However, I can think of a few things I’d rather spend $2,000 on then upgrading my seat. That’s about $200 an hour to upgrade…I’d sit on the toilet next to the stewardess during the flight for $200 an hour.
It’s been 196 days since my last blog. During that time I was asked where I would be playing this season 5,869 times. You try to remain polite, but sometimes it just gets old, real old. My job has the highest highs but with that comes the uncertainties. Uncertain what country you’ll be living in. Uncertain who your coaches and teammates will be. Uncertain when you’ll be leaving America. Better get used to it because uncertainty becomes a way of life. My off-season lasted longer than usual this time around. The past three years I’ve been on a plane by August 22nd, this year it was November 28th. That’s an extra 2,304 hours of uncertainty. Most people are uncertain if they’ll be off work by 5 or 6. With us, it’s what part of the world will we be living in?
One day it’s I’m going to Poland. The next it’s Israel or Cyprus. Just when I start thinking about packing sunglasses and swim trunks, I hear this Ukraine team wants me. Then it’s a team in Spain, but the next morning I’m convinced I may be eating waffles in Belgium. It’s a roller-coaster that sometimes you don’t know if it’s going to stop, go faster, upside down or make you puke. If players tell you they don’t think about it much, they’re lying. Sure it’s a business, but it’s your life. During the summers it’s simple, you need to do two things. Stay in great shape while working on your game and have fun with the people you miss all season. This summer was great for me. Bam Jam continued to grow as Idaho's largest 3 on 3 tourney, we had over 300 teams this summer! Visited San Diego and Vegas but mainly enjoyed my new house in Boise with friends and family.
It was 4:46PM on Saturday, November 26th when my phone rang- my agent Gerrit was calling from Europe. Every single time the phone rings from June on…you’re hoping it’s your agent. No offense to my mom, sisters or Lindsay…but it’s the truth. “What’s up man?” I said.
“Bausch- there’s another team in Germany and I think it may be a good fit for you”…”I’m listening.” He goes on, “The team is Goettingen (Gut-eh-gun), really nice and clean city of about 130,000. The team is struggling right now, but they have a rich tradition and history- they won the Euro-Challenge in 2010.” A silent pause for the longest 10 seconds ever... “When would I leave?” He goes, “well they would want you on a plane within a day or two.” Some conversation went back and forth for the next 12 hours and the next day I was on the plane. Not much time for good-byes but that’s the way I like it. No matter how many times I leave, it’s always going to be sad to say good-bye. For everyone who’s been reading my blog for the past few years…I bet you’re asking, “HOW DID THE FLIGHTS GO?” Got to the Boise airport Monday morning and first flight to San Fran was delayed…thinking to myself…HERE WE GO AGAIN! As we touched down in SF, we were notified by the pilot that we would be waiting for an hour because there wasn’t an open gate for us. Sweet another hour on this dinky little plane and the dude to my right must have either ran a marathon or been flying all damn day because he’s got B.O.
At this point, I’m thinking wonderful- I will have 37 minutes to sprint across the airport and make my flight to London. To make a long story short, 11 hour flight to London was okay, wish they wouldn’t have showed Idiot Brother, maybe the worst movie ever. We were delayed in London for 3 hours and finally made it to Frankfurt. It was 7pm TUESDAY and traffic was a nightmare…3 hours later I arrived in GUT-EH-GAN…only 30 hours, 9 minutes from door to door.
Last season in Groningen, Holland, Lindsay was able to come out and visit for 2 months. This season we’re lucky that she’s able to stay until the season is over. Having her here makes everything better.
It was the first time we haven’t been home with family for Christmas. Lindsay and I have explored Goettingen and really enjoyed the Christmas market. They go all out here for Christmas. Lights everywhere like back home, but the Christmas market is something the states need to copy. They sell this warm wine that tastes amazing, every kind of food and desert you can think of. The smell in the air will make you hungry regardless if you just ate.They sell all kinds of decorations and even have rides for the kids. Our time here so far has been great. We’re both doing school online which keeps us busy. 
With the amount of free time we have over here, figured I might as well get my masters degree. We took our first German lesson last week as well. It’s a tough language no question, but nothing is impossible. I wish there were English sub-titles on the TV because we don’t have a single channel in English. A great TV show or movie will come on and right when we start to get excited…the voice over occurs. I wonder how the voice over for Jim Carrey would sound when he goes, “ALLLLLLLLRIGHTY THEN!”
Basketball wise, I’m enjoying it here. Our team is young, but we’ve showed times where we can be really good. At other times we just haven’t been consistent enough. We won our first home BBL game and the atmosphere here was incredible. The fans erupted after big plays and we felt their energy.
Even though our team has been struggling, the fan support has been great. Both home games we’ve had since I arrived have been packed with seas of purple in the stands. There is still 4 months of the regular season left and if we can start putting 40 minutes together- good things will happen.
1 comments:
Hey bausch, great blog. Good to read your are playing again, its a pitty you left groningen we miss you, lots of succes in germany and i hope you will visit donar one day keep on writing albert jan bosch groniingen
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