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.
