Blogust & Everything After

Sorry to all the none basketball fans but this post is bball related. This weekend I had a chance to check out my first Taiwan bball tourney. We (a group of foreigners) play ball every tuesday at a pretty sweet outdoor court here. And about a month ago this chinese guy named David started checking out our game. He showed up every tuesday and eventually approached two of our guys about playing in a tournament. A guy named Dave and my friend John. It was a total scouting job. Funny enough he didn't want the 5-10, 280 lb guard, me. Anyways the tourney was this weekend. It was pretty low-key but I went out to support my buddy John. His team was pretty good, and they won the semis by about 25. Then today was the finals. They played against a pretty young team that looked alot like a grade 10 team. This young group came out on fire and won the 1st quarter by about twenty. But John's team clawed their way back and pulled out a 7 point victory. It was a nice feeling to be back in a gym. You have to understand that all the basketball played here is outdoors. And 90% of that is 3-on-3. So what did I notice about Taiwan bball: they don't know how to play 5-on-5, they don't know how to fastbreak, they can't inbound and they only play zone. These were all the bad things, the good things: they're quick, athletic and have some great shooters. But overall their basketball i.q. and play is still miles behind north american ball. But it's good to see ball gaining momentum all around the world.

The other bball note of the day is the return of Vine Carter. It's very exciting and I would love to see him regain his form. I;m listening to the game right now on Fan590. It's only the first quarter but it sounds like the team is feeling some energy. They have the potential to be a good team, but the injuries are killin em. Best of luck, Raptors. It's too bad that VC has to return against the best team in the league......