Bloggy From France!

Bon Jour!!

Well, I know it has been a while since you got one of these emails, but HERE WE GO AGAIN! First off, I would like to thank you for your feedback and your willingness to read about my adventures with USA Basketball. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing.

Now that we have the technicalities over and done with, let’s get onto the story!!

GREETINGS from Antibes, France!! Today is Saturday, June 23, 2007 and we are six hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zone of the United States. We have been here for almost a week, and we have been playing basketball every day. Our team is the Women’s Under 21 (U21) World Championship Team. The players consist of the TOP women’s college players. We have Courtney Paris from Oklahoma, Abby Waner from Duke, Essence Carson from Rutgers and several others! Most of our players have received All-Conference accolades. Plus, they are cooperative and fun to work with!

We arrived on Sunday evening and had EVERY bag except for the one bag we really needed… the BASKETBALLS! So far, no sign of the basketballs, and I am thinking someone from the airport in Frankfurt, Germany is playing with OUR basketballs. The other thing is that I have called and called to get information on the bag, but almost always get an answering service telling me to call back later… sounds like the USA!! So, we played our first game in a small country named MONACO. This place is one of the most beautiful places in Europe! Some of the James Bond films took place in this country. We saw very beautiful houses that were built in the mountains, and then we saw some HUGE yachts out on the ports for the Mediterranean Sea. Along the drive we saw the castle where the Prince of Monaco lives. VERY NICE! Our game was fun, and the players played well against the French National U21 Team. I enjoyed the 45 minute ride to the country of Monaco and hope to one day stop and stay for a little while. There is a Marriott there! Anyway, we played our next game right across the way from our hotel. Our hotel is similar to a college dorm, with small rooms and even smaller bathrooms. It is pretty cool, though. We have been making the most of what we have. Our “American Fast Food Count” is at McDonald’s with 3. We haven’t seen anything else resembling American Fast Food, as we are staying in Antibes. Antibes is a coastal city with some really neat looking forts and huge walls. Supposedly, the walls were built during the First World War to protect against attacks at sea. We haven’t been able to tour much around Antibes, but I have had quite an experience finding change for US Dollars. France is on the Euro system, and NONE of the Antibes banks make change! They have CHANGE stores to provide that service. I was on a quest to make change, and got the change, but then had to get coins for the Laundromat. It was quite an adventure to ask for change in English, when NO ONE understood what I was saying. Basically, I would point to the bill then point to the coins and give one of those, “I hope you understand me” looks… it has worked so far. I have made pretty good friends with the guy at the magazine store every day, when I ask him for 5 Euros worth of change. FUNNY STUFF Each day I have been doing laundry, and now we have “officially” opened a CLUB SUDS – FRANCE. Nick Arison and I opened a CLUB SUDS – JAPAN in Sapporo last year, so now there are two franchises out there. If you don’t know what a CLUB SUDS is, it is a Laundromat. A CLUB SUDS is usually based on size. The Japanese CS was really small and narrow, but performed its function very well. The French CS has an attendant from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm. All she did was take the ONE dryer for her “work” laundry and make three of us wait on her. What a bunch of garbage. However, I don’t know how to explain business etiquette to a French person. Oh well. Since we spend so much time there, we figure to have some fun and give the “mat” a better name. So, CLUB SUDS it is… there is a possibility we will have a CLUB SUDS in Moscow as well as Las Vegas, so LOOK OUT! We played our third game in a wine town called La Garde. It was VERY nice, about 135 km from Antibes. We got to the gym that doesn’t have any air conditioning! I had to film the game, which every seat had an occupant in, and sweat along with the players. My watch had the gametime temperature at 94 degrees! I don’t remember playing in a gym like that before. Fortunately, our team doctor (Dave Walden), gave me 1.5 liters of water to drink. It was gone by the time the second quarter ended. I even tried some wine called MUSCAT FRONTIGNAN…it was very good, and NO I didn’t have much more than a few sips… HAHAHA! Anyway, that is just a small recap of the French Experience… I hope you enjoyed, and will definitely keep you posted as the days go along. I know one thing, I won’t wait too long to write again. Today, we are going to hang out in Cannes… the place where the Film Festival is held every year!