finally, our team woke up and went on a run that seemed to last only a few minutes.  I looked back up at the scoreboard and we were tied.  The whole 4th quarter was very close and we got some bounces and well timed misses by their team.  At the end, we won by 2 points.  Very close game.  As for me, the coach played me for about 3 minutes in the first half.  I had 1 rebound, 1 block, 1 assist and no shot attempts in my time on the floor.  It was fun to get on the floor but I still wish I could have stayed on the court a little longer.  Great win for our team.  

As for some off the court things..

My parents are coming to Israel tomorrow!  I am waking up tomorrow morning to pick up Steve and my mom from the airport in Tel Aviv.  They will be staying with me for a week and two days.  It is a great week to visit because they will get to see 2 very good games as well as share some good meals with me.  I also learned some other great news from our coach today at the morning practice.  He said we will be getting to stay home for christmas!  this is a big deal because we did not know whether or not we were going to be allowed to stay home for the holiday.  This makes me very happy and I am looking forward to it.  I have to keep working here though because we have Jerusalem coming into Haifa in 2 days...

First Loss

Last night, we had our first loss in the league.  We had an away game at Galil which is about an hour away from Haifa.  They brought out a full house and for the first time this season, we were missing our large section of "green apes" to cheer us on and wave our flags.  This may have had something to do with the outcome but either way we didn't play our best.  Galil was torching us off the dribble and through constant pick and rolls.  On the other end, they were really getting us out of what we wanted to do.  They were packing the inside and our outside shots were not falling with consistency.  Even with all of this, we still held a 5 point lead with about a minute and half remaining.  From this point, everything that had to go wrong for us to lose went wrong.  They tied the game in regulation and then proceeded to beat us in overtime.  It was an especially tough game to lose because the coach did not give me any minutes.  I really felt I could have given our team a boost especially with all the heavy minutes the other bigs played.  For whatever reason though I didn't get in and had to watch the loss.  Not an easy night.  Good thing for us we get them at home this thursday in a cup game.  We should get them back.  

In some more positive news, my parents will be coming to see me this saturday.  They will be staying for a week including Thanksgiving.  This is not a holiday that people celebrate in Israel obviously but we will still celebrate it by cooking a nice dinner.  I am looking forward to this and hopefully we can have a good visit.