Monday, October 19, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Back Up and Running
What's up world? I hope that everyone reading this blog is in great health and good spirits! It has been a good week to say the least! As you can see, my pc is back running, we got a big win, and had a chance to visit the Deauville Resort! There were some minor setbacks which I will get into later in this post, but all and all, I had a great week.
First, basketball was the main agenda as usual. We had a tough week of practice. For some reason this week seemed like a longer week. I am not sure if it was the fact that we were coming off a lost or if practice was just that much harder. Either way practice was a beast for me this week. It ended up paying off though because we were able to get another win against a good team. Roanne came to the Docks (our gym) this week and found out that we were not going to lay down for anyone. It was a good game but before I get into the details I must tell you guys about my game day misfortunes. Earlier this week I started playing in a brand new pair of Nike Hyperdunks! They were crisp and looking and feeling like a million bucks, lol. Well I come into our normal shoot around practice on game day and notice that my shoes were not in the locker room. I look around for a minute and notice that everyone else had their shoes. So now I am getting upset because I know that I left my shoes where I normally leave them. Which meant that either someone was playing a joke on me or they had been stolen. I knew that no one would be playing around with the captain on game day because I take game day pretty serious. After some investigation, there were two guys in our arena during the junior teams practice the night before that were not affiliated with either one of our teams and the locker room had been left unlocked!! I am still not sure why they would only get my shoes, but they did and they also had my orthopedic insoles in them!! This was huge because these insoles were made to fit my feet and I had been playing with insoles for years! As you can imagine, I was highly upset but I tried to focus on the task at hand. I grabbed my old shoes, put the thin generic insoles that comes in the shoe when you buy them, and suited up for the game as if everything was normal. I mean when it comes down to it "YOU HAVE TO DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO!"
I was quite uncomfortable at the beginning of the game, but as the game progressed I just stopped thinking about it and played ball. Roanne came out strong and we couldn't make a basket. They led for the entire first half and at one point were up by 15! At the break we were down 11, but I kept telling my guys "We have 20 minutes of basketball left... Keep Playing." That is just what we did in the second half. Before we knew it we were back in the game. I hit a 3 pointer at the end of the third quarter to cut the game to 1 and the momentum was on our side. We took the lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter and Roanne never got it back! We ended up winning by 3 points and were able to protect our house! I am extremely happy with the effort that our team put forth last night! We played tough when most teams would have folded and that speaks volumes about this team's character. On a personal note, God blessed me with 19 points, 9 assists, and 4 steals. These numbers are pretty good when they are accompanied by a victory, lol!
After the game my feet were killing me as expected and I am gonna have to get some more insoles made ASAP, as well as getting some more kicks to hoop in! Stb Le Havre... break out the check book and take care of Yaboi please, lol!!
On another note, Monica and I, 2 of my teammates, and their girlfriends went to check out the popular Deauville Resort. We had a good time, but I think that it is overrated. For those that are not familiar with this place, don't feel bad neither was I. It is a nice place that hosts a lot of film festivals, horse races, sailing competitions, etc.... I mean almost every actor that you can imagine has been there for the festivals. They have a lot of stores to shop and the beach is nice. I was just looking for more of a site seeing type spot or more of a tangible attraction. The best part of the day was kicking it with our friends! But hey it was cool and I am going to upload the pictures for you guys to check out!
So I got my pc back running after I carelessly dropped it off the table. It turned out that I just knocked the hard drive out of it's slot and I just had to push it back in. We are all good over here now, Thank GOD!!
Well that's my week in a nutshell. This week we travel to play Strasbourg where the victory will be tough to get, but I am confident that we can get it. My homeboy Tremmell Darden plays out there and he can go! It will be nice to catch up with him. I also have to figure out how to take care of my feet this week which should be an interesting challenge, lol! I plan on uploading the photos in the next day or so. Anyway, thanks for tuning in, have a great week, and as always remember to EXCEED EXPECTATIONS!!
First, basketball was the main agenda as usual. We had a tough week of practice. For some reason this week seemed like a longer week. I am not sure if it was the fact that we were coming off a lost or if practice was just that much harder. Either way practice was a beast for me this week. It ended up paying off though because we were able to get another win against a good team. Roanne came to the Docks (our gym) this week and found out that we were not going to lay down for anyone. It was a good game but before I get into the details I must tell you guys about my game day misfortunes. Earlier this week I started playing in a brand new pair of Nike Hyperdunks! They were crisp and looking and feeling like a million bucks, lol. Well I come into our normal shoot around practice on game day and notice that my shoes were not in the locker room. I look around for a minute and notice that everyone else had their shoes. So now I am getting upset because I know that I left my shoes where I normally leave them. Which meant that either someone was playing a joke on me or they had been stolen. I knew that no one would be playing around with the captain on game day because I take game day pretty serious. After some investigation, there were two guys in our arena during the junior teams practice the night before that were not affiliated with either one of our teams and the locker room had been left unlocked!! I am still not sure why they would only get my shoes, but they did and they also had my orthopedic insoles in them!! This was huge because these insoles were made to fit my feet and I had been playing with insoles for years! As you can imagine, I was highly upset but I tried to focus on the task at hand. I grabbed my old shoes, put the thin generic insoles that comes in the shoe when you buy them, and suited up for the game as if everything was normal. I mean when it comes down to it "YOU HAVE TO DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO!"
I was quite uncomfortable at the beginning of the game, but as the game progressed I just stopped thinking about it and played ball. Roanne came out strong and we couldn't make a basket. They led for the entire first half and at one point were up by 15! At the break we were down 11, but I kept telling my guys "We have 20 minutes of basketball left... Keep Playing." That is just what we did in the second half. Before we knew it we were back in the game. I hit a 3 pointer at the end of the third quarter to cut the game to 1 and the momentum was on our side. We took the lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter and Roanne never got it back! We ended up winning by 3 points and were able to protect our house! I am extremely happy with the effort that our team put forth last night! We played tough when most teams would have folded and that speaks volumes about this team's character. On a personal note, God blessed me with 19 points, 9 assists, and 4 steals. These numbers are pretty good when they are accompanied by a victory, lol!
After the game my feet were killing me as expected and I am gonna have to get some more insoles made ASAP, as well as getting some more kicks to hoop in! Stb Le Havre... break out the check book and take care of Yaboi please, lol!!
On another note, Monica and I, 2 of my teammates, and their girlfriends went to check out the popular Deauville Resort. We had a good time, but I think that it is overrated. For those that are not familiar with this place, don't feel bad neither was I. It is a nice place that hosts a lot of film festivals, horse races, sailing competitions, etc.... I mean almost every actor that you can imagine has been there for the festivals. They have a lot of stores to shop and the beach is nice. I was just looking for more of a site seeing type spot or more of a tangible attraction. The best part of the day was kicking it with our friends! But hey it was cool and I am going to upload the pictures for you guys to check out!
So I got my pc back running after I carelessly dropped it off the table. It turned out that I just knocked the hard drive out of it's slot and I just had to push it back in. We are all good over here now, Thank GOD!!
Well that's my week in a nutshell. This week we travel to play Strasbourg where the victory will be tough to get, but I am confident that we can get it. My homeboy Tremmell Darden plays out there and he can go! It will be nice to catch up with him. I also have to figure out how to take care of my feet this week which should be an interesting challenge, lol! I plan on uploading the photos in the next day or so. Anyway, thanks for tuning in, have a great week, and as always remember to EXCEED EXPECTATIONS!!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
DROPPED MY LAPTOP!!
What's up world? This post is to actually let you know that i will not be updating the blog this week. Unfortunately, I dropped my laptop this morning and it is not working at the moment. We dropped our last game and are now 1-1! Anyway, have a great week and remember to always EXCEED EXPECTATIONS!!!!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
First week of the season, First win of the season!!
Good evening everybody! It is 7:50 pm here in Le Havre and I am chilling after an awesome week. If you have been following my blog you know that I was really looking forward to this past week, because it was the first week of the season. There were a lot of things that had to take place and I must say that it did not disappoint. Also my wife and I had a chance to do some site seeing today and it was nice. So here we go. The first week of the regular season went like this:
We started off the week with a very focused attitude. I notice from the beginning that we were working hard and precise. I wanted to make sure that I stayed in tune with making sure everyone understood the assignments that coach gave us, and that we were committed to getting them done. As the point guard and captain of the team I wanted to make sure we were communicating a lot! The practice week went really well and I felt good going into the game on Saturday.
As for the beginning of the season formalities, everything was in progress and made for a very busy week. I think that I had to do at least 2 interviews as well as some photo shoots. But that is normal for the beginning of the season. Normally these type of things can distract you from the task at hand, but this was not the case for me. Actually it was these things that made me even more focused! I mean every interview made me realize that this week's game was for real. It counted! It was extremely important for us to get off on the right foot and set the tone for the season in front of our home crowd (which might I add was a great crowd!).
As far as the game goes, it was a good one! Vichy is a team known for their defense and I must say that they lived up to their reputation. They doubled the post every time we passed it in and they were aggressive on the ball as well. However, we were prepared and handle the pressure pretty well early. We got off to a good start and led by 10 for most of the first half. Unfortunately for us Vichy made a run towards the end of the first half and cut the game to 1 at halftime. Coming out in the second half I wanted to make a conscious effort to be more aggressive on both ends of the floor. I did just that and together with my teammates we once again built a lead of 10 points and held it until the end of the 4th quarter. With 3 minutes left to go Vichy tried to shake things up with a little zone press and they did just that. We made some untimely turnovers and let them back in the game. But the clock and the bonus was on our side and as long as we could have the ball we could score on the line. We knocked down our free throws and kept a hold on the game until the last minute of the match! We missed an opportunity or 2 and found ourselves down by 1 point with 35 seconds left to go, but we had the ball! I must admit that I was concerned but still confident that we could get a bucket and secure the victory. They denied me the ball as any smart team would, lol! But our other guard handles the ball well enough to make plays and he did a good job of finding me on the wing where I was able to elude my man and get a wide open jump shot for the win. Unfortunately the shot rimmed out but our big guy was there to collect the rebound and kick it back out with less that 10 seconds left. Again another penetration drew my defender to the middle and allowed me to get free for just a second. I got a look at the basket from 3 point range and was not only able to get a shot off but was fouled in the act of shooting!! There was 1.8 seconds left on the clock, we were down 1 and I was on the free throw line for 3 shots. Needless to say, I iced 2 out of 3 free throws to secure the win and STB LE HAVRE is now 1-0!!! I want to tip my hat to Vichy who came into our house and pushed us to the end. However, the best team prevailed last Saturday night! To all my teammates I say JOB WELL DONE! We did what we had to do to get the win and that is big time in my book! On a personal note, I am happy with my play but not satisfied. I finished the game with 17 points and 8 assists but there is still work to be done. There are always ways to improve. I have included a few pics from the game below.
So earlier today Monica and I went to enjoy some of the beautiful sites that Le Havre and the surrounding cities of the Normandy region have to offer. It was a nice day of relaxation and enjoyment. I really had a chance to soak up some of God's wonderful work! I am really blessed to be able to see the world! Again I have included some pictures for you guys to checkout. Hope you enjoy and tune in next week as we hit the road to face another good team (Dijon)! Be blessed this week, trust God for the best in your life, and as always remember to EXCEED EXPECTATIONS!
We started off the week with a very focused attitude. I notice from the beginning that we were working hard and precise. I wanted to make sure that I stayed in tune with making sure everyone understood the assignments that coach gave us, and that we were committed to getting them done. As the point guard and captain of the team I wanted to make sure we were communicating a lot! The practice week went really well and I felt good going into the game on Saturday.
As for the beginning of the season formalities, everything was in progress and made for a very busy week. I think that I had to do at least 2 interviews as well as some photo shoots. But that is normal for the beginning of the season. Normally these type of things can distract you from the task at hand, but this was not the case for me. Actually it was these things that made me even more focused! I mean every interview made me realize that this week's game was for real. It counted! It was extremely important for us to get off on the right foot and set the tone for the season in front of our home crowd (which might I add was a great crowd!).
As far as the game goes, it was a good one! Vichy is a team known for their defense and I must say that they lived up to their reputation. They doubled the post every time we passed it in and they were aggressive on the ball as well. However, we were prepared and handle the pressure pretty well early. We got off to a good start and led by 10 for most of the first half. Unfortunately for us Vichy made a run towards the end of the first half and cut the game to 1 at halftime. Coming out in the second half I wanted to make a conscious effort to be more aggressive on both ends of the floor. I did just that and together with my teammates we once again built a lead of 10 points and held it until the end of the 4th quarter. With 3 minutes left to go Vichy tried to shake things up with a little zone press and they did just that. We made some untimely turnovers and let them back in the game. But the clock and the bonus was on our side and as long as we could have the ball we could score on the line. We knocked down our free throws and kept a hold on the game until the last minute of the match! We missed an opportunity or 2 and found ourselves down by 1 point with 35 seconds left to go, but we had the ball! I must admit that I was concerned but still confident that we could get a bucket and secure the victory. They denied me the ball as any smart team would, lol! But our other guard handles the ball well enough to make plays and he did a good job of finding me on the wing where I was able to elude my man and get a wide open jump shot for the win. Unfortunately the shot rimmed out but our big guy was there to collect the rebound and kick it back out with less that 10 seconds left. Again another penetration drew my defender to the middle and allowed me to get free for just a second. I got a look at the basket from 3 point range and was not only able to get a shot off but was fouled in the act of shooting!! There was 1.8 seconds left on the clock, we were down 1 and I was on the free throw line for 3 shots. Needless to say, I iced 2 out of 3 free throws to secure the win and STB LE HAVRE is now 1-0!!! I want to tip my hat to Vichy who came into our house and pushed us to the end. However, the best team prevailed last Saturday night! To all my teammates I say JOB WELL DONE! We did what we had to do to get the win and that is big time in my book! On a personal note, I am happy with my play but not satisfied. I finished the game with 17 points and 8 assists but there is still work to be done. There are always ways to improve. I have included a few pics from the game below.
So earlier today Monica and I went to enjoy some of the beautiful sites that Le Havre and the surrounding cities of the Normandy region have to offer. It was a nice day of relaxation and enjoyment. I really had a chance to soak up some of God's wonderful work! I am really blessed to be able to see the world! Again I have included some pictures for you guys to checkout. Hope you enjoy and tune in next week as we hit the road to face another good team (Dijon)! Be blessed this week, trust God for the best in your life, and as always remember to EXCEED EXPECTATIONS!
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