Quick Update

Due to bad weather and a 3 hour late plane I missed my connecting flight to the US.  I spent the night in a hotel and am back at the airport sitting next to my favorite garbage can.  Internet is cheaper here. Airport is crazy with stranded travelers.   I just got lucky and rebooked my flight back to the states without having to wait in line for hours.  I heard horror stories of people waiting in line for 11 hours.  I tried to be more efficient, computer, skype and customer service.  I said some prayers and Lord came through with a flight.

Well I will home on Wednesday.  12 hours to live up Amsterdam.  Can't wait to get home for Christmas.

Peace, Love, and Amsterdam
TJW

Newspaper Blog: I Heart the Sixth Man

Guten Morgen Werne. I have kept this column fairly basketball free so far but you had to know that wasn’t going to last forever. Hopefully, I can throw a lemon twist on it too for all the non-ballers out there.

As you may or may not know TV Werne 03 basketball team earned a nice road win this last weekend in Hagen, definitely well-deserved. To be honest, I was not surprised by the win. Every time I step on the floor I expect to win. Not because we have overwhelmingly more talent than the other team but rather because we prepare diligently and with focused intent.

The greatest satisfactions in life do not come from things placed at our feet but rather from a combination of preparation, sacrifice, dedication, and hard work. If one does everything they can to prepare, the end result takes care of itself. A wise man once said, “To give anything other than your best, is to sacrifice a gift.” Your best comes through countless hours of preparing.

"All of us are Stars in our own lives"

I have a love/hate relationship with theory. It can be inspiring and motivational on paper but reality many times has its own agenda. I realized early in life that great successes are rarely attained alone. To bring the idea full circle we return back to the hardwood (or plastic, this is Germany). The average basketball fan sees who made the basket, who scores the most points, or who wins. They don’t see the hours of practice, liters of lost sweat, or constant aches and pains. Not to mention the players that bust their butt in practice every day for the team even if they don’t see a minute on Saturday. They might not see the great screen that allowed the shooter to score or see the fan pour out his or her heart for the team.

Every team has its public figures but those stars would not be what they are without their supporting cast and diligent preparation. All of us are the stars in our own lives have our own supporting casts. “Have you recognized yours?” and “How do you prepare?”

Finally, I want to say “Thank You, to the Sixth Man for the energy and enthusiasm they bring every week. Because of them we will never have to walk alone.

Come join in on the excitement this Saturday as we host Luddenscheid. Tip-Off 7:30.

TJW

Weekend 2 of Big 3 -- Short Wrap-Up with a bunch of tangents

I know this is a day late, big surprise.  I have been feeling a little under the weather lately and spent the last couple days in my bed.  I felt that watching the first season of the The Big Bang Theory was more important than anything else.  Its a different type of humor but definately worth checking out. 

14 episodes later, I arrive back at my keyboard at work.  Not that you are interested in the course of my illness but I am feeling better and actually practiced last night, not well might I add.  Still a little tired from sleeping for 15 hours a day.  Who would have thought. 

I do have a couple remarks on the German health care to note. 

Quick tangent: Germany is the 4th fattest country in the world, right behind yours truely the US.  The fattest country in Europe as a matter of fact, Germany that is not the US.  For all you geographical majors out there the USA is NOT located anywhere in Europe and in case you are wondering where Europe is its across the Atlantic Ocean. You can never be too sure with educational system in the US.  Maybe we should start teaching people how not to be obese, oh wait the information is everywhere people simply are too lazy to change, or just not mad enough yet.  Either way.  I think House is wearing off on me with his truthful sarcasm. I am going to stop now so I dont get any hate mail from my PR manager.  Send all complaints to Trapper Swierenga .

Healtcare system = efficiency at its finest.  Thats what I love about Germans, sooo efficient.  So I go see our team doctor.  He does a thorough 10 sec check of my ears and throat.  From this observation he concludes I have a bacterial infection.  Efficiency. I inferred this by the antibiotics he prescribed that I immediately googled when I got home.  He gives me a mystery shot in my "backside," writes me a prescription and I am on my way.  I leave the doctors office and conveintly located 3 feet from the door is yep you guessed it a pharmacy.  I give the pharmacist my piece of paper the prescription roles out on a little conveyor belt.  I smile, pay nothing and leave.  I almost felt like I needed to tip the pharmacist but didnt feel it was socially acceptable, or is it? She was kind of cute.  Anyways, I walked to the doctor and was out of there with my prescription and back in my bed in under an hour.  Might I add it takes over 20 minutes to walk one-way to the doctors office. Efficiency (the doctor part, not the walking).

Quick Tangent:  I really need to start taking pictures of some of the architecture out here.  On my walk I found some pretty cool houses in some pretty cool neighborhoods.  Much different than the states.  This could be a blog post on its own so I am going to note it and move on. 

Well we won last Saturday 86-65.  We were supposed to win so no surprises there.  If you are brushing up on your German the short non informative online article is riiiiiiight HERE.  There is a point breakdown though that you may find interesting.  That is how good teams with, who are you going to stop?

They were supposed to be one of the better teams in the league only because they have a couple Americans.  Well, all they had was a couple Americans.  I think the Americans for them scored 52 of the total 65 points.  I am sorry but you are not going to win too many games when two players score 80% of your points.  Yes, exactly .8.  If you dont believe me waste 5 seconds of your life and get a calculator out.

I really dont have much to say about the game.  To be completely honest, it was really boring.  We were never really in jeopardy of losing.  No rims were broken, nothing.  I am failing to find words to describe it.  Even the fans that I talked to were semi-disappointed.  Can't please everybody I guess.  Really everyone knew, this is just a warm-up to the showdown we have this weekend in Recklinghausen.  Battle of the unbeatens for top dawg in the league.  Should be a good game.  I guess on the infamous forums (that coach reads and has to fill us in about) they believe we will lose by 20.  Thats why its a belief.  The Easter Bunny also hides my easter basket every year. 

I don't have much to say but wait till the smoke clears then start talking.   

I woke up to a dusting of snow this morning.  All the more excited to be coming home.  Stateside in four days.

TjW

P.S.  Good Luck on your finals Pops and thanks for subscribing to the blog  

Das Ist Deutschland

So, I guess I said click too many times in my postings and the invisible powers that be removed my adsense ads.  Just took the rug right out from underneath me.  I may try and appeal just for the meer fact its fun fighting with something bigger than the world as we know it, google. 

So I had to get a little input from Tramaine for this week's edition.  This is his idea and all credit should be given to him.  He doesnt read this blog anyways so just give me all the credit and I will be sure pass it along to him :)

Today's installment is on ICE.  Not the abundance of ice like you might expect in a well-developed 21st century democratic nation but rather the lack there of. 

Today I compiled a short list of places where ice is missing here in Germany. Enjoy!

1. Drinks -- Never have I found a place that puts ice in water, soda, mixed drinks, or any drink for that matter.  I questioned a local about this and he informed me that Germans want to get their money's worth and ice just takes away from the product they are actually looking for.  This specific instance was in regard to an alcoholic beverage so I dont know if this opinion can be held as scientifically significant. 

2.  Injuries  -- Sprain an ankle, here is some cream and a wrap.  Break your arm here is some cream and a wrap.  Contract malaria, here is some cream and a wrap. 

3.  Bags of it readily available in gas stations, grocery stores, or literally any store that sells anything. 

4.  McDonald's beverage dispenser -- You know the drill, grab me a cup, grab me some ice, grab me a coke.  Well, its the same here just leave out the ice not by choice but because of the man.  The absence of an actual ice dispenser attached to the soda machine makes obtaining it impossible.


Is this an adversion to cold or a deep rooted cultural revulsion for this simple pleasure?  I for one like it cold. 

TJW

 

I Heart the 6thMan -- Newspaper Article

Guten Morgen Werne.



I have kept this column fairly basketball free so far but you had to know that wasn’t going to last forever. Hopefully, I can throw a lemon twist on it too for all the non-ballers out there.

As you may or may not know TV Werne 03 basketball team earned a nice road win this last weekend in Hagen, definitely well-deserved. To be honest, I was not surprised by the win. Every time I step on the floor I expect to win. Not because we have overwhelmingly more talent than the other team but rather because we prepare diligently and with focused intent.

The greatest satisfactions in life do not come from things placed at our feet but rather from a combination of preparation, sacrifice, dedication, and hard work. If one does everything they can to prepare, the end result takes care of itself. A wise man once said, “To give anything other than your best, is to sacrifice a gift.” Your best comes through countless hours of preparing.


I have a love/hate relationship with theory. It can be inspiring and motivational on paper but reality many times has its own agenda. I realized early in life that great successes are rarely attained alone.


To bring the idea full circle we return back to the hardwood (or plastic, this is Germany). The average basketball fan sees who made the basket, who scores the most points, or who wins. They don’t see the hours of practice, liters of lost sweat, or constant aches and pains. Not to mention the players that bust their butt in practice every day for the team even if they don’t see a minute on Saturday. They might not see the great screen that allowed the shooter to score or see the fan pour out his or her heart for the team.


Every team has its public figures but those stars would not be what they are without their supporting cast and diligent preparation. All of us are the stars in our own lives have our own supporting casts. “Have you recognized yours?” and “How do you prepare?”


Finally, I want to say “Thank You, to the Sixth Man for the energy and enthusiasm they bring every week. Because of them we will never have to walk alone.


Come join in on the excitement this Saturday as we host Luddenscheid. Tip-Off 7:30.


TJW

P.S. I also heart Matthew Oja for (not in this order)
a. finding a job
b. being my friend
c. adding himself to the followers of the blog

Week 1 of the Big 3 -- Insert Hagen-Haspe

So I lied the other day about putting the game summary up on Wednesday.  If you haven't figured out I make a lot of empty claims you have not been reading long enough.  No worries you will figure it out soon enough.  I do have a good reason but I dont like to make excuses for my sins.  I will throughly make up for it if I get around to putting together some insider video I shot before the game. If I don't get it up I will not make up for it.

As I forshadowed brilliantly in the title this was the first game of the big 3 in December.  Basically we play the top 3 teams, excluding ourselves (in case there was any confusion) during December.  Everyone has been talking about these games before I even came to Germany.  To be honest, I have had children, yes children, messaging me on facebook to inform me how important these games are.  Nothing like a little pressure.  That brings me back to the old adage an old college buddy used to proclaim,

"Cole turns to diamonds under pressure"

Since my names is indeed not Cole nor am I made of coal I like to stick to another saying,

"Pressure either breaks pipes or builds diamonds."

Although I am not a huge diamond lover, cue Blood Diamond here, I am more opposed to breaking pipes so I guess by default I like diamonds, end Blood Diamond here.

The pressure forunately built a fine diamond as we won in convincing fashion 87-76.

We had control of the game right from the tip.  Our lead flucuated between 2-10 points a few times but there was never any real doubt that we might lose the game.  At least from a players standpoint there wasnt, I can not speak for the fans or the coach.

Because of the specialness (yes specialness) of this game we decided to fill up the rest of our team bus with fans.  By we, I am speaking of the management which does not include me so insert they.  But, I was on the bus so I could be included, insert whichever you want.  We were subsequently serenaded for a majority of the 1 hour ride with songs and chants.   All is well for a nice showing of TV Werne faithful in Hagen.  To be honest it really felt like a home game because by my rough estimate I would say the ratio was about 3 to 1 TV Werne fans to Hagen fans. 

I really wanted to get the stats done for this game but because bringing my computer to work all of sudden is  frowned upon, time to work on my laptop is scarce.  Especially when it takes me 12 hours to convert the WHOLE game into DVD format so I can watch it on a screen bigger than 3 x 3.  I emphasized whole because I forgot the second quarter on the two subsequent four hour conversions.  The village idiot may post full stats later.

Our goal for this game was to pound the ball inside, get some easy buckets early and put their posts in foul trouble.  We did a great job of this in addition to shooting the lights out in the first quarter.  No seriously they had to replace all the lights in the gym because everyone had been shot out.  There was a short break in the game.  We scored over 30 points in the first quarter.   Thats over 3 points a minute.  Phenomenal points per minute for all you statisticians out there. 

For Brensley's first game in one and a half years he played really well.  He cáme out of the gates smokin and really helped us build a lead early.  He continues to learn the ins and outs of  playing point guard for our team and also getting used to the European game.  It definiately takes some getting used to and I was very impressed with his first outing.  I think he finished with 16.

Tramaine played a great game for us at the point guard position (when he is not sick I relenquish my dominance at the point to him) eventhough he struggled with the German officiating and fouled out late in the game.  He finished with 28 on a very good shooting performance. 

I, for once, did not have any trouble with the officials and only finished with 3 fouls.  I spent the majority of my night at the free throw line.  I may have shot close to 20 free throws.  I finished the game with 31.  To be honest, I made a living at the line and its a good thing too because my legs for some reason didnt have any bounce or energy at all.  I think the lack of sun out here is really hampering my ability to recover from workouts, seriously.  I have not had good sunshine since I have been out here.  May have to start hitting the tanning bed .

All in all the team played very well defensively.  We kept one of their Americans in check the whole game and didnt let any of the Germans beat us.  Great way to start off the Big 3.

Its mid-week now and we are getting ramped up for our next big game against Luddenscheid this Saturday.  It is home and I've been told lots of sponsors will be attending so a good show is mandatory.  Diamonds.
Next up is the newspaper blog for the week.  Will probably post that tomorrow.  Dont want to put up too much content in one day because this post is ridiculously too long.

Peace, Love, Harmony, Sun and Diamonds.................and SNOW to everyone back home

Trevor

P.S.  Everybody loves a good clicker...if you are wondering how simply look down or see the sidebar and react accordingly :)

 

Das ist Deutschland

I am starting a new series on my blog called "Das ist Deutschland."  Basically, its just a random semi-entertaining happening that Tramaine or I go through.  Usually it involves a large culture gap and many times results in a realization I am not in Kanas anymore.  We have already begun compiling a long list that could possibly turn into a youtube series depending on how creative we get.  Here is the numbero uno.

So I stop in at a restaruant and order 1 water, 1 soda, and 1 beer.  Can you guess the most expensive, least expensive, biggest and smallest.  Here goes,

  1 BEER

1 SODA

1 Water

1 Beer (.5 L) Least Expensive

1 Pop (.3 L)

1 Water* (.3 L) Most Expensive

*Water with bubbles might I add and without ice (all Das Ist Deutschlands in themselves)

I will let you draw your own conclusions from this scientifiic study.

DAS IST DEUTSCHLAND

Game Summary Coming Tomorrow

Your Favorite PG

I have been a little lazy on giving game reports lately so I am going to rectify my sins and start with the game two weeks ago.  (Okay maybe a lot bit lazy)   I apologize in advance for this post being uncreative but the game happened two weeks ago.

We had a cup game a few weeks back against the same team we scrimmaged and pounded by forty.  In case you are wondering what a cup game is use the brand spankin new search bar I added on the homepage.  I am pretty sure I had an in depth post on this last year sometime.  In a nutshell its a massive lottery tournament with every team in Germany.

Borken, the team we played, is in the league below us and was supposedly on a 28 game winning streak.  Since we had pounded them in a scrimmage by 40 a few weeks earlier no one was really worried about the game.  Tramaine did decide to throw one wrinkle into the mix.  He chose to get sick and not participate in this athletic endeavor. 

This definitely changed the game but we were still confident we could come away with a win.  Since Borken is a lower division team we had to go to their place to play and boy I am glad we did.  They had a semi-normal gym.  They also had a little sky box and a massive projection on the wall of what appeared to be a continuous powerpoint of the Borken players.  Oh, and a wood floor to top everything off.

*Note to self:  Bring camera to game so you don't have to write terrible, uncreative descriptions of the facilities 

As you may already know we ended up winning the game by 3.  Well, its was actually 2 when I went through the scoresheet.  Karma is a b I guess because the scorebook credited me with an extra foul in the first half and forced me to play with four fouls for most of the second half.  I managed to steer away from any contact after my mystical fourth foul and not foul out of the game. 

Since Tramaine was sick I got to display my versatility on the point guard position.  Early in the game we were struggling to get the ball up the floor and into the offense.  They were putting a lot of pressure on us and we were not taking care of the ball.  This is when I decided I needed to take over the point.  I then ran the show for the majority of the rest of the game.  I think I did a fine job if I say so myself.

Borken had an older American that really kept them in the game.  He was a little guard who could flat out shoot the lights out.  He was making the craziest shots, one-foot fadeaways, floaters, deep threes.  I think Borken's biggest mistake is that they went away from him late in the game.

The game fluxuated between us having a ten point lead and them cutting it close.  Everytime I felt like we had gotten a comfortable lead we would throw it down the drain.  Daniel, our big man, made a lay-up with about 20 seconds left in the game to put us up by 3 and seal the win.  Borken came down and missed a three to tie.

All in all ugly but a win is a win.  I could really tell how young our team was at the end of the game just by how people carried themselves.  There was a lot of nervous energy in the last huddle but it was a good learning experience for everyone. 

Your Favorite PG
TJW

P.S.  I think I had mid twenties in the game
P.P.S. For the first time I had opposing fans try to harass me in English, pleseant surprise

Newspaper Blog: Thanksgiving

Welcome back!


From where, you may be asking yourself. From the illusion of wonderful weather the last weekend tempted us with. I do hope that when this reaches your breakfast nook that the weather gods will have changed their minds and put us all back in their good graces.

Enough about weather, let’s move on to something a little more important, something slightly less depressing. The day of Thanksgiving is. Most likely this still is resulting in a bewildered stare at your newspaper but keep reading please and enlightenment will ensue.


Thanksgiving is an American mainstay. In my mind it’s a Top 3 holiday rubbing shoulders with the likes of Christmas and Independence Day (without Will Smith and Aliens attempting to destroy earth). I did an in-depth scientific poll of one person, my roommate Tramaine Aaron, and the results showed that indeed these are America’s favorite holidays. I digress.

What is the meaning of this Thanksgiving Day Celebration? The “original” meaning of Thanksgiving has a very distasteful past to say the least and I am not here to bore you with a history lesson. This is of course why Google was invented. Plus, I want to believe we as a society are evolving from the ignorance of the past.

Let’s fast forward to my 21st century definition. Thanksgiving on the calendar is the last Thursday in November and is summarized by the 3 f’s: family, food, and football in order of importance of course.

Reader Clause: Remember I am American so football to me is American football to you. Your football is soccer is to me.

Thanksgiving is a time when families come together, enjoy each others company, and give thanks for the many blessings that have been bestowed upon them. A highly competitive, backyard family football game commonly precedes the festivities. This allows for friendly banter and bragging rights for the ensuing year.

The meal although, is the highlight of the festivities. But before the over indulgence can take place everyone must profess what they are thankful for. Then with a table decorated with turkey, stuffing, cranberries, squash, and sweet potatoes an “I ate too much” feeling usually transpires. Everything is home cooked under grandma’s watchful eye and finished off with her world renowned pumpkin pie. There is always room for desert.

After the meal everyone congregates in front of the television to lie back on the couch, unbutton the pants and fall asleep some good American football.

I know this may not be a German holiday but take a second this Thursday, or any day for that matter, to give thanks for everything you have been given. Go around the table if you like or simply take a second to reflect. However you or your family wants to do it take a few seconds to recognize how truly blessed you are.

Thanks for reading,

Trevor

P.S. We won on Saturday and if you want to find out more check out the real writers at the newspaper. Also, since I do play basketball we have a home game this Saturday and would love for you come and watch.

Quick Update

Hello Hello

First things first....Find the one that doesn't belong (throw it in a comment)

1.  We won on Saturday by twenty
2. I broke a rim on a dunk and we almost had to forfeit the game
3. It was sunny for multiple days in a row last week in Germany

I have been slacking the blogger world.  Too much to do at work.  Actually, I have been searching for my plane ticket back to Germany after Christmas and it looks like its going to cost me my first born child.

I hope to have that finished up by tomorrow morning so I "hope" to get some writing in after that and get the game recaps up from the last two games.

As for the video, the download link is available but I dont think many want to download a 600 megabyte video so I am shrinking it down again and getting it back on the internet.  The company is not particularly fond of me having my laptop at work so I most likely wont get any of the videos up until next week.  This is if the Lord so graces us with Internet this weekend but I think God forgot about this country a long time ago.  I kid I kid I joke I joke.  But seriously it does take fifteen years to get internet hooked up or to get almost anything done for that matter.

I will also post the next article I wrote for the newspapter last week in a new blog post. 

Brensley Haywood also arrived in Germany last week to help with our big games in December.  He is a good friend of mine.  He played at Saint Mary's so we played against each other for three years during college.  I will talk more about this later.

That's it for now. 
Ich Liebe Dich
Trevor

p.s. Google Adsense should be up and rolling.  Clicking links gives good karma points and we all know you need to get out of the red.