Our first L

Three games into the season the White Devils of Cottbus picked up their first loss. We were up 10 at half time but ended up losing by about 11. We gave up 72 points, so the problem was definitely more of our offense. I am pretty sure we only had 5 guys out of the 12 who played score.  I played well, but 12 of the 18 points I had came in the first half.  For some reason we were far less disciplined in our offense and the only person to get quality scoring opportunities was our point guard. Hmm. 

Perhaps as frustrating as the loss itself was the way my coach handled the adversity. Every timeout was incessant yelling. Not once did he ask a question; every sentence he uttered was an imperative command in a self-righteous tone. I am quickly developing a deaf ear for 90% of the things he says to me during games. 

The pinnacle of his attitude problem for me was when we were down 9 with 40 seconds to go in the 4th quarter. I asked him if we should foul twice (in an effort to prolong the game and hope we make some shots). Both times he sat with his legs crossed, arms folded, and pouted. He didn't even use his words, all he did was shake his head. 

Next weekend is another game, so we can't dwell on this one. We will also get the chance to play them again... I'll have that day circled on my calendar.

Wie geht es dir?

Here I am! Sorry I am late, I was caught in traffic on route 80. There was an accident. 

So, what's happened since my last blog? Well, let's see:

Two weeks ago, Nick and I started German lessons. Every Friday afternoon between individual workouts and team practice, a team manager comes over with a workbook and we try and gain a new "tool" to use in typical German life. The first week was pretty much about initial interactions with strangers. We went over how to ask what someone's name is, where they are from, their age, what they do for a living, how they are doing (that's the title of this post), etcetera. Our second lesson took us beyond saying "I would like to have..." at a restaurant. I am a picky eater, so asking if I can have something different than what is on the karte will come in handy. 

Lessons have been the only things recently to remind me of the cozy safety bubble of college life. Within the last eight days, I installed my own shower head holder, had to break my bike lock (twice), had a flat tire fixed, and deal with a vice president of a certain basketball club that wasn't forthcoming with important monetary information.

At the beginning of last week, I had to saw through my bike because some stranger broke their key off in my lock. I chose to think that someone got confused and tried to unlock the wrong bike. It helps me sleep at night. I obviously had to go to the store and buy a saw myself because that's what you have to do if you want to get things done. At the end of that week, I got a flat riding to practice and broke my own key off in the lock after practice.   I didn't even break it from side to side , I twisted it broken. Keys shouldn't be that malleable- especially not with finicky locks. 

The crown jewel of dealing with things myself happened yesterday when I received an email saying that I half of the recent phone bill would be deducted from my pay next month. I wrote a harsh email saying that I didn't use the phone equally, and that when I did use it, it was at no cost. So, that a pay deduction was unacceptable. Feeling pretty good about standing up for myself, I continued to keep it funky via email and said that it's unfair to make up some magic number that we have to start paying for when our contract said the club would be responsible for the phone.

She responded with a dagger of a response. Evidently the club is responsible for providing the phone- not the service. Real cool. I wasn't happy, but ultimately it was my fault. Live and learn.

Wellps, we play our second game this weekend in Berlin. I am excited to play another game that counts.  

Big gulps, huh?

Wellps, the first game came and went. It was a real barn burner, too. With 30 seconds to go we were only up 39 points. After the game, our coach expressed his disappointment to the media saying that we "should have won by 100" against our opponent. 

Please excuse my sarcasm, but my coach did actually say that. While on the topic of things my coach did, I feel the urge to make a list- 

My coach said:

When I am open to shoot the three on the ball reversal, to not shoot.  

When I catch the ball against zone defense to try and score.

Don't shoot the wide open three off of one pass against the zone.

Shoot a challenged jump shot, instead. (Mostly because it's about two feet closer despite it still being one pass against the zone.)

Don't throw a skip pass to someone for a wide open shot that wasn't a lay-up.

Don't shoot an open shot because we can get them whenever we want.

There are a host of contradictions that I'd rather not discuss at the moment. Talking about them right now will only put me in the wrong mindset for practice in a couple of hours. 

Tough times pass, tough people last. He can kiss my grits. 

Sorry about the typographical errors earlier. Haste makes waste. 

..game day.

..T - 4.5 hours until game time. I think it is still too early to start playing "lock-in" music.

Ahem.. let me clear my throat.

I need to get something off my chest quickly. 

I haven't taken an economics class since my sophomore year of college (and I didn't do as well as I would have liked to say the least, lol), so I'm not even pretending to be any kind of authority on the best solutions to America's current financial situation. That being said, something doesn't seem right about the bail out plan the American government is leaning towards.

Monetarily beneficial or not, I think ethics should be applied to the economy because something is wrong when the profits of speculators (individuals and entities who invest in stocks, property, etc) are kept private but their losses are paid for publicly. Smells like capitalism when the rich do well and socialism when they don't. Somebody wake me up when the government decides to pay for my student loans. 

That's all I got.

Internal squabbles

Shout out to one of my older brothers, Fletch, for reminding to diversify my posts. Everyone should check out his blog at: fletchsports.blogspot.com. While you are at it, everyone should also check out a blog that all of my older siblings [hopefully] and I will be doing together at keepinitlive.blogspot.com.

I took lots of good courses during my tenure at Amherst (and I few miserable ones), but one psychology class made such an impact on me that I almost want to call it a great class. Semantics prevent me from using the label "great" in describing the entire class, but I can say that at least its premise was great. In this class, the psychology of race, we discussed (to simplify) the nature of racism. A challenge that we continually faced as a class was classifying racism. It was usually easy to figure out whether a particular issue or occurrence "felt" racist but it proved much more difficult hammering out why exactly that was. 

After individual workout this morning, I had one of these internal conflicts while eating lunch with Nick, and Thomas (the best German player on our team). Before I describe the scenario and how it made me feel, I'd like to stress that I am not writing to pass judgement or to imply how others should feel. I'm simply saying what I think. I welcome and encourage anyone to respond. 

Anyway, during lunch Thomas mentioned American politics. The conversation started with his views on President Bush but eventually morphed into a discussion of the upcoming election. He said that he supported Sen. Obama because he seems to have a clue about foreign policy. Nick agreed with Thomas' support by saying, "Yeah. Black man for president." Thomas asked if Nick was for Sen. Obama just because he's Black. Nick confirmed that this was true. Even though Thomas expressed a little bit of resentment for Nick's views, he was polite and the conversation transitioned to a Dave Chapelle skit on race. The particulars of the skit escape me at the moment, but what stuck out with me was that Nick used the N-Word incessantly. What stuck out with me even more was that Thomas began using it just as much. What stuck out with me the most was that neither seemed bothered by the other's use of the word or in the least way hesitant to use it themselves. 

So, with my head cocked to the side the way it does when I am trying figure something out, I tried to resolve some issues:

On one hand, the word is extremely loaded with negativity and it's very mentioning calls to mind the terrible struggles and hardships many people sweat, bled, and died fighting to overcome. I also admit that being a Black American makes this issue much more salient to me and consequently sensitive to it. On the other hand , neither used the word maliciously or towards me. Nick being Black and using it sort of minimizes it's impact as well.

Ultimately, I think it's a step in the right direction when people of different backgrounds can speak openly about things that were once extremely volatile and taboo. However, I also realized through my discomfort that certain things command a certain level of respect. Prejudice of any form, whether it be based upon ethnicity, creed, or personal preferences is serious. It has been at the root of many of the World's greatest human disasters and should not be minimized. 

All in all, I think lunch was a defining moment for me. I realized that education and tolerance are as important to me as my faith, personal integrity, and family. That's quite the cocktail, haha. 

..'tis all I got.

7-0

Another weekend down and another three wins to add to the wins column. 

Yesterday everyone on the team who lives in Cottbus got up at the crack of dawn to head up to Berlin for a six team tournament. The way we piled into a minivan and drove for a couple hours reminded me of AAU- especially the way my knees hurt at about the 3/4 mark of the journey. We arrived about 10 minutes before tip-off so we really had to scramble to be ready.

Our first game was certainly our easiest. The team didn't have too much size, they weren't great shooters, they took quick shots, and played a zone. Amherst has suppressed my conscience when it comes to attacking zones, lol. I took two in our first two possessions of the game just to send a message. I am just glad they went in, haha. That makes the message much more clear than two quick clankers.  The quarters were eight minutes long (they are usually 10) and Coach tried to save my legs some so I didn't play as much as I am used to. I am not exactly sure what my stats were from any of the games this weekend, but I think I had 22ish and 7ish. I am find that it's a lot harder to get rebounds as a small forward when coach keeps telling me to get back.

Our second game was tougher than our first, but we were better than them as well. They had a center who was pretty good, but other than that they didn't have anyone special. The details of that game are kind of a blur. Being a psych major has taught me that primacy (when stuff happens first) and recency ( when stuff happens last) dictate what gets remembered well when something significant hasn't happened. Anyway, I think I had 24ish and 7ish. 

Our third game was certainly our toughest opponent. Before we played, Coach said all the things that coaches tell their teams when they are getting ready to play someone who is at least as talented as them: Stay in the moment, think about what we want to do, don't let them do whatever they want, yaddayadda. This squad had size in the post (one guy's arms were literally as big as my legs) and versatility on the wings. All of that being said, we were up 11 at half time. Coach, in his infinite confidence, says that we are "still in the game". I wanted to slap him with a wet sock.  First of all, don't say "still" like there will come a time when we won't be. There was nothing to indicate that at all. Stupid. And secondly, there was no magic or miracle that's allowed us to be winning. That's what we were out there to do, wasn't it? There should be no surprises. We are good. Period. Own it. Anyways, we won by 20 something. They got Wash U-ed. I had 30ish and 7 ish I believe. 

Overall I'd give my self a B+/A- for this weekend.