New week

I start my blog this week by first wishing my older sister, Sarah, a happy birthday and secondly, but more importantly, congratulating her on her recent accomplishment of graduating from graduate school with a MBA from Northwestern University in Chicago. It is a very significant achievement and I am quite proud and impressed with her. One would think she would begin working, like my younger sister Margaux who also recently graduated from college with a degree in actuarial sciences from the University of Nebraska, but she begins an extensive period of volunteer work in Kenya followed by a couple months traveling through Asia! Margaux began working immediately, but she will be traveling here, to Australia, this week.

Now it is time for the updates on life down under. Things continue to go very well, but time seems to pass much too quickly. The last couple weeks at school have been fairly “cruisy” for me as they would say here. Many of the year 12 students (seniors) have had exams and this has changed my schedule quite a bit. Many of the students I would normally work with had different schedules with their exams, and thus I did not see as many kids those weeks as I usually would. I found myself filling in the time by getting caught up on Seinfeld episodes, during the recent marathon on television, and watching seasons 1 and 2 of Criminal Minds.

The World Cup began last week and it has been quite popular. I enjoy watching people I know play soccer, but I have never been a huge fan of watching it on TV – but I’ve never really given it a chance. I am still amazed at the influence it has on people worldwide and the Cup has made me watch a lot more soccer than I would have expected to. I was initially having a hard time watching the games with volume due to the vuvuzelas, but watching it in mute or in a crowded place has alleviated that problem.

After posting last week we played the Rockingham Flames. After our big triple header the weekend before I was excited to be back in Kal for a game. Going into the game we were 13-6 and sitting in 4th place with a 2 game lead over the 5th place team. Rockingham was a team struggling to contend for a top 8 finish and they were a team we were heavily favored against. They arrived into town with a depleted squad, but came to play.

Unfortunately for the Giants we were not in usual form and we caught a player from Rockingham that was going to have a special night. We lead going into the break but the second half was not ours. In recent home games we have been very tough in the second half, and often times erase a small deficit and take the game over. On this night we ran the well dry and Rockingham took the game from us behind Demetrius Hazel’s 40 point performance. On his way to his 40 points he connected on 10 three point baskets. It was difficult to swallow, but in athletics any team can win on a given night and it was Rockingham’s night. As a summary of how I played I finished with 29 points and 17 rebounds. It was a good individual performance, but the loss outweighs that.

After a loss it is always tough to muster up the energy and positive attitude to venture out and socialize. Saturday was no different. The Palace was where we all met up, and fortunately they had the USA-England soccer match on. It was exciting to watch and unbelievable that the US scored the way they did and earned the draw. There are a lot of people with ties to England here, so it was nice that the US was able to play to the draw and prevent any bragging by the POHMs.

Monday and Tuesday were great days at work. The exams were finished and I was back to the normal routine. Monday night I continued attending Yoga class at the health club and I am enjoying it quite a bit. I find myself uncoordinated at times, but improvement continues with each class. Tuesday night a couple of us converged at Paddy’s for dinner and to watch some of the soccer games. New Zealand was playing Slovakia and it was exciting. The All Whites were trailing throughout the game and after bombarding the Slovakian goal with shot attempts in the extra period they finally scored a header to tie the game in the final seconds. It was a roller coaster of emotions on display for the favored Slovakian team.

Wednesdays are usually pretty relaxed for me. I work a couple hours in the morning at the high school and then spend an hour or two in the afternoons at the local primary schools doing basketball camps with Michael. It’s a cool experience in that we see a lot of kids from the camp we did earlier this year and also meet new kids that are excited to have us there. Wednesday I was invited to dinner at Sam’s house. She is a tremendous cook and she ventured out on some curry dishes! Butter chicken is my favorite. It was very delicious.

The rest of the week I fell victim to a cold. Thursday and Friday I was constricted to bed and the couch in front of the TV. It was a struggle to get healthy before our game Saturday, but with plenty of ‘quils, ny and day, juice and vitamins I was doing everything I could. On a positive note I was able to watch the NBA finals – I just did not see the outcome I hoped for. What the outcome did bring, however, was an incredible and priceless post game interview by Ron Artest. Wow!

Saturday came and I was still under the weather, but went through my routine before a game. Wake up, breakfast, shoot around, shop, eat, nap, game time. I mention shopping because this town is bustling before 3 pm. At that point the shops close and they remain that way until Monday. If you need to get anything for the next couple days, Saturday is the day.

Saturday night we played Perry Lakes. In our last trip to Perth, prior to the triple header, we lost to them pretty handedly. The game started and they jumped on us. They took a double digit lead into the second quarter and from this point on we were in too deep. Once again we played without the energy we’ve displayed up until this point. The game was pretty even through the remainder of the game, but we ended on the short side of things. It is unfortunate, but we still hold the 4th spot and need to maintain that. Saturday night I finished with 20 points and 8 boards.


Going against my friend Bobby Kempf.


Looking on from the bench at the end of the game

This upcoming week we host Geraldton, the top team in the league. We beat them in Geraldton earlier this year and definitely have the ability to do so again. I am excited for the upcoming weekend- for the game and for my family coming. I am really thankful that they are making their way! Until next week…


My family

Long weekend

I cannot believe its June! Only a week and a half and my parents and two younger sisters will be here, in Kalgoorlie, of all places. It is funny to think how I ended up in this town, coming from Minneapolis. Now my family is going to be here and if you would have asked any of us a year ago what we knew about Kalgoorlie, there is no way we would have thought we would visit/ live here. It has been really wonderful for me and I’m looking forward to showing the family around.

Since the last post life has been busy and I am all banged up. Last Wednesday I spent the evening at the Hulme’s for dinner. They really know how to put a wonderful dinner on. It was a really nice opportunity to meet Pia, their youngest daughter, and to see most of Karen and Randall’s pictures from Europe. They visited Portofino, Italy, a town I visited with my mom and sister several years back, so it was quite interesting to see their photos. After viewing 1,400 photos I tried to leave the other 400 photos for another evening, and maybe another dinner!

Last weekend we had a pretty ridiculous road trip- 3 games in 3 days. Usually we play a pair of games on the road, but Monday was another public holiday in Western Australia and as a result we played another game. Holidays are quite popular in Australia, and it seems as though there is a public holiday every other week. As usual we departed early Saturday morning for Perth. By leaving so early, I’m getting quite accustomed to sleeping the first 4-5 hours of the trip. Needless to say it helps the trip go by faster.

Our first opponent was Willeton. They were sitting in second place on the ladder and they have a very good team. It was a tough draw to open up our three game weekend against. We started the game very poorly and without much energy. Willeton jumped out to an early lead by scoring the first 12 points of the game. We battled back and found ourselves tied at quarter time. The second quarter was similar to the first, our play sporadic, but we found ourselves trailing by nine heading into the break. If it was not for our poor play in the second quarter the game was identical. We matched Willeton point for point in three of the four quarters. At one point we trailed by at least 16 points in the 4th, but battled back to cut their lead to 3 with minutes to go. It was too little, too late. We lost by 9 points.

The game was tough and very physical. The officials started calling a lot of quick and soft fouls. As the game intensified and grew more physical they lost control of the game. It gets very frustrating when consistency in the officiating is lost. It was an unfortunate loss for our side, and that game really took a toll out of us. I played hard and pretty well at times, but sometimes I become a victim of my own intensity and try to do too much. At one point in the game I took a charge and landed on my already bruised tailbone and as I hit the ground I felt as though I was paralyzed from that instant pain that travels through your body as if you’ve been struck by lightning. I returned to the game after sitting out a few minutes recovering and was able to post 23 points and 9 rebounds.



Game 1 was unfortunate, but we felt we could get the next two wins. Sunday we were paired against Bunbury, a team that has yet to win this year. To be completely honest we showed up thinking that is all we had to do to get the win. Trey, my amigo from AIA, and his crew had different intentions.

Bunbury is a country town on the coast approximately 2 hours south of Perth. I was really struggling from the night before and my back / tailbone were causing some issues for me. I rode down to the game separate from the team with our assistant coach Brinky. He was driving himself, his wife and their little 6 month old daughter Sophie. By riding with them I was able to stretch out and be in a car for less time than it would take if I rode on the bus.

The game started and Bunbury put everything they had on the court. They went with a smaller lineup and decided to press us the entire game and pack the lane by playing a zone against us. We were flat and they took us completely out of our game. We trailed by 4 at quarter time and by 6 at halftime. I was in disbelief of what was taking place and how poorly we were playing. By the third quarter we turned the game around and went on a run offensively and put the clamps down on defense. We erased our deficit and held a slim 3 point advantage heading to the fourth. The game was back and forth throughout the last quarter. With less than 30 seconds to go and the game tied at 88 I drove baseline and found Ryan Hulme spotting up in the baseline corner for a three. He connected. We went down on defense and tactfully fouled Trey away from the basket with 4 seconds to go. They were in bonus and had 2 free throws coming. Trey connected on the first to cut our lead to 2. I thought he was purposely going to miss the second free throw and try to get a tip or put back to tie the game. He made the second shot and Mike inbounded the basketball to a wide open Lordan down court for an easy dunk as time expired. I was surprised by their play, but we left Bunbury with a 3 point win.



Sunday night a group of us headed out to the casino in Perth to have a couple bets and watch the French Open finals. The casino has a fantastic sports bar, imagine that, with massive televisions to watch the games. It was a quite night out as we still had another game to play.

One of my biggest frustrations is incompetent people. Unfortunately I was surrounded by several of these individuals at the black jack table. Black jack is the one casino game where you have a decent chance of winning. Yes, the house still has the advantage, but the spread is far more advantageous to the player than other games when played correctly. I am not claiming that I am a good card player or that I can count cards, but I know the standard rules of the game – when to hit, stay, double down, etc.

Well these want-to-be hipster boys in tight jeans, with spiky hair as if they use Japanese anime as their styling guide, and the ultimately trendy t-shirt and tie look decided to play black jack with me. They had no idea how to play and were just handing their money, and my money, to the house. They had no clue what to do, and thus they swallowed every bust card of the dealers. I finally said something when the boy split queens against the dealer’s king. He then followed his stellar losing performance by hitting on a 15 when the dealer showed a six. One would assume the queens would be winners or a push. By splitting them, he lost both hands because he was dealt low cards and then hit and busted. In regards to the hitting on a 15, the odds are that the dealer will bust when showing a 6 and thus all players should stay when showing 12 or higher. Idiots.

Anyways, Monday we squared off with the Perth Redbacks. We held a one game advantage over them in the standings and needed to maintain that lead in order to hold home court in the playoffs. We were fortunate as when we lost on Saturday to Willeton, the Redbacks were downed by Perry Lakes. The Redbacks game was out of control from the start. I think that the officials sucked all the air out of their whistles this day. Both teams were in bonus within what seemed like a minute of the jump ball. The game was going to be ugly.

We outscored them every quarter except the fourth. We started the fourth quarter and pushed our lead to 18 points or so before Ryan Neil single handedly started to mount the comeback. He connected on three pointer after three pointer. It was too little too late. The game concluded 116-109 and it was a big win for us. The game saw 60 fouls between the teams and that included 6 technical fouls and one ejection of the opposing coach. It was a nice win in that we now held a two game lead over the Redbacks in the standings and a road trip home with a win makes the drive much more tolerable. I finished the game with 24 points and was one of six players in double figures.

The road trip was long, tough and gave my body a beating. We were very happy to get two wins on that trip and now we look forward to 5 of our next 7 games at home. As a result of the soreness I went to yoga class the other day. It was actually quite nice and I think I may become a regular. Downward dog, burning tree here I come! Until next week, take care.

2 weekends, 2 wins

Celtics or Lakers? Unfortunately I would bet on the Lakers winning this year. Do I have an interest in either club? No. I could justify cheering for each side, the Lakers formerly of Minneapolis and KG formerly the long time franchise player of the Twolves. Ok, neither warrant a reason to cheer for them. So why do I start a blog with this? I start with this out of respect for this tiny little black digital box that allows me to tape, fast forward through and playback television shows. Last week, I posted my blog while watching the Celtics play the Magic. This week we begin the NBA finals and the Minnesota Twins are on TV. There legitimately is no reason to watch live television anymore. I, or Mike, just record the show and you can watch it at the most ideal time and pass through every commercial. The only issue I have with this process is that the timing of sporting events back home is usually taking place early morning Aussie time (this is where the box comes in) and I have to avoid scores the rest of the day until I can watch it.

Anyways, welcome back. My last post was about 10 days ago prior to our game against the Kalamunda Eastern Suns. There was some uncertainty prior to the game in which players the Suns would be bringing with them. The team is sponsored by AND1 and features an American guard named Kenny Brunner who played at Georgetown and Fresno State. He has a little bit of a past behind him. Apparently. He is the “self-proclaimed” best point guard outside of the NBA and is featured on AND1 mix tape tours as “Bad Santa.” He unfortunately was injured and did not travel. The other question mark was surrounding Justin Brown, a seven foot center that played college ball at UConn. He was suspended the week before after he threw his sweatband at a referee in disgust of a call. The rumor was it was a four-game suspension from the league, but it turned out that it was just one game and he suited up to play, despite an error by their coaching staff which failed to report him to the scorer’s table for the starting lineup.

The game was hard fought through the first three quarters. At the first break we led by 4 only to go into the locker room trailing by 5 points. The third quarter we rebounded and took a 2 point lead into the 4th. At this point our team took over and the home court advantage carried us to a 19 point, 102 – 83 victory. The Suns were very two-dimensional; they rely solely on two players to do their scoring. We were able to manage and contain their two players and allowed other guys to try to step up to beat us.



I finished the game with a pretty good line: 20 pts, 10 rebs and 7 ast. We had several players contribute solid performances: Hulme (25 points), Leske (23 points), Franich (14 points) and Haney (11, 7, 7). We are a difficult team to contend with and matchup against when we play together and share the basketball. After the game our record improved to 10-5 and we continued to hold the number 4 spot on the ladder.



Post game wise it was just another Saturday night in Kalgoorlie. A couple drinks at the stadium with the sponsors and supporters of the club, get cleaned up and talk to the parental units back home, hit the Palace and Dbos before closing it down. This particular night, however, threw us a curve ball. On his way home from the bar, a player not to be named, walked past a homeless man with a dog. The dog chased this individual and attacked his leg, not breaking through his jeans or his skin. An unnamed source close to the victim explained that the individual was quite upset and made his mind up to get a rabies shot. This was until he calmed down and realized there was just slobber on his leg pant. The story was pretty entertaining and unexpected.

Sunday night came around and I placed a phone call to Mary Anne Bowler, my Kalgoorlie mother. She had recently had her knee replaced and I offered to pick her up and take her to church with me. I picked her up and as we pulled into the parking lot she mentioned that she might have to do the readings during mass. She wasn’t sure, but thought there might be a chance that she was on the roster for that night. Having been gone for a couple weeks in Perth for the operation and being a very involved woman in the community I figured everyone knew she had surgery and would not have put her on the roster to read. So, being the nice man that I am, I offered to read for her in the very rare instance that she was scheduled to read. At least what I thought was going to be a rare instance. Well this night had a rare instance and this instance was Mary Anne was scheduled to read. So, I was scheduled to read.

I was intimidated and began to look into the readings to see what I was in for. While I began to do this I was asked by the music director to work the computer slides that contained the lyrics to the music. The lyrics are displayed on the wall in the front of the congregation. I was flustered. I was not clicking when I was supposed to, clicking when I was not supposed to and finally I figured it out and had it under control when the regular attendant appeared and took over. At this point I was summoned to the podium for the readings. Acts 2 fell into my lap and at the end of the reading there are about a dozen names to pronounce. For the ones I did not pronounce properly I blamed it on my accent. The experience was a little nerve racking at first, but I enjoyed it.

Thursday I was in for a treat. The weather was not cooperating but I headed out to the “bush” to go prospecting for gold. Yes, I went out looking for gold in the equivalent of a forest with a metal detector. I was with Luke Bowler and our experienced guide Reno Borromei. Wednesday night Luke was very persistent in telling me that we had to leave by 8 am. Luke was going to be picking me up and I needed to be ready to go. Well, 8:15 rolled up about the same time Luke did. We were equipped with metal detectors, shovels and coolers for a bbq. We weathered the rain in the car for a bit, looking at nuggets that Reno had recently found before we got after it. The prospecting tests your patience and your mind. You walk around listening for your detector to make a different sound. That sound can come from any type of metal underground and sometimes your mind just plays tricks on you. Regardless, we marched on. Unfortunately we did not find our retirements out there but it was a lot of fun and something to try. I am living in the “Goldfields” after all.

Friday night was very low key. We had a game the next night so, as usual, we kept it quiet. I did make a brief appearance at the birthday party for our assistant coach and socialized a bit. It’s nice to get out and meet new people away from basketball and from the school.

Saturday was spent getting ready for the game. The Cockburn (Co-burn) Cougars were in town and this was a pretty big game for most of the guys. The former coach of my team is now the coach of the Cougars. Depending on who you talk to in town, the majority of the people were not very fond of him. He yells and swears a lot, but I don’t know much beyond that. The first time we played them we got throttled on the road. It was embarrassing.

Surprisingly the local paper and media did not play the game up as much as I thought they would have with the former coach returning to Kalgoorlie. Things have cooled in those regards after the alleged drama that followed when our coach referred to the people of Geraldton as “ferals”. The team had lost 7 straight games prior to coming to town, all on the tail of their new import arriving. That is kind of counter-intuitive. You would think the team would improve after acquiring a good player, but this has not been the case for the Cougars.

The game was close throughout. After the first quarter we held a 2 point advantage. At halftime we had used the second quarter to be atop by 4 points over the visitors. In the third quarter Ryan Hulme took over and drained several three pointers, but our lead was only 7. The game continued to remain close until the buzzer sounded and we had a 10 point advantage. It was a scrappy and much needed win for us, Giants. It was an all-around good effort by the boys and nice to get the win heading into this upcoming weekend. We remain in 4th place with an 11-5 record and 10 games to go. I finished Saturday night with 20 points, 13 rebs, and 4 assists. The most important thing for us is to maintain a top four spot to gain home court in the playoffs. We need to keep winning games.



This upcoming weekend we have a triple header. There is another national holiday on Monday, surprise surprise. We play Willeton on Saturday (they currently sit in 2nd place), Bunbury on Sunday afternoon (they sit in last place as they are winless), and Monday we play the Perth Redbacks (a game behind us). This is going to be a very big weekend for us and we need to have some success. The three games are very rare for a road trip – usually it is a double header. It will be difficult, but on the brighter side we will be home for the following three weekends.

My time here has been going wonderfully. I still cannot believe it is June already and that I have been here for almost 4 months. It is going by quickly. Since I have been here I have, however, developed a growing frustration with some customs here. Grocery shopping is something I actually enjoy doing and I find myself very limited in when I can do this. Grocery stores are not open on Sundays at all and during the week they close at 6 pm. I finish working at the school at 5 pm and usually go for a workout or to practice shortly after. I need the freedom to grocery shop when I need to. I need to be able to go on a whim and pick something up at 8 pm. The local response is to go to the IGA stores. They are open on Sundays and later. Nope. Not enough of a selection for me.

I was driving to the school the other morning and as I approached school I noticed several students in their uniforms walking away from school. I thought well that is weird, usually you walk into school when it is starting – not into town. The kids apparently take the bus to school, meet their friends and leave. Attendance is a big issue at school for many of the kids and they just openly “wag” as they say here. At home we would at least make an attempt to be secretive about skipping school.

I hope everything is going well at home and that you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. For you Aussies, Memorial Day is similar to your ANZAC Day. I hope the weather was nice, the grill was warm and the beer was cold. I am certainly missing the summer time at home and visiting the cabin. On a side note I am also missing peaches, chipotle and ice baths. They would all be wonderful.

Until next week! I hope you all have a terrific week. God Bless.