Hello everyone.
It's been awhile again since my last post, but I have an excuse this time: Andrea was here. :) She was here for two weeks and left this past Friday, but it was amazing having her here. We explored Amsterdam and even went to Paris for a day - yes, only one day because we had to make it work on my day off. Otherwise we just enjoyed our time together, watched some movies, and talked face-to-face. Skype is great, but it just doesn't do justice to talking in-person. It was also great cooking together. Making meals by myself gets boring after awhile.
Our trip to Paris went well, but it was a long day. We took the train at 6 am and didn't get back until midnight that night. It was worth it though. We didn't get to see much besides the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, but we were okay with it. It's just enjoyable getting to travel together.
So far we are 4-1. Since my last post we are 2-1. We won by about 20 at home, 20 on the road, and lost a tough one by two on the road against a good team in our league. We had plenty of chances to win, but we just couldn't pull it off. Just to clarify from the website: after the game a sponsorship board on the side of the court tipped over onto my back when we were stretching and I did not have to go to the hospital. People were asking me if I went to the hospital, but it really wasn't that bad.
Our next game is on Saturday at home. I hope all is well with you all.
Take care and God bless,
Mike
Monday, October 29, 2012
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Interview with Eurobasket
Fred Roggen from Eurobasket contacted me to do an interview on faith and basketball. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you, Fred, for the opportunity.
http://www.eurobasket.com/Holland/basketball.asp?NewsID=291940
Take care and God bless,
Mike
http://www.eurobasket.com/Holland/basketball.asp?NewsID=291940
Take care and God bless,
Mike
Monday, October 8, 2012
Ist game and some movie time
Hello,
Can you believe it - only four days since my last post? We had our first official game this past weekend about 1.5 hours away. Everything in Holland is so close. I'm still really not used to it, but I like it - very convenient and less time in the bus :) We played well as a team and won by nearly 40 points. Our opponent was not the strongest we will face this year, let me put it that way. It was great to see us come out of halftime up by 20 and push the lead the rest of the game.
In other areas of interest beside basketball, some of the guys had to shoot a little film/commercial for one of the sponsors today. The company specializes in lifts for construction so we went to their headquarters and had some fun. Most of the film was spoken in Dutch so I really cannot tell you exactly what the whole plot was (haha) but one of the guys was up about 30 feet in a lift and another teammate drove a big rig tractor-trailer. It's something a little different that I thought I would share with you. If I can get my hands on the final production, I will let you know.
Our next game is this Saturday at home against a good team. Andrea also comes at the end of this week so I am ECSTATIC about that. She will be here for two weeks so that will be wonderful.
Til next time....
Take care and God bless,
Mike
Can you believe it - only four days since my last post? We had our first official game this past weekend about 1.5 hours away. Everything in Holland is so close. I'm still really not used to it, but I like it - very convenient and less time in the bus :) We played well as a team and won by nearly 40 points. Our opponent was not the strongest we will face this year, let me put it that way. It was great to see us come out of halftime up by 20 and push the lead the rest of the game.
In other areas of interest beside basketball, some of the guys had to shoot a little film/commercial for one of the sponsors today. The company specializes in lifts for construction so we went to their headquarters and had some fun. Most of the film was spoken in Dutch so I really cannot tell you exactly what the whole plot was (haha) but one of the guys was up about 30 feet in a lift and another teammate drove a big rig tractor-trailer. It's something a little different that I thought I would share with you. If I can get my hands on the final production, I will let you know.
Our next game is this Saturday at home against a good team. Andrea also comes at the end of this week so I am ECSTATIC about that. She will be here for two weeks so that will be wonderful.
Til next time....
Take care and God bless,
Mike
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Supercup game
For those of you interested, here is the link to our Supercup game. All credit to Arie.
http://www.vimeo.com/album/2095514
http://www.vimeo.com/album/2095514
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Time, where have you gone?
After much delay, I am back on the blogging scene. Where to begin? I actually have some events to tell you all about instead of just games and practice. First, our official opening day was Saturday, September 22nd. We played another Belgium team and played really well. They were a good team and we won by about 15 points. All the cylinders were firing that night. To start the night, we were introduced to the crowd with a song. I really didn't know where to go with this one. I finally decided on "This Is How We Do It" by Montell Jordan - something light-hearted and with a good beat. Before the game we signed autographs and played a game of "lightning" with the kids. It was a fun night.
This past Sunday we played in the Supercup. This is a game between last season's Dutch Cup winner (us) and last season's champion (Den Bosch Eiffel Towers - a team in our league). I guess it was supposed to be at a neutral site, but we ended up playing at Den Bosch. They have a nice arena and quite a few people were there. It was on T.V. over here so I wish I would have known that earlier because it was on the internet as well. In the future I will try to inform you if our game will be on the internet. I guess basketball doesn't get that much love here in Holland so it's a big deal to have a whole game aired on T.V. Usually it gets interrupted with cycling or soccer. Overall, we played pretty well. We were up for most of the game but let it slip in the third quarter. In the fourth we made a push and didn't look back. There is a picture on the right of the team with our trophy. It's quite an impressive trophy too. They even had bottles of champagne for the celebration. For a second it made me feel like we won the NBA Finals, but reality quickly set in; this is the first accomplishment of our goals for the season, but there is a lot of season left. We all enjoyed a celebration that night and then we knew it was back to work.
Last night the whole team participated in a large celebration in Leiden for the liberation from Spain back in 1574 (I think I have the year right). We had the traditional food for the day called hutspot. It is like a stew with mashed potatoes, carrots, onions, and beef. Tradition is that when the city was liberated they found a big pot with this hutspot in it so although the dish was actually Spanish, the tradition has carried on (I think I have that correct). After we ate, we were in a large parade. Thousands of people lined the streets as we and many other teams and organizations from Leiden walked the street. It was a little different walking in the middle of the street as people would just look at you, but some would cheer as we went by. It was a good experience being a part of that.
We have an away league game this Saturday . I will really try to keep up with this better. I appreciate your patience.
Take care and God bless,
Mike
This past Sunday we played in the Supercup. This is a game between last season's Dutch Cup winner (us) and last season's champion (Den Bosch Eiffel Towers - a team in our league). I guess it was supposed to be at a neutral site, but we ended up playing at Den Bosch. They have a nice arena and quite a few people were there. It was on T.V. over here so I wish I would have known that earlier because it was on the internet as well. In the future I will try to inform you if our game will be on the internet. I guess basketball doesn't get that much love here in Holland so it's a big deal to have a whole game aired on T.V. Usually it gets interrupted with cycling or soccer. Overall, we played pretty well. We were up for most of the game but let it slip in the third quarter. In the fourth we made a push and didn't look back. There is a picture on the right of the team with our trophy. It's quite an impressive trophy too. They even had bottles of champagne for the celebration. For a second it made me feel like we won the NBA Finals, but reality quickly set in; this is the first accomplishment of our goals for the season, but there is a lot of season left. We all enjoyed a celebration that night and then we knew it was back to work.
Last night the whole team participated in a large celebration in Leiden for the liberation from Spain back in 1574 (I think I have the year right). We had the traditional food for the day called hutspot. It is like a stew with mashed potatoes, carrots, onions, and beef. Tradition is that when the city was liberated they found a big pot with this hutspot in it so although the dish was actually Spanish, the tradition has carried on (I think I have that correct). After we ate, we were in a large parade. Thousands of people lined the streets as we and many other teams and organizations from Leiden walked the street. It was a little different walking in the middle of the street as people would just look at you, but some would cheer as we went by. It was a good experience being a part of that.
We have an away league game this Saturday . I will really try to keep up with this better. I appreciate your patience.
Take care and God bless,
Mike
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