Sunday, March 28, 2010

Friday, March 26, 2010

ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO

Today has been one of the longest game days since my adolescence years I think.

The day started at 8 am... stretching, breakfast, reading, and taking the trash out.

We left on the teambus at 10am, and drove to our hotel in Bucharest.
There we tried to get situated, so we could "rest" up before the game a little bit... but that was not supposed to happen. The hotel had make a mistake in the bookings, and had put two people into a "honeymoon" room, as we liked to call it: The room had one bed, not bigger than a twin, and there is just no way that two grown women could comfortably lie in there.
So we camped out in the lobby for a while till we headed down to the motel's..... oops, I meant the hotel's restaurant. The food wasn't my usual pregame meal, especially 3 hours before a game, but it was okay.

Then we headed to the game and were able to pull off a classical "Veni. Vidi. Vici." against a highly competitive Olimpia Bucaresti team. We ended up winning 111-48.

After our shower we watched the whole game that was played after us: the winner would become our opponent in tomorrow's final game of the Romanian Cup.
Satu Mare came out determined and played an outstanding game against Sf. Gheorghe, which enabled them to come out on top.

It's 9.30pm right now, and it's been the first time that I've put up my legs for the day... now I am going to turn off the computer and get some rest.... because Satu Mare is looking good, and we'll need all of our energy tomorrow to bring the Cup to Targoviste.

See you there... at 17 o'clock!!!

Good night,
LINDA

Thursday, March 25, 2010

LOST

As I mentioned in my last blog, my husband came to visit for two weeks *happy face* and now he's gone again *sad face*.

Usually we plan for him to visit me twice during the season... one time before Christmas and the other time somewhere around March to break up 4-5 long months without seeing each other.

This season had been a little bit out of the ordinary for us: after asking for a release from Brno at the beginning of November, I ended up signing a one-month contract in Kosice. There we ended up having a very busy game schedule, so it didn't make sense for my husband to come out while I was traveling all over Europe.

With two practices a day and a gameday routine, it becomes very hard to be a good host and entertain people who come to visit, and because basketball is my job I can't just neglect those things. Having visitors becomes especially challenging when the weather is bad too and while my husband was in town it was snowing and raining for the most part here in Targoviste.

Luckily with my husband, he is a great visitor! He is a home body and likes to spend his vacation time inside the house, just relaxing and doing nothing. He is the exact opposite of me. (He calls me a butterfly... I always want to go out and see the world... always moving!) With that we definitely fall into the category of "opposites attract".

About 3 years ago, we started a routine of watching dvd series during his visits. We started of with Prisonbreak, a show that the ladies of Cras Basket Taranto got me/us hooked on. Then after four successful seasons Scofield & Co. retired and we had to find something new.... Prisonbreak was definitely a tough act to follow.... (I loved me some Scofield.... Ssssshh *whispering like Scofield* don't tell me husband!)

Going back to "opposites attract", my husband and I don't have the same taste when it comes to tv. I consider Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and The Office to be one of my favorite shows while he wouldn't even consider watching them if there was nothing else on tv.

So it was quite difficult to find something that both agreed to.

Then last year in Brno, we found it: ... "LOST"
(lol... that was kind of a funny word game, wasn't it... we "found" "lost"... hahahaha...ok.... my bad... not funny? Anyways...)

So last season in Brno we watched the first season of "Lost"... and we got hooked. Then with all the circumstances we had to wait ONE WHOLE YEAR to pick up the show again... and believe me when I say that "we caught up!!!" We set a personal record of watching 2 1/2 seasons in just 2 weeks.

Besides being "lost on an island" for most of his trip, we were able to enjoy some sun on one of days off as we were walking through the center of Targoviste, and my husband got the opportunity to lead two practices for some of the young MCM basketball players. On his last day in Romania, we explored Bucarest. In the "Big City" we were witnesses of a bizarre street fight... well, one guy was fighting, the other one was "playing defense". We got to watch "Alice in Wonderland" in 3D, which was a complete disappointment for me... I don't know about my husband, he slept through 3/4th of the movie... hihihihi... and then, last but not least we were able to start season 4 in our hotel room.... oops, that does seem a little unhealthy here.... HELLO, MY NAME IS LINDA.... AND I AM A TV SHOW ADDICT!!!!!!

Well time is flying when you have fun, and this blog was fun, wasn't it?

I am going to add some pictures next time, because now I need to pack my bag, because we are leaving for Bucarest tomorrow.... for the ROMANIAN CUP!!!

Game 1 against Olympia... at 15 o'clock.... I hope to see many of you there!!!

Noapte bunã now ("Good night" in Romanian)
LINDA

Monday, March 22, 2010

IT'S BEEN A WHILE

I am back.... my husband came to visit me here in Targoviste for the last two weeks, so I was a little busy :) My bad.... he left this morning *sniff sniff*, so please give me another day and I will write again.

LINDA

Monday, March 1, 2010

LOSS AGAINST SF.GHEORGHE

This has been a rough week for us girls in orange and blue. Second loss in just five days.

But it's basketball. You win some, and you lose some. Not that I underestimate the importance of this game, but I was again believe that something to become great you HAVE TO FAIL... but it's not the failure, but what you take from it.

Michael Jordan said it best:




Yes, I understand that it must be a great shock to all the Targoviste fans again, but trust me, we will be ok. Yesterday their pointguard Diaconu caught fire and couldn't miss a shot, and the whole team of Sf. Gheorghe played a pretty smart all game long.

I have to applaud the fans of Sf. Gheorghe- don't misunderstand me, they are NOT Targoviste fans ;)- but the atmosphere was great. It's nice to see people come together and cheer for one cause and support women's basketball.

The thing I didn't understand was, if I understood it correctly, that the crowd kept screaming "Dynamo"... as if they wanted to rub the loss against them into our face. I thought that that was kinda silly... especially because Targoviste was fighting for ROMANIA in the FIBA Cup, so to celebrate our loss in this international competition was a little unnecessary... but hey, to each their own.

Ok, I am gonna get going now. Got to finish this load of laundry real quick and start packing again... tomorrow we are off to Arad for the Romanian Cup, and it's going to be an EEEEARLY morning.

La Revedere,
LINDA