The Eurocup season is winding down. Seven of the eight teams have already booked their tickets to the Final Eight. Unfortunately, the Artland Dragons are not one of those teams, but I am proud of our team nonetheless. This leaves me an opportunity to gossip about some of the teams still playing.$0$0Team I would most like to win the Final Eight:$0$0This one is a no-brainer....Bilbao. Finishing second in our group makes them an underdog, and I always root for underdogs. Also, we were able to squeak out a victory at home against them. Therefore if they win, I can say, "Oh well, we may not have won the entire competition, but our team was able to get a win against the 2009 Eurocup champions." My second pick would be a dead tie between Pamesa Valencia and Lietuvos Rytas. In this case, if either team won, I could at least mention that our team played in tough groups, I mean geesh, we had the 2009 Eurocup champion...of course leaving out that we lost to both of them twice.$0$0Team outside of our group that I would like to win if the other options fail:$0$0Benetton Treviso. After the CJ Wallace blog about MarioKart, I feel intellectually inferior...the guy dabbles with book writing in his free time. Also he is a lot cooler, he plays DS with all of his teammates. I watch my teammates play NBA2K9, but I am too nervous to actually play amongst them. So putting his better qualities aside, he makes a good point... more

My dad will probably not like me telling this story, but a few years ago, when I lived in the Czech Republic, I was lucky enough to have my parents visit numerous times and mooch off me. I was quite thankful for the cheap cost of living in the Czech Republic, especially after the first time I went out to eat with my dad there. We went to a local pizzeria in the small town of Podebrady. Before dinner, everything went fine as far as ordering in a language neither of us understood much of. We did some pointing and put two fingers up for pivo: beer. We were doing great. After dinner, I wanted a dessert, I pointed and all was good. My dad then said, "Coffee." The waitress said, "'No". And so my dad quickly looked at the menu again and said, "Fine, tea." She looked funny at him and again said: 'no. He was quite confused, but he kept trying.

"This?"

"'No."

"That?"

"'No."

Maybe I exaggerate, but after a few minutes, she came back with my dessert and, for my dad.....about ten drinks and desserts. My dad will claim it was all my fault, because I had learned, just that same week, that in the Czech language, 'no means yes. (Actually, so that my Czech friends do not gang up on me, the full form of yes is ano, but people like to shorten it and say, 'no). Since I never miss an opportunity to laugh at my father's expense, I... more

The past two weeks we played a very strong Pamesa Valencia team. I would attribute this to great players/coaches and very juicy oranges. I love orange juice and Valencia oranges are widely known to produce top-notch juice. I consider myself somewhat of an orange juice connoisseur, as it has been my go-to drink for around two decades. I credit some of my longing to live in Florida to its proximity to extremely fresh orange juice. I really do not care what anyone claims, I know that freshly squeezed juice is on another level from all of the rest.

The players in Valencia probably do not even realize what they are getting, but I know. They are getting proper nourishment that builds up their immune system so they can fight off sickness during the long season. Plus, they are getting the pure satisfaction of a delicious, dessert-like quality juice that increases overall morale. A player with high morale is usually linked with solid play in his/her athletic endeavors.

The visiting teams are not used to such a sweet, pure fluid and if most players are anything like myself, they might be tempted to indulge in binge drinking. I tried to consume as much as I could. I didn't want to eat for the whole trip because I felt that I needed to leave room for the liquid gold. I tried to get to the point where I got too much of a good thing, but for me it was impossible. Yet I know that all of us drank entirely too much juice... more

The Artland Dragons, the team I play for and one of those exempted from first two Eurocup preliminary rounds, started the German League season on September 16. We played once or twice a week until the end of October and then had one game during a total of 20 days. I am exaggerating that point a bit, because if I stretched the timeline to 22 days, it would have been three games - an average of one per week - but it certainly was a long time between the first two of them. The routine of practice, practice, practice, sleep and more practice had one of my teammates, Zach Whiting, so bored that he and his wife decided to get a puppy. To me, that shows extraordinary commitment, since a puppy will be around for a long time. Zack calculates an 18-year commitment, the average life span of a Jack Russell terrier according to him. But I googled it, and most of the sites said that a Jack Russell lasting even 15 years might be on the high side. I didn't have the heart to tell him or his wife. Until now, sorry Zack.

Is it possible that Zack's puppy decision is indicative of the boredom that comes at this point in the season - especially when you play one game in 20 days. In recent weeks, our team has hosted a pumpkin carving contest and a costume party. Personally, I have changed my facial hair pattern about 12 times. I went to see the new chick flick with Richard Gere, in German. And I am now attempting to grow a mango tree in winter. This is what... more