Thanks for stopping by. Take a look around and sift through all the awkwardness that is living and playing basketball in Germany. You get to experience everything without the awkward turtle. Consider yourself lucky. Enjoy!

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Sunday, November 30, 2008

@ Recklinghausen

100-60! We lose. Worst game I have played over here (thanks mom). Enough said. Bye

Monday, November 24, 2008

Muscles Sore; Ego Bruised

We played in our final cup game yesterday at home against Dorsten. We had played them earlier in the season as an exhibition game and won by 10. This time the script was written a little differently. Stupid Spielberg.

We dug ourselves into a hole right from the start. I have to tip my hat to their best player. He had four threes in the first three minutes of the game which were definitely not unguarded and not easy. He just came out hot. Coupled with the fact that we could not put the ball in the hoop to save our lives makes for one bad ice cream sandwich. You know the kind that you forgot about in the freezer and you proceed to pull it out to find it covered in freezer burn. Yet, you still think it could be good on the inside so you shave off the freezer burn and take a bite to find out to your horror that the ice cream sandwich is indeed no good. Yea, that kind of ice cream sandwich.

After a stiff reaming by coach we finally woke up at the end of the first quarter and began to play. I honestly don't know what happened early in the game. We just came out really flat and they made shots early. That is my best explanation for our poor start.

We did end up winning the second and third quarters and managed to cut the lead to under ten a few times. Each time Dorsten would go on a little run to get it back up to 12 or 14. It felt like an insurmountable task and ended up being one in the end. The game ended up being a 99:86 loss. I really believe that we gave everything after the first 7 minutes and we did everything we could to get back in the game. I guess this is just how the cookie crumbles.

I honestly hate losing as anyone that knows me well can attest to most significantly my mother as she has had to endure many a temper tantrums if I did not win at ANYTHING (and I mean ANYTHING). I think I hate losing more than I enjoy winning. Wins disguise weaknesses where losing exposes everything. Hopefully and I mean hopefully we look at those weaknesses in the next week and correct them. We definitely need a good week of practice. Yes, we are talking about practice.

Well my body hurts. Yoga and contrast showers for me!

Peace & Love
TJW

On a more happy note we got our first snow in Germany. Its great to have some snow but too bad it doesn't stick around for longer. It did stay long enough for me to pelt Marko with a snow ball though.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Top Ten NRJ Hits

Hey Everybody!!

Today's blog is a little different in that I am going to give you a taste of the music we listen to over here. I consulted with Marko heavily on this subject being that him and I watch videos all day long :). There is a lot of American music over here so I am going to keep this Top Ten strictly European. We only get a few English channels over here (CNN, CNBC, BBC, MTV (sometimes), and music video stations esp. NRJ Hits and YAVIDO) so the music videos are playing all day long.

Side Note: I have actually learned a lot of German from the subtitles on MTV and also learned how to count.

So here goes: The 1st NRJ HITS TOP 10 +1

11. Ching Ching - Busido

I had to put this song on the countdown only because he is German and probably the most famous German rapper.

10. La belle de mai - Stanislas

This song is sad and really touches Marko and my heart everytime we hear it (eventhough we don't understand the lyrics).

9. Pjando - Eric Prydz

This is simply another classic by Pjando, plus I know mom will appreciate the Native dancing.

8. Entre toi de moi - Matheu Edwards

Simply a great song.

7. Le blues de toi - Melissa M ft. Pras

This song is terrible until Pras comes on and makes it a NRJ HIT or should I say LEGEND!

6. Now You're Gone - Basshunter

Matthew Goldsmith's Theme Song!!

5. Tomorrow Can Wait - David Guetta

Marko's theme song. You should have seen him at the club when this came on. Wow, get out of the way because this Serbian Sensation was tearing up the dance floor.

4. Les Limites - Julian Dore (click the words to the left to see the video)

Sorry I couldn't embed this video but you MUST watch this video its HILARIOUS and its where I learned all my dance moves.

3. Un rayon de Soleil - William Balde

This song is just happy.

2. Infinity 2008 - Josh Guru Project

Enough Said.

1.C'est ma terre - Christhope Mae

This song will make you want to drop everything you are doing and just chill on the beach.


What will come up with NEXT!!!! Only time will tell. Keep this blog bookmarked because big things are coming.

TJW with consultation from Marko

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Matt Goldsmith

Just in case any of you were wondering where Mr. Matt Goldsmith's name was on the list to be completely honest I forgot. As I stated earlier in my posting Matt has returned home to heal the stress fracture in his foot. He is NOT going to play Sunday because he is in the United States.

I wanted to dedicate a single post to this man, because he is truly the man, the myth, and yes the legend. I await his return in January.

Get better soon and if I can't watch American t.v. neither can you. Only internet and NRJ hits (ow and date my mom, NEXT, Sweet Sixteen, and G's to Gents).

Monday, November 17, 2008

Off to the Races


In lane 1, we have TV Werne 03, fresh off an embarrassing loss to Luddenscheid looking to make up for lost time. This is a must win for this horse if he wants to compete for the championship in the second half of the season. In lane 2, we have a sleeper horse who ran the top horse in the league Hagen Haspa down to the wire and lost by 2 links and also competed with Munster (the 2nd horse in the league) for 3 quarters. Although this horse is second to last in the league, it definitely has the potential to pop off a good race and knock one of the top horses off. Now that you have been briefed on the race let the fun begin.

All bets are now final. No more betting please. Cocktails and hot dogs will be served throughout the evening (why hotdogs and cocktails? I don't know! Two words: MY BLOG).

And why is this only a two horse race and all the pictures have more than two horses in them? SUE ME!!

The horses are brought through the crowd and into the starting gate. That TV WERNE 03 looks a little beat up but has a bounce in his step. He could really get out to a fast start today. He has been known in the past to start quickly. BORCHEN looks meaty. He seems to be in fine shape and ready for a dirty battle. BORCHEN has been known to play a little dirty from time to time and TV WERNE 03's trainer has warned his horse. "Make sure you keep your distance, and just beat him out of the gates," said Trainer Rosic.


The horses are brought into the starting gates. The crowd (all fifteen of them and ten with drums and matching shirts just newly purchased AKA TV WERNE 03's SIXTH MAN (yes, our main cheering section all have matching shirts with SIXTH MAN on the back and their names on the front). The drums are going crazy and the other five fans are standing on the edge of their seats. Yes they were standing not sitting because there was no where to sit in this glorified elementary school.

BOOM! The gun goes off and TV WERNE 03 is literally blasted out of a cannon. At the quarter mark they already have a 30 link lead. BORCHEN seems to have gotten lost in TV WERNE 03's dust and only made 5 links of the race at the quarter. TV WERNE 03's pressure was just too stifling and they were getting fast break after fast break and also raining from the land beyond the arc. At the mid point of the game TV WERNE 03 traveled 69 links to BORCHEN'S 24. GAME OVER!!! TV WERNE 03 put it into coast mode and shut down a couple of its big engines for the second half.

TV WERNE 03 ended up winning the race 87 links to 51. RACE OVER!! All bets will be paid in full and now with every 5 hot dogs you will get a free cocktail. TV WERNE 03's next race is against DORSTEN, a horse in a league higher, as part of the CUP tournament. (YES that is TV WERNE 03 to the right, beautiful horse isn't he)

Box Score:
TEAM UND PUNKTE

TV Werne:
Aaron (14), Meinert (12/2), Mersch (8/1), Manske (6), Wittwer (20/2), Lüttecke (5), Filipovic (11), Langos (6), Tübel (3).

Tremaine and mine all came in the first half as we saw minimal time in the second half. T dislocated his finger at the beginning of the third quarter. It was actually kind of disgusting and I almost had to pop it back into place. Glad I didn't have to

Injury Report (all injuries did not occur during the game but are accumulation of the last few weeks):
Tramaine Aaron: Dislocated Finger (probable for the game on Sunday)
J: Severe Ankle Sprain (Questionable for Sunday)
Freddy: Sore Right Wrist (Likely for Sunday)
Andre: Sore Knee - waiting MRI results (questionable for Sunday)
Trevor Wittwer - Inflammation in Left Hand (probably for Sunday)
Langos - chronicly injured :) (will play Sunday)
Radek: Ill (probable for Sunday)
Marc: his knee hurts; repercussion from a hyperextension earlier in the year (likely for Sunday)

We may or may not be running a hospital (krankenhaus) during practice. We are lucky to have ten guys to practice.

Until we meet again Mr. Bond
TJW

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The Sad Tale of Luddenscheid

Last Saturday is one to forget. Not the most memorable game we have had this year. All in all it was a struggle both against the other team and for me again against the officials.

Background:

Luddenscheid was tied for fourth in our league and has two league losses. They lost the first two games of the season and have been on a winning streak since then. They have a very good American, which Matt and I played against earlier this summer at a Showcase, and lots of experience from their other players. Their two big guys may be close to seven feet tall and pushing 300+ bills. We were playing without Matt for the most part and at an uphill struggle right from the beginning. Matt is currently going home until January to heal his foot and we have a new guy coming by the name of Tom Conboy, yes the same Conboy that played for Macalester. I'm excited about it.

The Game:


We came out of the gates slow falling into a double digit deficit early. We fought hard during the first half and at one point cut the lead to 3 or 4. Matt actually played for a few minutes in the first half He played an old man game. He couldn't really run so he hobbled from three point line to three point line and actually hit back to back threes. I thought he might go off after that happened.

The story of the game was not our offense being unable to score. We really could score at will but our defense was SOOOOO bad. My humble opinion is that we need everyone to come to practice. It is so different over here. If guys are nicked up at all they take a day off and we have one guy that literally misses all the practices until friday, the day before the game. Its no wonder our defense is bad, we never play together. They were just getting easy bucket after easy bucket. Not to mention they were on fire from three. I think they probably made ten threes in the first half. We helped them on this aspect by leaving shooters wide open.

Honestly, it was embarrassing to get beat down this bad. We have no attitude to stop people on defense and no chemistry. I can't honestly say that if I get beat I know there will be someone there to get my back. I play with different guys every day in practice and sometimes we don't even have 10 guys at practice.

I think that is the beauty of college. You get to play with the same guys for 2-3-4 years and you know them as well as you know yourself, if not better. I know where guys are going to be and I know I can count on them to be there.

Alright, I am going to get off my soap box and try and calm down a bit. The entire second half was us fighting from a 10-20 point deficit never really getting close enough to taste anything. We ended up losing the game 82-104. I can't say I am immune to all this that is happening. My defense definitely has to get better and I can honestly say I have gotten a little lazy on the defensive end since I have been here. Maybe its because I don't have Flommer or Drinks yelling in my ear. I can't say I always took the best shots in the game either. Sometimes frustration and desperation can cloud one's thinking.

The Officials:

Quick note about the officials. I really wish I could stop talking about them but every game something new happens. I picked up three fouls in the first half. All three just playing aggressive defense and I didn't do anything stupid. I really think that if an official doesn't know who to call it on and they see me in the crowd it automatically goes to me. My fourth foul: a guy was going in for a lay-up and I was standing underneath the hoop. I actually said to myself don't pick up a foul just jump straight up and contest. That is what I did, the offensive guy proceeded to hit me in the face with his arm and I get called for the foul. Now wait for my fifth foul, this one is the best. So we got called for some bogus travels. I at this point was getting really upset because we are getting pounded. One of the Luddenscheids big men clearly does the same thing we got called for and got fouled. No travel he actually gets to shoot two shots. This next part was intentional. The ref was standing next to coach. I walk over to coach and start questioning the call saying we got called for that exact same thing three times down there why wasn't that a travel. The ref then turns to me and gives me a technical. No swear words, no direct talking to the ref. 5th foul, see ya.

Well now that I got myself all worked up I am headed to the weight room. Time to put in some work. Sorry this wasn't the happiest post in the world and probably extremely biased but since I am the writer I get to write what I get to be as biased as I want! :)

Ciao

TJW

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

VS. Brackwede

Hallo again from Deutschland!

This past weekend TV Werne 03 picked up their fifth win of the season by taking down Brackwede at their place. We had our biggest scoring output of the year scoring 109 points but on the other side we gave up 96 points. This is a great formula on how to make coach mad. We managed this scoring hallabalooza even without Matt who's future is right now undetermined. He has been having some intense pain in his foot and recently got an MRI that was not good. It looks like her may be out a minimum of 4 weeks. The orthopedist has yet to comment so hopefully its just nothing because he is a major asset to our team.

Brackwede could be the nicest gym we have played in so far. Besides the Boise State floor (dark blue) and black lines which were very difficult to see, the floor was very springy and they had 10-15 rows of pull-out bleachers. Although this is very common in the U.S., this is something I have yet to see in Germany. For being last place in our league they sure had a nice gym. Remember, nice for Germany has no comparison to nice in the United States. A nice gym in Germany is a glorified elementary school in the United States.

Brackwede gets an A+ for warm-up music. Probably the best warm-up music I have heard over here. The music was all old school house music (there is a difference between house music and techno but we Americans would just call it techno; for an in-depth conversation about house vs. techno music please visit the Amherst Boy's Blog) and then at the end they put Infinity 2008 on repeat. Infinity 2008 is a HIT I mean HIT in our house. The song really gets you amped. Even Marco started dunking in warm-ups when he heard it.
We were definitely ready for this game with the echo of Infinity ringing in our ears; more like flowing in our blood. We jumped out to a 13 point lead right away. T was on fire from long-range and so were the rest of our guards. I may not have gotten past half-court for the first 5 minutes of the game. I would get the rebound toss a long outlet pass to someone who would either shoot a three or make one more pass for a three point shot. We managed to get their big guy, best player, into foul trouble early in the first half so that was a big help to us. We managed to keep a 10-15 point lead most of the first half and went into halftime with a 13 point lead. Now, we simply need to bury this team. Guess what happen! No seriously stop what you are doing and guess!


Ok, now you can continue reading.



The second half was a slightly different story. Like always, we enjoy giving teams a glimpse of victory then ripping it away from them. Simply put, we let Brackwede get to within 3 points of us. This game was actually quite comical at times in terms of the officiating.

A few thoughts on the officiating:
1) They constantly make us tuck our shirts in eventhough the second we start playing they come out. Our away tops are just too small to fit comfortably in our jerseys.

2) It felt like they wanted to keep Brackwede in the game. All of sudden we would just starting getting called for travels, offensive fouls, and they were getting everything. At the end of the third quarter they got a foul and I thought we may be in bonus. I look up and to my surprise that was their 2nd foul of the quarter while we had at least 10. Interesting discrepancy.

3) Refs hate Americans. So, a guy from the other team shot a three and I just put a hand up and touched his arm after he had released the ball. I then proceeded to run back on defense but ended up tripping over the guy who had fallen underneath me. The guy must have stepped wrong or stepped on my foot but he sprained his ankle. I stood next to the guy as he was rolling on the ground in pain. The ref was standing there too and looks at me and says in English "you know what you did." I was like "what are you talking about" but he continued to say "you know what you did." The guy on the ground that hurt his ankle then proceeded to say I didn't do it on purpose and it wasn't my fault. The ref continued to look at me and say "you know what you did" I simply looked at the ref and said "ask him" but obviously the ref didn't know very good English because he continued to repeat his phrase. The ref was then on a vendetta against us for awhile.

4) Anything cool, quick, and athletic is somehow forbidden in Germany. A guy was going up for a lay-up and I came up behind him and smashed the ball, pinning it against the backboard. I guess this is a goal tend in Germany, two points for them. Marko at one point tried to block a shot and slapped the backboard. The ball airballed off the other side of the rim and didn't even touch the backboard. Goaltending, two points. WHAT!!!!!!!

Well we had a game on our hands for the third quarter. The game was close for most of the second half. It wasn't until late fourth quarter where we pulled away and won by 13 or so. Coach was furious at us for keeping the game so close because this was the worst team in our league. They played a 1-3-1 zone that we struggled to get good shots against, not to mention our two best big guys fouled out in the third quarter and I had to play at the 4 position (something I haven't done since college).

Sometimes you just have to say a win is a win and move on. It doesn't matter whether you win by 1 or 50 it still counts as a win. Granted we should have pounded this team by 50 put we put on a good show for the fans and really now that is what the game is all about, entertainment.

As for me, I played well. I had 28 points with a handful of blocks, rebounds and assists but the man of the hour was Tremaine who netted 34 with 5 three pointers (see below). We are both going to need really big games and a solid team effort to win this weekend as Ludenscheid rolls into Werne. They are currently fourth in the league and playing very well.


It should be an exciting weekend!

Adios
TJW