2 down, lots to go.

We are now 2-0!

I had a great first half hitting 3 three pointers and a lay-up to help put us up by many points at half time. Even without our true point guard, we were on our way to a blow out even though we were on the road. Our two Americans make up the the last two season Most Valuable Foreign players, one of them a real WNBA threat, who is a beast inside. The other team went to a zone, which is fantastic news for a shooter. Taranto needed more of a 3-pt. threat last year, and I am here to help!

We need work on keeping our focus and playing hard for the entire game. There were times in the second half when we all checked out for a bit (unfortunately, I was guilty as well...) because we can't concentrate on who we are playing. We have to focus on us getting "reps" in and making ourselves better.

We play against a team in Sicily this weekend, so I will get to see Kiki because she is playing with an A2 division team in Ragusa, which is very close. Hopefully I will also get to see Daniella and Fabrizio who were the amazing family we visited many times during our time in Ribera. That group of people is one of the few positives that came out of that situation.

A little extra info here. 3rd year in a row I've flown into the Pisa airport and haven't gotten a chance to see the Leaning Tower! One of these days... Also, we woke up at 4:40 this morning after our game to catch a 6:25 flight, except that we got lost on the way to the airport... We missed our flight and had to DRIVE 9 HOURS to the southern part of Italy. Do I have to tell you how a sleepy, hungry, spoiled group of professional athletes react to that??? It wasn't pretty, but we didn't complain as much as I thought we would have, knowing that our only off day of the week was completely ruined. Next week we start playing in the "Big Dog" games, the Euroleague games, so we will be playing double time. After our game in Priolo Sunday, we go directly to Turkey. I've heard about the religion and culture, and how hostile of an environment their gym can be, so it will certainly be an interesting experience. One more thing-- I did my first phone completely Italian interview with a journalist from the Taranto newspaper this afternoon when I got back. If we're talking about basketball stuff, I would say I'm pretty fluent, it's just the other areas, I still need to improve on. Still a great feeling though :)