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Tuesday, February 27, 2007
LONG TIME COMING - BUT ALL WORTH IT!!
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 that an action took place during that minute (i.e. Karem Gonlum lay-up 39th minute or Jasmin Hukic rebound 40th minute). So, as I watch our lead dwindle, I am becoming more and more nervous and worked up. I believe the 39th and 40th minute had to have lasted about 39 or 40 minutes!!! Until finally "Mike Andersen dunk 2pts 40th minute". 63-61, but still no Final Score officially stated. So I call my buddy Tomek who is at home watching the game. He explains to me that Prokom is in the locker room while Coach Mahmuti and other Efes officials are at the scorer's table with the referees protesting that the dunk came after the buzzer had sounded. Tomek explains to me that the dunk clearly came after 0:00, but overtime was in question because Prokom was still in the locker room thinking (or maybe just hoping) that the game was over. I hung up with Tomek and anxiously awaited the next game-cast action.
My wife patiently awaited the end of the game so we could watch "Little Miss Sunshine" - one of the films on our must-see list during our movie-marathon week, as we led up to the Oscars on Sunday. Meanwhile, my teammates returned to the court to face 5 minutes of overtime and I'm going crazy at the computer as the game-cast says "Drew Nicholas 3-pointer" followed by "Drew Nicholas 3-pointer". 68-63. Thirty seconds later the score changes to 64-68 Prokom and Rashid is icing the game at the FT line. Prokom wins (again), celebration ensues. Obviously, the game-cast had made a few statistical errors during the overtime, which caused me much undue stress that would not have been necessary had I been actually watching the game. Regardless, with the controversial ending to this game, I had to actually see it. So, the next day I got a copy of the game and watched it at home. I was thrilled to see the energy and intensity our team played with through most of the game. I was equally pleased to see my guys regain their composure after a long contentious "pause" before overtime. But the most entertaining part of the game - which was impossible to view on game-cast - was Mike Andersen's Randy Orton pose after he, seemingly, won the game, in regulation, with his dunk. He had me cracking up on my couch when I saw him pause in front of the bench and make like the former WWE champion. Ok, I'm sure most of you have no idea what I'm talking about, but I know there are some of you out there who are professional wrestling fans. I wouldn't really call myself a fan right now - I check out Raw or Smackdown every once in awhile - but when I was a kid I was big into it. Come on, who can forget Macho Man Savage, Jake the Snake, The Ultimate Warrior, Ric Flair, and, of course, Hulk Hogan. Anyway, I wish I would have been there with my teammates rather than at home waiting for my injury to heal. As I've said in the past, road trips are not always glamorous expeditions, but I believe that athletes want to share in the camaraderie with their teammates - celebrate the triumphs and work through the tribulation.
Forty-one year-old former NBA superstar Scottie Pippen has recently hinted that he would like to return to the NBA. I'm sure many people question why one of the 50 greatest would try to make a comeback. I mean, he's got six rings, millions of dollars (unless he belongs to the Charles Barkley gang of gamblers), and a Hall of Fame spot locked up. In my opinion, Scottie wants to return because he misses the lifestyle of the NBA and camaraderie with his teammates. I am of the belief that there is no better job in sports - and perhaps outside of sports, as well - than that of an NBA player. I won't tell you ALL of the reasons why, but imagine first class travel to the best cities in America, multi-million dollar contracts, kids adore you, men want to be you, and women want to be with you. And those are just the perks that come along with playing a game you love while forging friendships with teammates that you go into battle with three nights a week. Shoot, I don't make anywhere near millions and our travel is far from first class, but I've only been out three or four weeks and I miss the time with my teammates. I know why Scottie is coming back...well, I know why he WANTS to come back. We'll see if some team brings him back.
Speaking of the NBA lifestyle...Las Vegas hosted the recent NBA All-Star Weekend. More proof of my afore mentioned claim that there is no better job in sports. Don't get me wrong, a Euroleague job is pretty cool too, but it's hard to compare to a league-sponsored Vegas weekend. It's not easy to explain what Vegas is like for those who haven't been - for Europeans: think Ibiza, Amsterdam, and Monte Carlo rolled into one city - and since this is a family-viewed website I won't get into too much detail. Just let me say that there is a very good explanation as to why Sunday's all-star game was so poorly played. I don't know if Euroleague has had an all-star game in the past and I don't know if we ever will. But if we had one this year the dunk contest would be fun to watch - Marcus Haislip and Rudy Fernandez would be my finalists. I can't say who would be in the three-point shoot-out, but I'd like to see Basile and Erdogan battle it out for long-range supremacy. You know, maybe I have too much free time on my hands since I haven't been playing - I'm explaining a mock Euroleague all-star weekend. I think I need to concentrate on other things, Panathanaikos is coming to town. Oh who am I kidding? I have three or four more weeks of day-dreaming left.
Rest In Peace, DJ.
POSTED BY
Jeff Nordgaard - Sopot, Poland
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