My thoughts on everything

Army Trip and Blender Troubles

For the first time in 9 weeks, I participated in a practice. Despite the fact that my knee didn’t feel 100%, it was still such a relief to be able to run up and down a little. My inner joy was clearly noticeable, because multiple people told me it was the first time they had seen me smile in months.

Today I was able to do even more, and my knee felt much better. I cannot describe my happiness in being back on the court. The last 2 months have been interesting and fun in certain ways, but for the most part being injured has made the whole experience pretty miserable. I am looking forward to finally putting all that behind me, and the goal is to play in my first game next Tuesday. Continue reading “Army Trip and Blender Troubles”

How I Incited a Brawl

Quick game update: We lost our first game by 1 and our second by about 20. I did not participate in either. My knee is not progressing as me or anyone had hoped it would, and I should be getting an MRI sometime this week.

On to the story of what happened today in practice. Because I have nothing to do at practice I get to do exciting tasks such as keeping score or tracking fouls. Generally I just stand there bored out of my mind and shoot during breaks. Today was a different story. Continue reading “How I Incited a Brawl”

The Problems With Scouting Reports

Today was my first Israeli scouting report, and it was very entertaining. There were no chopped up video clips detailing the strengths and weaknesses of each player. There was no going over every possible play they might run. All these things were replaced by watching the first quarter of their last game along with a with a simple 15 minute team meeting and a piece of paper with a sentence about each player.

This was all right up my alley. I know that coaches have good intentions and work hard to put together their reports, but do we really need to spend a half hour talking about their 8th, 9th and 10th players? You could probably feel it coming, so hear it is. Time to rant about college pregame scouting reports and walk-throughs! Continue reading “The Problems With Scouting Reports”

The Time I Stole A Car

In lieu of still being hurt and having nothing to say about basketball, here’s the story of how I finally got my own car:

First, a little background. When I originally signed my contract I was under the impression that I would have my own car and my own apartment. Apparently when a contract says “will make available an apartment and a car” it does not mean you will get your own apartment and your own car. To the upper management, making available meant giving me an apartment and car to share, which is not the end of the world, but I have previously written plenty on why my specific roommate could potentially make this a living hell, which of course he did. Continue reading “The Time I Stole A Car”

Some Bitter, Injury Induced Bitching

Another funny story about my roommate to kick things off, this one pertaining to his continued terrible taste in music and unintentionally comedic ways.We were on a ride out to Haifa, and since I was the one driving I figured I would pick the music. I put on Only Built for CubanLinx , a classic rap album.

My music consumption has gone way down since I have been out here, where I am without fast Internet and my nice speakers, so I was thoroughly enjoying the chance to listen to some decent music for once while we drove. As to be expected, about 4 songs in he abruptly turned off the cd player, stating that he “could not listen to it anymore” and that “he was past the phase in his life” where he listened to this type of music. Continue reading “Some Bitter, Injury Induced Bitching”

Tournament and Other Thoughts

Couple musings to start:

It’s crazy how nobody drives on Yom Kippur. The streets are flooded with kids riding bikes. I have been told that if I were to drive my car people would throw rocks at me. That’s some overly religious bs if you ask me.

Most of the people here think I am straight up crazy for wanting to come here just to play basketball. It seems like it is something they just cannot comprehend. One of my teammates went crazy on me when he found out I went to Harvard, shouting “What the FUCK are you doing here!?!” in this thick accent. It was hilarious. Continue reading “Tournament and Other Thoughts”