Post Trip

If a watched pot never boils, then a watched phone never rings.

The wedding was quite a party.  Friends.  Relatives. Music. Dancing.  It was one of those rare weddings where the dance floor was never empty.  I have to give the DJ credit, he really kept it lively, but as my son's new father-in-law noted, "it's the people that make a party."  The people at this party kept it going until deep into the night and there was even a post party back at the hotel into the wee hours of the morning.

I was scheduled to go fly back to Shang Hai Sunday afternoon.  It would have been very difficult to kiss the wife and kids and head out.  But I was also hoping to get a call that an alternative sponsor had been found and the final dates of the tour were back on.  It was truly the definition of mixed emotions. 

I heard from Jeremy via e-mail that the team won a game over the weekend.  The addition of an American player from UNC-G had increased the outside fire power.  The general feeling was if he had been around the whole time......

That's really sports.  It is brief windows of opportunity which open and close and in the middle you have to make the most of it.  Players never really know which game is their last.  Coaches never really know if the game plan they worked so hard on will be sufficient.  Even the fans, they do not know which game will be the best they ever saw when they buy a ticket.

It's about the people.  Making connections. The Australians were an incredible group of guys.  They made me feel welcomed and respected right from the first minute.  Jeremy, Dave, and Anna were an incredible administrative crew.  I hope some of them take me up on my offer to buy them a Tony Luke's cheesesteak if they come to Philadelphia. 

For now, it's back to Peach Country.  There is comfort in routine. But I am looking forward to the discomfort of a new routine.  I am certainly trying to parlay this experience into full time basketball gig.  But in the meantime, there is a group of people who I enjoy working with and lots of work to be done.  I will keep one eye on the phone and one on the road.

Day 9

     While sitting on the bench before last night's game with Canada, Mr. Lee cautions me about the dangers of night travel on the train.  First class sleeper...no problem.  Second class sleeper...less problems.  Chairs...problems.    The station is just like Camden's Rand Transportation Center: kinda dirty, kinda crowded, and the people were kinda dressed nicely.  I have to give credit here; the people of China take pride in how they present themselves.

 Of course, my seat is the chair variety.  So with Mr. Lee's words ringing in my ears, I prepare for 6 hours of vigilant bag watching and keen kinesthetic awareness in case of a hub-bub.  The train car holds about 120 people.  One hundred and nineteen seem to be looking at me as I trudge in two suitcases and two travel bags.  Way more than anyone else is lugging.  The conductor shows me my seat and away we go.  It's midnight.  The train actually leaves about 35 minutes later than scheduled.  Combine that with the 30 minutes the Mayor cost me last night, and I could have seen the final 3:38 and said a proper good-bye to my Aussie mates.  In retrospect, I should have called time out and let everyone know what was happening.  I can only imagine what the players on the floor thought when they saw me leaving the arena with an escort.  Sorry fellas.

 I am on high alert for about 10 minutes when a fresh faced guy approaches me and speaks English slowly.  I am sure I sound exactly the same way when I speak Spanish.  He asks every Language 101 question.  How am I?  What's my name? Where am I from? If he had repeated America any louder the police may have come to see if there was a problem.  In a blink, there were people semicircled around listening to him ask me questions in English and repeat the answers in Chinese.  I find out that he, and I assume his girlfriend, are university students and their teachers name is Mr. Bill.  They ask if I know him as he is American too.  I disappoint them with my answer, but I compliment him on teaching them so well.  When they ask my favorite sport, the crowd is all smiles.  When I say my favorite team is the 76ers, crickets could be heard.  The guy asks if Kobe is my favorite player and for the sake of tranquility on my previously feared train ride, I say yes.  The crowd bristles with approval and from there I am the golden boy of the train.  I am offered food and drink and smiles from the non-English speakers.  Would be thug types spend the entire time either looking out the window into the dark of night, or just conked out.  At one point, one of them is using my shoulder as a head rest.  When we get to Shang Hai a little old lady, and believe me she was both little and old, tugs at my suit coat, that's right still wearing the game suit as I was dragged out without so much as a potty break, smiles and gives me the get-out-of the-train look that grandma's all over the world have mastered.

 At the street exit of the train station a proactive taxi driver barks over in English, "airport?  airport?"  A sign from God.  I walk to the driver and heckle the price.  He tells me he can not do it on the meter for that price, but he can do it off.  Mr. Lee let me know what price to settle for beforehand.  I agree to off the meter because I really don't care what he does with taxes, and off we go.  To his personal car just around the corner.  This guy was a hustler.  The airport was just over an hour away, no traffic to speak of and at 120 Kph we made good time.

 My goal at the airport is to throw myself on the mercy of the airline.  I need my ticket moved up one day and I don't want to pay a lot, anything really, to do it. At 6am the Shang Hai airport is quiet.  Its high ceilings and towering glass windows flooding the open space with light.  I find the United service counter and ask about switching flights.  I am informed that I must wait until 9 when the check-in area opens.  Ok, so three hours to kill, I can not read the local papers and there is not a television so common in US airports.  Back to Louisiana.  The prime suspect falls for the doe-eyed detective.  The rouge cop falls for the doe-eyed detective.  The bayou is on high alert as everyone is fearing, or talking, or chasing the swamp strangler.

I see the line starting to fill up, so I get in the snaking Great Adventure style rope maze.  I get to the front and I am directed to the lady at line 8.  I explain to her what I want to do and she directs me to United service around the corner.  Really?  I head over to where I started and the lady welcomes me with a smile and asks how she can help as if we had never met.  I am pretty good with faces and I know this is the lady with whom I spoke earlier.  She works with me this time, and adjusts my flight.  In fact, she does a great job getting me onto an early flight to San Francisco then to Philadelphia.  My original flight was into Newark.  The change means I have a chance to attend the rehearsal dinner for my son's wedding.  It would be a wonderful surprise.

 I get back into the serpentine line to check my bags in.  I do not like standing in line.  Not that I am impatient, but I would rather be first or last, waiting just rubs me the wrong way.  I am behind a tour group with matching shirts.  I get to the front and I am directed to line 8.  The lady welcomes me again with a big smile; she is glad things worked out for me.  Then her face turns serious as I try to place two bags onto the belt.  She says I have one bag too many.  I assure her the bags I have are neither right nor wrong, they are just bags.  My bags.  The ones I came to China with 9 days ago.  She says I would have to pay an additional $70 for the bag.  I reach for my credit card and she smiles painfully and tells me I need to go to United service again.  For the third time, I go to the lady and this time I am ready to share with her how I am feeling.  I do not shout, but I have a certain serious face I break out when I want to make a point.  I inform the lady she should have asked about luggage, she should have delineated the policy, I traveled just last week with this exact luggage and there was not an extra charge.

 My point must have been well made.  She spoke quietly and said, "We will keep it our secret."  I wasn't exactly sure what she meant, but she stood and walked me over to the baggage line, spoke with the lady (not line 8 by the way) and my bags were tagged and processed for free.  I felt triumphant.  As I waited on the chair at gate 77, I decided to organize some papers in my travel bag.  Seems my outrage over the bag charge was unfounded.  Apparently I flew to China on American Airlines, not United.  Ooops. 

 The flight was my chance to get some much needed sleep.  Nine hours across the great circle of the Pacific Rim.  Upon arrival, I would have a little more than an hour to change planes.  I thought of fresh coffee and the San Francisco Chronicle darkening my fingers.  Unbeknownst to me however, is the process I must endure to change planes.  First, I must retrieve my luggage from the carousel and herd through customs.  Then, I must surrender my bags in a separate line so that they are on the plane to Philly.  Now here's the part I don't understand.  I must go through airport security to get from the international flight area to the domestic flight area.  Seriously?  I have not been given any chance to interact with reality since stepping off the plane.  No interlopers, no clandestine contacts, not even a bathroom where a package would be discretely deposited. By the time the gauntlet was run, my plane to the Bay area was already loaded.  I was not last, but I had no room to spare.  No coffee. No Chronicle.

 Looking down from an airplane provides incredible perspective.  If only we could see all of our life problems from above.  How small things seem in relation to the area around them.  Snow capped mountains.  Long running rivers.  Cloud formations float carefree.  What if we could see our life from above?  Would we be more relaxed?  More grateful? More full of wonder?

 Getting off the plane in Philadelphia the air smelled sweet, like a donut shop.  Home. I was on track to make a surprise entrance at the rehearsal dinner and my anticipation level rose.  I called Steve to let him know I was at the airport.  He was on the way.  Perfect.  I was curbside with my bags when he pulled his shiny black pick-up to a stop.  He commented that he wasn't expecting me to be wearing a shirt and tie, asking if i always traveled so formally.  "Funny story," I said, “I was coaching the final minutes of a game last night......."

 We arrived at the restaurant.  Steve graciously offered to drop me off then take my bags directly to my house.  I walked toward the front door and was immediately greeted by a couple of Kevin's friends.  They were shocked I was there and asked me to wait outside so they could see the faces of everyone inside when I entered.  No problem.  When I walk inside, it was like the TV show CHEERS, everyone calling out my name and waving.  I walked the room saying hello to everyone, especially glad to see Joan and the kids. 

Day 8

An early morning walk in the warm sunshine provides some much needed fresh air and movement.  The room is so cramped I have to step into the hallway just to change my mind.  The lobby of the hotel is undergoing a decoration bonanza.  Balloons. Ribbon.  Even a picture station.  Clearly a wedding, maybe several are scheduled for today.  Odd that it is the middle of the week, or maybe it is for the weekend.  I won't know as we leave at 9:30 am.  My walk is uneventful as out of the context of basketball mania, I am just another vacationer.  The exception to the peace was when I tried to cross the street with the green light.  Being both American and generally stubborn, I felt I had the right of way.  So did a transit bus.  The driver was not slowing as our paths were obviously going to intersect.  So I slowed and made eye contact.  I was not giving.  The bus came within a foot or so and I was in a death stare with the driver.  I walked the last two feet to the curb slowly not breaking eye contact. Amazingly, he did not even honk the horn.  He must have thought me insane.

There must have been a lot of grumbling by our traveling party, as today for breakfast the hotel served coffee and breakfast sandwiches from the McDonald's next door.  I am not sure if that adds a star for accommodating the guests, or subtracts a star for serving McDonald's.        

On to the bus for an hour ride to the next city.  I have learned to take the travel time the bus driver offers and multiply it by 1.5.  Such was today's ride through some pretty rough two lane "highways".  I was amazed at the chances some drivers take here.  People in cars trying to jump around the bus, on a bad road, with plenty of oncoming traffic created and entertaining (in a life and death kind of way) ride.  At one point, an oncoming truck swerved into our lane to avoid a scooter in his.  I was very certain we were going to lose the rear view mirror on our bus.  Even thinking of it now, I do not know how we didn't. 

We get to our new city, Bengbu, our first stop is the sponsor of tonight's game.  RiseSun Corporation is a real estate company building luxury townhouses.  The campus includes water features, homes, shopping, and recreation.  We are toured around the place and there is a mini pep rally with a DJ and an energetic emcee.  Afterward, we are off to the hotel.  It's in the heart of the city, but still does not offer wireless internet...grrrr. 

Chris, Kyle, and Igor playing against Canada.

At lunch, it is confirmed that the back half of the tour is cancelled.  As there will only be one game left after the 21st, it is decided that I will not return to China from the wedding.  Arrangements are made to get me to the train station after the game so I can enjoy a 6 hour train ride and a 2 hour cab ride to get to the Shang Hai airport.  Sounds like a problem. 

The team asks if we can meet in the open area outside the elevator on our floor.  They want to walk through the plays even though there is no basket or court lines or anything.  How can I ask for anything more.  We spend an hour walking through every set, talking about timing and counters and then we head to pre-game dinner.

Game Time:  Canada

 Yup.  We played them yesterday, but that was another time, another city.  The start time is interminably delayed as we must wait for the mayor to arrive.  The game starts 30 minutes late.  It could be we were overly tired from the warm up.  It could be we were bored and had simply lost focus from the delay.  Or, it could be that Canada is just better than we are.  I would try to list a highlight or two but there really was nothing to write home about....literally.  Down 16 at the end of the first quarter.  Down 19 at the half. Down 23 after 3.  In the 4th, there was a nice follow up dunk by Kash. He had told me early in the tour that he could not dunk.  He must have been pretty amped up tonight as he had perfect timing.  I asked him about the no dunking thing and he calmly said, "I lied coach."

    You never know when a dream will end.  The alarm clock sounds.  Thunder claps.  Or, quite unwillingly you are shaken and dragged away. 

    We were down 18 and not chipping away.  Canada was playing zone which to me means they were taking it easy on us late in the game.  There was 3:38 to go when Mr. Lee stood up off the bench and announced it was time to go to.  Now?  In the middle of the game?  He was quite sure it was the right time to go.  Mr. Lee is simply following the tour boss's orders.  Mr. Hahn ran every detail of the tour.  I shake the hand of the four guys on the bench, grab Mr. Lucky and away we go. 

    Just like that.  The China tour is over.  I am escorted to a car.  The car drives me to the Bengbu train station.  The train is the beginning of the journey back to reality.

Day 7

 I get a moment of panic whenever I wake up and the sun is out.  It lasts until I can confirm what time it is and that I am not late for something.  It was 6:55.  The room does not receive wireless or phone reception.  No phone reception means the alarm function on my phone is out of commission; the phone doesn't know the time.  I learned from Mr. Lee last night that the hotel is a 3 star hotel.  I guess those are the two missing stars.

            I am again alone at breakfast.  I sketch out a practice plan while eating hard boiled eggs and bread that is past its prime.  I am very particular about bread and I get the feeling China is not.  There is no coffee.  That should have deleted another star, maybe two as far as I am concerned.  This is another time where I miss Coach Chiampi.  He is excellent at understanding game flaws and addressing them at practice.  This team also needs that special flair that he brings when he talks.  We are an excellent good cop-bad cop combo. 

            Our heart holds no secret that our actions do not reveal.  I scroll the saying of the day across the top of hotel note paper.  I forgot to bring along a notepad, but I don't feel too stressed about it as I only need one copy and no one sees it but me.  Offensive tweaks.  Defensive fundamentals.  Today's passing words are "dor sheow chen"...how much?.  The guys will need it later tonight after the game as they hit the town again. 

             The arena is just down the street.  It is a beautiful building with a large park next to it.  The bus ride there is just 10 minutes.  I am still trying to figure out how these arenas host events, yet have no parking spaces.  Practice is a little sluggish.  I raise my voice and drop a few choice words into my sentences.  I try to raise the level of intensity in the group.  They need to compete at a higher level in practice to simulate the game.  In my mind, practice flies by.  I am shocked when Mr. Lee tells me our time is over and we must hurry along to lunch.  I want to say forget eating, we need to stay here and get this right.  I do not, however, want to create an international incident over sautéed beef and boil rice.

             The afternoon takes forever.  The assistant manager of the hotel takes pity on me for not having a plug in computer device and allows me to use her computer in the lobby for a minute.  I zip a quick e-mail to Joan about my incommunicado situation.  I think about a walk, but decide to try to get a nap. That doesn't go well as I am restless.  I really want to win tonight's game against Canada.  They are loaded with American players and I think they are the best team for this type of tournament.  Their coach was the fellow from the airport on day one who was helpful with connections and such.  He is from Dallas.  Need I say more Eagles fans?

            Back to Louisiana to pass some time.  Seems the doe eye rookie detective and the assistant district attorney are childhood sweethearts who can not seem to decide whether a relationship would be a good thing at this stage of their careers.  Conflict abounds in their personal lives, and professional as well, as the detective is ostracized by her peers for her handling of the case.

             Finally....Gametime: Canada

           The team is tight.  You can see in the faces of the players how much they need to win tonight.  They have pride.  They know they are clearly the underdog here and want to prove themselves worthy of the invite.  The locker room has beautiful oversized leather chairs which would look great in my den, but seem out of place for large sweaty men.  There is never a white board which puts me at a great disadvantage.  I like to list the game points, quote of the day, match-ups, etc on there.  I also like it so I don't have to read off a paper during the pregame speech.  The board keeps me on track. 

            The arena is maybe 75% full.  The crowd stirs as even they are restless waiting for the local dignitaries to arrive.  The game will not start until certain people are in attendance.  We are chomping at the bit to get underway.

            The jump ball sails high in the air.  Really high.  So high two 6'9" athletic guys could not get to it.  That rarely happens, but it seems like another thing is just out of our reach.  The second try at it goes our way.  We run to the rim and convert.  At this point, I am thinking about the Flyers and the unbelievable streak they had in the recent playoffs.  In every game, the team that scored first lost the game. 

    We execute and play well.  Nate is on tonight and makes a couple jumpers and we are rolling.  The first quarter comes to a close and we are up 8.  The huddle is a mixture of excitement and intense desire to keep doing what we are doing.  I hardly say a word as the players take ownership of their situation. 

             The second quarter isn't as crisp, but we maintain the lead going into the half.  I just hate to give a little light to a team we could have buried.  The locker room's relaxing decor is of no use to the Aussies right now.  There is a sense of urgency.  Guys are getting on one another not to let this thing slip away.  To stay the course.  We are in a little foul trouble for the first time.  Both James, the point guard, and Kyle, a forward, have three fouls.  My contribution to the halftime chat is that the rest of us need to cover for James and Kyle.  I remind those two how playing smart doesn't mean playing passively.  I also add that our bench did not match the intensity of the guys on the floor and to be successful in the second half I would need to see a much better response from them when they were called on.

The second half is a slow bleed.  The play (there really is one play every time where I think if only this went differently) was a long pass from James to Chris.  Chris had been defending the apex when James stole the ball on the wing.  We were down one point and Chris's eyes were on wide knowing he was about to light the gym on fire with a breakaway dunk.  James's pass sailed just out of reach as Chris was at the foul line and the chance was gone.  Canada converted the next possession.  We turned it over and then fouled.  The dunk would have put us up one.  In the blink of an eye, we were down seven and that was that.

    Final: Canada 83- Australia 68

    Tomorrow we travel an hour or so to the next city.  I am hoping there is cell phone and wireless internet reception.  I am also hoping for our first win.  I am flying home for the wedding before the next game.  This may be my only chance to win.  Why you may ask?  A sponsor has pulled out of the second half of the tour and games may be cancelled.  If that is true, then I have been told by the tour's big boss, Mr. Hahn, that there would only be one game after the 22nd and I would not be brought back for one game.  So, a lot rides on tomorrow's game.  In the meantime, this experience has been incredible.  Even if i can't call someone and tell them.

Day 6

The dark quiet of the room was a stark contrast to last night's excitement.  I welcomed the tranquility as losing has a way of creating a building tension.  I am the first patron at the restaurant for breakfast.  The staff bristling with activity to provide each guest the perfect meal every visit.  We had both dinner and a post game snack yesterday, so I felt I knew the folks pretty well already.  I was alone and the big room was empty.  I helped myself to a window table overlooking the large manmade lagoon which the property surrounded and enjoyed bacon and toast and coffee.  So far, the coffee has been fine except it is served in thimble sized mugs.  This morning I decided to grab what the hotel believed was a cereal bowl and used it.  The staff was definitely amused by the crazy foreigner.

     I checked my e-mail and was happy to see a reply from Rich.  I was actually laughing aloud as I read his assessment of my flight to China.  You may recall I questioned the route we took along the coastline of Alaska.  Well, he explained in words and pictures exactly how the pilot was right and I was naive to the ways of the world.  The shortest distance between points is only a straight line when traveling a flat surface.  When traveling a sphere the use of a "great circle" will save you about 1200 miles on a trip like mine.  If anyone should have a correction or a question about something on the trip, or if you want to read the Rich e-mail please feel free to write back. 

     I must have misunderstood, or the plan changed, but when I arrived in the lobby, I was still alone.  I thought we were leaving at 9.  I did not see someone from the entourage until 9:30.  We didn't leave until 10.  I was sad to see this hotel go also.  The General Manager, Damien, was a big sports fan and we spoke at length about his hotel, his career, and how jealous he is of Michelle as she gets to study in southern France.  He is from France and assures me she will have the time of her life.

          The bus ride to the next city took the rest of the day.  The lunch stop coincided with the end of Chapter 5 in the mystery novel.  The seemingly rogue cop physically assaulted the main suspect and the doe eye rookie detective was hell bent on justice without compromise.  The team decided McDonalds was the best option.  I stayed on the bus and kept reading.  Moments later the interpreter, Mr. Lee, returned to the bus with a cup of coffee.  He said he noticed how much I liked coffee since we have been together.  It was a very nice gesture from someone who has seemed quite neutral until then.

          We arrived at the new hotel at 6:30.  During the afternoon, there had been a copycat murder and a heartfelt promise to the family of the first victim to not give up the search. Outside the bus window was a bristling city.  Jinmanlou looks even more crowded than Changzhou if that is possible.  When I opened the door to my room, I was quite surprised.  It was so small. The two beds are about a foot apart and there is maybe two feet from the foot of the bed to the wall.  If this was our first hotel it may not have been so noticeable, but we have been incredibly spoiled this past week.

          Dinner was served family style.  It is the first time the coaches and the players have not eaten together.  The coaches ate with a couple dignitaries from the sports authority who are hosting the game tomorrow.  The table was an overly large circle with a glass lazy susan center.  There were several plates of food spinning around with plenty for everyone.  My experiment dish was kung-pow chicken.  It was very spicy. 

          Afterward, the guys decided to walk the underground shopping mall.  The gawkers were out, but they were passive compared to last night’s free-for-all.  We walked for about an hour and found ourselves in an outdoor, probably black market, CowTown style shopping area.  It is the kind of place that makes you feel like walking with your hand in the pocket with your money.    No one bought anything, but it was a nice way to get a little walk after being cooped up all day in the bus.  Tomorrow we get back to work with a morning practice, afternoon sponsor visit, and night time game.  I finished off the night watching the Turkish Basketball Federation game between Panathinaikos and Moscow (the Russian team features Andre Karolinko).

Day 5

I awoke to the gentle tapping of rain on the window.  It was 5:30 am and I was pretty much done sleeping.  Today is getaway day.  We would be leaving at 9:30 for the next town and a game tonight against Lithuania.  I begrudgingly left the bed not knowing if the next place would be so luxurious.  The shower was arranged like a Pocono honeymoon suite style.  It was a glass box with a rain shower head that provided a perfect experience.

Over the course of the last couple days, I have acquired some extra stuff.  A sports equipment company, PEAK, was a local sponsor and they provided everyone with a school bag full of things: t-shirts, caps, sweat suits, sneakers, various braces, polos, etc.  Jeremy had told us to pack lightly and he wasn't kidding.  I was able to fit everything into my suitcases, but if this is the norm for every city, it will become quite difficult. 

I had received a call from Jeremy at 2:30 am letting me know the plan had changed and breakfast would be at 7:30.  I was casually into the lobby by 7 and had time to check my e-mail and glance at some scores on the internet.  At 7:30 I was still the only Australian-ish person in the lobby.  The same for 8.  The first person I saw was Segun, he is hard to miss, at 8:30.  I asked him what he thought the plan was and he said there was a call about 7:30 saying the plan had changed to breakfast at 8:30.  I packed up my, correction Joan's, IPAD and headed into to eat.  When I got up from the table, less than half the team was in the restaurant.   

Loading onto the bus was a little nasty with rain coming down, but by 9:40 everyone was aboard and we were on our way.  Watching the cityscape pass along, I thought how this trip has been incredible so far.  Before leaving I was not sure if I was heading to hostels and McDonalds, but I certainly wasn't expecting 5-star hotels and photo sessions.  It did not take long for the condensation to take control of the window and my view was gone.  I pulled out the mystery book and spent the next hour in Louisiana's French Triangle.  There had been a particularly gruesome murder and the killer might be getting off on a technicality.  Where is Sgt. Beebe when you need him?  The bus pulls into a rest area and the driver just gets up and leaves.  He doesn't say a word and he takes his potty break and returns.  I have never been on a bus where the driver needed a break after an hour.

On the way to the hotel we stop at the headquarters of an industrial abrasives company, Da Qi (dodge-E).  There were at least 20 employees in group photo formation when we stepped off the bus.  The team joined them on the steps of the facility and at least a dozen people were taking pictures.  We were escorted to the conference room where we were treated to fresh fruit and bottled water.  The director of the company made a quick speech about teamwork and friendship.  He snuck in a little about how well he played basketball when he was younger too.  He also smoked at least 4 cigarettes while we were in there.  There were several others smoking right along with him.  It is so strange.  I remember teachers smoking in class when I was in elementary school, and then being confined to the faculty room which always appeared to be engulfed in a cloud of smoke.  But since the USA has gone smoke free, it was quite unusual.  As the meeting progressed, there were two dozen basketballs being passed around to be autographed.  Some of them were signed twice and I wonder if anyone here will notice.

Dave and Anna review filming assignments.

The ride here took 4 hours.  When we were getting on the bus, we were told it was a two hour trip.  Maybe hours are longer when translated.  The hotel was only half an hour from the sponsor’s headquarters.  As we rode up it looked like a palace.  We passed an English style village complete with Tudor style buildings.  They are making a destination location here called Shakespeare Village and the hotel is the centerpiece.  It is magnificent.  We are only staying one night unfortunately.

GAMETIME:  Lithiania

The arena is a saddle design and as we get closer we can see the Olympic rings and several hundred people milling about.  The bus pulls in and the people throng to the barriers.  It is nuts.  Do they know we are not the NBA?  As we step off the bus, there is yelling and people are reaching over the barrier trying to get high fives, and they hold out t-shirts and basketballs to get signed.  Really?

We get past the entrance and the hallway is lined with more of the same.  Well-wishers indeed, but unnerving.  The locker room is spartan.  A few lockers, no benches, and no chalk board.  I was really disappointed.  The guys changed and we headed out to the floor.  Pushing past the people, the floor seemed like a welcome oasis of calm.  It was a little over an hour from game time and the place was half filled.  Warm ups were interrupted twice.  Once with the introduction of dignitaries and the other for a ceremonial jump ball with the director of Da Qi Corporation we met this afternoon. 

The real jump ball brings the crowd to attention and we are under way.  We get off to a good start.  Our team knows their team was out drinking pretty late last night so we are aggressive.  We end the quarter up 7.  We start the second quarter with a couple baskets and push the lead to ten.  Unfortunately, we let off the gas slightly.  Maybe playing our third game in three days, or maybe being on the bus all day, doesn't matter we let them back into the game.  Halftime is a 3 point lead. 

Back through the throng to the spartan locker room to try to regroup.  By the time I get in there, the guys are really getting after each other about effort and making the easy basket.  My job here is really done by the time I start to talk.  I use the hand-held dry erase board to mark a few spots where we should look for shots, reinforce an inbound called 50 and we head back out through the throng to the sanctity of the court.  The Lithuanians have regained their legs, and these guys can really shoot. 

Our lead turns into a deficit.  We slip down 8 but come all the way back. Just to fall back immediately.  The game comes down the last minute and a half.  We are down 4.  Usually this is a good time of the game for me, but we can not make the clutch shot. 

Final score:  Lithuania 68-Australia 64

As the final buzzer sounds, the crowd jumps over the railing like their team had just won the NCAA tournament.  They steal every warm up top and team towel they could get.  The players are crushed mid court with autograph requests and photos.  It takes at least 30 minutes for it to calm down.  When I get back to the locker room I see the door had been kicked in.  The best part is nothing was taken except for team gear like shooting shirts.  None of the electronics were touched...go figure.  As we head out to the bus there are a few straggling well-wishers.  Seriously, do they know we are not the NBA?

The hotel is a welcome site.  They are keeping the restaurant open so we can have some food before bed.  The players are told to bag up their laundry and drop it off at the desk before they came to eat.  I was sitting down about to enjoy a small plate of food when the interpreter comes to me and tells me to come with him.  Apparently, the hotel offered to clean our uniforms as a polite gesture.  The players put every sweaty dirty thing they had in those bags.  I was taken into the bowels of the hotel, which reminded me of the Hershey Hotel during my college days.  I was shown the 9 bags of stuff and told to pluck out the game uniforms.  Seriously, I thought my day was disappointing already, but this was a topper.  I scooped up the bags of stinky stuff and delivered each one to each player room with the bad news.  It was a little after 12 when I got into my room.

Day 4

The morning started with a meeting with the organizers of the tour.  Jeremy and I listened while they told us they were disappointed that the team fell so far behind.  They said it wasn't entertaining when one team was too far ahead.  They believed it was because two of the players scheduled to make the trip did not.  They do not believe 8 men can be effective.  (They may have a point there, but John Calipari did a decent job with 5 this year).  They were giving Jeremy a very hard time about it.  He assured them he had been working to get players but one was just arriving home from a different tour, and one had stood him up completely. 

When we awoke this morning we had a 9th player.  Segun had gotten in just in time for breakfast and the morning walk through.  He is a beefy 6'8” with a resemblance to Shaq, bald head, tightly groomed beard, broad smile.  My first thought was he was probably slow.  My second thought was wondering how many people in the world look at guys and decide how quickly they can run 94 feet.  I am leaning toward a low number.

The walk through went smoothly enough.  The thought of the day was, "if you keep doing what you’re doing, you will keep getting what you’re getting."  I wanted the players to know that the mistakes we made last night will continue to haunt us.  They really needed to look at how they played and make some new decisions.  In the passing line we incorporated "thank you", phonetic "shay shay", so after each passer called the named, the receiver would thank the passer in Chinese.

The afternoon was a time to get some rest, get caught up on the daily updates, and get ready for the tonight's game against China.  The updates have been difficult to write as the word processing app has not been as seamless as I had hoped.  I showered and decided there was plenty of time for a nap before the 5:15 bus.  The team would be meeting at 4:30 for dinner.   

When I opened my eyes I could hear the ever present honking of horns from the street.  I am on the 11th floor of the hotel.  I languished for a second and decided to check my phone for time and messages.  It was 5:10.  What!?  OMG as the young people would say.  I dashed about the room throwing my suit and tie and gathering my shoulder bag and zooming down to the lobby like a cartoon character racing away from a bomb.  I hit the lobby and our interpreter, Mr. Lee, says, "I like you, you are always first."  If he only knew.

The arena is about 30 minutes away.  It is a modern looking building on the campus of a large university.  The province has approximately 13 million people, and the city of Changhzou about 5 million.  I would guess the seating capacity to be about 8,000.  Big screen, really big screen TV's provide scoreboard and entertainment.  There is a cheer/dance team with uniforms that are the same orange color as Hooter's (yeah I know, I go there just for the wings also), they even have cheesy time out entertainment featuring yo-yo masters and such.  Ah, showbiz. 

Coach Beebe inspects game ball.

GAMETIME: China

Tonight it is important to get off to a good start.  We need to be a good show, but more importantly this group of guys needs to taste some success before the pettiness of losing sinks in. 

We make the first basket after winning the tap.  But that was the highlight of the first quarter.  We fall behind and run uphill the next 10 minutes.  The second quarter features the insertion of a top level Chinese guard.  He is from this province and attended this university.  The crowd goes wild as he walks onto the floor.  My thought is this could get pretty bad, pretty quickly.  He misses his first two shots, but the crowd lets him know they don't care by cheering every time he touches the ball.  He doesn’t miss the third, or fourth or fifth.  At one point, he gets a break away.  Chris is chasing him down from behind and I think he might be able to get a block.  The star steers out of the path of the basket, dribbles to the three point line with Chris in tow and spins and makes it. He makes Chris look foolish and the crowd explodes.  We lose the second quarter by 22.

The third quarter is better, or maybe the Chinese are playing their second level players.  The score narrows to 13.  There is a dribble drive right down the lane and Kyle rotates and takes the guy out.  Normally I would applaud such a play in the middle of comeback.  However, the player lays on the ground for bit milking the situation like a soccer player in the box.  I sub for Kyle.  I feel like we might have some kind of international situation as we were specifically told not to be overly physical with this team. 

I sub in Segun.  He looks bewildered just checking in and I know this is going to be a long quarter and a half.  I keep Kyle on the bench for the rest of the game to placate the tour organizers hoping that a DNP-CD would please them.  The comeback is over and the final score is China 82-Australia 54.

After all, tomorrow is another day.

Day 3

  

The team was given a late start as our game was not until 9 pm.  Team breakfast would be at 9 am.  I was up just before the alarm rang at 5:45.  I rolled over expecting to find Joan and was disappointed she was not there.  I showered and shaved and set off down to the lobby for some hit or miss internet access.  It was again difficult to navigate and I spent over an hour try to write an update.  I assembled three paragraphs.  I have decided to write in a different program that works offline to see if it improves my day.

The hotel here in Changzhou is great.  Top of the line amenities and a great restaurant.  The team boarded the bus for our walk through.  Along the way we stopped at a sponsor location.  Today was Opel, the car place.  It was a shiny dealership with about two dozen employees excited to meet basketball players from around the world.  When we walked into the showroom, there were 5 basketballs that each player signed and everyone had a camera.  The players posed for a group shot with the dealership big wig and then with many photos with employees.  I too was asked a few times to stand with a smiling car sales employee.  That was humbling as I thought about how far I am from where I was five years ago.  We left the dealership and went to the arena. 

    As the walkthrough progressed, all I could hear in my head was Coach Chiampi telling me I was not spending enough time on defense.  I know I shorted it yesterday, so today I made sure to cover things more thoroughly.  After a practice and a half, I felt we covered a lot of ground: man inbound, zone inbound, man offense, zone offense, press break.  The good news was the guys seemed to pick things up quickly.  The bad news is with just 8 guys, we do not get to scrimmage at full speed so knowing it and knowing it at game speed are quite different.

Coach Beebe, 6 feet tall, stands with team during introductions.

GAMETIME: Lithuania

Ours was the second game of a double header.  The first game was China and Canada.  We played Lithuania.  I thought as the host team, China felt Canada was the weakest team so they could play in the championship game tomorrow night.  I left ahead of the team to scout the first game.  Head coaches are control freaks and I am no different.  I normally have a very good understanding of the team we are playing, how a game will be officiated, and about a million other little details that are important for me to know to have a feel for the game. I had none of that.  I have never been to the arena, seen any of the teams play, or even understand how the crowd behaves internationally.  I was pleased to see that things were fairly normal.  The others teams were not running anything too complicated, and the crowd cheered even when a Canadian made a good play. 

It has been a while since I wrote out the pre-game plan on a white board.  The points of emphasis were simple for tonight.  Take care of the ball.  Rebound.  Communicate.  All basic things, but so important for a group of guys just getting started.  The saying tonight was," Believe in your dream, and be willing to be physical enough to go after it."

We got off to a slow start.  Maybe nerves, but maybe an exposing of our talent level.  We are down 8 quickly and it levels off.  Back and forth, but not gaining.  The lack of full speed practice is showing.  The offenses are slow to set up, and our defense is disjointed allowing too many offensive rebounds.  We go into the half down 12.

I was hoping to get off to a good start, but we slip farther behind.  13 to 18 to 20.  At one point, I thought we were out playing them by far and we were still down 12.  At the stat of the fourth quarter we are down 8.  They get a three to open things up and we scrap and we scrap and we scrap.  Until, we are down 6 with 1:25 to go.  Time for some magic. Anyone who hates the last minute of a game would hate watching me coach.  I will foul until the end, putting pressure on the other team to make two, settle for one, instead of letting them bleed the clock.  At 8 seconds, it is 4 points.  Seriously could we steal this? 

What Lithuania did well all night was shoot the ball.  They looked like a group of corn-fed, mid-western, farm-strong dudes.  They converted their fouls and we did not close.  The final is a 66-61 loss.  I usually win my first game at a new level.  In fact, the only time I lost the first game was Camden County...but I won the second.  I am hopeful I can repeat that.  Tomorrow we play China.  Canada had a thrilling come from behind win.  We have our work cut out for us.