The Wolverines Abroad: Player's Perspective, Zack Novak
8/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Aug. 30, 2010
By Junior Zack Novak
We returned from our trip two days ago. The flight home was much easier then the flight to Amsterdam. I slept almost the whole way the second time around, which was nice seeing how sleep was impossible to come by the first time we traveled across the pond. Why?
We boarded the plane and it looked as if I had hit the jackpot; I was going to have my own row with no one to sit next to and no one to bug me to get up when they had to go to the restroom. With no more than one minute until the main door closed, my dreams of endless legroom were shattered.
Dismayed, I watched as a woman sat next to me that was coughing non-stop with constant sniffling and smelled like she had been hibernating in a football locker room. To top it all off, the first thing she did was sit down and take off her shoes. I hate feet. So, I had to face what I will now forever call the Trifecta of Poor Air Travel: bad smells, a certainty of getting sick myself and bare feet. Dealing with one of those is tough but coming against all three is Requiem for a Dream-level depressing.
Fortunately, on the way home, I came across none of the three and was able to sleep almost the whole way. It was a good way to end a great trip.
We were fortunate to be able to see the places that we go to see during our time in Europe. I think the consensus among the team was that Bruges was the coolest place we went. Apparently, some movie with Colin Farrell called "In Bruges" was shot there. I never saw it though, so it was all new to me.
When we were there, we took a canal tour and then had an hour to go grab a bite to eat. Darius, Tim and I all ordered a steak from this restaurant in the town square. In America, I usually order medium rare, but I learned that is usually a mistake in Europe. I might as well have been eating a raw steak.
While we're on the topic of mistakes you can make while dining in Europe, if they ask you if you want garlic bread with your meal as a side, SAY NO. I don't know all the people that got owned by this, but I do know that Mclimans (aka Sandy or aka Lyle or aka Kyle but mostly aka Sandy) and Vogrich (aka Brandon or aka Itch) were involved, which isn't shocking. I think this nickname, Itch, needs to catch on more. Not only does it go with his last name, but his parents had to put socks on his hands when he was a baby because he has eczema and he would scratch himself until he bled.
These two are like our version of Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne. Funny stuff always happens to them. Basically, they went out to eat with a few others and their waiter asked them if they wanted garlic bread. Somehow thinking this would be free in a country where you have to pay two Euros for a small glass of water, they ordered garlic bread for the table. A 160 Euro bill later, lesson learned.
I'll finish this up with a little bit about the last game we played against Mons and the possible secret to our success. Any of you who have been to a game at Crisler would notice that we play some tunes during warm-ups and timeouts but usually keep it family. No swear words or anything like that. Not in Belgium, though.
We walked into the gym an hour and 15 minutes before the game and the DJ was already mixing, blasting rap and house music. I remember thinking that having a live DJ just for warm-ups was pretty cool. It was hilarious listening to the selection there because they don't censor anything. For that matter, that was the case in many places. We would go to nice stores in these different cities and uncensored American rap would be playing.
Imagine walking into Hallmark and hearing Lil Jon over the intercom, while you check out with the nice elderly woman behind the counter. Awkward, right? Belgium begs to differ, or maybe they just don't understand the words. They cranked that music not only before the game but also during the game. It was half basketball game, half rave. At one point in the second half, during play, the DJ yelled, "LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED." The crowd erupted as the electric music blasted. Again, this is during game play. Old folks, young kids, they all loved it. They way we played; I suppose we loved it too. So that possible secret to our success? More techno!!!!!
Overall, we had a great trip over in Europe this past week. Seeing that we have so many young players and a completely new staff, it provided us with an opportunity to get to know each other better both on and off the court. In only one week, our team grew substantially and improved greatly. It was encouraging to see. I'm definitely looking forward to working hard with this group of guys this upcoming season and winning basketball games with them. Hope to catch all of you at Crisler this season for some games.
Go Blue!
