Basketball is Dying in Umeå...Who Could Write Such a Thing??
But I have something to say in all this and those that care, you will understand the best! I cannot give a reason why we are not winning. I cannot give an explanation why things are the way they are. But I can tell you this...we have never gave-up and will never give-up. After each game, we begin to re-evalute the new solution. Most people in this community want us to just give-up and let the team crumble. That is the most outrageous thing I have ever heard in my life. How could you ask people who care so much for the sport, just to give it up. Like it doesnt even matter. I know people in this community are afraid of failure, but when something goes bad...YOU CAN'T JUST GIVE UP ON IT! Give them faith, give them something to believe, give them the desire to want to fight...don't show them your backs.
The biggest thing is that the team cares!! I care!! Maybe people should examine that before they just insult us for sucking! So easy to write your opinion when you never face the source. Do you really know us?? Let me ask you that?? Because I would't trade my team for anything in the world! We are good people that don't deserve this!! I could understand if we were a team that didn't care and just gave-up all the time...but we are not that team! And the most insulting thing of all of this...is that the media is taking something that we love so much, and downplaying it right in front of our faces. Making our efforts seem like they are a joke and questioning our passion and dedication to the game.
So all I have to say now is that I will not be a victim to this criticism anymore. I think it is absolutely the worst thing a person could do and it hurts! But I'm not going to let this hurt me anymore. I am going to do what I love and appreciate the most, and that is competiting in basketball. And if the community feels we should back out just because we are losing, I say leave us alone. Don't write such cruel things because you have no right! We are going to fight to stay in the league and it's absolutely the most riduculous thing if someone thinks we are wasting our time. I will never give-up and each new time is a promising time!! Just remember that! ;) Let us do what we feel passionately and those that have something negative to say, you can take it and shove it! The best thing for our team right now is some faith and belief!! And your actions and opinions are an insult to that. It's crazy to me how quickly people can turn away from you when things arent going the best. I call those people cowards!
My last remarks I have to say is don't take away something that means so much to me or us! We practice everyday and perform to the best of our abilities everyday. Don't take that away from us with your rude comments. We need SUPPORT right now. The remarks and opinions given will only drive people away. There is SO MUCH potential out there and for the team, but negative critism only discourages people away. Don't you want us to get to the best of our potential??!! If you want some change, start to support us...that's the only thing I can say right now. And it really insults me that the community doesn't have our back. I play for Umeå because I appreciate it here...now if only I could get the same respect back! And I WILL NEVER GIVE-UP ON THE TEAM!!!
3 of a Kind
I thought I would do a blog today dedicated to my ROOMIES!!! We have had some good times so far!! Here is a little recap of the year so far!!
1st Road Trip to Stockholm for our 1st Game of the Year
Party with the Viritus Boys!
Just Hanging Out at the House!
Light Show...New Jackets!!
Weekend in Stockholm!
LUCIA
SNOWMOBILING
Day at the Spa
Still more great times to come!! Looking forward to it!! Thanks Shannon and Anna for some great times...I love you guys!! :)
Not Again :(
I couldn't sleep last night, I was up until 4.30 in the morning. Just been laying in bed all day feeling kind of down. Don't know what else to write really, just hope everybody is having a better day than me.
Talk to you soon when I'm feeling a little better...We play this weekend vs. Norrkoping on Saturday. Hope our luck starts to change around soon.
Hejdå
Game Day!
Game today vs. Luleå kl. 19.00...Norrlands Derby at Gammliahallen!!!
Another home game against a very good team! We have nothing to lose!!
GO COMETS!!
A Day at the Spa!
On Sunday, Anna's family treated us to a day at IKSU Spa. It was so relaxing and just what we needed. Here are some pictures from the day. Solarium was fun, but I don't think I got any tanner. :( Still white. Shannon, Anna and myself tried some Top Model pictures. I think we are pretty close to the real thing...what do you think?? HAHA!! They were fun pictures anyway :)
ROOMIES!!!!!!!
Fun day!!
Yesterday I started up school again!! I have a feeling this class is really going to challenge my swedish ability! My teacher talked the entire time in swedish....oj! But it will be good for me and will really force me to use and apply what I already know and will continue to learn. Each class we have an oral exam, so it really forces you to actually speak it, unlike the previous two levels. I'm kind of nervous...but lucky for me, I have a lot of help around me!! :)
Practice today, game tomorrow! We play vs. Luleå...Norrland Derby! Playing on a Wednesday, kind of different. Vi får se!
Vi hörs!!
Team Dinner at Droskan
So we lost our game yesterday by 5pts....77-72. We were SO CLOSE to winning, we just couldn't pull it off in the end. :( We came out with a lot of intensity, and I thought we played extremely well. Tons of energy and great defensive pressure. But unfortunately, I think we started to get a bit tired and Visby capitalized on it and went on a 10-0 run in the 3rd quarter that we just couldn't come back from. The positive thing is that we were close and I think it started to get a lot of the girls into believing that it can be done!! We can win if we focus and play hard till the end. We will get there!!
After the game, we had a team dinner at Droskan. Everybody from the team showed up and some brought their plus 1 with them. My plus 1 was Sophia.. .aka my date (haha!) Shannon's parents are here visiting from South Dakota and Anna's parents were also in town for the weekend. It was a lot of fun and some good conversations all-round!! Lot's of joke telling...not really sure if any of them were funny or not?? We all got jokes!! I guess maybe Sophia knows best ;)
After Droskan, most of the team went to a pre-party at a couple friends of ours who play for Viritus (men's bball team). I think I will just let the pictures do the explaining...haha!!
The Adventures of Ida and Amy...TO BE CONTINUED!!!!
MY FAVORITE PICTURE!!!!!!
Thanks girls for a great night!! It was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to the future so we can have more team "get-togethers!! WE MUST!!
Today Annas parents treated us to a day at IKSU Spa! It was actually a christmas present that Anna's dad gave to us and today was the day we got to use it!! It felt so great just to relax. OH IT FELT SO GOOD!! We sat in the hot tub, laid in the solarium, did the sauna, swam in the pool!!!! IT WAS GREAT!!!! I feel very relaxed and ready to sleep now. But after the spa, Anna and I went and watched Dalen's womens team play. They unfortunately lost, but it was a good game to watch. The just couldn't pull it off in the end. Not a good weekend for the sports teams in Umeå. Better luck next time :)
Wow, I guess I ended up having an eventful weekend. I start school back up tomorrow, Swedish Level 3. I am excited to get back to it because my swedish has been pretty rusty lately. Should be interesting. Well goodbye for now!!
Hejdå!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM...Game Day Also!
Love you and hope you have a great day! Wish I could be there to celebrate with you!! :)
We also have a game today vs. Visby at 15.00!! We play at home so I hope we get a good turn-out!
GAME TIME!!
Sweet Revenge!!
But now I think we may have started a mini-war! John and Andreas reacted kind of upset, but I think after some time and a nice car wash...they cooled off a bit and smiled a little over it all.
It was kind of funny because it was total mission impossible when we did it...haha!!
We thought it was pretty funny! And I wish I could of seen the clean-up.... :)
The FINISHED PRODUCT!!!
Moral of the story...DONT MESS WITH US!!!
Love the Comets!! :)
SWISS CHOCOLATE!!!
YUMMY!!!!!! I loved it!!
Got to love FIKA!!!
Sophia also brought some yummy christmas bread!! It was great conversation and some good times!!
Nothing else really going on...talk at ya later!
XOXO
Jamie is Coming to Visit...HOORAY!!!
SEE YA SOON JAMIE!!!
Taken this summer after Mary's wedding in Durango!
Jamie has the pose down...but I need some work! HAHA!!
Looking forward to your visit Jamie...we are going to have a blast!!!
KRAM!
FINALLY!!
Finally we have a new president!!! OBAMA swore into office today and is now officially our new president!! I am sure everybody is very excited back home and I wish I could be there to join with the celebration. It's very exciting to see the future of the USA and to see what Obama can bring to the table!! Looking forward to it.
Shannon and I were going to try and watch the inaugural speech, but we couldn't find it anywhere on the Swedish television. But perhaps they will re-play the speech later and we can watch it!!
Tomorrow evening we invited a couple of church friends over for some american pancakes that Shannon bought in Stockholm. Sophia is also coming over later to fika and share some swiss chocolate!! I'm really looking forward to that!! Should be a nice, cozy evening with some good friends as company. Well that's all I got for now...
RED, WHITE, and BLUE!!!
Back to Umeå!
Monday, Monday, Monday....My body is still a little sore from the game on Saturday. Think I will spend the day taking a rest before we coach at the basketball school at 18.00 and then practice at 19.30. We play this week at home which will be nice vs. Visby. A team that is very beatable and I hope the best for us.
Here are some pictures of my team and our trip home yesterday...
Notice the looks of "why are you taking a picture of me"...
Car ride home...I had to take some pictures of that...Shannon was hilarious!! There were four of us in the back of the car so Shannon had to lay on top of us. HAHA!!
New week...new beginnings...new start!! Let's get it going!!
LATER
Hanging Out in Stockholm...
Game Today!
Last night we went and watched Benjamin Buttons. Probably one of the most boring movies I have ever seen. And it was 2 hrs and 45 min long. I would not recommed to go see it, unless you have a lot of time on your hands and don't mind watching a slow story.
Well talk to you later! Hope everybody has a great weekend!!
Peace out!
Semlor in Da' House!!
WE LOVE SEMLOR!! It's the time of year to indulge in some semlor!! I love this swedish treat!! Bun filled with almond butter and topped with whipped cream!! And they take up half our faces...haha!! :)
Today we went shopping in town and came across these delicious treats!! Tonight I am going to fika with my friend Sophia before she takes off to Switzerland. WAYNE'S!!! Gotta love Waynes ;) Anna and Shannon are going to suana later after practice and I am still on the fence if I will go or not?? Practices have been good lately. This weekend we travel to Stockholm to play 08. Then I think we are going to stay the night in Stockholm and come home on Sunday. Things have been pretty calm lately. Nothing new and exciting really going on. Yesterday we did some strength testing. I improved in my weight/strength in everything...which I was pretty surprised with! And happy about!! Kind of sore today in the legs though. Well that's all I have for now. Hope everybody is having a great week!!
A BIG HUG TO EVERYONE!!
Pizzabuffe, Laserdome, Bowling, and Innebandy
What a busy weekend!! An eventful weekend packed with tons of fun!! Give you a little line-up of this weekend.
Friday Night...aka "Team Night"
It all started after practice when the team decided to go and eat at Schrinska at the pizza buffet. For only 50sek we stuffed our faces with some pretty good pizza. Shannon and I both agreed that we "over ate" FOR SURE!! But it tasted SO GOOD and we were SO HUNGRY!! It was really nice getting the whole team together for a quality bonding experience!
American Tough Guys!!
After the pizzabuffe, we did laserdome at Megazone!! Now that was extremely fun!! My team however, we werent so good at it. Came in last place both times...but it was my first time and I really had idea what I was doing...well enough excuses...it was still fun!! And Shannon wasnt messing around...check her out!!
LASERDOME!! 
Team Golden Oldies....we made teams based off age. Of course the oldies were the worst...haha!!
Very fun and exciting team bonding experience!! I highly recommend it!!
SO that was Friday night!!
Saturday night we went bowling. Shannon, Anna, Andreas and myself. Another competitive night! Shannon kicked all our butts. I didn't know she was such a pro when it came to bowling.
I was really impressed with how nice the bowling alleys are here in Sweden. Nothing like back home.
Here are some action shots of us bowling!!
Sunday...Innebandy Match
Dalen vs. Helsingborg
Today we went and watched Dalen play a game against a legendary soccer player, Henke Larsson . There was a good turnout of people to come watch the famous soccer player, turned innebandy player. It was like a bunch of paparazzi in the house with all the cameras. And of course we were just like everybody else taking pictures. So here he is...
It was an exciting game for Dalen with a score of 10-2. Including 2 goals by our friend John...yipeee!!
And then finally tonight...Shannon and I went over to John's to watch a movie with his friend Ida. We watched the X-File movie...it was alright. But the highlight was the bucket of godis Shannon and I had!! Can somebody say SUGAR RUSH!!
Tomorrow is Monday...oh how I love Mondays...NOT! We start up basketball school again and I coach the U16 team. Then we have our practice! This weekend we play in Stockholm vs. 08 on Saturday, who just lost to Sundsvall tonight. So anything is possible. That's all I have for now...
Later!!
SNOWMOBILING ADVENTURE!!!
The drive out to the land of snowmobiling...
We finally found a place and it was actually really beautiful there!!
So John is crazy when it comes to driving a snowmobile. I was the first one to ride and really freaked out from the start. He is crazy! But it was fun...as I'm holding on for dear life.
So then we attached some cool stuff to the snowmobile!
Christoph, Patte and Anna went snowboarding and Shannon and I went sleding from the snowmobile. Pretty cool ideas from us!! It was so hilarious watching but SO MUCH FUN!! We had some pretty good snow fights also!! Including some pretty good take downs by myself...haha!! Check out Shannon's outfit!!
Shannon and I being dragged from the snowmobile on our sleds...haha!! All I got was snow in my face!!
My favorite was driving it myself!!
Check out Patte's face right after he gets off the snowmobile with John...that's how scary it was!
It was so beautiful out there...here are some pics of the scenary!! Love it!!
TODAY WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! AND I LOVE MY ROOMIES!!!!
Check out our red faces...haha!! It was freezing out!!
Today we ran the beep test...I did my best so far and I know I could have done better. Last time I got 11.2 and this time I got 11.8. I know I could have gotten to level 12 if I didn't mess up on running the lines. Long story...anyway, I did better so I guess that is good!!
Later!!
PUNK'D
On our car! How embarassing...now we have to drive around with it because there are like stickers we can't pull off. But now we must get even, so they better watch their backs...haha!!
We lost our game on Tuesday 71-59. It was a crazy game that got out of hand. I know you can't blame a game on an official, but they totally dictated the style of play for the game and let a lot of fouls go by. Then players just started to get out of hand and fouling pretty hard, and by that point we were fighting so hard to even the score...too much focus was placed on th refs when it shouldnt have. But of course we made a lot of mistakes that cost us, so all blame can't be put on that. We should have played harder from the start, not when we were already down 10 pts. But we are getting closer and now we can only take each game at a time.
This weekend we have no game. We play the following weekend vs. Stockholm 08. I think me and the roommates are going to plan something easy going between us. Maybe go bowling or take a sauna...we will see.
Well that's all that is going on in my life now. Today we are doing some testing with our trainer and tomorrow is the beep test. That should be interesting...
PEACE OUT!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!
My loving grandparents!!
Grattis på födelsedag farmor!!
Just Another Day in Paradise!
It's all really hard to do when I have no energy.
Well enough procrastinating...better get to it!
Tomorrow we leave for Sundsval to play our second game of the week. Should be a good game between the teams. I hope the best for us. I really have nothing else to write anymore....life is kind of boring. It is however very FREEZING outside here!! Just so you know! Talk at ya later....
XOXO
1-12...Really??
We have an extremely important game on Tuesday vs. Sundsvall. This is seriously a MUST WIN game. We will have to do whatever it takes to win the game. I am dead serious!
It was really nice to have all our new innebandy friends at our game today!! Thanks for coming guys!! And good job cheering defense!! I liked it! Hopefully next time you will get to see a win! Let's hold our thumbs!! :) Good luck tomorrow btw! We are headed to Julias tonight for some pizza and movie watching. Nice relaxing evening where we can finally get some rest! That's all I got for now...
Vi hörs
Hej Hej 2009!!
WOW!! It is already Jan. 2...two days into 2009 already!! Time is flying by! New Year's Eve was celebrated with some of our innebandy friends!! It was a lot of fun and some lasting memories! My favorite was trying to walk up this snowy moutain in my heels. Which resulted in Sophia and me continually falling down. Never learning our lesson, we continued to try and then finally gave up. The rest of the party left us at the bottom while they lite fireworks and watched all of Umeå's firework display. Poor Sophia got the worst of it. She came back with a cutt on her nose (dripping blood) and a big, fat lip. All from doing a face plant o the ground because we couldn't walk...it was so slippery. I have no idea how I escaped that night without a scrap or even bruise. Now that is crazy!!
The party was fun! We turned it into a dance party and danced for a good portion of the night after 12. Finally around 3 in the morning...Anna and I decided to WALK home. That was the longest walk of my life and it was freezing out.
Now more on the party...
The dinner at the party included an italien buffet of food! It was fun experiencing a true Swedish celebration. One of my favorite things was when we got up in groups and sang a cheer. Unfortunately...I didn't know any and apparently there are a ton in Swedish and none that I can think of from America. So I thought that was cool how there are so many here! Then we played some games. Music trivia...I think my team ended up dead last and another competition where you had to answer the opposite answer of the question. I lasted about 2 seconds in that game. HA! But overall, it was really nice party and I really enjoyed myself!!
Tomorrow we play our first game back from the xmas break. We play Solna, one the number one teams in league. So it is going to be a really tough game. They are extremely physical and strong! They won the league last year also, so they are a solid team. I'm hoping we come to play!! I'm looking forward to playing again after about a couple weeks off. We also have another game on Tuesday away. We will travel down to Sundsval. We have put in some new plays this week and hopefully it pays off. Tomorrow will be interesting, I hope it works out for the best. Our game is at kl. 15.00!!
Goodbye for now...ttul!
KRAM
