Ladybugs (again)

It was one of those weeks you wish you could have back. Two losses on the road in games that didn't display how well we can play. But like I've said before, the next game's right around the corner and after a couple good practices we're back at it at home on Thursday.

On top of that, we missed an entire week of school - the second week of classes at that - so it's been nice catching up with all of my professors and the work I've missed (note: sarcasm).

I'm taking Greek Civilization and I think I missed the entire Bronze Age - which lasted several hundred years or something.

Perfect.

But can we take a few steps back to the Ohio game on Saturday afternoon? Do you remember the ladybug I mentioned saving during Friday's practice? Well turns out that there was a bit of an infestation. During the entire game, there were ladybugs absolutely everywhere. At one point during a time-out I reached for a towel and as I raised it to my face to wipe some sweat I saw like eight ladybugs staring back at me.

Can I please have a new towel?

But back to the present...

Since school's back in session, study hall hours are in full effect. As a matter of fact, that's where I am right now until my roommate gets out of class and I can head back home. As you can see, I'm surprisingly caught up on school work - ahead actually (really, Mom I swear!). This was obviously the ideal opportunity to catch up on this blog and let you all know how things have been going and what I've been up to.

I'm not up to much and things have been going alright. There you have it.

Class is out so it's time to get food and go home. Hope your dinner is as good as mine will be.

(I have no idea what's for dinner, but let's be serious...I'm hungry and I like good food so dinner will be great)

There's an App for That

Right now we're hidden somewhere in West Virginia for our game tomorrow against Ohio University. Apparently it's Father's Weekend at OU, so all of the hotels within an hour (I still don't know how that's possible) are booked. So we're here, in Parkersburg, WV, sitting in our hotel watching deer and small rodents run around outside.

Wednesday's game against Kent State didn't go well. We were slow and sloppy and it showed as we lost pretty badly. After the game it was time to refresh our minds and prepare ourselves for another MAC road game.

We had a good practice today - lots of energy and enthusiasm which is exactly what we'll need come tomorrow afternoon. I even found and rescued a ladybug from the court during one of the drills. Take from that what you'd like, but I kept the little guy alive.

However, just as we were leaving the gym a bird flew in...so I hope that little lady bug found a good place to hide.

I'm serious, there really was a bird in the gym.

We stopped in town for lunch before our long commute back to the hotel. On long rides such as these and much longer ones (like the six-hour grind that stares us in the face tomorrow evening) we find ways to amuse ourselves. Most members of the team have either an iPod Touch or an iPhone - it's 2010, we try to keep up with the times - so Apps have quickly made their way around the team.

Most of us go for the free games, which are usually very simple, very addictive time-killers that make for some extremely competitive bus rides. Oh, and more trash talk than you'd find at a garbage dump.

I have reigned superior in Tap-Tap Revenge 2, an iPod version of guitar hero, where I continue to blow the competition out of the water. Wait, what competition?

Several guys recently downloaded Jungle Crash, as did I. Quickly working through its 40 levels, it's now a race for the high score in arcade mode. So far our manager, Jack, is on top.

Unblock Me, a simple game where you have to find a way to rearrange blocks in order to help the red block escape has mesmerized a couple guys. I stay away from it except for recreational playing. It's a good way to keep your brain sharp but also a good way to become extremely frustrated.

I'm sure next week will bring us a new App, but until then, keep practicing.

It's time for a little studying before dinner.

Breakfast

We're sitting in our hotel here in Ohio - I'm not sure exactly what town we're in, but I know that we stay here for both Kent State and Akron.

And I know that they have the best breakfast here of any hotel we stay in. But it's Kent State tonight.

My cousin is a freshman at Kent and she's coming out to the game, so it'll be nice to see her. It's been awhile.

But let's rewind a bit to Sunday afternoon and our game against Akron: finally we meet again following our loss in the MAC Championship Game.

Before the game even began, you could sense the energy and anticipation. Seats in Alumni Arena were filling up long before tip-off and players on both teams were anxious to get things going.

Amid all the excitement there was a basketball game and it went pretty well. Guys were playing hard and we came out on top. It was a great feeling walking off the court with a win against the Zips.

The beautiful thing about college basketball though? Rise and shine early Monday morning for practice. There's no time for celebrating - or sulking for that matter. It's always time to move on to the next game.

So after two good practices we boarded the bus to Kent, Ohio. It was a short trip, only about three and a half hours. But after tonight's game we head to Ohio University for our game Saturday afternoon before traveling back to Buffalo late Saturday night.

That's a whole week on the road.

So if you see any of my professors this week, let them know I'll be thinking about them and about class. Tell them I'll see them soon.

But it's game day and I need to get a little rest. Just laying in bed watching the Australian Open - James Blake is currently losing to Del Potro in a match that happened yesterday. I already know Del Potro wins, but why not watch some good stuff while I relax?

Enjoy your Hump Day.

Smurf

We've all done it.

Messing around in our driveways as kids...

"Three...two...one..." and we hurl up a shot "at the buzzer."

If our scrawny arms happened to get the ball up and through the basket we went berserk, feverishly running through the front yard and down the street with our hands raised, yelling, "And the crowd....goes....WILDDDD!"

(Of course, if we didn't make it, we simply replayed the scenario over and over and over again until we did finally made the game-winning shot. If only it worked like that in real life...)

Growing up making that shot in the driveway was always an exciting way to end the day after Mom called us in for dinner.

But there really is no comparison to experiencing that exact childhood dream on the floor in real life.

Except the crowd didn't go wild. They just sat down, silent.

Let me explain how all of this shook down:

We were on the road at Bowling Green, home of the Falcons. Buffalo has only won one game (ever) at Bowling Green. It was my freshman year.

editor's note: I am now, proudly, the only UB Men's Basketball player ever to win two games at Bowling Green.

Needless to say, it's not an easy place to play.

Before the game, I was sitting in the locker room. It was just me, one teammate, our head coach and the radio announcer - for identity purposes we'll call him Smurf (you'll see why).

I'm lacing up my shoes as Smurf walks over toward Coach for his usual pregame interview. Making his way across the closet that they gave us as a locker room, Smurf trips over a gym bag or something and nearly falls on his face.

You have to understand, Smurf is not what you would call a tall person. He stands maybe 5-5.

Coach obviously witnesses his stumble, laughs and yells sarcastically, "Whoaa! Careful!"

To which I add, "It's alright, he wouldn't have too far to fall anyways."

This brought a chuckle to my teammate, myself and even our coach. But Smurf - who is quite tired of our short person jokes, shoots back at me, "Real funny. You better not miss a shot. And if you hit the game-winner I'm gonna say 'Why the heck would they give HIM the ball to take the last shot?' on the radio."

I'm not lying, that really happened.

And as fate would have it, in a tie game with about eight seconds left to play our point guard came off a ball screen and pitched the ball back to me. From a few steps beyond the arc, I caught, turned and fired a rainbow that dropped straight through the net.

Unfortunately, amidst the excitement and chaos, I had forgotten what I had told another teammate before our last game. I had said that if I hit the game winner, I'll do a dance (I demonstrated said dance) and "beat the beat." ("beating the beat" is a move made popular by a new reality television show - if you're not familiar with it, don't worry - you're not missing much.)

My teammate reminded me of my broken promise today. I was bummed.

Obviously I would never really beat the beat after hitting a shot. But still...

***special thanks and a huge shout-out to Hugh (hope I spelled that right). His driving expertise got us safely to Bowling Green, Ohio and back - and was without a doubt the reason I was able to hit the game-winner. You're the man, see you soon.


It's time to get some food and get some rest because tomorrow is our game against Akron. We've been hungry for a shot at the Zips since last season's MAC Championship Game, so head over to Alumni Arena and check out what should be a barnburner.

Triple Jump

So game one of MAC conference play went pretty well.

We beat Miami of Ohio to start league play 1-0. Now we're hanging out in Bowling Green, Ohio before our game against the Falcons tonight.

It was a nice little five-and-a-half hour bus ride from Buffalo - which was so graciously and thankfully extended due to our impeccable timing: hitting Cleveland at exactly 5:00, aka rush hour. Not to worry, though. I actually found a comfy position and got a couple hours' sleep on the ride.

You must understand: trying to sleep on a bus might be one of the most difficult things you could ever try to do.

Try to sit up? Your neck snaps way back before the headrest catches it - no good. Slouch? Your knees smash into the seat in front of you - no good. Lean against the window? Your head bangs off the window every time you hit even the slightest bump in the road - no good.

Lay down across two seats, plus the aisle and onto the first seat across? Every time somebody uses the bathroom they step on your legs and wake you up - no good. In all honesty, I have no idea how I fell asleep. But I did. Excellent.

When I did wake up from my nap, we were in Bowling Green, Ohio and in the parking lot of The Crackerbarrel Country Restaurant. For some reason, we love Crackerbarrel. I think it's just because we play a lot of games in Ohio and it's pretty much the only place around.

One good thing is the missing peg game that sits on every table. Last year, a manager and myself discovered the solution. We now never cease to amaze whoever we sit with by our incredible peg jumping know-how.

The triple jump is the key. Nap time.

I Cleaned

Our first conference game is tomorrow - a home game against Miami of Ohio. This past week was our last long break between games and my last winter break as a college athlete (well, as a college student in general really). From here on out, it's gameday every three or four days until the MAC Tournament in March.

So I'm relaxing here at home, watching some TV without a paper to write, a quiz to study for or something to do besides nothing.
I DID clean the house today...and I think there's some laundry downstairs that I should finish up.

I guess nothing was a bit of an exaggeration.

Things pretty much go like this over a long week of practice over break:

-wake up, head to Denny's for team breakfast at 8:30
-after breakfast, usually go right over to the gym and relax (sleep) in the locker room until...
-practice at 11 (or 11:30, or 11:45...)
-late lunch in the conference room with the guys
-make it home sometime before dinner
-rest, eat, hang out, etc. until bed

This past Tuesday night our usual regimen was interrupted with a trip to: Canada?

That's right, we all headed across the border for dinner at a new Brazilian Steakhouse called 'Brasa.' According to our coaches it would be a top-notch deal; dress code, the whole nine.

Suited in our finest threads, the guys piled into the coaches' cars and - passports in hand - sped north into Canada.

The coaches weren't lying. We sat down and received our instructions. Dinner was a little like this: we helped ourselves to the salad bar. Not quite your run-of-the-mill salad bar, as it was packed with cold cuts, cheeses, appetizers, salads, fruit and even marinated quail eggs (which, for the record are pretty good).

Back at the table, we each had a coaster - red on one side, green on the other. Once we were sitting, about five Brazilian guys dressed to the 'T' in cultural garb walked around carrying huge spits of meat. Every kind of meat; there was several types of steak, roast beef, chicken, sausage, lamb and even grilled cinnamon-covered pineapple. If your coaster was showing green, these "Gauchos" came by and sliced you off a little piece of meat. If it was red, they left you alone until your stomach told you to flip to green.

It was one of the best dinners I've ever had - and of course was a blast, as usual, with the team.

Unfortunately, on the way home, a Canadian-born teammate didn't have the proper paperwork to make it back into America. Therefore, our whole car was taken upstairs into customs where said teammate was interrogated and finally set free.

With our stomachs full, we finished our last few days of practice before tonight - the eve of our first MAC game.

So sleep tight...we'll see you tomorrow at Alumni.

Are You Famous?

I apologize for the hiatus; I'll make it my New Year's Resolution to try to get on here more often.

With that aside, let's get to the juicy stuff...

...after a tough performance in a first-round loss to Jacksonville, we bounced back well in the consolation game versus Liberty and won. Overall, the Florida trip was alright - we learned a lot though, and that's very important heading into the conference schedule.

The morning after our game we were awakened promptly at 3am. It wasn't a fire drill, either. No, this was actually what time we needed to wake up in order to make it to our 6am flight home. The lobby of the Radisson looked like a scene straight out of Night of the Living Dead as 25 or so of us (coaches, etc included - yes, they get tired too) shuffled out of the elevators and out onto the bus.

It was still dark outside.

We arrived at the airport ten minutes later. Security had been heightened due to the Christmas terrorist events, and apparently people in Orlando are related to Punxatawny Phil and like to wake up at 4am to get to the airport. The place was jammed.

And it was still dark outside.

We made it through the gate with only slight delay - for some reason, the lady behind the baggage desk thought I was our manager, Matt, and gave me his tickets even though I obviously showed her MY photo ID with MY name on it. It's a good thing they caught the miscue before I went through security or else they probably would've called in the reinforcements and had me deported. Phew! Made it through security.

It was still dark outside.

Finally we made it onto the plane and to Atlanta, then from Atlanta on to Buffalo. We were back by about 10am, which was nice.

And it was finally light outside.

As we were traveling through the airports, however, I saw something that I've taken note of in the past on our journeys across the nation. It's hard to miss a group of 15 oversized guys all wearing identical jumpsuits clambering onto airplanes or through airports. Needless to say, we've gotten more than our share of strange looks and awkward questions through the years.

Some of the more common ones are as follows:

Tilting their head up, looking skywayd, "Oh my god...who are you?"

or

Still tilting their head up, "How tall ARE you??"

or

With a look of absolute confusion, "Do you play for the Bills?"

Because obviously NFL football teams carry only 15 players and the letters 'u' (Bulls) and 'i' (Bills) look strikingly similar.
(note: sarcasm)

A personal favorite of mine, however, came on a trip earlier this season. We had a few hours off and were walking through a mall that was adjacent to our hotel when a few middle school girls spotted us.

"Are you famous?"

Without hesitation at least three of us turned and replied, "Yup."

After looks of amazement, we enlightened the poor girls to the fact that we were a college basketball team from Buffalo and that they had probably never heard of any one of us.

So if you ever see us wandering aimlessly around an airport near you, don't be afraid to say hi. Just keep in mind that our tallest player is 6-10, we are basketball players and no, we do not play for the Bills.

Have a good one, and Happy New Year.