New York Basketball Tournament

I guess I will tell of my experience in New York for the basketball I participated in. Every year, each podiatry school (9 of them) puts a team together and competes at one podiatry school. This year it was in New York. I have never been there and thought it would be a fun opportunity. There were only 5 of us that ended up going.

I had to go to a Friday morning Podiatry medicine lab where we learned how to do ankle blocks (numbing the foot for surgery). We were supposed to do this to eachother, but me and the other guy in my class were playing in a bball game that evening in NY, so we didnt numb eachother up. Right after lab we flew to NY, got into a cab, and made it to the game with 1 1/2 minutes to spare. Without warming up, me and AJ only missed one basket between us and ended up with a 20 point lead at the half. The team we were playing against won the past 3 years. With only 5 guys and no substitutes, we got a little tired and they came back at the end. With 12 seconds left and down by 3, we went down the court and rushed a 3 point shot not knowing how much time was left because there was not a scoreboard. We missed the shot and lost the first game. Rough loss.

We then had 4 hours till the next game so we went out to eat some NY style pizza. It wasn't anything special. We played the next game and won. That night we waited around for the free dinner we were promised. Come 10:35 pm, the sandwiches arrived. Not cool.

The next day we played the best team in the tournament. Their line-up was 6'7", 6'6", 6'4", 6'4", and 6'3". Pretty tall team. I was the tallest guy on our team at 6'3". So I was the one guarding the tallest on the other teams. We ended up battling with this team and ended up winning. An hour later, we started the tournament. It was single elimination, so if you lose, you go home. We played a team that looked like a bunch of average players. There were 10 of them and 5 of us. We had, by far, the most athletic team (I was the only white guy). One of our players played division 1 basketball and another one played division 2 basketball. I surprisingly play well against tall players. Well we played and the lead went back and forth. THey kept subbing in 5 players at a time and had fresh legs. At the end of the game, our fatigue showed and they pulled off the win, kicking us out of the tournament. THe team we beat that morning with the tall guys ending up winning the tournament. It felt good to hand the champions their only loss. If we had substitutes, we definitely would have won. Oh well, next year.

Next year will be played in Ohio (I think), then in 2012 it will be here in Miami. Buy your tickets now to come see the action.

After the loss we went out on the town. I rode my first subway ride and went to time square. Of course I forgot my camera so no pictures. I actually enjoyed NY quite a bit and would love to go back with Nikki and see some shows and David Letterman and maybe get a free curtain (like David). New York was safer than I thought and the kids were outside playing sports and enjoying themselves. It was a great trip!

When I arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Nikki was there to picke me up and as I was putting my stuff in the trunk, the nasty parking "pseudo" cop gave me a ticket. She said she told Nikki 3 times to move. That was impossible because I told her 1 minute before I got out there to come get me (she was in the park and wait). I think she was on a little power trip because she is ugly and has nothing going for her in her life. She wrote a ticket to the guy before us and was on her way to write another after she was done with us. Some one needs a sleep number bed. $35 ticket. Dumb lady!