Tuesday, November 06, 2007

AH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!

AH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!

This is me laughing because I finally finished uni. Hah hah hah. Actually, I really enjoyed studying so I'm kind of disappointed that it's over. But the last month or so I've been so busy with uni work that I haven't had a single minute of free time. I had to give up lots of things (like going to the Rally of Japan, which really pissed me off), but I'm glad I did. One of my pieces of assessment was a 30 page report that was an absolute pain in the ass to complete. It's such a relief to finally have everything done.

I worked hard this semester, so I should get good marks again. I'll get at least a Distinction in both the subjects I did, but I'm hoping to pull off a High Distinction in at least one of them. Over the previous 3 semesters, I managed 3 Ds and 3 HDs, so another D and a HD would make things nice and even.

So, what's next? I have no idea. I've now got lots of free time at work (time I would usually spend doing uni work), and already I'm getting bored. In fact, I was so bored today that I decided to write a blog entry. Wow....

I mentioned last time that winter had come. Well, that was a little premature. Winter came, and then backed off for a week or two, but now it's back again. It snows most nights, but the daytime temperature is still too high for the snow to hang around. The weather bureau predicted that November will be warmer than usual, with less rain and snow. However, December and January are supposed to be colder than usual, with more snow. It must be about time to pull the old snowboard out and give it a good tuning.

Last weekend was the annual Sorachi district basketball tournament. I talked about last year's tournament in one of my first blogs. In case you don't remember - I didn't warm up properly, the gym was very cold, I pulled a thing muscle running in the first quarter, I pulled the other thigh muscle while trying to compensate for the first pulled muscle, my team lost by about 15 points, and I did ok even though I couldn't run or jump. In Australia, if you're injured and you keep playing it's a good thing. Take a look at footy players. Oh, I've broken my finger - a little tape will fix that. Oh, my ribs are broken - don't worry, I'll run it off. Oh, I've had six teeth knocked out - that's ok, my mate's a dentist. It shows guts to keep playing despite the pain.

That's the kind of spirit I expected from people who play sports, but in Japan my experience was quite different. One guy in particular (the guy who runs the basketball team) gave me so much shit over the last year, it was unbelievable. This is the first and only time a Japanese person has ever given me shit about anything. I have never met a single Japanese person that I would call a 'jerk', but this guy comes close. Of course, it was all in good fun, but when it gets brought up every time someone mentions the words 'basketball' or 'sport', it gets a little annoying. "Oh, are you sure your legs are ok?", "Poor baby, can you run today?". Stuff like that. The stupid thing was, I don't even know what I was getting shit about! I played injured, I top scored for the team, and the dude who was giving me shit did nothing all game. I think that he was giving me shit because I didn't score 200 points, get 50 rebounds and 50 assists. Oh yeah, he was also giving me shit because he has some personality issues. Before I came, he was 'the basketball guy'. Compared to everyone else, he knew more about basketball and was probably the best player - he was the man. Then I came along, and I became the man. I didn't even try to become the man, nor did I want to become the man, the status was conferred to me because... well... I'm bigger and better than he is. So, this is the real reason he was giving me shit. Because I was the new man, and I didn't score 200 points like I was supposed to.

Fast forward to this year's tournament. Due to last year's disappointing loss, we started training almost two months before the tournament. Training was for about 2 hours, 2 or 3 times a week. This was good for me, because basketball is one of those sports that require repetition in order to be successful. By repetition, I mean practicing things like dribbling and shooting until you can do them without thinking. I can come back after a year of not playing basketball and I'll still remember how the game works. I can remember what to do, where to move, when to move etc. But without repetition, my body doesn't react when and how it should. Everything is slower than it should be. Fortunately, after about a month of training it all started to come back. Suddenly, I could pass, dribble and shoot again without having to think about what I was doing. It was refreshing.

We played a few practice games against some locals. In our last practice game, I learned a few new things about some of my team mates. We weren't scheduled to have a game in the week before the tournament, but at the last minute a junior-high school teacher (who coaches a team in a nearby town) asked if we wanted to have a practice game. Five of my team were free that night, so we said ok. It turned out that our opponents were a junior-high school girls team. I figured that it would be good for building up some fitness, but a few of my team mates felt it would be good for building up some confidence. The girls team were actually quite good (for a junior-high school girls team). They were skilled and organised and knew what they were doing on the court. They scored on us their first two or three times in offence, which rattled a few of our players (players with some personality issues, like the guy I mentioned before). Those few players decided that they would take the coach's "don't hold back just because they're girls" comment to heart. It was a little disappointing to see how excited they got when they drove to the basket or blocked a shot. "Boo yeah! Did you see that! That was massive!". Yeah, good work champ, you blocked a 5 foot tall, 30 kilo, 13 year old girl. That's awesome.

I have to give the girls credit though. Even though they were comprehensively beaten (about 120 to 12), they never gave up, their confidence never dropped and they seemed genuinely happy to have played. Their mum's, who were watching from the sideline, seemed really happy too. Although it was a fun game, I'm not sure it was the best way to prepare for a tournament.

So, last Saturday the big day arrived. Unlike last year (which involved getting at 6:00am for a four hour drive to the tournament), this year's tournament was in a town 40 mins away. We arrived early so we could scope out the other teams. Our opponent for the first match was the strongest team in our pool (strongest team apart from us), but most of our players were focused on who we would meet in the semi-final and final. Hah hah... that was a bad idea.

I could write up a long report about the game, but I won't. I'll skip to the end. We lost. We were leading all game. With 2 minutes left on the clock, we were up 69-62. Then, in one of the arsiest efforts I've ever seen, an opposition player pulled three consecutive 3 pointers out of his butt, and we lost by 2. Now, you'd think that after the first one, our defence would be a little tighter on him. But no, somehow he got open for three attempts. I have to give him credit though. It's hard enough pulling off one clutch 3 pointer. He managed to pull off three. Good work.

So, it was a nasty way to lose, but I wasn't too worried. I'd picked up a cold earlier on in the week, so the idea of 3 games in a row wasn't too appealing, especially when the games take about an hour and a half (they stop the clock for everything...). I had enough trouble shuffling up and down the court, coughing and sniffling, just trying to get enough O2 to keep standing. For me, the whole purpose of the game was to do enough ass-kicking to shut that dude up who liked to give me shit.

And how did I go......





I kicked ass. Heh, heh heh!


Despite my cold, I managed 28 points, 3 of 3 from outside 3, about 75% from inside, a couple of steals, a couple of charges (if you remember last year, I mentioned that taking charges just wasn't part of the Japanese game - it still isn', and it still amazes people when I do it), a buttload of rebounds and a few assists. It was one of those games where everything just clicked. No thinking about what to do, just reacting. It was funnnnnnn! One good thing about this performance were that the opposition were not bad, they could actually play. They even had a guy on their team who was taller than me, which is rare in Japan. It's one thing to dominate a bunch of school girls, it's another thing to dominate a decent team. The other good thing was that this performance finally shut that dude up (it helped that the dude once again scored about 4 points, did pretty much nothing on the court, and airballed the potential game winning 3 pointer).

It always sucks to be on the losing side of a miraculous comeback, but in this case I wasn't too worried.

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