The Playoffs are here!

Well its been sometime since my last post but nonetheless here I am. I guess a lot has being going on since last time but it will be hard to try and think of everything that's been going on since then. One main thing that has been on my mind is my coach! I think he has good intentions but many times he's just too much! He's one of those guys who screams and screams no matter if you are doing well or doing terrible. Half the time you are out there trying to do stuff so you don't get screamed at! With me being the lone American on the team he expects a lot from me and he never lets up. I realize that I am supposed to be the guy who does a little bit of everything but he puts the whole world on my shoulders! He says I need to average 30 and 20 or else I'm not doing my job. I have to defend, rebound, score, run the floor, and so on. I like the fact that he pushes me to do things I don't feel like doing or maybe I feel like I can't do but I don't know. We had a scrimmage game earlier this week against a not so good team. It's really hard to get motivated for those games because they are just not good. Well we ended up winning by 40 and coach was still upset. We shook the other teams hand and he immediately made us get on the line and start running! I was pretty angry that night especially since he made me play the whole game even when we were winning by so many and I had to go straight to running after that.

The playoffs have just started after a seemingly forever break. We had close to three weeks off and now we finally play a game. Luxembourg always schedules game weird. We have three weeks off then we try and squeeze a lot of games into a small amount of time. This weekend we had two games, one on Friday and another on Sunday. They were against the top two teams in our league at the moment which in my opinion was good. I like getting the top teams first and having the opportunity to have a really good start. Thankfully, we won both games and now can relax for a few days this week before we play again on Sunday. As usual everything is going good when you are winning but win you are losing life is miserable. People treat you differently, practice is not fun, and you start questioning yourself a lot. That's definitely one of the downfalls of playing basketball for a living. Most people think its all fun and games, which it is to an extent, but when you are not performing or your team is losing your job is always on the line. Job security is not a word that is used often in professional basketball. I hope to never be fired by any team but in the end you have to try and not take it personally. I can imagine that would be hard not to do but it happens so often in the professional world it's something many people have to get used to.

Enough about basketball on to other things. Some good news! My sister Rachel is coming to visit me in Luxembourg! The only people to have come to visit me so far are my parents and that was last year. I understand that it's expensive and that it's hard to get a lot of time off of work so I don't make such a big deal of it. I never would have thought little Rachel would be the first to sibling to come visit mainly because she's somewhat of a homebody. She took a step out of her comfort zone by accepting a job right outside of Atlanta, Georgia which is about two hours from home. Her coming all the way to Europe is definitely a step out! I don't think she would have done something like that if I had not been over here but that's not a big deal. I'm excited she's coming and I'm excited she will be able to see Europe. It seems like it may not be that big of a deal but most people in the world do not leave their own country or at least in the U.S. they don't so I look as this as being a great opportunity for her. I want to try and go to Paris for a couple of days while she is here but I have to ask my coach for a little time off which is going to be interesting. If we can win our next game then I think that I will have a better chance of getting that time off. I'm in the process of trying to plan out some things for her to see while she is here in Luxembourg. Luckily, she will be able to see me play twice! She hasn't been able to see me play since college and I imagine she never thought she would see me play in person again. Whatever the case, I'm happy she has decided to come and would love if other friends and family would visit sometime. Unfortunately, she will not have a long time here but it's better than nothing.

Many things have been going through my mind lately just about my life and other interesting important things. Nothing you need to be worried about but I do a lot of thinking and don't really open up and tell people what I'm thinking. I'm a pretty private guy and me writing these blogs is not in my nature but I try and give you a little something. There are many things going through my head at this very moment that if I don't stop thinking about I'll go crazy. Many people on the outside would never know if anything is bothering me because I try and act the same no matter what situation I'm in. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not but It's me. Well I have Monday morning workouts at 9am in the weight room after a weekend of basketball. My body is hurting and I'm hoping that a little sleep will heal me and allow my body to recuperate. The team is going to a spa/resort kind of place tomorrow to relax and chill out. They have swimming pools, Jacuzzi's, sauna's and all that good stuff. I'm hoping that will relax my body and be enjoyable. We will see!