andreasschreiber

Woke up late today. Enjoyed a few hours out in the sun with country music blasting in the pod. I’m almost packed up for Monday, just have a few more things to wash and throw out. I have been practicing How to Love (lil wayne) on my guitar for a few days. I also started lifting this week, mostly upperbody. I am going to give my legs a few days of rest. Now much else is going on. Entourage marathon until I leave. Peace.

How to Love

I had arranged for a meeting with doctors on Tuesday morning to go over two of my injuries. The reason for this was because team insurance only covers me for when I am in Spain during season, and so ultimately I wanted everything looked at before I headed to America for vacation. After a quick ultrasound on my groin, I was taken to an optometric to have my left eye looked at. It was later determined that I had obtained a scratched retina from a finger in the left eye during a practice earlier in the season, and that this was causing some pain during sleep. I received some medicine and a 24hr eye patch. All is well… or so I thought.

Wednesday morning, the day I was supposed to leave for America, I wake up with an excruciating itch and pain in my left eye. Tears had been dripping down my face all night, I had a headache from all the swelling and pressure beneath my eyelid, and the itchiness had turned into a dissatisfying torture. No way I could fly back to America in this condition. A doctor in America without insurance would cost many times more than a doctor in Spain, so I decided to call up the CBT staff and rebook my flight as this would give me ample time to heal.

At 6am my agent Guillermo Pascual, the CBT general manager Aleix Boada, the GM assistant, the assistant coach Miquel, and my team doctor Dr Nacho, were all awake, deciding what to do with me. Me and Miquel take off at 8am to try to change the flight at the Barcelona airport (1hr away) since the reservation office was still closed and my flight was at 10am. After successfully rebooking the flight to Monday I head into the hospital for a review. After hours of waiting, a new and less irritating eye patch was made, and I was told to not use my eye for at least a day or two. I feel better today thank god. But what a day. And it sucks that I missed a week of vacation time in Philadelphia. But worse things could have happened as always. Trying to stay positive

(not pleasant)

P.S. Special thanks to CBT, my agent, and Dr Nacho for putting up with my panic and stress at 6 in the morning.

After winning our last playout game at Malaga, the dark cloud surrounding CBT finally lifted. Although we had hoped for a better season, we still accomplished something in the end. We finally got a small taste of winning. The night after our final game was celebrated as if we had won a championship, with champagne bottles and happy smiles. I asked if we get a trophy for winning the losers bracket, haha. In all seriousness though, we finally played like a team come playout time. JMitch finally started racking up huge figures in scoring, “gettin buckets” as we say. Big Andrej stepped up bigtime on the rebounding side, and was able to pull two season records I’ve never seen before. For one, he was able to utilize only two pairs of shoes for the entire season (a total of 39 games and over 300 practices). Amazing what a bit of tape can do. Talk about recycling. Secondly, he is the only person I’ve seen who has forgotten his shoes (the only essential equipment for a basketball player) at home for an away trip, not once, but twice in a season. Haha, much love man. Devon, our young ACB loaner and point guard, also stepped up big and was able to control the game like he should have been doing all year. Good job averaging 1 assist per game for a PG! Pass the damn ball, haha!!! Check out the body bag below though. He got bunnies. (turn off the sound tho. its messed up for some reason)

As for the rest of the crew, I’d like to thank everyone at CBT and all of our Spanish players for making this experience one to never forget. Through the ups and downs, it is clear that we all came together when we really needed to. It’s been a grind, but life always is. We try to make the best of it. And that is how I will go about life from now on.

So we went 3-0 in the playout against Clinicas Rincon, thank goodness. This means that CB Tarragona is allowed to stay in the LEB Gold league next season, something that can silently be celebrated. This year has been a learning experience, with as many struggles on as off the court. But I do feel a sense of accomplishment. Berni, our head coach (and former ACB player) says that appreciation often does not come from the positive experiences, but from the reflections of the negative ones. Very true. Some pictures of our trip...

(Our amazing trainer Olga at team dinner. Poppin' bottles)

(Night walk at Benahavis)

(Hotel at Benahavis. Middle of the green mountains.)

(Devon doing what he always does...working hard on a summer tan...pause.)

(12hr bustrip break. 90 degree weather, and yet snow lingers on the mountain tops.)