Happy Birthday Bobby!!!!

I'm sure that you remember this picture after we won men's league in our final year at Lakehead. It's too bad that we don't have student loans anymore to buy each other shoes for presents. As the Malone to my Stockton, we ran the pick and roll for many easy buckets in our Thunder Bay careers. You keep cutting and screening and I'll keep finding you.

your PG,
Mitchell

Another Gold for Canada....

So we were just chilling at my place last night because it was Shane, Eva, and Kya's last night in Winnipeg. Eva, Christine, and I were flipping through the channels and saw that we had won another gold medal in the Ice Dance from Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. We eventually saw the replay a bit later on and wow what a performance! I don't know much about Ice Dance but I didn't need to know that much to know that they had a flawless performance. They looked in sync the whole time and their tricks were pretty cool. There would be no way that I could even skate with my legs apart like Scott did let alone have Tessa on my back. It was cool to see how pumped they were when they got their scores and was funny when Scott originally told Tessa that they came in second after the World Champions from Russia went before he hugged her and told her that they won. It was great to see them excited for themselves and their country and they sang along with the rest of the Canadians as O Canada played. Thank you Tessa and Scott for letting us share in your Olympic moment!

Don't Hit the Panic Button Yet...

One day later it still stands that Canada lost yesterday to USA. With most of Canada watching (except for Mike Garcia), Canada lost 5-3 in what ESPN was calling the "Miracle on Ice II". Yes it was our first loss to the Americans in quite a long time but I don't think that the game yesterday had that much on the line other than playoff positioning. What concerns me though is that most of the media and general public are wondering what's going on with our team. Let's not panic too soon here people. If you remember in 2002, we lost to the Sweeds 5-2 in the round robin. It's tough to go an entire tournament without a loss. It's better to lose now than later on in the knock out stages.

The loss yesterday will get Team Canada refocused and back to work. Yesterday was the first game that I was able to watch these Olympics and we didn't look that crisp for the most part. We were really shaky in our end especially with Brodeur trying to do too much with the puck. Our breakout was pretty shaky too with lots of turnovers in our end. Sure we out shot them but most of our shots were right at Ryan Miller's chest (he did have a great game though). We did have flashes of the potential that our talented team is capable of. Canada will take today off and get set for the German's on Tuesday and once we take care of them, it's the Russians after that. We knew somewhere along the line we had to play them anyways. Our road is tougher this way but I still think that we will come out on top. We are just too talented. We have too many leaders on the team for us to break down like we did 4 years ago.

So to all those people in the media counting us out, there's still plenty of hockey yet to play. Regardless of the road we take to gold, the results will still be the same. Go Canada Go!

Rivalry Week in Division 4: MOBB vs K9's

So today is not only Michael Jordan's birthday but it is also the day where Mobb goes up against their rivals/ friends the K9's. This marks the 4th meeting in Mobb's history with the K9's taking 2 out of the 3 head to head match ups. For those of you that don't know, on Tuesday nights Mobb plays pick up ball with various friends and other ballers which most of them make up the core of the K9's. Over the years we have developed a friendly rivalry. We cheer for each other when we aren't playing each other but tonight it we will not be friends till after the game.

Mobb enters this game with an 11-0 record and the K9's are right behind them in the standings with a 9-2 record. There is a contrast in styles as the K9's are big and will try to pound the ball inside and feed off Tu Tran who is their leading scorer. Mobb's run and gun style will be put to the test today. They will need to grab rebounds in order to get out on the break. If we can get out in the open floor and hit a good percentage of our shots, we should be right in the game at the end.

Tonight marks my first time playing the K9's and I am excited to play in a game that means just a little bit more. Hopefully I can control the tempo and get the ball to Kris and Eric for some open looks and to Mike, Adam, and Bob on the break. I will need to play well in order to get the other guys going. As much as we are focused on our defensive match ups, they have to chase us around when they are on defence. Playing on a bigger court at U of W should work in our favour. So let's get them tonight boys as we look to remain perfect and win our 12th game in a row. Can we do it??? Why Not???

Valentine's Day Wish

Obviously today is an especially depressing day for me. Being single and can't be with the girl that I love; today would probably have be the worst day ever until I heard something that made me think of today in a different way.

I was flipping through the channels checking out some Olympic coverage until I came to what I think was the Church of Rock on tv. I heard that pastor say "you are only as good as the people around you...." That got me thinking a bit. Today is commercially meant for you to express your feelings to your significant other but let's not forget the other people in our lives who are always there and will always be.

For me, I want to take this time to say thank you to all the people that I know and love. Whether you are friend or family or both, there's is nothing that I wouldn't do for you if you asked me. To call someone a friend is to say that you care about them. I am who I am because of you. Thank you and Happy Valentine's Day.

Mitchell

Battle Vs State.....

Our final game of the trip was against NC State. For those of you that don't know, we are to NC State what Duke is to us. On the way to Raleigh (with a quick stop at Duke) I thought up all possible comebacks for anyone that would chrip me that night. Carolina Blue in a sea of red?? So here's what I came up with:
1. Last time NCST won a national championship was 1985 - we've won 3 since then.
2. That was probably the last time NCST was at a final four - we've been there at least 8 times
3. We've won the last 7 games and 11 out of 12. No members of that team had EVER beaten Carolina in their careers.
4. Name the last lottery pick that came from NC State????? Anyone? Me..heck I don't even know. Tom Gugliotta and David Thompson were the only 2 retired jersey names that I knew.
This among other little things, I had in mind to fire back if need be. I knew that the Wolfpack fans won't be like the "Wine and Cheese crowd" from Chapel Hill.

We got to the RBC Center (also where the Carolina Hurricanes home) around 6ish for a 9 pm start. Our tickets were in a special section that allowed those ticket holders to come in a half hour before the doors open to the general public and go to a lounge for food and or drinks. So Dante and I got to go in at 7 and have a beer while we waited to sit courtside. Everywhere we went in that place, people were giving us a hard time. Everyone from the door people saying that our tickets were fake, to the concession people jacking up prices, and even the occasional student booing in Dante's face. So we got to sit as close as we could to the court for warm ups again. We yelled out Dexter's name to get his attention. He looked over at us (I was wearing his number again) for a second, realized that we had seen him last week, and smiled and pointed to us. That was pretty cool. After that we got the attention of the student section right in front of us and some kind words were exchanged. Dante had to stop me from continuing but I knew that I would get the last laugh somehow.

The game was great from our point of view. We started out the game with a 3 point play to start the game and it shut the ruckus Wolfpack fans up a bit. The game was a close one for the most part with us going into the locker room up 4 after with standing a small run at the end of the half. State ended up coming out of the locker room on a 10-1 run to start the half. The place was ruckus but we showed a bit of poise and got control back and went on a huge run of our own. With about 5 mins left in the game, we had a 17 point lead and people started to clear out knowing that the game was over. I was kind enough to wish everyone a safe ride home.

So once it was official and we had won by 15, I decided to go back down to the students section to get the last word in. I ran down, got everyone attention and thanked them for a great time. I told them that they were great hosts and that I'd love to come back again next year. Once I started, I got a course of swears and other profanities yelled at me. I made sure to bring out all the facts and get back at everyone that said something directly towards me before the game. By this time, girls were now swearing at me too so I thought that this would be the time to make my way out. On my way back up the stairs, a bunch of the students on a set of stairs parallel to me shouted death threats to me and that they would see me in the parking lot. Seeing that I had pissed off about 300 people, I decided to go to the bathroom and tie up my shoe laces in case I needed to run. Once I got out of the bathroom, Dante and I took a few more pics before making our way outside. Once outside I was a bit freaked out that someone would jump me. I was really scared and jumpy. We eventually made it to the car safe and started our journey home. What a way to end the trip!

Behind Enemy Lines....

So what would a trip to Chapel Hill be like without visiting Duke???? We stopped here on the way to Raleigh to take a few pics. Before the trip I was telling everyone that I would walk around Duke with my UNC jersey on. When I got there however, I was pretty scared (not going to lie) that I would get the crap kicked out of me so I tucked in my jersey and made sure that no baby blue would be seen on me(except for certain pics as you can see). We walked up to Cameron Indoor Stadium (some UNC fan put "Hansbrough Indoor Stadium" last year) and to our surprised, the doors were unlocked so we walked in. We could hear sounds of balls bouncing and people yelling as we went upstairs. As we went to look into the stadium itself we noticed that Duke was actually practicing at that time. I saw Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith while Dante saw Wojo. Can you believe it???!!! We didn't get a chance to take a good look because we didn't want to get caught (especially with me in a UNC jersey). People were actually already camping out for when UNC comes to town. By the way, the game was only 5 weeks away still and they had already been there for a couple of weeks. Are they crazy??? Nah, I'd do it to watch UNC play Duke. Great experience. Truly felt like I was behind enemy lines.

More Pics....

I know it's been a while since I've posted something. Here's some more pics of the Bobcats/ Magic experience. Unfortunately, Dante's camera ran out of battery just as the starting lineups were being announced. Enjoy.