After posting last weekend I was very pleasantly surprised to have Rusty show up unannounced. I was standing in the living room ironing my shirts and pants when his little head peaked around the corner. He was supposed to be at a “work camp” for the entire weekend. Thursday morning I had dropped him at the airport to catch the “work bus” to take him to his slave labor camp two hours away. He had been contracted out to work through the weekend at a mine site and we were not expecting to see him until late Sunday night. I was a little disappointed when dropping him off because he was going to be heading up to Cairns early the next week and I really wanted him to get to another game and go out afterward one last time before departing. Luckily he made some moves and made it back to Kal to paint his face for the game, cheer raucously and sing karaoke.
Our opponent in last Saturday’s game was East Perth. They have a very intimidating lineup on paper and have been playing very well. The squad boasts three gigantic players over 7 feet tall, a point guard from the NBL champion Perth Wildcats and a rumor that another player from the club may also follow. The footers were all very good players; skilled and coordinated for their size. It was great competition to put our 5-game winning streak on the line against.
I walked onto the court to lineup for the jump ball against, what I believe to be, the tallest man in Australia. Sam Harris stands 7 foot 5. After jumping extremely early on the tip, and I mean immediately after it was tossed, we had possession of the ball. The game went back and forth throughout the first quarter. We were all anxious to see how the players on East Perth would rebound after their bus trip earlier that day. East Perth was the first team to bus to Kalgoorlie the day of the game to play us, something we do regularly when we play on the road.
At the end of the quarter I found myself with the ball after Hamish saved it from going out of bounds. I pump faked and drove past Sam Harris to the basket. Jervis, one of the footers, stepped over from the weak side to go for the block. Luckily I got above him and put it down with a foul called and a little shiner to go with it.
At the break we trailed by a few points, but knew we had a lot of room for improvement. It seems that during our winning streak we have been able to play much better during the second half of the games. The pattern continued and we came out in the 3rd quarter and erased the deficit we faced and mounted a double digit lead. We held the lead well into the 4th quarter and with about 5 minutes to go in the game we maintained a 10 point advantage. East Perth clawed back and made it interesting as the game concluded with East Perth throwing up a desperation 3 point shot attempt to tie the game. We were victorious and were sitting in 3rd place at 8-3. I finished up the game with 15 points and 8 rebounds. I played 40+ minutes against the big loads and earned myself a couple post game awards which included $50 cash for runner-up MVP and a $50 gift card to the local jewelry store, my second, that will be given to my mother when she arrives.
After having a few delicious beers in the sponsors room I quickly regrouped with the other guys and made my way to The Palace. For those of you back home, The Palace is like going to Grandma’s on a Saturday night in Duluth or Stellas in Uptown. It was Rusty’s last night out on the town and we were going to make it big! Before making it out I phoned my Dad to see how things were. He was at the cabin and it was 9:00 am or so when I spoke with him. He had been up at 6:00 am and drove into the tiny town of Drummond, WI to get on the internet and follow the game via live stats. Dedication.
The Palace is always a great place to start with a couple drinks, chatting up with the other team and singing karaoke. Yes, Karaoke. After spending a considerable amount of time at our starting point the group moved down the street to DeBernales. I believe that is how you spell it, but everyone refers to it as Dbo’s. Dbo’s is more of a club setting with a dance floor and bar on the outskirts (very similar to the sports garden’s dance set up). We had a lot of fun and progressively made our way home on foot before succumbing to the temptation of a $10 cab. Done.
Sunday was a much needed recovery day. The game the night before had taken a toll on me and I literally slept all day. We wanted to organize an afternoon bbq for Rusty and get a “kick” in with the Aussie football and also a “throw” in with the American cousin. None of that ended up happening. It was a pretty lazy Sunday, and they are very much a necessity at times.
Monday was Rusty’s last night in Kal and Daniel and Cristy were nice enough to put on a dinner for him and all the friends he has made in town. This consists mostly of the Bowler family, significant others, and some basketball guys. We spent the night playing different games we have learned since being in Kalgoorlie; Mafia and The Game to name a couple. The nightcap came when Daniel challenged Woody to a foot race. Woody, being a sprinter on the track team in college, was the likely favorite. He forced his way into Cristy’s running shoes and they marched to the driveway and into the street. After a few stretches they were lined up. As they agreed to count down to the start, 3-2-1-go, Daniel was off at 2. It was like Jerry in “The Great Race” from Seinfeld. Another Seinfeld reference- I know, bear with me.
Tuesday morning Woody and I woke up to get Rusty to the train station before 7 am. When I first got here I was a lone wolf pack. When Brandon and Cole (their actual given names) arrived the pack grew to 3. Now, with the loss of Rusty, the pack is becoming smaller and we will just have to survive. Rusty was making his way to Cairns to hit the reef via Perth for a couple days. It was wonderful having him out here and I can speak for everyone that met him, we are very thankful he came and he is always welcome to return!
Michael and I recently started visiting primary schools in the community to spend time with the kids, teach them some basketball skills and do some community service. This past week we were at St. Joseph’s for a couple hours with kids ranging from school years 3 to year 6. When we first arrive at the schools all the kids look at us in shock. They all talk about us as we walk by and assume we cannot hear them. One girl said, “No wonder they are called the Giants.” The experiences are tremendous as we see all the kids in their uniforms and mandatory sun hats out on the play fields. They ask for autographs and they get so excited when we give them tickets to the upcoming game. They are really cute. Many of the kids attended the camp we put on a month or so ago and run up to us and say’ “John, Michael!”
The kids from camp always come down before or after the game and try to get my attention to show me they are there. It is really adorable. I will always take the time to go and talk to them and let them know I am really excited they came to the game. When I see these kids before the game it usually causes a slight problem. During introductions each player on our team has a mini basketball that we have signed. After the Australian Anthem we are to throw the balls into the crowd and those that catch a ball are able to compete for prizes at halftime. The kids always ask, “John, will you throw me the ball?” I guess it is not always limited to the kids, as Luke, Woody and Rusty also request the ball when there is $400 riding on a free throw contest. The problem for those three is that they are never at the game on time. I have tried to throw the ball to particular kids, but there is inevitably the bully kid that jumps up and knocks it away from the little girl. This happened on this particular night. After the East Perth game a boy came up to me and said, “John, next week is my birthday and all my friends are coming. Will you throw me the ball?” After failing in an attempt earlier that evening I told the young boy to find me before the game and show me where he was sitting and that I would be happy to give him the ball.
This past Saturday we played the Lakeside Lightning who were sitting in 4th place on the ladder and feature an import that is a very good friend of mine, Ben Beran. They arrived into town on Friday night and I hoped to meet up with he and John Chegwidden, but our paths would not cross. We planned to meet for breakfast the next morning and we set some time aside to show them my setup as well. It turned out that Chegs was a pretty popular man in town and had several friends from Kal meet us at the restaurant. He claims they are all his wife’s friends. It was a brief get together and it is disappointing that Lakeside is the only team in the league that does not spend the night of the game in town. I would have enjoyed spending more time with them, but I will see them this upcoming weekend when we travel to Perth.
As for the game against Lakeside: Frustrating. We played pretty poorly and let Lakeside dictate the game from the tip. I played terribly, as 6 fouls was the highest tally on my stat line. There are a lot of things to put our defeat on, but the bottom line is that they wanted it more than us, played harder and smarter than our team did. From this many positives can arise. We lost by 6 points to the defending champions. Our streak concluded and it gives us the opportunity to beat it. We showed up and expected to win, but in reality we need to bring much more. Fortunately we have a very skilled team and we will rebound very well from this defeat.
After the game I struggled to stay positive and upbeat. I was very frustrated with the outcome, how I played and some other things. Bottom line, I don’t like losing. I did head out with the boys after the game and was set to show Woody a good time before he departed the following week. He and I performed a duet of Sublime’s “What I Got.” What we got were crickets. No one in the entire place knew the song. We just had blank stares and those three minutes were tough to handle under the hot, bright lights. After bombing the song, Woody and I roamed down to Dbo’s to see what was happening there. He pulled me aside and pointed out a girl that he had chatted it up with last weekend. She was dancing with some guy who was holding her purse – classy. They must have noticed us because after their dance the man returned the purse to the girl and they walked in different directions. A moment later this guy, now with both hands free after discarding the purse, grabbed Woody from behind by the shoulders and told him that the girl was his sister and walked away. We kind of looked at each other, knowing it was a lie, and laughed. Who does that? Besides, if you were her brother why were you holding her purse and trying to bump and grind like that? Gross.
This upcoming weekend we head to Perth for a roadtrip to take on the Mandurah Magic and the Perry Lakes Hawks. I get to see two friends and AIA alums: Casey Crevelone and Bobby Kempf. We need to get back on the winning side and hopefully this weekend will provide us the opportunity to do so. We beat Mandurah in double overtime earlier this year, but have yet to play Perry Lakes.
A couple side notes, the young birthday boy did approach me before the game and I told him to come to the sideline when we threw the balls and that I would hand it to him to avoid risking not getting it to him. He did line up, as did 12 other kids. I had damaged my complimentary tickets and did not get one to Woody. Later I find that he gained admittance because he took my “Partner” card. The “Partner” card is used for partners and where we come from that implies something I do not want it to imply. The sad thing is that it has my name plastered across the top of the cared, “Partner Pass” is listed immediately under my name, and a boy is carrying it around. It has been returned to its owner to prevent mix-ups like that again. Finally, I am Bali bound. Booked and paid for to venture to the Indonesian paradise in August!
Until next week, God Bless!
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