Church then...Basketball game? What is this the NFL?

My pinky finger sucks!

The main floor in the gym. There are 3 more courts, but they bring in bleachers during games.

Kangaroos do exist! I was beginning to think everyone was lying to us!

My golf partner Tony. Guess who took home the trophy at -2

Well we finally got to play our first two games of the season. We ran into a few problems that we had to work around however. Our big guy Damian has been called a restricted player. This is because he played in Ireland for a couple seasons, but for some reason the Australian league called him a foreign player! Which is a joke since he is not only Australian, but he also played in this league for over 200 games. So, what that means is this, each team is only allowed two restricted players to play at a time. Since Marcus and I are both restricted, obviously not all of us can play at the same time. Damian leaves again for Ireland in a few weeks, so when that time comes Marcus and I will both we able to play, but for now we have to trade off and on for the first few games. The first games this weekend were against good point guard teams; therefore I got the nod to play. The first game was up in the hills against Kalamunda. I was laughing when I walked in and made the comment to my coach that the older I get and the higher league I join, the smaller my gyms seem to get! In high school I played in front of a regular crowd of about 3,000+ every single game. 7,000+ at New Castle or Lafayette Jeff, and even around 15,000 at Conseco. In College the conference games would be full, but then you’re only talking about 1,500 to 2,500 people. Even at the NAIA National Tounament you were lucky to get near the 3,000 people mark. Now that I am playing in a professional league, the gyms continue to get smaller ha-ha. The Kalamunda gym seats about 700. There wasn’t too bad of a crowd though, and I think because most of the gyms are small, they will continue to be near full. Coach tells me before the game that since I haven’t officially played since last March (that’s over a year I might add), he would work me into it. I figured ok, I’ll play 7-8 minutes a quarter, which would be perfect. We play 12 minute quarters so I figured that would be just right. The first quarter begins and I felt pretty good. However, 4 minutes into it I am sucking wind! This 24 second shot clock is a BIG difference. A lot of the time I had to hurry across the half court line because its only 8 seconds to cross instead of 10. I would get my breath and then continue. To make things even better, Kalamunda had two very quick 5’7” point guards who rotated in for each other. Finally I got a break, at the 8 minute mark…of the 2nd quarter! As I sat down Marcus was just laughing at me, knowing that I was exhausted. The game did get interesting however. We got up 15 by the first half but they came back and cut it to one with about a minute to go. After some stops and big shots, we ended up winning by 5. The comment coach makes after the game, “Scott you played really good, I’m impressed. 41 minutes is really good for your first game!” 41 minutes haha.

Our 2nd game was at noon the next day on Sunday. Sunday? Come on what is this the NFL? The team we were playing was the defending champs Kalgoolie. They had a really good point guard and their import was a nice big man inside. He was tough! We were up 55-51 at halftime but in the 3rd they went on a nice run. We got down ten late in the 4th but started our comeback. We tied the ball game and had sooooo many opportunities to win! Me and our two other guards had great looks from 3 to go up, and our big guy had some missed free throws…but no one is to blame. We gave up too many points and end the end lost our home opener by 5. It was a learning experience but a lot of fun. It’s a much different game than back home. It is very fast paced but most of the guys are very big. It will take a couple games to get used to playing, but I think it will be a nice fit for both of us. Oh, just so you know, Coach is a liar lol. I did play less minutes the second game, but only by 2. Eighty minutes in two games, I’m gonna need a personal assistant real soon. I’ll be taking applicants this weekend; here are the qualifications:

Must be willing to be in Australia for next 4 ½ months
Must have good massage techniques, and proper health knowledge
Must be willing to come to all road trips, even the ocean
Must have knowledge of cooking and baking (A MUST)
Must be a wise selector of movies for me to watch on off nights
English speaking is preferred
Must be a good rebounder and pocket passer

If you can fit these qualifications, the job is yours! Ha off this week until the game on Saturday. We play the Eastern Suns, who are so-so. Until then, probably doing a lot of snorkeling, zoo, and some golfing. There is a championship golf course that Marcus and I got a part time job at just to play for free honestly. It is unbelievable. Just a tad bit nicer than Magic Hills, but not close! Yea right, this place is big time. Oh and our website is officially up and running. http://www.wolfpackbasketball.com.au/ is where you can find all our team information. Schedule is under fixtures because apparently they do things differently here, go figure! I will leave you with some word differences between us and them. Pretty much take our words and find a way to shorten them haha. Enjoy!

US Word / Australian way

Trunk / Boot

Barbecue / Barbie (Most of you prob knew this)
The letter Z / Zed
Chocolate Chip / Choc Chip
Breakfast / Brekky
Swimsuit / Boardies
Flip Flops or Sandals / Thongs
McDonalds / Mackers
Ball Screen / On Ball
Basketball Jersey / Singlet

Mom / Mum

Ocean breeze / Fremantle Doctor (I'm still confused about this one!)