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Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Banned and gagged: a family affair
Banned by my own fan club: it's a family affair.
This week, I was kicked out of my own fan club. Actually, it is more of a doting father mass e-mail supplying informed updates about my basketball life for friends and family than a real fan club. Being family and friends, they either actually care what I am up to and how the season is going, or more likely, they love my dad enough not to offend him by telling him they have heard enough about me. I was not privy to these e-mails until this season. After a critical assessment of the barrage of e-mails flooding my inbox, the boss (my mom) removed my address from the distribution list to prevent the author (my dad) from feeling bad. She informed me that my input would not be taken into account and that if I could not just enjoy the e-mail, I was not welcome to receive them any longer. It was kind of odd to be dismissed from a group specifically created to hear about me: If I cannot fit in with this group, do I fit in anywhere? My brother would answer with a resounding "NO!" Those people who have not blocked the mass e-mails should know that it was a clean break: but if you receive any baseball cards, coins or my much-coveted rubber band ball in the near future, please return them, as my dad has power of attorney.
I don't want you to get the wrong impression of my parents. Even though they did kick me out of my own fan club, they are great. They always know what to say (or not to say!). For example, my parents are great with advice that usually comes out sounding unorthodox; especially my dad. He has three ways of dealing with me after a game. If we win, a little pat on the back and "We are proud of you son" is enough: He doesn't say much because we won and no further encouragement is needed. If I am shooting poorly, he says, "When you are on, shoot; when you're off, shoot until you are on again." If we lose, my dad says, "Well, as long as you looked good in your uniform." Although I may not immediately agree with whichever nugget of knowledge he chooses to share, it always seems to hit its mark eventually, when I let it digest. Which reminds me of why he is still smarter than me… but far older.
This week has gone a little smoother on the court than off. It took us some time to get to the fine city of Bamberg, our first Euroleague stop. Let's be exact: we took a two-hour ride to the Lyon Airport, a one-hour flight to Munich, where a canceled flight led to a two-hour bus trip to Nuremberg (with everyone else from the canceled flight), from which we flew another hour into Bamberg. With all of the sitting-around time at airports, checking in, getting luggage and waiting to be transported via bus instead of plane, the trip took 10 hours. I Mapquested the route from Roanne to Bamberg and the estimated driving time is 8 hours. Anyways, we made it and in our team's first Euroleague game in over 50 years, we came out with a win at the buzzer. Brion Rush hit the shot, his second game-winner in a row. Brion has been playing extremely well and it has been a pleasure to ride his confidence the last few games. The atmosphere in Bamberg's gym, dubbed "Freak City", was incredible as usual and many of my teammates said it was one of the loudest gyms they had played in during their careers.
It was doubly exciting for me because Brose Baskets Bamberg was the team that beat my former team, the Artland Dragons, in the finals of the German Bundesliga last June. I did a quick calculation and realized that over my seven match-ups over the last year against Bamberg - two regular season and four playoffs games with Artland, plus last week's Euroleague opener with Roanne - the total scores were equal, with no final margin larger than three points for either side. I shouldn't mention this, but I will: I hold a slim lead of 4-3 in victories against Coach Bauermann's squads, but who's counting because his team was the one popping the champagne in the German League finals last season. His team need not hang this blog on the locker room wall before our next game because their championship still trumps my 4-3 record against Bamberg.
No time to rest this week, though: We now face off against Partizan. Their team is playing really well right now and is coming off a close win against Barcelona. For us, there's an additional challenge to hurdle because we play all of our Euroleague games one hour from Roanne, in Clermont-Ferrand. I have not seen our new homecourt yet, but I hope they have a soft floor and loose rims. I also hope that our fans make the trip because we will need all the help we can get.
As a team, we have had a solid couple of weeks. We have been the victors in four straight French League games and we've won our Euroleague opener. You may have noticed, however, that I have been struggling to get my shot going. The slow start is frustrating for me because I am with a new team and just want to fit in, help the team and please the fans as much as I can… so I went to my dad for advice. He chose his standard "We are proud of you Son, good job", pat-on-the-back response, totally ignoring that I mentioned my personal scoring drought. I let it digest, and now I understand his wisdom: I should forget about my scoring dip and focus on the team and that we are winning. I also asked to be allowed back into the fan club. His response: "Mom said 'No, Adam will just complain anyway. No news from him is always good news'." Geeeeeesh, what a family!! I would not trade them for another! See you here in three weeks, Mom.
POSTED BY
Adam Hess, Roanne
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