The Final Four is upon us and the eyes of European basketball fans are turned to Athens. As a regular blogger on the Euorleague site, I have been asked to give my "expert" analysis and a plausible prediction to the outcome of the action in Athens. The bloggers were also asked by the powers-that-be at Euroleague.net to relive some of our Athens memories and tell some stories about some of our friends/former teammates that are competing this weekend to explain why we are rooting for them. Well, I inspected the rosters one last time just to be sure and I realized that there isn't a single player or coach on any of the rosters that I have ever met (off the court) or played with. I have played professional hoops for eleven years in several different leagues and countries, but apparently I haven't been fortunate enough to play with the elite players of 2007. As I quickly scan my brain, the only Euroleague Final Four champion that I have ever played with is Manu Ginobili, when he was a raw, talented, yet innocent 21-year-old in his first season in Italy.

Now as for memories of Athens. I think it is a wonderful city with a unique history, great climate, rabid sports fans and a wild nightlife. However, the five weeks that I spent in Athens while playing for Olympiacos coincided with the nadir of the... leer m�s

The boot is off! After seven weeks of wearing the only thing that could look goofier at the end of my leg than my size 18 shoes, the big gray walking boot has been retired. Before I go any further I should comment on the fact that I am a freak of nature. Wearing size 18 shoes does not inherently qualify me as a freak - plenty of basketball players wear size 18 or bigger (Shaq wears size 22!). However, most dudes with feet my size can dunk without leaving the floor - they are GIANTS! I'm only two meters tall (some would argue I'm shorter than that), I'm supposed to wear size 13 or 14. It used to be a real struggle to find shoes that fit. Thankfully, the internet has made it possible for freaks like me to find plenty of cool shoes for any occasion. However, back in high school I had to squeeze into the same size 15 football cleats for two seasons as I quarterbacked the mighty Blackjacks of DBHS. I guess that explains why my toes are so crooked and ugly. Seriously, my feet are pretty deformed and unsightly. I'm surprised I could find such a good-looking babe to marry me with feet as unattractive as mine. Fortunately, there are more than a few basketball players with jacked-up feet, so I don't feel so bad. In fact, my good friend and teammate, Jasmin Hukic, has feet so ugly they make mine look like they could qualify for a beauty pageant.... leer m�s

I am so sick of being injured! Missing out on hanging with the guys on road trips and not playing in Top 16 and Polish League games is bad enough. But, I really just miss the physical act of basketball. I want to get out on the court and run, jump and shoot. One-on-one, three-on-three, or full court five-on-five (or as our coach here in Sopot calls it in his VERY broken English - five-TO-five). You know, I would even rather do some B.S. defensive slide drill or box-out drill than the stuff I have been doing the last two weeks to stay in/get into shape: swimming and biking. I don't know how guys like Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich do it. I'm on the bike for three 12-minute intervals and I feel like I just climbed Mount Everest. Not to mention that the boredom is exasperating. If it weren’t for PTI podcasts on my ipod to keep my mind off the biking, I'd soon need to be fitted for a straightjacket. Those guys are on those sperm-killing seats for hours at a time - EVERYDAY! But, the biking beats the swimming workouts - no ipods in the pool. I have a new respect for guys like Michael Phelps and Ian Thorpe. I used to think I was a pretty good swimmer - I actually have a swimmer's body: broad shoulders, long arms and flippers for feet. But my size 18's don't work very well - at least not when one of them is... leer m�s

Wow!!! Finally, after eight futile attempts over the last three Euroleague seasons, Prokom has defeated Efes to earn the first-ever Top 16 victory for a Polish team. Ermal Kuqo had stated in his blog that he feared our team the most in Group F. I'm sure there were more than a few people who laughed when they read that - considering the other teams in our group (Barca and The Greens) - but we couldn't have been more excited about the win. I say "we", but as it was, I did not make the trip to Istanbul - due to my previously documented foot injury. So, unfortunately, I missed out on the exuberant post-victory celebration with my teammates. Well, actually I missed out on two "victory" celebrations. For those of you who didn't get a chance to see the end of our game last week, you missed out on a very rare occurrence. After letting a 16-point fourth-quarter lead evaporate, Prokom had the last possession with the game tied at 61-61. For some unknown reason our point guard, Rashid Atkins, waited till only 3 seconds remained to make his move. At the last moment, he dropped the ball off to Mike Andersen for the game-winning dunk. Celebration ensues and Prokom heads to the locker room to shower up after a hard-fought victory.

Meanwhile, I have been at home in my living room following the game via the euroleague.net website's live game-cast. As I have mentioned in a previous blog, I have Sky satellite from Britain and do not get any Euroleague games on my TV. Usually, well, the two previous away Euroleague games that I did not play in, I had gone down to a nice Sports Bar in Sopot called Pick and Roll to watch the games with many Prokom fans. But on this night, I had to stay home with my family. The web-cast is a good service for fans who can't watch the games, but it is enough to give a guy a heart attack during a game like ours. You see, there is not an actual clock running down the time as the screen refreshes, but rather, at each minute interval it says... leer m�s