Even though they don't celebrate Thanksgiving out here in Germany I still need to celebrate it on the blog. I think for my thanksgiving dinner I am going to have spaghetti with red sauce and tuna, very festive I know. I hope you eat enough for the two of us though.
I just want to say how thankful I am for you following me on this journey. I appreciate the clicking and the comments.
Sorry for the lack of content lately. I have been busy at work this week but I am going to try and get a bunch of content up in the next couple days.
I miss everybody and hope everyone has a festive and thankful turkey day. Now I need to slingbox up some NFL football.
Your Favorite Turkey,
TJW
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Newspaper Article
I wrote my first post last week for the newspaper. Here it is.
Guten Morgen Deutschland!
I hope this column finds you gazing out your window at a beautiful sunny day, although I am not about to bet money on it. I do however admire how gracefully everyone still goes about their day despite the clouds, rain and darkness. I know if I was dealing with this depressing weather year after year I would definitely be financing my psychiatrist's new Audi.
As my first column I would like to take a few moments to get to know each other. Well, rather get to know me since you are undeniably reading a newspaper. Although, if you do see me on the street say “Hello” and then I can get to know you. I do have one condition, can we speak in English please because “Meine Deutsche ist nicht gut.” I do love to learn so if you would like to teach me some Deutsch I am looking for a tutor.
Back to who I am. Most would recognize me as a basketball player for TV Werne but basketball does not define who I am. It is simply a game I love and have been working hard at for over 15 years and fortunately seen some success. Basketball has given me many experiences and allowed me to meet some amazing people. To be honest, it is the reason I get the privilege to write you today. Everyone has their vehicles in life and mine at this period in my life is basketball.
Throughout my months with you I hope to have a conversation, even though it is extremely dominated by one person. I want to make this fun and not just another read. I hope to make you smile every once in while and possibly think a little bit too. I am in a unique position as a foreigner to be able to share my thoughts and concerns with such a large audience and I plan to take full advantage of it. Whether that is good or bad, you be the judge! I have no specific plan on where this is going to go and will simply let creativity be my guide. I will frequently touch on basketball and living abroad but will not limit myself solely to these topics.
Speaking of basketball I should touch quickly on it before I leave you this morning. We won! Oh, and the first wood floor we ever played on in Germany completely and utterly disappointed me!
Until next week,
Trevor J. Wittwer
p.s. If you do not find this post humorous at all you can blame it on Daniel, my translator. The humor must have gotten lost in translation.
Guten Morgen Deutschland!
I hope this column finds you gazing out your window at a beautiful sunny day, although I am not about to bet money on it. I do however admire how gracefully everyone still goes about their day despite the clouds, rain and darkness. I know if I was dealing with this depressing weather year after year I would definitely be financing my psychiatrist's new Audi.
As my first column I would like to take a few moments to get to know each other. Well, rather get to know me since you are undeniably reading a newspaper. Although, if you do see me on the street say “Hello” and then I can get to know you. I do have one condition, can we speak in English please because “Meine Deutsche ist nicht gut.” I do love to learn so if you would like to teach me some Deutsch I am looking for a tutor.
Back to who I am. Most would recognize me as a basketball player for TV Werne but basketball does not define who I am. It is simply a game I love and have been working hard at for over 15 years and fortunately seen some success. Basketball has given me many experiences and allowed me to meet some amazing people. To be honest, it is the reason I get the privilege to write you today. Everyone has their vehicles in life and mine at this period in my life is basketball.
Throughout my months with you I hope to have a conversation, even though it is extremely dominated by one person. I want to make this fun and not just another read. I hope to make you smile every once in while and possibly think a little bit too. I am in a unique position as a foreigner to be able to share my thoughts and concerns with such a large audience and I plan to take full advantage of it. Whether that is good or bad, you be the judge! I have no specific plan on where this is going to go and will simply let creativity be my guide. I will frequently touch on basketball and living abroad but will not limit myself solely to these topics.
Speaking of basketball I should touch quickly on it before I leave you this morning. We won! Oh, and the first wood floor we ever played on in Germany completely and utterly disappointed me!
Until next week,
Trevor J. Wittwer
p.s. If you do not find this post humorous at all you can blame it on Daniel, my translator. The humor must have gotten lost in translation.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Google Adsense
I got my google adsense working again so you should really NOT* click on a bunch of links and then close the window.
*By not I mean you should. Its hard to display sarcasm in a print medium.
*By not I mean you should. Its hard to display sarcasm in a print medium.
I can't remember the team.....but there was a wood floor
I can't remember the last team's name we played but we played on a wood floor.
Well, I don't even know if I could call it a wood floor. I think it was actually fake wood and it had a layer of white film on it that made it ever so slippery. I thought it was my shoes so after the first quarter ran to the bench, slipped on a towel and fell over a chair just to put on a different pair of shoes. I then found out when I went back on the floor that is was not the shoes but rather the stupid wood floor.
Just to put everything into perspective in Germany we do not believe in wood floors unless its the Bundesliga (top league in Germany). Every other league plays on a sport courtish surface which surprisingly has some give and bounce to it.
Coach the whole week had been building up this wood floor too. Naturally, in my mind I was thinking traditional wood floor in a normal gym.
Why the wood floor you may be asking yourself when we are not playing a Bundesliga team? The answer is the women's program of this particular club plays Bundesliga. They happened to be playing before us and this fake wood is pieced together on top of the sport court.
We actually got to watch the second half of the women's game as they were playing when we arrived. These women were not women but rather men dressed like women. In all honesty these ladies were huge and thick too. One team had to have a girl close to seven feet tall. This is not an exaggeration either.
You could definitely tell that this was the top women's league in Germany, although there was still a ton of turnovers and terrible decisions. No value for the ball and terrible offense. The 3-point line in top leagues in Europe is the same for both men and women. It is between college line and NBA. I would guess it was about a foot behind the men's college line.
The atmosphere was pretty cool for the women's game. They set up a restaurant along one of the sidelines. It also went back underneath the stands. I think it was put together by a catering service. There were also probably between 500-750 spectators. Too bad most left for our game. Personally, I still think our league men's basketball is more exciting than women's Bundesliga. Thats just me though.
Definitely more professionally done that other venues I have seen, but still nothing compared to the states. You really can't compare basketball here to basketball in the states. Its like night and day, apples to oranges, insert another lame analogy !
I just realized that I still have not given the score of the game or whether we won or lost. I let the wood floor control my mind. Well we did WIN, with a significant margin of 32.
The game was actually much closer than the score indicates. For some reason the officials really wanted to keep this game close. Some of the most ridiculous things were being called. The charge was again the "call of the day" on multiple occasions. Except when yours truely tries to take a charge then its a no call.
Quick scenario: A player from the opposing team has the ball on the three point line lets call him Curly. I am standing near the hoop. Curly dribbles full speed and slams directly into me. During this entire time I did two things 1. Squared up to the ball and 2. Put my arms over my head. I literally stood waiting for the guy to hit me for a good three seconds. Guess what, NO CALL. "pitchko matre" !! Thanks Marko for the Serbian lesson.
My thinking is if I am not going to get the charge I might as well try and throw his business into the upper decks. I am probably going to get a foul anyways so we might as well make things interesting.
Besides horrendous officiating they played a 2-3 zone and we not hitting our outside shots. A sweet combination for a close game. We did wear them down as the game went on and simply good care of buisness in the fourth quarter.
All in all a good win. We have a cup game this Saturday against a lower league team then back to league play next weekend.
Its sunny in Germany, its gotta be a great day
TJW
P.S. Marko has begun his season at Northern State and I am going to check the box score of his game last night when I finish up here. Check out his schedule and catch a game when he is in your area. Then after the game talk to him and call him a "pitchko"
Well, I don't even know if I could call it a wood floor. I think it was actually fake wood and it had a layer of white film on it that made it ever so slippery. I thought it was my shoes so after the first quarter ran to the bench, slipped on a towel and fell over a chair just to put on a different pair of shoes. I then found out when I went back on the floor that is was not the shoes but rather the stupid wood floor.
Just to put everything into perspective in Germany we do not believe in wood floors unless its the Bundesliga (top league in Germany). Every other league plays on a sport courtish surface which surprisingly has some give and bounce to it.
Coach the whole week had been building up this wood floor too. Naturally, in my mind I was thinking traditional wood floor in a normal gym.
Why the wood floor you may be asking yourself when we are not playing a Bundesliga team? The answer is the women's program of this particular club plays Bundesliga. They happened to be playing before us and this fake wood is pieced together on top of the sport court.
We actually got to watch the second half of the women's game as they were playing when we arrived. These women were not women but rather men dressed like women. In all honesty these ladies were huge and thick too. One team had to have a girl close to seven feet tall. This is not an exaggeration either.
You could definitely tell that this was the top women's league in Germany, although there was still a ton of turnovers and terrible decisions. No value for the ball and terrible offense. The 3-point line in top leagues in Europe is the same for both men and women. It is between college line and NBA. I would guess it was about a foot behind the men's college line.
The atmosphere was pretty cool for the women's game. They set up a restaurant along one of the sidelines. It also went back underneath the stands. I think it was put together by a catering service. There were also probably between 500-750 spectators. Too bad most left for our game. Personally, I still think our league men's basketball is more exciting than women's Bundesliga. Thats just me though.
Definitely more professionally done that other venues I have seen, but still nothing compared to the states. You really can't compare basketball here to basketball in the states. Its like night and day, apples to oranges, insert another lame analogy !
I just realized that I still have not given the score of the game or whether we won or lost. I let the wood floor control my mind. Well we did WIN, with a significant margin of 32.
88-52
The game was actually much closer than the score indicates. For some reason the officials really wanted to keep this game close. Some of the most ridiculous things were being called. The charge was again the "call of the day" on multiple occasions. Except when yours truely tries to take a charge then its a no call.
Quick scenario: A player from the opposing team has the ball on the three point line lets call him Curly. I am standing near the hoop. Curly dribbles full speed and slams directly into me. During this entire time I did two things 1. Squared up to the ball and 2. Put my arms over my head. I literally stood waiting for the guy to hit me for a good three seconds. Guess what, NO CALL. "pitchko matre" !! Thanks Marko for the Serbian lesson.
My thinking is if I am not going to get the charge I might as well try and throw his business into the upper decks. I am probably going to get a foul anyways so we might as well make things interesting.
Besides horrendous officiating they played a 2-3 zone and we not hitting our outside shots. A sweet combination for a close game. We did wear them down as the game went on and simply good care of buisness in the fourth quarter.
All in all a good win. We have a cup game this Saturday against a lower league team then back to league play next weekend.
Its sunny in Germany, its gotta be a great day
TJW
P.S. Marko has begun his season at Northern State and I am going to check the box score of his game last night when I finish up here. Check out his schedule and catch a game when he is in your area. Then after the game talk to him and call him a "pitchko"
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Weekend Wrap-Up
Happy Tuesday To All
I was very busy with work yesterday so I had to push the wrap-up back a little bit.
First things first, I think I got the game film of our first game online. I uploaded it to megavideo yesterday and as of the instant that I am writing this blog it is still unavailable. Usually it takes a couple days for them to finalize everything. I will be sure to post the link when the video pops up.
Secondly, I taped our second game as well and am in the process of getting that on the internet. Big things poppin'.
Thirdly, we got the big W on Saturday. This was not unexpected as this whole week coach had been talking about how we need to beat this team by 30. Yes they were the last team in the league and we are tied for first but 30 is a pretty significant margin of victory no matter who you are playing.
We ended up winning by 19, 96-77. Still a convincing win none the less but many people were not happy with simply a 19 point victory. The more upsetting piece was how many points we gave up. For the best defensive team in the league (according to points against) 77 points is way too many.
My reasons why we gave up 77 points
1. Awkward Line-Ups
At times during the game I was the 5 (center position) on the floor. In essence this is a 5 guard team on the floor running a post dominated offense. Not to mention these players are not used to playing together and many playing in unusual positions.
2. Our HelpSide Defense was mediocre at best + we were getting beat off the dribble
First we were getting beat off the dribble and second our helpside was late or non existent. This means lots of easy buckets. Again this points back to Number 1 and chemsitry issues. Also, principles are not clearly defined on our defense which can cause confusion.
3. There was never any threat from the other team.
After the first 5 minutes of the game we already had a double digit lead and never looked back for the rest of the game. The game was comfortably under control the entire time.
Simple items that will be ironed out in our preparation for the top teams in December.
On a side note: The 2. Men's team I coach got a nice win on Saturday as well after one good half of basketball. They are also 5-0 and on top in the first position in their league. Consistency is the key for those guys in terms of effort and practice attendance.
Its boring but its my life
TJW
p.s. If you want to practice up on your German the newspaper article is HERE
I was very busy with work yesterday so I had to push the wrap-up back a little bit.
First things first, I think I got the game film of our first game online. I uploaded it to megavideo yesterday and as of the instant that I am writing this blog it is still unavailable. Usually it takes a couple days for them to finalize everything. I will be sure to post the link when the video pops up.
Secondly, I taped our second game as well and am in the process of getting that on the internet. Big things poppin'.
Thirdly, we got the big W on Saturday. This was not unexpected as this whole week coach had been talking about how we need to beat this team by 30. Yes they were the last team in the league and we are tied for first but 30 is a pretty significant margin of victory no matter who you are playing.
We ended up winning by 19, 96-77. Still a convincing win none the less but many people were not happy with simply a 19 point victory. The more upsetting piece was how many points we gave up. For the best defensive team in the league (according to points against) 77 points is way too many.
My reasons why we gave up 77 points
1. Awkward Line-Ups
At times during the game I was the 5 (center position) on the floor. In essence this is a 5 guard team on the floor running a post dominated offense. Not to mention these players are not used to playing together and many playing in unusual positions.
2. Our HelpSide Defense was mediocre at best + we were getting beat off the dribble
First we were getting beat off the dribble and second our helpside was late or non existent. This means lots of easy buckets. Again this points back to Number 1 and chemsitry issues. Also, principles are not clearly defined on our defense which can cause confusion.
3. There was never any threat from the other team.
After the first 5 minutes of the game we already had a double digit lead and never looked back for the rest of the game. The game was comfortably under control the entire time.
Simple items that will be ironed out in our preparation for the top teams in December.
On a side note: The 2. Men's team I coach got a nice win on Saturday as well after one good half of basketball. They are also 5-0 and on top in the first position in their league. Consistency is the key for those guys in terms of effort and practice attendance.
Its boring but its my life
TJW
p.s. If you want to practice up on your German the newspaper article is HERE
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Stuff not as important as SIM JU
Hello
Just a little bored at work so I thought a would write a thing or two on this blog then head over to the other one and write some too.
Speaking of writing, I am going to be writing a short column for the local newspaper every week which I am pretty excited about. I just confirmed it with them today and I will simply be talking about basketball and living overseas. The first installment will probalby be in two weeks. Most likely it will be simply a blog or excerpt from here with a little more editing to make sure I haven't extremely offended anyone or called out the entire German culture which seems to happen from time to time. Or use extremely long run-ons like the previous sentence.
I am going to work on the basketball game film stuff tonight. We are still waiting for our permanent internet connection so trying to upload the massive game film before was unsuccessful. I must dum it down and try again
First off, I was excited I could spell it right because I am currently on a German keyboard.
I just realized I have yet to comment on Sim JU. One of the official German holiday celebrations that freezes the world as is. Everything stops for Sim JU. Gyms close, supermarkets close, restaruants close because why would you need to eat out when there are 3478 half meter bratwurst stands, 25 crepe stands, 7 chocolate fruit stands, 1 amazing chinese stand and enough beer to intoxicate a small country. By the way these are all on wheels except the massive beer tent. But don't fret there is some beer on wheels.
Quick side note: Why do carnivals or anywhere else for that matter insist on having racially correct people working the diversity stands? Does my satisfaction of the food depend on the racial matching of restaurant and employee? But I do appreciate the effort.
This year I limited myself to only 1 day of eating and 2 days of enjoyment. I do have to give it to the Germans on their engineering prowess. This carnival has some bad to the bone rides. Remember the most important fact here, portability. Who cares about the fact it takes a week and a half to set everything up and it shuts down the major roads through town. They have three dimensional spinning.
Now whats a 3-dimensional ride you may ask. Picture this. I pay my three or four Euros for the ride. Thats close to five bucks a ride so this better be good. I step onto the massive circle that spins. I walk to my two person spinnable contraption and get strapped in. Might I add that this spinnable contraption spins on a horizontal axis and is connected to lots of other contraptions that spin on a vertical axis, which is connected to a large circle that also spins on a vertical axis. Now 3-4 minutes of this mayhem. Three times the fun, three times the spinning, three times the recovery time. I need another bratwurst.
The ride referenced above was Shake but my favorite was High Energy. Check them both out in the pictures in the link below.
Here is a link to some cool pics much cooler than mine. Wait, I didn't take any. I knew I was forgetting something. Glad someone else didn't fail.
To another year of mayhem
TJW
p.s. if you are still trying to figure out how to get to the pictures or are upset I didn't post a URL click the word link using only the tip of a yellow florescent highlighter.
Just a little bored at work so I thought a would write a thing or two on this blog then head over to the other one and write some too.
Speaking of writing, I am going to be writing a short column for the local newspaper every week which I am pretty excited about. I just confirmed it with them today and I will simply be talking about basketball and living overseas. The first installment will probalby be in two weeks. Most likely it will be simply a blog or excerpt from here with a little more editing to make sure I haven't extremely offended anyone or called out the entire German culture which seems to happen from time to time. Or use extremely long run-ons like the previous sentence.
I am going to work on the basketball game film stuff tonight. We are still waiting for our permanent internet connection so trying to upload the massive game film before was unsuccessful. I must dum it down and try again
SIM JÜ - The Cadillac for Carnies
First off, I was excited I could spell it right because I am currently on a German keyboard.
I just realized I have yet to comment on Sim JU. One of the official German holiday celebrations that freezes the world as is. Everything stops for Sim JU. Gyms close, supermarkets close, restaruants close because why would you need to eat out when there are 3478 half meter bratwurst stands, 25 crepe stands, 7 chocolate fruit stands, 1 amazing chinese stand and enough beer to intoxicate a small country. By the way these are all on wheels except the massive beer tent. But don't fret there is some beer on wheels.
Quick side note: Why do carnivals or anywhere else for that matter insist on having racially correct people working the diversity stands? Does my satisfaction of the food depend on the racial matching of restaurant and employee? But I do appreciate the effort.
This year I limited myself to only 1 day of eating and 2 days of enjoyment. I do have to give it to the Germans on their engineering prowess. This carnival has some bad to the bone rides. Remember the most important fact here, portability. Who cares about the fact it takes a week and a half to set everything up and it shuts down the major roads through town. They have three dimensional spinning.
Now whats a 3-dimensional ride you may ask. Picture this. I pay my three or four Euros for the ride. Thats close to five bucks a ride so this better be good. I step onto the massive circle that spins. I walk to my two person spinnable contraption and get strapped in. Might I add that this spinnable contraption spins on a horizontal axis and is connected to lots of other contraptions that spin on a vertical axis, which is connected to a large circle that also spins on a vertical axis. Now 3-4 minutes of this mayhem. Three times the fun, three times the spinning, three times the recovery time. I need another bratwurst.
The ride referenced above was Shake but my favorite was High Energy. Check them both out in the pictures in the link below.
Here is a link to some cool pics much cooler than mine. Wait, I didn't take any. I knew I was forgetting something. Glad someone else didn't fail.
To another year of mayhem
TJW
p.s. if you are still trying to figure out how to get to the pictures or are upset I didn't post a URL click the word link using only the tip of a yellow florescent highlighter.
Monday, November 2, 2009
New Blog
With my new found job I have new found desk time. I have decided to launch another blog based solely around basketball, anything and everything basketball.
www.basketballu.wordpress.com
if you know anyone really interested about taking their game to the next level have them check it out.
I posted the first article today and will update the blog frequently.
TJW
www.basketballu.wordpress.com
if you know anyone really interested about taking their game to the next level have them check it out.
I posted the first article today and will update the blog frequently.
TJW
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Quick Update
Hello All,
I just wanted to write a quick something during the commercials of the vikes game (greatest invention ever: slingbox). If you are reading this during the vikes game or instead of watching the vikes game you really should seek the appropriate help.
First things first, we got the W yesterday, 85-52. It was a good "get back into it" game. I definitely had my struggles during the game but got the kinks worked out and dunked on a couple heads. Everyone really played well. We had lots of contribution from a bunch of different guys which was very good to see.
I taped the game and hope to get it on the internet ASAP. I have the game finalized but i need to make the file size smaller before I can get it on the web. I'll post a link when I get it up.
Exciting day tomorrow, I start my part-time job at Kon M. Not excited about having to get up in the morning.
I think that is all I have for now. Back to the vikes and my spaghetti.
Keep livin' it up,
TJW
P.S. Keep grandpa Nemitz in your prayers and he recovers from back surgery. Sounds like everything went well and he will be back home in a couple days.
I just wanted to write a quick something during the commercials of the vikes game (greatest invention ever: slingbox). If you are reading this during the vikes game or instead of watching the vikes game you really should seek the appropriate help.
First things first, we got the W yesterday, 85-52. It was a good "get back into it" game. I definitely had my struggles during the game but got the kinks worked out and dunked on a couple heads. Everyone really played well. We had lots of contribution from a bunch of different guys which was very good to see.
I taped the game and hope to get it on the internet ASAP. I have the game finalized but i need to make the file size smaller before I can get it on the web. I'll post a link when I get it up.
Exciting day tomorrow, I start my part-time job at Kon M. Not excited about having to get up in the morning.
I think that is all I have for now. Back to the vikes and my spaghetti.
Keep livin' it up,
TJW
P.S. Keep grandpa Nemitz in your prayers and he recovers from back surgery. Sounds like everything went well and he will be back home in a couple days.
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