Soccer and Lion Taming

      Last weekend I was messing around and discovered that there is a gadget that allows people to subscribe to my blog and they will get email updates whenever I post. If you want to be a part of this just enter your email address in the box on the top right of this page. I also put up a viewer counter that, as the name implies, counts the number of views to the page. There are over 500 views so far, and even though half of them are probably from me checking to see if the view counter has gone up, and the other half are from my dad checking to see if I have any recent updates, it at least looks cool to the ignorant observer.
       This weekend we traveled to Braunschweig to play the Spot Up Medien Lions (no joke that is their actual name).  Thankfully, there wasn't a whole lot of spotting up by the home team and we pulled out a 20 point victory. I strained a few of my toes last weekend and was limited in practice this week but luckily we were up most of the game so Coach gave me a little break. Our team Doctor also happens to own the team (in the US I think we call this a conflict of interest) and he says nothing is broken and a little rest should do the trick.  One of the players, who is aware of my restless nature, suggested I start drinking at lunch so that I can pass out in the afternoon and stay off my feet (and I think he was only half-kidding), but I think I will just stick to my own rehab plan.
        I was pretty dissapointed that Spot Up Medien had the same mascot as us; is there any other leagues in the country that have two teams with the exact same mascot? I mean a purple cow isn't exactly intimidating, but at least its original.

The Fearsome Herten Lion Can Be Seen in the Top Right . 

    I took the liberty of researching the other mascots in our league: there are two or three Giants, the aforementioned lions, the even more unoriginal Baskets and a few others of little note. There is however the Vechta Rasta. I am not sure if this is a reference to the Rastafarian movement or not, but they are located near Amsterdam so you never know.

     Because we won last weekend we played soccer, excuse me futbol, for a warm-up before practice on Tuesday; I have never felt so out of place on the basketball court in my life. Everyone on our team was better than any soccer player I had ever played with, even our 6'8" center was trapping the ball on his chest and weaving through defenders with grace that he certainly never displays with a basketball. I did however manage to score the 1st (and 2nd) goal ever scored in one of these games by an American. After the first goal I thought it would be appropriate to do my best Brandi Chastain impression, but my teammates were not impressed. I think part of the problem was that it is nearly impossible to quickly take off a sweaty practice jersey. This was compounded by the fact that sliding on a basketball court is not nearly as painless as sliding on grass. If anyone has an easier goal celebration that would impress my teammates, please let me know.

     Looking back on my goals I think, actually I know, that they were a result of the quantity of shots I took, not the quality. Being obviously overmatched, I decided to do what I do best: shoot (a lot). This meant that I stayed blatantly offsides, didn't play any defense, and recklessly shot every time I touched the ball. For everyone out there thinking that this sounds familiar, remember that this is my blog, not yours, so keep your thoughts to yourself :) One of the goals was with Marcus in goal so that doesn't really count, but I was proud of the goal I snuck by one of the Germans.

     Unfortunately they haven't put the pictures up from the game this weekend, but I managed to find some more amusing ones from last week.

        Here is the fog that we have to run through during introductions. Running blindly through a thick cloud of fog in a dark building with loud drums and obscure crowd noises is way less glamorous than I thought it would be.

I was pretty impressed with this flexibility, I guess the yoga sessions have been paying off. I might use this move as a transition into a bicycle kick in warm-ups on Tuesday.

     This last picture was added at the request of a viewer, who will remain anonymous, that asked to see more cheerleader shots. Here you go Chris...

       

       The team we play next weekend is the only other undefeated team in the league so it should be a good game. They are a big money club and have four Americans on their team. The rule in our league is that only two Americans can be on the court at the same time, so most clubs just pay for two Americans and keep them on the floor longer. It will be interesting to see how this team handles it. 

      I start German lessons tomorrow so hopefully soon enough I will be able to argue with the refs over the outrageous foul calls I have been getting lately. Until then, chüs.