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, March 29, 2009

Quick Update

We won the game last Saturday by 10. It was a good farewell for the fans. Dropped Matt at the airport today, now Marko is sleeping next to me (not in the same bed but in two separate beds separated by a small space) because someone peed in his bed (it was not me although I do wish it was). Its kind of like old times, the sleeping not the peeing. My computer crashed during the Villanova Pitt game on Saturday night probably because God was upset with me for betting on the game and talking trash to Junior. Speaking of that he owes me ten Euros. Its late I am going to bed. I will write a more indepth post later. I just wanted to put a quick one up.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

A Weekend in Review

The weekend started with an easy win in Paderborn. I am not going to elaborate on this game very much because we won by forty 126:83; enough said. It was like playing against children because most of the players were probably eighteen. My high school team could have stomped this team. I did get a sick alley-opp from Tremaine on a fastbreak which might give one of their little guards nightmares for a few days because I sat on his head. I had no motivation the entire game because we could score at will, definitely not worth the hour and a half drive.

Championship Sunday was where the real fireworks happened. My young guns put up a strong fight but just didn't have enough energy to get the win. They are playing the best basketball I have seen them play all year. Things are starting to come together for them. Too bad there is only one game left in the season. Hopefully they learned a few things and will be better off next year.

After the game we had a little pool party and BBQ with the parents. After a hour of throwing skinny adolescent boys through the air and pelting them with water balls it was time to eat. We had bratwurst (of course) and a few nice salads. I really wish I could have gotten to know the parents a little better because they seem like really nice people. I had a few nice conversations on car rides but I think most are not sure enough of their English to really strike up a conversation with me except for a select few.

Well, the game of the evening began around 6:00 pm and was over by about 6:30. My men's team came out strong and demolished TuS Hemmerde in the first two quarters with a score of 45:15. This is the same team that beat us earlier in the season when we were missing a few of our players and we played on a "Saved by the Bell" court. Oh how things are different when we have everybody and play on a regulation floor. A thirty point lead at halftime allowed us to coast to a 79:39 win. For those who haven't been keeping track at home that secures the championship for us. WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS! Its a good feeling because these guys are way too good for this league and need some more competition. Congratulations guys!I really look like a coach in my shorts and hat huh? Well that's what a championship coach wears so all you haters out there can kiss my championship butt.

The championship party went into the early morning and it was great to have all the guys over to the house for my second BBQ of the day. Check out the grill we used below :)


Wednesday, March 18, 2009

GET OFF YOUR BUTT

Just to preface this post I want to say that I am writing during commercial breaks of basketball games amidst the greatest two weeks in basketball not to mention its one in the morning. So, I will do my best to proofread this before I post it but I can't guarantee cohesiveness and makesenseness (yes I just made up that word). I am also editing this during commercial breaks of Villanova/UCLA so I can't guarantee anything here.

Commercial Break between Minnesota and Texas. Time to do some writing.

So the title of the first fitness tip is "Get off your Butt." I find it very ironic that I am currently sitting as I type this article. I think I will stand up for the rest of this post. Nope, I like sitting better. I think I have done enough activity for the day to get some well-deserved sit time. Although, if you work on your computer a lot its not a bad idea to find a way to stand and work.

As we evolve as humans and technology continually makes our lives easier in a physical exertion sense we spend much more time on our rumps that our ancestors did. No longer do we have to run from saber tooth tigers or kill mastodons for food. If we want to see our friend or go to the store we sit in our car. Instead of going to the factory to work we are sitting at computers for hours and hours. Technology has allowed our population to become extremely sedentary yet increasingly productive. As humans we are not meant to sit. We evolved to walk, run, and jump so as we spend 8-10 hours sitting dysfunction and disease manifest itself inside our bodies. We no longer look like gladiators of the past but feeble couch potatoes.



Two perspectives on WHY you should be getting off your butt!


Whats going on on the outside....aka what everyone else sees

Do you really want computer guy syndrome? Rounded shoulders and upper back, weak and inhibited butt muscles (glutes), short hip flexors and usually a regular history of back pain. Your bones become brittle, you gain extra weight, and your now 90 year old mother whaps you over the head with a ruler still telling you to sit up straight, not to mention she could wallop you in any type of physical activity. But you could surely beat her in a words typed per minute contest. Good for you!!!


How can you prevent it? MOVE!!!! If you sit at a desk for long periods of time in this position you should really check out these two articles. I could write about this all day but I think it is outside the scope of this blog and really why re-invent the wheel. I have a good resource for this that I believe does a thorough job. Read/Skim this ARTICLE because it will give you tips on how to improve your posture throughout the work day and if you are into weight training check out this ARTICLE as well.

The best quick advice I can give is get up and walk around at least twice every hour. Drink a lot of water, it will force you to get up and go the bathroom and you will stay well hydrated. WIN WIN

Now whats going on on the inside....

Not only does lack of exercise make you look whackey (see hunchback of notre dame) but it creates havoc on the inside. Our bodies have evolved to move. We are not supposed to sit for endless hours at a time. This allows disease and sickness to manifest itself within our bodies greatly reducing our quality years of living. I know you may not see the effects yet but that is because you are young and your body is still very resilient. The human body has an extraordinary ability to adapt to its surroundings. However over time your body will begin to break down unless you take care of it.

Think of your body as a car. If you don't maintain it and take care of it sooner or later little things will start to break-down. If you don't fix these things or just brush them off bigger things begin to happen and all of a sudden you are on the side of the freeway and its raining and you left your cellphone at home. Not to mention its the middle of the night and not a single person is on the road. You are in another state and have no idea what to do. Now you might wish you spent the few extra bucks or the few extra minutes to take care of it. The nice thing about the car is that you can get a new one. You only have one body. Think about it. We live in a reactionary society especially when dealing with main steam medicine. Be proactive not reactive. Lets prevent disease and distress from happening in the first place.

I found this quote very interesting as I was doing a little research for this topic:

"We have yet to find a disease state where exercise is not helpful." Miriam Nelson, Ph.D., Tufts University

I don't know about you but I find that astonishing. While I was in college I worked with a lady who had rheumatoid arthritis. Who would have thought that exercise would help someone with arthritis. Guess what, it did tremendously.

A few quick reasons to get exercising:
1. Helps to prevent certain types of cancer
2. Helps to prevent heart disease and diabetes
3. Improves mood and concentration; combats depression
4. Helps you sleep better
5. Improves resistance to infections and viruses
6. Improves brain function making you smarter
7. Improves body composition; more muscle--less fat
8. Live better longer


Movement is something I think we as a population take for granted. Just like with most simple things in life we never really realize how much we appreciated something until its gone. Don't wait for disease or disability to make you aware of how lucky you are to be able to move; take advantage of it everyday.

If you won't get off the couch for own well being, do it to see your grandchildren get old or do it to save thousands of dollars on medical bills. Do it to live longer with less disease. Do it to inspire someone else to do it. Do it by yourself, or with your significant other, or even better with a big group. Take control of your life.

I simply wanted to use this first post as an introduction to exercise and why you should be doing it. In the next few weeks I hope to dig a little deeper into exercise and provide ways for you to get more of it.

Now get off the stupid computer and go for a walk. That's where I am headed. Its a rare beautiful day in Germany.

TJW







Games Online

I have taped a few games this year and found a way to get them online. If you want to check out some games just click on the teams we played below.

Dortmund

Herford

Luddenscheid


Keep up the good clicking

Dunks, Recklinghausen, and Coaching

Well I am finally getting around to do some writing this week, blog writing that is. I sometimes feel like I have a desk job spending so much time in front of my computer. Don't worry I get up every so often to stretch out my hips and upper back. No computer guy syndrome for me. You know what I am talking about: rounded shoulders and upper back, weak inhibited and flat backside, tight hip flexors and and an infatuation with world of warcraft. Wow, this segments very well as a preview for the first fitness tip of the week "STOP SITTING SO MUCH" which make its debut later in the week.

I would have loved to write about our game against Recklinghausen last Saturday a little bit sooner but a little dunk contest in practice happened on Monday. I just so happened to have taped it and wanted the world to see it so I spent some time dabbling with my camera and editing. It just so happens to be the poll of the week as well. Who won: Marko Filipovic or Matthew Goldsmith. If you would like to hear Matt's run-down of the competition check it our HERE. Lets get to the video and don't forget to vote when you get done watching. Exercise your right to vote in the free world even if it just a lowly blogspot page.



This is just a little insight into what we accomplish in our free time. Hopefully there will be more to come with new dunks, dunkers, and of course HOTNESS.

Okay, now to the game last Saturday against 3rd place Recklinghausen that might I add beat us by 50+ the first time we played. Might I also add that we did not have Matt, Junior, or Marc and the majority of the team was sick. Saturday was definately a different story.

We played well and had control of the game for three quarters. The fourth though threw us into a tail spin that can only be described as pitiful. Of course there was help from the officials who had actually done a fine job up to this point. I really can't fault anyone except ourselves. We simply did not execute in the fourth quarter and they did a good job of taking advantage of mismatches. Long story short they outscored us 33-13 in the fourth. A ten point lead dissipates very quickly with a fourth quarter like that.

I have to give Recklinghausen credit. They are a good team. They have very good guards and 3 or 4 Canadian and Americans who are very good players. They are an athletic team who rebounds hard and pushes the ball up the floor. For the fans I think this was a great game to watch as it was a battle right from the tip. What could be more entertaining than a fast paced game between two quality teams mixed with a bunch of threes and some "sicknasty" dunks.

We ended up losing the game 93:100. I had 27 in the losing effort.

Two games left this season. This Friday at Paderborn and the the season finale home against Dortmund.

Coaching:

My men's team took down Soest, the fourth place team, in typical men's team style. A fast paced game mixed with terrible officiating and some technicals to boot. Just another day at the office. Now we can secure the championship at home this Sunday. The champagne is on ice.

One more thing about my men's team. I got the privilege to coach my coach as he played for my team because we were in need of another point guard due to injuries. For a man who hasn't played in awhile he still has some hop to his step but I think the next day he may have been regretting his decision to have played.

Back to the states in about a month
TJW

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

MS Ride 150


I was introduced to this event by a good college friend and it got me to thinking. Why not start a team of my own. I haven't officially signed up a team yet because I would like to put the word out before I get anything going.

What is it: MS Ride 150

Where is it: Duluth to Minneapolis (2 Day ride)

When is it: June 12-14

Why do it: I first thought of this as a way to get the family together to support a good cause but anyone who wants to ride with is more than welcome. I think it would be a good way to show support for a quality organization and also commemorate the life of James Arthur Wittwer. For those of you who don't know my family history James is my father and lost his battle to Multiple Sclerosis (MS) a little over two years ago. What a way to commemorate his life, ride with the wind through your hair in the beautiful MN countryside for those who continue the fight against this horrid disease. Maybe we will make someone else's life a little less painful with the contribution we make. Isn't that reason enough?

Reasons why you should participate:
  • Support a good cause
  • Help those who are less fortunate
  • Commemorate the life of Jim
  • See the outdoors firsthand -- from outside the car
  • Feel the wind flow rush across your face
  • Motivation to get back on that bike and train
  • Create life long memories
  • Bonding time with friends and family
  • Accomplish something special as a group
  • FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN
Mull it over and when I get the team created I will send over the link. In the meantime meander through the MS 150 Website to get the full scoop.

P.S. I am looking for a team name as well so post your ideas of team names and how much money you think we could feasible raise as a team in the next 3 months

GET TO IT!!!!!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Old Fashioned DunkFest

I just want to start by thanking everyone that has already voted. I am already putting together a few ideas of the first couple things I am going to write about. I have to keep this blog going somehow after the season because I know you don't want to hear about my training. It really is the unglamorous part of sport although part of my favorite.

I also want to thank everyone who has supported me by clicking on the ads. It is much appreciated and keep up the good work. If you aren't clicking the ads think of it as a mini-finger workout. A few clicks here and there will go a LONG ways over a lifetime. :) Think of the calories burned.

Back to the task at hand: Game Review

Honestly, going into this game we kind of thought it was going to be a blow-out. The only reason we played the game was to find out how big it was going to be and see how many dunks we could get. The house put in work scoring 76 of our total 110 points with the absence of Marko due to that fact that he's a wimp or has a sprained ankle but probably a combination of the two. I don't think Marko reads the blog so if I get whacked in the middle of the night I will know why.

Slight Tangent: My Serbian friend is on his way to coming to America to go to school and play basketball. If anybody knows a team who needs a big man and has a full-ride scholarship available let me know.

Direct quote from Junior Denson as we were sitting on the bench "Games like this are difficult to play in. I could literally score on every single possession if I wanted to but I don't want to get that tired. I mean its fun for you because you get to dunk but me I do the same lay-ups no matter who we play." To be honest he was 100% correct. We literally scored at will and my shot of choice was indeed the dunk shot. I may have had the coolest dunk of my career 30 seconds into the game. I don't remember how the fast break started but I got the ball on the wing with one guy to beat. I drove baseline then hop stepped to the middle and decided to hammer it on this "taken off guard" defender. I don't think he had any idea I was going to rise on him so he just stood underneath and took it like a champ.

We blew the game open right from the start. Holding a 20-40 point lead the entire game. I think in the game I had eight dunks and pinned three balls against the backboard to go along with a bunch of missed free throws. We gave the fans a little bit of everything: 3 balls, off the backboard dunks, reverses, 1-hand, 2-hand. Everyone on the team saw major minutes and we just had a lot of fun on the court. Games like this are fun every once in awhile but we look forward the battle next week with Recklinhausen, a little unfinished business or simply straight revenge.

Newspaper Box Score:
TEAM UND PUNKTE

TV Werne:
Aaron (17), Meinert (16), Mersch (8), Docenko (2), Denson (16), Wittwer (25), Lüttecke (7), Stachula (2), Tübel, Goldsmith (18).

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Dunk Fest vs. Borchen

111 - 64 beat down. I almost had double digit dunks. More to come during the week. Have a great Saturday night. Ciao

TJW

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Recent Changes

I have made a few changes to the blog if you haven't already noticed.

1) I added a poll on the top right. This will run for about ten days and allow me to tailor some of my newest writing to you the reader. Take a few seconds to vote for one.

2) Along the right side I added a list called great reads. I am acquired a very fine taste for reading over here thanks to Mr. Goldsmith's ever changing array of books. If you liked to read and don't know what to read next check out a few of the books. Most of the books are pretty deep not necessarily in delivery but more along the lines of meaning. Some just good reads may pop up on there as well.

3) The final thing I decided to add was a little thing called AdSense. This allows me to make a little money from Google every time someone clicks on the advertisement sites. Matt actually introduced this concept to me and I think its a great way for the reader to support an author without having to making any real monetary sacrifice except for a few seconds to click a few links. I am by all means not telling you to click my links :) because Google says I can't tell you to click the links, so please don't go clicking on any Google ads on my page :) and supporting my writing! I tried to make them blend in with the page as much as possible so that they wouldn't take away from the blog. Let me know what you think.

Back at IT

Finally I am getting my act together and back on the blogging train. Now that I have my computer refurbished and Karneval is over its back to business for me. If anyone would like a little run-down of what Karneval was like for us over here in Germany my roommate Matthew Goldsmith does a fabulous job of detailing our day/s and you can find that riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight HERE. Since I don't have to explain Karneval this will make my first blog back a little easier on the fingers.

One thing I would like to address quickly is this concept of evolution. I know I haven't been evolving like I should but natural selection will soon take its course. It takes millions of years for things to change but hopefully it doesn't take that long for me to add new things to my blog. I have been thinking of ideas but finding the time to implement these ideas also takes, yep you guessed it, time. Have you ever stopped to contemplate this idea of time. What would happen if the concept of time was abandoned? The world might implode. :) No seriously it might. Our lives revolve completely around the clock. As our culture becomes more technologically advanced we rely more and more on the all-powerful clock. You know when you wake up suddenly and the first thing you do is look at the clock. We always ask how long something is going to take or how long it takes to get there or I'll be there at this or that time. I think our culture, and I am not excluded from this by any means, gets so concernec with the concept of time that time ends up passing them by without them knowing it. To me, time is now. Yes, time is an integral part of society but sometimes we need to let time go for awhile and stop worrying. Really all that matters is right now. I believe one should plan for the future but really will the future ever happen, if it does it becomes the present. Right now I am typing to you, and right now you are enjoying what you are reading. I hope. Two things happening at the same time but yet still at different times. It is all a matter of perspective I guess. I am not about to go on a watch burning brigade through the streets of Werne, but aren't some of the best times in our lives when time seems to stand still. When we are so caught up in the moment to not even notice the hours fly by. On the surface my last two statements seem to contradict eachother, or do they?

Well lets get back to business. I will get off my philosophical soapbox and back to the task at hand -- Just for record I never had that whole bit about time in there before I proofread the blog, I seem to get more philosophical as the night goes on :). Patience is a virtue, right? Please sent all hate mail to my mother because she is a certified pyschologist (yes she does have a degree) and then you two can meet up and talk about why you have so much hate inside that you need to send hate mail because some guy won't update his blog with cool new things and just rants about whats on his mind (my english teachers/profs would be excited by the impressive run-on I just wrote. I did take a few english classes in college but its a matter of choice whether or not I apply that knowledge). Thanks Mom.

Alright, lets get down to business. The first slightly painful task at hand is to talk about Luddenscheid. If from the previous statement you still haven't figured out that we lost well now you know because I just said it.

I don't exactly know the final score of the game and I am way too lazy to look it up so you will just have to live with we lost by three. Thinking about this game in retrospect brings to mind the analogy of a rollercoaster, preferably The Wild Thing at Valleyfair right before I ride it for the first time.

Why? Read on my friends, read on.

Well, first off you never know what to expect from German officiating just as I didn't know what to expect from the ride. Was it going to be an uneventful ride or am I going to hurl some bodily fluids on the cute girl next to me? You never know what you are going to get until the game starts and you never really know what you got until the game is over. Mull that one over for awhile. As you can tell by the previous statement there is a lot of "I never know" going on here.

Secondly, the game had lots of ups and downs as anyone who has ever ridden or even seen a rollercoaster in real life or on t.v. can attest to. Lots of highs and lows. Sometimes you are as light as a bird and other times the ride is g-checking you into your seat. In other words sometimes you are defying gravity and other times gravity is defining you in a small little ball on your seat. That is kind of how it felt like for me during this game. We would get a sizable lead of around ten points and feel like we are defying gravity then forget to play defense, take quick shots, and no longer take care of the ball and now we are back at the bottom of the hill. This happened multiple times throughout the game. Very sickening indeed. I am actually getting pretty sick right now talking about it.

Thirdly, we were just flat out rusty. That can happen when a finely tuned and oiled machine (rollercoaster....i needed to stay with the analogy) is allowed to sit in the rain for a week without any attention to its detail. We came into the game and just missed so many shots we normally make.

Honestly, I never really felt like myself during the game. Maybe it was getting thrown out of our pre-game routine, maybe it was being off for a week. I don't know but I don't like to make excuses. As I learned on G's to Gent's a true gentleman always takes responsibility for his actions. I just didn't play as well as I should have. It won't happen again.

As for my other teams. I was unable to coach my men's team and they lost in Unna. Thankfully we still have a one game lead on the second place team with four games remaining, so we really need to put in some work here the next few weeks. If any of my guys are reading this, we still have practice on Tuesdays in case anybody forgot.

My U14 was off this week.

A little over a month and I will be back on US soil. The weather today was stupendous. The sun was out. It was probably 50 degrees. A rare, beautiful day in Germany. It honestly felt like the beginning of spring which I think happens a lot earlier over here. Which is nice.

That is all my friends
TJW

P.S. With spring comes impromptu soccer games and streetball adventures. I feel privileged to have weaved my way into one of each this past weekend.