For those who aren't familiar with the process - in October most American families empty out pumpkins and carve scary faces into them, put a candle inside and set them out on the steps to decorate and to "scare" the kids who walk by - we call them Jack-o-lanterns. As it turned out, what scared my three and a half year-old son Dawson the most was putting his hand inside the pumpkin and feeling all the seeds and other yuckiness inside. So, i had to pull out the seeds and stuff. Taking out the seeds reminded me of eating watermelon this summer with the national team. What was funny to me about the arbuz we ate this summer, aside from it being the best part of our meals for the first two weeks in Wloclawek (the other food was ok, but the guys were practically fighting over the arbuz), was that I was the ONLY guy taking the seeds out of the watermelon before eating it.
I couldn't believe that my teammates were actually eating the seeds. I know zero people in America that don't spit out the seeds when they are eating watermelon. Actually, not too many people even buy watermelon WITH seeds - in America seedless watermelon is much more popular. I know I'm American, but I've been in Poland long enough to adapt to Polish ways and be comfortable in my second home. In fact, I had zurek and golonka for lunch at Harnas yesterday – it doesn’t get more Polish than that. But, I know for a fact that I will never start eating arbuz seeds, oh, and I won't ever get my hair cut like half the Polish men in this country do - buzz-cut with a #2 guard all the way around.
So, now my seed-eating buddies get to go taste the arbuz in Spain in September 2007. Can we get a win or two or three against Slovenia, Italy, or France? We'll see. I don't know what the expectations will be of the Kadra in Espana, but I have the feeling that the success of this past September will be remembered fondly. I wrote a blog for the koszkadra website during the qualifying games and thought that I had finished it. Adam Romanski told me I needed to write one more after we actually qualified. I didn't do it...until now. This one will have to do. Oh, and he wanted me to write about our celebration after qualifying for Euroch&ionships, but my wife won't let me post the pictures so I won't talk about jumping into the Black Sea naked to toast Sweden's win over Ukraine.
I also didn't really finish off last season's blog very well. I pretty much promised a bunch a Prokom fans that I would write one more entry while I was on the plane home to America, after a few days of celebrating our gold medal. I thought about it all summer, but I couldn't really come up with anything smart to say other than the obvious - that we were excited to have beaten Anwil in the Finals. As it turns out, I seem to have had much more on my mind last season than I do right now. I don't know if that means I'm losing brain cells or if I just used all my good material last season, but - to jest to. So, I may not be a regular blogger on this site this season, but when I have something on my mind I will post an entry - if they let me.
I should say a few things about the start of the season before I sign off. It is far too early to come to any conclusions about who will be the top teams and top players. Ok, we know a few of the teams that will be at or near the top, but I can't say who will be the eight playoff teams. If you want that info go to Stinger's new blogsite. I'm also not very familiar with many of the new American and import players, but I was happy to see my buddies form the national team really have great performances in game one of the season - some had two very good games. Koszar was the leader in Turow's close win over Slask, nailing the game-winner. Roszko was solid, as usual. Radek had two strong games. Dylu was awesome against Kager. Skiba was perfect - didn't miss a shot - in the first game and had 6 steals. And, of course, Andrzej was amazing hitting 8 threes and leading the way with 35 big points.
The success of these guys got me thinking. Was the performance of the Polska players due to the preparation in c& with Urlep and the confidence that the successes gave all of us? Or is it just the fact that, for the most part, the best Polish players play on the national team so they will, naturally, have success with the club team during the season. I guess we will see as the season progresses...