I start each morning by first awakening to the alarm clock on my watch. It is set for 7:05 am and I usually roll over and turn it off and wait for 200, my teammate, to knock on my door 5 minutes later. I am really beginning to hate the sound of my alarm and have contemplated throwing the watch across the room several times, but I fear, that as a result, I may have to purchase a new one. After sauntering out of my room with my belongings to the elevator I am on my way to 8:00 am practice. We usually arrive around 7:30, when I am physically present but mentally I am not checked in yet. At some point between getting changed and stretching I get myself ready for an hour of shooting and an hour of lifting. After cooling down and receiving treatment we rush to breakfast down the street from the gym. It took me a couple days to perfect my order of 4 eggs (scrambled), two hash browns, two chicken breasts and a milk tea but now I just say what sounds like, “dow jo” and this means the regular. We attempt to get in and out as fast as we can as this provides more rest in the afternoon before returning to the gym at 2:30. At this point I am back at the practice facility until 6:30. These practices make for long days, but I have no place to lodge a complaint. I love what I am doing.
Since my parents departed our team has gone win-less. That is a stretch where we went (0-5). During that period, we lost two games to the #1 and #2 seeds (teams in which we lost to in the final seconds of the game and a team we handedly beat in our previous meetings) by large margins in Kaohsiung and of the other three we had two games where we lost by margins between 10-13 points and finally an overtime loss. We haven’t been playing terrible basketball, but we definitely have not been playing our best. After winning those three in a row we lost our team captain to a rib injury (we hope he returns tonight) and a reserve guard to a badly sprained ankle. Both players contribute greatly to our rotation and we have obviously missed what both can bring to the court to help our team win.
After my parents departed, we ventured back to Kaohsiung for two more games. Kaohsiung is in the southern part of Taiwan and approximately a 6 hour drive. Several of the teams choose to bus down, we, however, are lucky enough to take the high speed train. The train departs Taipei Main Station and arrives in Kaohsiung 1.5 hours later after stopping just twice. It is a comfortable ride, stress free and a hell of a lot faster! The train travels at a smooth rate of over 200 mph. Where was this option on the trips to Vermillion, Omaha, Bismark and Aberdeen?
The games in Kaohsiung bring a new and exciting element to the experience of playing basketball in Taiwan. As the league is based in Taipei, many basketball fans outside of the city do not have a chance to watch a game in person. Thus, the league takes the teams on the road and we play our games away from Taipei. The games are always on a neutral court and the fans sit divided supporting their teams while banging blow up sticks together, banging plastic drums and yelling chants into megaphones. After the game we are all shuttled through the lobby of the arena out to the parking lot where the bus waits to take us to the hotel. This is where my teammates and I experience a rush of “fans” seeking autographs and pictures. Some of the players on the team: Shun (a national team player), Ah-Chung and Laba all have their groupies that bring them food and drinks. The three of them and I, being the foreign player, spend a little extra time signing things and posing for pictures in the lobby before making it to the bus. It is a unique and unforgettable experience.
When my parents were in Kaohsiung we chose to walk back to the hotel after dinner one night. The walk was probably a little over a mile and on the way back there were three American guys walking in the direction we had just come from. There was a huge festival taking place – one so large that it was physically impossible to walk due to all the people – so I asked them where they were headed and informed them of what they were in for. As we chatted for a couple minutes on the sidewalk, a boy approximately 16 years old came up to me with a marker, removed his what seemed to be a very new shoe and asked me to sign it. I obliged and the Americans asked if that was normal. I shrugged and the boy responded, “This is JOHN, he is very famous!” My Dad was in awe, my Mom wanted to smack me back to reality and the Americans did not know what to think. I told them all that I only get that because the games are broadcast on ESPN, as the SBL is the only Professional league in Taiwan, and next to baseball it is the most popular sport. Anyway, I do not think that will ever happen again.
An aspect of basketball here that I find very interesting is that there are no restrictions on jersey numbers over here. Previously in the US, you could not have a digit in your jersey number above the number 5. This was so that officials could address the scorer’s table to report a foul and be able to signal the player’s number. My team has very few players that have numbers following this guideline. We have guys with jersey numbers as follows: 6, 7, 9, 26,63, 68 and 73. I remember when Dennis Rodman taking the number 91 was a huge deal in the NBA. When I was explaining this to one of the players he responded with, “LeBron is #6.” I guess things changed without me realizing.
On a different, but basketball related note, the treatment here for injuries is far different than what I am used to. I cannot find an ice bath anywhere. Despite absolutely hating life for the first 5 minutes of the bath, I miss the ability to take one whenever I wanted. With as much time on the court as we have and playing 3 games a week, sometimes on consecutive nights, I desperately could use an ice bath regularly.
In regards to soreness, swelling or any injury for that matter the remedy is kinesiology tape. Sprained ankle, shin splints or shoulder pain? No problem, here is some tape. When I had cut my cheek open, it was kinesiology tape that was used to heal the wound. It must be the “cure-all.” Along with that, when a player is bleeding they are asked to leave the floor until the blood stops. Normal. However, there is no concern for blood on the uniform whatsoever. Your uniform could go from white to red due to blood, but you could continue to play without some killing agent being applied to uniform as long as the blood had stopped.
The weather in Taiwan continues to be wet and cool. It sits between 50-60 degrees most days, which does not sound bad for the winter, but with how wet it is, the cold gets to you. The other surprising aspect is that they do not use heaters over here. There is no relief in coming “in from the cold.” The temperature outside is the temperature in your room. There have been a couple nights where I have a hooded sweatshirt drawn pretty tight.
Finally, I faced a challenging dilemma this week. Haircuts in Taipei are very cheap and I was in need of one badly. For those of you who do not know, I have rarely ventured away from my barber at home and found success. I have been going to the same individual since I was six. One of the worst experiences with a different “stylist,” if you will, was in Pueblo, Colorado. I told the women what I had in mind – nothing special, and then proceeded to jokingly tell her exactly what I did not want. At the end of my worst haircut experience ever, I walked out with the haircut I had zero interest in – a military crew cut.
To address my hair situation, my choices were to either get a haircut from a local salon for $5 which included a head massage, wash and cut or I could use my clippers and do the cutting by myself. The logical answer would be the $5 option. Then I factored in my previous experience in Pueblo. A haircut with a woman who apparently spoke and understood English, but resulted in nothing short of a catastrophe. With that in mind and the realization that I do not speak Chinese and the stylist most likely does not speak English, I didn’t think I could count on having very much success. Thank you, Wahl.
6 more regular season games left.
Until the next post, God Bless! I gave up Snicker Bars for Lent - the one thing I resort to when I'm looking for a taste of home.
Haha,
ReplyDeleteAh-Chung and Laba were once nationl team players in William Jones' Cup International Tournament if my memory is correct.