THE COUNTDOWN

Today I want to introduce you to a unique word from the PBV, the Pro-Basketball Vocabulary and its special meaning to us.

It is usually used by players who play "overseas" (from the perspective of a US citizen), but is not limited to a certain country or nationality.

The word for today is: "COUNTDOWN".

In our circles this word is direct and to the point. There's no further description needed. The question "Countdown FOR WHAT?" does not exist.

Depending on the time of the year, EVERYONE knows what "THE COUNTDOWN" is referring to... no questions asked. There are two main options:

1. Countdown till Christmas break
2. Countdown till the end of the season

The first one is a given, usually clearly defined by the league's game schedule.
The second one can get a little tricky due to the 'do-or-die' competition system of the Playoffs. With time players develop a good feel for ranking their team's final standing early on in the second part of the season though, and are able to calculate a pretty accurate "final day", which will then be accepted as an official countdown's reference point.

Theoretically there's also a third option, the so-called "Countdown till the beginning of season/training camp". This one however is a taboo amongst most players.

It requires extreme courage to openly admit to this last option, because it's an immediate sign to others that you "don't have a life" in your own hometown... (*kinda like blogging about this today shows that I don't have one either)

Apart from the ridicule, most often players who publicly choose option #3 are frowned upon by others and run a high risk of being ostracized for a minimum of the countdown's duration, which may result in i.e. temporary blocking on facebook). The extend of the ramifications merely depends on the athlete's level of audacity though, which is being measured by the actual length of their countdown.

By blocking "option 3"-players from an online friends' list for good, the athlete ultimately protects him/herself from getting depressed too early during the summer time, and helps them to stay focused on enjoying their time at home.

One sore spot the word "Countdown" has, is its unclear definition of the "final day". Here are the three different options:

• departure day
• day/hour you arrive in your hometown
• last day of competition.

This can easily become a point of conflict in everyday conversations, and can lead to false hope.
The more mature and experienced a player gets though, the earlier he/she will "nip this in the bud" and clear things up. Preferably right after a player's arrival to the new team and after mingling with his/her new teammates.

Depending on certain factors the measurement units for the Countdown can vary. The units range from "weeks" to "days", from "games" to "practices", or even "hours" to "minutes". Whereas the latter is considered to be one of the most severe cases, and could be equated with "depression".

Factors that can influence the "The Countdown" are:

• personal stress level
• homesickness
• teammates
• internet connectivity in your apartment
• coaching
• the residing countries' cuisine
• weather
• city life
• win-loss ratio
• body aches
• getting sick of wearing the same clothes

Athlete's nowadays tend to have different outlets for their countdowns:

• announcement of public website, i.e. Facebook, myspace, twitter, bloggers
• actual hardboard calendar in the athlete's apartment, where each day gets crossed off
• Blackberry weekly reminders (*what now? nobody else is doing that, or what?)

Personally, I dislike countdowns as they are equivalent to "wishing your life away"... I prefer to seize every moment of the day and enjoy the life God has given me to the fullest.

However, "THE COUNTDOWN" comes with the territory.
The question every player has to ask themselves is, "Will you let the Countdown dominate your life?"

I must say that I've been blessed this last month with great teammates and an awesome situation, which makes my stay here in Kosice (away from my husband, family and friends) a lot easier, but like Dorothy said a long time ago "THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME".