The Golden Fingers of Matt Goldsmith

You know what, it feels good to be back in the saddle. Its good to have Matt back and the team intact. Although we were not exactly a basketball powerhouse last Saturday we did what we needed to do to win. It will take a few more practices to get back into our groove.

So we traveled to Ibbenburen for the first game after the break. Typical German gym, techno (or was it house -- same difference well at least to me -- if anyone is wondering what difference between the two is check out Goldy's buddies blog HERE. He goes in depth on the two), small gym with dusty backboards. Have they not heard of windex. Come on.

Well we started out the game with Marc, Matt, Tremaine, Freddy, and I. The game kind of went like this. We would get a nice 10 point lead, the refs would start making crazy calls and then they would come back into the game. That happened on numerous occasions. I picked up three fouls by mid second quarter so coach smartly sat me down for the rest of the first half. We were down two at halftime and coach was not happy, understandably. We were much better than this team but kept letting them hang around.

Ok, CALL OF THE DAY: A guy from Ibbenburen has a fast break and Matt is chasing him down. As he is going up for the lay-up Matt swipes at the ball and screams. The official then proceeds to call a technical foul on Matt for distraction. For some reason you cannot make noises to distract the other team. If this rule were actually enforced there should be technical fouls on every single shot, free throw, possession and we should play in a gym without spectators. I almost fell down in disbelief after this happened.

During the second half the game remained close. The final two minutes of the game were pretty exciting. As best as I can remember it went like this. I was shooting free throws and we were down two with a little over a minute left. I made the two to tie the game. They come down and make a lay-up of some sort. We come down and I make a baseline jumper. They come down and make another bucket. We come down and T hits a long jumper. They come down and miss a long 2. We have the ball and T dribbles in the lane and kicks it out to Freddy for a three in the corner. The three falls off the front of the rim and big Matt comes barreling down the lane to grab the rebound and somehow with all of Germany hanging on his arms wills the ball up into the hoop as the buzzer sounds. He gets fouled too (and the ref actually blew his whistle to signal a foul as well).

ALMOST CALL of the DAY: The bad ref then runs to the scorers table to wave off the basket because Matt also got fouled on the play. For some reason that discounts the basket. Everything gets straightened out, the basket counts and we win. WOO HOO!!

If you are interested in the German article click HERE.

House Box Score
Tremaine: 18
Matthew: 15
Trevor: 22
Marko: 3

TJW

P.S.

Four members of the sixth man were also in attendance and they made more noise than the whole Ibbenburen crowd. Good work sixth man.