What’s going on everyone? Good to sit down for a minute and collect my thoughts and let everyone know what’s been going on here in Brazil. It’s been about a month or so since I wrote and a good amount has happened. I’ll start with the most recent news and that is we’re playing in the championship of the Rio de Janeiro State League against Flamengo. We finished up a 3 game series up defeating Macae 2-0. After losing to them twice during the regular season of the championship, we definitely redeemed ourselves. We won the first game 84-70 (we were up by 30 at one point) on the road and closed out the series at home 66-63. It was a big deal for us to get into the finals because I feel like we were the 2nd best team in the championship without question behind Flamengo who is far and away the number one. The final of the championship isn’t until Dec. 14th and 16th which means two long weeks of practicing. I say the dates for only two games because there will be no need for a third game in the series. The equivalent to us beating Flamengo is like a 16 seed upsetting a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Losing by less than 20 would be a victory in itself after getting smashed by 40 points the last time we played them.
Outside of basketball, I was able to get out of Rio about a month back for a few days and go work and speak with younger kids in a city called Teresopolis. I went with my agent Leo who works at a club located there. It was pretty cool seeing all these kids act the way they did around me. Many of them didn’t speak English and had never seen an American before so they were kind of in awe which was weird for me because I’m not exactly the stereotypical basketball player they were expecting. The image of an American basketball player for them is tall, black and athletic like Kobe or Lebron. On a quick side note, I was told by a Brazilian kid the other day that I wasn’t American. I got a good laugh out of it. Obviously, the kid had never met an American before and expected me to look like Kobe and not a short white guy. Anyways, even though I wasn’t Kobe or Lebron, they still loved me being there and hanging out with them for a couple days. I feel like I had an effect on the kids and it was a great experience.
Living out here in Brazil has been a awesome thus far but I’m ready to get home for a couple weeks. I was not too happy missing Thanksgiving last week and it didn’t help that I was Skyping my family while they were cooking all the food and getting ready to eat. Then when they placed my sister’s laptop at the table and let me just stare at all the food was cruel. I’m counting down the days until I’m home. As of right now, I’ll be getting back on the 18th. I’m leaving as soon as possible after my last game which will be on the 16th. Also, I have yet to sign but I’m got offered an extension to stay here with Tijuca for another 5 to 7 months. The details haven’t been finalized yet but I’m extremely happy to be coming back. It looks like we’re going to sign a couple Americans for the Regional Championship which will make things more comfortable for me having some guys to talk to on a daily basis and in person, not via Skype or Facebook. Lastly, for those who haven’t seen on the news Rio de Janeiro has become a little sketch. I say this because last week, the government and the Brazilian Police started a city-wide plan to shut down drug trafficking in the Favelas and other corrupt areas of the city. What ensued was riots, car/bus burnings, and much more. I say all this because even though I live in a safe area, some people decided to blow up a bus 200 yards up the street from my apartment. Shit was pretty nuts. I went and took some pictures of the bus to show you guys the damage. Thankfully, I’m safe and all of the non-sense is calming down. Well that’s about all I got for now. This will probably be my last blog of 2010 so I’ll wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I’m out. Lllllate.
What’s going on everyone? Good to sit down for a minute and collect my thoughts and let everyone know what’s been going on here in Brazil. It’s been about a month or so since I wrote and a good amount has happened. I’ll start with the most recent news and that is we’re playing in the championship of the Rio de Janeiro State League against Flamengo. We finished up a 3 game series up defeating Macae 2-0. After losing to them twice during the regular season of the championship, we definitely redeemed ourselves. We won the first game 84-70 (we were up by 30 at one point) on the road and closed out the series at home 66-63. It was a big deal for us to get into the finals because I feel like we were the 2nd best team in the championship without question behind Flamengo who is far and away the number one. The final of the championship isn’t until Dec. 14th and 16th which means two long weeks of practicing. I say the dates for only two games because there will be no need for a third game in the series. The equivalent to us beating Flamengo is like a 16 seed upsetting a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Losing by less than 20 would be a victory in itself after getting smashed by 40 points the last time we played them. 
Outside of basketball, I was able to get out of Rio about a month back for a few days and go work and speak with younger kids in a city called Teresopolis. I went with my agent Leo who works at a club located there. It was pretty cool seeing all these kids act the way they did around me. Many of them didn’t speak English and had never seen an American before so they were kind of in awe which was weird for me because I’m not exactly the stereotypical basketball player they were expecting. The image of an American basketball player for them is tall, black and athletic like Kobe or Lebron. On a quick side note, I was told by a Brazilian kid the other day that I wasn’t American. I got a good laugh out of it. Obviously, the kid had never met an American before and expected me to look like Kobe and not a short white guy. Anyways, even though I wasn’t Kobe or Lebron, they still loved me being there and hanging out with them for a couple days. I feel like I had an effect on the kids and it was a great experience. 
Living out here in Brazil has been a awesome thus far but I’m ready to get home for a couple weeks. I was not too happy missing Thanksgiving last week and it didn’t help that I was Skyping my family while they were cooking all the food and getting ready to eat. Then when they placed my sister’s laptop at the table and let me just stare at all the food was cruel. I’m counting down the days until I’m home. As of right now, I’ll be getting back on the 18th. I’m leaving as soon as possible after my last game which will be on the 16th. Also, I have yet to sign but I’m got offered an extension to stay here with Tijuca for another 5 to 7 months. The details haven’t been finalized yet but I’m extremely happy to be coming back. It looks like we’re going to sign a couple Americans for the Regional Championship which will make things more comfortable for me having some guys to talk to on a daily basis and in person, not via Skype or Facebook. Lastly, for those who haven’t seen on the news Rio de Janeiro has become a little sketch. I say this because last week, the government and the Brazilian Police started a city-wide plan to shut down drug trafficking in the Favelas and other corrupt areas of the city. What ensued was riots, car/bus burnings, and much more. I say all this because even though I live in a safe area, some people decided to blow up a bus 200 yards up the street from my apartment. Shit was pretty nuts. I went and took some pictures of the bus to show you guys the damage. Thankfully, I’m safe and all of the non-sense is calming down. Well that’s about all I got for now. This will probably be my last blog of 2010 so I’ll wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I’m out. Lllllate.
Good to hear from you T. Thats so hateful about the thanksgiving dinner haha. Cant wait until your home brotha. As usual get buckets. SIMPLE.
ReplyDelete