Un-Happy Thanksgiving

First I would like to say thank you to everyone who has read my blog. I'm over 5000 views! Never knew the blog would be read by so many. Granted, half of those views are from my mom, but 2500 still isn't bad. Ok. It has been a long two weeks so let me get started. 


I always like to dedicate a few words in my blog about lost teammates. Lost another one last week; Argentinian this time. It's always hard to say goodbye and I'll miss him. 


On to last Fridays game. We lost another close one on the road. Ugh. I missed seven free throws that game. Seven. I went 3/10. In my whole basketball career I have shot about 75-80%. That was definitely the first time in my life that I missed 7 free throws in one game. 


Sunday rolled around with some big news. MY DAD CAME. He came all the way from Baton Rouge to watch me play, and it was his first professional basketball game! He had a lot of fun.

Why yes this is my dad... I had to answer that question  a lot.

Yet again, we lost. Close game on the road. Same old story. Very frustrating. Anyways, on Monday we had dinner with a very kind family who has shown me great hospitality since I have been here. I'll call this Monday dinner my Thanksgiving dinner. No turkey, because that is not served in this country, but I was with family and friends and we were all eating together and having a good time; that's what Thanksgiving is all about! 

Who needs turkey when you have beef ribs?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Then things start to go downhill. First of all, we looked at the schedule before my dad came and he was SUPPOSED to be able to see 3 games this week. He saw the game on Sunday, but unfortunately they changed the dates for the Friday and Sunday game. That meant he came all this way to see only one game, and not even a home game! We got a couple days off because of this so I was able to give him a tour of the city and we got to hang out, however, on Thursday we had practice. Not just one practice, two practices and lifting and swimming; we all know how much I loooove swimming. Annnnnnd I didn't have any turkey! Definitely the worst Thanksgiving Day ever.

Anyway, enough of me being the Scrooge of Thanksgiving. My dad leaves tomorrow and I had a great time hanging out with him here. While we were walking around, he saw some of the crazy driving that they do here and he commented about it. Then I said, "Now you see what I have been talking about in my blog". He then shook his head a little bit. I asked him if he even reads my blog and he said no. Wait a minute. My dad doesn't even read my blog? My mom checks it everyday, my friends and other family members read it, but not my dad? What a shame. I'm not even afraid to write this because I know he's not even going to see it. And since he doesn't read I'll make fun of him. He knows the least amount of Spanish than anyone I've ever met. He literally knew two words. 'Hola' and 'uno'. He learned three more during his stay here. 'Al club', to use the taxi to get to the gym, and 'arroz', because he loves rice (Mom don't tell him I wrote this).

Lastly, I got interviewed for the first time since I've been here; in Spanish. I am quite proud of myself. I understood almost everything he asked me; the speaking still needs a little work, but I'll get there.

That's all folks. I'll be coming home soon. Can't wait!

Yeah I know...

Yeah I know I haven't written in a while...it's just been a rough couple of weeks but here's the story.


My new teammate arrived last Wednesday right before we embarked on a 14 hour bus ride. Imagine getting off a 10 hour plane ride, and then having to ride on a bus for 14 hours after that. Ouch!

But anyway, we were talking a little bit in the restaurant before we left when a little girl and her dad came in to say hi to us. Now between my comments in my blog, and my general aversion, people here know that other Americans and I don't like to do the Kissy greeting with other guys; but we do the greeting with women. So back to the girl. I already knew her, and she was my friend, so I gave her a big high five. She then turned to greet my teammate. She leaned in close to his face expecting a Kissy greeting... He had never seen the greeting before, so he quickly leaned back with a look on his face that cannot be described in words. After I almost fell on the floor laughing, I told him what she was trying to do; he properly greeted her, and we had a big laugh afterwards.

The 14 hour trip wasnt so bad; I slept for most of it, watched a movie and played on my iPhone. The city we arrived at, Corrientes, was beautiful. They had a mall, a Wal Mart, and a beach that was right by the gym; what more could you ask for in a city. I know: A Casino! They had that too. 


As far as the game, we played well in the first half...but unfortunately games are 40 minutes, and we ended up losing. I contemplated commenting about the overall officiating in this blog post, but then I thought if one of them happens to read it, it wouldn't bode well for me. Therefore, I will only say that I miss ACC refs. Yes, ACC refs. 


Anyway, that night, I went to the Casino and blew 50 pesos in 3 minutes. What a great day that was...


The following Sunday was worse. We lost that game in about 5 minutes. You want to know what's worse than getting your butt kicked in a basketball game? Getting your butt kicked, and then driving 16 hours on a bus!


This was a tough week as well. We lost a heartbreaker at home by 1 point; then we drove 8 hours to face the same team and came up short again. We are currently 2-8 and desperately in need of some wins this weekend. We're still fighting though. 


Last comment, the fans. Now it's not the 10,000 fans that I had grown accustomed to at UVA, but the 1,000 or so that do come, come to cheer. I've already commented on how great our home fans are ;), but I can't help but marvel at the fans on the road as well. One of the places we went to had a section of fans that stood up and chanted loudly for the entire game. The entire game. I was impressed. I even asked one of the guys on the other team mid-way through the first quarter if they were going to chant the whole game. He said yes, and sure enough they did. I MUST go to a soccer game over here; I can only imagine how crazy the fans get.


For the sake of having a picture, here's a picture of me and a cute baby...

Aren't I cute? I mean isn't she cute?

The Day We've All Been Waiting For

Due to the death of the Argentinian President's husband, all matches were suspended on Friday and moved to Tuesday.


Sunday comes, we have to win. We have lost four close games, but was time to come out victorious. I was anxious for the game; no way we were losing that one. The team we were playing against was 4-0 and we were 0-4 but that didn't matter; we had to win!...


Well...We won, we won, we shot the bb gun. They lost, they lost, they ate the applesauce. Sorry, my inner 3 year old just came out, but it was a good win after some tough loses so I feel it was justified. As for me, I had what I think was my best game as a professional (23 points 10 rebounds and 3 blocks... of course I got the wine :) 
- I have added a link to the stats along with the pictures at the top of the page.


They love me in this city. They were chanting my name during the game ( Jerome clap clap clap Jerome... and my favorite Oleeee olee oleee oleeee Jeeeerooooommmmmme Jeeeeeerooommmmee!!!) I couldn't help but smile. 


Last week, there was an article on me in the newspaper here. Boy my teammates teased me a lot for that picture. In my defense, it was after the tough loss against our rivals and I was trying to leave when someone with a "normal" digital camera asked to take my picture. I put on my best fake smile and let them take the picture, assuming it was for a fan. Nope. It was blown up and put in the newspaper the next day. Oh well haha.


My Spanish is getting better everyday. I am also getting quite a few followers here in Argentina. One of these days I will write my blog in Spanish and make my American readers translate!


Back to business. Today we hadanother game. Yes, it's great we won our last game, but we are only 1-4 and we need another win.


A few hours before the game, I heard a knock outside. Wasn't quite sure if it was my door, but I went to see anyway. I looked outside, and to my surprise I saw a new bed! Queen size!!! I teared up a little bit. I quickly ran back in my room to turn off the Spice Girls music that was blasting  (I'm glad they didn't know English or they definitely would've made fun of me) and moved my things around for the new bed. In the olden days I slept like this...

And I used to not wear socks when I slept...

My feet will still hang off the bed,
but I'm 6'9 (2.06) so I'm used to it

But now my friends, I will sleep like this! 






Ok, seriously back to business. Gametime. Not going to lie, I was a tad bit tired from Sunday, however, we fought hard as a team and came out with another victory! We are now 2-4 with two more games on Friday and Sunday. I know, it's a long week. What makes it worse is that we have a 12+ hour bus ride ahead of us... Argentina, beautiful place, but just a tad bit too big... Anyway, I'll have every battery that I own charged to capacity and we will set off ready to grab some more victories!