I had a nice bed time conversation with Matthew last night and it made me realize the stagnancy of my blog. I think change is a good thing. I am not talking about a complete overhaul here but rather improvements and evolution. Maybe I should call it evolving rather than changing. The word change has a negative connotation where something isn't working and one must do something different so I am going to stick to evolve. My blog will evolve to both benefit the reader and also myself.
As my blog evolves I want the input of the reader throughout this whole process. If you feel something is stupid or unnecessary tell me. I value your opinion because you are the reason I write. I plan to add some new applications to my blog and also add more content. I have just added Adsense which is a pay per click application where I actually get a few cents every time you click on one of the ads. It is not fully operational yet but hopefully will be in the next two days and when that happens I address it again.
In addition to my game reviews I have always wanted to put my degree in Health and Fitness to use because I still do a ton of reading on these subjects especially in the realms strength training and nutrition. It is no fun keeping all this information boxed up in my head so I hope to start passing along this type of information once or twice a week. I hope that you may find some of the information useful and can make improvements in your own life. Book reviews, movie reviews, recipe reviews who knows where this is going to go, but I plan for my blog to become much more diverse than just the happenings of my life.
If you have any ideas of things you want me to talk about or subjects you want me to research and blog about just place a comment
Signing off maybe for the last time today
TJW
P.S. I may get my computer back today
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Weekend Review - Brackwede
This last weekend was a busy weekend. With Mom here visiting and lots of games to attend or work there was not too much down time. If you have been following the blog for sometime now you have noticed that I have not had my best individual performances when family or anyone from redwood that is pops in for a visit. The streak had to end some time so coach found a different remedy for the problem. Limit my playing time. Although not ideal for me the strategy actually worked well. If I don't play I can't do anything wrong :) ! As a reader you would think I would be upset about limited playing time without cause ie: foul trouble, injury etc..., but I was only disappointed for mom to not see me in the game alot. If we are still not on the same page here you have two options:
1) Get frustrated and throw your computer at the wall
OR choose the option I believe to be the most logical of the two
2) Keep reading and understand WHY
The best thing about Saturday's game was that we were at home, we had a nice crowd, and mother was there. All the makings for a classic beat-down. And beat-down does not even give justice to the shalacking that took place. If anyone has been keeping up with the standings through the team WEBSITE you would know that Brackwede is the last place team in our league. Also, to our surprise when they came out they were missing two of their best players.
So here are the ingredients for a classic beat-down
-last place team
-missing best players
-at Home
-sixthman support
-mother's physical presence
-lots of drums and weird noise makers
-a new pair of shoes (because everyone knows that when you get a new pair of shoes you can run faster and jump higher thus making you a better basketball player)
-getting super hype -- if you don't know what this is ask Matthew Goldsmith a man who has perfected the art and instills hypeness in others on a constant basis
Put all of these ingredients in a small gym, add a pinch of good music, and bake for 40 minutes at slightly higher than room temperature and voila you have an old fashioned beat-down.
The best part of the game was that the guys who work hard in practice everyday got a chance to see major minutes. They got to show what they could do and they definitely did. Ivan told me the paper wrote that they were very impressed with the improvement the Germans had made over the course of the season. For them to be able to display that improvement to all the haters was great. I was more than happy to step aside and let them do their thing.
Unforunately for mom I only saw about 15 minutes of play time but during those fifteen minutes my play was solid, much better than the last time mother decided to visit. I now consider the curse shattered so no worries if anyone else wants to visit. You don't have much time so HURRY!
The final score: 106-72
Show Stoppers: Andre, Radek, and Lucas
We have this weekend off for CARNAVAL so no games until a week from Saturday against Ludenscheid.
Coaching Synopsis
Men's Team
Frankly we took care of business in typical men's team style winning by close to 50. 1 step closer to securing the league championship.
u14
I saw major improvement in their play last Sunday both offensively and defensively. We started to figure out how effective the pick and roll can be. It was like Karl Malone and John Stockton out there. Well at least a minature version of them and if Karl Malone was white the analogy would be more racially correct but you get the picture. On the defensive end we are starting to help each other. I got in trouble at halftime because the ref said we were playing too far off our men and it looked like a zone. For the record we cannot play zone in our league. That just tells me our helpside was really good. Honestly, I told my kids to keep doing what they were doing because we were just playing a sagging man and if the official can't see that he better not be quitting his day job anytime soon. We kept the game close throughout and ended up losing by single digits. Much better than the 30 point lose we suffered to them earlier in the season.
1) Get frustrated and throw your computer at the wall
OR choose the option I believe to be the most logical of the two
2) Keep reading and understand WHY
The best thing about Saturday's game was that we were at home, we had a nice crowd, and mother was there. All the makings for a classic beat-down. And beat-down does not even give justice to the shalacking that took place. If anyone has been keeping up with the standings through the team WEBSITE you would know that Brackwede is the last place team in our league. Also, to our surprise when they came out they were missing two of their best players.
So here are the ingredients for a classic beat-down
-last place team
-missing best players
-at Home
-sixthman support
-mother's physical presence
-lots of drums and weird noise makers
-a new pair of shoes (because everyone knows that when you get a new pair of shoes you can run faster and jump higher thus making you a better basketball player)
-getting super hype -- if you don't know what this is ask Matthew Goldsmith a man who has perfected the art and instills hypeness in others on a constant basis
Put all of these ingredients in a small gym, add a pinch of good music, and bake for 40 minutes at slightly higher than room temperature and voila you have an old fashioned beat-down.
The best part of the game was that the guys who work hard in practice everyday got a chance to see major minutes. They got to show what they could do and they definitely did. Ivan told me the paper wrote that they were very impressed with the improvement the Germans had made over the course of the season. For them to be able to display that improvement to all the haters was great. I was more than happy to step aside and let them do their thing.
Unforunately for mom I only saw about 15 minutes of play time but during those fifteen minutes my play was solid, much better than the last time mother decided to visit. I now consider the curse shattered so no worries if anyone else wants to visit. You don't have much time so HURRY!
The final score: 106-72
Show Stoppers: Andre, Radek, and Lucas
We have this weekend off for CARNAVAL so no games until a week from Saturday against Ludenscheid.
Coaching Synopsis
Men's Team
Frankly we took care of business in typical men's team style winning by close to 50. 1 step closer to securing the league championship.
u14
I saw major improvement in their play last Sunday both offensively and defensively. We started to figure out how effective the pick and roll can be. It was like Karl Malone and John Stockton out there. Well at least a minature version of them and if Karl Malone was white the analogy would be more racially correct but you get the picture. On the defensive end we are starting to help each other. I got in trouble at halftime because the ref said we were playing too far off our men and it looked like a zone. For the record we cannot play zone in our league. That just tells me our helpside was really good. Honestly, I told my kids to keep doing what they were doing because we were just playing a sagging man and if the official can't see that he better not be quitting his day job anytime soon. We kept the game close throughout and ended up losing by single digits. Much better than the 30 point lose we suffered to them earlier in the season.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Biggest Win of the Weekend
Sunday is my major coaching day of the week as both of my teams are in competition.
My U14 team traveled to Herford (yes, I was really happy to make the 1.5 hour drive back to Herford at 10 in the morning). Missing a few of our best players we fought really hard but still ended up losing big time. By how much it doesn't matter, a lose is a lose. With this team the goals are improvement and having fun.
My men's team though is a different story. There will be NO FUN, well if we lose that is. On Sunday we had the biggest game of our season. To set the stage, it was against the 2nd place team in the league. This team happened to be only 10 minutes from Werne and many of the players had played for Werne or were friends with the guys from Werne. All the makings for a classic - TV Werne v. Runther (Round 2). We won the first meeting by eighteen and to take first place from us Runther had to win by more than 18. Not going to happen, at least not on our watch.
We started the game extremely well by controlling the tempo right from the start. This was not to be outdone by some fine shooting by Frederic Meinert. The court was slightly small so our best assest, running, was limited. We did manage to play great defense and force tough shots. This helped us gain a 20 point lead by halftime. The third quarter made it a game again. Runther started to hit big shots and we went cold. They had all the momentum and rode that throughout the third to cut the lead to under 10. Cool and confident we came out in the fourth and held on to the win.
Now we have a 3 game lead on Runther and barring any natural disasters we should finish out the league in first.
TJW
-Told you today was my writing day. That is if you read my other blog first and realized that today was actually my writing day but if you didn't read the other blog first you are now wasting your time by continuing to read what I am writing. (don't you wish you could have those 5 seconds back unless you are a speed reader then 2 seconds.) I am glad you spent them with me though :)
My U14 team traveled to Herford (yes, I was really happy to make the 1.5 hour drive back to Herford at 10 in the morning). Missing a few of our best players we fought really hard but still ended up losing big time. By how much it doesn't matter, a lose is a lose. With this team the goals are improvement and having fun.
My men's team though is a different story. There will be NO FUN, well if we lose that is. On Sunday we had the biggest game of our season. To set the stage, it was against the 2nd place team in the league. This team happened to be only 10 minutes from Werne and many of the players had played for Werne or were friends with the guys from Werne. All the makings for a classic - TV Werne v. Runther (Round 2). We won the first meeting by eighteen and to take first place from us Runther had to win by more than 18. Not going to happen, at least not on our watch.
We started the game extremely well by controlling the tempo right from the start. This was not to be outdone by some fine shooting by Frederic Meinert. The court was slightly small so our best assest, running, was limited. We did manage to play great defense and force tough shots. This helped us gain a 20 point lead by halftime. The third quarter made it a game again. Runther started to hit big shots and we went cold. They had all the momentum and rode that throughout the third to cut the lead to under 10. Cool and confident we came out in the fourth and held on to the win.
Now we have a 3 game lead on Runther and barring any natural disasters we should finish out the league in first.
TJW
-Told you today was my writing day. That is if you read my other blog first and realized that today was actually my writing day but if you didn't read the other blog first you are now wasting your time by continuing to read what I am writing. (don't you wish you could have those 5 seconds back unless you are a speed reader then 2 seconds.) I am glad you spent them with me though :)
Nice Win on the Road
Its Wednesday and I have declared this my writing day for this week. I answered facebook messages, emails, and now finishing up with some blogging.
As the title suggestively suggests (well maybe not suggestively) we did indeed call our two game losing streak to a halt with a solid win over a nice Herford team.
Atmosphere
The gym was one of the nicer ones all-around that we have played in over here. The floor was fairly new (not wood though -- are you kidding me a wood floor in our league, COME ON) and the baskets were nice except for the nets. There really was no purpose for the nets. They were so loose that that ball would fall right through and the net really would not slow it down. There were a number of plays where a player was standing underneath the net and a shot goes up. The ball proceeds to hit the player square in the face because the net failed to slow the ball down.
The gym was fairly small but we had the Spark Notes version of the SixthMan Crew to keep us going. Even though there was probably only six of them, they make more noise than the rest of the crowd. The beauty though of their cheering is in its creativity and relentlessness. 2 very important factors in cheering. I never really noticed the intricacy of their cheering until after this game.
I have my video camera over here and this was the second game that we taped. I hope to make some highlights of the games once I get appropriate software and put them on youtube but I am still waiting for Canon to stop being incopetent. Well back to the story, one of the SixthMan Crew's parentals was kind enough to tape the entire game for us. Lots of love goes out to the mom who taped the game, she did a phenomenal job and the tape looks great. Back to the story again, well I have my video camera at the game and it happens to be right next to the cheering section. There was not a dull moment on the tape, constant cheering. I don't hear much during the game so it was refreshing to hear the passion and consistency from the sixthman cheering section.
Gametime Synopsis
We had a great first quarter taking an early lead. We took advantage of mismatches which allowed me to do a lot of posting up and I was able to get some easy buckets early which helped get my flow going. My teammates did a great job of recognizing the mismatch and getting me open in the post. Freddy also knocked down at least 3 tough three pointers to help us gain the lead.
The second quarter was different story. Defensively we simply did not get it done giving up over 50 points in the first half. Our offense stalled and we stopped hitting from outside. We were not running as much as we usually did too. This lead to an eight point deficit at halftime. Coach was pretty upset at halftime and in the second half we came out a different team.
During the second half we increased our intensity on defense and were able to get some easy buckets off fast breaks. Our shots also began to fall from outside. We erased the deficit after about 2 minutes in the 3rd and didn't look back since. We never really blew them out until the end of the game due to some nice 3 point shooting on their part but we managed to stay in control for the whole second half. The final score was
Officiating didn't seem to be a problem for anyone in this game. I simply tried to stay out of harms way until the second half so I was out of foul trouble the whole game. As always there were some might I say interesting calls but not enough of "interesting" calls to have a real impact on the game.
StatLines (yes i did do stats after watching the game)
Name - Points - Rebounds - Assists/Turnovers - Steals - Blocks
Wittwer - 33 - 11 - 3/2 - 6- 0
Goldsmith - 18 - 7 - 1/0 - 3 - 0
Denson - 24 - 9 - 5/5 - 2 - 0
Aaron - 14 - 1 - 6/1 - 2- 0
Filipovic - 2 - 1 - 1/3 - 0 - 0
Meinert - 13 - 1 - 1/3 - 0 - 0
Lutteke - 2 - 0 - 1/0 - 0 - 0
Docenko - 0 - 0 - 0/0 - 0 - 0
Manske -0 - 0 - 0/0 - 0 - 0
Tubel - 0 - 0 - 0/0 - 0 - 0
As the title suggestively suggests (well maybe not suggestively) we did indeed call our two game losing streak to a halt with a solid win over a nice Herford team.
Atmosphere
The gym was one of the nicer ones all-around that we have played in over here. The floor was fairly new (not wood though -- are you kidding me a wood floor in our league, COME ON) and the baskets were nice except for the nets. There really was no purpose for the nets. They were so loose that that ball would fall right through and the net really would not slow it down. There were a number of plays where a player was standing underneath the net and a shot goes up. The ball proceeds to hit the player square in the face because the net failed to slow the ball down.
The gym was fairly small but we had the Spark Notes version of the SixthMan Crew to keep us going. Even though there was probably only six of them, they make more noise than the rest of the crowd. The beauty though of their cheering is in its creativity and relentlessness. 2 very important factors in cheering. I never really noticed the intricacy of their cheering until after this game.
I have my video camera over here and this was the second game that we taped. I hope to make some highlights of the games once I get appropriate software and put them on youtube but I am still waiting for Canon to stop being incopetent. Well back to the story, one of the SixthMan Crew's parentals was kind enough to tape the entire game for us. Lots of love goes out to the mom who taped the game, she did a phenomenal job and the tape looks great. Back to the story again, well I have my video camera at the game and it happens to be right next to the cheering section. There was not a dull moment on the tape, constant cheering. I don't hear much during the game so it was refreshing to hear the passion and consistency from the sixthman cheering section.
Gametime Synopsis
We had a great first quarter taking an early lead. We took advantage of mismatches which allowed me to do a lot of posting up and I was able to get some easy buckets early which helped get my flow going. My teammates did a great job of recognizing the mismatch and getting me open in the post. Freddy also knocked down at least 3 tough three pointers to help us gain the lead.
The second quarter was different story. Defensively we simply did not get it done giving up over 50 points in the first half. Our offense stalled and we stopped hitting from outside. We were not running as much as we usually did too. This lead to an eight point deficit at halftime. Coach was pretty upset at halftime and in the second half we came out a different team.
During the second half we increased our intensity on defense and were able to get some easy buckets off fast breaks. Our shots also began to fall from outside. We erased the deficit after about 2 minutes in the 3rd and didn't look back since. We never really blew them out until the end of the game due to some nice 3 point shooting on their part but we managed to stay in control for the whole second half. The final score was
106-88
Officiating didn't seem to be a problem for anyone in this game. I simply tried to stay out of harms way until the second half so I was out of foul trouble the whole game. As always there were some might I say interesting calls but not enough of "interesting" calls to have a real impact on the game.
StatLines (yes i did do stats after watching the game)
Name - Points - Rebounds - Assists/Turnovers - Steals - Blocks
Wittwer - 33 - 11 - 3/2 - 6- 0
Goldsmith - 18 - 7 - 1/0 - 3 - 0
Denson - 24 - 9 - 5/5 - 2 - 0
Aaron - 14 - 1 - 6/1 - 2- 0
Filipovic - 2 - 1 - 1/3 - 0 - 0
Meinert - 13 - 1 - 1/3 - 0 - 0
Lutteke - 2 - 0 - 1/0 - 0 - 0
Docenko - 0 - 0 - 0/0 - 0 - 0
Manske -0 - 0 - 0/0 - 0 - 0
Tubel - 0 - 0 - 0/0 - 0 - 0
Friday, February 6, 2009
Hagen-Haspe
Sorry for such a late post. I was hoping to get my computer back this week and the week kept getting later and later so I finally gave in and sat down to write. I may throw up some pictures from the game if I get my comp back anytime soon. If not, I guess you will just have to deal with my dull writing. I may try and spice things up with bold and italics so look out. But don't count on it.
So I have good and bad news from last week. Which one do you want first? Ok, here goes the bad. We got POUNDED by Hagen-Haspe. Just for the record, anyone who currently resides or lived at some point in the lovely town of Redwood Falls cannot come to games. I seem to play REALLY REALLY well (sarcasm) when people from my hometown come. So no more visitors from Redwood. If anyone has read my previous blog you know that Lily came to visit last weekend. She is not invited back. Just kidding, I will gladly play bad to see some fellow redwoodites. This means you need to get those tickets quick because I am only over here for a little under two months.
Quick Hagen Game Synopsis
1. We got in a hole right from the start
2. I got in foul trouble fouling out early in the fourth
a. I will not comment on the officiating this game as much as I want to, just ask Lily
b. 2 offensive fouls (one after a lovely bearhug from my opponent) and one foul trying
to get around a moving screen...need I say more
3. They are the best team in our league eventhough their record right now does not show that
4. Fastest, quickest, most athletic team in our league
5. Took too long to write this post so I put the game out of my mind a long time ago
6. Lets just not talk about it okay?
Now for the GOOOOOD well kind of Good
SUPER BOWL SUNDAY
I had been looking forward to this day for about a week. Matt and I decided early in the week we were going to cook up some nasty (slang for good) food for a Super Bowl feast. After deciding this we went straight to the joy of cooking. It actually has a super bowl menu in case anyone wants any ideas for last year. The goal here was simply great food with the resources and words in German that we knew. Daunting task I know but we passed with flying colors.
For the menu we decided on Chili Con Carne, Chicken Wings, Baked Potato Skins, Nachos, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. When Sunday started it was like the iron chef in our chicken. A few of the recipies took extensive preparation time so this was an all-day process. I cooked up the Chili Con Carne to start off the night and Matt rocked some killer nachoes, wings, and potatoe skins throughout the game. Lily dominated some cookies to finish off the good eats.
I don't know if I have mentioned this before but Matt has this application called slingbox on his computer and it allows him to watch and control his girlfriend's tv in America. This gives us access to all the channels of the good ole' US of A. A couple of Matt's buddies from college showed up too brandishing a projector and a few adult drinks which made for one Super filled Sunday.
The only difference between me and you watching the Super Bowl is that mine started at 12:28 am and not 5:28pm. This meant that SuperBowl Festivities went into the early early early morning. I couldn't of asked for anything better. Great food and drink, great company, and a great game. It made for one memorable Super Bowl Monday.
The only bad part about the morning was the final Steelers drive. I went from the highest of higs after Fitzgerald's touchdown to the lowest of lows for Holme's TD. Thats the beauty of sports though and I cannot complain about the game. This super bowl party tops my all-time super bowl parties and it will be hard to match. I like the challenge.
TJW
P.S.
If anyone knows of extremely flexible late spring, summer employment I am beginning the job search for the summer.
I am also throwing around the idea of private basketball instruction for any age both in Redwood and the twin cities...drop a line if anyone knows anyone who might be interested
So I have good and bad news from last week. Which one do you want first? Ok, here goes the bad. We got POUNDED by Hagen-Haspe. Just for the record, anyone who currently resides or lived at some point in the lovely town of Redwood Falls cannot come to games. I seem to play REALLY REALLY well (sarcasm) when people from my hometown come. So no more visitors from Redwood. If anyone has read my previous blog you know that Lily came to visit last weekend. She is not invited back. Just kidding, I will gladly play bad to see some fellow redwoodites. This means you need to get those tickets quick because I am only over here for a little under two months.
Quick Hagen Game Synopsis
1. We got in a hole right from the start
2. I got in foul trouble fouling out early in the fourth
a. I will not comment on the officiating this game as much as I want to, just ask Lily
b. 2 offensive fouls (one after a lovely bearhug from my opponent) and one foul trying
to get around a moving screen...need I say more
3. They are the best team in our league eventhough their record right now does not show that
4. Fastest, quickest, most athletic team in our league
5. Took too long to write this post so I put the game out of my mind a long time ago
6. Lets just not talk about it okay?
Now for the GOOOOOD well kind of Good
SUPER BOWL SUNDAY
I had been looking forward to this day for about a week. Matt and I decided early in the week we were going to cook up some nasty (slang for good) food for a Super Bowl feast. After deciding this we went straight to the joy of cooking. It actually has a super bowl menu in case anyone wants any ideas for last year. The goal here was simply great food with the resources and words in German that we knew. Daunting task I know but we passed with flying colors.
For the menu we decided on Chili Con Carne, Chicken Wings, Baked Potato Skins, Nachos, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. When Sunday started it was like the iron chef in our chicken. A few of the recipies took extensive preparation time so this was an all-day process. I cooked up the Chili Con Carne to start off the night and Matt rocked some killer nachoes, wings, and potatoe skins throughout the game. Lily dominated some cookies to finish off the good eats.
I don't know if I have mentioned this before but Matt has this application called slingbox on his computer and it allows him to watch and control his girlfriend's tv in America. This gives us access to all the channels of the good ole' US of A. A couple of Matt's buddies from college showed up too brandishing a projector and a few adult drinks which made for one Super filled Sunday.
The only difference between me and you watching the Super Bowl is that mine started at 12:28 am and not 5:28pm. This meant that SuperBowl Festivities went into the early early early morning. I couldn't of asked for anything better. Great food and drink, great company, and a great game. It made for one memorable Super Bowl Monday.
The only bad part about the morning was the final Steelers drive. I went from the highest of higs after Fitzgerald's touchdown to the lowest of lows for Holme's TD. Thats the beauty of sports though and I cannot complain about the game. This super bowl party tops my all-time super bowl parties and it will be hard to match. I like the challenge.
TJW
P.S.
If anyone knows of extremely flexible late spring, summer employment I am beginning the job search for the summer.
I am also throwing around the idea of private basketball instruction for any age both in Redwood and the twin cities...drop a line if anyone knows anyone who might be interested
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