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Tuesday, November 27, 2007
The best opponents and restaurants can teach something
 Happy Thanksgiving! That was for the Americans who play overseas that either forgot or at least didn't hear anyone say those words to them personally last Thursday. I was lucky enough to keep one of my holiday rituals alive by watching my beloved Detroit Lions (American football) via the internet (sling box) lose for about the bazillionth time on Turkey Day, a tradition in itself. But I did once again miss the traditional turkey dinner, the heavy drinking amongst friends the night before and writing out my Christmas list for my family…mainly so my aunt doesn't get me another industrial grade flashlight. She gave me two in back-to-back Christmases when I was a little kid. Instead, I was invited to eat at the prestigious Troisgros. Roanne is a town of 38,896, according to Wikipedia, but it somehow is the home of the #1 restaurant in the world. Halt, I know what people are thinking: the best restaurant must be in Tokyo, or another will say it is in some town in Italy, or even in Tawas Bay. I understand that certain publications will rank things differently and people will claim they know, "the best restaurant ever." So be my guest and type Troisgros into google and you will find it in almost every ranking for top places to dine. After that meal, however, I have found myself waking up late at night in a cold sweat and asking the same questions: What if this is the best food I will ever eat? Where do I go from here? Will I now scoff at my mother's home-cooked meals? It is kind of a slippery slope; I have reached the pinnacle of my eating career at such a young age, I have nowhere to go but down. Suffice it to say that the food was great and the service borderline intrusive; I think that if I had asked, the servers would have chewed my food and then regurgitated into my mouth like I was a baby bird.
Fortunately, after playing the best team in Europe, my feelings regarding the future are much more positive. Our team had been competitive in its first four Euroleague games. One less mistake in two of the games and our team would be 3-1. Instead, we went into the game against Panathinaikos with a 1-3 record and too many moral victories. Moral victories are when you play well, or do something at a level nobody expected, but you still lose. Moral victories are like a mirage: you can see it, you just can't touch it or keep it. It can also cause problems because it can delude people into thinking, "Well we are so close, let's keep going in this direction, we must be doing something right." I think it is because athletes and others closely associated with organized games of any sort have such fragile egos (or do they just have God-complexes?) If you called them losses every time, they might just crawl into a corner and die; (ok, probably not…come on, work with me). I really don't understand moral victories: a loss is a loss. On Wednesday we played a home game against the "Greeks" (who feature two Americans, a Lithuanian, a Croatian, a Slovenian, a Serb and some guys actually from Greece), ranked in several internet istes as the #1 team in Europe. They put on a clinic with their pick-and-roll offense, unselfish play and overall team basketball. We lost and nobody would say it was a moral victory. This is where the optimistic side of me comes alive. Now our team and everyone involved has a chance to step back and re-evaluate themselves. I know I did…..with a little help from the coach.
If eating in one of the best restaurants in the world could be seen in a negative light, since there is nowhere to go but down, playing one of the best teams in the world and losing big could be seen positive light, since there should be nowhere to go but up. If they really are the best, then other teams should not be as difficult. And if we are intelligent and learn from the painful experience, we should improve.
Next up, Real Madrid, considered by the same internet surveys to be the #2 team in the Europe. Are you serious?
POSTED BY
Adam Hess - Roanne, France
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