Gerald Lee, EuroCup and Road to Hell
Some days are tougher than others, and I'll count November 20th 2012 as one of these days...
25 hours, 1000 miles (1600 kilometers), 1 basketball game, 2 Finnish Internationals and one tired me...
That's the day in nutshell - here a little longer story of the day, report of Spirou Basket vs Buducnost and interview with Gerald Lee Jr. It all starts in the morning of the 20th of November, 5.30am.
Wake-up few minutes before the alarm goes off, gather the clothes in the dark, prepare couple of bagels and bottles of juice for the drive. Throw the bags and blankets to the car, and off to the first leg of the trip - down to Folkestone for EuroTunnel. Fighting through the M25 traffic, only to find out that the trains have been delayed and mine is 2 hours late.. could've slept some more.
Catch a bit of sleep in the car, then cross the Channel to the French side.. tune the radio to RFM or MNM and drive towards Charleroi in Belgium. All going well and looks like I'll arrive two hours before tip-off, except once I cross to Belgium.. the phone rings.
(translated) "Hi... where are you??" says the person on the other end.
"On the motorway..." I answer.
Cut the long conversation short, it was Meral who had her lift to the game called-off by her friend (apparently typically Belgian) - so I agreed to make a little detour to Brussels to pick her up. It was nice to go and pick her up - it gave me someone to talk to for a while before and after the game.. and help me with the French speaking reception. Although it took a while to find her on the street we agreed to meet upon.. but after that it was all smooth sailing.
At the Arena, through the press doors and get our seats .. and enjoy a quick bite to eat. Then.. it's game time!! Game report from the notes of Meral Bedretdin.. nice to have someone who knows more about the game doing these. Or at least I count a Finnish Women's International players to know more about the game than I do... following bits are from her notes..
Pre-Game :
- Checked-out the cheerleaders... bit of grooving to the beat of "Call Me Maybe" (this might be lost to all but few people ;-) ) and most importantly.. GOT SOMETHING TO EAT!!
Game : Both teams pretty even at the early exchanges of the game, although despite the quarter ending even - it felt like the home team were the more dominant team on the court. No help for the opposition from the home fans - the drums have been noticed and heard :-) From Buducnost - the player that has caught my eye in the first ten is number 15 (Aleksa Popovic) - done some good individual plays on the court.
Second quarter, much better from the Montenegro - as well as Junnu (Gerald Lee). Aleksa Popovic still on a different level to the rest of the players - I feel like I am finding a new favourite player, let's hope that the third quarter will give us some smoother passing and play.
Third quarter, all even once again, despite the visitors holding the lead. Easy buckets at both ends of the court, as mistakes pile-up on the defense. Finally we see some shots starting to sink from both teams.
Fourth quarter, Buducnost up by 9 points (43-52) to start with, and a side note - I can honestly say that I have probably seen enough cheerleaders to last me for the next year. Spirou started the quarter brightly and their zone defense seemed to freeze the visitors attack, let's see how long the referees can keep their cool in the game - we've already seen few 'interesting' calls in the opening minutes of the last quarter.
(Cheerleaders performance of 'Call Me Maybe' - no match for the Finnish Women's National team!!! - check it out YouTube!!)
Turning point finally when Ivanovic of Buducnost sinks couple of quick three pointers, and the gap opens up to 12 points (50-62) No meltdown from the referees in the end, or from the visiting team - they hold on to win the game 66-53. From the home team, a special mention to Matt Walsh.. kept on trying until the final seconds of the game and he had the skills to help his team.
Game Report : Meral Bedretdin
After the game - waiting outside Buducnost locker-room and grab a quick interview with Gerald Lee. Good to see more Finns on the European competitions.. can only help the National team when players get tough games week in week out. Then a drive to Brussels to a Metro.. drop off Meral over there and then start the toughest part of the journey.. 2hrs 15 minutes to Calais, cross the channel, 3 1/2 hours to Worcester.. estimated time of arrival 7am. Which is exactly 25 hours after I departed from there. No delays on the trains this time - driving in the torrential downpour on the English side of the Channel.. and somehow (not quite sure how) I make it home..with in minutes I've crashed down and sleeping. No other way to describe this journey than MADNESS!! But - it was worth it.. good company at the game, nice win for Junnu and nice interview with him.. Would I do it again the same way?? Possibly.. just give me few weeks to recover ;-)