Sept. 1, 2010
Ciao NU Fans,
Day four of our trip is coming to an end. Based on the outcome of the game we just finished playing, everyone has completely recovered from jet lag. Everyone has adjusted to the style of play here in Italy. The physicality here in Italy is as physical as the United States, this is evident, as the referees in our first two games have been letting us play through a lot of fouls. The main adjustment that our team had to make was dribbling the basketball before moving. Our team has been called for several traveling violations in our first two contests because traveling is called differently in Europe than in the U.S.
Today was a fairly easy day consisting of mostly travel. We woke up this morning ate a healthy breakfast then got one last opportunity to explore around Rome before taking our two and a half hour journey to Persuia, Italy, for our game. Prior to the game we enjoyed a meal that was sponsored by Dream Team Italy. After the meal our team played card games in the lobby while others surfed the Internet.
We then traveled to the gym to play our game. We got off to a great start and eventually earned ourselves a double-digit lead, but the opposing team used their home court advantage and crowd participation to gain the momentum. Fortunately, we still went into halftime with a six-point lead. The second half was delayed due to an injury of one of the referees. We were still able to come out to a hot start and eventually regained our double-digit lead. We got great contributions from everyone on the team.
Now we are on the bus on our way to Florence, the drive is approximately two hours. Once we arrive to Florence we are going to a local restaurant for post game dinner that consists of pizza and salad. Personally, I am looking forward to Florence more than anything because of the shopping. I have an addiction to shoes and clothes and I plan to shop until I drop. Tomorrow the team is given the entire day to shop and sightsee on our own. The next two days we are away from basketball the sightseeing and recovery time for our bodies will be great, but Saturday and Sunday its back to business on the basketball court.
Thanks for the support and contributions,
Michael "Juice" Thompson